Chapter 3 Two Modern Crossroads

In Humen, Guangzhou, China, stands a statue of the mighty and indomitable Lin Zexu.Lin Zexu, an important official in the late Qing Dynasty, known as the first person in modern China to look at the world, under the blue sky and white clouds, watched the moon and the moon, and listened to the ebb and flow of the tide. On the streets of Uraga, Japan, there is also a majestic statue standing.Strangely, he is not an Asian, but a Westerner with a high nose, sunken eyes, and curly hair.He is Admiral Perry of the U.S. Navy, and he was the first out-and-out aggressor who knocked on the door of Japan with his fleet.

The mid-nineteenth century was an era of drastic changes in the Far East. Both China and Japan were weak countries that had been humiliated by Western powers. They faced a new crisis together. They were in similar situations and had similar interests, but their responses were vastly different. More than a hundred years later, the Chinese firmly remember Lin Zexu, a national hero in the Opium War, while the Japanese firmly remember Perry, a foreigner who brought earth-shaking changes to their lives. These two completely different statues left posterity with so much sorrow and joy and so much thought.

Behind these two completely different statues, the divergence in the modern history of China and Japan has actually been hidden behind them. A great cultural form must have two conditions: one is the wisdom of creation, and the other is the ability to contain.For thousands of years, although Chinese culture has focused on creation, it has also absorbed many foreign elements. The so-called "tolerance is great."In the glorious era of governance, Chinese culture absorbs the advantages of other cultures with vigorous vitality, and the Chinese also respond to the challenges of other civilizations with an open mind; while in the declining end of the world, Chinese culture refuses to have equal dialogue with foreign cultures with serious inertia , the Chinese also watched the coming of the powerful enemy in horror with a conservative attitude.

After the Yuan and Ming Dynasties, Chinese culture gradually entered a static state.Before modern times, Chinese culture had not faced any truly subversive challenges. Even foreign rulers who seized the central power had to accept the assimilation of Han culture.Over time, Chinese people's self-confidence expanded into a sense of arrogance, thinking that Chinese culture is the highest and best, and that as long as they stick to it and stick to the rules, they can defeat powerful enemies. Since the eighteenth century, the West has made rapid progress in terms of political system, science and technology, like silkworms turning into butterflies in spring.In politics, democracy and nationalism have emerged one after another, such as the establishment of parliamentary politics and the cabinet system in the United Kingdom, the American Revolution, the French Revolution, the concept of freedom and human rights took root in Europe and America; Various major inventions after Newton appeared during this period, and production technology improved accordingly. The Industrial Revolution was an unprecedented event that affected the lives of the entire human race.

However, Eastern countries such as China, Japan, and India continue to maintain a closed-door policy, ignorant of changes in the international situation.Both the Manchu Qing rulers in China and the shogunate in charge of the Japanese regime implemented strict ideological control and autocratic rule in the country, depriving the people of their freedom of speech, thought and religious belief.Intellectuals' academic research was confined within the scope of textual research, out of touch with real life, and ordinary people lost their creativity and imagination. In 1808, a British warship broke into Nagasaki, Japan. The Saga Domain, which was in charge of military and political affairs in the Nagasaki area, failed to stop it in time. Nagasaki local official Yasuhide Matsudaira took the blame and committed suicide.After this incident, the Tokugawa shogunate, which holds the ruling power in Japan, ordered to step up coastal defense.In the following decades, British and American whaling ships continued to appear in the coastal waters of Japan, and the shogunate, which was strong in foreign affairs but incapable in the middle, issued the "Foreign Ship Expulsion Order".

In 1840, China's defeat in the Opium War brought unprecedented shock to Japan.Prior to this, in the minds of the Japanese cultural class and ordinary people, China had always been the image of a great power under the Celestial Empire.Today, China is vulnerable to the powerful West, which reminds Japan of its precarious situation.As a result, the shogunate began to hire military expert Takashima Akiho to manufacture guns and reform the military system in response to changes in the current situation. In 1848, the United States won a complete victory in the war with Spain. As a result, the United States was determined to expand to the Pacific Ocean and use force to force Japan to open its ports.

