JAPAN & CHINA

Paths to Modernisation
 INTRODUCTION
• EAST ASIA at the beginning of the nineteenth century was dominated by China.
• The Qing dynasty, heir to a long tradition, seemed secure in its power, while Japan,
a small island country, seemed to be locked in isolation. Yet, within a few decades
China was thrown into turmoil unable to face the colonial challenge.
• The imperial government lost political control, was unable to reform effectively and
the country was convulsed by civil war.
• Japan on the other hand was successful in building a modern nation-state, creating
an industrial economy and even establishing a colonial empire by incorporating
Taiwan (1895) and Korea (1910).
• It defeated China, the land that had been the source of its culture and ideals, in
1894, and
• Russia, a European power, in 1905
 Historical writings in China and Japan
• China and Japan have had a long tradition of historical writings, as history
was an important guide for the rulers.
• Sima Qian (145-90 BCE) is considered the greatest historian of early China.
• In Japan, Chinese cultural influence led to history being given a similar
importance.
• One of the earliest acts of the Meiji government was to establish, in 1869, a
bureau to collect records and write, as it were, a victor’s version of the Meiji
Restoration.
• Printing and publishing were important industries in the pre-modern
period and it is possible, for instance, to trace the distribution of a book in
eighteenth-century China or Japan.
• Modern scholars have used these materials in new and different ways.
• Intellectuals such as Liang Qichao or Kume Kunitake (1839- 1931), one of
the pioneers of modern history in Japan, as well as earlier writings by
European travellers, such as the Italian Marco Polo (1254-1324, in China
from 1274 to 1290), the Jesuit priests Mateo Ricci (1552-1610) in China
and Luis Frois (1532- 97), in Japan, all of whom left rich accounts of these
countries.
• It has also benefited from the writings of Christian missionaries in the
nineteenth century whose work provides valuable material for our
understanding of these countries
• In recent years, writings by Chinese and Japanese scholars have been
translated into English, some of whom teach abroad and write in English,
and in the case of Chinese scholars, since the 1980s, many have been
working in Japan as well and write in Japanese.
• This has meant that we have scholarly writings from many parts of the
globe that give us a richer and deeper picture of these countries.
• Naito Konan* (1866-1934) A leading Japanese scholar of China, Naito
Konan’s writings influenced scholars worldwide.
• Using the new tools of Western historiography Naito built on a long tradition
of studying China as well as bringing his experience as a journalist there.
• He helped establish the Department of Oriental Studies in Kyoto University
in 1907.
• In Shinaron he argued that republican government offered the Chinese a
way to end aristocratic control and centralised power that had existed since
the Sung dynasty (960-1279) – a way to revitalise local society where reform
must begin.
• He saw in Chinese history strengths that would make it modern and
democratic.
• Japan, he thought had an important role to play in China but he
underestimated the power of Chinese nationalism
 JAPAN

• Japan, a small island country

• locked in isolation
• Japan is a string of islands, the four largest being Honshu, Kyushu, Shikoku and
Hokkaido.
• The Okinawan chain is the southernmost.
• More than 50 per cent of the land area of the main islands is mountainous and
Japan is situated in a very active earthquake zone.
• These geographical conditions have influenced architecture.
• The population is largely Japanese but there are a small Ainu minority and
Koreans who were forcibly brought as labour when Korea was a Japanese colony.
• Japan lacks a tradition of animal rearing.
• Rice is the staple crop and fish the major source of protein.
• Raw fish (sashimi or sushi) has now become a widely popular dish around the
world as it is considered very healthy
 JAPAN
• Japan is a string of islands, the four largest being
Honshu, Kyushu, Shikoku and Hokkaido.
• The Okinawan chain is the southernmost.
• More than 50 per cent of the land area of the main
islands is mountainous and Japan is situated in a very
active earthquake zone.
• These geographical conditions have influenced
architecture.
• The population is largely Japanese but there are a
small Ainu minority and Koreans who were forcibly
brought as labour when Korea was a Japanese
colony.
• Japan lacks a tradition of animal rearing.
• Rice is the staple crop and fish the major source of
protein.
• Raw fish (sashimi or sushi) has now become a widely
popular dish around the world as it is considered
very healthy
IDENTIFY???
HOKKAIDO

HONSU

SHIKOKU
KYUSHU
 The Political System
• An emperor had ruled Japan from Kyoto
• By the twelfth century the imperial court lost power to shoguns, who in
theory ruled in the name of the emperor.
• From 1603 to 1867, members of the Tokugawa family held the position of
shogun.
• The country was divided into over 250 domains under the rule of lords called
daimyo.
• The shogun exercised power over the domainal lords, ordering them to stay
at the capital Edo (modern Tokyo) for long periods so that they would not
pose a threat.
• He also controlled the major cities and mines.
• The samurai (the warrior class) were the ruling elite and served the shoguns
and daimyo.
Tokugawa
shogun.

Daimyo

Samurai
 Changes in the political System.

