China and Japan Read online

  CHINA AND JAPAN

  CHINA AND JAPAN

  12 12 12 12 12 12 12 12 12 12

  Facing History

  EZRA F. VOGEL

  The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press

  cambridge, mas sa chu setts

  london, england

  2019

  Copyright © 2019 by Ezra F. Vogel

  All rights reserved

  Printed in the United States of Amer i ca

  First printing

  Design by Dean Bornstein

  Jacket photographs: ( top) Door knockers at Longhua Ta (Longhua Temple and Pagoda),

  Shanghai, China/Pictures from History/David Henley/Bridgeman Images; ( bottom) Detail

  of door, Kyoto, Japan/ Jim Holmes/Design Pics/Bridgeman Images

  9780674240766 (EPUB)

  9780674240780 (MOBI)

  9780674240759 (PDF)

  The Library of Congress has cataloged the printed edition as fol ows:

  Names: Vogel, Ezra F., author.

  Title: China and Japan : facing history / Ezra F. Vogel.

  Description: Cambridge, Mas sa chu setts : The Belknap Press of Harvard University

  Press, 2019. | Includes bibliographical references and index.

  Identifiers: LCCN 2018053335 | ISBN 9780674916579 (alk. paper)

  Subjects: LCSH: China— Relations— Japan. | Japan— Relations— China. |

  China— Foreign relations— Japan. | Japan— Foreign relations— China. |

  China— Civilization— Japanese influences. | Japan— Civilization—

  Chinese influences.

  Classification: LCC DS740.5.J3 V59 2019 | DDC 327.51052— dc23

  LC rec ord available at https:// lccn .loc .gov / 2018053335

  Contents

  Preface vii

  1. Chinese Contributions to Japa nese Civilization,

  600–838 . 1

  2. Trade without Transformative Learning,

  838–1862 . 29

  3. Responding to Western Challenges and Reopening Relations,

  1839–1882 . 65

  4. Rivalry in Korea and the Sino- Japanese War,

  1882–1895 . 100

  5. Japa nese Lessons for a Modernizing China, 1895–1937

  with Paula S. Harrell . 132

  6. The Colonization of Taiwan and Manchuria,

  1895–1945 . 175

  7. Po liti cal Disorder and the Road to War, 1911–1937

  with Richard Dyck . 203

  8. The Sino- Japanese War, 1937–1945 . 248

  9. The Collapse of the Japa nese Empire and the Cold War,

  1945–1972 . 286

  10. Working Together, 1972–1992 . 327

  11. The Deterioration of Sino- Japanese Relations,

  1992–2018 . 356

  12. Facing the New Era . 404

  Biographies of Key Figures 419

  Notes 471 . Sources and Further Reading 481

  Acknowl edgments 503 . Index 505

  Preface

  If the relationship between China and the United States, the world’s

  two largest economies, is the most impor tant relationship in the world, then

  arguably the second most impor tant relationship is that between China,

  which is about to become the world’s largest economy, and its neighbor,

  Japan, the third largest economy. China’s biggest trading partner is the

  United States, and its second biggest trading partner is Japan. Japan’s largest

  trading partner is China.

  The relationship between China and Japan is tense, dangerous, deep, and

  complicated. Ships and planes from the two countries confront each other

  regularly over the Senkaku / Diaoyu Islands, which Japan administers but

  China claims as its territory, and the risk of dangerous incidents is high.

  After incidents that occurred in 2010 and 2012, fewer than 10 percent of the

  Chinese polled expressed positive feelings toward Japan and fewer than

  10 percent of the Japa nese expressed positive feelings toward China. In

  China, emotions about Japan run high enough that officials can easily

  mobilize the Chinese public to join anti- Japanese demonstrations and

  protests, as witnessed in recent years when protesters, roused by anti- Japanese

  sentiment in the media, have thrown rocks at the Japa nese ambassador’s

  residence and at Japa nese stores in China. Fewer Japa nese tourists travel to

  China now than some years ago, and Japa nese citizens living and working

  in China have sometimes tried to disguise their nationality.

  If the Sino- Japanese relationship is mishandled, it could lead to vast mil-

  itary spending by both nations, frustrate cooperation on bilateral, regional,

  and global issues, and even descend into conflict. If handled well, the two

  countries could cooperate in preserving the international order and sup-

  porting regional organ izations that provide a framework for collaboration

  in trade, construction, scientific research, peacekeeping, and responding to

  natu ral disasters.

  Leaders of both countries have said that for relations to improve, the

  other side must deal properly with history. No countries can compare

  with China and Japan in terms of the length of their historical contact:

  1,500 years. Given the depth of emotion among the Chinese and Japa nese

  . vii .

  Preface

  people concerning their past, it would be impossible for them to gain a

  balanced perspective without discussing history.