In November 1852, US President Fillmore sent Perry, commander of the East India Fleet, to Japan for negotiations.On June 3, 1853, four black-painted warships sailed into Uraga Port, Edo Bay, Japan.Perry asked the shogunate to accept the letter of credentials of the US president, and threatened: "If it is not accepted, the fleet will enter Edo to negotiate directly with the general. Otherwise, in case of war, the United States will win, and then you can come to see it with a white flag." The messenger has two white flags.The shogunate was forced to accept the letter of American credentials, and promised to reply next year.Perry led the fleet to demonstrate and left after surveying Edo Bay.This is the epoch-making "Black Ship Incident" in modern Japanese history.

In January 1854, Perry led seven warships into Edo Bay again.The shogunate had to sign the "U.S.-Japan Treaty of Goodwill" with the United States.The treaty stipulates that Japan will open the two ports of Shimoda, Izu and Hakodate, Hokkaido, and the United States will set up consulates in the two ports, and the United States will enjoy most-favored-nation treatment.The door of Japan has since been opened. Shortly thereafter, Britain, Russia, the Netherlands and other countries also signed similar treaties with Japan. In this way, more than ten years later than China, Japan was also forced to enter modern international politics and fell into the ubiquitous net of Western powers.

Before being forced to open the door, Japan closed itself off like China, and only a small number of Dutch businessmen were allowed to engage in trade activities in Dejima, Nagasaki.Although Japan officially forbade civilians from having any contact with the Dutch living on Dejima, the Japanese diligently sought out whatever bits and pieces of Western learning they could get their hands on.They struggled to learn Dutch and struggled to translate articles on medicine, mathematics and navigation.They delved into and used European science textbooks translated into Chinese by Jesuit missionaries for the Chinese.In this way the Japanese piece together their understanding of Western science piecemeal but precisely.

This is the harbinger of Japan's pursuit of Western learning - the "Lan Xue" that regards the Netherlands as a teacher.It can be said that the beginning of "Lan Xue" directly provided ideological resources for the Meiji Restoration.From then on, "Lanxue" replaced "Sinology" and became a window for Japanese intellectuals to learn advanced European culture. On the eve of the Meiji Restoration, the shogunate regime had been actively learning from the West.In the face of external challenges, the Japanese rulers showed more adaptability and aggressiveness than the Manchu rulers, and the ordinary Japanese people responded quickly and firmly.

In 1855 and 1857, at the voluntary request of the shogunate, the Netherlands successively sent naval officer Pers Regen and military doctor Baumpei to Japan to help the Japanese set up naval training institutes and military medical workshops.In 1855, the shogunate also established the Institute of Foreign Studies.The prosperity of the Institute of Oceanology led to the rapid emergence of a large number of talents who are proficient in modern science and technology in Japan. The shogunate also hired a large number of technical experts from abroad and established many modern industries, such as Uraga Shipbuilding, Ishikawa Shipbuilding and Sekiguchi Manufacturing.The powerful feudal clans headed by the Satsuma clan also actively carried out feudal regime reforms, with the focus on rectifying foreign study facilities, developing foreign study education, and establishing modern industries.In 1866, the shogunate not only allowed its citizens to go abroad for study or trade, but also, together with other vassals, sent overseas students to Britain, the United States, France and other countries. Five years before the Meiji Restoration in Japan, Li Hongzhang, a pioneer of Chinese modernization, observed the changes in Japan's political situation. He wrote in a letter to Zeng Guofan: "The monarchs and ministers of this country are humble and courteous, and they seek the secrets of Britain and France. Guns and ships , Gradually be able to control and use, and then become a great leader with Britain and France." The words are full of admiration for the Japanese who are good at learning and working hard. When explaining the spirit of the times from the shogunate to the Meiji period, the Japanese often mention a story about the patriot Ryoma Sakamoto. Naoharu Kagaki was a member of Tosa's royal party and a master of swordsmanship.One day, when he was striding triumphantly on the street with a long knife in his waist, he happened to meet Ryoma Sakamoto. Seeing his appearance, Ryoma said, "There will be more random