Lesson 5: The Sino-Japanese War and the "Partition" of China

The Sino-Japanese War

Japan had long coveted Korea, and the conquest of Korea was an important step in Japan's attempt to invade China and dominate the world. At the request of the King of Korea, the Qing government sent troops to help suppress it. Japan also took the opportunity to send troops to Korea. In July, the Japanese army attacked the Chinese army in Korea and attacked the Qing army's troop carriers in the sea of Pungdo outside Asan Pass. The Qing government was forced to declare war on Japan. 1894 was the lunar year of the Sino-Japanese War, and the war became known as the Sino-Japanese War.

In September, the Japanese army attacked Pyongyang in many ways. The Chinese defenders fought back and the Qing general, Zuo Gui, was killed by a cannon. The commander Ye Zhichao abandoned the city and fled, and Pyongyang fell.

The Northern Fleet and the Japanese Combined Fleet also engaged in a fierce battle in the Yellow Sea. The men of Beiyang Fleet fought bravely in the battle and hit the Japanese ships hard. Deng Shichang, the officer in charge of the ship Zhiyuan, when the ship was severely damaged and running out of ammunition, ordered to make full power and rushed to the Japanese ship Yoshino, ready to die with the enemy, but unfortunately was hit by enemy shells, and more than 200 soldiers were martyred. The naval battle, the North Pacific fleet losses, but the main force survived. Unfortunately, after the battle, Li Hongzhang ordered the fleet to hide in Weihaiwei military port, not to go to sea to meet the enemy, the Japanese took advantage of the opportunity to seize the right to control the sea.

After that, the Japanese army invaded China in two ways. One way crossed Yalu River, occupied Jiu Liancheng and other places, and forced Liaoyang. The other way landed from Liaodong Peninsula and took Dalian and Lushun. The defenders of Dalian fled without a fight, and most of the defenders of Lushun were cowardly and afraid of the enemy, only Xu Bangdao faced the enemy alone and fought a bloody battle for four days, but was finally defeated because he was outnumbered. After the occupation of Lushun, the Japanese carried out four consecutive days of massacres, killing more than 20,000 Chinese people, committing heinous crimes.

In early 1895, the Japanese army and navy attacked Weihaiwei in Shandong, and the Beiyang fleet was in a desperate situation. The commander of the Japanese Combined Fleet wrote to Ding Ruchang, the governor of the Beiyang Marine Division, urging him to lead the fleet to surrender, but was sternly refused. In the case of no hope of reinforcements, Ding Ruchang committed suicide. The entire Beiyang fleet was wiped out.

The signing of the Treaty of Shimonoseki

In the spring of 1895, the Qing government sent Li Hongzhang as Minister Plenipotentiary of Peace to Japan to negotiate peace at Shimonoseki.

After negotiation, the two sides signed the Treaty of Shimonoseki, which stipulated that the Qing government would cede the Liaodong Peninsula, the whole island of Taiwan and all the annexed islands, and the Penghu Islands to Japan; compensate Japan 200 million taels of silver for military expenses; open the commercial ports of Shashi, Chongqing, Suzhou, and Hangzhou; and allow Japan to open factories in the ports of commerce.

The Treaty of Shimonoseki further penetrated foreign aggression into the Chinese hinterland and greatly deepened China's semi-colonization.

The Frenzy of "Dividing" China

After the signing of the Treaty of Shimonoseki, Tsarist Russia, together with France and Germany, forced Japan to give up Liaodong Peninsula, and Japan demanded 30 million taels of silver from China as the "redemption fee". Taking this as an opportunity, the Great Powers started the "carving up" of China by seizing the rights of profit, renting the seaports and dividing the "sphere of influence" in China.

When the Powers started the "carving up" in China, the United States was too busy fighting with Spain for the colonies to care. Later, when it saw that the "spheres of influence" of various countries had been delineated, it submitted a note of "open door" to Britain, Russia, Germany, Japan, Italy and France in 1899, recognizing the "spheres of influence" and acquired privileges of various countries in China. In 1899, the British, Russians, Germans, Japanese, Italians, and French countries submitted a note of "open door" to the British, Russians, Germans, Japanese, Italians, and French, recognizing the "sphere of influence" and acquired privileges of each country in China, and requesting equal trade opportunities within the leases and "sphere of influence" of each country. This note was accepted by all countries. The "open door" policy reflected the contradiction between the U.S. and other imperialist countries in their policies of invasion of China.(807words)