ABSTRACT
Five of the six major spheres of influence in China were held exclusively by single powers. Russia claimed the area north of the Great Wall; Germany, the Shandong Peninsula province; Japan, the Fujian coastal province; Britain, the Chang River basin; and France, southwest China provinces bordering French Indochina. Britain and France jointly held rights to the Guangdong coastal province. This arrangement excluded later imperialist powers such as Austria-Hungary, Italy, and the United States from gaining a foothold in China.
