China

Reform and upheaval

Immediately after the triple intervention, Russia succeeded in 1896 in signing a secret treaty of alliance with China against Japan, by which Russia gained the right to construct the Chinese Eastern Railway across northern Manchuria. In November 1897 the Germans seized Jiaozhou Bay in Shandong and forced China to concede them the right to build two railways in the province. In March 1898 Russia occupied Port Arthur (Lüshun; since 1984 a part of Dalian) and a small fishing village that became Dairen (Dalian; called Lüda in 1950–81) on the Liaodong Peninsula and obtained the lease of the two ports and the right to build a railway connecting them to the Chinese Eastern Railway. Vying with Russia and Germany, Britain leased Weihai in Shandong and the New Territories opposite Hong Kong and forced China to recognize the Yangtze River valley as being under British influence. Following suit, Japan put the province of Fujian under its influence, and France leased Kwangchow (Zhanjiang) Bay, southwest of Hong Kong, and singled out three southwestern provinces for its sphere of influence. Thus, China was placed on the brink of partition, arousing a keen sense of crisis in 1898 in which the Hundred Days of Reform was staged.

Map of Hong Kong c. 1900; from the 10th edition of Encyclopædia Britannica.Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.