Before the 1800s, China and Japan were almost identical. They isolated themselves from other countries; but after their imperialisms in the late 1800s, the countries went on different paths. China remained traditional and denied modernization and suffered because of it, while Japan emulated the imperial powers and became an imperial
Had China done otherwise, it would not have achieved its rapid economic development and profound improvement in the living standards of the Chinese people. China should continue to make development its top priority and stand firmly for peace and development, not only in China, but in the world at large. Second, Deng insisted that China should never seek hegemony. This policy of seeking no hegemony is still guiding China today. Even though China has become the second-largest economy in the world, and is expected to surpass the United States as the largest economy, possibly this decade, it does not seek hegemony or expansion.
Japan is a small country, while considering the contribution to the world economic Japan still is a big country. So trade exchanges and business negotiations between these two countries is a systematic project because of different national culture, beliefs, values and norms. All of these differences may lead to some unpredictable issues in commercial activities if both side do not clearly know the difference. Japan is a typical oriental culture nurtured the country, while the United States is a combination of Western civilization itself nurtured the development of the United States set their own unique culture. These two contradictory business negotiations and cultural differences between countries and thus caused inconvenience to bring the negotiation process was affecting each other.
Gandhi struggled to fight against British colonizing power and the Western models of society brought with it. In China, Mao shared the same struggle against an invading power. While not a Western nation, Japan invaded China and brought what Mao considered Western systems: imperialism, colonialism, and capitalism. The historical context in which these two leaders fought an invading power was, of course, a national issue, independent of one another. However, what they fought against and the goals they made for their national struggles were global and holistic.
In fact, the United States has probably the most freedom way in the world. China on the other had is rather old fashion. The typical stereotypical ways of living are still very much in affect and strongly believed in. Although they still believe in a more traditional family leaving style they have came a long way from where they were decades even centuries ago. By how they chose to live and raise their families not only lead to a continuing cycle but also to a possible extinction of a major role in their society.
Though this proposition is correct, I argue that the decentralization of the Chinese system of governance was an integral reason for its inability to cope with the challenges posed by modern nation-states. This decentralization is characterized by many factors including internal social unrest, lack of strong leadership, corruption, and traditional ideals. The already decentralized, corrupt state was thus easily exploited by modern imperialist powers due to their superior military technology and organization. Eventually, China’s decline and successive defeats led to the fall of the last Chinese empirical dynasty. To begin, it is necessary to have a strong understanding of China’s background as an empire and what led to its decline during this period.
Sinicization is one of the most common doubts by historians who study about Qing Dynasty. Question like ‘How did the Manchu who were outnumbered by Han Chinese people managed to conquered and succeeded in ruling China for so long?’ lead one to wonder whether one of the reason for their success is sinicization. This doubt about sinicization has brought two historians to debate and attack each other opinion publicly. According to historian Ping Ti Ho, sinicization is undoubtedly the key to the success of Qing Dynasty but historian Evelyn S.Rawski did not agree about sinicization and argues instead that Qing was quite a multiethnic empire. In Ping Ti Ho 1967 paper, he stated 5 reasons why Qing Dynasty is one of the most important dynasty.
Confucian though is really wide and profound. It covers a wide range of aspects from personal behavior to national management. Chinese people have followed the though as norm and philosophy for thousands of years. At one time, Confucian though was considered as too conservative, too neutral and too spirit. Not only did the westerners not understand it but also the Chinese communist wanted to overthrow it.
How and why did the Chinese and Japanese responses to the West differ during the nineteenth century? In the course of 19th century colonialism and European expansion, the far east and especially both China and Japan were becoming increasingly interesting to western states’ economies. Therefore, in order to achieve economic expansion, western powers started to try to open Japanese and Chinese markets, even though their ingrained principle of cultural and economic isolation forbade any type of interaction with other nations, which were commonly regarded as inferior. However despite the striking similarities in Japanese and Chinese traditional ways of dealing with other “barbarous” civilisations (Pelissier, 1967, S. 11-13) the outcome of the confrontation with the West could not have been more different. Whereas Japan successfully managed to modernise to such a point that it even eventually became an industrialised, modern state with democratic traits in an astonishingly short space of time (Henshall, 1999, S. xiii-xv), China’s adaptation has been infinitely slower, undermining its status as an independent state.
China was a country of dynastic splendor, such as the Manchu Dynasty in the 1900s, but was later on tainted by imperialism. At first, Chinese had become very advanced in many areas, like astronomy, mathematics, etc. However, due to its isolation and lack of modernization, it became weaker than the other nations. Knowing this, aforementioned nations like Japan and Europe began to spread their influence and power into China. Imperialism became a huge component of China’s history, from 1839 to 1935.