Original name:

Iron Empire Chapter: The reforms quietly promoted by the Iron Blood Empire during the Sino-Japanese War

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(Economic Weekly Review)

On July 16 of the First Year of China, the Japan-Britain Treaty of Commerce and Navigation, which had been delayed for five years, was formally signed in London. This treaty abolished Britain's previous privileges in Japan and recognized Japan's equal status. This freed Japan from the shackles of the last unequal treaty. This incident was a clear indication of British support for Japan. At the signing ceremony, the British Foreign Secretary said: "This treaty is more beneficial to Japan than the defeat of the Qing army." ”

More than just furious, the Imperial Conspiracy decided to teach the British a lesson about the difference in volume between sesame seeds and watermelons (from a Chinese proverb). As a result, they enacted the Narcotics Control Act, which was signed into force by the Emperor on the 20th.

The Narcotics Control Act refers to "all psychotropic drugs", mainly opium. The content of the drug is that the use of drugs must be approved by the General Health Administration, the use of drugs is limited, and violators will be confiscated, and it is stipulated that no subjects of the empire are allowed to enter the concession land that violates the law. Anyone who enters without permission will be punished as "smuggling" after the rental industry - typical Chinese humor.

This bill is ostensibly no more powerful than the previous smoking ban in the Empire, and its strength lies in the thoroughness of its enforcement. The peasant associations established in various localities after the "33" Act of the Imperial Gongwu faction effectively stopped the consumption of opium in the countryside, and under the rule of the Gongwu faction (fortunately for the policy promoters, very few officials of the Gongwu faction smoked opium), although it was not possible to completely eliminate the tobacco houses, China's opium imports plummeted from about $15 million a year to $580,000 in 1895.

If this blow was just a small sniping attack on the drug trade in Sino-British trade, then the Sino-US Treaty of Amity and Commerce was a fatal blow to British interests in China.

In an atmosphere in which the Imperial Gongwu faction hated British support for Japan, the Foreign Ministry's plan of "opening up for equality" was finally strategically approved. After the Sino-American Treaty of Amity and Commerce was initialled in Peking, while our consuls were beaming and handing over the concessions to Chinese officials, ships flying the Stars and Stripes, loaded with California gold, had easily passed through the Chinese customs in the cities at the mouth of the river (of course, people and gold were exempt) and sailed into the inland river cities, which were not even allowed to appear under the rice flag. On the condition that they agree to abide by Chinese law, our nationals are allowed to do anything that Chinese can do within China. In Beijing, Shanghai, and Guangzhou, the British accent has been replaced by a beautiful American accent. At the same time, there were long queues outside the consulates, this time not to be sold to the New World in "piglet ships", but to move to this beautiful land as legal immigrants and under the protection of local Chinese consuls. We were given a large tract of land in the capital of the empire to build an embassy, and the ambassador was able to enter the emperor's palace without having to bow down in lieu of bowing. In fact, when the original minister, the first ambassador, presented his credentials, the emperor shook hands with him with a graceful smile, and sat side by side with him in the side seat and talked cordially, with only a small coffee table in between. The Chinese Emperor was also able to conversate briefly with Mr. Ambassador in American with a New York accent, who affectionately addressed our Ambassador as "Your Excellency." All this drove the proud British maddened with jealousy.

Our warship, with the friendship between China and the United States, sailed into the Mawei Military Port in Fujian, China, amid the sound of firecrackers -- the Chinese's unique way of welcoming their own warships into the port, and also a small program for the Chinese to celebrate festivals or happy events. The sailors were served in English after disembarking and stayed in a special residence for the Chinese Navy (one sailor commented: "It's clean, you can take a hot shower, and the meals are more sumptuous, similar to a hotel."). Their warship was restocked, and a ship with a broken boiler was sent to the Mawei shipyard for repairs, which was quickly repaired. The cost of repairs is surprisingly low – "much lower than the cost of our own repairs at our base in the Philippines." The fleet commander commented.

When we start building factories in China, we can expect our wealth to grow steadily and rapidly through China, a chicken that can only lay golden eggs. Perhaps, part of our wealth will come from exports to other European countries and their colonies through China, which has opened its doors to the countries of the continent and has done for us what we may not be able to do by force.

All this seems to be the greatest mockery of the cunning British.

Attached: "Draft Sino-US Treaty of Friendship and Cooperation" Zhang Zhigao, Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in July of the 20th year of Guangxu (1894), initialed an exchange of letters, and China and the United States signed them respectively in September of the 20th year of Guangxu.

1. China and the United States have established an equal state-to-state relationship.

1. The official documents of the two governments refer to each other as equals.

The United States uses "China" as the only diplomatic name of the other party, and no longer honorifies the names "Celestial Empire" and "Great Qing" in diplomatic documents. China uses "United States (U.S.A.)" as the diplomatic name of the other side, and cannot be called "Yi".

2. The two countries exchange ambassadors and consuls.

The two countries shall have a permanent ambassador in their respective capitals, and the number of attachés shall be determined by the two countries' friendship consultations in accordance with the principle of reciprocity between the two countries.

