History Main / ChinaTakesOverTheWorld

However, this trope's recognizable and adversarial take REALLY starts in the 19th century, when China's century-old global dominance was upended by the emergence of European powers. The Europeans had spent the 15th to the 19th centuries conquering increasingly larger parts of the planet, but were still individually small compared to a China that they were heavily tied to economically and held in a mixture of condescension and fear. The feeling was mutual, with the Ming and Qing dynasties treating the Europeans as uppity barbarians with some clever and even formidable tools but who did not know their place within the celestial order. Add in some sparks and opium later, and you have those Europeans with powerful concessions but newfound fear of Chinese hostility, and a tottering Qing dynasty trying to simultaneously get revenge by modernizing while soothing itself with memories of the ancestral claim to heavenly rule while dealing with angry subjects. Fears over mass immigration of Asians led to racist and xenophobic political actions by governments in Europe, Oceania and North America. It actually predates not only the [[RedChina People's Republic of China]] (which [[UsefulNotes/NoMoreEmperors won the Chinese Civil War in 1949]]) but also [[UsefulNotes/NoMoreEmperors the fall of the Empire Of the Qing]] (in 1911). Chinese military power and global influence has risen and fallen for centuries, but it's always remained among the most populous countries on earth, with a long tradition of scholarship and invention, making it a very realistic candidate for superpower status. While the explicit dream of global rulership by virtue of the Mandate of Heaven collapsed with the growth of modern Chinese nationalism and the removal of the last Imperial Dynasty in 1911, it remains a cultural touchstone with great power.

This trope has existed in one form or another since antiquity, and ironically originated to some degree with the Chinese, who still refer to "Zhongguo", the "Central State." From the Zhou Dynasty onwards the major Chinese governments claimed to possess the Mandate of Heaven, in essence claiming their government was divinely inspired to rule as a just sovereign over the world. Even outright revolution and the collapse of the last government would only disrupt this to some degree, since a government that could be overthrown obviously no longer held the Mandate of Heaven and that meant someone else could receive it. But in practice, much of this "rule" was indirect through this or that VoluntaryVassal or PuppetKing, with the Chinese Empire alternatively acting as an aggressive conqueror, dutiful administrator, or "fatherly" patron for foreign rulers. And even then there were stark limits to even indirect rule, with China being unable to exert its influence over most of the planet (even if it did dominate most of Eurasia) and semi-regularly being challenged by outsiders, most commonly steppe nomads who sometimes [[KlingonPromotion formed Chinese Dynasties of their own by conquering it]] but who more commonly struggled indecisively with the lowland Chinese to either avoid being subjugated, subjugate China, or hold on to what parts of China they had already conquered.

* ''VideoGame/ThousandWeekReich'' is an AlternateHistoryNaziVictory scenario with an emphasis on delivering a SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome for that idea. Among other things, this means that China in TheFifties is still run by the Kuomintang, as the CCP lost access to outside support after the fall of the USSR and were subsequently defeated in the UsefulNotes/ChineseCivilWar. While the Republic of China is still a corrupt, authoritarian state, it avoids the worst excesses of UsefulNotes/MaoZedong's rule and, by the end of the '50s, has started to emerge as a great power. Given that, by that point, Germany is likely fading into irrelevance thanks to chronic mismanagement even in scenarios where it hasn't outright collapsed yet, most American foreign policy planners see China replacing Germany as America's chief geopolitical rival, to the point where they start talking about a Sino-American Cold War, especially in the wake of scandals involving Chinese espionage against the US.

* In ''VideoGame/{{Fallout}}'', China ascends economically while the Soviet Union fades to become a second-rate, US-friendly state which presumably implodes with the rest of Europe during a prolonged war in the Middle East. It then (per the Fallout Bible) annexes neighboring Asian states and the Russian Far East before launching an invasion of Alaska, setting the stage for an 11-year conventional war (which the Chinese lost) and eventually a climactic nuclear war between the Commie Reds in China and the RaygunGothic USA.

* ''VideoGame/DeusEx'' features China as the only remaining autonomous nation in the world, having abandoned the UN at the time the latter started wielding actual political and military power through UNATCO. The USA still claims to be a superpower, but this is pretty obviously not the case.
** Even by the time of ''VideoGame/DeusExHumanRevolution'', China is stated to be the global economic superpower. The largest human augmentation company in the world is based in the Chinese city of Hengsha, a ''two-tiered'' city.
* The ending of ''VideoGame/{{Killer7}}'' implies that by the 22nd century, China has succeeded the USA as the world's dominant superpower.

* ''Literature/ThePeripheral'': Played with. In [[TwentyMinutesIntoTheFuture Flynne's time]], there are a few hints that China is now the dominant world superpower, such as the prevalence of [[TheAllegedCar crappy Chinese cardboard cars]], while in the 22nd century it's noted that China was well-prepared for the jackpot, and is now advanced almost to the level of a HigherTechSpecies -- it's believed that Chinese technology is responsible for the series' TimeTravel mechanics, and even Ainsley Lowbeer, who is capable of using London's {{Nanomachines}} to give herself what amounts to RealityWarper powers and borderline omniscience, admits that she is baffled by the country's tech.

* Literature/ThePeripheral: Played with. In [[TwentyMinutesIntoTheFuture Flynne's time]], there are a few hints that China is now the dominant world superpower, such as the prevalence of [[TheAllegedCar crappy Chinese cardboard cars]], while in the 22nd century it's noted that China was well-prepared for the jackpot, and is now advanced almost to the level of a HigherTechSpecies -- it's believed that Chinese technology is responsible for the series' TimeTravel mechanics, and even Ainsley Lowbeer, who is capable of using London's {{Nanomachines}} to give herself what amounts to RealityWarper powers and borderline omniscience, admits that she is baffled by the country's tech.

* Literature/ThePeripheral: Played with. In [[TwentyMinutesIntoTheFuture Flynne's time]], there are a few hints that China is now the dominant world superpower, such as the prevalence of [[TheAllegedCar crappy Chinese cardboard cars]], while in the 22nd century it's noted that China was well-prepared for the jackpot, and is now advanced almost to the level of a HigherTechSpecies -- it's believed that Chinese technology is responsible for the series' TimeTravel mechanics, and even Ainsley Lowbeer, who is capable of using London's {{Nanomachines}} to give herself what amounts to RealityWarper powers and borderline omniscience, admits that she is baffled by the country's tech.

* In Capcom's ''VideoGame/SteelBattalion'': Heavy Armor, China didn't so much take over the world, as it ''became'' the United Nations, such that the UN's blue logo is now red. And then the UN invaded the United States, and all hell broke loose. Subverted and then later inverted in the original Steel Battalion, where, while China stand-in Hai Shi Dao was an antagonist in the first game, Steel Battalion: Line of Contact recasts Hai Shi Dao fighters as patriots battling a hostile US-backed Pacific Rim Force.