Chinese laborers working under the direction of German supervisors on a hill above the city of Tsingtau, China. The card was sent from Earl's Court in London, January 6, 1905, and cancelled in Teichel, Germany two days later. From a painting by K. Hei...

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Germany seized the territory of Kiautschau, including its port of Tsingtao, from China in 1898 forcing a 99-year concession upon China.

Germany's East Asia Squadron left Tsingtao when war began.

On August 15, 1914, Japan, an ally of Great Britain, delivered Germany an ultimatum to withdraw all German warships from waters 'in the neighbourhood of Japan and China' and to 'hand over to the Japanese authorities the whole of the leased territory of Kiao-chau before the 16th September, 1914, for the purpose of handing this territory back to China.' Japan declared war and imposed a naval blockade after Germany did not comply by the ultimatum's August 23 deadline.

On October 6, an Anglo-Japanese attack that included ground troops was repulsed. The German defenders held out for another month but surrendered Tsingtao on November 7.

Chinese laborers were recruited for the war effort. On February 24, 1917, 543 were lost when the French liner Athos was sunk in the Mediterranean. Six months later, on August 14, China formally entered the war protesting Germany's submarine warfare campaign.

By the end of the war, nearly 100,000 Chinese laborers supported the Allied armies on the Western Front.

China is a country in Asia.

Statistics for China (1)

Type	Statistic
Population	439,214,000

Some places in China (1)

Click to View	Location Type
Kiautschau	Concession

Some books about China (1)

Title	Author Last Name	Author First Name
October: The Story of the Russian Revolution	Mieville	China