REFLECTIONS ON THE COMPARATIVE STUDY OF MODERNIZATION IN CHINA AND JAPAN: MILITARY ASPECTS
RICHARD J. SMITH*
Paul Cohen has recently warned against measuring nineteenth century China’s modernization by the yardstick of Meiji Japan. From the vantage point of Japan’s ‘success,’” he writes, “the late Ch’ing epitomizes ‘failure,’ and next to the dynamism of the Meiji era, China, during the latter half of the nineteenth century, appears as the very embodiment of stasis. The trouble with this perspective is that it glosses over a very important fact, namely that China and Japan, in their respective encounters with the West in the last century, did not start out at the same point.” Cohen suggests that a “much more valid way of measuring change in nineteenth century China is by internal points of reference.” “Modernization is not, after all, a horserace,” he maintains,2
This approach has much to commend it, if only as a reminder that China did not simply stand still in the nineteenth century. Thomas Kennedy correctly indicates, for example, that for all its weaknesses, the “self-strengthening” movement from 1860 to 1894-1895 brought “far more comprehensive and far-sighted [changes] than earlier studies infer.” Cohen notes that when we measure the modernizing experiences of China and Japan against those of the rest of the world, rather than against each other, “we find that both China and Japan come off relatively well.”+
Yet the knowledge that historians would eventually vindicate China’s modernizing efforts would have been small consolation to Li Hung-chang at Shimonoseki. One doubts that he muttered at the signing table in 1895, “How far China has come in the last thirty years!” The fact is that Chinese modernizers continually viewed their progress in terms of Japan’s accomplishments. Li Hung-chang wrote as early as 1872: “Japan is just a small nation. Recently she has begun to trade with Europe; she has instituted
* Dr. Smith is Assistant Professor of History, Rice University, Houston, Texas. His article “The Employment of Foreign Military Talent: Chinese Tradition and Late Ch’ing Practice” appeared in Vol. 15 of this Journal, pp. 113-138.
REFLECTIONS ON THE COMPARATIVE STUDY OF MODERNIZATION IN CHINA AND JAPAN: MILITARY ASPECTS
RICHARD J. SMITH*
Paul Cohen has recently warned against measuring nineteenth century China's modernization by the yardstick of Meiji Japan. From the vantage point of Japan's 'success,'” he writes, "the late Ch'ing epitomizes 'failure,' and next to the dynamism of the Meiji era, China, during the latter half of the nineteenth century, appears as the very embodiment of stasis. The trouble with this perspective is that it glosses over a very important fact, namely that China and Japan, in their respective encounters with the West in the last century, did not start out at the same point." Cohen suggests that a “much more valid way of measuring change in nineteenth century China is by internal points of reference." "Modernization is not, after all, a horserace," he maintains,2
This approach has much to commend it, if only as a reminder that China did not simply stand still in the nineteenth century. Thomas Kennedy correctly indicates, for example, that for all its weaknesses, the "self-strengthening" movement from 1860 to 1894- 1895 brought "far more comprehensive and far-sighted [changes] than earlier studies infer." Cohen notes that when we measure the modernizing experiences of China and Japan against those of the rest of the world, rather than against each other, "we find that both China and Japan come off relatively well.”+
Yet the knowledge that historians would eventually vindicate China's modernizing efforts would have been small consolation to Li Hung-chang at Shimonoseki. One doubts that he muttered at the signing table in 1895, "How far China has come in the last thirty years!" The fact is that Chinese modernizers continually viewed their progress in terms of Japan's accomplishments. Li Hung-chang wrote as early as 1872: "Japan is just a small nation. Recently she has begun to trade with Europe; she has instituted
* Dr. Smith is Assistant Professor of History, Rice University, Houston, Texas. His article "The Employment of Foreign Military Talent: Chinese Tradition and Late Ch'ing Practice" appeared in Vol. 15 of this Journal, pp. 113. 138.
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