Chixian and Fusang are aliases for China and Japan.Jianzhen and Chao Heng (that is, Abe Nakamaro) are outstanding representatives in the history of cultural exchanges between China and Japan in ancient times. These few dozen words vividly summarize the long history of cultural exchanges between China and Japan and the friendship between the Chinese and Japanese people. Deep friendship.

Looking at the characteristics of the history of cultural exchanges between China and Japan in general, first of all, it has a long history, not to mention the migration of the original inhabitants of the mainland to the Japanese archipelago in ancient times, there is only a history of cultural exchanges in written records, at least two thousand years old.Moreover, it has a long history and continues. Even in the era when the relationship between the two countries deteriorated or even war broke out, the cultural exchanges and friendly exchanges between the people of China and Japan have never stopped.

The second is wide range.The content of cultural exchanges between China and Japan is extremely rich and varied, involving all aspects of culture, whether it is philosophy, literature, history, science, religion, education, art, music, dance, calligraphy, In the fields of sports, architecture, crafts, gardens, folk customs, etc., or in terms of material culture, institutional culture, and spiritual culture as described in the broad concept of culture, there are manifestations and examples of Sino-Japanese cultural exchanges everywhere. The third is far-reaching.The cultural exchanges between China and Japan have had a huge and profound impact on the development and progress of politics, economy, culture, ideology, and science of the two countries, as well as state relations, national feelings, revolutionary movements, people's friendship, and daily customs.The famous Japanese scholar Naito Konan once compared the great role of Chinese culture in the formation of Japanese culture to adding brine when making tofu.Up to now, the influence of ancient Chinese culture can still be seen everywhere in Japanese culture, social life and customs.

Cultural exchange between China and Japan is a historical process. If we divide it into three eras: ancient, modern, and modern, and each era is divided into several periods, we can discover the content, The methods have different characteristics. The history of cultural exchanges between China and Japan in ancient times includes a long period from ancient times to the beginning of the 19th century.Since the history of written records can be divided into the following four periods: (1) From the 3rd century BC to the 6th century AD, that is, during the Qin, Han, Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties in China, Japan was in the Yayoi period and the early Yamato period.During this period, most of the exchanges between China and Japan passed through the Korean Peninsula, crossing the strait by land or sailing along the coast.The way of communication is mainly through Chinese immigrants to Japan to spread China's advanced civilization.The content of communication focuses on the level of material culture, such as production tools and production technology.

(2) From the 6th century to the 9th century AD, that is, China's Sui and Tang Dynasties, Japan was in the late Yamato period, the Nara period and the early Heian period.During this period, the communication route was mainly to cross the sea directly.The way of communication was the exchange of envoys and personnel. In particular, Japan sent a large number of Sui envoys, overseas students, and overseas monks to China, which was the first climax in the history of Sino-Japanese cultural exchanges.The content of the exchange is mainly on the level of institutional culture. For example, Japan learned from the law and order system of the Tang Dynasty to achieve great innovation.At the same time, it also involves the exchange of spiritual culture such as Buddhism, architecture, sculpture, and poetry.

(3) From the 10th century to the 14th century AD, that is, during the Song and Yuan Dynasties of China, Japan was in the late Heian period, the Kamakura period, and the early Muromachi period.The route of communication during this period was mainly sailing in the East China Sea.The communication methods are mostly in the form of folk trade and monk exchanges.The content of the exchange includes not only the material trade of goods, but also the spiritual exchange of Buddhism, Confucianism, literature, calligraphy and painting, etc. (4) From the 14th century to the beginning of the 19th century, that is, China's Ming and Qing Dynasties, Japan's late Muromachi period, Azuchi-Momoyama period and Edo period.During this period, the communication methods became more diversified, including trade such as the Kanhe trade in the Ming Dynasty, the Xinpai trade in the Qing Dynasty, immigration and even war.In addition to material commodity trade, the content of the exchange highlights the exchange of spiritual culture such as books, Confucianism, fine arts, calligraphy, and medicine.

Generally speaking, in ancient times, due to China's relatively developed politics, economy, and culture, the most cultural exchanges between China and Japan were the export of Chinese culture to Japan.However, Japanese culture has gone through a process of comprehensive absorption, digestion and transformation of Chinese culture, and the gradual creation of a culture with Japanese national characteristics.The content of Sino-Japanese exchanges has gradually extended from material culture to institutional culture and spiritual culture.The exchange surface also gradually expanded from a few envoys and officials to non-governmental overseas students, monks, businessmen, and common people.

