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China Takes Over the World: Difference between revisions
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Both the younger and older sister trope to [[Japan Takes Over the World]], [[China Takes Over the World]] is when the People's Republic of China, in the future of [[Speculative Fiction]], becomes a major military and economic power rivalling, if not exceeding, the United States and becomes one of the major powers in any [[World War III|third world]] (or a backer in a Third World) [[World War III|conflict]]. Combining [[Yellow Peril]] and [[Red Scare]], the PRC and [[Chinese With Chopper Support|its military]] [[The Dragons Teeth|assets]] provide a useful foil for the United States and the European Union, be it on the way international trade swings or on issues such as [[Taiwan|a certain island]].
The People's Republic of China began to focus on export-driven growth (and thus gain economic influence in the world) under the economic reforms of Deng Xiaoping, but it wasn't until [[The Nineties]] that it began to assert itself as a world power. Since the mid-to-late [[Turn of the Millennium|2000s]], this trope has become firmly established as China in [[Real Life]] grew into its present position, though [[The New Russia]] [[Make the Bear Angry Again|is still often used a source of plots and]] [[Renegade Russian|characters]] (the [[Shanghai Cooperation Organisation|connections]] between the two nations sometimes being mentioned).
While this trope is not quite [[Discredited Trope|discredited]] yet, it might have a short life expectancy. Nowadays, the Chinese are a fertile market for Western media. To get their goods to Chinese consumers, American media companies have to get approval from government gatekeepers, who have the power to censor works that they find inappropriate. As such, media companies must keep a friendly relationship with the Chinese government and avoid creating or distributing works that portray the Chinese negatively. This dynamic is exemplified in the production of the ''[[Red Dawn]]'' remake, which changed its villains from the Chinese military to the North Korean military to avoid offending the Chinese government.
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== [[Film]] ==
* There was a [[So Bad It's Good]] movie in the 1960s called ''Battle Beneath The Earth'' with Red Chinese forces using a high-tech laser system to dig tunnels under the Pacific Ocean to sneak entire armies through and invade the United States from within.
* In the early ''[[James Bond]]'' films, there were at least three implicit attempts by supervillains to wreak havoc that were being directed from China.
** In ''[[Dr. No]]'', the titular [[Big Bad]] is in the employ of [[Nebulous Evil Organization|SPECTRE]] to topple American rockets, but it is implied that they were hired by the Chinese (namely by the number of Chinese running around in his base - No is part Chinese, but there is no obvious reason why that should be relevant)
** ''[[Goldfinger]]'' is more explicit as the Reds are in uniforms and Bond identifies a nuclear physicist as being from Red China ([[The Dragon|Oddjob]] is from Korea, if North then a Chinese ally)
** In ''[[You Only Live Twice]]'', [[Diabolical Mastermind]] Blofeld is seen speaking to two sinister Asian types representing an unidentified government, in a plot to start [[World War Three]] between Russia and America. The film is set in Japan but it is not them, as Japanese Secret Service helps Bond foil the plot.
** ''[[The Man with the Golden Gun]]'' is a minor example; the titular assassin lives on a luxury island in Chinese waters "rent free" in return for "[[Professional Killer|an occasional favour]]". His island has been turned into a power plant for a revolutionary solar energy device by a Malaysian conglomerate, but though it's in their territory, the Chinese don't seem to have much involvement in that.
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* Played with in [[John Wells]] series by Alex Berenson. In the Ghost War, the renegade general intends to use an illusion of this to purge his enemies in the Standing Committee.
* In ''[[Ender's Game|Shadow of the Hegemon]]'' by [[Orson Scott Card]], several powerful nations make a grab for power, starting with [[Make the Bear Angry Again|Russia]] (AKA the Second Warsaw Pact). However, after it's revealed that the person running the show is {{spoiler|a murdering teenage psychopath}}, he flees to {{spoiler|India}} where he proceeds to convince them to take over {{spoiler|Southeast Asia}}, while {{spoiler|Pakistan}} handles the {{spoiler|Middle East}}. As it turns out, though, his real plan is to get China to obliterate the overtaxed {{spoiler|Indian}} army and have free reign over Southeast Asia. Russia throws its political support behind China and expands the Warsaw Pact by promising to be more benevolent than the Chinese. The US, no longer being a real superpower, can't do anything beyond... selling new world maps.
* In ''[[Snow Crash]]'', "Mr. Lee's Greater Hong Kong" is right up there as one of many national franchises working to get the major market share in the [[Divided States of America]], and "Kongbucks" are still real money, while American dollars are hyper-inflated to the point where people use them for toilet paper.