In the late sixteenth century, three changes laid the pattern for future development.
First
• The peasantry was disarmed and only the samurai could carry swords.
• This ensured peace and order, ending the frequent wars of the previous century.
Second
The daimyo were ordered to live in the capitals of their domains, each with a large
degree of autonomy.
Third
Land Revenue System
• land surveys identified owners and taxpayers
• Gradation of Land (According to the productivity) to ensure a stable revenue base
• The daimyo’s capitals became bigger, so that by the mid-seventeenth century, Japan not only had the most
populated city in the world – Edo – but also two other large cities – Osaka and Kyoto, and at least half a
dozen castle-towns with populations of over 50,000.
• This led to the growth of a commercial economy, and created financial and credit systems. A
• Person’s merit began to be more valued than his status.
• A vibrant culture blossomed in the towns, where the fast-growing class of merchants patronised theatre
and the arts.
• As people enjoyed reading, it became possible for gifted writers to earn a living solely by writing.
• In Edo, people could ‘rent’ a book for the price of a bowl of noodles. This shows how popular reading had
become and gives a glimpse into the scale of printing
• Japan was considered rich, because it imported luxury goods like silk from China and textiles from India.
• Paying for these imports with gold and silver strained the economy and led the Tokugawa to put
restrictions on the export of precious metals.
• They also took steps to develop the silk industry in Nishijin in Kyoto so as to reduce imports.
• The silk from Nishijin came to be known as the best in the world.
• Social and intellectual changes – such as the study of ancient Japanese literature – led people to question
the degree of Chinese influence and to argue that the essence of being Japanese could be found long
before the contact with China, in such early classics as the Tale of the Genji
 tio n
to ra
Re s
ei j i
e M
Th
• Meiji Restoration, in Japanese history, the political revolution in 1868 that
brought about the final demise of the Tokugawa shogunate (military
government)—thus ending the Edo (Tokugawa) period (1603–1867)—and, at
least nominally, returned control of the country to direct imperial rule
under Mutsuhito
• In 1868 the Tokugawa shôgun ("great general"), who ruled Japan in the
feudal period, lost his power and the emperor was restored to the supreme
position. The emperor took the name Meiji ("enlightened rule") as his reign
name; this event was known as the Meiji Restoration
• The Meiji government was the early government of the Empire of Japan. Politicians
of the Meiji government were known as the Meiji oligarchy, who overthrew the
Tokugawa shogunate.
 The Meiji Restoration

• Internal discontent coincided with demands for trade and diplomatic relations.
• In 1853, the USA sent Commodore Matthew Perry to Japan to demand that the government sign a treaty that
would permit trade and open diplomatic relations, which it did the following year.
• Japan lay on the route to China which the USA saw as a major market; also, their whaling ships in the Pacific
needed a place to refuel.
• At that time, there was only one Western country that traded with Japan, Holland.

Commodore Matthew Perry

 Perry’s arrival had an important effect on Japanese politics.

• Perry’s arrival had an important effect on Japanese politics.

• The emperor, who till then had had little political power, now re-emerged as an important figure.
• In 1868, a movement forcibly removed the shogun from power, and brought the Emperor to Edo.
• This was made the capital and renamed Tokyo, which means ‘eastern capital’.
• Officials and the people were aware that some European countries were building colonial empires in
India and elsewhere.
• News of China being defeated by the British (see p. 244) was flowing in, and this was even depicted in
popular plays, so that there was a real fear that Japan might be made a colony.
• Many scholars and leaders wanted to learn from the new ideas in Europe rather than ignore them as
the Chinese were doing; others sought to exclude the Europeans even while being ready to adopt the
new technologies they offered.
• Some argued for a gradual and limited ‘opening’ to the outer world.
• The government launched a policy with the slogan ‘fukoku kyohei’ (rich country, strong army).
• They realised that they needed to develop their economy and build a strong army, otherwise they
would face the prospect of being subjugated like India.
• To do this they needed to create a sense of nationhood among the people, and to transform subjects
into citizens.
• At the same time, the new government also worked to build what they
called the ‘emperor system’. (Japanese scholars use this term as the
emperor was part of a system, along with the bureaucracy and the
military, that exercised power.)
• Officials were sent to study the European monarchies on which they
planned to model their own.
• The Emperor would be treated with reverence as he was considered a
direct descendant of the Sun Goddess but he was also shown as the
leader of westernisation.
• His birthday became a national holiday, he wore Western-style military
uniforms, and edicts were issued in his name to set up modern
institutions.
• The Imperial Rescript on Education of 1890 urged people to pursue
learning, advance public good and promote common interests.
New school system
• A new school system began to be built from the 1870s.
Compulsory Schooling
• Schooling was compulsory for boys and girls and by 1910 almost universal.
Minimum tuition fees
• Tuition fees were minimal.
Curriculum based on Western models
• The curriculum had been based on Western models but by the 1870s, while emphasising
modern ideas, stress was placed on loyalty and the study of Japanese history.
Curriculum controlled by the Ministry of education
• The ministry of education exercised control over the curriculum and in the selection of
textbooks, as well as in teachers’ training.
Emphasis on Moral Culture
• Moral education was imparted to the students
• Texts urged children to revere their parents, be loyal to the nation, and become good
citizens.
Political Integration-
• To integrate the nation, the Meiji government imposed a new administrative structure by altering
old village and domain boundaries.
Role of administrative units
• The administrative unit had to have revenue adequate to maintain the local schools and health
facilities, as well as serve as a recruitment centre for the military.
Development of Modern military force
• All young men over twenty had to do a period of military service.
• A modern military force was developed.
Setting up of Legal Systems
• A legal system was set up to regulate the formation of political groups, control the holding of
meetings and impose strict censorship.
Military and the bureaucracy under the direct command of the emperor
• The military and the bureaucracy were put under the direct command of the emperor. This
meant that even after a constitution was enacted these two groups remained outside the control
of the government.
• In all these measures the government faced opposition
Foreign Policy-
To acquire more territory
• The army pressed for a vigorous foreign policy to acquire more territory.
War with China and Russia
• This led to wars with China and Russia, in both of which Japan was the
victor.
• It defeated China in 1894, the land that had been the source of its culture
and ideals
• Russia, a European power, in 1905
Control over Taiwan and Korea
• Japan on the other hand was successful in building a modern nation-state,
creating an industrial economy and even establishing a colonial empire by
incorporating Taiwan (1895) and Korea (1910
 Modernising the Economy

