The Expensive Peace
Dive into the tangled diplomacy, internal power struggles, and devastating aftermath of the First Sino-Japanese War in The Expensive Peace. Ji Chen unpacks the lead-up to the 1894 conflict, from the superficial cordiality between the Qing Dynasty and Meiji Japan to the eruption of war over Korea. The book lays bare the Qing court’s bitter divide between war hawks and peace advocates, tracking Li Hongzhang’s desperate, unauthorized attempts to avoid battle and the court’s fumbling efforts to seek foreign mediation as losses mounted. It chronicles the dramatic Shimonoseki negotiations—including Li’s assassination attempt that forced minor Japanese concessions—and the signing of the 1895 Treaty of Shimonoseki, which stripped China of Taiwan, the Liaodong Peninsula, and imposed crippling war reparations. Ji also explores the Three-Power Intervention that forced Japan to return Liaodong (for a hefty ransom) and the lasting scars of this 'expensive peace' on China’s national identity, urging readers to move beyond resentment to learn critical historical lessons.