fights indoors in the future, so the short sword should be It is more useful than a long knife." He said while showing the short knife at his waist to Ke Yuan. Ke Yuan thought, it makes sense.Immediately after he went, he changed into a dagger and went to see Ryoma again.Ryoma didn't say anything, and suddenly took out a pistol from his arms, and fired with a bang.Kagaki was shocked by the power of the pistol. A few months later, Kagaki went to see Ryoma again with a pistol. This time, Ryoma smiled slightly, but took out a book from his pocket and showed it to Kegaki, saying, "That's outdated. From now on, this will rule the world!" The book is "Public Law of Nations", a book on international law. This little story vividly illustrates that Japan's learning from the West is relatively comprehensive and unreserved.From science and technology to political and legal systems, from clothing calendar to lifestyle, the Japanese took the initiative to use them for my own use. In China, it was not until 21 years after the Opium War that the Manchu Qing Dynasty established the "Prime Minister's Office of State Affairs".Although this institution is smaller than the Ministry of Foreign Affairs usually set up in modern countries, it marks the abandonment of the Chinese rulers' old self-deception method-that is, to hand over all foreign affairs to the "Ministry of Rites" in order to maintain that the country only accepts other foreign affairs. The supremacy of state tributary. Under the Zongli Yamen, the open-minded Prince Gong Yixin established the first foreign language school in modern times - "Tongwenguan".This common-sense suggestion was put forward by Wei Yuan, the author of "Pictures of Sea Country" twenty years ago.At that time, Wei Yuan pointed out full of worry: "If you want to know the situation of other countries, you must first know their language... and there are no people in China who are familiar with foreign languages, so I am afraid that they will not be able to understand their background." Twenty years later, Wei Yuan has been taken by him. The country compatriots have forgotten, but in the Japanese intellectual circles "Haiguo Tuzhi" has become a classic work that everyone holds. In Beijing, the question of the audience of foreign envoys with the emperor remained unresolved for many years.The high-ranking officials and dignitaries who paid attention to the face of the celestial court and the relationship between the monarch and his ministers insisted that the "barbarians" must kneel to the supreme emperor.And this is a humiliating condition that Westerners who have been immersed in modern civilization cannot accept anyway. They will not kneel before their own king, let alone kneel to the emperor of an old empire that they defeated. In Japan, as soon as the Meiji government was established in early 1868, the emperor Meiji, who was a political and religious one and had a high status, personally received the ministers of France, the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom in Japan.This did not cause much disturbance in Japan.After the emperor moved to Tokyo, in 1869 he successively received the ministers of six countries including Italy, France, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, the United States, and Prussia, and accepted the credentials of each country. On December 16, 1877, He Ruzhang, the first Chinese Minister to Japan, arrived in Japan.On the morning of the 28th, He Ruzhang came to the Imperial Palace in Tokyo to meet Emperor Meiji of Japan.Afterwards, He Ruzhang wrote in his diary that Emperor Meiji, dressed in a suit, extended his hands to respectfully accept the letter of credence and bowed as a gift.These rituals, he commented, were "similar to the West".However, in the minds of He Ruzhang, a fairly open-minded senior bureaucrat in the Qing Dynasty, although he admitted that China has "different systems for warships and ships, and pays attention to everything", he insisted that "political matters, such as ritual and music articles, have their own The sacred teaching can be followed, and it will never be abolished.” This kind of stubborn thinking can show that there is a fundamental difference between China’s Westernization and Japan’s reform. Twenty or thirty years after being forced to open the country, the decision-makers of the Qing Dynasty were still full of hesitation about sending envoys abroad.In the eyes of the rulers, Western culture is like a virus. If the envoys who go out are infected with the virus, it is possible to spread it throughout the pure and peaceful central country. However, within a few years after Japan was forced to open its doors, it resolutely decided to send envoys to the Western world to observe the movement and learn advanced culture.The Japanese rulers are willing to abide by the international