Create-A-City [Light:Human]

[Oldknight]

Not sure it would be primary Chinese given the history that had been put up. I could see Japanese influence as well as English and Korean. I think a good question here is would it be a previous colony and if that is the case the European language might be larger.

An idea perhaps for post WW2- the island would gain independence say 48, it would then be used as a us logistics base during the Korean War . The us and in putting more investments into the island and paying the island a lease rate to operate the airfield and harbor to support things like the mcarthur's landing.

As for religion I could see it like South Korea which I pretty I think.

[Moraline]

I got a question!

Two in fact.

1) What are the predominant and official languages of Zan'an?

I would assume the official and most common language is either Mandarin or Cantonese Chinese, but I wonder what other languages might be commonly spoken. How common is Japanese, Korean, English, etc.

2) What are the major religions of Zan'an?

Buddhism, Daoism and Confucianism are all common in the area. Perhaps Japanese Shinto beliefs or Korean folklore have made their way to the island? How much have foreign religions such Christianity, Judaism and Islam had an impact on the city?

Its worth pointing out that for the most part, Asian religious beliefs aren't generally viewed as mutually exclusive. Someone can believe in both Buddhism and Shintoism for example. In fact, I think the majority of Japan's religion falls under a hybrid of those two.

I think this would fall into one catch all, "Demographics." Just because it's off the coast of China though doesn't mean that it has to be predominantly Chinese speaking or people. It might actually be interesting if it had a totally different demographic. I'll leave that up to whoever answers the question of Demographics though.

Question of "Demographics" added to the list!

Not sure it would be primary Chinese given the history that had been put up. I could see Japanese influence as well as English and Korean. I think a good question here is would it be a previous colony and if that is the case the European language might be larger.

An idea perhaps for post WW2- the island would gain independence say 48, it would then be used as a us logistics base during the Korean War . The us and in putting more investments into the island and paying the island a lease rate to operate the airfield and harbor to support things like the mcarthur's landing.

As for religion I could see it like South Korea which I pretty I think.

See, that's my thinking as well.   But I'll leave it up to whoever fills out the Demographics question that I'm adding. I'm good with whatever way it goes as long as there's a brief description to go with it.

Okay, city name blurb.

Nan'an is an actual city in China which means "southern peace" shifting that slightly and leaving no regard for the actual language, I thought that perhaps Zan'an could mean "eastern peace"? Or perhaps Zan'an was the name of the original founder of the city/town when it was first settled?

I like it. Here's my twist on it... Hopefully you'll like it.

"Zan'an was named after a feudal lord who's fishing fleets first discovered it's bountiful reefed harbor back around 220 BC during the Qin Dynasty. Zan'an also means, "Eastern Peace" which for most of the small communities history is the name was believed to originated from. It was an accurate description of this formerly sleepy little fishing community until WWII. (*see notes on Zan'an's involvement in WWII.)"

[Ember Star]

I like it. Here's my twist on it... Hopefully you'll like it.

"Zan'an was named after a feudal lord who's fishing fleets first discovered it's bountiful reefed harbor back around 220 BC during the Qin Dynasty. Zan'an also means, "Eastern Peace" which for most of the small communities history is the name was believed to originated from. It was an accurate description of this formerly sleepy little fishing community until WWII. (*see notes on Zan'an's involvement in WWII.)"

Works for me! :)

[Chrystal]

Are we talking about a fictional language, because Eastern in Chinese is Dōng, so Eastern Peace would be Dōng'an using the same word construction and given that South is Nán...

Just to be clear, I have no objection to using a fictional translation, I just want to know if that is the case...

[Moraline]

Are we talking about a fictional language, because Eastern in Chinese is Dōng, so Eastern Peace would be Dōng'an using the same word construction and given that South is Nán...

Just to be clear, I have no objection to using a fictional translation, I just want to know if that is the case...

I have a compromise... "Dōng'an " is the original name but it was changed by the Americans and Australians during WWII to Zan'an and the name has stuck?

Do we think that could work? I like a little bit of culture smushing.

