This book is an examination of the development of the French imperial mission in China from 1885 to 1900. French industry and capital contributed to the construction of the great Fort Arthur naval base, and the Beijing-Hankou railway, and paid for much of Russia's encroachment in Manchuria.By 1900, French interests were diffused throughout China. Lee demonstrates France's preference for a policy of economic penetration rather than the establishment of a territorial "sphere of interest," and evokes a remarkable period of European territorial acquisitiveness and competition.