order established by the European and American capitalist powers, and allow themselves to join it as soon as possible, from an insulted person to an equal member. It is such a simple truth, but China did not understand it until the end of the 20th century.Long Yongtu, chief negotiator for China's accession to the World Trade Organization, once drew a good analogy: "To participate in the Olympic basketball game, you must first promise to abide by the rules of the basketball game, and you cannot say as soon as you enter the court: 'The basket is too big. The height is set according to the standards of Westerners. We have to lower the basket a few centimeters to adapt to us, otherwise it will be unfair competition.” If you want to join the mainstream of the world, you must first abide by the internationally accepted rules, and then you can talk about changing the rules problem.” This “sudden realization” came a full century and a half later than Japan. In 1859, both China and Japan faced the problem of exchanging ratifications with the Western powers such as Britain, France, and the United States for the treaties signed in the previous year. The treaties signed between China and Western countries stipulate that the matter should be handled in the capital of China.The Manchu Qing Dynasty had a lot of worries about this, and of course they would not agree to send envoys to the other party's capital to carry out diplomatic activities. On the contrary, in its diplomacy with the United States, the Japanese side took the initiative to request the exchange of contracts in Washington, the capital of the United States, and promptly formed a large mission to visit the United States across the ocean.The Japanese envoys not only completed the set tasks and protected the national interests to the greatest extent, but also met with the President of the United States in 1860.This practice of courageously going abroad to carry out diplomatic activities in the political center of the other party is in stark contrast to the passivity, passivity, and inaction of the rulers of the Manchu and Qing Dynasties. In 1868, the Meiji Restoration began in Japan, and the new regime issued the "Five Oaths" in the name of the Emperor, clearly proposing to "seek knowledge from the world." In 1871, Japan decided to send "European and American Missions", with Iwakura as the main envoy, Kido Takayoshi, Okubo Toshimichi, and Ito Hirobumi as deputy envoys. The main officials of the judiciary and other departments are almost all out.They first went to the United States, then turned to Europe, and visited the United Kingdom, France, Belgium, Holland, Germany, Russia, etc., which lasted for one year and nine months.The Japanese government believes that this visit is of great significance. Officials of the Iwakura Mission visited government agencies, parliaments, factories, courts, newspaper offices, hospitals, schools, etc. in Western countries. Okubo Toshimichi, one of the "Three Heroes of the Restoration", wrote "Suggestions on Propagating Industry and Prosperity" immediately after returning to China. He pointed out: "The strength of a country depends on the wealth of the people, the amount of products, and whether to encourage The People's Industry." Kido Koyun paid special attention to Western education. He wrote in a letter to officials of the Ministry of Education: "The civilization of our country today is not a real civilization. There is a difference, only learning and not learning." The notes along the way with Kume Kuni, who accompanied the mission as a recorder, were compiled into a book titled "Retrospect Records of Ambassadors Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to the United States and Europe", and many of the contents of this book have become Japanese. Required education courses. However, the Manchu Qing Dynasty did not send five ministers abroad to investigate constitutional issues until 30 years later, after experiencing the painful lesson of the Eight-Power Allied Forces’ invasion of China.These imperial relatives did not have the insight and mind of the Japanese reform officials at all, and their inspections did not have any positive effect on China's domestic reforms. Beginning in the 1880s, several energetic and unswerving intellectuals who returned from European study tours and studied modern Western political systems and philosophies in depth began to become young designers of the "Meiji Restoration".They led the vigorous emperor's regime to carry out political reform, military reform and financial reform, and implemented the two major policies of "prosperity and prosperity" and "civilization and enlightenment". The Reform Movement of 1898 in China was not so much a major change initiated by the dynasty as it was a desperate and disastrous attempt by a small number of intellectuals