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Part C: Compare and Contrast
The Chinese and Japanese reactions to western imperialism were initially similar, yet over time differ radically. Both societies initially opposed to foreign ideas and exchanges, severely restricting merchants ability to conduct trade. European nations intervened, using military force to open up these two societies to their merchants. While China was unable to adapt and thus became a nation carved up by foreign, Japan industrialized and, by the turn of the century, became a fully modern, imperialist state in its own right.
The two East Asian societies Japan and China were highly similar in the beginning of the 19th century. They were both ruled by an aristocratic elite who were conservative in nature. Both had philosophies based upon Neo-Confucianism and Buddhism. Both also strongly distrusted foreigners and their ideas and practices. This distrust would result in severe trade restrictions. The Chinese, for example, would only allow alien merchants to conduct business in the port of Guangzhou, where only specially licensed Chinese merchants could actually trade with them. The Japanese had a parallel policy, where only Dutch ships could dock at the designated port of Nagasaki, where after the Tokugawa government monitored their movements closely. Foreign merchants greatly disliked these practices and put pressure on their governments to force better trading rights. Britain and China would go to war, for example, because of the illegal importation of opium into China by British traders (thus leading to the conflict being named the Opium Wars). The defeat of China in this struggle would be humiliating and the resulting trade treaty, which would give British merchants unprecedented power in China. Other nations would soon follow and China would be forced by several European nations to sign further trade concession treaties. By the middle of the century, France, Russia, Great Britain, and Germany all had their own respective spheres of influence, where they enjoyed great economic freedom at the expense of the Chinese. The apparent inability of the Government to rid the country of the foreigners would be one of the primary causes for the Qing dynasty's fall at the end of the century.
Japan was like China in its isolationist policies, yet was far more strict at the same time. The government of Japan at the time, the Tokugawa Shogunate, was highly protectionist and would only allow a small quota of Dutch ships into the port of Nagasaki, where, like in China, a few specially licensed merchants conducted business with them. European nations greatly disliked this policy, who wanted to use Japan as a coaling station for their ships traveling to Chinese ports and as an actual trading destination. Embassies sent by European nations and a newly imperialist United States in the first half of the nineteenth century were continually rebuffed. American patience, however, was running thin and finally in 1843, sent an armed steamboat squadron under the command of Commodore Matthew Perry to force Japanese authorities to accept a trade treaty. Fearing the fire power of the Commodore's fleet and possible American retribution, the Tokugawa government signed the treaty, which was many identical to the one signed by China with Great Britain at the conclusion of the Opium Wars. Also like in China, treaties would be signed with foreign powers, giving them large economic concessions i terms of trade.
From around 1860 onward, the Japanese and Chinese reactions to imperialism will begin to diverge. China would struggle under the weight of the trade concessions to industrialize and therefore be strong enough to reject them. However, the corruption and highly conservative views of government officials and even the members of imperial family would doom all efforts at modernization. A prime example is the Self Strengthening movement in 1870's. The main goal of this program was to quickly modernize China's infrastructure and, most importantly, its armed forces. The project was shut down by a new conservative ruler named Empress Dowager Cixi, who saw the program as a grand waste of money and an abandonment of central Confucian ideals. Another example is the reallocating of funds by Empress Dowager Cixi meant for the building of a modern navy to instead make a massive marble barge in her personal lake inside the Forbidden City. The failure of the government to modernize China would lead to further economic concessions later on to the Europeans and even the newly industrialized Japan.
Japan, unlike China, was, due to rapid political change and economic subsidies, to become a fully industrialized society by the end of the century and a power equivalent to those of Europe. The origins of this change lies in the acceptance of the trade concessions by the Tokugawa administration, which the Japanese populace viewed as a sign that the current government could no longer effectively defend Japan. The samurais mounted a revolt and, soon afterward, a new constitutional government, named the Meiji government after the emperor calling the period Meiji or "enlightened rule", arose, with the newly restored emperor at its head and an advisory parliament. The government quickly began to modernize Japan, jump starting industry through direct loans and subsidies. Progress was fast, and, in a mere generation, the Meiji government had made Japan an industrial power. Progress was so rapid that Japan started their own imperial colonies in Korea and Manchuria after decisively defeating China in a brief war. The world recognized them as a great power after they successfully defeated Russia in the Russo-Japanese War.
To summarize, China and Japan reacted alike in their response to western imperialism, yet would slowly go down different paths. China's corruption at all levels of governments would lead to China being militarily weak and open to exploitation by the western imperialist nations. Japan's ruling classes would do the opposite, becoming the driving force behind political change and economic industrialization. These developments would be critical to world history. Japan would not have been able to be an active participant of WWII if it had not been for the military modernization during the Meiji government. In China, political and economic weaknesses would lead to the overthrow of the Qing dynasty, the last Chinese empire. The implications would have been great if either had reacted differently to western pressure during the nineteenth century.