CHINA, JAPAN, AND KOREA, 1840–1937
The Opium Wars of the 1840s and 1850s and the Boxer Rebellion of 1899–1901 changed the shape of
imperialism in Asia. These conflicts led to the establishment of special territorial enclaves and treaty ports within China, areas reserved for each imperial power.
By the early twentieth century, Japan had taken advantage of China’s declining fortunes to gain control over the Chinese territories of Korea, Taiwan, and Manchuria. In fact, the Japanese invasion of China in 1937 is widely considered the start of World War II.
출처 : The Modern World - by Sarolta Takács, Ph.D. (2008) - Asia and the Pacific 편 119page