to prove that the reform was correct.The reformist intellectuals in China were not as lucky as their Japanese counterparts. Their fate was beheading, exile and exile, and they were ridiculed, reviled and spurned by most of their compatriots.The brief Reform Movement of 1898, which lasted only a hundred days, was like a dazzling rocket firework in a dark night sky whose light faded to leave a darker night than before. In 1889, the Japanese government promulgated the Meiji Constitution.This is a document deeply influenced by modern German political theorists' concepts of constitutional monarchy.During this decade, the meaning of "sovereign rights" and "natural rights" were discussed as urgent issues among people in Tokyo.However, the domineering and stubborn rulers of the Qing Dynasty postponed the timetable for constitutionalization time and time again, and did not realize the constitutionalization in the true modern sense until the demise of the Qing Dynasty. In the 1880s, Japanese intellectuals were reading Rousseau, and Shakespeare's plays and Tolstoy's novels could be found in bookstores in Tokyo and Osaka.It was not until the end of the nineteenth century and the beginning of the twentieth century that Chinese intellectuals began to benefit from the Japanese spirit of cultural adventure. While carrying out the self-improvement movement, Japan also tried to imitate the colonial expansion strategy of the Western powers.At that time, after the Japanese government was forced to sign the Japan-U.S. and Japan-Russia treaties under external pressure, the Japanese thinker Yoshida Shoin commented on this: "We will never break the contract and break our trust with Rongdi."But on the other hand, it declares that it is necessary to "raise the strength of the country and cut off the easy-to-take Korea, Manchuria, and China." When the Meiji Restoration first achieved results, Japanese politicians declared that since "the Opium War, China's politics is still in disarray, with long-haired disturbances inside, and British and French invasions outside... Judging from today's situation, it is advisable to go out first and take the Qing one." The province should be based on the East Asian continent, the power of Japan should be increased inside, and the power of Japan should be shown outside to be brave in the universe." In the century since the Meiji Restoration, Japan's modern history has clearly drawn such an arc: Stimulated by the modern trend of "leaving Asia and entering Europe", Japan took the lead in Asia and successfully turned to industrialization.In this process, due to the pressure of Western powers, the negative influence of social Darwinism, and the narrow island mentality, Japan's development path presents a strange historical paradox: it stems from aversion and The psychology of resisting Western power, but under the synthesis of various political and economic self-interests, finally chose to imitate the experience of the strong expansion of Western colonists, which gave birth to the Eastern-style imperialist colonial road. Although the success of Japan's modernization has amazed Westerners and envied Chinese people, Japan's modernization is a modernization of "congenital deficiency and acquired disorder". The so-called "congenital deficiency" means that the worship of the emperor, the spirit of bushido, and the concept of contempt for life in Japanese traditional culture have not been cleared and renewed in this baptism; the so-called "acquired imbalance" means that when Japan learned from the West, , only focused on the military and technical aspects, and did not go deep into the basic values ​​of humanitarianism, freedom, equality and fraternity since the Western Renaissance.Therefore, the "Meiji Restoration" gave birth to a deformed baby.As the first Asian country to enter the modernization track, Japan failed to establish the concept of individual rights and responsibilities, nor did it establish a stable civilian government. Its political power was quickly taken over by a group of frenzied fascist military officers. The modernized Japanese army established by the "Meiji Restoration" is indeed on par with Western armies in terms of weapons and equipment, logistical support, organizational form, and strategic deployment. However, the Japanese rulers tried their best to instill the spirit of bushido The toxins in the army made this army a division of tigers and wolves and a division of demons. In 1912, Emperor Meiji died.General Nogi Xidian and his wife, who had "gloriously embraced the emperor" in many foreign wars, were buried at home by caesarean section.Such a barbaric and ignorant act at the beginning of the twentieth century proved the Japanese historian Kamekichi Takahashi's argument: "In the new era after the Restoration, the spirit of Bushido still maintains