China and Japan: Facing History

Political dynamics in Asia are critical to understand in the era of expanding Chinese influence. The rivalries of the South China Sea will likely be of critical importance in the coming decades and the relationship between Japan and China is of utmost importance. China and Japan discusses the historical co-evolution of both countries starting from early Japanese civilization until the present. It spends most time on the period including the Meiji Restoration on through modern times. In reading the book one can get a deeper appreciation of the current frictions as a consequence of the long history, though it is also hard not to find sympathy with one side over the other as Chinese nationalism has been used as a political tool. To understand the dynamics in Asia between China and Japan as a consequence of their history, this book is among the most readable and informative.

The book is split into 12 chapters but the first two cover the archaeological evidence from the first voyages between the two countries. The book quickly moves into the 19th century and discusses Japan's modernization and both the internal and external pressures that were caused by it. China in the 19th century was in decay as its imperial system ossified as it remained completely insular. Japan on the other hand joined in the imperial ambitions that were occurring with Western powers and the author discusses the rivalries created by Japan's presence in Korea and also the first Sino - Japanese war right before the turn of the century. The author discusses the growing frictions that were caused by broad imperialism and in particular Japan's increasing confidence due to its military victories. Japan imperial ambitions grew and it claimed Taiwan and Manchuria as it's territories after defeating China while it was weakened. The author spends time discussing the domestic politics of the time in both nations. Japan in particular was going through an internal upheaval as its warrior class was stripped of its historic titles and the existential crisis created by that led to strong nationalist undercurrents. The growth of militarism in Japan is discussed as a consequence of its regional relative advancement alongside the politics of the samurai class. The author then spends time on the most historically formative years for Japan and China's relationship today, the run up to WWII. China was a poorly governed country and exploited by warlords while it was undergoing a civil war. Japan, a resource poor country exploited China's resources for its industrial engine and there was a growing resentment to their colonialism. With the onset of the war, relationships deteriorated further. The tactics that came from the Manchuko government had strong Japanese nationalist streaks, furthermore any tit for tat escalation of violence was completely disproportionate coming from the Japanese and the height of barbarism came with the rape of Nanjing. That episode has left and irreparable stain on the relationship between the two countries. The author then moves into the post war period when Japan had been decimated by the war, and in atoning for its sins tried to help China industrialize. The author discusses the pragmatic improvement in relationship as China was in need of expertise and Japan was in need of restoring its image as a neighbor. The industrializing of China had quite a bit of dependency on skill transfer from Japan, which the author talks about alongside the moral imperative felt by most of Japan's population to try to right its wrongs of the past. The author ends with the deterioration of relationships as China's strength came to exceed Japan's and the political calculus changed from depending on Japan to considering Japan a potential villain that could help unify support for the party, which claimed to be the party to liberate China of the imperialists, namely Japan. The change in narrative was of course highly self interested, but the consequence was an abrupt change of temperature that has not significantly improved. The author discusses what each side sees as dangerous about each other, the overall Chinese position, from a western point of view, is not credible, it largely uses Japan to flame nationalist sentiments as and when it is useful to do so. Japan on the other hand is seen as a country who has atoned for its past, but is tired of apologizing for events of the past from a previous generation. It is hard not to sympathize.

China and Japan is a good overview of the intertwined history of the two countries. It spans from 600 AD to the present so it discusses a lot, it focuses on 19th century onwards. One learns about how each country modernized, where it took its cues from and how the paths to modernization were fraught with regional conflict. The author also discusses the late industrialization of China and how Japan's involvement was instrumental but now it is somewhat obsolete. The relationship between Japan and China is of utmost importance and to understand it better, this is a great starting point.

I have read almost all of Ezra Vogel's books. I gave this one 4 stars because of short-comings on the publisher's part, not Professor Vogel. There are several repetitions of the same lines and a few typos that were not flagged by Spellcheck. More annoying was the absence of a timestamp when "back stories" or related prior events were mentioned. I think that a slightly larger editing budget would have helped greatly.

Still, 4 stars and another great contribution from Professor Vogel.

Doug Shinsato

Co-Translator of For That One Day: The Memoirs of Mitsuo Fuchida, Leader of the Attack on Pearl Harbor

If you want to understand the history of relationship between China and Japan, I highly recommend this book.

An eye-opening piece of work.

Brought up in China, a young Chinese adult like me can solve more than 90% of doubts on issues between China and Japan. The history covered went back to Sui-Tang dynasties to Xi's presidency. To know about Sino-Japanese history quickly, there is nothing else to look to.

This book has provided much detail and "versions" of stories we have heard/been told/never known. As the author puts it, this book is meant to reconcile the versions of history taught in China and in Japan.

