Foreign Trade After the China–Japan War of 1894–1895 (1895–1911)

From July 1894 to March 1895, Japan launched a war of aggression against China, known as the China–Japan War of 1894–1895. The war ended with China’s loss and Japan forced China to sign the Treaty of Shimonoseki. The Treaty not only stipulated that China would cede land to Japan, pay compensation, and open more trading ports, but also allowed Japan to invest and set up factories in China. The Powers set off a frenzy of dividing up China, and the foreign trade system of semi-colonies was further strengthened. At the same time, the defeat of China in the China–Japan War of 1894–1895 prompted more Chinese people to wake up, and the national self-help consciousness became stronger. In the late Qing Dynasty, under political and economic pressure at home and abroad, the Government formulated and implemented some self-help measures with an open color, which made China’s opening up continue to move forward in the interweaving of forced and conscious contradictions.