It did not seem wise at this time to ask such a privilege, the patience of China being already strained by the matter of the Ussuri strip, that much-harassed country being also suspicious of the railroad itself.

So with consummate tact Russia proceeded to build the road from the two extremities, leaving this gap to be adjusted by time and circumstances.

She had not to wait long.

In 1894 an unexpected event altered the whole face of the problem.

War was declared between China and Japan.
The three Oriental nations involved in this dispute--China, Japan and Korea--offer three distinct and strongly contrasting types coming out of the mysterious region the world used to know by the comprehensive name of Cathay.