[Chrystal]

I have no problem with Zan'an meaning Eastern Peace in the Chinese language of this world, just so long as we are clear that we are talking about a different Chinese language to the real one?

That's all!

[Moraline]

I have no problem with Zan'an meaning Eastern Peace in the Chinese language of this world, just so long as we are clear that we are talking about a different Chinese language to the real one?

That's all!

Here's what I changed it too.

Zan'an
Zan'an was originally named Dōng'an after a feudal lord who's fishing fleets first discovered it's bountiful reefed harbor back around 220 BC during the Qin Dynasty. Dōng'an also means, "Eastern Peace" which for most of the small communities history is where the name was believed to originate from. It was an accurate description of this formerly sleepy little fishing community until WWII. During it's liberation in 1946 the allied forces renamed it to Zan'an and the new name has stuck. (*See notes on Zan'an's involvement in WWII.)

I have no problem using some fictional Chinese as well but there might actually be some Chinese people here on the forums that read it and I can totally see it being a source of annoyance to them. LOL

*edit* I think it adds color and history to the location.

[Oldknight]

Demographics thought: 15 percent Chinese, this number has grown a lot since 1990 and the immigration of fishermen looking for jobs 5 percent Japanese, part of the group who never went home and used the islands favorable position to gain in trade. 2-5 percent American/Aussie: businessmen or are connected to the us outpost on the island.15 percent Korean mostly those who came to the island over the years for fishing. 5 percent Southern Asia Philippines Vietnamese etc who come to the island for work Remainder would be native islanders who were always there and have grown and endured over the years. Religions: 50 percent traditional 20 percent non-believers or no certain believe 20 Christian of various faiths 10 other including Muslim. Language a nation of four official languages Japanese, English, M. Chinese and Korean. A mixed English/Chinese being the most common language

[Chrystal]

*giggles* So we are talking about "Firefly Island", where they speak in in English but swear in Chinese?

[Moraline]

Demographics thought: 15 percent Chinese, this number has grown a lot since 1990 and the immigration of fishermen looking for jobs 5 percent Japanese, part of the group who never went home and used the islands favorable position to gain in trade. 2-5 percent American/Aussie: businessmen or are connected to the us outpost on the island.15 percent Korean mostly those who came to the island over the years for fishing. 5 percent Southern Asia Philippines Vietnamese etc who come to the island for work Remainder would be native islanders who were always there and have grown and endured over the years. Religions: 50 percent traditional 20 percent non-believers or no certain believe 20 Christian of various faiths 10 other including Muslim. Language a nation of four official languages Japanese, English, M. Chinese and Korean. A mixed English/Chinese being the most common language

I edited this to make it a bit easier to break down...

Demographics
A) Courtesy of Tenshinhan
Nationality:
15 percent Chinese, this number has grown a lot since 1990 and the immigration of fishermen looking for jobs. 
15 percent Korean mostly those who came to the island over the years for fishing. 
5 percent Japanese, part of the group who never went home and used the islands favorable position to gain in trade. 
5 percent Southern Asia Philippines Vietnamese etc who come to the island for work.
2-5 percent American/Aussie businessmen or are connected to the US military outpost on the island.
Remainder would be native islanders who were always there and have grown and endured over the years. 

Religions: 50 percent traditional 20 percent non-believers or no certain believe 20 Christian of various faiths 10 other including Muslim.

Languages:  A nation of four official languages Japanese, English, Mandarin Chinese, and Korean. * A mixed English/Chinese being the most common language



We are a little light on the population statistics though for nationalities. Suggestions?

*giggles* So we are talking about "Firefly Island", where they speak in in English but swear in Chinese?

I can totally dig that. Except I think if you look at Hong Kong it's like the reverse. It's speak Chinese and curse or do business in English. HAHA

(( I don't actually know, I'm just trying to be funny.    ))

[Oldknight]

My idea came more from singlish but that works too. I think the population has to be 2-5 million at least

[Moraline]

My idea came more from singlish but that works too. I think the population has to be 2-5 million at least

What about the percentages of nationalities.. Right now we only have 45% accounted for, unless we are saying that 55% are the original inhabitants but given the islands history it would make more sense if they were only a tiny fraction of the overall population. I would think the percentage of American/British/Australian would be significantly higher given the history.

