Chapter 19 Meiji Restoration VS Westernization Movement

Some compradors established contact with the Westernization faction bureaucrats by virtue of foreign aggressive forces, and participated in the political and economic activities of the Westernization faction. The comprador class became more and more politically influential and economically strong, forming an important reactionary social force.The big bureaucratic group of the Westernization Faction headed by Li Hongzhang became increasingly obvious as the political representative of the comprador forces. —— Guo Moruo While the Meiji Restoration was sweeping across Japan, China was also vigorously promoting the Westernization Movement.China and Japan had almost the same motives, were in almost the same position, and faced almost similar problems, but the final results were very different. The Meiji Restoration was completely successful, while the Westernization Movement was a complete failure.

Are Japan's initial conditions better than China's?Although China lost to Britain and France in the two Opium Wars and ceded territory to pay compensation, the overall loss did not seriously shake the country. Although the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom Movement from 1851 to 1864 severely damaged the vitality of the Qing Empire, at the beginning of the restoration of the royal government in 1868, the royal power was even more unstable. More than 300 feudal vassals were still separated, the central fiscal revenue was almost zero, and the currency system was chaotic. There is no fundamental difference between the two.

Is Japan's system more advanced?The Meiji Restoration in Japan finally formed a dictatorship of the bureaucratic chaebol bourgeoisie with the Meiji oligarchy at the core of the four vassals of Choshu, Satsuma, Hizen, and Tosa and the interests of the three major chaebols of Mitsui, Mitsubishi, and Sumitomo. "Meiji Three Masters" and "Nine Veterans".The Qing Empire was a bureaucratic comprador class formed by bureaucrats with Li Hongzhang as the core and foreign comprador groups represented by Sheng Xuanhuai and Xi Zhengfu.The biggest difference between the two is that chaebols and foreign compradors have different interest orientations. Plutocrats regard the country as their own, and safeguarding national interests means safeguarding their own interests; The main bargaining chip in the game of interests, when necessary, at the expense of national interests.

Such comparisons can go on indefinitely, but the crux of the problem lies in finance! The opium trade destroyed the stability of the standard currency of the Qing Empire; the absence of the central bank caused the long-term disunity of the currency; HSBC controlled China's money; foreign banks penetrated into China's financial network; foreign compradors monopolized the financial market; the secret of credit creation The failure to be deeply understood by China led to the late opening of the modern banking industry; huge indemnities and large foreign debts led to the mortgage of the three major central fiscal revenues of China's customs duties, salt tax, and taxation to foreign banks, and the loss of China's fiscal and taxation sovereignty Exhausted, the government's financial resources have dried up, deepening its dependence on foreign debt.

The complete loss of China's financial high frontier has caused China to lose its political independence, lack of funds for economic development, poor and weak military and defense, and no food for science and technology, education, and culture. All these are the most essential differences between the Westernization Movement in China and the Meiji Restoration in Japan. The fate of Hanyeping Company is a typical example of this comparison.