Ambassadors have the right to meet with the other head of state. The U.S. ambassador bowed to the Chinese emperor and called "Your Majesty." The Chinese ambassador met with the President of the United States and shook hands and called "Your Excellency". (Note: The United States originally asked for President Sahib, but Zhang Zhigao angrily refused, but unfortunately few Chinese people paid attention to it, and scolded him for "losing power and humiliating the country" of "Americans don't need to kowtow".) Poor diplomat! )

3. The two countries have embassies for each other.

The two countries provide land in their respective capitals with a land area of not less than 100 meters in length and width to serve as the location of their embassies. The cost of the relocation of the land was borne by the land-contributing country, which promised to provide water, electricity and gas supplies to the embassy free of charge. The cost of the construction of the embassy on the land shall be borne by the country from which the ambassador sent it, but the country providing the land shall provide facilities for construction.

The land inside the embassy is considered the territory of the country from which the ambassador sends. The embassy may have armed personnel from the country to which the ambassador is sent to take charge of security work, and the maximum number of the embassy can be determined by the two friendly countries (note: there is no word "friendly" in the English version).

4. The two countries send consuls to each other and set up consulates.

After consultation, the two countries may, in accordance with the principle of reciprocity, establish consulates by stationing consuls and attachés at each other's ports and cities. The length and width of the land provided by the consulate provided by the land provider country shall not be less than 30 meters, and the other provisions shall be the same as those of the embassy.

(In the "Detailed Rules", it is stipulated that the center point of the consulate's land shall not be greater than 5,000 meters from the seat of the municipal government of the city; The central point of the embassy land shall not be more than 10,000 meters away from the seat of the central government of the country)

5. The two countries grant each other diplomatic immunity.

Ambassadors and consuls enjoy diplomatic immunity in the territory of the other party. The two countries pledged not to conduct hostile reconnaissance.

6. The two countries shall establish a diplomatic notification system.

The two countries undertake to notify each other's ambassadors within 24 hours by their diplomatic services of the following events:

(a) The promulgation of new constitutions or national laws, and the amendments made to the constitution or national laws through non-legislative procedures.

b. National regulations promulgated by the government.

c. Declaration of war and peace with a third country.

d. Other matters to be notified with the consent of the two governments.

2. China and the United States have established friendly economic and trade relations.

1. The two countries are open to merchant ships.

Merchant ships of the two countries may enter all ports where the other side has established customs, and enjoy treatment no less than that of their own merchant ships after entering the ports. (According to the Detailed Rules, a merchant ship of a country is defined as a vessel that is not equipped with artillery, is registered in that country, and travels under the flag of that country within 20,000 meters of the baseline of the other country's coast.) Later, the U.S. side proposed the establishment of a "Merchant Shipping Registration Notification System", which solved the problem of other countries pretending to be American or Chinese merchant ships entering the port.)

2. The two countries provide the most favored tariff treatment for industrial products.

The two countries shall not impose tariffs on each other's industrial products that are higher than those for trade with third countries. (The Rules provide that this provision applies only to industrial products made in that country, and there has been some debate as to what constitutes an "industrial product")

3. The two countries provide national treatment.

The two countries allow nationals and enterprises of the other side to engage in school, missionary, mining, road construction and business activities within their own territory, and enjoy treatment not inferior to that of their own nationals.

3. The two countries have established long-term cooperative relations.

1. The two countries solemnly declare that they will not seek any existing territorial and sovereignty claims of the other side and will resolutely oppose the encroachment of other countries on the territory and sovereignty of the two countries. (This article later led to a technical controversy over the question of the increase in the territorial area of the two countries after the signing of the treaty.)

2. The two countries solemnly declare that they will not take war actions against each other and that bilateral disputes will be resolved through diplomatic means.

3. The two countries recognize the validity of patents recognized by each other's national patent offices, and undertake to jointly fund scientific, technical and cultural exchange activities.

4. The naval vessels of the two countries may enter the military waterways and military ports of the two countries for a friendly visit after the ambassador has informed the government of the country 48 hours in advance, and the local countries shall treat the local countries as if they were their own naval warships and military personnel for convenience; However, this does not apply during the declaration of war between the opposing country and the country of its military alliance.

5. The Treaty shall enter into force on the date of its signature by the Heads of State of the two countries and shall be valid for 50 years. The two countries may negotiate the renewal of the treaty up to 180 days before its expiration date, and if no party proposes to plant the treaty by 180 days before the expiration date, the treaty will be automatically renewed for a period of 10 years.

4. As of 0:00 on January 1 of the calendar year following the entry into force of the Treaty, the Sino-US Treaty of Wangxia, the Treaty of Tientsin, and the Treaty of Renewal shall cease to be in force, and China shall resume exercising jurisdiction over the American Concession of its treaty ports, and the United States shall no longer exercise its jurisdiction over the area of the American Concession of the treaty ports in China.