CONTENTS A SKETCH OF THE DIPLOMATIC HISTORY OF CHINA I. THE OPENING OF CHINA (1689-1860) II. THE LOSS OF DEPENDENCIES (1860-1895) XI. POLICY OF ECONOMIC EXPLOITATION XII. POLICY OF TERRITORIAL EXPANSION XIII. POLICY OF PARAMOUNT INFLUENCE XIV. POLICY OF POLITICAL CONTROL XV. THE "ASIATIC" MONROE DOCTRINE XVI. THE "TWENTY-ONE DEMANDS" AS AN 110 120 132 149 PART I A SKETCH OF THE DIPLOMATIC HISTORY OF CHINA I. THE OPENING OF CHINA II. THE LOSS OF DEPENDENCIES III. THE INTERNATIONAL STRUGGLE FOR CONCESSIONS IV. INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION AND CONTROL I THE OPENING OF CHINA (1689-1860) THE diplomatic history of China can be divided into four periods. The first period covers the years from 1689, when China made the first treaty with a Western Power, to 1860 when she first consented to enter into formal diplomatic relations with the Powers at Peking. This period is characterized by the gradual opening of China to the trade and intercourse of the Western world, and so it may rightly be called the period of the opening of China. Prior to the opening, China was more or less an isolated nation. She had had little to do with Western countries. Although there were some travelers like Marco Polo who had come to China long before she was opened, she had had little intercourse with the Occident. This isolation was not a result of the deliberate choice of the Chinese. It was rather an inevitable consequence of the geographical setting. On the North she is bounded `by the Mongolian deserts. As if these natural barriers were not enough, she built the Great Wall extending over the entire length of her Northern boundary, thus effectively shutting out the aliens from the North. On the West she was buttressed by the Himalaya Mountains, which offered such an effective obstruction that few people were likely to cross them. On the South and East she was limited by seas and oceans which separated her effectively from the rest of the world. As a result of this geographical isolation she developed a type of civilization that was unique and quite different from the main branches of European civilization. She also became the mother of Oriental civilization and ex |