Prepared By Prof Alvin So1 SOSC 188 Lecture 22 East Asia History (I): Incorporation of Japan and China

Prepared By Prof Alvin So2 The research problem: Why was Japan to develop earlier and faster than China? The Two Prevailing Explanations World-Systems Analysis: Incorporation into the Capitalist World-Economy

Prepared By Prof Alvin So3 The Two Prevailing Explanations Modernization theory: internal differences - China's conservative scholar-gentry resisted Western ideas Japan's progressive samurai eager to learn from the West The Dependency theory: external differences - China experienced imperialism and degenerated into a periphery Japan avoided imperialism and were able to have autonomous development The Unanswered Questions - Why Chinese scholar-gentry resisted Western ideas? Why could Japan avoid imperialism?

Prepared By Prof Alvin So4 World-Systems Analysis: Incorporation into the Capitalist World-Economy Pre-incorporated legacy - China was an empire, a sinocentric world center to civilize the barbarians, foreign trade is treated as a tribute (a favor) Japan was always on the receiving end of cultural borrowing The timing and agents of incorporation - Britain (a superpower) used force to open China in the 1840s not interested in Japan because it is faraway from trade route US (a rising core) not yet strong enough to use force against Japan in the 1850s giving Japan a threat and the urgency, a chance to observe China's humiliation, and a breathing space to plan ahead

Prepared By Prof Alvin So5 The initial incorporation responses - China: war defeat, indemnity, higher taxes, led to peasant rebellion Japan: provoked nationalism, Meiji restoration, state centralization The impact on state's capacity - China: the decline of empire, state lacked capacity to promote industrialization Japan: emergence of a strong state to promote education & industrial reforms, protected local market