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A Volatile World （3）
Twenty－one Demands |
| CCTV.COM 2002-09-10 12:09:13 |
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Archduke Francis Ferdinand, crown prince of Austro－Hungarian Empire, was assassinated in Sarajevo on June 28, 1914. It touched off the First World War. The Allied nations of Germany and Austria proclaimed war against the Entente countries of Russia, England and France. Europe was in the flames of war.
Foreign Ministry of the Chinese government declared neutrality and had nothing to do with the war. It asked the warring countries not to fight in its territory or in their leased territories in China. War seemed to be far away from the country.
But right at this moment, the shadow of war was already hanging over Qingdao, a German concession in China. Qingdao imposed a curfew on August l. German soldiers were on the alert, looking attentively at Jiaozhou Bay. They worried about an attack launched by the Japanese troops. On August 27, Japanese fleet suddenly appeared in Jiaozhou Bay that was shrouded in heavy fog. A Japanese army landed on Shandong Peninsular on September l and fought with German troops in the Chinese territory. Besieged for two months in Qingdao, the German army surrendered to the Japanese troops.
Entering governor－general’s office of the German army, Japanese soldiers found a secret document that told them Yuang Shikai was to establish a monarchy. Two months later, 21 demands of five items from the Japanese government were sent to Yuan. According to the demands, Japan wanted to turn Shandong Province and Northeast China into its colonies. It even wanted to keep China as its protectorate. Busy in preparing a monarchy, Yuan was astonished. He held a meeting immediately to discuss ways to cope with the situation.
Tianjin History Museum still keeps Yuan’s comments to show his approval on the 21 Demands. We can see from it how he was in a dilemma then.
 Yuan Shikai could do nothing but reveal part of the treaty to the press. He hoped that Britain, the United States and other countries would do something for him. But what went beyond Yuan’s expectations was a strong response from the public. Li Dazhao, studying in Japan, appealed to boycott the 21 Demands in an article. Chamber of commerce in various provinces wanted to turn down Japan’s unreasonable demands through an open telegram.
On May 7, Japan sent a reinforcement of 30,000 soldiers to Shandong and threatened China to totally accept the 21 Demands within 48 hours. At the same time Chinese envoy to Japan, Lu Zongyu, reported to Yuan that the Japanese government hinted to support Yuan to establish a monarchy if he accepted their demands. May 9 was the deadline of Japan’s ultimatum. Failing to win support from other countries, Yuan accepted most of Japan’s demands with a saying that national power had not been enhanced so the country couldn’t fight with Japan.
 The whole country was in a rage when the news was released. On the day to sign the treaty, Peng Chao, a student of Hunan Province, committed suicide by drowning himself in a river after writing a letter in his own blood. In Beijing, 200,000 people gathered in the Central Park to donate a million silver dollars for salvation fund. Studying at Nankai School in Tianjin, 17－year－old Zhou Enlai made speeches in the street, calling on people to develop economy and swear to wipe out national humiliation. The Association of National Education decided that May 9 was Day of National Humiliation remembered by all schools.
Having been occupied by Germany for seven years, rich Shandong Peninsular was now under the slavery of Japan. It had thus become the focus of a series of contradictions in China in the later years.
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Editor: Liu Baoyin CCTV.com
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