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China and Japan are two of the most influential countries in Asia, across the sea. But historically, Japanese culture has been profoundly influenced by Chinese culture, even as the Japanese government racked its brains to get rid of Chinese influence, such as the japanese language still uses a large number of Chinese characters, and the Japanese tea ceremony.
Xu Fudong crossed the immortals
As early as 2200 years ago in the Qin Dynasty, Qin Shi Huang sent Xu Fu to take 3,000 boys and girls to cross the sea to seek immortality, and finally disappeared, where did Xu Fu go? ----- this is also one of the most mysterious "disappearances" in Chinese history as the disappearance of Lao Tzu out of Hanguguan. According to folklore, Xu Fu went to Japan and intermarried and intermarried with the local indigenous people, forming today's Yamato clan. To this day, there are many statues commemorating Xu Fu standing all over Japan, reflecting the authenticity of Xu Fu's eastern crossing to Japan from one side. There are also rumors that Xu Fu may be the first generation of Japan's king "Shenwu Emperor", otherwise, Japan would not have so many statues commemorating Xu Fu.
The sino-Japanese exchanges clearly recorded in history occurred in the Tang Dynasty, when the Japanese government sent a large number of Tang envoys to Chang'an to study China's politics, military, economy and culture, and Prince Shengde followed the Tang Empire's "great reform" to make Japan enter a feudal society from a barbaric slave society.
A Japanese shrine dedicated to Xu Fu
After that, China and Japan basically maintained a peaceful and friendly situation until the mid-19th century, although Toyotomi Hideyoshi invaded Korea and went to war with the Ming Dynasty, but because it did not affect China, it was almost negligible.
After entering the 19th century, the Qing Empire, which implemented a closed national policy, finally consumed her "dividend period" and revealed the true face of weakness. At this time, because of the completion of the first industrial revolution in Europe and the United States and the arrival of the second industrial revolution, the European and American powers urgently need to expand overseas markets, plunder strategic resources, and divide the colonies.
Opium war
In 1840, two British warships blasted open the door of China, and as soon as the British cheetah won, it attracted jackals and hyenas, and since then, the Qing government has been forced to sign a series of unequal treaties with the powers, such as the Treaty of Nanjing, the Treaty of Yaohun, the Treaty of Tianjin, and the Treaty of Beijing.
In the mid-to-early nineteenth century, under the rule of the Tokugawa shogunate, Japan also implemented a policy of isolation, the same weakness, and the same tragic fate of being divided. In 1853, Japan accepted the U.S. credentials, the country was forced to open to the great powers, known as the "Black Ship Incident", after which Japan was forced to sign a series of unequal treaties with the European and American powers, such as the "Treaty of The United States of America to Repair Trade with Japan" and the "Treaty of the Five Countries of Ansei", especially the "Treaty of the Five Countries of Anzheng" caused Japan to lose its judicial power and become a semi-colony of the European and American powers.
Sino-Japanese Sino-Japanese War
It can be seen from this that in the middle of the 19th century, Both China and Japan were almost simultaneously divided and plundered by the European and American powers, and both became semi-colonies of Europe and the United States, and their respective countries and nations reached a critical juncture of peril. People of insight in China and Japan have made tremendous sacrifices and efforts to save the country from peril. The most emblematic events are the Meiji Restoration in Japan and the Hundred Days Restoration in China.
However, Japan's "Meiji Restoration" achieved great success, Japan quickly rose to become a world power, and eventually embarked on the road of capitalist imperialism, in turn invaded China, becoming a "new player in the division of the world", after the defeat of the Sino-Japanese War, China's Hundred Days Restoration failed to complete the mission of saving the decadent Qing Empire, and China's semi-colonial society further deepened.
I. The history and main contents of the Meiji Restoration
1. The background and ideological basis of the production
The emergence of cottage industries and cottage workshops created "industrial workers", the emergence of the budding of capitalism impacted the feudal natural economy, the gradual growth of the industrial and commercial class, and the old system restricted the development of the industrial and commercial class, so they demanded political system reform and obtained corresponding political status.
At the same time, because of the invasion of the great powers, the feudal ruling class was divided, and the bourgeois-colored daimyōs (feudal princes), middle and lower-ranking samurai, and merchants who demanded reform formed a political alliance and became the backbone of the "restoration faction".
