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| 1895, April 17 |
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| The Chinese were compelled to accept the terms of the TREATY OF SHIMONOSEKI: China perforce recognized the independence of Korea and ceded to Japan the island of Taiwan, the Pescadores, and the Liaodong peninsula in southern Manchuria; China was to pay an indemnity of 200 million taels and to open four more ports to foreign commerce. It was a great humiliation for the Chinese. | 1 |
| China's helplessness before a well-armed, small neighbor, upon which it had formerly looked condescendingly, was revealed for all to see. It served as a clarion call to the majority of educated Chinese. Further Chinese demands for reforms were stimulated by the accelerating onrush of the European powers for political and economic concessions and by their efforts to establish exclusive spheres of influence. The Qing government confronted another serious dilemma: native capital for military, railway, and industrial development was not available, and foreign capital could be secured only at the expense of the further extension of foreign control within the empire. | 2 |
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| April 23 |
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| The Tripartite Intervention by Russia, Germany, and France obliged Japan to return the Liaodong peninsula to China in consideration of a further 30-million-tael indemnity. All three intervening powers expected to be well repaid by the Chinese. | 3 |
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| June 20 |
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| France secured extensive territorial and commercial concessions in the southern provinces. | 4 |
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| July 6 |
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| A Franco-Russian loan was extended to China (400 million francs at 4 percent interest, to run for 36 years, with the Chinese customs as security). | 5 |
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