Since the opening of treaty ports to foreign powers in the late 19th century, China and Japan have transformed themselves from being secluded countries to making an impressive claim in the world economy. Two of the biggest port cities were Japan’s Tokyo and China’s Shanghai. These two cities have followed a similar path of living the good life and facing devastating blows to their countries and their economies. Although their histories have found themselves pinned against one another, they have prevailed. Both China and Japan have been able to modernize from rural villages to mega metropolises that rival the cities of the West.
Shanghai can be considered a separate country from the rest of China in early 20th century, if not the Western city of China. The residents of Shanghai identify themselves as not only Chinese but also Shanghainese and speak in their own dialect. They were viewed by some in China as being unruly, or having too free a spirit especially the woman in the way they dressed and curled their hair. Eileen Chang describes them as “traditional Chinese people tempered by the high-pressure of modern life…misshapen products of old and new culture.” (Chang, 54) The economy of Shanghai was greatly helped by its integration with the West dealing with both imports and exports due also to its prime location on the Yangtze River. Shanghai was the fashion and trend hub of China, where all the latest Western fashion and film arrived first in China. Streets such as Hart and Nanking Road were lined with shops displaying the latest and greatest of the world’s offerings to all who walked by. It was as much as a tourist attraction as Times Square is in New York City. Not everyone could of course afford these luxuries but never the ...
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... Japan was brought to an end with the reverse course and signing of a peace treaty with the United States and China. Soon to follow In 1950 Japan finally had the economic boost it needed after the war, with the United States’ involvement in the Cold War with Korea. Japan’s close location became a prime place for the U.S. to obtain supplies and repairs for the war.
Works Cited
Chang, Eileen. Written on Water
Lu, Hanchao. Away from Nanking Road
Ebrey, Patricia. Modern East Asia
Riichi, Yokomitsu. Shanghai
Gordon, Andrew. A Modern History of Japan
Varley, Paul. Japanese Culture
Pan, Lynn. Wine, Women, and Song
Hunter, Neale. Shanghai Journal Introduction
Yang, Mayfair Mei-Hui. Mass Media and Transnational Subjectivity in Shanghai: Notes on Cosmopolitanism in a Chinese Metropolis
Lu, Hanchao. Nostalgia for the Future: The Resurgence of an Alienated Culture in China
European Imperialism of China and Japan Imperialism is the practice by which powerful nations or peoples seek to extend and maintain control or influence over weaker nations or peoples. By the 1800’s, the Western powers had advantages in this process. They led the world in technological advances, giving them dominance when conquering other countries. The European Imperialists made attempts to conquer China and Japan.
The United States became a major threat to Japan. Many people believe the Japanese were successful in their attack. But, the result of the attack did not enable Japan to expand into the Pacific. It did not result in the acquisition of more natural resources.
“It was not easy to live in Shanghai” (Anyi 137). This line, echoed throughout Wang Anyi 's short piece “The Destination” is the glowing heartbeat of the story. A refrain filled with both longing and sadness, it hints at the many struggles faced by thousands upon thousands trying to get by in the city of Shanghai. One of these lost souls, the protagonist, Chen Xin, was one of the many youths taken from his family and sent to live the in the countryside during the Cultural Revolution. Ten years after the fact, Chen Xin views the repercussions of the Cultural Revolution internally and externally as he processes the changes that both he, and his hometown have over-gone in the past ten years. Devastatingly, he comes to the conclusion that there is no going back to the time of his childhood, and his fond memories of Shanghai exist solely in memory. This is in large part is due to the changes brought on by the Cultural Revolution. These effects of the Cultural Revolution are a central theme to the story; with repercussions seen on a cultural level, as well as a personal one.
Schoenhals, Michael. China's Cultural Revolution, 1966-1969: Not a Dinner Party. Armonk, NY: M.E. Sharpe, 1996. Print.
However, amid a global economic crisis, the military came to the fore, and Japan eventually marched down the road to war. With the end of World War II in 1945 Japan put into effect a new Constitution, committed itself to becoming a peace-seeking democracy, and successful in relaunching its economy. In 1956, the nation’s entry into the United Nations was approved.
This essay will discuss the issue of migration. Migration is movement by humans from one place to another. There are two types of migration, it is immigration and emigration. Immigration is movement by people into the country and emigration is movement by humans, who want two leave countries voluntary or involuntary. Economic, religious, education social and problems are reasons of migration. Mankind often migrates to modern, rich, multicultural countries, towns with high economy and good standard of living such as Prague, Germany, London, Los-Angeles, New York and shanghai. I would like to draw on the city Shanghai.