• Another important part of the Meiji reforms was the modernising of the economy.
• Funds were raised by levying an agricultural tax.
• Japan’s first railway line, between Tokyo and the port of Yokohama, was built in
1870- 72.
• Textile machinery was imported from Europe, and foreign technicians were
employed to train workers, as well as to teach in universities and schools.
• Japanese students were sent abroad.
• In 1872, modern banking institutions were launched.
• Companies like Mitsubishi and Sumitomo were helped through subsidies and tax
benefits to become major shipbuilders so that Japanese trade was from now on
carried in Japanese ships.
• Zaibatsu (large business organisations controlled by individual families) dominated
the economy till after the Second World War.
• The population, 35 million in 1872, increased to 55 million in 1920.
• To reduce population pressure the government actively encouraged
migration, first to the northern island of Hokkaido, which had been a
largely autonomous area where the indigenous people called the Ainu
lived, and then to Hawaii and Brazil, as well as to the growing colonial
empire of Japan.
• Within Japan there was a shift to towns as industry developed.
• By 1925, 21 per cent of the population lived in cities
• By 1935, this figure had gone up to 32 per cent (22.5 million).
 Industrial Workers
• The number of people in manufacturing increased from 700,000 in 1870 to 4 million in 1913.
• Most of them worked in units employing less than five people and using neither machinery nor electric
power.
• Over half of those employed in modern factories were women.
• And it was women who organised the first modern strike in 1886.
• After 1900, the number of men began to increase but only in the 1930s did male workers begin to
outnumber women.
• The size of factories also began to increase.
• Factories employing more than a hundred workers, just over 1,000 in 1909, jumped to over 2,000 by 1920
and 4,000 by the 1930s; yet even in 1940, there were over 550,000 workshops that employed less than five
employees.
• This sustained the family centred ideology, just as nationalism was sustained by a strong patriarchal system
under an emperor who was like a family patriarch.
• The rapid and unregulated growth of industry and the demand for natural resources such as timber led to
environmental destruction.
• Tanaka Shozo, elected to the first House of Representatives, launched the first agitation against industrial
pollution in 1897 with 800 villagers in a mass protest forcing the government to take action.
 Aggressive
Nationalism

• The Meiji constitution was based on a restricted franchise and

• Creation of a Diet with limited powers (the Japanese used the German word for parliament because
of the influence of German legal ideas.
Establishment of political Parties
• The leaders who brought about the imperial restoration continued to exercise power and even
established political parties.
Formation of Cabinet by prime ministers
• Between 1918 and 1931, popularly elected prime ministers formed cabinets.
• Thereafter, they lost power to national unity cabinets formed across party lines.
• The emperor was the commander of the forces and from 1890 this was interpreted to mean that the
army and the navy had independent control.
• In 1899, the prime minister ordered that only serving generals and admirals could become ministers.
• This strengthen the military together with the expansion of Japan’s colonial empire.
 Westernisation’ and ‘Tradition’
• Successive generations of Japanese intellectuals had different views on Japan’s
relations with other countries.
• To some, the USA and western European countries were at the highest point of
civilisation, to which Japan aspired.
• Fukuzawa Yukichi, a leading Meiji intellectual, expressed this by saying that Japan
must ‘expel Asia’.
• He meant that Japan must shed its ‘Asian’ characteristics and become part of the
West.
• The next generation questioned this total acceptance of Western ideas and
urged that national pride be built on indigenous values.
• The philosopher Miyake Setsurei (1860-1945) argued that each nation must
develop its special talents in the interest of world civilisation: ‘To devote
oneself to one’s country is to devote oneself to the world.’
• By contrast, many intellectuals were attracted to Western liberalism and
wanted a Japan based not on the military but on democracy.
• Ueki Emori (1857-1892), a leader of the Popular Rights Movement, was
demanding constitutional government, admired the French Revolution’s
doctrine of the natural rights of man and of popular sovereignty, and spoke
for a liberal education that would develop each individual: ‘Freedom is more
precious than order.’
• Others even advocated voting rights for women.
• This pressure led the government to announce a constitution.
 Daily Life
• Japan’s transformation into a modern society can be seen also in the changes in
everyday life.
• The patriarchal household system comprised many generations living together
under the control of the head of the house, but as more people became
affluent, new ideas of the family spread.
• The new home (homu as the Japanese say, using the English word) was that of
the nuclear family, where husband and wife lived as breadwinner and
homemaker.
• This new concept of domesticity in turn generated demands for new types of
domestic goods, new types of family entertainments, and new forms of housing.
• In the 1920s, construction companies made cheap housing available for a down
payment of 200 yen and a monthly instalment of 12 yen for ten years – this at a
time when the salary of a bank employee (a person with higher education) was
40 yen per month.
 Overcoming Modernity
• State-centred nationalism found full expression in the 1930s and 1940s as Japan launched wars to
extend its empire in China and other parts of Asia, a war that merged into the Second World War
after Japan attacked the USA at Pearl Harbor.
• This period saw greater controls on society, the repression and imprisonment of dissidents, as well
as the formation of patriotic societies, many of them women’s organisations, to support the war.
• An influential symposium on ‘Overcoming Modernity’ in 1943 debated the dilemma facing Japan –
of how to combat the West while being modern.
• A musician, Moroi Saburo, posed the question of how to rescue music from the art of sensory
stimulation and restore it to an art of the spirit.
• He was not rejecting Western music but trying to find a way that went beyond merely rewriting or
playing Japanese music on Western instruments.
• The philosopher Nishitani Keiji defined ‘modern’ as the unity of three streams of Western
thought: the Renaissance, the Protestant Reformation, and the rise of natural sciences.
• He argued that Japan’s ‘moral energy’ (a term taken from the German philosopher Ranke) had
helped it to escape colonisation and it was its duty to establish a new world order, a Greater East
Asia.
• For this a new vision that would integrate science and religion was necessary.
 After Defeat: Re-emerging as a Global Economic Power
• Japan’s attempt to carve out a colonial empire ended with its defeat by the
Allied forces.
It has been argued that nuclear bombs were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki to
shorten the war.
But others think the immense destruction and suffering it caused were unnecessary
Under the US-led Occupation (1945-47) Japan was demilitarised and a new constitution
introduced.
This had Article 9, the so-called ‘no war clause’ that renounces the use of war as an
instrument of state policy.
Agrarian reforms, the reestablishment of trade unions and an attempt to dismantle the
zaibatsu or large monopoly houses that dominated the Japanese economy were also
carried out.
Political parties were revived and the first post-war elections held in 1946 where women
voted for the first time
• The rapid rebuilding of the Japanese economy after its shattering defeat was
called a post-war ‘miracle’.
• But it was more than that – it was firmly rooted in its long history.
• The constitution was democratised only now, but the Japanese had a historic
tradition of popular struggles and intellectual engagement with how to broaden
political participation.
• The social cohesion of the pre-war years was strengthened, allowing for a close
working of the government, bureaucracy and industry.
• US support, as well as the demand created by the Korean and the Vietnamese
wars also helped the Japanese economy.
• The 1964 Olympics held in Tokyo marked a symbolic coming of age.
• In much the same way the network of high-speed Shinkansen or bullet trains,
started in 1964, which ran at 200 miles per hour (now it is 300 miles per hour)
have come to represent the ability of the Japanese to use advanced technologies
to produce better and cheaper goods.
CHINA
 Physical Features
China is a vast continental country that spans many climatic zones.
the core is dominated by three major river systems
the Yellow River (Huang He),
the Yangtse River (Chang Jiang – the third longest river in the world)
and the Pearl River.
A large part of the country is mountainous
The dominant ethnic group are the Han and the major language is Chinese
(Putonghua)
There are many other nationalities, such as the Uighur, Hui, Manchu and
Tibetan, and aside from dialects, such as Cantonese (Yue) and Shanghainese
(Wu), there are other minority languages spoken as well
• Chinese food reflects this regional diversity with at least four distinct
types.
• The best known is southern or Cantonese cuisine – as most overseas
Chinese come from the Canton area – which includes dim sum (literally
touch your heart), an assortment of pastries and dumplings.
• In the north, wheat is the staple food, while in Szechuan spices brought
by Buddhist monks in the ancient period, along the silk route, and
chillies by Portuguese traders in the fifteenth century, have created a
fiery cuisine.
• In eastern China, both rice and wheat are eaten.
• Ming Dynasty
• The Qing dynasty 1644-1912
• Republic of China
 Modern History of China
The modern history of China has revolved around the following questions
• How to regain sovereignty
• End the humiliation of foreign occupation
• Bring about equality and development.
• Chinese debates were marked by the views of three groups.
• The early reformers such as Kang Youwei (1858- 1927) or Liang Qichao
(1873-1929) tried to use traditional ideas in new and different ways to meet
the challenges posed by the West.
• Second, republican revolutionaries such as Sun Yat-sen, the first president of
the republic, were inspired by ideas from Japan and the West.
• The third, the Communist Party of China (CCP) wanted to end age-old
inequalities and drive out the foreigners.
 The modern history of China has revolved around the following questions

