Asiata

From Constructed worlds

Asiata
Motto: Under heaven
Anthem: Zhong Guo Hua (Speaking Chinese)
Demonym	Asiatan, Asiatic
Largest City.	Shanghai
Government  - Leader	Market Democracy There is none
Formation  - China  - Asiata	April 8, 1943 February 5, 1996
Capital.	Beijing
Languages  - Official  - Regional official  - Regional  - Facilitative	- Chinese, Hindu  - Korean, Mongolian  - Cantonese, Russian, etc  - English
Area  - Total sq mi  - Total sq km	11,000,000 sq mi (28,000,000 km²)
Population  - 2009	2,900,000,000
Currency	Asiatic Yuan (¥) (AY)
GDP  - Total  - Per capita	¥63 trillion ¥21,700 ($52,000)
Gini	58.0
FSI (2009)	0.97 (high) (1st)

Asiata is the largest nation in the world, at a population of nearly three billion and a land area of nearly 30 million square miles. It covers much of eastern Asia, the Indian subcontinent, and Siberia. As the world's strongest economy, this behemoth uses a single currency, the Asiatic Yuan (¥), which is the strongest currency in the world. Asiata is a second incarnation of China after it merged with India. Over much of its history, Asiata has seen peace and prosperity, with a small military and a massive current account. Its capital is Beijing. The peoples of Asiata are very diverse, and the variety of languages written and spoken in the nation is testament to this fact. However, under a strong government these disparate peoples are able to get along with each other with little or no trouble. The current exchange rate between the dollar and the Asiatic Yuan is $2.4 / ¥1.

Contents 1 History 1.1 Formative years 1.2 Mongolia and the Philippines 1.3 Postwar years 1.4 Korean annexation 1.5 Fifties and sixties 1.6 Sino-Indian joint campaigns 1.7 Seventies and eighties 1.8 Continued relations with India 1.9 Union with India 1.10 Nineties and new millennium 2 Government 2.1 Representatives 2.2 Election Fair 2.3 Specialties 2.4 Speakers and bill passing 3 Military and Foreign Affairs 4 Education 4.1 Decline of the teachers 4.2 The public schooling era 4.3 Fountain of Knowledge project 4.4 Standardized testing 5 Research 6 Law 6.1 Crimes against people 6.2 Crimes against justice

[edit] History

POD (Point of Divergence): Chiang is assassinated and replaced by a brilliant strategist in 1933.

[edit] Formative years

By the early 1930's, two ideologies were vying for control of China. Many thought that the unforgiving and politically tactless Chiang Kai-Shek would doom the Nationalist party, and he was consequently assassinated in 1933. His successor was the brilliant tactician Li XuanYang, who quickly took up the same be-nice-to-the-peasants mode of thinking that Mao ZeDong had. Over the course of the next year, both sides did their best to capture the hearts and minds of the Chinese populace. However, Li's war strategy and overwhelming military preponderance was too much for Mao's fame, and the Nationalist followers grew swiftly, preventing the Communists to grow their presence. When Mao was forced to undertake the hellish Long March, the uncanny Li's superior forces were already in Shaanxi waiting for them, utterly decimating the remaining Communist forces and effectively ending the Chinese Civil War in 1935. Li successfully petitioned the then-current world powers to send military aid to more effectively root out any remaining Communist presence.

The Sino-Japanese war started off in earnest in 1937 with the Japanese invading armies greatly outgunning and overpowering all Chinese opposition with utter dominance of the air, seas, and major settlements. Adapting to this juggernaut, the Chinese took to the subterranean, digging an unbelievably extensive network of ditches, trenches and tunnels, as well as adopting modern-day methods of guerrilla warfare. They were led by a Li XuanYang, the excellent war strategist of Chinese Civil War fame, who had by then started to develop his own cult of personality. The Japanese offensive was doomed from the start. Li portrayed the Chinese resistance as the underdogs in this war and thereby succeeded in drawing significant American military aid, primarily in the form of light weaponry. The Japanese forces were far outnumbered by the armed Chinese populace, almost all of which were sympathetic to their own country and worked to subvert the invaders. Both sides fought a war of terror in their own way, the invaders massacring whole cities and the defenders attacking from seemingly nowhere. Whole peasant armies were transported from battlefield to battlefield through underground networks, wearing down the Imperial Army until they were dealt a string of unrecoverable defeats. With their overwhelming numbers and underground strategic advantage, the Chinese forced the Japanese on their land to surrender in late 1942, claiming all their weaponry in the process. Early the next year, the Nationalist China officially became a state, and Li XuanYang was proclaimed by his party to be its first president.

The government confiscated all property belonging to Communist sympathizers and stripped the wealthy of their riches, then proceeded to distribute them primarily to the poor in a somewhat Communist way. The main difference between this policy and true Communism was that most people kept what they had, and the government declared that this was a one-time event, after which people would be allowed to hold onto any wealth they were to make.

[edit] Mongolia and the Philippines

Going on the offensive, the Chinese army went on to invade Mongolia in 1943, accusing them of helping the Russians transport goods to the Communist party remnants in China. In addition, it was also an attempt to boost Chinese morale and draw everyone together. This nation however had a much, much smaller population than China did, and the fact that Mongolia had for a long time been a part of China certainly helped with the acquisition. The Chinese invaders won every single battle through sheer numbers (and superior technology) and took good care of their prisoners, something often neglected in World War Two, keeping the population from turning against them. Russia was too involved with Operation Barbarossa (Germany's invasion eastward) to aid any random country, and the Western powers were preoccupied with the Axis Powers as well. In other words, Mongolia was up for the taking. Within the season, Ulan Bator had been taken at the cost of roughly 5,000 losses on each side.

In 1944, as the United States island-hopped to the Philippines and fought the Japanese, the Chinese arrived and made a deal with the United States: The Americans would go on to keep the momentum going while the Chinese would stay behind in the Philippines, wiping out the rest of the Japanese resistance and freeing up the Americans to continue on with their war campaign. Fighting the Japanese even this late in the war was tiresome, and the Chinese military quickly racked up immense casualties fighting on this unusual front. However, within a month the Japanese were being pushed so far back that they could no longer send reinforcements to the island, while the Chinese continually dug their way into fortified Japanese positions using the trench warfare developed in the earlier Sino-Japanese War back on the mainland. Gradually, they managed to eliminate the Japanese presence. By then however, the Japanese had already replaced the Philippine government and then the Chinese had replaced the Japanese government, which meant that this was the perfect opportunity to annex another state. And that was exactly what they did, and with little protest from any other country.

[edit] Postwar years

Realizing the importance of having an industrial economy, the Chinese finally opened all the doors to the rest of the world. Offering cheap labor, the nation quickly began receiving its fill of foreign corporate investment, aided by the fact that it was a nation of demonstrated strength and which was lead by a nationalist party. Factories began to be built in China for the first time in its history, and the nation gradually became capitalist in the industrial-age sense. Proclaiming its need for improvement in the life of the peoples, China levied high taxes during this period, using that wealth to improve the nation's then-nonexistent transportation system, building roads and bridges. In an effort to stave off a renewed surge of Communism, the Nationalist party erred toward the Socialist side, legislating public education, public safety, and even its own form of Social Security (equivalent to a required retirement savings plan). China deported many of its criminals and beggars to other nations (oftentimes without their knowing exactly what was going on), effectively tossing the nation's problems onto others and quickly cutting down on the crime and unemployment problem. The government was also quick to apply modern farming vehicles, pesticides and herbicides to their agriculture, greatly boosting output. Many people who had once been farmers were advised to seek a job in the rapidly growing manufacturing sector. Real GDP increased by an annual 14% in the post-war 1940's.