Meiji Restoration
2. Process and main content
From the 19th century onwards, there were frequent riots among Japanese urban and rural peasants and citizens, and coupled with the forced signing of humiliating treaties, the shogunate lost its authority. Middle- and lower-ranking samurai and merchants of the various southwestern domains formed an alliance to launch the "Zun Wang Zhiyi" movement, which was jointly suppressed by the shogunate and the armies of the great powers.
After the failure of the "Zun Wang Zhiyi" movement, many people of insight in Japan realized that it was necessary to overthrow the shogunate rule in order to enrich the country and strengthen the army, and gave up the Shogunate, so the "ZunWang Shuyi" movement evolved into the curtain reversal movement, and the peasants and citizens also joined the torrent of the fallen curtain.
Under the strong offensive of the forces of the fallen curtain, in 1867 the shogun Tokugawa Keiki was forced to "return the main government" to the emperor. Soon After Tokugawa Keiki was dissatisfied with the emperor's request to "resign his official position", the Bochen War broke out, and in 1869, the whole territory of Japan was unified, and the emperor took full power. In 1877, the remnants of the shogunate were eliminated.
In October 1868, Emperor Muhito changed his name to Meiji, and the Meiji Restoration took its name. The slogan and main content of the Meiji Restoration were "rich countries and strong armies, colonization and prosperity, and civilization and civilization", and Japan began to accelerate its embarkation on the capitalist road.
"Rich countries and strong soldiers" means reforming the military and police system, establishing an arms industry, implementing a conscription system, and establishing a new army and police force. "Breeding and rejuvenating the industry" means introducing advanced Western technology, equipment technology and management methods to vigorously support the development of capitalism. "Civilizationalization" means to investigate and study the Western capitalist political system, learn from Western civilization, develop modern education, improve the level of national knowledge, and cultivate modern talents.
100 Days Restoration
Second, the process and main contents of the Hundred Days Restoration
The Hundred Days Restoration took place in 1898, when the unprecedented development of capitalism became a world trend and played an exemplary role for people of insight in China. With the deepening of the national crisis, the motivation for learning from the West for reform and self-improvement has been touched, and the ideological basis for reform has been established. At that time, China's national capitalism and national bourgeoisie had already developed further, and they had the economic and class basis for carrying out the bourgeois reform movement.
2. Pass
After the Opium War, Lin Zexu and Wei Yuan took the lead in proposing to "learn from the West" and "master Yi's long skills to control Yi", becoming the first people to "open their eyes to the world".
Under the guidance of the idea of "taking middle school as the body and Western learning for use," the "Foreign Affairs Movement" tried to achieve the goal of self-improvement and prosperity by studying advanced Western science and technology, but with the defeat of the Sino-Japanese Sino-Japanese War, the "Foreign Affairs Movement" proved that it could not save the suffering China.
Many early reformists participated in the "Foreign Affairs Movement", and they gradually realized that it was not enough to learn only the Western "instrument-making" technology, and that in order to save the world, it was necessary to learn from the advanced political system of the West, although they did not form a complete theoretical system, but they played an ideological precursor role in the emergence of Kang Youwei and Liang Qichao's new ideas.
Under the banner of "Togu Reform", Kang Youwei combined capitalist political theory with Confucianism to publicize the reform, which laid a theoretical foundation for the restoration of the reform and reform system and had a wide impact.
The reformists represented by Kang Youwei and Liang Qichao and the diehards represented by Li Hongzhang (including the Westerners) carried out a tit-for-tat debate on whether to change the feudal absolute monarchy system to a constitutional monarchy, whether to implement changes in the law, and whether to reform the education system.
In 1895, when Kang Liang signed the Treaty of Maguan, he joined forces with 1,300 people to launch a "letter on the bus" and put forward the idea of "refusing peace, moving the capital, training troops, and changing the law", but due to the obstruction of the diehards, the letter was not handed over to the Guangxu Emperor.
Since then, the reformists have established newspapers and periodicals such as the "Bulletin of the Nations" and "Shiji Bao" in various places to publicize new ideas and new ideas, and to create momentum for the restoration and reform of the law, which has been further supported by people of insight.
In June 1898, the Guangxu Emperor Songbu issued an edict entitled "Ming Ding Guo Is", and the change of law officially began.
