by Daniel Xiao Wang

Created on: August 08, 2011   Last Updated: August 09, 2011

The first Sino-Japanese War was fought by Qing Dynasty China and Meiji Japan in 1894 over the Korean Peninsula. Both China and Japan had strong strategic interests in Korea and both nations were recovering from the Opium Wars. Japan had decided to modernize its military and industry so that it could compete with Western powers. The Japanese grab into Korea was in many ways a test of new Western technologies and strategic ideas.

Korea was a tributary of China, having been under the sphere of influence of the Chinese court for most of history. Korea paid tribute to the Qing Emperor and expected Chinese support and aid. Japan saw the Korean Peninsula as a strategic launching point for aggression against Japan. Korea also had coal and iron, resources the Japanese were eager to control in its quest for rapid industrialization.

The Koreans were deeply split between those that wanted to remain under Chinese influence and those that wanted to embrace the rapidly developing Japan.

In 1882, a severe drought hit Korea and unrest was building. Riots broke out and people died; among them Japanese. Japan intervened and sent military forces.

In 1884, there was a coup in the government, followed by a counter-coup. Both were bloody and in the processes the Japanese legation was destroyed and several Japanese were killed. This brought the Chinese and Japanese to a head again, as a Chinese general- Yuan Shikai- led the counter-coup. Japan and China signed the Convention of Tientsin in 1885.

The convention of Tientsin called for both China and Japan to withdraw from Korea and made it so that if either country was sending troops to Korea they would be obligated to notify the other nation.

In 1894, the Tonghak Rebellion erupted in Korea. The Korean Emperor asked the Chinese for assistance and China sent nearly 3000 troops, led by General Yuan Shikai. China notified Japan as per the Tientsin Convention. Japan insisted that the military action violated the Convention and sent roughly 8000 troops into Korea.

Japan seized the capital, installed a pro-Japanese regime, and set about removing the Chinese from Korea. The Chinese forces were already withdrawing from Korea, and the Japanese forces pushed into Manchuria. After several pitched land and naval battles, the Japanese proved the effectiveness of their newly modernized military.

The Japanese captured Port Arthur and massacred the inhabitants by November of 1894. By December, Kaipeng had fallen to the Japanese. The Chinese forced withdrew to the heavily fortified and tenable Weihaiwei harbor. It fell in February 1895 to the Japanese.

In April of 1895, the Treaty of Shimonoseki was signed to end the war. The treaty called upon China to recognized Korea as an independent nation (no longer a tributary). It gave Taiwan, the Liaoning Peninsula and Penghu Islands to Japan. China was also forced to pay reparations and open ports to Japanese trade.

Russia, France and Germany intervened. Russia was concerned about the Japanese land grab of the Liaoning Peninsula and got France and Germany to also become involved. They convinced Japan to accept a larger reparations and leave the territory to China.

The first Sino-Japanese war demonstrated the new military power of Japan and Japan's modernization. The balance of power in Asia shifted from China to Japan, and China was forced to open up further to foreign influence.

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