China joined the side of <u>The Entente</u> during World War I.
As an attempt to gain regional dominance that Germany had taken away from China, such as the city of Qingdao in 1897, and to receive some benefit after the war ended, China tried to get involved in the war somehow on the side of The Entente or Allies, who opposed the Central Powers (Germany, Austria-Hungary, Ottoman Empire and Bulgaria). Their entrance was difficult at first since none of the Allies (especially Japan) wanted China to join the war.
Their first attempt was to secretly offer British minister John Jordan 50,000 troops to retake Qingdao, in August 1914. But Jordan had to refuse the offer. By February 1916, the Asian country offered aid to Allies men dying, it was denied as well.
It wasn't until late 1916, that China was allowed to send thousands of voluntary non-combatant workers, largely from Shandong, to support Britain, France, and Russia (The original Entente). These workers, mostly illiterate peasants, repaired tanks, assembled shells, transported supplies and munitions and helped to reshape the war’s battle sites.