  Japa nese and Chinese scholars have a much deeper understanding of

  their own history than we foreigners can match. Unfortunately, when

  scholars from China and Japan come together to try to resolve differences,

  the meetings result in renewed tensions and a lack of agreement on impor-

  tant issues. Outsiders can potentially contribute to their mutual under-

  standing by examining the history with more objectivity and balance. The

  Chinese have a saying, “Bystanders can be clearer” ( pangguanzhe qing), and

  the Japa nese have made this expression into a Japa nese saying as well.

  I see myself as a friend of both China and Japan. I undertook this study

  as a bystander sympathetic to both countries, which I have been studying

  for more than half a century. I want both countries to succeed. Therefore,

  in this book I attempt to the best of my ability to provide an objective un-

  derstanding of the history of relations between the two countries, in the

  hope that it will help them improve their relations with each other. I see

  my mission as seeking truth from facts, not slanting the truth toward the

  interests of any one country, including my own.

  Throughout my career, I saw it as my responsibility to convey the re-

  sults of my research on China and Japan to an audience of Americans and

  other Westerners who want to understand those two countries. While

  writing this book, however, I was thinking about how I might reach audi-

  ences not only in the West but also in China and Japan. I am aware that

  many Chinese and Japa nese people who dislike the other country will not

  be interested in reading a book on Sino- Japanese relations written by a

  Westerner, no matter how accurate the book might be. However, I have

  written this book for those in China and Japan who do seek, as I do, to

&
nbsp; achieve an objective understanding of the other country. I feel a responsi-

  bility as a bystander who can potentially reach audiences in both countries.

  I have had the unique good fortune of having the Japa nese translation of

  my book Japan as Number One become a bestseller in Japan, and my book

  Deng Xiaoping and the Transformation of China, in Chinese translation, be-

  come a bestseller in China. As a friend of both China and Japan, I fervently

  hope the two countries can improve their ability to work together for their

  common interests. I believe their cooperation is also in the interest of the

  rest of the world.

  . viii .

  Preface

  I have no training as a professional historian. I am a sociologist who until

  now has focused on the broad features of con temporary society. In this book,

  I write as a historical sociologist, following the perspective of my teacher

  (and later my se nior colleague) Talcott Parsons. A leading specialist on Max

  Weber, Parsons analyzed socie ties in terms of their basic po liti cal, economic,

  and social structures and their under lying values. My interest in using a

  broad so cio log i cal framework to analyze the history of national socie ties

  dates back to my graduate- student days before I became an Asia specialist,

  when I benefited from the teaching of Parsons and from discussions in the

  circle of gradu ate students gathered around him, including Bob Bellah, Cliff

  Geertz, Chuck Tilly, Jesse Pitts, Norman Bell, Ed Tiryakian, and Bob

  LeVine. We were all passionately absorbed in an effort to understand the

  broad structural features and values of national socie ties.

  I have or ga nized this book sequentially, covering the 1,500 years of

  recorded contacts between China and Japan. Throughout, in addition to re-

  lating the most impor tant events, I have endeavored to consider the larger

  social structures of China and Japan and the structure of their relationship.

  The history of Sino- Japanese relations was shaped not only by broad

  forces but also by individual people. For recent centuries, when more bio-

  graphical information is available, I also include brief biographies of some

  of the main individuals involved; these are found in the Biographies of Key

  Figures section. My purpose is to understand what drove them, how they

  related to the other country, and what impact they had on history.

  I am unable to read original documents in classical Chinese or classical

  Japa nese. The task of reading all the relevant original documents to cover such

  a vast period is beyond my ability, and perhaps beyond the ability of any single

  scholar or any small group of scholars. I do read modern Chinese and Japa-

  nese. In preparation for this book I spent years reading works on the history

  of relations between China and Japan by Western, Japa nese, and Chinese

  scholars. There are many outstanding books by dedicated scholars of great

  ability from China, Japan, and the West who have studied the interactions

  between China and Japan throughout history. I also had the opportunity to

  speak with many of the authors. I am deeply indebted to all of the scholars

  who made it pos si ble for me to attempt to write this historical overview. For

  each chapter, I include at the back of the book a section on “Sources and

  Further Reading.”

  . ix .

  Preface

  To make this book accessible to general readers, I have minimized the

  use of notes. I have also simplified transliterations. I do not use macrons in

  Japa nese terms, but for scholars seeking to use the sources, I use them in

  the notes. For Chinese names, I use the most widely accepted translitera-

  tions for the names of familiar figures, such as Chiang Kai- shek, Chiang

  Ching- kuo, and Sun Yat- sen; other wise I use pinyin, following the current

  mainland usage. For Chinese cities, I use their current names throughout,

  with one exception. I refer to Beijing, the “Northern Capital,” as Beiping

  when it was not the capital, to make it clear when it was and when it was

  not the capital city. I use the name Guangzhou even in the era when it was

  known as Canton, and I use Shenyang rather than Mukden (the city’s

  Manchu name), Hoten (its Japa nese name), or Fengtian. I pre sent Chinese

  and Japa nese personal names in their original order, surnames first.

