1. China and the Treaty of
Versailles
IB HL History
Why were Chinese hopes so bitterly disappointed by
the Treaty of Versailles?
LO: To explain why the results of the ToV negotiations
led to a rise in Nationalist sentiment in China

2. Starter: What is the
historical connection
between these two
pictures?

6. Background
• Prewar Germany had control of Shandong province
• China joined WW1 on the side of the allies
• So did Japan who had conquered Shandong from
Germany
• Chinese troops did not take part
• Large numbers of Chinese labourers were sent to
France to help the war effort

16. Competing Demands
• Britain's promises to China in 1914 to restore Shandong to it when Germany was
defeated
• The demands of Japan, and whether or not Japan's war-time treaties with China were of
a voluntary character eg: Duan Qirui’s Sino-Japanese military alliance of 1918 was
effectively an ‘unequal treaty’
• Britain's promises to Japan in 1917 to support its case at the Peace Conference
• Warlord era: The lack of an effective Chinese government
• China's declaration of war on Germany in 1917 and its claim to be treated as one of the
victorious allies
• The insistence of US President Wilson on a peace settlement in accord with his ideals
e.g.: Self-determination.

17. The Conference
• Wilson needs to keep Japan in his plans for the
League of Nations
• Japan gets Shandong
• Chinese delegation refuse to sign the Treaty of
Versailles
• Immediate violent reactions from Chinese
immigrants in Paris are forewarnings of what is to
come

18. The Cliffhanger
• “When news of the Paris decision reached
Peking, Chinese faith in Wilson and the
tenets of his idealism were shattered.
Enraged by what they saw as Western
betrayal, students vowed to defend
Shantung by blood”
-I.C.Y. Hsu “Modern China”

19. Thinking Thematically
• Nationalism
• Foreign encroachment
• Japanese aggression
• North v South Split in China
• Modernism
• Lack of democratic traditions in China
• Unitary state/Disunity
• Racial inequality
• Disenchantment with the West
• What examples of each of these can you find?

20. TOK Link
• This course charts the often traumatic emergence
of traditional China coping with ‘Western’
modernity.
• How do we ‘know' if an epoch has changed?
• Are we in the middle of a 21 Century change
st
now to post post modernity? Hyper modernity?