wait long. In 1894
an unexpected event altered the whole face of the problem. War was
declared between China and Japan.

The three Oriental nations involved in this dispute--China, Japan and
Korea--offer three distinct and strongly contrasting types coming out
of the mysterious region the world used to know by the comprehensive
name of Cathay. When we read of 160,000 Japanese soldiers in the year
1600 tramping across Korea for the purpose of conquering their great
neighbor China, it has a familiar sound! But China was not conquered
by Japan in 1600, and remained the dominant power in the East, as she
had been since she struggled out of the Mongol yoke which, in common
with Russia, Kublai-Khan imposed upon her in 1260.

At the time of this Mongol invasion, the Manchus, a nomadic tribe,
gathered up their portable tents and fled into a province lying beyond
the Great Wall, permanently occupying the region now called Manchuria.
Remote and obscure, the Manchus were almost unknown to the Chinese
until the year 1580, when Tai-Tsu, a remarkable man and born leader, on
account of grievances suffered by his tribe, organized a revolt against
China and made a victorious assault upon his powerful Suzerain. Upon
his death, in 1626, his victories were continued by his son, who
overthrew the reigning dynasty and was proclaimed Emperor of China.
And that wretched youth who is to-day obscured and dominated by the
powerful Empress Dowager at Pekin is the lineal descendant of Tai-Tsu
and the last representative of the Manchurian Dynasty, which has ruled
China for nearly four centuries.

The Manchus had not much in the way of civilization to impose upon the
people they had conquered. But such as they had they brought with
them; and the shaven forehead and the queue, so precious to the
Chinese, are Manchurian exotics. Mukden, the capital of Manchuria,
became the "Sacred City," where Manchurian Emperors at death were laid
beside Tai-Tsu. Wealthy mandarins built residences there. It became
splendid and, next only to Pekin, was known as the second official city
in the empire.

While the world has long been familiar with China and its civilization,
Japan and Korea have only recently come out from their Oriental
seclusion. In looking into the past of the former, in vain do we seek
for any adequate explanation, anything which will reasonably account
for that phenomenally endowed race which occupies the centre of the
stage to-day; w