treaty was signed in 1871; from then on, Japan began to carry out her imperialistic plans.  In 1874 she attacked the Ryukyu islands and Formosa on the pretext that some Japanese had been murdered there.  Under the treaty of 1874 Japan withdrew once more, only demanding a substantial indemnity; but in 1876, in violation of the treaty and without a declaration of war, she annexed the Ryukyu Islands.  In 1876 began the Japanese penetration into Korea; by 1885 she had reached the stage of a declaration that Korea was a joint sphere of interest of China and Japan; until then China’s protectorate over Korea had been unchallenged.  At the same time (1876) Great Britain had secured further Capitulations in the Chefoo Convention; in 1862 France had acquired Cochin China, in 1864 Cambodia, in 1874 Tongking, and in 1883 Annam.  This led in 1884 to war between France and China, in which the French did not by any means gain an indubitable victory; but the Treaty of Tientsin left them with their acquisitions.

Meanwhile, at the beginning of 1875, the young Chinese emperor died of smallpox, without issue.  Under the influence of the two empresses, who still remained regents, a cousin of the dead emperor, the three-year-old prince Tsai T’ien was chosen as emperor Te Tsung (reign name Kuang-hsue:  1875-1909).  He came of age in 1889 and took over the government of the country.  The empress Tzu Hsi retired, but did not really relinquish the reins.

In 1894 the Sino-Japanese War broke out over Korea, as an outcome of the undefined position that had existed since 1885 owing to the imperialistic policy of the Japanese.  China had created a North China squadron, but this was all that can be regarded as Chinese preparation for the long-expected war.  The Governor General of Chihli (now Hopei—­the province in which Peking is situated), Li Hung-chang, was a general who had done good service, but he lost the war, and at Shimonoseki (1895) he had to sign a treaty on very harsh terms, in which China relinquished her protectorate over Korea and lost Formosa.  The intervention of France, Germany, and Russia compelled Japan to content herself with these acquisitions, abandoning her demand for South Manchuria.

10 Russia in Manchuria

After the Crimean War, Russia had turned her attention once more to the East.  There had been hostilities with China over eastern Siberia, which were brought to an end in 1858 by the Treaty of Aigun, under which China ceded certain territories in northern Manchuria.  This made possible the founding of Vladivostok in 1860.  Russia received Sakhalin from Japan in 1875 in exchange for the Kurile Islands.  She received from China the important Port Arthur as a leased territory, and then tried to secure the whole of South Manchuria.  This brought Japan’s policy of expansion into conflict with Russia’s plans in the Far East.  Russia wanted Manchuria in order to be able to pursue a policy in the Pacific; but Japan herself planned