ABSTRACT
W ith the fall o f the C h ’ing dynasty in 1911, China ceases to feature in studies o f British imperialism, as does South America after 1914. N either region was incor porated into the formal empire, and it is generally assumed in both cases that Britain’s invisible influence was irreparably damaged by W orld W ar I and by the quickening pace o f her industrial decline thereafter. There is, o f course, a sub stantial and valuable literature on diplomatic relations among the great powers, especially in the 1930s, w hen the Great Game in the Far East became one o f the antecedents o f W orld W ar II, but this rarely taps the domestic roots o f policy making in Britain, and only exceptionally does it set the problems o f the Far East in the w ider context o f the history o f imperialism.2 Consequently, there is room for an account which shows how the evolution o f Britain’s continuing imperialist ambitions intersected w ith events in the Far East, and how this junction prom pted significant changes in policy towards China during a turbulent period w hich began w ith one revolution and ended w ith another.
