The Chinese defeat in the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-5 was a major shock for the Qing Dynasty. Given what you know about the situation in China or Japan at the time, do you think this defeat was inevitable? Justify your answer.

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Q2: The Chinese defeat in the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-5 was a major shock for the Qing Dynasty. Given what you know about the situation in China or Japan at the time, do you think this defeat was inevitable? Justify your answer.

The Sino-Japanese War (SJW) was fought between China and Japan over the strategic importance of Korea. The war broke out after Japanese troops, which had been sent to crush the 1894 Tong Hak Rebellion, refused to leave despite being obliged to do so by the 1885 Li-Ito Convention. The SJW ended in a swift defeat of China and symbolized the degeneration of the Qing Dynasty (QD, 1644-1911). It also showed how successful Japan’s modernization was since the Meiji Restoration (MR, 1868-1925) compared with the Self-Strengthening Movement (SSM) of China. Besides the problems inherent in the SSM, the Chinese were “doomed to failure” due to lack of coordination and foresight, which will be discussed in the following paragraphs.

Firstly, the SSM, which aimed to “learn the superior technique of the barbarians to control the barbarians”, was a disappointment. However, Japan’s reason for modernization during the MR was to strive to be on an equal footing as the West, which was sadly, not China’s goal. The SSM was only to control the foreigners, not to create an Industrial Revolution for China, unlike what Japan did. Therefore, this meant China had a higher probability of losing.

Unlike Japan’s reforms, which received the Emperor’s ratification, the conservative and xenophobic QD frowned upon the SSM, because it feared that if people learnt about Western democratic principles, the Confucian philosophy of loyalty to the Emperor would fade and undermine the QD’s authority. Without any imperial support, the SSM could not take off, because the court would be uncoordinated because of difference of opinions. Hence, the SSM ostensibly tried to modernize China, but was stifled by the court’s refusal to discard its philosophy to embrace Western influence. Instead of remaking China into a modern state, the Qing court underwent a period of “Tung Chih Restoration” to rejuvenate the traditional Confucianist order in China.

In addition, the Chinese had this notion of “Chinese learning as essence, western learning for application”. They hanged on to the past & resisted fundamental changes. This persistence of conservative attitudes was also detrimental in limiting the scope of reform in China. The SSM was overly focused on the military and its related industries. The Chinese still maintained a superior mentality, thought they were the greatest civilization in the world, and therefore rejected some important reforms in the area of culture and political institutions. This showed that the Chinese attempts at modernization was only superficial and backward.

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Japan, however, was more open to changes. The Emperor was radical and shrewd to discard any culture which obstructed modernization. Japan picked up the cue where China did not. In addition, the Japanese Restoration leaders were hardheaded, practical men whose creed was summed up in the phrase ‘rich country, strong arms’. They understood that the strength of the West lay in its industrial and military establishments. Hence, Japan’s weaponry and army was more developed than China’s, enhancing its chances of winning the SJW.

Since the very basis of China’s self-strengthening was to strengthen the existing order rather than ...

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