RRC 1917

[Logi]

January 15, 1917

The March Elections were closing in rapidly and the issue on everyone's mind was of course who would win and what new direction they would take the country. Already politicians were grouping into parties and nominating candidates to run for President.

The trickiest subjects reared their ugly heads, this was a bid to sway the general populace. A slight slip-up in words could mean victory or defeat. There was no doubt that foreign influence might have a larger influence on this election than the ones in the past.

[Logi]

January 20, 1917

News of the peace have reached the ears of the Republic's citizens. There are many who welcome it, yet still more dislike it. There are those who feel as if they were betrayed, "Letting those traitors live? Has our government grown spineless?" However there is surprising little protest. Why protest when the elections were just a month and half away? They would voice their opinions then.

There is a minority about the masses that believe this should b the way the RRC should be. An RoC withdraw from the stage of international politics. Why concern yourself with your neighbors, when there is trouble within your own home?

[Logi]

February 16, 1917

The Naval Design Bureau in Hong Kong draws up the design for a 750 ton Destroyers. The Navy has taken a liking to the design and proclaimed that it shall be the standard DD design for the RRC in the years to come.

In other news, the Southern Army has remained in partial mobilization as has the Northern Army.

--------------
The Daily reports
The Presidential elections are closing in, with each candidate preparing campaigning. Each party is currently in the middle of choosing its candidate to led the party.

For the Nationalist Party - Li Sen, Sun Fo, Wang Jingwei, Hu Hanmin are the candidates.

For the Republican Party - Bao Dan, Dai Li, Xian Jun are the candidates.

For the Democratic Party -  FengHuang Yu, Yun Ming are the candidates.

[Logi]

Early March, 1917

The start of the elections is made by a fireworks display in Macau and the trumpeting of the army bands. Huang Hun and Li Ming fire off celebratory shots while in port. The night sky is lit not only by the fireworks, but by the rocket-flares of the military. The citizens have no doubt been awed by the magnificent display.

The Parties are narrowing down its candidates, running background checks on all of them.

In the Nationalist Party;
Sun Fo, Wang Jingwei, and Hu Hanmin remain candidates; Li Sen withdrew.

In the Republican Party;
Dai Li is the sole surviving candidate of the Republican Party.

In the Democratic Party;
Both FengHuang Yu and Yun Ming remain candidates.

Backgrounds:

Name: Sun Fo
Age: 27
  Sun Fo was born in Gunagdong, the son of Sun Yat-sen the Father of the Republic. He was noted as having traveled abroad and received a Western education in the Conderate States of America. He recently returned from the CSA to the RRC sporting a Bachelor Degree of Arts and Master Degree of Science. He also has a LL.D. from Columbia. At his return to the illustrious Republic, he was appointed mayor of Guangzhou. A known supporter of educational and administrative reforms, he is a liberal democrat who loves his nation dearly despite only having spent fledgling years in it. As the son of the man who dreamed up the Republic the RRC is now centered around, he has considerable pull with the citizens, both elders and youngsters, in the Republic.


Name: Wang Jingwei
Age: 34
 Wang Jingwei was born in Guangdong, he traveled abroad to Japan during his early years. An outspoken critic of the Monarchist reign in the Middle Kingdom, he was a comrade in the Republic Revolution alongside Sun Yat-sen and Chaing Kai-shek. A staunch nationalist and a excellent public speaker, he is able to excite national pride even in citizens of the RRC would have only lived here for a few years. He is noted as left-leaning but a firm anti-Communist.


Name: Hu Hanmin
Age: 38
  Hu Hanmin was also born in Guangdong. He qualified as an official in the Middle Kingdom at age 21, and even studied in Japan. He currently holds the post of Governor of Guangdong. He is known for his three principles of resistance: resistance against Swiss, resistance against the Communists, and finally resistance against dictators and monarchs. He believes the amount of indivdual rights granted to citizens was the result of their membership in the nation; meaning those who don't work, don't eat.


Name: Dai Li
Age: 20
 Born in Zhejiang, Dai Li has underwent strict military training and had sought to open a national military academy. He is well known in the Bureau of Investigation and Statistics in which he is the head. Having served the Republic in finding internal enemies and spies, Dai Li is the "security guard" of the Republic. The people remain grateful to his services to stop the attempts of foreign warmongers to undermine the authority of the Republic and yet fearful of his secret-service styled counterespionage system.


Name: FengHuang Yu
Age: 24
 A colleague of the silver-tongued Yun Ming, FengHuang Yu is a man of many mysterious. Having recently appeared in the government with a post in the Republican Sector, he is outspoken against the militant nature of the government and favors "speaking softly and holding a big stick". A convinced liberal in terms of social ideas, he has been a strong force in convincing the Republican Sector to pass many reforms, including the Education reform in which the government finally accepted the idea of public schools and built more schools throughout the nation.


Name: Yun Ming
Age: 24
 The silver-tongued fox. Yun Ming has often been called that for the few times he shows up in the Republican Sector to ask for something, he manages to sway the entire Legislative Body. The Minister of the notorious Projects department, he is the force behind the military experiments with airplane, rockets, and other new methods of warfare. He also is a pushing force behind improving working conditions from both factory workers and farmers. Despite his very young age, he has been able to convince the masses that it is no problem.

[Borys]

OOC
Aren't the candidates a bit young?
And Hu Hanmin is my man :)
Borys

[The Rock Doctor]

I was thinking the same thing, particularly given my impression that the Chinese place great importance in age and wisdom.

