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,
From China to Canada the growing literature on the Chinese in North America." Chan's criticisms were that it included more information than necessary and also was redundant in places. In a book review for the "China Quarterly", Lucie Cheng wrote that the book was both strengthened and weakened by its "comprehensiveness" since "By trying to give us too much, it ends up giving us too little." Kashima wrote "Historians will find this an interesting and sound account which helps to fill the information gap on the Chinese in Canada." Stanford M. Lyman of the New School for Social Research wrote that this book and