<P> Friction between China and Japan arose from the 1870s from Japan 's control over the Ryukyu Islands , rivalry for political influence in Korea and trade issues . Japan , having built up a stable political and economic system with a small but well - trained army and navy , easily defeated China in the First Sino - Japanese War of 1894 . Japanese soldiers massacred the Chinese after capturing Port Arthur on the Liaotung Peninsula . In the harsh Treaty of Shimonoseki of April 1895 , China recognize the independence of Korea , and ceded to Japan Formosa , the Pescatores Islands and the Liaotung Peninsula . China further paid an indemnity of 200 million silver taels , opened five new ports to international trade , and allowed Japan ( and other Western powers ) to set up and operate factories in these cities . However , Russia , France , and Germany saw themselves disadvantaged by the treaty and in the Triple Intervention forced Japan to return the Liaotung Peninsula in return for a larger indemnity . The only positive result for China came when those factories led the industrialization of urban China , spinning off a local class of entrepreneurs and skilled mechanics . </P>
<P> Friction between China and Japan arose from the 1870s from Japan 's control over the Ryukyu Islands , rivalry for political influence in Korea and trade issues . Japan , having built up a stable political and economic system with a small but well - trained army and navy , easily defeated China in the First Sino - Japanese War of 1894 . Japanese soldiers massacred the Chinese after capturing Port Arthur on the Liaotung Peninsula . In the harsh Treaty of Shimonoseki of April 1895 , China recognize the independence of Korea , and ceded to Japan Formosa , the Pescatores Islands and the Liaotung Peninsula . China further paid an indemnity of 200 million silver taels , opened five new ports to international trade , and allowed Japan ( and other Western powers ) to set up and operate factories in these cities . However , Russia , France , and Germany saw themselves disadvantaged by the treaty and in the Triple Intervention forced Japan to return the Liaotung Peninsula in return for a larger indemnity . The only positive result for China came when those factories led the industrialization of urban China , spinning off a local class of entrepreneurs and skilled mechanics . </P>
who replaced great britain as the leading industrial power in europe after 1870
who replaced great britain as the leading industrial power in europe after 1870
China
China