Regarding how strong the strength of ancient China was, I believe that without us giving many examples, everyone can also know. In the ancient period of our country, we were able to create such four great inventions, which shows that we are at the forefront of the world in science and technology, as well as in other aspects. Such a strong cultural heritage has made China a state of self-appreciation and overconfidence for a long time. Of course, we should be proud of having such a strong cultural heritage, but we should not be proud of it. The backwardness and beating situation faced by China in the late feudal period was caused by its self-imposed self-imposed status. At that time, what broke the illusions of the Chinese people was the Japanese provocation and ravages against China. So when exactly did China start to lag behind Japan?
Most of the history books we have studied use the Meiji Restoration as Japan's biggest turning point, and this point in time has become an important node that most historians believe that China lags behind Japan. Although Britain continued to invade and occupy other countries in the long course of struggle in the world, he never invaded japan or turned japan into his largest colony. The reason for this is that the British once did a survey and found that the Japanese countryside is very clean and tidy. At this point, it has been proved that in the early stages of Japan's development, there are actually some aspects that have far surpassed China.
If we stretch the historical front, we can know that in the earliest days, when Chinese history began to move forward, Japan was still in the most primitive state. But later Japan's development surpassed China, in fact, since the Kangxi period, Japan has already had a tendency to surpass China, so from what aspects to see?
Although Sakhalin Island belonged nominally to the Qing Dynasty during the Qing Dynasty, when Kangxi signed a treaty with Russia, Sakhalin Island already had the possibility of being included in Japanese territory. Later, due to Kangxi's lack of attention to Sakhalin Island, it led to the loss of control of Sakhalin Island. Long before sakhalin island was officially ceded, the Qing Dynasty had recognized that the island was within the territory of Tsarist Russia. At that time, the biggest dispute existed between Russia and Japan, and since Japan had previously occupied the southern part of Sakhalin Island, there was also a conflict of interest between Russia and Japan.
According to the first-come, first-served principle, Japan occupied the southern part of Sakhalin Island first, and Russia wanted to come back and engage in a long-term struggle with Japan, but at this time Japan was justified and unwilling to withdraw. On the one hand, this is due to the narrow territorial scope of the Japanese mainland, and on the other hand, the Japanese have a fighting spirit and are unwilling to accept defeat.
In the process of later development, Japan still would not make any concessions to Tsarist Russia, and Japan's stalking spirit also moved Tsarist Russia and eventually had to compromise with it. Especially after the Meiji Restoration, Japan has developed in all aspects of the country, so it also has a greater say in the right to speak. Japan's struggle over Sakhalin Island is of extraordinary significance, because it is an opportunity to show the strength of its own country, and it is also to declare to the outside world that although it is a small country, it must not be bullied by any country. From this point of view, although the Qing Dynasty is relatively large in size, this spirit of struggle is lacking, so it will fall behind and be beaten and passively accepted.
The most important thing about a country is whether its national spirit can be condensed, as the decline of the feudal dynasty, the Qing Dynasty often shows a cowardly and incompetent side. However, in the development of its own country, Japan has been able to work hard and forge ahead in the development of its own country, so that Japan can rise rapidly and become the party that eventually ravaged China during World War II. Therefore, China's backward time node is likely to have had this trend since the Kangxi period.