1. How to regain sovereignty

2. End the humiliation of foreign occupation
3. Bring about equality and development

Republican
Kang Youwei (1858- The Communist Party
revolutionaries such as
1927) or Liang Qichao of China(CCP)
Sun Yat-sen
• The beginning of modern China can be traced to its first encounter with the
West in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries when Jesuit missionaries
introduced Western sciences such as astronomy and mathematics.
• In the nineteenth century Britain used force to expand its lucrative trade in
opium leading to the first Opium War (1839-42).
• This undermined the ruling Qing dynasty and strengthened demands for
reform and change.
• Qing reformers such as Kang Youwei and Liang Qichao realised the need to
strengthen the system and initiated policies to build a modern
administrative system, a new army and an educational system, and set up
local assemblies to establish constitutional government.
• They saw the need to protect China from colonization
• The negative example of colonized countries worked powerfully on Chinese thinkers.
• The partition of Poland in the eighteenth century was a much-discussed example.
• So much so that by the late 1890s it came to be used as a verb: ‘to Poland us’ .
• India was another such example.
Views of Liang Qichao
• In 1903, the thinker Liang Qichao wrote that India was ‘a country that was destroyed by a non-country that
is the East India Company
• He criticized Indians for being cruel to their own people and subservient to the British.
• Such arguments carried a powerful appeal as ordinary Chinese could see that the British used Indian soldiers
in their wars on China.
• He believed that only by making people aware that China was a nation would they be able to resist the West.
• Above all many felt that traditional ways of thinking had to be changed.
• Confucianism, developed from the teachings of Confucius (551-479 BCE) and his disciples, was concerned
with good conduct, practical wisdom and proper social relationships.
• It influenced the Chinese attitude toward life, provided social standards and laid the basis for political
theories and institutions. It was now seen as a major barrier to new ideas and institutions.
• To train people in modern subjects students were sent to study in Japan,
Britain and France and bring back new ideas.
• Many Chinese students went to Japan in the 1890s.
• They not only brought back new ideas but many became leading republicans.
• The Chinese borrowed even Japanese translations of European words such
as justice, rights, and revolution because they used the same ideographic
script, a reversal of the traditional relationship.
• In 1905, just after the Russo-Japanese war (a war fought on Chinese soil and
over Chinese territory) the centuries-old Chinese examination system that
gave candidates entry into the elite ruling class was abolished.
 Establishing the Republic