Following World War Two, much of the Capitalist world became paranoid about the threat of Communism. Taking advantage of this widespread fear, as well as capitalizing on the fact that it was a nascent free-market state, China was able to continually petition America for foreign aid grants and add billions of dollars to its coffers, which it then used to propel itself forward. Nevertheless, streamlining, improvements to efficiency, and modernization caused a massive economic upheaval resulting in unprecedented job loss. Unemployment increased to a whopping 30% by 1946 and would have been even higher except that the government heavily discouraged women from working and competing with men for jobs, a growing portion of which were made possible by foreign venture capital. The government capitalized on the high unemployment by placing the jobless in the military, which was required to study languages such as Korean, Japanese, and English and learned medicine, often with so little pay they could not afford to even pay for basic meals.

An emphasis on public health and preventative treatment characterized health policy since the late 1940s. At that time, the government started the Patriotic Health Campaign, which was aimed at improving sanitation and hygiene, as well as attacking several diseases. This resulted in major successes as diseases like cholera, typhoid, and scarlet fever were nearly eradicated.

[edit] Korean annexation

The Korean War broke out in 1950 and ultimately involved China. The conflict arose from the attempts of the two Korean powers to re-unify Korea under their respective governments - communist to the north and capitalist in the south. The period immediately before the war was marked by escalating border conflicts at the 38th Parallel and attempts to negotiate elections for the entirety of Korea. These negotiations ended when the Russian-backed North Korean Army invaded the South in June of 1950. Under the aegis of the United Nations, nations allied with the United States intervened on behalf of South Korea. After rapid advances in a South Korean counterattack, communist-allied Russian forces intervened on behalf of North Korea, turning the tide of the war yet again and resulting in the arrival of even more United States troops, which once again shifted the seesaw battle in the South's favor by 1953.

During all this time China was simply watching as events unfolded. At this time however, it sent in its military into South Korea. China fully capitalized of the sole advantage its army had over that of the United States, namely, manpower. By dispatching its army to help with regions of South Korea that were devastated by the war, the Chinese earned the support of the Korean populations in those areas. The natives saw the United States as being a primary aggressor out to take advantage of their weak nation, a belligerent that only cared about fighting in battles. The Koreans rarely came in contact with American troops because the latter were always at the front lines, and when they did, they typically left with the understanding that the Americans were killing other Korean people. After all, the Korean War was a proxy war in which Russia backed North Korea with military aid but not with soldiers. Additionally, the American presence simply didn't belong in Asia. Understandably then, the Koreans on both sides became highly bitter with the Americans. The Chinese, meanwhile, only showed up after the fighting was over, so that they could not be associated with the actual battles, bringing in aid supplies and establishing a reliable police presence in the area. They were instrumental in staving off any guerrilla or terrorist attacks that the North would attempt to launch, and given their high numbers, the Chinese were effective at this task. Others helped treat the wounded, whether it be North or South Korean, being as humanitarian as possible. The Chinese gave the impression that they actually cared about the well-being of the Koreans. The fact that many of them were fluent in Korean was also advantageous. And wherever the American forces advanced, the Chinese "flood of aid" would follow.

The war ended that same year, in 1953, with North Korea being simply overwhelmed. When the fighting had ended and the Americans turned around to look at repairing the devastated country, instead they saw a nation already half-rebuilt with the aid of the Chinese military. Although they wanted to have a say in how favorable the new Korean government would be toward the United States, they soon came to realize that the Koreans mostly didn't care at all for whatever the Americans had done in the war. Most, however, saw China's role in the war as a blessing. Korea rushed to get Americans back to America, but didn't begrudge the Chinese presence. Within a few short years the Chinese people living in Korea had intermingled with Korean people and learned their culture and ways, and vice versa. Korea was amazed by the rapidity with which China's economy grew; through the 1940's and 1950's China's real GDP grew at a sustained 11% annually. The fact that the two peoples were once one also smoothed things over. Ultimately, in 1960 Korea's legislative branch voted to simply join China.

[edit] Fifties and sixties

Joint action in the Korean War and a similarity in government and legislation meant that China's closest allies were the Western, capitalist countries. Relationships with United States and NATO continued to improve over the next few decades. This continual improvement in relationships eventually led to Americans looking at China almost as amicably as they did toward Canada. Such positive foreign affairs resulted in three-way ultra-low tariff rates between China, United States and Canada, with an ever-growing volume of trade between them. A host of multinational corporations serviced the trio of countries, helping to further decrease unemployment in China and gradually improving its citizens' earnings and standard of living, though this continued to lag far behind that of the United States. At the time China was still very behind, and as a result was able to maintain a high level of economic growth, averaging 13% through the 1950's and 10% through the 1960's. The number of people working in agriculture continued to rapidly decrease, most of them transferring to the manufacturing sector (such as textiles, steel, and chemicals). Rails had been in place for quite a while; during the 1960's the emphasis shifted to building toll roads across the population centers of the nation, which helped to make the country more accessible to foreigners. China improved relations with the now less expansionist Japan, and the two nations gradually became important trading partners. During this time China was still heavily reliant on foreign entrepreneurs for sustained economic growth. Meanwhile, unemployment gradually crept downward as the infrastructure base in the nation expanded sufficiently to allow new entrants into the labor market.

In 1958 the Philippines, another one of China's territories, saw a revolution. The problem with trying to make the Philippines independent of China was that by then a great portion of the Filipino population had emigrated to China seeking better opportunities, and many Chinese lived in the Philippines, comprising nearly a third of the population. Add onto this the fact that China was a very successful country and could easily protect or alternatively invade the archipelago, and the resolve for an independent entity evaporated. A last-ditch attempt to legislate a separation with the Chinese government failed as well, though with a close vote. During the entire series of events the Chinese government calculated that there would be no need for military action to suppress the rebels, and the latter quickly faded into history.

[edit] Sino-Indian joint campaigns

Starting in 1950 China took control of Tibet following the British withdrawal. This resulted in border claims controversies with India. By 1962, the disagreements had resulted in the deployment of troops on both sides to the border. Had there been an actual battle, it was quite clear that China would have won; after all, its economy had grown at an unbelievable pace for the previous three decades while India under Jawaharlal Nehru leadership had followed a "brotherly peace" diplomacy involving very little military preparedness. To settle this problem, the Chinese government proclaimed that, although China would easily be able to crush the Indian military presence, China would avoid further disputes over NEFA and Aksai Chin, giving these territories to India as a goodwill gesture which the international community looked upon highly favorably. Thereafter, Chinese and Indian peoples lived together there in harmony.

India then proceeded to invade Pakistan over another border dispute, this time over Kashmir in 1965. Having had little reason to adequately develop a military, India quickly found itself outmatched by Pakistan, which had received plenty of US-made tanks and aircraft and which quickly pushed back the Indian invasion. India was forced to ask the UN for aid in resolving this war, calling for a UN resolution to end it if necessary. Instead, China offered to send in its military to aid in the battle. Having maintained good relationships with each other, the two nations were in agreement. Within weeks the Chinese army had entered into battle with Pakistan, though progressing no further than recovering what had already been Indian territory to begin with. Though relationships with the United States temporarily soured over, China was quick to point out that it had no intentions of invading Pakistani territory. The United States, for its part, was inclined to trust China's word after decades of being close partners. China didn't break its word; after overwhelming the Pakistani forces, China declared a unilateral cease-fire and then backed away from the border, returning approximately one third of the disputed territory to Pakistan while letting the Indian military take active control over the other two thirds of Kashmir. During this period of joint action between China and India, the Chinese leadership went to great lengths to get the soldiers of both sides to interact with each other and learn about the other nation's backgrounds as much as possible. As it became apparent that Pakistan wasn't about to renew the war, Chinese forces retreated without a hitch, an action praised by India and the United States alike. As a result, Chinese and Indian diplomacy became closely intertwined.

