Nationalism and Nation State Building in China and Japan
...was this event that would shock the Chinese nation and also come to be known as the origin of modern Chinese nationalism (Leifer, 26). At this point it was becoming extremely apparent that in order for China to survive as a nation it would have to abandon some conservative elements of their culture and begin to westernize. In 1911 western educated Sun Yat-Sen would lead an elitist revolution that would topple the weakened Qing dynasty. The revolution took on three unified forms: it was a democratic revolution to set up a democratic Chinese republic, a socialist revolution to equalize land and wealth distribution, and a nationalist revolution to eliminate the foreign government (Hooker). However perhaps an even more significant event than the 1911 revolution was the May 4th Movement of 1919. This movement was triggered by around 5,000 university students in Beijing who were protesting the Treaty of Versailles decision to grant Japan the former German leasehold of Jiao Zhou, and was the “first mass movement in modern Chinese history (V. Schwarcz, 38). The May 4th Movement spoke out against foreign imperialists and warlords, and also blamed Chinese conservative culture for China’s failure in the modern era. Intellectuals claimed that the Confucian idea of placing individuals in specific roles in society with out choice suppressed their self-expression and as a result caused Chinese society to become stagnant. They also claimed that Confucianism lacks an analytical and objective frame of reference; that the wisdom of Confucianism was never challenged and disregarded new thought, and that because of these aspects of Confucianism China failed to adapt to the new world order. The May 4th Movement allowed for an open discussion of nationalist ideas, and truly laid the foundation for the rise of Chinese nationalism. Japanese Nationalism and Nation-State Building The Japanese military government, the Tokugawa Shogunate ruled Japan from 1603 to 1868 (a similar period as the Qing dynasty) and also faced somewhat similar historical situations to those of China. The Tokugawa Shogunate witnessed a growing western influence, feared that it could lead to subversive behavior and imposed an isolationist policy which lasted for around 200 years, ending with the arrival of United States Commodore Mathew Perry’s fleet and the signing of an unfair treaty that would open Japanese ports one year later in 1854. The decision to sign the treaty was primarily based on the grave consequences China had made as a country that refused to cooperate with western powers. In 1868 a small group of samurai would lead an elitist revolution that would overcome the Tokugawa Shogunate and begin a period of restoration that would last over 40 years. The revolution was nationalist in nature, and based on the Japanese tradition of learning and adopting strong points of other cultures and beliefs into their own. It was the Japanese’s ability to realize that the western way was quickly becoming the way of the world that lead to their success in the late 19th century and early 20th century; and China’s stubborn conservatism that lead them to their century of “shame and humiliation.” The aim of the Meiji restoration was be summed up in the nationalist phrase fukoku kyohei meaning “rich country, strong army” that would also go on to set the theme of Japanese nationalism up until World War Two (Umegaki, 22). The Meiji Restoration was driven by social Darwinism, and widely promoted nationalism as a means to preserve their independence (a realization that Japan made decades before China due to China’s more conservative traditions). As a result of the Meiji restoration, official nationalism would become the dominant ideology of Japan in the early 20th century; and the Japanese government would use it as a tool to unify the classes and other forces of potential opposition, granting it further stability; much as the Chinese Kuomintang party would use politicized nationalism to grant them legitimacy. Japanese nationalism was further fueled by Japanese victories in the Sino-Japanese wars, the Russo-Japanese war, and World War One. Japan used this strengthened sense of nationalism to help provide justification the colonization of Korea and Taiwan; and thus Japanese nationalism evolved to the extreme form of nationalism, imperialism, a form quite far from any China has seen. Japan as a whole now viewed itself as more civilized and superior than other countries, and felt they carried the moral obligation to develop East Asia. Japan would bring this ideology with them throughout their imperialistic quest and it would become exemplified in the phrase “Asia for the Asians” (Umegaki, 48). The imperialist form of nationalism continued throughout Japan’s period of militarism and expansion, ultimately facing an abrupt ending at the end of World War Two. The Allied occupation under Douglas MacArthur caused the complete demilitarization of Japan as well as the democratization of Japan. Japan however would again display its ability to adapt and its nationalism would shift from an imperialist form to an economic form. A form of nationalism that Japan would excel in, as it would become the second best economy in the world in a mere thirty years. Such success brought nationalist desires for further political ambition, as seen with Japan’s sending of United Nations (UN) peacekeeping troops abroad to places like Cambodia and East Timor and even combat troops to Iraq. Japan is also seeking permanent membership in the UN security council, a huge nationalist ambition. However despite Japan’s high ranked economy, Japan is currently in an economic slump. Its economic system is in dire need of reform, however such a reform would come at the expense of the large corporations that support the current party in power, the Liberal Democratic Party, so fearing that reform would cause them to lose power; the Japanese government is currently defying its own history and remaining stagnant. This action or lack thereof has many Japanese nationalists outraged. Modern Chinese Nationalism and Nation-State Building China’s inability to adapt to western ideas led them to a position allowing for a communist revolution. The struggle between the nationalist or Kuomintang party (KMT) and the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) for the control of China has largely been a struggle whose outcome would be determined by whose party could most associate themselves with nationalism. Sun Yat-Sen’s (generally considered by both parties to be the founder of Modern China) ideology of the three people’s principles of nationalism, democracy, and socialism attracted attention to his Kuomintang party; but also brought in the new ideas of Marxism, communism, and socialism that would ultimately take the form of a party that would eventually lead a communist revolution. In the years between 1920 and 1925 Sun Yat-Sen became president of a self-proclaimed national governmen...