The concept of “Chinese Isolation” doesn’t make sense to me. China was never isolated in the way Japan was. There was always a huge demand for Chinese goods and the Chinese were happy to trade them for silver. They were just very arrogant and saw foreigners as barbarians with inferior goods so they didn’t accept anything other than bullion.
I get the desire to have an option that gives native Chinese options, but doing it through “Chinese Isolation” is kind of wrong. In my post about Taverns/Monasteries, I mentioned unique Chinese units from a Teahouse so that could be a limited way to do it.
Ultimately the problem lies in the fundamental flaws in the whole Consulate/Export system which needs a major rework if not scrapped altogether. It’s not integrated into any other game mechanics and it artificially limits the native Asian units by replacing them with European ones. I think it should be reworked into a new feature that is unique to East Asian (China, Japan, Korea, Vietnam) instead of for all of Asia. If there continues to be a 4th resource, I’d change the name to something like “Mandate” instead of Export.
Japan - Could retain something similar to the current consulate with options of Portuguese, Dutch, Isolation, or Americans.
China - Consulate should revolve around the tributary system with options like Korea, Vietnam, Thailand, and Ryukyu. Maybe an option for a European relation in age 5.
Korea - Could have options like Ming, Manchu, or Joseon to represent the different Chinese suzerains and native Korean influence.
India - Shouldn’t have a Consulate at all. Give them actual Mughal cannons.