In the middle of the 19th century, despite a few similarities between the initial responses of China and Japan to the West, they later diverged; which ultimately affected and influenced the modernizing development of both countries. At first, both of the Asian nations rejected the ideas which the West had brought upon them, and therefore went through a time period of self-imposed isolation. However, the demands that were soon set by Western imperialism forced them, though in different ways, to reconsider. And, by the end of the 19th century both China and Japan had introduced ‘westernizing’ reforms. China’s aim was to use modern means to retain and preserve their traditional Confucian culture. Whereas Japan, on the other hand, began to successfully mimic Western technology as it pursued modernization, and thus underwent an astounding social upheaval. Hence, by the year 1920, Japan was recognized as one of the world’s superpowers, whereas China was on the edge of anarchy.
There has not been a downward spiral with weapon usage since then either. No country has used a more destructive weapon on another country since the two bombings so the United States has not caused an even more violent Earth. President Harry S. Truman made the right call and ended the war. Japan has moved on since then. They now have become one of the world's wealthiest countries and one of the United States' most powerful allies. Although Japan was hurting for a while, they overcame their struggles which is testament to how strong the people of Japan are, just ask Tamiko Tamonaga and Sachie Tashima.
In conclusion, Japan tried to isolate themselves, and China tried to compete with them, using their land, and excess of population. Documents one through ten were all about China, and documents eleven through sixteen was about Japan. Documents one, two, three, and seven was talking about if China was prepared for the European countries, and documents five, six, and nine talked about whether or not China compared to the European countries. Documents twelve, fourteen, and sixteen all talked about negative interactions between Japan and the European countries. So, as a total, I think that neither way from both China or Japan will work in the long run, but that they will recover from it.
Japan had to open ports to foreign commerce when they lost the fight against Europe and America in Tokyo Bay (Bentley 508). After losing, Japan began industrializing and soon enhanced their military by investing in tools from western empires, who had very strong and powerful militaries. Once Japan had built a strong military they began to fight for Korea. They fought China and “demolished the Chinese fleet in a battle lasting a mere five hours,” and they later gained Korea and treaty rights in China (Bentley 550). China’s military was very weak. After losing Hong Kong and many trading ports to western empires following the Opium War, China was in trouble. Chinese people began rebelling against the Qing Dynasty. After the most popular rebellion, The Taiping Rebellion, China began the Self-Strengthening Movement. “While holding to Confucian values, movement leaders built shipyards, constructed railroads, established weapons industries, opened steel foundries with blast furnaces, and founded academies to develop scientific expertise” (Bentley 543). After doing all of these things, China still did not have a strong enough military. They continued to deal with problems from the western
Cheng, Nien. Life and Death in Shanghai. New York, New York: The Penguin Group, 1986.
Retrieved March 21, 2001, from the World Wide Web: http://english.peopledaily.com. Chinatown Online is a wonderful site with an abundance of information about China. http://www.chinatown-online.com/. Henslin, J. M. (1999). The Species of the Species. Sociology: A Down-to-Earth Approach (4th ed.).
The 21st Century has witnessed Asia’s rapid ascent to economic prosperity. As economic gravity shifts from the Western world to the Asian region, the “tyranny of distance [between states, will be] … replaced by the prospects of proximity” in transnational economic, scientific, political, technological, and social develop relationships (Australian Government, 1). Japan and China are the region’s key business exchange partners. Therefore these countries are under obligation to steer the region through the Asian Century by committing to these relationships and as a result create business networks, boost economic performance, and consequently necessitate the adjustment of business processes and resources in order to accommodate each country’s employment relations model (Wiley, Wilkinson, & Young, 2005). Cognizant of the fact that neither Japan nor China has given up on its external (protectionism or parity) adjustment tools, it is posited that they can nonetheless coexist since both “produce different things and in different ways” and as such avoid the cited perilous US and Mexico competition; but due to globalization, the operating environment portends a convergence or divergence of Industrial Relation (ER) strategies between China and Japan (Lipietz, 1997; Zhu & Warner, 2004).
Zhao, Y., (1998), Media, Market, and Democracy in China - Between the party line and the bottom line (Urbana and Chicago: University of Illinois Press).
...high power status, Japan had to have a self-reliant industrial common ground and be able to move all human and material resources (S,195). Through the Shogun Revolution of 1868, the abolition of Feudalism in 1871, the activation of the national army in 1873, and the assembly of parliament in 1889, the political system of Japan became westernized (Q,3). Local Labor and commercial assistance from the United States and Europe allowed Japan’s industry to bloom into a developed, modern, industrial nation (Q,3). As a consequence production surplus, and food shortage followed (Q,3). Because of how much it relied on aid of western powers, Japan’s strategic position became especially weak. In an attempt to break off slightly from the aid of the west Japanese leaders believed that it would be essential for Japan to expand beyond its borders to obtain necessary raw materials.