Sino-Japanese Peace Treaty of Shimonoseki. The terms are extremely unfavorable for China: Japan annexes the island of Taiwan, recognizes Japan’s sphere of influence in Korea, and the Chinese are forced to pay a huge war indemnity and cede the Liaodong Peninsula in Manchuria and the strategic ports of Dalian and Lushun (now Port Arthur) to Japan. Only a bullet fired by a Japanese nationalist prevents even more humiliating conditions for the Chinese. The Chinese emperor is only grazed in the face, and the Japanese, gravely embarrassed, abandon the most onerous terms.
