The Rise of Yuan Shikai

Japan presented the 21 demands to Yuan Shikai in May 1915. They included a session of German rights in Shandong Province to Japan. The fifth group of demands went much, much further and would have meant end of Chinese sovereignty. A great feeling of national humiliation aroused Chinese intellectuals who organized a vast movement to boycott Japanese goods. Even so, Yuan agreed to submit to these demands in the Treaty of May 25th, 1915.