1979-07-12 — Page 30

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measures like the Funda- mental Law on Education of 1972 (which gave Japanese children who were over

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1979

中學會考試題預習專欄

世界歷史科(一)

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SUGGESTED QUESTIONS

AND ANSWERS

bu Philin

Describe the important social and economic reforms in Meiji Japan in the period 1870-18947 In what ways did they contribute to the transformation of Japan into a modern country?

The first part of the question is easy enough to answer. You have just to discuss the social and economic aspects of the Meiji modernization, but not political or military changes because the latter is not being asked. This part of the question is rather straightforward; one need not feat, therefore, that there is something tricky about it. They only important thing to bear in mind is that you must time yourself properly if you know much about the details of the Meiji modernization.

All the things you include in this aspect will only make up half of the question. You must, in other words, reserve, 20 or so minutes out of 45 for the second part of the question, which, generally speaking, students find it most difficult to tackle.

The main aspects of the social and economic changes in early Meiji Japan (1870-94). include the following. Don't worry if you have forgotten to

mention some of them. The success of essay-writing in history depends on your ability in discussing (not listing down) broad features.

SOCIAL CHANGES

The bright student will divide social changes into two kinds: negative ones (by which the Meiji government got rid of

feudal remains of Tokugawa Japan 1603-1868), and positive ones (by which the Meiji government laid the groundwork. for a new social order), The negative changes include:

Abolition of feudal social

positions, such as those of the damiyo (lords) and samurai (knights). These people were compensated financially, the daimyo received 1/10th of their original income, the samurai some regular stipends. By 1876, the government cleared itself of the burden of having to support these former feudal classes. Meanwhile, the social order was made more equal, as class distinctions were abolished. For example, the commoners were given family names.

You can then say, in a new paragraph, that the clearance of the old order gave way to the set-up of a new social structure. The positive

Social changes Include:

1. Introduction of compulsory

education for the Japanese

You can mention important educational

6

years of age 16 months of compulsory education), the Education Act of 1879 (which decentralized the adminstra- tion of education), the

Education Act of 1886 (which centralized the adminstra- tion of education and marked the beginning of illiberal education), and the Imperial Rescript on Education issued by the Meiji Emperor in 1890 (which emphasized traditional Japanese virtues In education.)

2. Encouragement of Shintoism (native Japanese religion) and permittion of Christianity.

3. Introduction of modern land

taxation in 1873 all

landowners were to pay a yearly tax of 3% of the land value.

4. Introduction of conscription in 1873 ---All Japanese

males over 23 years old had to serve a period of military service in the regular army.

ECONOMIC CHANGES

The land taxation mentioned just now can be included as an economic measure. Other measures include:

1. Efforts in promoting agriculture, such as sending students abroad to learn advanced agricultural techniques or establishment of experimental agricultural stations all over Japan to increase productivity.

2. Employment of foreign

advisers and technicians to obtain industrial and technical skills.

3. Development of military ......

strategic industries by the Meiji government, such as shipbuilding yards, gun-powder and munition factories, and artillery works.

4. Development of consumer goods industries, such as cotton spinning, sugar manufacture and silk-reeling. 5. Discouragement of foreign investments in Japan by buying back foreign-owned. industrial understakings. 6. Promotion of a stable

economic structure for the benefit of Japanese economic development, such as successful efforts in standardizing the Japanese currency, in making trade prosper, and in making communications more

efficient

For the second part of the question, think in the following

manner.

The Meiji experience of modernization is often regarded as a success.

Success in what?? Transformation of Japan into a modern state.

So the different moderniza- tion programmes (which together made up the Meiji experience of modernization) each had favourable effects.

These effects contributed to the Meiji success, therefore to the transformation of Japan into a modern state.

Don't be frigtened off by the question and think that you

郭日儒善

know nothing about it,

四期星

carefully analyse it, and you will know that it is just one on the effects of the Meiji

modernization, what then were the effects of the abolition of feudalism?

Pick on any from the lacts you have included in the essay and. look at it from the view of the entire modernization as a whole. Well, political centralization, better national unity, promotion of better internal trade (after the breakdown of deudal trade barriers), freeing of the Meiji government from having to financially support the old feudal classes, etc. In summing up these effects, you should point out that feudal remains must be cleansed before a modern government could be founded.

Compulsory education? Well, again, greater social and national unity, rise of. educated citizens to provide: for the new blood to carry out modernization (such as skilled technicians and workers for

rapid industrialization), promotion of modern nationalism etc. Since the above mention things are what one can expect from a modern country, the Meiji programme of compulsory education helped transform Japan into a modern state, didn't they?

As for the other effects of the Meiji modernization, you can consult reference books on East Asian history.

Describe the development of the Shantung Question in the period 1895-1922. Discuss its significance.