• The Manchu empire was overthrown and a republic established in 1911 under
Sun Yat-sen (1866-1925) who is unanimously regarded as the founder of
modern China.
• He came from a poor family and studied in missionary schools where he was
introduced to democracy and Christianity.
• He studied medicine but was greatly concerned about the fate of China.
• His programme was called the Three Principles (San min chui)
These were
• Nationalism
( overthrowing the Manchu who were seen as a foreign dynasty, as well as other
foreign imperialists)
• Democracy or establishing democratic government
• Socialism regulating capital and equalizing landholdings.
• The social and political situation continued to be unstable.
• On 4 May 1919, an angry demonstration was held in Beijing to protest against the decisions of the
post-war peace conference.
• Despite being an ally of the victorious side led by Britain, China did not get back the territories
seized from it.
• The protest became a movement.
• It galvanised a whole generation to attack tradition and to call for saving China through modern
science, democracy and nationalism.
• Revolutionaries called for driving out the foreigners, who were controlling the country’s resources,
to remove inequalities and reduce poverty.
• They advocated reforms such as the use of simple language in writing, abolishing the practice of
foot-binding and the subordination of women, equality in marriage, and economic development to
end poverty.
• After the republican revolution the country entered a period of turmoil.
• The Guomindang (the National People’s Party) and the CCP emerged as major forces striving to
unite the country and bring stability.
 Sun Yat-sen

