By the spring of 1925 China seemed ready for revolution. On May 30 demonstrators gathered in front of a Japanese-owned factory in Shanghai’s International Settlement, protesting their dismissal from work there. As the crowd grew to tens, then hundreds, chants of “Kill the foreigners” became louder. Panicking, an officer of the British-run Shanghai Municipal Police force directed his men (Chinese constables led by Indian Sikh officers) to shoot into the crowd. They shot eleven workers dead, and in doing so, sparked a national protest movement of demonstrations and boycotts.