Thoughts?

[Oldknight]

Hmm okay oh about a large mixed population say 45-50 percent with 5-10 native

[Chrystal]

I have more questions, that are all related:

What percentage of the island does the city cover? What is the overall size of the island - these two give us the size of the city, and hence the population density. The population density is directly related to the standard of living. Big houses cost more and take up more space. One-room apartments are cheap and can be stacked as high as you like until the air gets too thin or the structure becomes unstable...

Also, what makes up the rest (if any) of the island? Farm land/paddy fields, rainforrest, mountains? Some of each, and in what percentage?

Given the level of criminal activity and piracy, I would think that there would be a decent amount of undeveloped land, for the pirates to hide in.

[JackWhite]

Education:

The government of the small island believes that education is the key to a better future. A well-educated population would be an important factor for businesses to invest in the country. Although the sea and manual labor are important for the economy nowadays, they do want to encourage the young student to remain in school. That’s why the island spend a reasonable amount of their budget on education and keeping it affordable for the middle class. Most of the schools would be highly subsidized.

[Chrystal]

I thought this might be useful...



I can, if required, make the island bigger or smaller. As it stands, it's about the same size as Honolulu Island, or Rhodes (the Greek Island in the Mediterranean).

[Ember Star]

Yes. Yes. Maps are a good thing.

[Oldknight]

Maybe the natives on the island are connected to those on the ryukyu islands somehow given how close they are?

[Angel Fire]

Wow.... I always loved to build a world and I would really like to be a part of this.  Lets see what I can come up with here.

Zan'an gained Independence from the US/Aussie occupation in 1990 after a peaceful argument of what type of government the leaders decided to go with (that government question can be answered by someone else).

The UN took a look at their status and granted UN admission in 2002, a few months after the 9/11 attacks.  The UN realized that in order to protect Zan'an from the re-organization of the US and Aussie troops to more of the Middle East, they reluctantly realized that Zan'an was a strategically important place to avoid possible North Korean attacks from afar.

Hope this is good with everyone! *Smiles in hope*

[Chrystal]

nestled between mainland China, Taiwan, Okinawa, Japan and the Korean Peninsula.

Basically, I put the island pretty much equidistant from those four locations.

Interestingly, I can't see there being great surf beaches on the Island in this location, as the East China Sea is only about 100m (300') deep and the Island chain to the East will break up the Pacific rollers...

However...

The fact that I put the city to the South East of the island was arbitrary, as with the size. The map I drew makes the island about 30 miles from end to end and about half that from side to side, but as I said that can be changed easily, as can the orientation of the island - I can make it straight, bi or gay.... Sorry, just kidding... Paintbrush is an amazing little tool in the Windows 7 version, so I can rotate the island, flip it over, stretch it, skew it, whatever anyone wants...

[Oldknight]

I think it would make more sense for the us to give it is independence after the Korean War but keep a base there like what we did with South Korea so the independence date would be more 1948-1950. Then more recently the problems would have more to do with China's aggressive growth and it's conflict with japan the us and those who want to remain independent. This is happening I real life with some of Japan's and the Philippines  islands in Asia today

[Angel Fire]

That was my very first thought there.  Since I could not answer the government question, I decided to let the country be like a commonwealth (like Puerto Rico is to the US) until the people could decide which way to go.  I will be very happy to switch it to the late 40's-early 50's timeframe once we decide on what type of government we have.

[Chrystal]

Most UK dependencies were give independents in the 1940s, 50s and 60s.

However, the Marshall Islands and South Solomon Islands - Pacific dependencies of the USA and UK respectively following WWII were not given independence until the 1970s.

[Oldknight]

Then you have places like Guam which the us still owns

[Angel Fire]

Yes... That was where I was getting at... and also American Samoa too.