Nationalism in China Versus Japan

CC Essay Nationalism in China and Japan

China and Japan's histories were dominated by their unique individual cultures and their desire to remain separated from the rest of the world. This separation allowed their unique culture to take root, and it also allowed for a great sense of nationalism to dominate both countries. Along with their rich history and culture both countries despised foreign influence in any form. During the age of Imperialism when Western Europe set their sights (and influence) on the two countries they were quick to react. Despite sharing the same ideals the two countries reacted in very different manners to the foreign incursion. China and Japan were similar in that they resented foreign influence on their culture, but different in that China's Nationalism was disorganized and reactive, while Japan's Nationalism was aggressive and expansionist.

Due to natural geographic barriers both China and Japan had always been secluded and did not interact much with other countries. This loss of interaction caused both China and Japan to develop their own unique cultures respectively. The Chinese believed that they were superior and that all other people were inferior. This caused China to have a strong nationalistic pride in itself. The same can be said for Japan, which also developed a strong sense of Nationalism due to lack of trade and communication between other countries and cultures. During the age of Imperialism when Western Europe set it's sights on China and Japan both countries' people reacted negatively to trading with foreigners. The foreign powers targeted China and Japan for their luxury goods, and sought to open up both countries allowing more foreigners in to trade. Both countries reacted with growing Nationalism from their people, but with mixed results. Both China and Japan resented foreign influence and wished to rid both of their countries of foreigners.

Despite both countries having the same goal their responses to the influx in foreigners differed. The foreign powers had nothing of value that China wanted until the British started trading the drug Opium with the Chinese. The Chinese soon became addicted to the drug, and this caused China's government to pass laws banning it. This angered the British government who demanded that they should be allowed to sell their Opium in China. When the Chinese government refused the British demands the First and Second Opium Wars (1832-42 and 1856-60) broke out in China. Despite their believed superiority China suffered devastating losses at the hands of the British, and they were forced to allow different countries to come in and carve out "spheres of influence" which put China under an Economic Imperialism. Instead of banding together to form stronger Nationalistic bonds the Chines people blamed their government for losing the war and allowing foreign influences to control the Chinese economy. This unhappiness led to the Taiping Rebellion (1850-64), which weakened the Government extremely. After the First Shino-Japanese war (1894-95) and the failed Boxer Rebellion (1899-90) the Qing government finally fell and was replaced by a Nationalistic one. This government did not last very long and China plunged into a civil war, which didn't end until 1949, and due to not having a stable government China opened itself up to foreign influence, which continued to weaken it's strong sense of Nationalism. The Japanese saw China slowly fall under foreign influence and they did not want that to happen