ked
friendliness to foreigners, might have worked a moral and political
revolution in the Chinese empire, and lifted that ancient land into a
far higher position than it occupies to-day. But the interests of the
opium trade were threatened, and before this all loftier considerations
had to give way.

[Illustration: A BRONZE-WORKER'S SHOP.]

_COREA AND ITS NEIGHBORS._

We have thus far followed the course of two distinct streams of history,
that of Japan and that of China, flowing near each other, yet touching
at very few points in their course. Near the end of the nineteenth
century these two streams flowed together, and the histories of the two
countries became one, in the war in which their difference in military
skill was so strikingly displayed. Japan made use of the lessons which
it had well learned in its forty years of intercourse with Europe. China
fought in the obsolete fashion of a past age. As a result, the
cumbersome mediaeval giant went down before the alert modern dwarf, and
the people of Eastern Asia were taught a new and astounding lesson in
the art of war.

Between China and Japan lies the kingdom of Corea, separated by a river
from the former, by a strait of the ocean from the latter, claimed as a
vassal state by both, yet preserving its individuality as a state
against the pair. It has often been invaded by China, but never
conquered. It has twice been invaded by Japan, as described in preceding
tales, and made tributary, but not conquered. Thus it remained until the
end of the nineteenth century, when it was to become the cause of a war
between the two rival empires.

During the long history of China and Japan these countries very rarely
came into conflict with each other. Only once has China invaded Japan,
when Kublai Khan, the Mongol emperor, attempted its conquest with a
great fleet, the fate of which we have already told. This effort had its
influence upon Japan, for during the succeeding three centuries pirates
from the island empire boldly raided the coast of China, devastating the
maritime provinces and causing immense loss and suffering. They often
built forts on the shore, from which they sallied forth to plunder and
burn, keeping their ships at hand ready to fly if defeated. Thus they
went on, plundering and destroying, their raids reaching a ruinous stage
in 1553 and the succeeding years. They defeated the Chinese troops in
several battles, ravaged the whole surrounding count