Since the Western Zhou Dynasty, the Chinese people treated China itself as the center of the world. It was an ideology of ancient China and called as “Sinocentrism”. Indeed, China had great achievements in different areas, such as politics, the economy, military affairs, culture etc. Most of the countries located around China were affected by China, like Koryo (Korea), Annam (Vietnam), and Japan. These countries used to be part of the tributary system of China, and thus Chinese emperor had a superior position in the East Asia. However, with the fading of Qing Dynasty, Japan left the tributary system, and the Meiji government started the Meiji Restoration to strengthen the country in 1868. While the Qing government was decaying in the 19th century,