a guiding position." At the beginning of the Meiji Restoration, in order for Japan to have an ironclad fleet, the emperor spared no expense to buy it from naval powers such as Britain.Because the national treasury was empty, he resolutely announced: Someday the funds are not in place, and someday he will only eat one meal.The Japanese people, who regard the emperor as a god, were greatly stimulated, and they frugally donated money to buy warships. There was even a news incident of a young girl selling herself to raise funds. At the same time, the Empress Dowager Cixi wantonly misappropriated naval military expenditures to organize her own birthday celebration.Although this cruel and scheming woman has controlled China's political situation for half a century, she has never been aware of the general trend of the world and the direction of civilization.Her wisdom is limited to thick black studies and scheming, and she is still a stubborn and old-fashioned old lady who values ​​face more than anything else. The singing and dancing in the Summer Palace seemed to cover up the deep crisis at the Beiyang Naval Base in Weihaiwei hundreds of kilometers away for a while.However, the moment to break the ice is coming soon. Compared with Japan, China's road to modernization is full of more variables and ups and downs.At the beginning of the 20th century, the failure of the late Qing constitutional movement triggered the Revolution of 1911; in 1911, after the Revolution of 1911, Yuan Shikai’s restoration and the melee of warlords appeared; The Northern Expedition of the Unified Nationalist Army.The twists and turns of China's modernization are certainly related to China's own problems, but another important reason is the destruction and interference of Japan. When the Wuchang Uprising and the success of the revolution were in sight, Japanese public opinion chanted the theory of interference. The Japanese government hoped to divide China into two parts. The north would maintain the Qing court in exchange for the Northeast; under.In the name of protecting overseas Chinese, Japan sent troops to Beijing, Tianjin, Hankou and other places.Later, taking advantage of the recognition of the government of the Republic of China, they seized the right to build and manage the five Manchurian-Mongolian railways. In 1914, the First World War broke out and the balance of power among the Far Eastern powers was broken. Japan believed that this was a once-in-a-century opportunity to expand its power in China.During the Japanese occupation of Shandong, the secret organization "Black Dragon Society" that invaded China had already drawn up a plan to "make China voluntarily surrender to Japan".Eighty days later, the Japanese proposed the cruel "Twenty-One" to Yuan Shikai, who was plotting to restore the imperial system, in an attempt to destroy China's lifeline in one fell swoop. In 1917, Tsarist Russia collapsed, Japan lost its enemy in the north, and even had the ambition to monopolize China.Economic aggression and military control went hand in hand, and Nishihara loans and enemy defense agreements came one after another, causing civil strife in China on a large scale. In 1918, Japan saw that Duan Qirui wanted to expand his private army by participating in the war, and immediately borrowed money to support Duan Qirui's participation in the war, thus obtaining the privilege of stationing troops in China. In 1919, the Paris Peace Conference was held. Although China and Japan were both victors in the First World War, Japan aggressively seized all the former German rights and interests in Shandong. In May 1925, the bosses of Japanese-funded enterprises in Shanghai, Qingdao and other places openly shot and killed Chinese workers, creating the "May 30th Tragedy". In the spring of 1926, when the Fengzhi and Fenglu warlords jointly attacked Feng Yuxiang's national army, Japan sent warships out of the customs and went south to bomb the Dagu Fort, which was the origin of the "March 18 Massacre" in Beijing. It can be said that since the founding of the Republic of China, Japan has been recklessly harming China's new forces and obstructing China's political, economic, and cultural progress.The long-term warlord chaos in the early years of the Republic of China was all related to Japan. In 1927, the national revolution moved northward smoothly.In order to undermine the unity of China, Japan sent troops to Shandong, bloodbathed Jinan, and shot and killed more than 4,000 Chinese soldiers and civilians.When the warlord Zhang Zuolin was defeated and retreated outside the customs, the Japanese Kwantung Army created the Huanggutun incident and killed Zhang Zuolin, who was unwilling to fully act as a Japanese puppet.The Japanese government openly prevented the three northeastern provinces from returning to the central government, and