Founded on 24 November 1894, Shanghai, China

The Kuomintang, also referred to as the Guomindang or the Chinese Nationalist Party, is
a major political party in the Republic of China throughout its historical periods in both the
Chinese mainland as well as Taiwan. It was the dominant ruling party of the Republic of
China on the mainland from 1928 to 1949.
 The Guomindang (the National People’s Party)
Political Philosophy
• The political philosophy of the Guomindang based on the ideas of Sun Yat-sen.
• They identified the ‘four great needs’ as clothing, food, housing and transportation.
Chiang Kaishek and the Guomindang
• After the death of Sun Yat-sen , Chiang Kaishek (1887-1975) emerged as the leader of
the Guomindang as he launched a military campaign to control the ‘warlords’, regional
leaders who had usurped authority, and to eliminate the communists.
• He advocated a secular and rational ‘this-worldly’ Confucianism, but also sought to
militarise the nation.
• He said the people must develop a ‘habit and instinct for unified behaviour’.
• He encouraged women to cultivate the four virtues of ‘chastity, appearance, speech
and work’ and recognise their role as confined to the household.
• Even the length of hemlines was prescribed
Chiang Kaishek (1887-1975)
 Social base of the Guomindang
• The Guomindang’s social base was in urban areas.
• Industrial growth was slow and limited.
• In cities such as Shanghai, which became the centres of modern growth.
• By 1919 an industrial working class had appeared numbering 500,000.
• only a small percentage were employed in modern industries such as shipbuilding.
• Most were ‘petty urbanites’ (xiao shimin), traders and shopkeepers.
• Urban workers, particularly women, earned very low wages.
• Working hours were long and conditions of work bad.
• As individualism increased, there was a growing concern with women’s rights, ways to build the
family and discussions about love and romance Social and cultural change was helped along by the
spread of schools and universities (Peking University was established in 1902).
• Journalism flourished reflecting the growing attraction of this new thinking.
• The popular Life Weekly, edited by Zao Taofen (1895-1944), is representative of this new trend.
• It introduced readers to new ideas, as well as to leaders such as Mahatma Gandhi and Kemal Ataturk,
the modernist leader of Turkey.
• Its circulation increased rapidly from just 2,000 in 1926 to a massive 200,000 copies in 1933.
 Fall of Guomindang
• The Guomindang despite its attempts to unite the country failed
because of its narrow social base and limited political vision.
• A major plank in Sun Yat-sen’s programme – regulating capital and
equalising land – was never carried out because the party ignored the
peasantry and the rising social inequalities.
• It sought to impose military order rather then address the problems
faced by the people
 The Rise of the Communist Party of China
• When the Japanese invaded China in 1937, the Guomindang retreated.
• The long and exhausting war weakened China.
• Prices rose 30 per cent per month between 1945 and 1949,
• Destroyed the lives of ordinary people.
• Rural China faced two crises:
First-Ecological Crisis-
• Ecological, with soil exhaustion, deforestation and floods
Second
Socio-economic Crisis
• A socio-economic one caused by exploitative land-tenure systems,
indebtedness, primitive technology and poor communications.
• The CCP had been founded in 1921, soon after the Russian Revolution.
• The Russian success exercised a powerful influence around the world
and leaders such as Lenin and Trotsky went on to establish the
Comintern or the Third International in March 1918 to help bring
about a world government that would end exploitation.
• The Comintern and the Soviet Union supported communist parties
around the world but they worked within the traditional Marxist
understanding that revolution would be brought about by the working
class in cities.
• Mao Zedong (1893-1976), who emerged as a major CCP leader, took a
different path by basing his revolutionary programme on the peasantry.
• His success made the CCP a powerful political force that ultimately
won against the Guomindang.
Mao Zedong
 Mao Zedong’s radical approach
• Mao Zedong’s radical approach can be seen in Jiangxi, in the mountains,
where they camped from 1928 to 1934, secure from Guomindang
attacks.
• A strong peasants’ council (soviet) was organised, united through
confiscation and redistribution of land.
• Mao, unlike other leaders, stressed the need for an independent
government and army.
• He had become aware of women’s problems and supported the
emergence of rural women’s associations, promulgated a new marriage
law that forbade arranged marriages, stopped purchase or sale of
marriage contracts and simplified divorce.
• The Guomindang blockade of the Communists’ Soviet forced the party to seek another
base.
• This led them to go on what came to be called the Long March (1934-35), 6,000 gruelling
and difficult miles to Shanxi.
• Here, in their new base in Yanan, they further developed their programme to end
warlordism, carry out land reforms and fight foreign imperialism.
• This won them a strong social base.
• In the difficult years of the war, the Communists and the Guomindang worked together,
but after the end of the war the Communists established themselves in power and the
Guomindang was defeated
 Establishing the New Democracy: 1949-65
• The Peoples Republic of China government was established in 1949.
(On October 1, 1949, Chinese Communist leader Mao Zedong declared the creation of the
People's Republic of China (PRC).)
• It was based on the principles of the ‘New Democracy’, an alliance of all social classes.
• Critical areas of the economy were put under government control, and private enterprise
and private ownership of land were gradually ended.
• This programme lasted till 1953 when the government declared that it would launch a
programme of socialist transformation.
The Great Leap Forward movement-
• The Great Leap Forward movement launched in 1958 was a policy to galvanize the country
to industrialize rapidly.
• People were encouraged to set up steel furnaces in their backyards.
• In the rural areas, people’s communes were started.
(where land would be collectively owned and cultivated)
• By 1958, there were 26,000 communes covering 98 per cent of the farm population.
• Mao was able to mobilize the masses to attain the goals set by the Party.
• His concern was with creating a ‘socialist man’ who would have five loves:
fatherland, people, labour, science and public property.
• Mass organizations were created for farmers, women, students and other
groups.
• For instance, the All-China Democratic Women’s Federation had 76 million
members, the All-China Students Federation 3.29 million members.
• These objectives and methods did not appeal to everyone in the Party.
• In 1953-54, some were urging for more attention to industrial organization
and economic growth.
• Liu Shaochi (1896-1969) and Deng Xiaoping (1904-97) tried to modify the
commune system as it was not working efficiently.
 Conflicting Visions: 1965-78
• The conflict between the Maoists wanting to create a ‘Socialist Man’ and those
who objected to his emphasis on ideology rather than expertise, culminated in
Mao launching the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution in 1965 to counter his
critics.
• The Red Guards, mainly students and the army, was used for a campaign against
old culture, old customs and old habits.
• Students and professionals were sent to the countryside to learn from the
masses.
• Denunciations and slogans replaced rational debate.
• The Cultural Revolution began a period of turmoil, weakened the Party and
severely disrupted the economy and educational system.
• In 1975, the Party once again laid emphasis on greater social discipline and the
need to build an industrial economy so that China could become a power before
the end of the century.
 Reforms from 1978
• The Cultural Revolution was followed by a process of political
negotiation.
• Deng Xiaoping kept party control strong while introducing a socialist
market economy.
• In 1978, the Party declared its goal as the Four Modernisations (to
develop science, industry, agriculture, defence).
• Debate was allowed as long as the Party was not questioned.
• On 5 December 1978, a wall-poster, ‘The Fifth Modernisation’
proclaimed that without Democracy the other modernisations would
come to nothing.
• These demands were suppressed, but in 1989 on the seventieth anniversary
of the May Fourth movement many intellectuals called for a greater
openness and an end to ‘ossified dogmas’ .
• Student demonstrators at Tiananmen Square in Beijing were brutally
repressed.
• This was strongly condemned around the world
• The dominant view supported by the Party is based on
I. strong political control,
II. economic liberalisation and
III. integration into the world market.
• Finally, there is a growing revival of earlier so-called ‘traditional’ ideas, of
Confucianism and arguments that China can build a modern society
following its own traditions rather than simply copying the West.
The Story of Taiwan
• Chiang Kai-shek, defeated by the CCP fled in 1949 to Taiwan
• Taiwan had been a Japanese colony since the Chinese ceded it after the 1894- 95 war with
Japan. The Cairo Declaration (1943) and the Potsdam Proclamation (1949) restored sovereignty
to China
• Massive demonstrations in February 1947 had led the GMD to brutally kill a whole generation
of leading figures.
• The GMD, under Chiang Kai-shek went on to establish a repressive government
I. Forbidding free speech
II. Political opposition and
III. Excluding the local population from positions of power.
• However, they carried out land reforms that increased agricultural productivity and modernised
the economy so that by 1973 Taiwan had a GNP second only to that of Japan in Asia.
• The economy, largely dependent on trade has been steadily growing, but what is important is
that the gap between the rich and poor has been steadily declining
 Transformation of Taiwan into a democracy.

• Even more dramatic has been the transformation of Taiwan into a democracy.
• It began slowly after the death of Chiang in 1975 and grew in momentum when
martial law was lifted in 1987 and opposition parties were legally permitted.
• The first free elections began the process of bringing local Taiwanese to power.
• Full diplomatic relations and embassies are not possible as Taiwan is
considered to be part of China.
• The question of re-unification with the mainland remains a contentious issue
but “Cross Strait” relations (that is between Taiwan and China) have been
improving and Taiwanese trade and investments in the mainland are massive
and travel has also become easier.
• China may be willing to tolerate a semi-autonomous Taiwan as long as it gives up
any move to seek independence.
The Story of Korea
 Beginning of Modernization
Joseon Dynasty (1392–1910)
• During the late nineteenth century, Korea’s Joseon Dynasty (1392–1910) faced
internal political and social strife and increasing foreign pressure from China, Japan
and the West.
Annexation of Korea by Japan
• After decades of political interference, the imperial Japan annexed Korea as its
colony in 1910, bringing the over 500-year long Joseon Dynasty to its end.
End of Japanese rule in Korea
• The Japanese colonial rule ended after 35 years in August 1945 with Japan’s defeat
in the World War II.
Division of Korea
• Following liberation,
• However, this division became permanent as separate governments were
established in both the North and the South in 1948.
38th parallel, popular name given to latitude 38° N that in East Asia
roughly demarcates North Korea and South Korea. The line was chosen by
U.S. military planners at the Potsdam Conference (July 1945) near the end
of World War II as an army boundary, north of which the U.S.S.R.
 A Post-War Nation
• In June 1950, the Korean War broke out.
• North Korea receiving support from communist China
• South Korea receiving support from the US-led United Nations forces
• In July 1953, after three years, the war ended in an armistice agreement. (An armistice is a
formal agreement of warring parties to stop fighting. It is not necessarily the end of a
war)
Results of the War-
• Korea remained divided.
• Massive losses of life and property
• A delay in free-market economic development and democratization.
• Prices suddenly rose due to inflation caused by increased national expenses and currency issued
during the war.
• Industrial facilities constructed during the colonial period had been destroyed entirely
• . As a result, South Korea was forced to rely on the economic assistance being provided by the USA
• Though South Korea’s first president Syngman Rhee had been elected in 1948 through democratic
process after the Korean War, he extended his administration, twice through illegal constitutional
amendments. In April 1960, citizens protested against a rigged election in what is known as the April
 Fall of Democratic Party

