Skip to main content Skip to Search Box

Definition: Open Door from Philip's Encyclopedia

US policy designed to preserve its commercial interests in China in the early 20th century. It originated (1899) in a pronouncement by US Secretary of State, John M. Hay. At that time, China was divided into spheres of interest among European powers and Japan. The 'Open Door' policy demanded that trade and traders from other countries should receive equal rights with other foreigners in China.


Open Door

From The Columbia Encyclopedia
maintenance in a certain territory of equal commercial and industrial rights for the nationals of all countries. As a specific policy, it was first advanced by the United States, but it was rooted in the typical most-favored-nation clause of the treaties concluded with China after the Opium War (1839–42). Although the Open Door is generally associated with China, it also received recognition at the Berlin Conference of 1885, which declared that no power could levy preferential duties in the Congo basin. In the 1890s, the United States had become an East Asian power through the acquisition of the Philippine Islands, and when the partition of China by the European powers and Japan seemed imminent, the U.S. government strove to preserve equal industrial and commercial privileges. Secretary of State John Hay sent (1899) notes to the major powers (France, Germany, Great Britain, Italy, Japan, and Russia), asking them to declare formally that they would uphold Chinese territorial and…
5,678 results

Full text Article Open Door

From The Columbia Encyclopedia
maintenance in a certain territory of equal commercial and industrial rights for the nationals of all countries. As a specific policy, it was first advanced by the United States, but it was rooted in the typical most-favored-nation clause of the treaties concluded with China after the Opium War…
| 617 words
Key concepts:

Full text Article Open Door Policy

From Encyclopedia of Chinese-American Relations
The Open Door is a historical principal, often agreed upon according to international law, giving several states and their subjects equal access to a country or region for the purpose of trade or other economic activities. It was frequently used by the European colonial powers during the 19th…
| 782 words
Key concepts:

Full text Article Open Door Policy

From Gale Encyclopedia of U.S. Economic History
Open Door policy is a set of principles that the United States advanced in about 1900 in an attempt to prevent world powers from maintaining a disproportionate control of Chinese trade. In the late nineteenth century, industrialization in the United States was growing, and expansion into the Western…
| 1,134 words
Key concepts:

Full text Article “OPEN DOOR” POLICY

From The Oxford Encyclopedia of American Military and Diplomatic History
The “Open Door” notes, issued by Secretary of State John Hay in 1899–1901, represented the U.S. hope and expectation of maintaining access to the China market at a time when European colonial powers and Japan, taking advantage of China's weakness after the Sino-Japanese War of 1894–1895, threatened…
| 695 words
Key concepts:

Full text Article Open Door Notes

From Encyclopedia of World Trade: From Ancient Times to the Present Full text Article A-Z Entries
President William McKinley asked Secretary of...
Diplomatic notes sent by the United States to European powers arguing for free and open trade in and with China. After the revitalization of European colonialism in the nineteenth century, the Western powers busily carved out their respective empires for reasons of trade and national prestige. …
| 668 words , 1 image
Key concepts:

Full text Article OPEN DOOR POLICY

From The Reader's Companion to American History
By the late nineteenth century, Japan and the western European powers had carved much of China into separate spheres of influence. Within each, one nation held economic dominance. The United States, coming late to imperialism, advocated the Open Door policy (first proposed by a British customs…
| 345 words
Key concepts:

Full text Article Open Door policy

From Encyclopedia of American Foreign Policy
The Open Door policy defined the U.S. relationship with China at the turn of the 20th century. It represented an attempt on the part of the United States to involve itself in world affairs without becoming entangled in alliances. The roots of the Open Door policy can be traced to colonial America…
| 724 words
Key concepts:
1899–1949 China's catastrophic defeat in the Sino-Japanese War (1894–95) and its growing political and military weakness led to a scramble for concessions by Western powers that seemed to presage its eventual partition. The movement began in 1898 with Germany's successful demand to the Qing (Ch'ing) …
| 548 words
Key concepts:

Full text Article open-door policy

From The Hutchinson Unabridged Encyclopedia with Atlas and Weather Guide
Economic philosophy of equal access by all nations to another nation's markets. The term was proposed by US Secretary of State John Hay in September 1899 to allow all nations free access to trade with China, at a time when Japan and European powers had carved much of China into spheres of influence. …
| 181 words
Key concepts:

Full text Article First Open Door Note (1899)

From Encyclopedia of World Trade: From Ancient Times to the Present Full text Article Primary Documents
After the United States became a power in East Asia with the acquisition of the Philippines at the end of the Spanish-American War in 1898, the administration of William McKinley turned its attention to China. European powers had already developed spheres of influence in China and had been granted…
| 1,027 words
Key concepts:
Mind Map

Stack overflow
More Library Resources