threatened Zhang Xueliang, saying that Japan "has a strong determination to take free actions, that is, to interfere in internal affairs, without hesitation." After the national government realized the formal unification of the country, China entered the "golden decade" of modernization.In the past ten years, China's industrial growth rate has remained at about 9 percent; in the past ten years, China has built 8,000 kilometers of railways; in the past ten years, the proportion of China's modern industry in the total industrial and agricultural output value has doubled.Economic development has led to a wave of urbanization, and five large cities with a population of more than one million have emerged in China: Shanghai, Beiping, Tianjin, Guangzhou and Wuhan.China has introduced foreign capital from the West to build a large number of foreign-funded enterprises, and its own national industry has also flourished.The construction of China's education system, legal system and civil servant system is gradually on the right track. Just when China was gradually healing the wounds of civil war and foreign humiliation and was on the right track of modernization, the Japanese militarists felt that they could not give China a chance for peaceful development.Invading China is the long-term plan of the Japanese military and the basic national policy of the Emperor's government.In 1931, the Kwantung Army couldn't wait to launch the "September 18th" Incident and implemented this plan ahead of schedule. Through Japan's occupation of Northeast China, China lost 30 percent of its coal, 71 percent of its iron, 28 percent of its electricity and 47 percent of its cement.After obtaining these resources, Japan's war machine moved faster. Immediately afterwards, Japan created the "July 7 Incident" in 1937, brazenly launching a full-scale war of aggression against China.Only a little more than a year after the outbreak of the war, Shanghai lost 52 percent of its industrial assets, Nanking 80 percent, Hangzhou 28 percent, and Canton 31 percent. In this cruel war, most of the wealth of modernization and modernization accumulated by the Chinese people in the past century has been lost. "National salvation overwhelmed enlightenment", China's modernization process was completely interrupted, and Japan's aggression delayed China's industrialization for at least 20 years, and democratization was nowhere in sight.China lost the opportunity to become democratic and prosperous, and China was forced into the abyss of peasant revolution. Japanese scholar Kubo Toru explained the root cause of Japan's invasion of China: "The most influential of China's industrialization is Japan's , so Japan opposed China's industrialization and launched a war of aggression. "Since modern times, China has never been invaded by foreigners like the Japanese war of aggression against China, which was so large in scale, so long in invasion time, covered such a wide area, and damaged the interests of all sectors of China so deeply. Countries that have already modernized do not have the obligation to assist backward countries, but if the long-term happiness of mankind is considered, coordinated progress is the right way to get along after all.To take a step back, even if you are unwilling to actively support enlightenment, you should not hinder or destroy it, so that the laggards will fall behind for a long time, and modernization will never be achieved.For backward countries, it is best to carry out their modernization under relatively stable conditions. Apart from self-reliance, they also need a peaceful and stable international environment. However, advanced countries represented by Japan regard China as a fish on the chopping board, deliberately creating turmoil in China and interfering with China's progress.Civil wars in China in the early 20th century would have been difficult to sustain and spread without foreign weapons and loans.In China, there are also some ignorant and selfish warlords and turbulent politicians who are willing to use them for their own self-interest.When the national government gradually got on the right track and Japan lost the tools it could use, the arrogant soldiers of the Japanese military department put all their eggs in one basket and launched this despicable war of aggression nakedly. It is conceivable that without the aggression of Japanese imperialism, China might have already integrated into the civilized world, and the Chinese people might have lived a life of prosperity, freedom, democracy and dignity long ago.However, we had to accept the war imposed on us by Japan.Japan's aggression changed China's modern history, and made China's development and progress fall from a peak to a trough.And a great Patriotic War, which is related to the life and death of the nation, also started from this.