while the Pekin Syndicate, a British concern, also sold their railway in
Ho-nan to the Chinese government.

Manchuria.

Russia's action regarding Manchuria overshadowed, however, all other
concerns during this period. The withdrawal of the proposed
Russo-Chinese agreement of 1901 has been chronicled. The Russian
government had, however, no intention of abandoning its hold on
Manchuria. It aimed not only at effective military control but the
reservation to Russian subjects of mining, railway and commercial
rights. Both the sovereignty of China and the commercial interests of
other nations were menaced. This led to action by various powers. The
preamble of the Anglo-Japanese treaty of the 30th of January 1902
declared the main motives of the contracting parties to be the
maintenance of the independence and territorial integrity of China and
Korea, and the securing of equal opportunities in those countries for
the commerce and industry of all nations, i.e. the policy of the "open
door." Protests were lodged by Great Britain, Japan and the United
States against the grant of exclusive rights to Russian subjects in
Manchuria. Russia asserted her intention to respect the commercial
rights of other nations, and on the 8th of April 1902 an agreement was
signed at Peking which appeared to show the good faith of the Russian
government, as it provided for the withdrawal of the Russian troops in
Manchuria within eighteen months from that date. In accordance with this
agreement the Shan-hai-kwan-Niu-chwang railway was transferred to China
in October 1902 and the district between Shan-hai-kwan and the Liao
river evacuated by Russia. But it soon appeared that Russia's hold on
the country had not relaxed. Advantage was taken of the terms of
concession granted in August 1896 to the Russo-Chinese Bank[59] to erect
towns for Russian colonists and to plant garrisons along the line of
railway, and to exclude Chinese jurisdiction altogether from the railway
zone. The so-called evacuation became in fact the concentration of the
Russian forces along the line of railway. Moreover, the maritime customs
at Niu-chwang were retained by the Russo-Chinese Bank despite protests
from the Chinese imperial authorities, and a Russian civil
administration was established at that port. The evacuation of southern
Manchuria should have taken place in April 1903, but in that month,
instead of fulfilling the conditions of the 1902 agreement, the Russian