Twenty-One Demands 1915
Topic: Paths to Modernisation: Japan, China, Korea · NCERT: Beyond NCERT
Meaning
The Twenty-One Demands were a list of demands that Japan made on China in January 1915, during the First World War. Japan wanted large economic and political rights in China. These included taking over Germany's old rights in Shandong and gaining more control in Manchuria. The most extreme demands would have put Japanese advisers inside the Chinese government, and these were later dropped. The demands showed that Japan now wanted an empire in China, and they made Chinese nationalism much stronger.
Example
In May 1915, China's president, Yuan Shikai, accepted most of the demands after a Japanese ultimatum (a final warning). Many Chinese marked this as a day of national humiliation. The anger fed the May Fourth protests of 1919.
Don't confuse with
- May Fourth Movement (1919): a Chinese protest movement against the Paris peace terms. The Twenty-One Demands were Japan's earlier claims on China.
Related concepts
- Xinhai Revolution 1911
- Sun Yat-sen
- Three Principles of the People
- May Fourth Movement
- Guomindang
- Chiang Kai-shek