----------CHINA: Start-------- CHINA: A. D. 1894-1895. The war with Japan. The peace treaty of Shimonoseki. Recognition of Korean independence. Cession of part of Fêng-tien, of Formosa, and of the Pescadores Islands to Japan. Relinquishment of Fêng-tien by Japan. In the original edition of this work, the causes of the war of 1894-1895 between China and Japan will be found stated in the Supplement (volume 5, page 3736), under "COREA." In the new, revised edition, the same appears in volume 3, under "Korea." At the close of the year 1894 the Japanese were pressing their campaign, with little heed to the cold of winter, for which they seemed to be well prepared. They had won, almost with ease, every serious engagement of the war. They had half destroyed the Chinese navy, on the 18th of September, in a great battle at the mouth of the Yalu River, and, on the 21st-22d of November, they had captured Port Arthur, the strongest fortress in China, with costly dockyards and great stores of the munitions of war. In the first month of the new year the successes of the Japanese were renewed. Kaiphing was taken on the 10th; a vigorous Chinese attack was repulsed, near Niuchuang, on the 16th; a landing of 25,000 troops on the Shantung Peninsula was effected on the 20th, and a combined attack by army and navy on the strong forts which protected the important harbor of Wei-hai-wei, and the Chinese fleet sheltered in it, was begun on the 30th of the month. The attack was ended on the 13th of February, when the Chinese admiral Ting-Ju-chang gave up the remnant of his fleet and then killed himself. The Chinese general, Tai, had committed suicide in despair on the third night of the fighting. There was further fighting around Niuchuang and Yingkow during February and part of March, while overtures for peace were being made by the Chinese government. At length the famous viceroy, Li Hung-chang, was sent to Japan with full powers to conclude a treaty. Negotiations were interrupted at the outset by a foul attack on the Chinese ambassador by a Japanese ruffian, who shot and seriously wounded him in the cheek. But the Mikado ordered an armistice, and the Treaty of Shimonoseki was concluded and signed on the 17th of April. The essential provisions of the treaty are as follows: "Article I. China recognizes definitely the full and complete independence and autonomy of Corea, and, in consequence, the payment of tribute and the performance of ceremonies and formalities by Corea to China in derogation of such independence and autonomy shall wholly cease for the future.