Queen Victoria, Kaiser Wilhelm II, Tsar Nicholas II, Marianne, and the Meiji Emperor gather with knives around a cake marked Chine, while a stereotyped Qing official raises his hands in alarm behind them.

16 January 1898 · Colour lithographic newspaper illustration

En Chine—Le gâteau des Rois et… des Empereurs

Henri Meyer

Why it matters

The metaphor removes the need to argue for intervention. China is no longer a political actor but a cake already placed on the table, its surface scored into slices for foreign rulers. The caricatured Qing figure can protest but cannot touch the knives, turning lost sovereignty into visual common sense.

Publication
Le Petit Journal
Holding institution
Cornell University Library, Division of Rare and Manuscript Collections
Shelfmark
P.J. Mode collection of persuasive cartography,
Rights
Public-domain work; author died in 1899

Meyer, Henri. En Chine—Le gâteau des Rois et… des Empereurs, Le Petit Journal, 16 January 1898. P.J. Mode collection of persuasive cartography, #8548, Cornell University Library.