India entered another war in 1971, against Pakistan once again, this time over whether or not Bangladesh can remain a part of Pakistan, thereby effectively surrounding India from both sides. Over the half decade since the previous fight against Pakistan, India had realized the need to modernize and expand its military; indeed, India viewed China as a role model and had been aspiring to become more like its ally. Meanwhile the United States had followed China's lead and revised its diplomatic policy to favor India (and of course its ally China), leaving Pakistan with nothing but Soviet war materiel. Using blitzkrieg tactics and overwhelming numbers, India's military quickly pushed far into Bangladesh (East Pakistan) and forced the Pakistani general there to surrender. On the western front, however, India's ranks were spread thinly, allowing Pakistan to advance swiftly into its territory. Faced with mounting losses, a terrified India once again asked for help from China. Within a week, the Chinese military - which had already been in place along the Tibetan border - rushed in like a flood, aided with newer, US-made tank and aircraft models. In just a month the Pakistani forces along the western front were forced to entirely withdraw from India. Meanwhile, some of the military stayed behind the front lines to keep the peace and provide medical treatment to the wounded. The two peoples once again had an opportunity to blend their cultures and to get to know each other better. Once again the Indian populace applauded the Chinese for coming to their aid, and the two nations formally agreed to an alliance.

[edit] Seventies and eighties

Throughout the 1970's and 1980's, China continued to develop at a rapid pace, although with an annual growth rate of 7% over the twenty-year period, its economy was beginning to show the characteristics of a more developed country. It was closely tied to the United States and Canada, and now with India as well. English had been declared as the official language of facilitation for business purposes, which meant that English was used in all four of these countries, making them an economic powerhouse. By the end of 1980's China had an economy about one third the size of the United States. Tax rates had decreased, tariffs were virtually eliminated with all trading partners, and its primary currency, the Chinese yuan, was fixed to the dollar at a rate of 2.46 yuan to 1 dollar starting 1970. Changes in the compulsory education system helped equalize opportunities of the populace; the government set up research institutes (most notably in healthcare) funded by taxpayer money. Places like Shanghai and Beijing became massive commercial centers with incredibly high populations. The nation began creating and exporting its own brands and types of goods for the first time. Unemployment fell to a low 5%, even with women encouraged to enter the labor force. The percentage of people working in agriculture had fallen to 1%, with another 60% in manufacturing and 40% in services. China's steel, chemicals, consumer products, cars, and textiles had become the largest in the world, involving huge amounts of exports and a highly positive current account flow. The military had started to shrink once again following a continued era of peace. The country had become one of the top importers of oil. In healthcare, improvements in sanitation and quality of medical treatment made leaps and bounds. The quality of living had increased astoundingly, with life expectancy at birth rising from 35 years in 1935 to 70 in 1980.

The short-lived Mongolian Rebellion erupted in 1982, caused by dissent by the populace at having been under another ethnic group's control for so long. At first, the revolt saw successes as China declared that it would not be sending in its own military, effectively allowing the Mongols to decide for themselves if they wanted independence - a highly unusual move for any country anywhere. However, over the past 39 years Mongolia's economy had expanded immensely, with a 50-fold increase in real GDP, and people attributed that increase to the region's association with China proper. Of course, much of it was actually due to the tendency of a less developed nation to catch up quickly to its peers. Public sentiment was that union with China had done great things for their economy and would continue to do so. China's calculated diplomatic move eventually paid off as the rest of the Mongolian citizenry betrayed the rebellion's leaders and asked to rejoin China merely three months after the rebellion began. Throughout the entire crisis the parent country suffered under fifty casualties, none of which were in direct battle situations.

[edit] Continued relations with India

By the early 1980's, China already had an economy comparable in size to that of the United States, and was soon to become the world's largest economy. On top of that, it was a net world exporter, gradually increasing its coffers, most of which was comprised of US Treasuries, America becoming a huge net importer of goods. This was partially the result of China pegging its yuan to the US dollar at a rate which advantaged Chinese exporters to the detriment of American exporters. Over the next decade, this imbalance would continue to tip further, resulting in many American politicians claiming that the Chinese had manipulated its currency, intentionally undervaluing it.

The government had for a long time now set its sights on uniting with India, the world's second most populous nation, but which was also one in desperate poverty. With its great supply of resources, the Chinese government opted to aid its neighbor, but not simply by transferring funds. Instead, the government used its extensive coffers to hire masses of Chinese (including many of the unemployed) for ten-year terms, teaching them Hindu and Indian customs as well as a focus which they could be good at. Tens of millions of these people - mostly military - comprised the Chinese Volunteers' Army (CVA), described in the government's internal reports as "a new kind of army". Molded in the shape of the Salvation Army, the CVA was granted access into India. There they worked to improve Indian education, transportation, and production systems, living there as well. In this way China was able to constantly bolster its own GDP as well as put its monies to use on a long-term, humanitarian project. The CVA's deeds were hailed worldwide as a modern wonder, working great changes throughout India. The recruits of the CVA lived in India for much of the project's term, nearly ten years. In the process they further established friendly, long-term relationships with the locals. Many Chinese moved their families to India altogether. Also, China eliminated immigration quotas on Indians, allowing for a massive influx of Indian emigrants searching for improved living opportunities. India's lowest class, the "untouchables" (Dalits), were quick to take advantage of this offer, moving to China where they became on par with everyone else around them. By the end of the project in 1995, the peoples of the two nations were more closely intertwined than ever.

Through thirty years of diplomatic ties, alliances, humanitarian aid, and joint military action, as well as the official, accepting stances that governments in the two respective countries had for each other, the peoples of China and India had established close rapport with each other. It was not uncommon for an Indian to know a dozen Chinese people, and vice versa. The two traditionally also held similar beliefs, namely, Buddhism, Taoism, and Confucianism. The primary barriers now were politics and the caste system. For the former, two generations of people in each country had grown up in a world where the two nations coexisted and depended on each other to such a degree that it was unthinkable for their ties to suddenly be severed. As for the latter, the lowest caste had all emigrated from India, thereby removing an entire caste from the hierarchy. Furthermore, considering the form of government China had developed into by then, it was not unthinkable that the caste system could be worked into a unified nation (see politics). There was just about no mistrust to speak of between the two sides, and the demographics were intertwined as well.

[edit] Union with India

Matters came to a head in the boom years of 1995 when the Chinese government formally asked if India would like to merge with it and together form a new country, Asiata, with nearly half control of government going to China and a smaller amount going to India. The government of course protested, as under the new system India would control substantially less than half the total votes and thereby would effectively have no autonomy. Very few politicians want to lose power so surely, and as a result Indian President Shankar Sharma claimed that this was a hostile take-over attempt by China, petitioning the UN for aid, both diplomatically and militarily, such as placing sanctions on China. The rest of the world, for their part, certainly did not want to see the merger go through, as this would create the single most powerful and populous political entity the world had ever seen, presenting a substantial threat to the security of other nations and possibility of an Asiatic hegemony. Therefore, Russia declared that it would launch nukes on Chinese territory should the merger go through, and dispatched its military to the border. NATO forces were similarly dispatched to India and both Pacific and Indian Oceans. China similarly had its nuclear arsenal on standby, claiming it would fire should any nation attempt to attack its territory, through nuclear force or otherwise.

After all was said and done, however, one fact stood out above all others: The Indian populace wanted to merge with China, and vice versa. Shortly after Shankar Sharma refused the proposal, he was ousted from his position by a landslide vote from the Indian National Congress (INC). Replacing him was one who was much more favorable toward a combined nation, stoking fears throughout much of the world. Worried that the combined state would be far too powerful and dangerous, the United States executive branch joined Russia in declaring such a merger "totally unacceptable", threatening to rain nukes, a policy which was highly unpopular in America despite rising fear of Asiata becoming an ultimate world power.