== [[Live-Action TV]] ==
* In the ''[[Dollhouse]]'' episode "Epitaph One", set in 2019, China is mentioned as being responsible for at least one case of mass personality-wiping. Though they clearly aren't the only ones, though. It seems like a global bandwagon, as different groups and governments tried to wipe out each other before they could be wiped, resulting in the [[Endofthe World As We Know It]].
* Background material for the ''[[Firefly]]'' 'verse establishes that [[America Takes Over the World|America]] and [[China Takes Over the World|China]] [[We Can Rule Together|took over Earth That Was together]].
* Discussed on ''[[Top Gear]]'', when Jeremy and James examine Chinas growing automobile industry. The conclusion that they arrive at is that, in 5 years time, everyone will be driving a Chinese made car. {{spoiler|When we cut back to the studio for the closing credits, all three hosts have been replaced with Chinese ones, who, in subtitled Mandarin, announce that they will start their domination of the industry by taking over the show.}}
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* ''[[Call of Duty: Black Ops II|Call of Duty Black Ops 2]]'': The story takes place in 2025 where China and the US are involved in a new [[Cold War]] over rare earth minerals (see [[Real Life]] below)
* The [[Chinese With Chopper Support|PLA]] is the most powerful out of the military, paramilitary and insurgent forces opposing the BLUFOR in ''[[Battlefield (series)|Battlefield]] 2'', and remains so in ''[[Project Reality]]''.
* The PLA is one of the three factions in ''[[Command
* The PRC and an "Asian Commonwealth" becomes a major rival power to the United States in the plot of the ''[[Empire Earth]]: The Art of Conquest'' campaigns.
* ''People's General''.
* In ''[[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, setting the stage for a climactic nuclear war between the Commie Reds in China and the [[Raygun Gothic]] USA.
* ''[[Deus Ex]]'' features China as the only remaining autonomous nation in the world, having abandoned the UN at the time it 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.
** Also, at the time of ''[[Deus Ex: Human Revolution|Deus Ex Human Revolution]]'', 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.
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== [[Literature]] ==
* H.G. Wells' novel ''[[The War In The Air]]'' is among other things about a Chinese invasion of the United States using zeppelins in the early 1900s, eventually defeated by an American guerilla army using ornithopters.
* The bad guys in the original novel that inspired [[Buck Rogers]] were the Han Airlords, Chinese who conquered America using airships in the late 20th century and ruled it for almost 400 years before American rebels defeated them with death rays and rocket guns.
** The ''Buck Rogers'' comic strip begins the same way, and is just ''embarrassingly'' [[Yellow Peril]] themed for a long while. However, it eventually redeems itself (somewhat) by ending the war peacefully. Buck and Wilma infiltrate the enemy capital, where they meet the Mongol leader and are startled to discover he is a [[White Prince|very nice guy, who had naively left the running of his empire to corrupt subordinates,]] while he puttered about with scientific studies. [[Heel Realization|Upon learning how tyrannical their rule has been,]] he [[Occupiers Out of Our Country!|releases North America from the empire.]] He and the heroes [[Heel Face Turn|part in friendship,]] Wilma even giving him a kiss on the cheek. [[The End of the Beginning|From then on, the strip quickly gets away]] from the Yellow Peril theme entirely, and pits Buck and his allies against space aliens, Atlanteans, and stuff like that there (as well as [[Card-Carrying Villain|perpetual no-goodnik Killer Kane,]] who ''is'' an American, just a rotten one).
* The ''[[Chung Kuo]]'' series of science fiction novels by David Wingrove are set in a world-spanning Chinese empire
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== [[Real Life]] ==
* From the Chinese point of view, they ''did'' rule the world for much of their history. For centuries, imperial China considered the Emperor to be the ''de jure'' ruler of the entire world, with all other sovereigns considered either vassals or rebels. Not that they were really committed to enforcing this.
* Mandarin-language instruction is becoming increasingly popular in elementary schools [[Invoked Trope|based on the assumption this will happen.]] [[Japan Takes Over the World|A similar thing happened with Japanese in the 1980s.]]
* [http://www.investmentu.com/2011/February/china-rare-earth-element-monopoly-ending.html China currently holds a near-monopoly on most and a complete monopoly on some valuable rare earth minerals required in advanced electronics manufacturing.] Rest of the world is basically China's bitch when it comes to building anything with integrated circuitry. For now, at least, this has also to do with simple cost reasons. Yes, there are rare earths in the USA, but if underpaid Chinese can gather them for much less money, why not? If prices increase, suddenly the old mines become profitable again... A lot of things China can do can also be done in other countries, but for a (slightly) higher price.
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