Sir Claude MacDonald, the Open Door, and British Informal Empire in China, 1895-1900

First published in 1987. Great Britain secured and expanded its informal empire in China during the five years following the Sino-Japanese War. From 1895 through 1900 Lord Salisbury accepted England’s traditional, commercially oriented China policy and adapted it to dramatically altered political conditions in East Asia. Through the efforts of Sir Claude MacDonald, Britain met the commercial and political challenges of its European competitors and implemented the open door, a strong but maligned policy. With the assistance of Britain’s indigenous collaborators, England managed to maintain a greatly weakened Manchu dynasty and to increase its financial, commercial, and informal political power in China without the use of military force or formal alliance. In order to help the reader understand Britain’s informal empire in China, the author reviews the historical background which brought China into Britain’s expanding economy.