Preface
Who would have thought that Japan, which is now of great importance in the world, would originate from the drunken decision of a Chinese empress? History often inadvertently leaves a surprising twist, and this small change in the name of the country has actually achieved the rise of a great country in the East.
Back then, Wu Zetian was dominating the court, and her selfishness actually changed the fate of a country, is this another accident, or is it a historical necessity? Let's go back to that turbulent era and explore the story of this legend.
The empress of ancient Chinese feudal society - Wu Zetian
In the ancient Chinese feudal society where men were superior to women, there was a female figure, with her extraordinary political talent and indomitable willpower, wrote a legend, she is the only female emperor in history - Wu Zetian.
Wu Zetian's political career as a female emperor was full of controversy, but it is undeniable that her reign also brought about many positive changes. She reused capable people and carried out reforms, so that the country's economy and culture have developed.
In diplomacy, she also showed extraordinary talent. Wu Zetian's life is extremely legendary. Since she entered the palace at the age of fourteen, she has continued to climb to power with her beauty and resourcefulness.
She first entered the palace as a talented person, hoping to win the favor of Emperor Li Shimin with her beauty, but she was snubbed. Later, she had a secret affair with Li Zhi (Gaozong) and eventually replaced Empress Wang as the master of the harem.
After Li Zhi's death, Wu Zetian gradually grasped the power of the court and government with his ingenuity and ruthless methods, and finally established himself as emperor and founded Wu Zhou. Her life can be described as a stormy event, from a humble palace maid to ascending to the throne, becoming the only female emperor in history, which is undoubtedly a legend.
During the empress's reign, she also made some unexpected decisions, including a major event in Japanese history.
The birth and development of Japan (Wakoku).
The first contact between overseas visitors and China
More than 1,400 years ago, Japan was still known as the "Wakoku". Facing China across the sea, the Wa Kingdom began to pay tribute to China since the Qin and Han dynasties as a sign of submission. In the Eastern Han Dynasty, because of the appearance characteristics of the Japanese envoys, they were canonized as "Japanese people", which was the first time that the name "Japanese Kingdom" appeared in the official history of China.
The name is too contemptuous at first glance. But the people of the Japanese Kingdom did not seem to care, but were very happy, and regarded the jade seal rewarded by the emperor of the Han Dynasty as a supreme honor. Later, as they learned the culture of the Central Plains and learned the true meaning of the word "倭", they became more and more dissatisfied with the name "倭国".
The first proposal of the Japanese company "Japan".
In 607 A.D., Prince Shotoku sent an envoy to visit Emperor Yang of Sui, the emperor of the Sui Dynasty, and presented a handwritten letter at the same time. There is nothing special about the content of the letter, but it is interesting to note that Prince Shotoku did not refer to himself as "the king of the Wakoku Kingdom" in the inscription of the letter, as is customary, but wrote: "The Son of Heaven at sunrise writes to the Son of Heaven at sunrise, and he is unharmed."
Prince Shotoku called himself "the Son of Heaven at sunrise" and Emperor Sui Wei as "the Son of Heaven without sunrise", which has never been seen in the history of exchanges between the two countries. This was clearly an attempt by Prince Shotoku to express a diplomatic status of mutual equality, and was clearly dissatisfied with China's discriminatory use of the term "Japanese slaves."
In 645 AD, a political change swept across the entire island of Japan, the old hereditary system of slave owners and aristocrats was replaced by a new feudal system, and a feudal centralized state imitating the Tang Dynasty at that time appeared on the island of Japan.
The "reform of the Dahua Dynasty" has promoted the island's comprehensive political and economic development, and the development has further stimulated their sense of national independence, and a national sentiment that resists the name of the "Japanese state" has begun to spread on the island. In this atmosphere, Prince Shotoku's original "Nippon Departure" was a revelation, and a new name for the country was proposed to get rid of the psychological shadow of the "Wakoku" - "Japan".
Wu Zetian approved the birth of the name "Japan".
Beginning in 630 AD, Japan successively sent several groups of Tang missions to the Tang Dynasty. Among them, in 670 AD, when the sixth batch of Tang envoys visited, the "Wa Kingdom" proposed to the reigning Tang Gaozong to change the name of his country to "Japan". However, due to the tension between the two countries and the suspicion of deception, the name change could not be completed.
30 years have passed, and in these 30 years, Japan has not sent a new mission to the Tang Dynasty, but their study and imitation of the Tang Dynasty has not been interrupted. Following the example of the Tang Dynasty's Yonghui Law, they formulated their country's first written code, the Dabao Ritsuling, which codified penal regulations and national institutional norms, and played an important role in strengthening Japan's feudal centralized rule.