The United States moved in its military to secure India, ostensibly to protect it from perceived Chinese aggression; however, it soon became obvious that the hearts of the peoples there were with China; indeed, they detested the American presence as being unwarranted, some even going so far as to call it an invasion. Historians would draw the similarities between how China managed to annex Korea without bloodshed and how India was now on the verge of joining as well. Before long the INC had gotten around to demanding that US forces withdraw immediately from their territory. The US president refused, resulting in rapidly deteriorating ties between the two countries. India then called for its primary ally China to intervene on its behalf. China obliged, sending almost all of its military in. Unlike the unpopular American forces, men in the Chinese military had connections with Indians all over the place and capitalized on those relationships to encourage the Indians to support the Chinese and together fight off the militarily more advanced United States in a multitude of typically urban/suburban battles with high civilian fatalities, most of which were blamed on the Americans even though the Chinese were technically equally responsible. Although no nukes were used, and neither side truly wanted the war to escalate any further than it had already, the death toll was still around four million. This was known as the Indian War, lasting from late 1995 to early 1996.

On the economic front, NATO passed a resolution to embargo trade with China in an attempt to hurt its democratically elected leaders. However, whatever damage caused by that was far overshadowed by what China did in response on November 1, 1995. China revealed that it had suddenly sold all of its holdings of US Treasuries to the crime-ridden, post-Soviet Russian government in exchange for a considerable section of Siberian territory, ranging from Kamchatka straight westward an entire 1,500 miles, greatly expanding its own territory and establishing positive diplomatic relations with the desperate-for-cash former superpower. Russia was quick to spend all of its money, releasing a tremendous amount of dollars back into the foreign exchange markets and severely devaluing the dollar. Inflation in the United States skyrocketed unbelievably quickly, and within two months America was in the midst of a terrible recession, barely able to save itself from the downward spiral and too preoccupied on the domestic front to worry any more about the Sino-Indian union. America had been punished for getting involved in foreign affairs and for spending far beyond her limits for over a decade.

Perceiving a possibility of annihilation by the Allied NATO powers (United States, Russia, the British Commonwealth and others), the Indian government finally acquiesced to the merger proposal. The ultimate result - the union of the two states - probably would not have occurred if the US had not been so paranoid and so eager to get into and stay in India. Indeed, as the last Indian president stepped down from office in 1996, he cited threat of American take over of the Indian subcontinent as the deciding factor in its approving the merger. On February 5, 1996, China and India merged to form Asiata, with capital still at Beijing, but with Indian representatives having a significant say in the new government. Realizing the unpopularity of trying to prevent the merger, the presidents in both Russia and the US decided not to launch any nukes and thus staved off World War Three. Nevertheless, both were politically devastated for a variety of reasons, including being too gung-ho and being ultimately unsuccessful.

[edit] Nineties and new millennium

By the time of the merger, China itself had outstripped the United States, becoming the largest economy in the world, an economic superpower as well as a military one. And now, the newly created Asiata had nearly double China's population and a quarter more land mass. Much of the 1990's was spent with China pouring in money to the desperately poor sections of India, debts that would mature in 5-15 years, as a way of jump-starting the economic situation of its much less well off southern sister. Much like the government did before, modes of transportation were established across the Himalayas, allowing for improved trade. Technologies were shared and inefficiencies removed. And through it all, despite the significant social turmoil that resulted, the Indians persevered - whenever they were disappointed, they always looked at China's current status and past history of astounding growth. There was a general belief that the merger would allow India to someday become as great as China was, and the massive economic and industrial overhaul that took place from 1996 to 2005 seemed to be proof that China indeed cared about India's well-being. Predictions that the new Asiata would break apart due to cultural schisms and unresolved issues were soon proven wrong as the new nation stood tall.

As its new currency Asiata adopted the Asiatic Yuan (AY), based off the Chinese Yuan, pegging it at a fixed exchange rate to the dollar and converting all the former Chinese and Indian currency into it. This effectively made the Asiatic Yuan the world's most often used and most resilient hard currency, surpassing even the dollar which had been the world's top hard currency for fifty years (1946 through 1996). All the major investment and commercial banks, which already had major secondary headquarters in China, expanded them far more than anyone would have expected as the new nation's economy continued to grow at a phenomenal pace. Shanghai, already known as the "Pearl of the East", now saw its Puxi sector become the "Wall Street of the East", eventually far outstripping Wall Street and becoming number one in terms of global financial importance. Puxi became synonymous with the finance industry in general. All this only consolidated the AY as the world's primary currency, and now Chinese became taught at educational institutions worldwide, it having become that important in global business. Asiata suddenly saw a spurt in GDP growth rates, back at 10% annually, most of that growth going to the Indian subcontinent. Meanwhile, Asiata had suddenly become a net importer, Chinese producers often exporting their goods directly to Indian buyers and India getting other goods from the rest of the world. This tendency lasted until early in the new millennium, when China once again became a net exporter.

Over the course of the 1990's and 2000's, the percentage of people in manufacturing continually fell, so that a whopper 80% of the population worked in the service industry. What manufacturing remained had almost entirely shifted over to the value-added side as opposed to the resource procurement side. Healthcare expanded and became fully privatized, providing medication developed by Asiatic firms and research laboratories. The nation contributed greatly to the Human Genome Project. Uninhibited by laws regarding stem cell research, Asiatic labs were able to make breakthrough discoveries in the field. Sanitation, recycling, and pollution prevention became ideals, along with such concepts as green housing, energy conservation, pollution cleanup, and nuclear power plants. By the end of 2010, all Asiatic power was derived through nuclear power plants; the Himalayas offered a suitable location to dump radioactive waste. Cars manufacturers introduced new, hybrid brands that allowed for energy produced by nuclear power to be stored in batteries, thereby removing much of the remaining need for oil. This was subsequently replaced by widespread use of electric cable lines suspended over the roads, which allowed cars to travel through population centers and highways without needing to draw upon their stores of electricity. Buildings were made more secure following the terrorist attacks of 2001, in which the Twin Towers of Shanghai's financial district were leveled. After the tumultuous Szechuan earthquake, buildings were also retrofitted with earthquake resistance. Leagues of people became involved in programming and development, introducing a new, open-source operating system to compete with Microsoft Windows, as well as hundreds of other open-source products. The government also created a Generation Two version of Wikipedia, to be used to educate students from elementary school up through the professional level.

[edit] Government

Asiata has come a long way since its nationalist roots. Now the two major political parties running for office are almost identical to the two that the United States has: the Democratic Party and the Republican Party, with the former in favor of larger government intervention in everyday life and the latter in favor of smaller governments that leave everything up to the free market system. There is an abundance of smaller political parties. Much like in the United States, the presence of these smaller organizations is meant to signal to the elected officials the strength of other sentiments. Within the two major political parties, candidates have a variety of different platforms that they campaign on; an Asiatic democrat is just as likely to be in support of most contentious issues as an Asiatic republican, such as on religious and civil issues, though when it comes to spending the two are very different. A major issue distinguishing candidates from each other is their focus: whether it be medicine, military or movie making.

The current form of government was introduced in 1950 following a rewriting of the Chinese Constitution and has changed negligibly since then. Asiata has no states in the sense of the word. The only government exists at the federal level, even for laws targeting just the municipality. Hence, there is no governor, no mayor, and no related legislative posts at either municipal or state level. All decisions are made at the national level. Although this may seem incredibly inefficient considering the size of the nation, the government actually works surprisingly efficiently nevertheless. The federal government is comprised of one single body, called the Legislature of Asiata, or simply the Legislature. This organization makes all the decisions. The judicial system is entirely subservient to the Legislature and has no Supreme Court. Cases always start at the local Tier I courts and may proceed up to the Tier II courts, Tier III courts, and finally the Tier IV courts, beyond which no appeal is allowed. However, the Legislature may choose to review any case once it hits any court on any tier, in which case its ruling supersedes that of a court. The decision of the Legislature is the ultimate decision of the land.

