China, the cake of kings and emperors, Le Petit Journal 1898, Henri Meyer, 16 January 1898

Caption: “en chine - le gâteau des rois et. Des empereurs”, (eng. : "china - the cake of kings and. Of emperors". ) french political cartoon from le petit journal published in le petit journal jan. 16th, 1898. The cartoon is meant to illustrate the imperialist tendencies of these nations towards china: a cake representing china is being divided between caricatures of various foreign rulers. Queen victoria of the united kingdom and william ii are squabbling over a piece, with the latter thrusting a knife into the pie to illustrate aggressive german behaviour. Czar nicholas ii of russia is eyeing a piece, while the french marianne is diplomatically shown as not participating in the carving, while being shown to stand close to nicholas ii, as a reminder of the franco-russian alliance of 1894. The japanese meiji emperor contemplates which piece to take. A stereotypical qing official throws up his hands but is powerless to stop the proceedings. Date: 16 January 1898.