The indemnity clock on China: 1895 and 1901

The Treaty of Shimonoseki (1895) made China cede Taiwan and pay Japan 200 million taels, plus 30 million more when Japan returned the Liaodong Peninsula, and Japan used the money to subsidise the Yawata steel works. The Boxer Protocol (1901) imposed 450 million taels, one for each person in China, payable over 39 years at 4 per cent, more than four times the Qing state's annual revenue; in 1908 the United States used part of its share to fund scholarships for Chinese students.

The mechanism

THE CLOCK

How it was checked

• EvidenceT5 INDEPENDENT SECULAR; Status: ADDED 2026-09-19
• Letter eraTHE SEAT MOVES TO THE BENCH 1713 to 1945
• SourcesRECORD — Britannica, 'Treaty of Shimonoseki'; Britannica, 'Empire of Japan: Social and economic changes' (the indemnity and Yawata); Encyclopedia.com, 'Boxer Uprising' (Encyclopedia of Modern China); Britannica, 'Boxer Rebellion' · checked 19 September: Britannica (read in a browser; WebFetch is refused by the site), 'Treaty of Shimonoseki'; Britannica (read in a browser; WebFetch is refused by the site), 'Empire of Japan: Social and economic changes' (indemnity and Yawata); Encyclopedia.com: Xu Guoqi, 'Boxer Rebellion' (Encyclopedia of Modern Europe) and 'Boxer Uprising' (Encyclopedia of Western Colonialism); Britannica (read in a browser; WebFetch is refused by the site), 'Boxer Rebellion'