[edit] Representatives

Representatives comprise the entirety of the Legislature and serve for staggered terms. On the first day of every half year, a new batch of representatives replaces the oldest sixth and stay for a period of three years. The Legislature can completely replace every single representative in three years, and should popular sentiment sway, it can adjust halfway in half that time. Each batch comprises 600+ representatives for a total of 3,600+ in the Legislature.

Representatives are elected by the people without taking location of constituency or coverage into account. On the last day of every half year, the major cities of Asiata hold Election Day for all of 24 hours, starting at midnight. Election Day is a twice-yearly national holiday; most jobs are canceled and all attention goes to the cities' fairs. These Election Fairs, often held in stadiums or similar sized buildings, are where candidates go in person. Each candidate has his own booth, its location declared in advance, where information about new votes comes in, and where he can meet up with voters. Most of the voters actually vote online from their homes or at booths instead of attending these fairs, thereby greatly reducing the clutter. Votes are disseminated to the general public at least a month in advance of the actual election and can only be used on that particular election by giving that vote to one particular candidate. All such votes therefore count as a plus; voters can't vote against a particular candidate. Voters can, before the election, also choose to sell their ballots to the highest bidder, just like any financial security. This process is generally facilitated by the Shanghai Exchange (the largest financial sector in the world). Wealthy people can thereby buy votes, thereby making everyone better off (as any trade must do) and shifting wealth from the rich to the poor, thereby replacing government transfers of wealth to some extent. At the Exchange, even the poorest are able to secure a decent amount of money for their vote. Those who have accumulated a lot of votes - such as labor unions and other special interest groups, or just very rich people - often go on the floors of the Election Fair to meet up with the candidates personally, generally waiting to near the end of the day to provide their votes to those who need them the most to get the most value for their money.

[edit] Election Fair

The number of votes that an individual candidate must attain to "pass" (to be elected) is set before each election, based proportionally to the population; in 2008 this value is around 1,250,000. Once a candidate has obtained a good number of votes, people often pour in votes to secure that candidate because they know that their vote will actually secure that candidate. Once a candidate passes, that person is out of the running and the votes that person has received is locked. Star candidates generally get the necessary number of votes in the first hour of Election Day; as the day progresses, less popular candidates obtain the necessary number of votes. How early a candidate passes is a reflection of that candidate's popularity and will psychologically give that candidate more weight in the Legislature; hence, major voters often choose to give their votes to candidates early on to get that person to pass early on, although this is a very vote-expensive method. There will generally be a significant amount of votes ending up with the least desirable candidates. Over the course of this process, voters pay attention to who is currently in the running and has the most votes, generally choosing to vote for the ones with the most votes. Voters may vote depending on the entire spectrum of issues they consider important, using up their votes much like people buying goods at a marketplace: they try to get the most out of it by finding the best fit. Since a candidate can't get more than a certain number of votes, the overflow will be instead redirected toward similar candidates, which will be the next to pass. Over the course of the day, voting proceeds to be between less desirable candidates since the more popular ones have already been chosen. At the end of the day, assuming 25% of the population actually votes, Asiata, with a population of 3 billion, will have elected approximately 600 new representatives.

[edit] Specialties

All candidates have their own specialties, whether that may be a lobbying interest for the national rifle union, a lobbying interest for financial industries, certain judicial topics, or a focus on governance of a particular municipality. As the entire Legislature votes on everything that comes up, and there are no other bodies to handle such matters, being a representative is a full-time job and everyone knows the importance of covering things as quickly as possible. Hence, most issues are dealt with swiftly and the Legislature is able to go through hundreds of issues a day, day after day. If the issue is regarding a particular municipality, the group of representatives who deal with that particular region will form an informal committee to handle such matters. Each side of the committee will make a quick list of the main points they want to make, and try to sell it to everyone else. Generally, if the issue involves a transfer of wealth of monies within the same district, such as using Beijing's transportation money on education instead, most of the Legislature would simply abstain from voting. If, however, the issue involves spending additional money from the Asiatic military on Beijing only, then most people are likely to vote against it unless there is a very good reason.

Lobbying could potentially become a major problem, since the voting system makes it very easy for loyal candidates to simply be "bought with votes". Realizing the problems this could entail, people often vote to curb such wasteful lobbying-encouraged spending (pork-barrel spending) by voting for another group of candidates whose platform is that they will resist special interest groups. This group is collectively referred to as the Watchdog Group, and can often be a quarter the size of the entire Legislature. Almost always the Legislature has considerably more members of the Watchdog Group than representatives belonging to any one particular lobbying interest, which means that most selfish spending will be struck down. In order to overcome this obstacle, then, special interest groups would have to bond together to concoct a much larger bill - which would make the size of the bill's expenditure become much more apparent and make everyone else see through all the sugar coating and defeat the bill. Generally, there are other representatives who run on the platform of being anti-lump bills, ie. they specifically strike down bills with too many things in them. Additionally, all proceedings are released to the public via media outlets, which means that every representative is held responsible for their own actions. Voting in the minority and voting against public sentiment is therefore heavily frowned upon and a sure-fire way to ruin one's own political future.

Representatives also try top-tier judicial cases. As with the municipality issue, representatives often don't know much about any one particular thing, and court cases are incredibly time-consuming, which means that some people would likely abstain from getting involved in these cases. The combination of legislative and judicial decision making into the same branch means that there will be no internal conflict between these two sides.

[edit] Speakers and bill passing

For matters of international relations and negotiations, as well as keeping order with domestic proceedings, the Legislature elects one person to be Speaker for a particular event. The Speaker goes to meet with heads of state of other nations, and negotiates deals with them. This person is generally the most popular person in the Legislature, one whose beliefs coincide with a great portion of the Legislature and thus effectively represents a great chunk of Asiata's lawmaking organization. Although the role of Speaker is meant to be temporary and can be transferred at any time, it is desirable to not change Speakers too often, so some percentage of representatives will simply elect to keep the status quo. There can be quite a few Speakers, one for each grand topic, who represents the general point of view of the Legislature as a whole toward that particular topic. Therefore, there are often separate Speakers for foreign affairs, the budget, different parts of the economy, etc.

Bills don't have to go through committees; they can go directly from an individual to one of many representatives to a vote by the entire Legislature. Because there is no other weeding-out step, the representatives are tasked with determining which issues are worthy of bringing up. Since one person doesn't know what a committee knows about any topic, it is in that person's interest to play fair (ie. "let's split the cake in half"), so as to give the bill the greatest chance of success. The representative is also implicitly tasked with changing the bill from some amateur's submission into a document worthy of the Legislature's attention. Oftentimes, representatives will meet up with others to form an informal committee to decide whether or not some bill is worth it. However, there is never a set committee that evaluates bills and that potentially has the power to nullify all bills, since if one representative refuses to pass on a good bill to the Legislature, the next one still might.

[edit] Military and Foreign Affairs

Asiata does not rank even in the top fifteen countries with the largest military at 700,000 troops, of which 50,000 are active and 650,000 are reserve at any one time. Compare this to the United States, the largest military, at 1,400,000 active troops and 1,500,000 reserve troops. Asiata has no conscription of any sort, and military pay is not particularly high. The military accounts for a tiny fraction of the national budget. Since the merger between China and India, Asiata has not seen much reason to keep an extended military. Asiata's primary line of defense is its arsenal of nuclear weapons, which it claims it will use should any other nation try to take advantage of Asiata's lessened number of troops to force a concession. Considering Asiata has no other means of defense, other nations are wary of antagonizing it because they know that Asiata would fulfill its threat if it has to. Asiata has approximately 6,000 nuclear warheads in silos placed all over the nation in covert facilities.

Rumors abound that Asiata may have succeeded in developing and deploying nearly 100% effective anti-ICBM weaponry, and although such rumors have not been verified, nations are worried about the possibility that this might be the case. Meanwhile, the government of Asiata has been satisfied with not commenting on the issue, allowing rumors of Asiata's technological prowess to continue to circulate.

