In fact, the most hit event in Modern China is not the strong invasion of the Western powers, after all, China's technology is inferior to that of people, the barbarian swords, guns and artillery are too powerful, and China's gates really cannot resist them, but of all the powers, the most intolerable thing for China is Japan, and the most important thing to learn is Japan.
The gap between China and Japan has widened, and in the 18th century, there may not have been much, and Japan was also a victim of the aggression of the Western powers, and signed unequal treaties with the great powers, but unlike China, the Japanese changed their vision very quickly, and the change of consciousness was also quite flexible.
The Japanese realized that the west's strength was worth learning from, and this spirit of worshipping the strong led Japan and China to two different paths, turning their heads to look at China, and the corrupt Qing government was still asleep, unable to wake up anyway. Beginning in the 1860s, Japan implemented the New Deal, known as the Meiji Restoration.
When China was carrying out the Meiji Restoration in Japan, it had already suffered two Opium Wars, suffered heavy losses, was saddled with heavy debts, and even lost almost all of its land, but the Qing government was still very afraid of reform, stumbled through the reform and reform law for only a hundred days, and finally declared bankruptcy.
Although the Qing government implemented the foreign affairs movement under the compulsion to do so, it was only to change the soup and not to change the medicine, and it was impossible to fundamentally get rid of the state of oppression, until in the last 10 years of the 19th century, after Japan carried out a twenty- or thirty-year restoration, it became a new capitalist power in East Asia, and the Sino-Japanese Sino-Japanese War completely changed the political pattern of East Asia and even the world pattern.
The Sino-Japanese War was a long-planned conspiracy in which, in addition to Japan being the main initiator, there was a complex international context involved, especially the British re-signed a new treaty with Japan before the Sino-Japanese War, which changed the unequal status of Japan and the Western capitalist countries, allowing Japan to consider starting from Korea to take Japan beyond its borders.
The background of the Sino-Japanese War begins with the uprising of the Dongxue Party in Korea, when the Korean government was in danger of capsizing, so it asked the suzerainty of China for help, and at the same time Japan saw the weakness of Korea, like a shark that smelled of blood, so it brazenly sent troops to Korea, and China also sent troops into Korea, but at that time North Korea had begun to appease the rebels and let the Chinese and Japanese troops withdraw from Korea.
However, Japan did not want to miss the opportunity, but instead sent more troops to Korea, China became a weak side for a time, Ye Zhichao saw this scene and took the initiative to ask Li Hongzhang for troops, but at that time, the Qing government was quite difficult to transfer troops, even if the conscription and transportation of troops to Korea was also a problem.
In order not to be attacked by the Japanese, Li Hongzhang chartered three British merchant ships to Goasan in Korea, and the first two ships, Aijin and Flying Whale, arrived safely, but the last merchant ship carrying 1116 people, the Gaosheng, was attacked by the Japanese cruiser Langsu and was sunk.
The 871 Jianghuai disciples on the Gaosheng were all buried in the sea, and even the 5 British on board were not spared, and more than 200 people survived on the ship. It seems that Li Hongzhang, who wanted to borrow the British as a shelter, miscalculated, japan did not put down the butcher knife because the ship was a British ship, and Japanese Foreign Minister Mutsu Zongguang made a full article after the Gaosheng incident, preparing testimony in favor of his own side while bribing the British media.
The British media who received the bribe vigorously defended Japan's behavior, claiming that the Gaosheng was the result of the Sino-Japanese War, even if this incident was a pre-Sino-Japanese war, and even the fuse of the Sino-Japanese War, the British once favored the Japanese side in court, and finally ordered China to compensate Jardine Matheson for more than 33,000 pounds.
We can't even lose the lawsuit even worse, not only to lose money, but also to lose soldiers. In fact, we also blame our incomplete grasp of the relationship between the international situation, Li Hongzhang's miscalculation comes from not understanding Britain's intentions, and britain and Japan form an alliance driven by international interests. Of course, the most fundamental thing is that we are not strong enough, and our strength is too weak.
At that time, the comprehensive national strength of Germany in the European region once increased, Britain wanted to suppress Germany's development, according to the principle of continental equilibrium, Britain wanted to use Russia to contain Germany's development, but Russia's intention was in the Far East, a large part of Russia's energy was involved in northeast China, Liaodong, Shandong, in order to let the Russians move back to the European battlefield to contain Germany, Britain found Japan, a new capitalist country, to tear up with Russia.
Japan is also quite enthusiastic about the olive branch thrown by Britain, because by uniting with Britain, Japan can brazenly step onto the international stage, sit on an equal footing with the great powers, and even get a share of the chaotic world, realizing the Dream of Greater East Asia's Co-Prosperity planned by Japan.
The connivance of the British made Japan even more rampant in the Far East, and even finally in the Pacific War, Japan beat the British out of temper, until the Americans intervened to kill the ambitions of the Japanese, the British lifted a stone and dropped their feet, which also brought deep suffering to China.