Nine Americans won $41.3 million from China on 1911 imperial railway bonds, and the judgment was set aside after Beijing protested

In May 1911 the Qing government issued 5 percent Hukuang Railways bearer bonds for a £6 million loan to build railways in central south China. The dynasty fell at the end of that year. The Republic of China kept paying interest until 1939. The bonds matured in 1951. The People's Republic refused the debts of what it called "past reactionary governments." In November 1979 Russell Jackson and eight other American holders sued the People's Republic in federal court in Alabama on behalf of all holders. China did not appear. The court entered a default on 28 October 1981 and a judgment for $41.3 million on 2 September 1982. Beijing called the bonds an "odious debt." In February 1983 Foreign Minister Wu Xueqian gave Secretary of State George Shultz a note reserving the right to act if Chinese property in the United States was attached. China then appeared in court. On 27 February 1984 the judgment was set aside, and the case was dismissed because the 1976 immunity law did not reach earlier transactions. The Eleventh Circuit affirmed on 25 July 1986, and the Supreme Court declined the case in March 1987. China's Foreign Ministry said the case "is finally closed." In 1987 China paid British holders of pre-1949 bonds £23.5 million. In August 2020 Senator Martha McSally introduced a resolution asking China to repay more than $1.6 trillion to American holders. Resolutions do not have the force of law. The bonds remain unpaid.