Describe The Differences Between China And Japan

Both China and japan responded completely different. China and Japan came under a lot of heat from the West to open to alien trade and association. The Industrial Revolution in Europe and the United States have created a big opening among them and the West, fleeing the two Asian nations behind technologically and military. In that time, none of them had the potential to stand up to the Western nations, and soon enough both of them had to sign unequal treaties that made them open their ports and cities to foreign merchants and dealers. The way this operation happened in each country and their reaction to it were very unlike, attracting the interest of many historians. Japan and China both had high preserved isolationism tendencies, with limited business with the West. China took in foreign trade, but western merchants had no allowance there and were restricted to Canton, where they could only deal with the Co-hong, (a troop of traders). Japan was even more strict, allowing trade only with the Dutch, who had access to only one port which was called Dejima. …show more content…
The Chinese government didn't accept his offers, and hate appeared between the two nations, with Chinese mobs enclosing the merchants’ portion in Canton.Tensions eased for a bit of time, but the problem grew due to the British illegal trade in opium. In the year 1839, the new imperial commissioner Lin Tze-hsu came to Canton and took away twenty thousand chests of opium from the British. More disagreements came, especially after the British refused to give over to Chinese authorities a sailor charged for killing a Chinese man, this all started the armed naval confrontation in November 1839. This began the beginning of the first of the Opium Wars, which resulted in the Chinese defeat and the establishment of a system of unequal