  Two chapters were written jointly with friends, Paula Harrell and Rick

  Dyck, who were extraordinarily generous with their time, expertise, and

  contributions. Harrell, who studies late nineteenth- and early twentieth-

  century Sino- Japanese relations using both Chinese and Japa nese sources,

  has written outstanding books on exchanges between China and Japan after

  the Sino- Japanese War of 1894–1895. Dyck, who received his Ph.D. from

  Harvard, has spent more than four de cades living in Japan, where he is an

  exceptional scholar as well as a successful businessman.

  In this book, I pay special attention to the three periods when one

  country was engaged in deep learning from the other: from 600 to 838, when

  Japan was learning the basics of Chinese civilization, and two later periods,

  1895 to 1937 and 1972 to 1992, when China was learning from Japan. I have

  arranged the chapters chronologically with the exception of Chapters 5

  through 7, which address diff er ent aspects of the period from 1895 and 1937,

  when impor tant developments— China’s learning from Japan, Japa nese co-

  lonialism, and the politics that led to war— were so diverse that I chose to

  cover them in three separate chapters. Since my goal is to understand con-

  temporary East Asia, I have written about the past 200 years in more detail

  than earlier centuries. Chapters 1 and 2, however, trace the relations be-

  tween the two countries across more than 1,200 years, from 600 to 1862. In

  those initial chapters I have tried to provide an overview while also fo-

  cusing on issues that are particularly crucial for understanding current

  Sino- Japanese relations.

  . x .

  CHINA AND JAPAN

  chapter one

  Chinese Contributions to Japa nese

  Civilization, 600–838

  After Empress Suiko, at age thirty- nine, became sovereign of the

  Yamato clan in Japan in 593, to expand her control over a broader geo graph-

  i cal area she sought to import features of the more advanced Chinese civi-

  lization that had enabled China’s leaders to govern far larger areas than those

  that she controlled.1 In 589, four years before Empress Suiko rose to power,

  Emperor Wen Di of China had united a substantial part of China for the

  first time in several centuries and had established the Sui dynasty. To main-

  tain peaceful relations beyond the borders that he governed, Emperor Wen

  Di revived the practice of meeting with representatives of foreign groups

  and spreading Buddhism in territories that were part of what are today

  Korea and Japan. The Yamato clan sent its first mission to China in 600,

  and it continued studying and learning from China until 838, when it sent

  its last diplomatic mission. Japan’s missions to China began because of the

  fortuitous timing and complementary perspectives of these two lead
ers,

  Empress Suiko, who sought to learn from China, and Emperor Wen Di,

  who welcomed the establishment of formal relations with territories that

  later would become part of Japan.

  During this period, the Japanese mastered a written language, Chinese

  characters, that al owed officials to communicate over a broader geo graph ical

  distance and to provide greater consistency in contacts among the highest of-

  ficials in the capital and officials who served elsewhere. Japan developed stan-

  dardized rules to clarify what local officials were expected to do and a special-

  ized administrative staff to manage a larger and more complex organ ization.

  The Japa nese learned how to write histories of former rulers to support the

  legitimacy of the current ones. They also learned about Buddhism, and

  strengthened the legitimacy of their rulers by linking them with the natu ral

  order. They learned how to plan large communities in a systematic way and

  . 1 .

  china and japan

  how to build large Buddhist temples. Furthermore, they imported Confu-

  cianism, which reinforced the importance of the loyalty of the subjects to

  their leaders and emphasized the rules of propriety to maintain a stable

  organ ization. They developed new art techniques and poetry styles after

  studying Chinese culture, and they imported musical instruments. Of course,

  the Japa nese adapted all that they learned to their own needs and tastes.

  The Chinese were receptive to teaching others about their civilization,

  for they were fully confident of their superiority, both culturally and mili-

  tarily, and they had no fear that ethnic groups outside China’s borders might

  overtake them. Teaching other ethnic groups about their civilization was

  indeed a conscious part of China’s po liti cal strategy.

  The structure of Yamato that Empress Suiko had inherited was essen-

  tially a federation of clans, with one being first among others. Empress Sui-

  ko’s mother was a member of the Soga clan ( uji) , which was attempting to

  provide overall leadership for the Yamato administration by controlling an

  unwieldy group of some thirty other clans, each of which had acquired of-

  ficial recognition in the form of a title ( kabane) awarded by the leader of

  the dominant clan at the time.2 When Suiko assumed office, one clan, the