After Japan’s Departure from Asia, Where Did the Once Prosperous China Go?

Abstract

From the mid-nineteenth century onward, East Asia went through an extraordinary period of massive transformation. Previously, it had been a relatively independent, miniaturized international community: Chinese civilization had long remained at its center; tribute payment had tied East Asian nations together. However, in the face of Western ideas swiftly spreading east, East Asia’s advantages dwindled. Some of China’s neighboring countries were forced to sign unequal treaties with the Western powers, thus slipping away from the China-dominated order and turning toward Western values, the institution of international law and diplomatic norms. Japan, based on the Meiji Restoration of 1871, went to great lengths to absorb the European and American cultures, pursued the road of capitalist modernization with success and won national independence ahead of its East Asian neighbors.