[Walter]

I would think that that is the case with the Middle Kingdom, but the RRC is a very young nation and has different ideas about tradition. It's more likely: "What do those old farts know about running a nation". :D

[Logi]

Yes, while the emphasis on age and wisdom is great, the nature of the RRC creates an approach for younger rulers. One of the reovluntionary ideals is of course, that age plays little role in ability.

You see the struggle to conform to tradition and break away from it. In my opinion, only Dai Li is a bit too young. But he has a fearsome reputation already as the head of the secret service, to be fully realized in the 1920s.

Because with youth, signifies change, you might find RRC citizens a bit less willing to vote for the elders of the nation.

Funny to note that Hu Hanmin betrays the Republic IRL later. All except the Democratic party members really existed.

[Logi]

Late March, 1917

The political party's finally decided on their candidate to push forward. The Nationalist Party was unable to ignore the influence of Sun Fo and pushed Sun Fo as their candidate despite many wanting Hu Hanmin instead.

In the Democratic Party, Yun Ming announced he had other matters to address and thus could no longer afford to run for President and withdraw from the elections.

As the elections ran on, the first of opinion polls formed up. The polls, taken out of one thousand citizens showed the rift in public opinion between the candidates.

Sun Fo 28% ; Dai Li 4%; Feng Huang Yu 32%; Hu Hanmin 36%

In the Nationalist Party;
Sun Fo is the sole surviving candidate of the Nationalist Party.

In the Republican Party;
Dai Li is the sole surviving candidate of the Republican Party.

In the Democratic Party;
Feng Huang Yu is the sole surviving candidate of the Democratic Party.

Independent:
Hu Hanmin; rejected by the Nationalist Party, Hu Hanmin announced he will run independent instead.

[Logi]

Early April, 1917

The Daily reports:
With little chance of winning the election, Dai Li opted to drop out of the elections. A survey of random people in Guangzhou reported that most believed Dai Li to be too young. When questioned if they thought Sun Fo and Feng Haung Yu were too young, they replied that Sun Fo was alright and Feng Huang was just a bit too young.

Candidates Remianing:
Sun Fo              30%
Feng Huang Yu  33%
Hu Hanmin        37%

OOC: Chiang Kai-Shek was only 26 when he started the revolution so I would think they would be fine with candidates above or near age 26.

[Logi]

Mid April, 1917

The Daily reports:
Hu Hanmin managed to steal most of Sun Fo's support and the election has become a match between Feng Huang Yu and Hu Hanmin. As the two candidates compete, it is now impossible to tell who will win. The young upstart, or the elder statesman?

Candidates Remaining:
Feng Huang Yu  48%
Hu Hanmin        52%

OOC: IRL Hu Hanmin managed to bump Sun Fo off in the bid for popularity too ;)

[Kaiser Kirk]

Hmm, I was guessing Sun Fo would win it, favored son and all.  My 2nd guess, Wang Jingwei didn't make it out of the first round.  Shows what I know.

[Logi]

OOC: A little side-story *looks at Walter* :P

Hong Kong, 1917

A plane rather violently splashed onto the shallow waters as the pilot struggled to regain control of the float-plane. The pilot glided plane towards the merchant-ship awaiting nearby, once close enough he hopped off and grabbed the rope thrown to him. The pilot, a young man of 23, tied the rope to the plane as the merchant-ship glently tugged it to the shore.

The mechanics set to work repairing the float-plane. "That was good Mr. Fok" The pilot nodded towards the mechanic, "Its a fast plane, faster than any other plane I've flow, but there are a few problems I had with it. I could barely get off the water and the fabric needs to be a bit stronger, it was starting to tear."

The mechanic shrugged, "We tried using the lightest material available so the plane could fly faster. The wing could be slightly lengthened to produce more lift for the plane. It is a monoplane afterall."

Fok nodded and left the mechanics to their work.

[Logi]

Late April, 1917

The Daily reports:
The week was met with overcrowding at ballot booths and the citizens of the Republic swarmed to make their voice heard. The occasion? The final vote to decide who would become the President of the illustrious Republic. In the months following this final vote, Feng Huang Yu and Hu Hanmin had braved all odds, finally meeting each other as the sole surviving candidates. The popularity polls had indicated the two were closely met and no one could predict the winner.

But the ballot boxes were counted and the numbers announced this morning, Hu Hanmin had won by a landslide of 68% against Feng Huang Yu's 32%. A result no one could have predicted, but the people have spoken!

----

The inauguration ceremony was conducted with a military parade, taking a thousand soldiers from every corp of the Republic's army as well as officers from the airforce and navy. The soldiers saluted the people before firing off their ceremonial artillery. The Plaza roared with the national anthem as the people burst with patriotism.

At the ceremony, newly-elected President Hu Hanmin took an oath to work for the betterment of the Republic and its citizens. Feng Huang Yu gave a humble speech congratulating Hu Hanmin's victory. In a move that didn't surprise many, Hu Hanmin choose Feng Huang Yu to be his Vice-President. President Hu Hanmin continued with his speech, going on to outline his plan for the Republic and announced a Five-Year Plan for economic and industrial modernization. He said he had come out with this plan after talking to members of the Republican sector and Feng Huang Yu. "This is a new age for the Republic!"

What a glorious day!

[Sachmle]

Doesn't Dr. A. Cula work for you Walter?