The main content of the Reform Law is to carry out political, economic, military, educational, and social reforms. Politically, the channel of speech is open, allowing newspapers, periodicals, officials, and the people to truthfully make criticisms and suggestions to the government.
Economically, the country is founded on industry and commerce, private enterprises are encouraged, agriculture, and industry are scientifically developed, and the peasants, industrialists, and merchants can do their own work and develop freely.
Militarily, following the example of Western military training, Wuke stopped testing bows and arrows and changed to guns and artillery, practiced regimental training, established a special reward regulation for guns and artillery, and prepared for the establishment of a martial arts school.
In terms of education, he founded the Beijing Normal University Hall, Xingxi Xue, abolished the Eight Shares, set up a translation book office, sent overseas students, and rewarded the invention of scientific works.
In society, ancestral halls and temples were converted into academies to break superstitions.
Tan
In the early morning of September 21, 1898, Empress Dowager Cixi suddenly returned to the Forbidden City from the Summer Palace, imprisoned the Guangxu Emperor in Yingtai, Zhongnanhai, and re-disciplined the government, the Pengshu Reform law failed, Kang Liang went into exile, Tan Sitong, Yang Rui, Liu Guangdi and other six gentlemen were killed, and all the new policies were abolished except for the Beijing Normal University.
Iii. The main reason for the success of the Meiji Restoration and the failure of the Hundred Days Restoration
1. The Meiji Restoration was an active change with a broad public opinion base, with both strong clan forces and middle and lower-ranking samurai classes within the ruling clique, as well as the wealthy merchant clique and the peasant citizen class, so the reformist forces were overwhelmingly superior, which was the fundamental reason for its success. The Hundred Days Restoration was forced to seek change, it was a top-down reform, the Guangxu Emperor who could be relied on did not hold the real power of the government, Kang Liang and other major figures of the Restoration faction had no real power in the court, the strength of the Restoration faction was very weak, and the forces of the diehards such as Cixi and Ronglu, who held real power, were very strong, which was the root cause of the failure.
2. The reformers in the Meiji Restoration had the Southwest Qiang clan, which had their own armed forces from the beginning, while the Kangliang of the Hundred Days Restoration had no soldiers and no pawns, and lacked the barrel of a gun, so it was impossible to succeed.
Japan's War against the Shogunate
3. The Meiji Restoration was implemented after the Emperor came to power, and there was little resistance to reform. The Hundred Days Restoration was initiated by the weak side in an attempt to seize the power of the diehards on the strong side, and the resistance was very strong.
4. The Reformers of the Hundred Days Restoration hesitated and did not command effectively. Soon after the change of law began, Cixi withdrew the power of appointment and dismissal of personnel and the military and political power of the Jing Dynasty, and Guangxu foresaw his dangerous situation, although he arranged for Tan Sitong to make preparations early and planned to kill the governor ronglu who was directly subordinate to Cixi and imprison Cixi, but the slow action caused the wavering commander of the new army, Yuan Shikai, to fall into the Cixi camp and lose the opportunity to preemptively attack.
5. The Meiji Restoration was a capitalist revolutionary movement in which the reformists overthrew feudal rule by force, while the Hundred Days Restoration was a top-down bourgeois reform movement, which could not be called a revolution, and did not dare or touch the feudal monarchy, so the reform theory lacked systematic support, not only could not get the support of the general public, but also many people in the scholar class opposed it.
6. The rush for reform has led to a shift in the centrist towards support for the die-hards. Because Wang Zhao's request to the six ministries to promote reform was rejected, the Guangxu Emperor dismissed the six ministers in a fit of rage, and a large number of new reformers were used, and the old bureaucrats faced unemployment and could not be resettled, forcing these centrist forces to defect.
Portrait of the Guangxu Emperor
Although the Penghu Reform Law, also known as the Hundred Days Restoration, ultimately failed, it was a patriotic movement of progressive significance, which was of great significance to promoting the modernization of Chinese society and emancipating the mind, and also laid the ideological foundation for the Xinhai Revolution to overthrow the rule of the Qing government.
In any case, in order for China not to perish the country and be bullied by the great powers, the Guangxu Emperor would rather damage or even give up the royal power, but also firmly support the reform and strength, and it cannot be said that the Guangxu Emperor has national righteousness and is a hero who stands tall in the sky and embraces the burden!