The Sino-Japanese War occupies an important position in modern Chinese history and has a great impact on the development of the Chinese nation, of course, it has an extremely bad impact, because the Sino-Japanese War ended with China's defeat in the war and the total destruction of the Beiyang Marine Division, and under the pressure of the Japanese military, it signed the "Treaty of Maguan", which brought unprecedented serious national crises to the Chinese nation, declared to the great powers that the Qing Dynasty's military was vulnerable, and greatly deepened the degree of semi-colonization of Chinese society. Moreover, the defeat in the Sino-Japanese War gave the proud and arrogant rulers of the Qing Dynasty a bitter lesson, and Japan, which had originally submitted to the "Heavenly Dynasty and the Kingdom of Heaven", had become unprecedentedly powerful through the transformation of the law, and even if there were few people in the country, it could still defeat the Central Plains Dynasty.
Who would have thought that Japan, which beat the Qing army to the point of turning people upside down, would need to learn Chinese culture to enlighten its wisdom a long time ago? The strength of the Tang Dynasty at that time was obvious to all, the economy was developed, the culture was prosperous, it was in a leading position in the world at that time, and it carried out very frequent cultural exchanges with many countries, and the Tang Dynasty formed a fairly mature diplomatic system of "mainly me".
The Tang Dynasty became the most powerful empire in East Asia, with great prestige, and there were countless countries that wanted to absorb China's advanced culture, including Japan, and the Japanese emperor wanted to change the backward status quo and make the country strong, so the advanced political, economic, and cultural system of the Tang Dynasty at that time was what they dreamed of.
From the beginning of the seventh century to the end of the ninth century, about 264 years, In order to learn Chinese culture, Japan has sent more than a dozen tang envoys to the Tang Dynasty, from here it can be seen that Japan is eager for strong ambition and patience, in each learning process, they have learned a lot of knowledge, involving the legal system, culture and art, science and technology and customs, and there are frequent trade exchanges, which have made great contributions to the development of Japanese society. Culturally impoverished Japan has been transformed into a colorful country.
It was thought that the Central Plains Dynasty and Japan would be able to continue to make good friends, but in 894 AD, Emperor Uta accepted the invitation of the 19th Tang ambassador who had been appointed but did not leave, and officially announced the suspension of the dispatch of Tang envoys the following year, and in 895 AD, the dispatch of Tang envoys was abolished. At that time, the Tang Dynasty was in its last years, the political situation was turbulent, after the Huangchao Uprising, the Tang Dynasty's national strength declined greatly, and there were also a large number of feudal towns, and it was understandable that Japan stopped sending Tang envoys, after all, the Central Plains at that time was a muddy water, followed by the chaotic situation of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms, and the official contact between Japan and the Central Plains Dynasty was also broken, but after the establishment of the new dynasty, the Song Dynasty, Japan did not restore the system of sending Tang envoys.
Zhao Kuangyin, the founding emperor of the Northern Song Dynasty, was committed to unifying the whole country and wanted to restore the prestige and prosperity of the former Central Plains Dynasty, after all, the previous Tang Dynasty was too brilliant, and now the Song Dynasty that followed it could not fall behind, so several emperors in the early days of the song Dynasty wanted to restore the inherent "Huayi Sect Order" of the Central Plains Dynasty and establish the Song Dynasty's status as a "heavenly kingdom".
For example, Zhao Guangyi, emperor Taizong of Song, disregarded the initial decision of the state, rushed to crusade against foreign nationalities, attacked the Khitans, attacked the Liao twice, and fought with the Western Xia, all in order to establish the prestige of the Song Dynasty in the border areas, so that the countries in the western region were frightened, and they could become "one emperor in all eternity" like Emperor Wu of Han and Tang Taizong, but unfortunately Song Taizong was eager to succeed, exhausted his troops, and lost several times.
Before the crusade against the ethnic minorities in the north, Song Taizong greeted Japan, Korea and other countries, only when I returned from a victorious battle, Er and others consciously restored the tributary system of the Zong Clan, but unfortunately this big talk was too early, four years after the founding of the country, that is, in 979 AD, Song Taizong personally marched, after the destruction of the Northern Han Dynasty, he intended to take advantage of the Northern Expedition, but unfortunately, when besieging Yanjing, the Song army and the Liao people launched a fierce battle on the Sorghum River, Zhao Guangyi personally came to the battlefield, and as a result, he was injured and arrowed, and withdrew by donkey cart, and this vigorous Northern Expedition failed. Then the plan of unification of Jiaotong (Vietnam) in 981 AD also failed, the Battle of Bai Teng River was won first and then defeated, and then in 986 AD, Zhao Guangyi continued to send people to the Northern Expedition to the Liao Army, and the result was equally unsatisfactory.
How can the Song Dynasty, which has been defeated repeatedly, be compared with the Tang Dynasty of that year, the "Huayi Sect Order" envisaged by the Song Emperor has been destroyed, and the Japanese rulers no longer put the Great Song Dynasty in their eyes, they have absorbed the Tang Dynasty culture for more than two hundred years, they have basically completed the reform, the need to learn Chinese culture is not so urgent, and the cost of sending a Tang envoy is extremely large, so Japan began to develop itself, they think of themselves as small China, after all, their culture is indeed learned from the Sheng Tang Dynasty, and they can rely on it." The name "Little China" established a tributary system centered on Japan, thus replacing the Zhonghua-centered Huayi clan order under the rule of the Central Plains Dynasty.
Since then, Japan has called the people of the Song Dynasty "Fanke", in the past they were Fanyi, and now they no longer regard the Central Plains Dynasty as the "Heavenly Dynasty", but they have replaced it and refused to establish official ties with the Song Dynasty, I have to say that the Japanese are really confident, how do they feel that the Tang Dynasty culture that has been studied for two hundred years can replace the Central Plains Dynasty that has been passed down for thousands of years? In the end, it turned out that they were delusional, although the Song Dynasty was not developed enough, it was still an ally, the Chinese cultural circle was still deeply rooted, while Japan was deeply influenced by Sinicization, and has not yet completely escaped the influence of Chinese culture, and even the writing has many similarities.
The strength of a country is not only in the use of force, but also in the penetration of culture, and In this regard, China has done a relatively successful job.
However, sometimes the rulers of the Central Plains Dynasty were also a little confused, and the emperor of the fallen country in the last years of the Northern Song Dynasty, Emperor Huizong of Song, even sent emissaries to carry the letter of state, hoping to establish diplomatic relations between the two countries, and let Japan recognize the status of the suzerainty of the Great Song Dynasty, and soon after the Northern Song Dynasty was destroyed by the Jin Dynasty.