Asiata's military emphasizes speed. Asiata owns 12,000 state-of-the-art jets, the Shrikes, which have qualities (such as turn speeds, maximum velocities and stall resistance) comparable to most other fighter jets and which are produced by the country's own defense contractor. The single-pilot jets are armed with two rotating turrets which fire kinetic projectiles, one on the top and one on the bottom, each having a 180 degree firing window for the top and bottom hemisphere, respectively. Shrikes are also armed with chaff and flare, and four high-yield missiles capable of penetrating water or even yards of concrete. All models since 2004 are equipped with digital tracking devices that enable the turrets to fire on targets without the need for pilot attention. The newest models of the Shrikes also sport point defense systems (PDS) that can accurately shoot down missiles. No Asiatic aircraft possesses stealth technology. In addition the Shrikes have payloads large enough to store a single nuke, bunker buster or other weapons. Asiata has no tanks and no navy. Reserve troops are meant to protect the homeland on the most basic level and are equipped with basic submachine guns, grenades, flash grenades, integrated comrade-locating helmet software, and a single anti-tank and anti-air round.

Asiata has good relations with almost every country in the world. Its relations with Russia have improved drastically since the 1990's due to Asiata's buying huge tracts of Siberian land with hefty sums of cash. As a net exporter, it has monies of nearly every foreign currency, meaning that no other nation wishes to get on Asiata's bad side. Asiata has formed SEATO (Southeast Asia Treaty Organization) with the purpose of turning an entire bloc into an ally, though the organization has yet to be tested. Asiata has positive trading relationships with just about every country in the world. Due to Asiata's lack of a strong military (at least in terms of troop numbers), other nations do not feel too overshadowed by its presence and thus have no immediate desire to declare war with the intention of ripping the union apart. Asiata is also a permanent member of the UN's Security Council.

[edit] Education

Since ancient times, the peoples of Asiata had always held a deep respect for education and thus for teachers. Teachers were extremely well treated, yet operated independently. By 1950, alongside the gradual modernization of the country, teachers had become in ever greater demand, capable of demanding high payments for whatever it was they taught. This had in turn led to the proliferation of teachers who wanted to share in the education pie.

[edit] Decline of the teachers

By 1960 the country was flooded with teachers, who often complained about there being too many teachers and about there not being enough students to go around. There were no limits on who could become a teacher other than knowledge; no certification or licensing was required. This was because the teachers had always been a rather loose organization. The teachers' associations were established in an attempt to put restrictions on who could become a teacher and set quality standards; however, their actions backlashed onto them, as the general community viewed teaching as a right and not as a privilege. This superceded the desire to have qualified teachers. Given the poverty of the time, it is easy to see why the public would not want teachers to unionize, as this would result in higher costs. Additionally, the teachers' associations attempted to prevent some people who were currently teachers from the occupation, resulting in a strong opposition. In 1965 a law was passed that effectively prohibited the teachers from forming their own labor unions, citing everyone's need to have access to education as the main reason. As a result the teachers' associations never became particularly strong.

Over the next few decades teaching as a profession gradually became less respectable, and as people learned more, they adopted the principle that "teachers taught what they couldn't do themselves". The number of teachers steadily declined. Teaching became a profession that was paid less and less, and a profession that remained weakly organized. Moreover, as the nation industrialized, the traditional mode of teaching shifted from instructors to books, which could now be sold cheaply. The 1960's saw a great boom in book publishing as every author tried to outdo each other on instructional texts, which resulted in high-quality, low-cost books. As more people turned to these books, a few book lines stood out above the others; these became the standards in their field. Soon education had become standardized through no effort of government. Teachers' roles became progressively more limited as the public turned to these cheaper modes of learning. As the number of teachers fell and their earnings and social status declined, their influence did also. This trend continued all the way through 1990. Only the teachers who focused on the truly cutting-edge material retained earnings and prestige due to reduced competition, and Asiata had few of those at the time.

[edit] The public schooling era

With the demise of teachers' status, the government began to adopt a system of public education. Given that Asiata had historically and culturally been a nation in which people cared tremendously about the quality of their education, it was inevitable that the government would gain control. The desire for good education eventually led two a two-sided schooling system, with both private and public schools.

Public schools were established with a standard quality in mind, and thus there was a great focus on standardized end-of-term tests (final exams). Teachers were employed by the government for low but assured pay, with one requirement of employment being that they could not be unionized or be a member of any teachers' organizations, further weakening such interest groups. Large schools were established in which thousands of students studied together and in which teachers taught hundreds of students in each lecture in the spirit of efficiency. School days were full-time, with classes starting at 9 AM and going on until 10:30 PM, with only 90 minutes for lunch and dinner, meaning that the typical student had 12 hours of school on school days. School days were initially Monday through Friday when the public school system was first launched in 1968, but by 1970 included Saturday and Sunday as well. In 1968, school was out on various holidays and the seasonal breaks/vacations, but by 1970 school had become year-round. There was not a single day in which school was out, even on holidays. Parents agreed to such stringent policies because they realized that it was necessary for their students to compete for a good job, and because parents in this culture simply valued their children having a great deal of education.

The general consensus was that people had a right to knowledge, rather than a privilege. As such, people were taxed and a portion of the tax money was used to finance the educational system. However, for those who believed that the public system was inadequate, they could opt to put their children in private schools. However, by 1980 only 2% of students went to private schools, which remained a weak force. In 1980, the new public schooling system had fully adjusted to its own fast pace, and students were graduating who were far more competent than their private school counterparts. Realizing this, practically every parent sent their children to public schools instead. The government then passed a law saying that students had to go to the public schools; they could not be home-schooled or sent to private schools; no one protested this because the public system was just too good. Soon the private schools were no more.

Public schools are large institutions that teach grades 1 to 16, with each grade level having approximately 1000-4000 students, and each grade level in a school being about the same size. There are generally a handful in the largest cities, as well as one or two in smaller cities and towns.

Public schools operate on a four-semester basis; this means that each season of the year is considered a different semester. The starts of the semesters are January 1 for winter, April 1 for spring, July 1 for summer, and October for fall semesters. Courses are all placed in 110-minute blocks at 2-hour intervals, allowing transitioning time between courses. Public schools begin at 9 AM and hold two courses to 12 noon, 45 minutes for lunch, followed by three courses to 6:45 PM, 45 minutes for dinner, followed by two more courses, ending the day at 11:30 PM. Because school lasted for so long, the teachers were obliged to make the material entertaining, which led to better memory retainment rates. Because there were so few teachers per student, a system of students tutoring each other in place of TA's sprang up. The public schooling system was characterized by very little homework, extracurriculars, tests, or projects, but a lot of classwork, teamwork and groupwork in school.

Courses and grades in public schools are standardized and exactly match up throughout Asiata; transferring course credit across schools is exact. These grade levels correspond to US grades as follows: 1 to kindergarten, 2-6 to elementary school grades 1-5, 7-9 to middle school grades 6-8, 10-13 to high school grades 9-12, 14-16 to college/university grades in terms of pupils' ages, though curricula differ greatly. In courses all the way up to 9, also known as the Lower Grades, a school has only 6 classes per grade level, with each class being led by one teacher and comprising of 150-600 students. Grades 10 and above, also known as the Upper Grades, show considerably more diversity when it comes to courses, with anywhere between 30 and 50 classes offered per grade (the exact number depending on grade level). The purpose of the Lower Grades is to teach basic and standardized curricula; the purpose of the Upper Grades is to give general information about a diverse variety of topics useful for life as well as to expose students to what various majors and professions would be like. The six core courses in the Lower Grades are:

• Science (physics, chemistry, biology, medicine, etc.)
• Math (arithmetic, algebra, geometry, calculus)
• Analytical Thinking (technology, problem solving, social, economics, philosophy)
• Chinese (vocabulary, speaking, reading, writing)
• Hindu (vocabulary, speaking, reading, writing)
• English (vocabulary, speaking, reading, writing)

After school, students often help each other, which meant that the average sleeping time was 1 to 3 PM. Students in higher grades often act as teaching assistants to others. Unlike universities, public schools don't have gyms, chapels, professional research laboratories, or hospitals.