The person in charge of the codification was Masato Awata. After completing the task of codification, Awata was given a new task - to lead the seventh batch of Tang missions to visit the Tang Dynasty. At this time, Wu Zetian was already in power.
That year, before leaving for Yanzhou, Awata Majin learned that the name of the Tang Dynasty had been changed from "Datang" to "Da Zhou" after the Sui Dynasty, and his heart couldn't help but be a little mixed with joy. On the one hand, he was at a loss for the sudden changes in the Tang Dynasty, and on the other hand, he believed that since the name of the Tang Dynasty itself had changed, it was not impossible to change the name of the country as a subject country.
As a result, after entering the customs, Awata Majin no longer called himself "Wakoku", but directly called "Japan". In October 702, the Tang delegation arrived in Chang'an and was warmly greeted by the imperial court.
At this moment, Wu Zetian summoned Awata Zhenren and his party. During the conversation in the court, Wu Zetian found that Awata Majin was not only well-behaved, but also knowledgeable and insightful, which left a very good impression on her.
The two later exchanged more at the banquet, and Awata subtly asked Wu Zetian to change the name of the country to "Japan". At this time, Wu Zetian happened to be a little drunk, and her character of "being reckless, likes and dislikes are uncertain", so she readily approved this request. In this way, the historical "Wa Kingdom" became "Japan" from then on.
The change of the country's name not only affected the fate of Japan, but also invisibly affected the relations between China and Japan. For Wu Zetian, this may be just a whim, but for Japan, it opens a new chapter.
Japan's metamorphosis and the deterioration of Sino-Japanese relations
After the name change, Japan entered the Nara period, during which Japan itself developed and prospered steadily, and continued to maintain good diplomatic relations with the Tang Dynasty. But as time went on, China and Japan, two countries across the sea, each played out their own dynastic changes, and the relationship between the two countries gradually drifted apart.
In the 13th century, some pirate organizations began to appear along the coast of Japan to plunder Chinese merchant ships and raid Chinese coastal villages for a living, and then with the division of the north and south of Japan and frequent wars, the phenomenon of Japanese piracy became more and more rampant, and gradually became a major problem in the southeast coastal defense during the Ming Dynasty on the mainland.
Under the influence of Japanese pirates, everyone on the mainland, from the imperial court to the common people, regained the long-abandoned old Japanese name - "Wako", and called those pirates who repeatedly infringed on the coastal people and challenged the border of coastal defense "Wako".
Originally, there was no derogatory connotation in the mainland's use of the term "Wa" to refer to Japan, but at this time, when the term "Wa" was recalled, it began to have a distinctly subjective color of hatred and hatred. Later, after the Ming and Qing dynasties of the government intermittently cleaned up, and after the war subsided, the Japanese government strengthened the management of sea vessels, and the phenomenon of "Japanese pirates" gradually stopped.
In the 19th century, the influence of Western bourgeois ideas on Japan gradually increased, which eventually led to the outbreak of the bourgeois reform movement in Japan, the Meiji Restoration. After the Meiji Restoration, Japan began to raise its head of militarism, and military conflicts with China, Russia, and other countries broke out one after another, and in World War I and World War II, it completely embarked on the road of foreign aggression.
Whether it was the Sino-Japanese First Sino-Japanese Naval War during the Qing Dynasty, the Eight-Nation Alliance, the occupation of Qingdao and the signing of the "21 Articles" during the Republic of China, or the invasion of China's three eastern provinces and the Lugou Bridge Incident during the period of the New Democratic Revolution, Japan's aggressive ambitions continued to swell, and continued to bring grave disasters to our country and people.
At this time, our name for the Japanese invaders became "Japanese bandits", "Japanese invaders" or "Japanese devils". The characteristics of Japan's island countries determine that they have two characteristics: dependence and aggressiveness, and from the perspective of our national history, Japan has fully expressed both of these characteristics.
As for Japan itself, these two seemingly contradictory national personalities are not only present in their history, but also in their current diplomatic activities, and they have influenced Japan's national image and triggered a constant change in the external name of them.
epilogue
Who would have thought that Wu Zetian's drunken decision on a whim would become the key to the rise of Japan, an eastern power? History is like that, full of surprises and coincidences.
From "Wakoku" to "Japan", the change in name does not represent the dignity of a country. However, the dramatic change in the country's character from humility to aggression and belligerence has shaped Japan's national image in a very different way.
Today, Japan is already a country with an important international status, but in the face of its long history of aggression against China, I believe that the vast number of Chinese people cannot easily forgive.
We only hope that Japan will remember history, abandon its aggressiveness, regain its true humility, live in harmony with the mainland, and jointly safeguard regional peace and stability. I hope that the coincidence of history will not repeat itself, and that the future of "Japan" will no longer be embarrassing.