In August 1914 a request from British Foreign Secretary Grey orchestrated by Japan’s Foreign Minister Kato had licensed Tokyo’s hasty declaration of war on Germany and its incursion into Shandong. On the lower reaches of the Yellow River within striking distance of Beijing, it was revered as a holy site of all three of China’s major religious traditions – Confucianism, Taoism and Buddhism: its occupation was a new and devastating blow to Chinese prestige.
