ABSTRACT
Britain's leading role in financial imperialism and reluctance to stand against Japanese aggressiveness between 1911 and 1918 can be seen as a clear continuation of imperialist policy in China after a brief period of semi-retreat 1906-1910. A more generous assessment would be that Britain was too occupied with the First World War to consider a serious readjustment of policy. However, important debates in influential circles about the nature, strength and staying power of Chinese nationalism were sparked by the Revolution of 1911. Despite the apparent inertia of British policy towards China, under the surface there were a number of issues that revealed serious rethinking about the direction of policy. Concerns about Japanese activities during the First World War accelerated the changes in thinking about East Asia and Britain's official attitude towards Chinese nationalism. The shifts in narrative that took place during the First World War contributed to the ideological justification for a policy of imperial retreat in the interwar period.
