China

China (Chinese: 中国; pinyin: Zhōngguó), officially the People's Republic of China (PRC; Chinese: 中华人民共和国; pinyin: Zhōnghuá Rénmín Gònghéguó), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population of more than 1.4 billion. China spans five geographical time zones and borders 14 countries, the second most of any country in the world after Russia. Covering an area of approximately 9.6 million square kilometers (3,700,000 sq mi), it is the world's third or fourth largest country. The country consists of 23 provinces, five autonomous regions, four municipalities, and two Special Administrative Regions (Hong Kong and Macau). The national capital is Beijing, and the most populous city and financial center is Shanghai.^[1]

Story[]

In the series[]

Around 3000 years ago during the Shang Dynasty, the Chinese Mermaid was a member of the Eastern Pod and fell in love with a land boy. When another pod heard of this, they punished the mermaid and her entire pod by turning the land boy into a Water Dragon, capable of permanently stripping a merperson of their magic and transforming them into a human being, and of killing merpeople. The Chinese mermaid used the Jiao Long Bracelet to undo the spell on her lover and return him to his human form.

After the ancient war that happened between mermen and mermaids around the 11th Century, Eastern mermen were banished from the Eastern Pod and forced to live on land across the mainland of China after being given away to human foster families by their mermaid mothers when they were born, as the Legs Spell easily makes it possible.

In the late 1990s, the Eastern Pod found itself under attack by the rebel mermaid, Aurora. A Northern mermaid named Nerissa came to their rescue and fought alongside them for years. Eventually, the battle with the Eastern Pod turned against Aurora and Nerissa went to face her alone. Aurora overpowered her and turned Nerissa into a Water Dragon. She forced her to destroy the Eastern Pod by stripping its members' tails and magical powers, turning them permanently into human beings. Later, its surviving members, including a young hatchling named Weilan and her elderly grandmother who escaped unharmed, were forced to flee to the mainland of China, and eventually the pod split. Weilan and her grandmother then settled in Shanghai where they moved into an apartment and Weilan started attending a human school.

At some point, a Southern mermaid named Rita Santos visited Shanghai, and was warmily welcomed by Weilan's family for her stay at China, before Rita returned to Australia.

In 2014, Nerissa, still a Water Dragon, began experiencing dreams of her now grown-up children, Zac and Mimmi. These dreams awoke her from her slumber, and the first thing she saw was Weilan. Afraid of the dragon threat, Weilan's grandmother sent her away for safekeeping to live with Rita in Australia, and Nerissa followed, sensing and wanting to see her children.

Prior to her return to Australia in 2014, Rikki Chadwick, a human-turned mermaid, retrieved the Jiao Long Bracelet from the depths of the East China Sea for her Secrets of the Deep exhibition.

After the defeat of the Water Dragon in July 2014, Weilan decided to go back to China to restart the Eastern Pod and Ondina decided to go with her. It is unknown if she succeeded in rebuilding the pod, and if mermen were allowed to rejoin the pod.