In answering this question. you are expected to select relevant information from an few topics instead of confining yourself and your ideas to one... topic only. Because you need to be equally familiar with each of the few topics, attempt the question only when you know what broad aspects the question rea

requires from you. You think you have no idea whatsoever about the Shantung? Question and you are wrong It's just like choosing a year. (say, 1911) and recall what happened in Chinese history (the Chinese Revolution). So for this question, pick on Shantung and imagine what events occurred in the region from 1895-1922. You may know that the Triple Intervention (in which Germany, France and Russia participated) occurred in 1895, but on second thought you should be telling yourself that the Intervention concerned Liaotung in Manchuria, not Shantung. So the event is – Irrelevant as far as our essay. is concerned. What then really happened in Shantung? As you proceed from one year to another, you will notice that in 1997 Germany seized Kiaochow in Shantung. Now this is |relevant. You should, I'm

afraid, be well familiar with. this fact. This aggressive action, if you stretch your

power of imaginative association

further had the effects of Intensifying the Scramble for

日二十月七年九七九一番公年八十六國民藜中 有教慘载

decisions on the Shantung

Concessions (1896-99)

that nearly partitioned China on

the one hand, and arousing in intense antiforeign feeling among Shantung people, which | contributed to the outbreak of

the Boxer Uprising in 1900-01, on the other hand. Why must you mention this consequence of the 'Shantung Question"? Well, does it not show the

signficance of the Shantung Question itself?

How about the 1900s? Was there anything dramatic and spectacular in Shantung in the decade? There seemed not any and so there weren't any relevant points to be included in your essay. Just don't ever think that because you are asked to discuss the Shantung Question in the period in which the 1900s is a part, you must force

yourself to think out some events in Shantung in the 1900s. History cannot be manufactured by your imagina- tion alone:

The 1910s? Yes, the Japanese

on the outbreak of the First World War in 1914, joined the Allies and then seized the German holdings in Shantung (including Kiaochow). Because this fact is relevant, you cannot afford to forget mentioning it;. I mean you can afford neglecting other minor points but definitely not this important point. The same with the following: in early 1915, Japan presented the famous 21 Demands to Presi dent Yuan Shih-kai of China, în which China was asked to transfer to Japan all the former German rights in Shantung, with additional provileges such as the building of a railway in the region. As for the effects of the 21

1 Demands, simple enough if you remember them: stimulus of modern Chinese nationalism, which increasingly turned against Japan,......... Contribution to the failure of -Yuan Shih-kar's attempt at

monarchical restoration (in that Yuan suffered from loss of

reputation after being forced by Japan to accept the Demands); and lastly beginning of Japanese-American suspicion and confrontation.

Did the Shantung Question: remain after 1915? Sure it did, In 1919 you will remember, when the Versailles Peace Conference met in France to attempt to settle the First World War, the Chinese delegates at the conference. pressed for the restoration of the Shantung rights to China, since China had entered war on the victorious Allied side since 1917. The Japanese delegates naturally refused, and the Japanese position was strong because powers like Britain, France and Italy had secretly agreed to support Japan's claims in Shantung during the war. In the end, despite the efforts at mediation by the US, the Shantung gains were left in the hands of the Japanese.

Again, ask yourself what effects did the Versailles

Question have? Well, in China, nationalism was greatly

stimulated and became more Anti-Japanese in nature, as the news of the Shantung Question led to the May Fourth Incident. of 1919. On the international level, the Western powers began to take note of the Shantung Wuestion in view of the frustrated Chinese nationalism, This in the end led up to the calling of the Washington Conference in 1921-22 by the US It was until then that Kiaochow of Shantung and the Tsingtao-Tsinan railway in the region were returned to China. Effects? A conclusion of the. Shantung Question that had

existed for over a quarter of a century, which therefore put an end to a source of trouble in Sino-foreign relations that had always proved to stimulate important changes in China at - home.

The question is not difficult to attempt if you are able to select points for the answer from the asked period of history. The control of the searching process in your mind for relevant information is is as important as the presen→ tation of such information in the essay. Think, write judge that what you think out is in the right direction (on the Shantung Question, no more and no less), judge that what uou write is clear and to the point (which- depends on the accuracy of your thinking), and time your

progress. You have to do all these things at the same time That, I can assure you, 16 the key to writing a good history essay. It is also the main difficultly.

Explain and describe the expansionism of Imperial Japan in China from 1931 (the Manchurian Incident) to 1941 (the ourbreak of the Pacific War)

The Japanese aggression on. China in the 1903s was well known in history. Its causes are complex, but in the main one can approach them from three different angles, namely the internal condition in Japan at home, the situation in Ching at large, and the international circumstances of the time.

Focus you!

Fration

on Jaban at that time and what can you find? The r militarism, the militari dissatisfaction with the peace foreign policy of economic expansion that partly rule adopted in 1920s, the realization. that Japan's national interes in China could yot be protec by peaceful diplomacy, harmful effects of the Grea Depression in 1929-30 on. You don't have to go into the reasons for the “ise of Japanese militarism, that is something not directly related to our present question. You have just to point o

out and explain how Japanese militarism led to the adoption of expansionism overseas

short, the link between milita

rism (external), which may include the following

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