For example, it mentioned how Qing tried to keep Korea peninsula in control before collided with Meiji Japan, a history that is only partially told during my middle school.

An impressive amount of knowledge, Chinese, Japanese and Western readers will very likely be drawn to different parts of the narration. But we will all be led to believe and hope a more peaceful and co-prosperous world.

This would probably rank as the best history of Japan-China relations, starting from the beginnings of Japan's interactions with the dynasties of the Middle Kingdom and learning from them, to surpassing them in the last 19th century and sending China scrambling to learn from them, to the present day, when it appears China is about to restore the natural centuries-old order in Asia with itself at the top. This work appears less based on primary research by Vogel himself (he admits the earliest classical Chinese documents are beyond his portfolio) but nonetheless contains more information about relations between the two countries than you're likely to find anywhere else.

Quite extraordinary that a study such as this dealing with battles, territorial concessions, complex relations between several countries should have not a single map!

I think every Chinese or Japanese citizen should read this book to gain a fuller and more accurate account of the history between the two countries

Professor Vogel offers suggestions for improving China-Japan relationship in the concluding Chapter 12. They are very practical.

On p. 38-39 he describes the reception of the Japanese monk Chonen by Emperor Taizong of the Song dynasty in 983 CE. In the official history of the Song dynasty (“Song shi”), it is recorded that on that occasion Emperor Taizong expressed his admiration of the continual royal lineage of Japan, while contrasting the Japanese system with the frequent dynastic changes in China. This is perhaps the only instance that a Chinese top leader openly praised the political system of a neighbour state. And we witness the Japanese monarchy has been very adaptable, evolving from an absolute ruler during the Nara period, to a symbolic sovereign under the Shogun, and now became a constitutional monarch. Yet China has been authoritarian all along.

This book lists the stumbling blocks that stand in the way of a fuller mutual trust between China and Japan: the Nanjing massacre, the Japanese textbook issue, the Yasukuni Shrine and, perhaps most significantly, the Diaoyutai/Senkaku issue. I have been to the Yasukuni Shrine and its Yushukan military museum many times, the first visit being in September 1982. While the Yushukan museum clearly is justifying or even glorifying the Great East Asia War (1931-1945), to me the shrine now serves mainly a nostalgia function. Incidentally, I also visited the Nanjing massacre museum in Nanjing in May 2018. There were many visitors, seemingly mostly young people, on that Saturday but they were calm and polite.

Japan’s population is shrinking slowly. I tend to think that the Japanese are wise enough not to risk any proactive military actions that would decimate its valuable human resources. These days there is no more land on earth to seize by any country. Fighting in the name of who? And what for? In the case of China, with its huge population and land mass, the considerations might perhaps be different. I would like to quote from another book some thinking that might illuminate the propensity of the Chinese reasoning in wartime: “Chinese soldiers were used up, or rather squandered, in hopeless battles against a mechanized enemy. . . . Every foreign advisor assigned to the Chinese Army before and during the war abhorred this Chinese practice . . . .” (Peter Harmsen, “Nanjing 1937: Battle for a Doomed City”, Casemate, 2015, p. 108-109)

The right-wing ideas in Japan are disturbing. In the 1960s, in Hong Kong for example, who cared about the Sino-Japanese War of 1937-1945, or its atrocities? The primary or secondary school textbooks we used in those years only mentioned the Marco Polo Bridge Incident of July 7th 1937, and not much more. Now I am sure the Chinese textbooks are totally different in flavour in this regard. This is a natural response to the Japanese denials, I think. The Japanese rightists have opened the can of worms with their questioning of the justice of the Tokyo Trials, the existence of the Nanjing massacre, etc.

War is human suffering par excellence, no matter how we justify it in whatever “noble” or “sacred” self-comforting terms.

Comparative study by an expert with empathy and deep experience studying both nations focused on mutual interaction, connectivity and development

If China and Japan had Facebook, their relationship status would be perpetually "Complicated". Just like any other meaningful relationship.

I am writing this review after reaching the 12th and final chapter of this book. I'd like to express my gratitude to Prof. Vogel for - once again, laying out a long, complicated subject in detail and committing himself as a neutral reporter to all the historical events.

Our history is not a fairy tale and deserve better treatment than what mainstream media makes of it.

Final remarks: Wished the Japanese and Chinese names of all Japanese and Chinese figures were kept. As a Chinese reader, they carry more meaning than its romanized translations and are thus easier to remember.

谢谢您傅高義先生！

It is a very well written and interesting book.

Libro muy interesante y me ha llegado en tiempo y forma!

Good info love history written very well