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Rangya

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Rangya (Rangyayo: 琅野国 rangyākok, lit. "State of Rangya") is an island nation in East Asia located in the East China Sea, approximately halfway between mainland China and the Ryukyu Islands (Japan). Other neighbouring countries include Korea to the north, Japan to the northeast, and Taiwan to the southwest. Due to its large population and small area, the country is highly urbanised, with the majority of people living in dense urban areas on the main island of Daichendo, which represents about two-thirds of national land area. Due to the large, densely concentrated population, the main island has become a de facto city-state, with no clear physical delimitation between cities and municipal boundaries often cutting through urban areas. The capital and largest "city" of Rangya is Baksan. Other major urban centres include Dotsin, Dutsei, Yohangmuk, Suiyuchen and Senphangtsyu.

In 1544, both Taiwan and Rangya were discovered by Portugal. The Portuguese, and later the Spanish and Dutch were allowed by King Juloi I to set up trading posts on Daichendo near Baksan, at the time known as Urarin. Portuguese and Spanish traders were eventually driven away by Dutch forces, which soon proclaimed the islands a nominal colony. However, the Rangyan royal family were kept as puppet rulers in order to stave off rebellion by the local population. The islands' transformation into a Dutch colony by the start of the 17th century helped keep early Japanese invasion away—Japan invaded Ryukyu in 1609 but failed to invade Korea during 1592–98. Japan would not invade Rangya until the 1894–95 Sino-Japanese War, in which it failed to take the islands from Dutch and Chinese forces. "Dutch Learning" and by extension "Western Learning" developed as a body of knowledge in Rangya during this time, allowing the islands to keep abreast of Western technology and medicine despite their isolation. The Japanese invasion and subsequent occupation during World War II ended Dutch rule, with the colonial administration fleeing the islands in the wake of the Japanese assault.

Under occupation, the previously suppressed national independence movement was stoked; like Burma and the Philippines, Rangya was granted formal independence by the Japanese in 1943, and Rangyan representatives were sent to the Greater East Asia Conference in Tokyo in November 1943. During Japanese occupation, an insurgency developed led by the Communist Party of Rangya; after the capitulation of Japan at the end of the war, however, the Rangyan monarchy was restored, and the country was formally granted independence from the Dutch in 1946. At first, calls for a constitution limiting the powers of the monarch were humoured, but in the end the constitutional draft was rejected and an absolute monarchy proclaimed. The monarchy concentrated wealth to a small elite and was seen as a puppet of Western corporate interests, fomenting popular resentment of the government. Following the start of the Korean War in 1950, an uprising led to the abdication of King Juloi II, and the Communist Party assumed formal control of the country. The period of communist rule lasted until 1989, and included significant modernisation and an exponential increase in the standard of living. Following the revolutions of 1989 in Europe, the Progressive Democratic Party came to power in a military coup which ousted the communists, beginning a period of economic liberalisation and privatisation of national industry, as well as an increase in the standard of living despite a significant widening of the wage gap.

Today, Rangya is a modern, highly developed island city-state, with a robust economy centred around trade and technology as well as a developing shipbuilding and aerospace industry and a highly developed and sophisticated transportation network. It also has a well-developed electronics export industry for its size, and in the last decade has seen significant growth in local high-tech startups. Rangya is nominally a multi-party democracy under a parliamentary republic, however the Progressive Democratic Party has ruled uninterrupted since 1989. The current President of Rangya is Thenbong Kijang, and the current Prime Minister is Tsimuk Munzeng. The country is a member of the United Nations, and a founding member of APEC and the East Asia Summit.

Geography[]

Climate[]

The islands are considered to have a subtropical climate, but with relatively less humidity than many of their neighbours and cooler winters.

The Rangyan climate is similar to the typhoon-affected climates of its southern neighbors such as Taiwan and the Ryukyu Islands; however, being closer to the Asian mainland, the archipelago has milder summers, a shorter wet season, and comparatively cool winters.

Environment[]

Most of the islands were historically covered in subtropical rainforest, with sandy beaches on the east coast and marshy wetlands on the west. Almost two thirds of this ecology has been eroded thanks to urban development; over three quarters of the main island is now covered in urban sprawl, the remaining quarter devoted mostly to farmland, leaving limited space for natural parks and forests. Culturally, the smaller, sparsely-populated islands are considered sanctuaries of the archipelago's historic natural beauty, while the large island-cities are dominated by postmodern growth and economic development. A strong example of this dichotomy can be seen in the city of Suiyuchen, whose once-plentiful stretches of coastal mangrove wetlands have now been almost entirely replaced by the country's largest cargo and chemical port; less than one kilometer from the city's coast lay the tiny Khophan Islands, which proved to be too rocky and tidal for industrial development, and which thus boast swaths of mangroves enclosing shallow, warm lagoons.

Since the late 1990s, most cities in Rangya have increasingly tried to incorporate nature and park space into their dense urban areas, as part of a wider national 'green' campaign, drawing strongly on the cultural heritage of Rangyans associated with the natural beauty of the islands. Fitting humble garden spaces into urban areas, often with a small pond or shrine, has long been a part of Rangyan culture; now it is becoming common to see urban vegetable gardens, green walls and even rooftop parks.

Administrative divisions[]

Rangya consists of eight top-level administrative divisions with devolved jurisdiction from the national government: six counties and two prefectures. Counties consist of three or more subordinate municipalities, while prefectures are essentially one urban municipality and county merged into a single jurisdiction. The two prefectures and four of the six counties are located on the main island of Daichendo and associated minor islands, while the Jakang and Dūkhyū archipelagos northeast of the main island each form their own namesake county.

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