TheScramble for China,[1] also known as thePartition of China[2] or theScramble for Concessions,[3] was a concept that existed during the late 1890s inEurope, theUnited States, and theEmpire of Japan for the partitioning ofChina under theQing dynasty as their ownspheres of influence, during the era of "New Imperialism", following China's defeat in theFirst Sino-Japanese War. However, the United StatesSecretary of State created theOpen Door Policy in 1899 which sought to prevent the European powers from trying to carve up China intocolonies and proposed that all interested powers had equal access to China.[4] The policy was gradually accepted by the major powers so that the concept of the partitioning of China generally lost favor by the early 20th century.
Chinese press routinely described the scramble as the "carving up of the melon" (瓜分),[5] and the idea of national humiliation was developed among Chinese writers during this period. Modern Chinese writers usually consider such events in China part of thecentury of humiliation that began with theFirst Opium War (1839–1842) and ended with China established as agreat power in 1945 or the founding of the People's Republic of China in 1949.Marxist historians in China considered China during this period asemi-colony because of the domination by the Western countries.[6] On the other hand, theScramble for Africa by theWestern European powers also appeared around the same time, which resulted in the direct colonization of almost all of theAfrican continent by 1914.
The Qing dynastyreached its peak during the 18th century, with a large population and territory. Until the early 19th century, the internal areas of the Qing Empire had little influence from European powers. At that time, the Qing government only allowed Western European countries to conduct any trade with China inGuangzhou under theCanton System. But as new technology began to unbalance the relationship in the 19th century, foreigners gradually gathered around the declining Qing Empire. The great powers such as Britain that won theOpium Wars initially only demanded the creation of a new framework for China'sforeign relations and overseas trade, including privileges such asextraterritoriality andtreaty ports. But with China's defeat in theFirst Sino-Japanese War and the signing of the humiliatingTreaty of Shimonoseki with theEmpire of Japan in 1895, China was considered the "Sick man of Asia", and the ambitions of the great powers to compete forspheres of influence in China were greatly stimulated.[1][7]
In 1897,Germany demanded and was given a set of exclusive mining and railroad rights inShandong, along with thelease of Jiaozhou Bay.Russia obtained access toDairen andPort Arthur and the right to builda railroad acrossManchuria, along with thelease of Liaodong. TheUnited Kingdom andFrance also received a number ofconcessions, including theBritish lease of the New Territories of Hong Kong and theFrench lease of Guangzhouwan. At this time, much of China was divided up into "spheres of influence": Germany had influence in Shandong and theYellow River valley; Russia had influence in theLiaodong Peninsula and Manchuria; the United Kingdom had influence inWeihaiwei and theYangtze Valley; France had influence in the provinces ofYunnan,Guizhou,Guangdong, andGuangxi; and Japan also had influence inFujian.
As theAmerican Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions wrote in 1898, Europe's current Scramble for China was much like itsScramble for Africa, which had sparked many discussions since a few years ago; China's vulnerability was made clear to the world in its 1895 war with Japan, and her current state could encourage eagles to flock together; and they had not taken long to do this – Great Britain, France, Germany, Russia, and others had all staked claims and were aggressively advancing their projects.[7]
In 1899,Italy also presented anultimatum to the Chinese government,demanding the lease ofSanmen Bay inZhejiang. However, this demand was sternly rejected by China. TheEmpress Dowager Cixi, the effective ruler of Qing China, then decided that it was no longer tenable to continue under these circumstances[8] and stated at a palace meeting that "not a single piece of loess will be given to the Italians", and such policy ultimately forced Italy to give up any claim to China's coast. The Chinese justified their refusal by arguing that Italy had no genuine political or economic stakes in China. And indeed the Italian demand to emulate the major nations was mostly motivated by concerns of prestige. However, it was said that the result was that Italy "was made to appear a third or fourth-rate power".[9] The fiasco was an embarrassment for Italy, which was still stung by its defeat at the hands of theEthiopian Empire in theBattle of Adowa in1896.[10] Such event in China also dispelled any idea of second-rate powers at that time like theNetherlands orDenmark taking the opportunity to participate in the Scramble for China.[8][11]
The humiliation of China by foreign powers caused strongxenophobia inside the country and became the fuse of theBoxer Rebellion, an uprising against foreigners and Christians that occurred in China around 1900, begun by peasants but eventually supported by the Qing government under the Empress Dowager Cixi. Cixi issuedan imperial decree in the name ofGuangxu Emperor that was ade factodeclaration of war on the invading powers, who in turn formed a multinational military coalition known as theEight-Nation Alliance which invaded northern China and defeated the "Boxers". With the success of the invasion, the later stages developed into a punitive colonial expedition, which pillaged the capitalBeijing and Northern China for more than a year. The fighting ended in 1901 with the signing of theBoxer Protocol.[12]
China continued to be divided up into these spheres until the United States, which had no sphere of influence in China and only recently acquired thePhilippines fromSpain, grew alarmed at the possibility of its businessmen being excluded from Chinese markets. To prevent the "carving of China like a melon", as the European powers were doing in Africa at the time, the U.S. Secretary of StateJohn Hay created theOpen Door Policy that called for a system of equal trade and investment and to guarantee the territorial integrity of Qing China, and circulated a note known as the "Open Door Note" (dated September 6, 1899) to the major European powers.[13] The Note asked the powers to keep China open to trade with all countries on an equal basis and called upon all powers, within their spheres of influence to refrain from interfering with anytreaty port or any vested interest, to permit Chinese authorities to collecttariffs on an equal basis, and to show no favors to their own nationals in the matter of harbor dues or railroad charges.
The Open Door Policy was then accepted only grudgingly, if at all, by the major powers, and it had nolegal standing or enforcement mechanism. Each country tried to evade Hay's request by taking the position that it could not commit itself until the other nations had complied. However, by July 1900, Hay announced that each of the powers had granted its consent in principle. Although treaties after 1900 referred to the Open Door Policy, competition continued abated among the various powers for special concessions within China for railroad rights, mining rights, loans, foreign trade ports, and so forth.[14] On October 6, 1900, Britain and Germany signed theYangtze Agreement to oppose the partition of China into spheres of influence. The agreement, signed byLord Salisbury and AmbassadorPaul von Hatzfeldt, was an endorsement of the Open Door Policy. The Germans supported it because a partition of China would limit Germany to a small trading market, instead of all of China.[15][16] Over the next decades, American policy-makers and national figures continued to refer to the Open Door Policy as a basic doctrine, which stopped the European powers from carving up China into colonies, but did allow them to establish spheres of influence.[4]