What changed that situation was Western imperialism. In the 19th century ... trade and religious proselytizing by imposing a series of "unequal treaties." The distinctive ways in which China, Japan, ...

China had been ruled by emperors from other ... make British people exempt from Qing law This was the first of the Unequal Treaties. Other military defeats followed, and the Qing were forced ...

All the new textbooks said Hong Kong was never a British colony as the Chinese government had never recognised the unequal treaties or given ... colonies in 1972 after China made the demand.

China’s government says Taiwan has been Chinese territory since ancient times. The Qing signed over Taiwan to Japan in 1895 in another “unequal” treaty, and in 1945 at the end of World War ...