FUTURE OF THE EMPIRE
Under the Manchu dynasty this anomalous
system had enormously increased the trade and
prosperty of the Treaty Ports, from which the
(international) Chinese Customs Service collected
most of the revenues by which the Imperial
Government was supported. But after the Revo-
lution of 1911 Republican China soon began to
claim the sovereign rights of a modern power,
and to demand the abolition of the "unequal
treaties", which gave foreigners a position so
derogatory to Chinese sovereignty. In conse-
quence of this agitation many of the minor con-
cessions (though not Shanghai) were evacuated,
presumably because their commercial value had
been greatly impaired by the perpetual welter
of civil wars which was the new regime in
China.
Meanwhile, in the north Japan was extending
her political and economic influence year by year.
In spite of the "OpenDoor" promises and treaties,
China is being absorbed bit by bit, and European
traders are finding that they have less and less
chance of competing with the Japanese. Nothing
short of a coalition of Britain and America to
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