Hundred Days' Reform in the First Sino-Japanese War in 1894–1895, not long after the First (1839–1842) and Second (1856–1860) Opium Wars; this blow came as a major shock to the Chinese, because Japan had been regarded as a tributary state, was much smaller than China, and was regarded as inferior. China also fought France in the Sino-French War from 1884 to 1885. Moreover, the defeat of China by Japan led to a scramble for "privileges" in China by other foreign powers, notably by the German Empire and Russia, further awakening the conservatives. Before the First Sino-Japanese War, China engaged in technological modernization only,
An Authentic Account of an Embassy from the King of Great Britain to the Emperor of China in 1798 for George Nicol in two volumes. The American edition was published in two volumes in 1799 in Philadelphia by John Bioren for Robert Campbell. The English text was soon after its publication translated into various languages. The German version "Reise der englischen Gesandtschaft an den Kaiser von China in den Jahren 1792 und 1793" was published in two volumes in Zürich by Geßner 1798-1799, translated by Johann Christian Hüttner. The translation holds no illustrations due to its small size and is the only version that admits being freely translated. The Dutch translation "Reis van lord Macartneij, naar China"