The European Powers in Asia 841

the Chinese market with
cheap textiles, bringing unem­
ployment to the local popula­
tion, and foreign soldiers, who
often mistreated the Chinese.
In 1900, the Boxers attacked
Europeans, Americans, and
Chinese Christians in Shan­
dong Province, cutting the
railway line between Peking
(Beijing) and Tientsin (Tian­
jin). These attacks spread
quickly to the imperial capital
and other parts of northern
China. After the Boxers killed
several hundred “foreign dev­
ils,” British, Russian, German,
French, Japanese, and Ameri­
can troops put down the
rebellion. Their governments
assessed the Chinese govern­
ment a crushing indemnity of
67.5 million pounds.
The “scramble for conces­
sions” went on. Russia’s com­
petition with Japan for
Manchuria in northeastern
China led to its shocking
defeat in the Russo-Japanese War of 1904-1905 (see Chapter 18). Follow­
ing its victory, Japan took over and expanded the Manchurian railways.
This humiliation, and the subsequent disadvantageous railway concessions
granted to the European powers and Japan, intensified Chinese nationalist
sentiment and contributed to the overthrow of the Ch’ing dynasty in 1911.
In the meantime, Japan’s aggressive imperialism in East Asia was well
under way.

The United States in Asia

The United States, too, took colonies, believing that this was its right as an

emerging world power. However, the American imperial venture in the

Philippine Islands, an archipelago in the Pacific Ocean, was not all smooth

sailing. During the Spanish-American War of 1898, fought largely over the

Caribbean island of Cuba, the American admiral George Dewey (1837—

1917) sailed into Manila Bay and defeated the Spanish fleet, capturing

Manila. The United States had been helped by a Filipino nationalist,

A member of the “Righteous and Harmonious

Fists” secret society that rose up against for­

eign influence in the Boxer rebellion in China

in 1900.