• The Democratic Party administration, which took power after Rhee’s

resignation could not properly respond to citizens’ demands due to
internal divisions and conflict.
• In May 1961, the Democratic Party government was overthrown in a
military coup staged by General Park Chung-hee and other military
authorities
 Rapid Industrialization under Strong Leadership

• In October 1963, an election was held and military coup leader Park Chung-hee was elected
the president.
• The Park administration adopted a state-led, export-oriented policy to achieve economic
growth.
• The five-year economic plans of the government favoured large corporate firms, placed
emphasis on expanding employment and increased Korea’s competitiveness.
• Korea’s unprecedented rate of economic growth began in the early 1960s when the state
policy shifted from import substitution industrialization (ISI) towards a focus on exports.
• Under the export-oriented policy, the government supported labor-intensive light industrial
products, such as textiles and garments in which Korea had a comparative advantage.
• During the late 1960s and 1970s, the focus again shifted from light industries to value added
heavy and chemical industries.
• Steel, non-ferrous metals machinery, shipbuilding, electronics and chemical production were
selected as the most important industries in the race for economic growth
• In 1970, the New Village (Saemaul) Movement was introduced to encourage and
mobilise the rural population and modernise the agricultural sector.
• This campaign aimed at reforming the spirit of the people from being passive and
disheartened to becoming active and hopeful.
• Rural people were empowered to help themselves in developing their villages and
improve the living conditions of their respective communities.
• The movement was later expanded to assist the neighbourhoods near industrial
plants and in urban areas.
• Today, Korea is sharing the knowledge and experiences from this movement with
developing countries, who wish to adopt the principles of the Saemaul Movement
in their development efforts.
• Korea achieved startling economic growth thanks to a combination of strong
leaders, well-trained bureaucrats, aggressive industrialists and a capable labour
force.
• Ambitious entrepreneurs responded well to government incentives to increase
exports and develop new industries
 IMPORTANCE OF EDUCATION

• The high level of education also contributed to the economic growth of Korea.
• At the dawn of Korea’s industrialisation, almost all Korean workers were already literate and
could easily acquire new skills.
• At the same time, the country’s open economic policy worked to absorb more advanced
institutions and technologies from other countries.
• Foreign investment and Korea’s high domestic savings rate helped develop the heavy
industrial sector, while remittances from South Korean workers overseas also contributed to
the overall economic development.
• Economic growth was the foundation of the Park administration’s long-term power.
• Park revised the constitution so that he could run for a third term and was reelected in 1971.
• In October 1972, Park declared and implemented the Yusin Constitution, which made
permanent presidency possible.
• Under the Yusin Constitution, the president had complete authority over legislation,
jurisdiction and administration and also had a constitutional right to repeal any law as an
‘emergency measure
• As the president was invested with absolute authority, the progress of
democracy was temporarily suspended in pursuit of economic
development.
• However, the second oil crisis in 1979 acted as a hindrance to the
economic policy, which had overinvested in the heavy chemical industry.
• Moreover, students, scholars and the opposition continually
demonstrated against the Yusin Constitution as the Park administration’s
invocation of emergency measures and suppression brought about
political instability.
• Amidst this economic crisis and political instability, the Park
administration came to an end in October 1979 when Park Chung-hee
was assassinated.
 Continued Economic Growth and Calls for Democratisation

