What Was The Impact Of Western Penetration In The 19th Century

During the 19th century both China and Japan witnessed a western penetration. Most of this came from Europe but some also came from the United States. In China the western penetration came mostly from Europe due to Europe wanting new goods that they could not find anywhere else then China. On the other hand Japans western penetration came mostly from the United States after being closed off from the rest of the world for many years. Even though both China and Japan were affected by western penetration they had many different experiences but they both also had some of the same experiences. One nation that was affected by western penetration in the 19th century was China. China’s western penetration came mostly from Britain. China was originally …show more content…
Japan began as a feudal society which began to change after the first interaction with Europe. While the Europeans were in Japan the Japanese adopted early musket ideas but they were turned away from Europeans once they brought in Catholic missionaries. The religious changes brought fear to the shoguns of a change in religious beliefs. This led Japan to begin isolationism. This isolation was so extreme that Japan fell behind in Industrializing and stayed that way for many years. This is until the United States comes to Japan in 1853. The Japanese were amazed when they saw the US ships coming into their harbor that they wanted to change the way that they were living. After signing the American’s unequal treaties the Japanese feared that the foreign power was going to take them over. This led to Meiji era where Japans goals were to Industrialize, create Nationalism, and to have a strong military. The industrialization of Japan brought them many new ideas and inventions to help their nation over time. It also brought them a new government plan to sell and receive goods from other nations. Japan also created a new nationalist society. This new society replaces the samurai power with a state government who would make the new laws of the nation. Education was also an idea that was used in creating a new nationalist society. Education was used to have new people ready to run the …show more content…
But the one thing that is majorly similar is that it took a power higher than them to get them to that point. In China’s case it took a war between Britain about trade for the Chinese to do something about their army and nation. On the other hand it took Japan to get a visit from America to do anything about their nation. The thing that makes them similar is that both nations came from a period of isolation from a bad event for them to change and industrialize. After all the industrialization of these nations led them both to become imperial powers during the 19th century. Over time the changes from Britain and the United States led both China and Japan to become an imperial power in the 19th century. The Western penetration also gave them more authority in their part of the world but it wasn’t achieved until each of the nations came out of a period of isolation from the rest of the world. With each of them going through many different things to change but some of the same