ABSTRACT
Unlike most of the Americas, India and Africa, China was never occupied by European colonial powers, even though its shores were reached by Portuguese navigators soon after 1500. In 1557 the small territory of Macao was ceded to the Portuguese as a trading post. In 1689 Russian expansion into northern Asia was checked in the direction of China in the Far East by the Treaty of Nerchinsk. Serious attempts to open up China for trade by West European powers, Russia and the USA only began in the nineteenth century. In 1842, by treaty, five ports were opened to trade, and Hong Kong was ceded to Britain. Many other ports were opened later. Various unfortunate encounters with the outsiders, whose overtures were resented by the traditionally minded leaders of China, were followed by the Chinese Revolution in 1911-12, in which the empire came to an end and a republic was established under Sun Yat Sen. Plans for modernisation, including the construction of a very extensive rail network, were put into practice slowly, and when Japan attacked Manchuria in 1931, China was not equipped to repel its old enemy. Between 1937 and 1945 Japan occupied much of eastern China.