[edit] Fountain of Knowledge project

By the 1990's teaching had thoroughly become a less-profit-than-average occupation. Also in the 1990's was the first true advent of the World Wide Web. Asiata, with a strong government and sizable national coffers, quickly adopted the internet and established the first government-run, standardized education, to be provided to anyone via the internet. The government initially poured in money to this end. Fountain of Knowledge was to be hosted from an internet site and its data used by a program that could specifically read this data; the internet site could not otherwise be accessed. The internet site would be paid for by the government; access to it through the program would require payment by consumers.

The project was launched in 1992, when the government hired 3000 teachers. The government taught them how to put information into the Fountain of Knowledge project as well as how to program and work with newer technology, as well as provided a salary. In exchange the teachers would transfer their accumulated knowledge over the years to write the data for each course into the Fountain of Knowledge data banks. The teachers would combine their knowledge of the subject, their understanding of what the project could do and which books couldn't do, and their teaching experience - what worked and didn't work with their students - to create the greatest education material the world had ever seen. With each course that was completed in the Fountain of Knowledge project, there would no longer be any need for teachers in that subject. This, of course, meant that the teachers employed would be unable to use their knowledge to gain employment, which is why the teachers enrolled in the project were paid at ten times their typical annual salaries, giving them an extreme incentive. The externalities meant that with each course completed, many thousands of other teachers would become unemployed; however, the teachers' associations were too weak to do anything about it. When a few did protest, a major consumer advocate group issued such a stinging rebuke against them that totally discredited any remaining prestige the teachers' associations still had. In just three years, the 3000 teachers who had been hired completed their work, and the first batch of 600 courses went online.

The Fountain of Knowledge accessing program was sold in CD form and limited via CD key; hence it was limited to those with a computer. The CD was sold for ¥100, about the same as what was being charged for a quality textbook in a single subject. However, the CD allowed the consumer access to all of the 600 courses available online, making it a great deal. The low price was meant to encourage public receptiveness to the program, stifle the protests of the teaching minority by getting the entire public to like the project, and promote the project. Reception to the project was wildly spectacular. In a few months half of all the families in Asiata had bought one, allowing the government to recoup its investment many times over. It was clear that the project had earned widespread approval which went right over the protests of the teaching profession.

The government now enlarged its program, employing 30,000 teachers and 5000 translators. These courses covered foreign languages as well as the more higher-level, esoteric courses. As teachers swiftly realized that in a few years the project would make it impossible for them to continue teaching anything, they flocked to the government program in an attempt to earn at least some money for whatever it was they had taught. This in turn allowed the government to auction down the salaries of the teachers to only 3x their normal salaries. The translators then took the data and programs the teachers had made and translated them into the world's most commonly-used languages. Many of the courses in the second batch were the "harder to teach without a teacher" courses; inventive and difficult to program teaching methods and simulators had to be devised for courses such as medical anatomy lab (dissections). By 1998 the next batch of 6000 courses was online, and 6-8 different languages were available for each one of those courses. The project was then deemed mostly complete; further software development would take place at a moderately lower level.

The CD now required an annual subscription to work. The CD remained at its cheap price, but the subscription added greatly to the price, to ¥100 a year. This allowed the government to have a steady income that repaid its initial investment many times over every single year, allowing it to spend extra money elsewhere. A CD was owned in just about every family, and some had multiple. Overall, people still greatly approved of the project, viewing it as remarkably superior to what individual teachers could provide. The teaching profession, now lacking any subject material to teach, was mostly disbanded; most sought employment elsewhere. The only remaining teachers were the professors working on the forefront of their respective fields, and these had neither high salaries nor high social status, as they were all too aware of the likelihood for a government course to take over their subject matter. As they each taught something totally different, they were less unified than even the teachers' associations were before them. They would also remain too small a group to be much of an influence in public affairs.

With the introduction of the first batch of courses, the public grade schools were closed. With the introduction of the second batch of courses, the public colleges were closed as well.

Most employers require a certain core set of skills, generally known as a "core curriculum", to be obtained via completion of the corresponding Fountain of Knowledge courses. They also require some additional courses, which are generally a 4-digit alphanumeric code. Course requirements are often presented as "Core +X", ie. Core +CS06,CS11,ST04,EC01 for core curricula, computer science 6 and 11, statistics 4, and economics 1, which the number corresponding to a certain course ID within a field.

[edit] Standardized testing

Standardized tests are a part of life for students in Asiata and are held four times a year. This is a holdover from when the public schooling system was in effect, as the public school system had four semesters in a year. The test dates were scheduled to coincide with the last day of each semester (March 31, June 30, September 30, and December 31).

During the public school era, everyone had to take the same six tests as everyone else for the Lower Grades. For the Upper Grades, which give students some discretion about which courses to take, students almost always take the tests for at least some of the particular courses they had enrolled in over the course of the previous semester. Students at public schools are well set because the material covered on the test and in school is generally the same, both in terms of content and difficulty. Students at private schools have no such guarantee of having been appropriately taught everything covered on the test; this and other reasons resulted in inferior performance. Standardized tests also exist for higher level education, but these generally were not administered by the government; only gradually did the government take over these functions. Performing well on all standardized tests is instrumental in landing a good job.

Test scores all range from 0% to 100%, with teachers rarely awarding grades over 100%. The highest grade obtainable for any standardized course or test is 100%; the average scores are 87% and 85%, respectively. Regardless of how strongly or poorly a student performs in a course, they are able to advance to the next grade level the next year, as long as they obtain at least a 70 on all their standardized tests. If a student scores lower than a 70 on any standardized test, that student cannot take a standardized test based off of it. For example, if a student fails a standardized test for grade 4 math, he can still enroll in grade 5 math the next year, but he would not be eligible to take the grade 5 math standardized test until he passes a make-up standardized test for grade 4 (which is offered a month in advance of the normal test). Students attending private schools must also pass the standardized tests in order.

All this changed with the advent of Fountain of Knowledge. There was no longer a schooling system in place that restricted students to be enrolled in certain courses and learning at the pace everyone else was learning. Since anyone could take courses they were prepared for at any time, and students operated off of flexible schedules, they could complete their studies in various courses at any time. There were no pre-requisites for courses in Fountain of Knowledge. As such, anyone could enroll for any standardized test at any time, though for efficiency purposes the tests were still administered only on four days of the year. This system allowed slower learners to take more time for their studies and for faster learners to get their material covered faster. It also allowed for students to participate in extracurriculars since they had a choice on how to spend their time.

[edit] Research

Asiata is the world's top nation in terms of scientific inquiry, with the United States in second place. A full half of Asiata's budget is dedicated to research, and as such the nation employs a tremendous number of scientists in just about every imaginable field. Funding is done through the government's Asiatic Institute of Science (AIS), which forms committees to evaluate various proposals for whether or not they deserve national funding. Labs that obtain grants from the AIS do not obtain their own license to any discoveries or products made; title of ownership goes to the government through the Institute. Patents last 25 years; in the case of research sponsored by AIS (the vast majority of all research in Asiata), the government obtains the patent for those 25 years. Useful discoveries are then leased to other nations, companies or individual users at a substantial rate, in a few cases exceeding the cost of research in related fields used to obtain the final product.

