Sixiang

Sixiang, the ‘Venice of the East,' was located in the shallow waters of the China Sea. Sixiang was established at the exact crossroads of the four major regional nations - Japan/Ainu, Hainan, Daijiang China and Joseon Korea. It aimed to be a trade and transportation hub between these four cultures, while blending their styles into its own unique designs.

Sixiang City
Sixiang was a city state, centered on its one-of-a-kind canal city that bears the same name. This canal city was built completely from scratch, without any pre-existing land to base it on. The canal city was planned with four distinct quarters, each built with inspiration from the four major nations to each side of Sixiang.

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For example, Black Tortoise Island was closest to Dajiang, thus its houses and bridge were inspired by Dajiang architechture. While inspired by the more complex designs of nations around it, Sixiang aimed to keep its architecture elegant and simplistic, so that anyone could easily adapt to it and build with it.

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Origins and Etymology
The name and unique maritime location of Sixiang is explained by its Chinese meaning - the four cardinal directions and four great beasts of Chinese astrology and mythology. Sixiang forms the center between four nations to the four cardinal directions - thus, each quarter also represents elements animals associated with the cardinal directions in Chinese mythology.

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Each of the four major island quarters was named accordingly - Black Tortoise Island, White Tiger Island, Vermillion Island and Azure island. Black tortoise Island had more wintery, Chinese characteristics and pallets of birch, while Vermilion Island was designed with a more summery, Japanese aesthetic.

Sixiang History and Policies
Sixiang reached a population of two during its short period of activity, but it never intended to have many citizens. The main focus of the nation was as an international city, a locale to host regional commerce and incentivize foreign construction projects both in and through the city. Sixiang proved successful in this role, even after its two members stopped being as active. Sixiang helped organize the East Asian Summit in late December, which was the first regional conference to discuss transportation links and embassy connections between all the East Asian powers - Zhongguo, Hainan, Korea, Japan, and Ainu.

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On the 2nd of January, 2021, a treaty was concluded with a plan to construct an East Asian Iceway network which would run through the capitals of all involved nations, and use Sixiang as a central intersection due to its location. An agreement mandating embassy construction by each country in the others' capitals was also reached, and was fulfilled over the next month. Similar regional projects continued up until March, with the outbreak of a major conflict across East Asia.

- In addition to expanding its own population, the city offered properties for low prices to any businesses, embassies and dual citizens who wanted them. The city's growth was mainly caused by people purchasing apartments and houses for their own personal residences, as stores, or as embassies. The southern two islands, Black Tortoise and Vermillion Island were completed in full. Both islands were lined with unique houses and shops along the central canals, separated by walkways and small walls from two large ornamental gardens in Chinese and Japanese themes. The largest building in the city, the Ao Guang Palace, was created as the government seat and capstone project of Sixiang. It bridged the partially constructed White Tiger and Azure islands, and was a fusion of Dajiang architechture and Korean palace designs.

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The city was inactive for most of February, and eventually was damaged during the regional conflict in March. The damage was never repaired, but Sixiang's lasting footprint of regional connection remained.