EAST ASIA at the beginning of the nineteenth century was

dominated by China. The Qing dynasty, heir to a long tradition,

seemed secure in its power, while Japan, a small island country,
seemed to be locked in isolation. Yet, within a few decades China
was thrown into turmoil unable to face the colonial challenge.
The imperial government lost political control, was unable to reform
effectively and the country was convulsed by civil war. Japan on
the other hand was successful in building a modern nation-state,
creating an industrial economy and even establishing a colonial
empire by incorporating Taiwan (1895) and Korea (1910). It
defeated China, the land that had been the source of its culture
and ideals, in 1894, and Russia, a European power, in 1905.
The Chinese reacted slowly and faced immense difficulties as
they sought to redefine their traditions to cope with the modern
world, and to rebuild their national strength and become free
from Western and Japanese control. They found that they could
achieve both objectives – of removing inequalities and of rebuilding
their country – through revolution. The Chinese Communist Party
emerged victorious from the civil war in 1949. However, by the
end of the 1970s Chinese leaders felt that the ideological system
was retarding economic growth and development. This led to
wide-ranging reforms of the economy that brought back capitalism
and the free market even as the Communist Party retained
political control.
Japan became an advanced industrial nation but its drive for
empire led to war and defeat at the hands of the Anglo-American
forces. The US Occupation marked the beginning of a more
democratic political system and Japan rebuilt its economy to
emerge by the 1970s as a major economic power.
The Japanese path to modernisation was built on capitalist
principles and took place within a world dominated by Western
colonialism. Japanese expansion was justified by the call to resist
Western domination and liberate Asia. The rapid development
underlined the strength of tradition in Japanese institutions and
society, their ability to learn and the strength of nationalism.