Asiata does not delegate a certain amount amount of money to each of the various scientific sectors before looking at individual grants; money is apportioned to each grant as they come along provided they satisfy requirements. Good proposals are kept for the next year, when new money arrives. A disproportionate amount of money is dedicated to healthcare, simply because of the high cost of basic and clinical trials. This money is dissipated among all the hospitals and clinics in the nation. Asiata is a leading clinical research nation. In addition, Asiata also performs a considerable amount of physics and chemistry research, for a variety of purposes. A very small portion is spent on military weapon development, mostly in aircraft. Current research focuses include nanotechnology, computer programs, robotics, artificial intelligence, living in an isolated environment, the human mind, and self-replication technologies. Asiata has a considerable dedication to resolving the plethora of "minor medical conditions" that don't put any lives in danger but are still sources of discomfort, and less of an effort on curing cancer and some other big names in the field.

Another significant portion of money is spent on Asiata's space program, the Asiatic Space Program (ASP), which is even larger than NASA. Much of the program involves launching your typical geostationary communications satellites, though a few are rumored to have military capabilities such as the ability to shoot down ICBM's. In addition, the program regularly sends shuttles into space to help construct the Asiatic Space Station. The Asiatic Space Station is the staging ground for extraterrestrial missions. Asiata has sent probes to the sun, moon, and every planet in the solar system, including setting up a lunar base for preliminary testing of living on another planet. The program has already developed a system for rapidly extracting resources from the ground and using them to build certain metal and plastic products and is looking into using this technology to create space outposts that can grow on their own or military drones that can repair themselves.

[edit] Law

The Legislature is the highest court of law in Asiata. Underneath it are 20 Tier IV courts, a 400 Tier III courts, 8,000 Tier II courts, and roughly 160,000 Tier I courts. Courts are not arranged by specialty or territorial jurisdiction. Instead, in determining which court to go to, the two sides first find a place which both will agree to go to (in which the judge's or region's preferences and geographical distance play a role). Court cases generally go significantly faster in Asiata due to simpler, more straight-forward legal systems; a court is able to go through 10 cases on an average day. The average Asiatic person instigates a court case every 5 years.

Courts are presided by a trio of judges working together. The typical case also involves the prosecution, defense, witnesses, nearby police (ie. bailiff), and audience. There is no concept of a jury trial; no matter the case, it is always resolved by a triad of judges, with verdicts requiring agreement by at least two out of the three. In a case in which there is a differential of what punishment should be from the perspective of each judge, the verdict is therefore effectively the same as what the middle opinionated judge would agree to. Alternatively, a confession obtained under interrogation or self-given to law enforcement, provided it is not reneged upon at a later date, pretty much results in a sentence of definitely guilty. A confession overheard by a witness (or similar, as evidence) is legally a non-revocable confession, whether or not it was obtained through the use of a writ or warrant, though the prosecution can be in turn charged with search/seizure without having a writ or warrant.

Witnesses can be convicted of lying (perjury). Both sides can be found guilty of contempt of the court. Prosecutors are just as in danger as defendants are of being assessed fines. This may occur if, for example, the court finds the prosecutor guilty of the crime which they have accused the defense, or of a different (though generally related) crime which they are responsible for, if the prosecution knowingly lies, aka. commits perjury (no one is permitted to lie knowingly). Defendants may also counter-sue in the same trial or at a later date. There is no law expressly forbidding double jeopardy, though by default judges won't allow the same prosecutor to gain double from the same defendant simply by going to trial multiple times. If the defendant loses, he may appeal it; if the prosecutor loses, he may likewise appeal it. Successfully appealed cases may in turn be appealed over and over up to the Legislature and even after the Legislature rules, cases may still be appealed for second rounds before the Legislature. Defendants who have already gone through a case for a crime can be brought to trial for a second round for the same crime; this is important if new evidence appears which hadn't been revealed beforehand. If the defendant is convicted both times, the later verdict replaces the former instead of being appended to it. This also works the other way around; if new evidence disproves a convicted defendant's guilt, it is admissible in a second round, the verdict of which would replace previous ones. There can then be third, fourth, etc. rounds provided there is at least one trio of judges willing to review the case. There is no statute of limitations, though of course evidence gets increasingly blurry so convictions become increasingly unlikely with time.

The process starts when the prosecutor files a complaint to the legal system. Within a few days the defendant will be notified, at which point both sides choose the locations where they would like to attend court. The electronic system will decide a location where both are satisfied, and the case will go to court in a few days. Before the trial begins, both sides are required to disclose certain vital information to each other; they also contact their witnesses and attorneys (if any). The state provides no lawyers to either defend or prosecute on behalf of individuals; people who can't afford an attorney don't get one. At any time during the process, the two sides can settle the case, in which case the case would end early. If a settlement cannot be reached, then the trial begins, a singular session (which may be recorded by media but could be restrained from immediate release for broadcasting) where the prosecution states its case, followed by the defense. There is no explicit "which do you plead" rite, no "pleading the fifth" as in the US court system; instead, both sides do their best to defend their positions. At any time while one side is making its case, that side can call in witnesses or ask questions to any witnesses. The two sides take turns stating arguments and countering the other side's arguments, never repeating an argument unless it's to briefly state that it is a counterargument to another claim. Soon both sides will run out of arguments, after which the judges will convene in their office and reach a verdict based on a simple majority. As a result of this system, situations are resolved very quickly.

There is no standardized form of verdict along the lines of "guilty" or "not guilty", the idea being that no one is ever entirely innocent of just about anything. Instead, the judges decide the percentage along the spectrum of 0% - 100% that prosecutor, defendant (or witness) is guilty of a crime (which may not necessarily be the one the prosecutor is charging the defendant of). For example, if the prosecutor's charge is that the defendant stole a pencil, the defendant may be 100% guilty of doing that, but the prosecutor is also 100% guilty of bringing up a trivial matter to court which, incidentally, carries a much heavier sentence than the charge levied on the defendant. A verdict of 50% guilty carries a sentence with 50% the weight of a sentence with 100% guilty. Sentences can also be, by judges' discretion, be a negative value or in excess of 100%. Prosecutors are almost always guilty of "bringing a case to court", which is a very, very light sentence meant to pay for court expenses. Mental problems are never a direct defense for a case.

A list of standardized sentences at 100% weight:

[edit] Crimes against people Murder: 36,000 days of social service / imprisonment, or ¥3,600,000 fine, up to ¥360,000 goes to prosecutor Premeditated: 100+% Based on malice: 90-100% Heat of the moment: 60-90% Physical harm: 18,000 days of social service / imprisonment, or ¥1,800,000 fine, up to ¥360,000 goes to prosecutor Total bodily injury: 100% Loss of a limb (mayhem): 20-30% Sexual violation: 3-5% Emotional harm: 12,000 days of social service / imprisonment, or ¥1,200,000 fine, up to ¥270,000 goes to prosecutor Driven mad (total trauma): 100% Driven to commit suicide: 40-80% Threats resulting in coercion: 10-30% Threats: 0.1-5% Malice: 3,600 days of social service / imprisonment, or ¥360,000 fine Intent to kill: 100+% Intent to harm: 0-30% Intent to cause suffering: 0-10% Willful disregard of life: 720 days of social service / imprisonment, or ¥72,000 fine Imprisonment: 240 days of social service / imprisonment, or ¥24,000 fine, all to prosecutor Each day: 100% Theft, arson, pillage, or embezzlement: 100 days of social service / imprisonment, or ¥10,000 fine Goods worth ¥1,000: 100% Recklessness: 90 days of social service / imprisonment, or ¥9,000 fine Trespassing 60 days of social service / imprisonment, or ¥6,000 fine Negligence: 30 days of social service / imprisonment, or ¥3,000 fine

[edit] Crimes against justice Obstruction of justice: 12,000 days of social service / imprisonment, or ¥1,200,000 fine Helping a felon escape: 100% Major infraction: 5-20% Minor infraction: 0.1-3% Malfeasance in office: 1,200 days of social service / imprisonment, or ¥120,000 fine Issue as severe as a typical felony: 50-150% Perjury: 120 days of social service / imprisonment, or ¥12,000 fine A rather important statement: 80-120%