The Sino-Japanese War

(1894)

The Li-Ito Convention of 1885 agreed that both Japan and China would withdraw their armies from Korea, and give notification of any new troop movements into the country.  When a rebellion erupted in Korea in 1894, both countries sent troops but, after the rebellion had been put down, the Japanese refused to withdraw their troops and, in fact, continued to send more.

War was declared in August 1894, and the Japanese army immediately besieged Chinese forces in Pyongyang (capital of today’s North Korea). The Chinese resisted until their commander, General Zuo Baogui, was killed by artillery fire on 15^th September 1894, abandoning the city to the Japanese.

The Japanese then invaded China itself.  One force crossed Yalujiang and attacked Jiuliancheng; another assaulted Dalian and Lushun, capturing both easily.

Meanwhile, a huge naval battle on the Yellow Sea between the Chinese and Japanese navies had led to the Chinese Beiyang Fleet retreating into Weihaiwei (on the north shore of the Shandong peninsula) having suffered heavy losses.  There, they were besieged by the Japanese army by both land and sea:  the first Japanese landing taking place on 20^th January 1895.

The siege took place in the worst possible winter conditions, including severe snow storms and temperatures of down to –26 degrees Celsius.  Finally, on 12thebruary 1895, the Japanese forces forced their way into Weihaiwei, and the Beiyang Fleet effectively ceased to exist.

The Chinese sued for peace and, under the Treaty of Shimonoseki, signed 17^th April 1895, agreed independence for Korea (which, up to now, had technically been Chinese territory); and ceded Taiwan, the Pescadores Islands; Port Arthur and the Liaodong Peninsula to Japan.  Japan also imposed a hefty indemnity and forced China to open five new treaty ports.

Japan’s celebrations were short-lived, however, as a week after the treaty was signed, Russia, France and Germany (the Triple Intervention) forced Japan to agree to renounce claims to Port Arthur and the Liaodong Peninsular.  China, however, was forced to pay an additional indemnity, eventually paying out 200 million taels:  almost a whole year’s tax income!

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