• The desire for democratisation grew upon the death of Park Chunghee, but in
December 1979, another military coup, led by Chun Doo-hwan, was staged.
• In May 1980, various protests in key cities around the nation were held by
students and citizens demanding democracy in the face of Chun’s military faction.
• The military faction suppressed the democracy movement by implementing
martial law across the country. In the city of Gwangju, students and citizens did
not back down and demanded that martial law be ended.
• This is known as the Gwangju Democratisation Movement.
• However, Chun’s military faction suppressed the protests for democratisation.
• Later that year, Chun became the president through an indirect election under
the Yusin Constitution.
 The Chun administration
• The Chun administration strengthened the suppression of democratisation influences in order to
stabilise the regime.
• Due in part to the international economic boom, the Chun administration was able to raise
economic growth from 1.7 per cent in 1980 to 13.2 per cent by 1983, while also significantly
lowering inflation.
• Economic development had led to urbanisation, improved education levels and media
advancements.
• As a result, citizens’ self-awareness about political rights grew, leading to demands for a
constitutional amendment to allow direct election of the president.
• In May 1987, the Chun administration’s minimisation of inquiries into the death-by-torture of a
university student was made known, making citizens begin participate in a large-scale struggle for
democratisation.
• The June Democracy Movement that followed had participation not only by students, but the
middle class as well.
• Owing to these efforts, the Chun administration was forced to make a revision to the constitution,
allowing direct elections.
• A new chapter of Korean democracy began.
 Korean Democracy and the IMF Crisis
• As per the new constitution, the first direct election since 1971 was held in December
1987.
• But due to the opposition parties’ failure to unite, a fellow military leader of Chun’s
military faction, Roh Tae-woo, was elected.
• However, Korea continued along the path of democracy.
• In 1990, long-time opposition leader Kim Young-sam compromised with Roh’s party to
create a large ruling party.
• In December 1992, Kim, a civilian, was elected the president after decades of military rule.
• With his election and the consequent dissolution of authoritarian military power,
democracy made its forward march.
• Under the export-driven policy of the new administration, several companies grew to
global prominence, which continued until the early 1990s.
• With governmental support, Korean conglomerates invested in capital-intensive heavy and
chemical industries, as well as, electronic industries, while the government continued to
focus on building industrial and social infrastructure
• Meanwhile, under increasing neoliberalist pressure to open its market,
the Kim administration joined the Organisation for Economic
Cooperation and Development (OECD) in 1996 and attempted to
strengthen Korea’s international competitiveness.
• But amidst increasing trade deficits, poor management by financial
institutions, reckless business operations by conglomerates, and more,
Korea was met with a foreign currency crisis in 1997.
• The crisis was dealt with through emergency financial support
provided by the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
• Simultaneous efforts were also made to improve the country’s
economic constitution as the citizens actively contributed towards
foreign loan repayment through the Gold Collection Movement.
• In December 1997, longtime opposition party leader Kim Dae-jung was elected the
president for the first time in Korea, marking a peaceful transfer of power.
• The second peaceful transfer of power came in 2008, when conservative Lee Myung-bak
was elected as the president, following the progressive Roh Mu-hyun administration.
• In 2012, conservative Park Geun-hye was elected as the first female president.
• At the beginning of her presidency, she gained support due to the political legacy of her
father, Park Chung-hee.
• But in October 2016, as it came to light that she had let a friend secretly manage
government affairs, she met with nationwide protests, leading to her impeachment and
removal from office in March 2017.
• The candlelight protests of 2016, led by citizens who peacefully demonstrated for the
president’s resignation within the boundaries of democratic law and systems, show the
maturity of the Korean democracy.
• In May 2017, Moon Jae-in was elected the president, in a peaceful transfer of power for
the third time.
• The Korean democracy owes a debt to economic development, but it was the citizens’
elevated political awareness to encourage republicanism in the country, which played the
lead role in advancing it to where it is today.
Korea’s Joseon Dynasty

Japan

Syngman Rhee
MILITARY
Park Chung-hee

Chun Doo-hwan MILITARY

Kim Young-sam

Kim Dae-jung

Lee Myung-bak

Park Geun-hye

Moon Jae-in
• Daimyo were powerful Japanese magnates, feudal lords who, from
the 10th century to the early Meiji period in the middle 19th century,
ruled most of Japan from their vast, hereditary land holdings. They
were subordinate to the shōgun and nominally to the emperor and
• samurai were the hereditary military nobility and officer caste of
medieval and early-modern Japan from the 12th century to their
abolition in the 1870s. They were the well-paid retainers of the
daimyo. They had high prestige and special privileges such as wearing
two swords
• Meiji Restoration, in Japanese history, the political revolution in 1868
that brought about the final demise of the Tokugawa shogunate
(military government)—thus ending the Edo (Tokugawa) period
(1603–1867)—and, at least nominally, returned control of the country
to direct imperial rule under Mutsuhito (the emperor .
• The Edo period or Tokugawa period is the period between 1603 and
1868 in the history of Japan, when Japan was under the rule of the
Tokugawa shogunate and the country's 300 regional daim
• Shogun was the title of the military dictators of Japan during most of
the period spanning from 1185 to 1868. Nominally appointed by the
Emperor, shoguns were usually the de facto rulers of the country,
though during part of the Kamakura period shoguns were themselves
figureheads
• Meiji, in full Meiji Tennō, personal name Mutsuhito, (born Nov. 3,
1852, Kyōto—died July 30, 1912, Tokyo), emperor of Japan from 1867
to 1912, during whose reign Japan was dramatically transformed from
a feudal country into one of the great powers of the modern
world.Oct 30, 2020
• The Meiji government was the early government of the Empire of
Japan. Politicians of the Meiji government were known as
the Meiji oligarchy, who overthrew the Tokugawa shogunate.
• History of Japan
• Early Japan (until 710)
• Nara and Heian Periods (710-1192)
• Kamakura Period (1192-1333)
• Muromachi Period (1338-1573)
• Azuchi-Momoyama Period (1573-1603)
• Edo Period (1603-1868)
• Meiji Period (1868-1912)
• Taisho and Early Showa Period (1912-1945)
Murasaki Shikibu was a Japanese novelist, poet and lady-
in-waiting at the Imperial court during the Heian period.
She is best known as the author of The Tale of Genji,
widely considered to be the world's first novel, written in
Japanese between about 1000 and 1012.
The Qing (or Ch'ing) dynasty, also called the Manchu (or
Manzu) dynasty, was the last of the imperial dynasties of China,
spanning from 1644 to 1911/12.
• The 1911 Revolution emancipated the minds of the Chinese
people. ... The 1911 Revolution not only put an end to the monarchy
of China but also greatly promoted democracy among the Chinese
people, thereby contributing much to the country's transition from a
monarchy to a republic as well as its political modernization
• In October of 1911, a group of revolutionaries in southern China led a
successful revolt against the Qing Dynasty, establishing in its place the
Republic of China and ending the imperial system. As Qing rule fell
into decline, it made a few last-ditch efforts at constitutional reform. .