China’s 1895 defeat to Japan and the resulting Treaty of Shimonoseki (read more about the treaty in the chapter on Empress Dowager Cixi) opened the eyes of many Chinese intellectuals, Liang included, to China’s weakness. The treaty inspired Liang to coin the now famous phrase, “Sick Man of Asia,” to describe China’s precarious position. The phrase in Chinese is dongfang bingfu (东方病夫), first appearing in an article by Liang in a Shanghai newspaper in 1896.