Japan won the Sino-Japanese War and China lost, but China and Japan did not immediately enter a state of hatred, which is a very strange and heart-wrenching phenomenon.
Under the active guidance of Japan, China and Japan have even entered a 10-year long "honeymoon period".
It began in November 1897 when the Japanese Vice-Chief of Staff invited the Chinese government to send a military delegation to observe the Japanese exercises. By 1899, Empress Dowager Cixi sent Liu Xuexun to visit Japan with a secret code to establish a hotline with the Japanese imperial family to explore the possibility of an alliance between China and Japan.
After the Sino-Japanese War, there was a trend of public opinion in the world: European countries represented by the German emperor and the Russian tsar put forward the "yellow peril theory". They argue that a Westernized Japan, leading a rising China, will have a more terrible impact than Genghis Khan. The German Emperor also asked for a painting of the Yellow Peril (see picture), with the inscription: The peoples of Europe unite to defend your faith and homeland.
In 1900, when the Boxer Rebellion broke out in China and the Western powers discussed sending troops to suppress it, the major powers except Russia did not have enough troops in China. The British offered to send troops to Japan, but the Japanese responded by not sending troops. Why? Because they realized that they could not continue to stimulate the Western "yellow peril theory", they chose to cultivate obscurity. After many invitations from Germany and Russia, Japan sent the most elite main division originally stationed in Hiroshima. After entering the city of Beijing, many historical records have recorded that among the armies of the eight countries, the military discipline of the Japanese army is relatively the most stringent. After the Japanese army entered Beijing, it also prepared tens of thousands of Japanese flags and distributed them to every household, and the city of Beijing, including the occupied areas of other countries, was hung with small sun flags overnight, and another successful public relations was done.
Before the Russo-Japanese War, Japan received intelligence that Russia's media strategy was to launch the "yellow peril" theory in Europe, and Japan sent people to Europe to establish a "media warfare" attack base. The person sent was Named Kensumaki Suematsu, the head of the Legislative Affairs Bureau of the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, who was fluent in English and German. The Japanese government sent him to Europe as the commander-in-chief of the media war and stated that it would support him with all its strength, and what was discussed at the cabinet meeting at that time detailed what the media liked, what the editor liked, how much money to send them, and so on. First, Suematsu's task was to ensure that its ally, Britain, fully understood Japan's strategic intentions. Britain and Russia were mortal enemies at that time, and Japan's argument was to prevent Russia from going south; second, it was to prevent the recurrence of the "yellow peril theory"; third, to maintain China's neutrality and not to stimulate the "yellow peril theory" of Western countries because of China's pro-Japanism; fourth, it was propaganda in the West that Japan's intervention in and participation in China's reform was conducive to peace and development in the Far East. It's of course, but they know what the West likes to hear. After such meticulous preparations, Russia did not receive the support of the expected European "white brothers" in the Russo-Japanese War. Under the successful guidance of the Japanese, public opinion has moved to their advantage.
Why was Japan able to defeat China in the Sino-Japanese War? In addition to the competition on the battlefield, Japan has largely benefited from propaganda warfare and media warfare, and has used media propaganda as a spear and artillery in its national strategy. In contrast, the Qing government at that time was too conservative and backward, losing not only on the barrel of the gun, but also on the barrel of the pen.