The history of modern Sino-Japanese cultural exchanges includes more than a hundred years from the Opium War in 1840 to the end of World War II in 1945, and can also be divided into four periods: (1) From 1840 (the Opium War) to 1871 (the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and Japan), China was the Daoguang, Xianfeng, and Tongzhi dynasties of the Qing Dynasty, and Japan was from the end of the Edo period to the beginning of the Meiji period.This period was the transitional period from ancient times to modern times when East Asia was impacted by the West.The main way of communication is non-governmental trade, and only a few Chinese and Japanese businessmen can communicate, and the content includes books, literature, art, etc.In particular, the books and periodicals reflecting China's two Opium Wars and world history and geography had a great impact on Japan's founding and restoration.

(2) 1871-1894 (the First Sino-Japanese War), the Tongzhi and Guangxu years of the Qing Dynasty in China, and the Meiji era in Japan.The two countries established diplomatic ties and established embassies and consulates in each other, creating favorable conditions for cultural exchanges between China and Japan.Officials, scholars, and literati of the two countries came and went in an endless stream, and the exchange of literature and poetry was unprecedented. (3) 1894-1919 (May 4th Movement), China's late Qing Dynasty and early Republic of China period, Japan's Meiji and Taisho years.During this period, a large number of Chinese students studying in Japan went eastward, and many Chinese officials and scholars went to Japan to investigate the New Deal, and many Japanese teachers and scholars also came to China.The content of the exchange was very extensive, and the exchange of education and ideas was particularly prominent. There was the second climax in the history of Sino-Japanese cultural exchange.

(4) From 1919 to 1945 (the end of the Anti-Japanese War), China was the Republic of China era, while Japan was the end of the Taisho era and the Showa era.During this period, Japanese militarism intensified its aggression and expansion against China, especially from the "September 18th Incident" in 1931 to 1945, when Japanese imperialism launched a 15-year war of aggression against China, which brought great harm to the people of China and Japan. Great disaster and suffering.However, even when the relationship between the two countries deteriorated and even the war years, the cultural exchanges between the Chinese and Japanese people and the anti-war movement of Japanese progressives continued.

Generally speaking, in modern times, Sino-Japanese cultural exchanges have developed in scale and content compared with ancient times, and are more extensive and popular.Since modern China gradually became a semi-colony, Japan embarked on the road of capitalism after the Meiji Restoration.The trend of cultural exchanges between China and Japan in modern times is more that China learns from Japan.The cultural exchanges between China and Japan in modern times are closely related to the 1911 Revolution and the New Culture Movement in China. The history of modern Sino-Japanese cultural exchanges from 1945 to the present can be divided into two periods. (1) From 1945 to 1972 (the restoration of diplomatic relations between China and Japan), China was in the period of the People's Republic of China after 1949, and Japan was still in the Showa era. In 1945, the Anti-Japanese War ended with the defeat of Japanese imperialism, ending the long-term relationship between Japan and China of aggression and being invaded.Especially after the founding of the People's Republic of China, the people of China and Japan have made unremitting efforts to change the abnormal situation between the two countries and to maintain non-governmental cultural exchanges. (2) From 1972 to the present, Japan is in the Showa era and the Heisei era.After long-term and arduous efforts, China and Japan finally restored diplomatic relations in 1972, began to exchange personnel, concluded agreements, and promoted cultural exchanges. The Sino-Japanese Treaty of Peace and Friendship signed in 1978 formally and legally ended the abnormal state of bilateral relations.Since then, China and Japan can carry out extensive and in-depth cultural exchanges on the basis of complete equality, friendship and mutual benefit, and the history of Sino-Japanese cultural exchanges has shown a new climax of unprecedented scale. The above is just a brief outline of the basic historical outline of Sino-Japanese cultural exchanges.However, it is impossible to describe such a long and rich history of Sino-Japanese cultural exchanges comprehensively and systematically in this small book of tens of thousands of words.I think it is better to use the form of historical stories to select some outstanding representative figures and vivid typical cases to describe to readers the most brilliant and moving chapter in the history of Sino-Japanese cultural exchanges for more than 2,000 years.