Mutsu Munemitsu
The Qing Empire agrees to hold peace talks with Japan and appoints Viceroy Li Hongzhang as its representative to negotiate with the Japanese Prime Minister Itō Hirobumi and Foreign Minister Mutsu Munemitsu in Shimonoseki. Japan demands that the Qing Empire cedes Taiwan, Penghu, and the Liaodong Peninsula, and pay war reparations amounting to 250 million silver taels, among other things. Li rejects the terms and leaves. He is shot in the cheek by a Japanese fanatic on the way back. While recovering in hospital, he receives a telegraph from the Qing government instructing him to accept the Japanese terms. He signs the Treaty of Shimonoseki on 17 April 1895.