Table of Contents
Japanese Patriots
The Japanese patriots were a strong group of Japanese that formed a strong organization and alliance that defended the Japanese against imperialism. This group of individuals that constituted of military men led to guaranteeing the freedom of the Japanese from bullying by the western powers namely Britain and Russia, whose presence was highly felt in Asia. They were relentless in their fight for freedom to the extent that they had some of them trained in Britain. Their success as mostly based on a positive attitude towards success (R07_Roberts, p.213).
The success of the Japanese patriots that eventually led to the freedom of the Japanese from colonization and bullying was largely touched by the educational values in Japan. The education system of Japan was superior in the region and the fact that the patriots went to Britain for study and training strengthened their powers to deal with the westerners influence effectively compared to other nations in the Asian region. The educational values prompted other Asians in the region to send their students to Japan.
The acts of violence that the Japanese patriots engaged in did not hurt their success but rather strengthened them. It was a necessary act to prove their commitment towards gaining freedom from the westerners as well as prevent them from bullying them in the future as they did to other Asian nations such as China, Korea and India. The acts of violence only ensured their success towards a defeat of what was the western influence, European power and it showcased their success to other nations.
The success of the Japanese patriots over the western colonization and their drive towards a new and independent Japan was not a gender or class issue. There were no royalties and women or men alienated in the fight for freedom. The patriots were one and were united by their hunger for freedom from the imperialists. They did not divide themselves based on the social class but rather acted as one, a people united and which is how they were able to quickly defeat the westerners.
China’s Nationalists
The Chinese nationalists were based on educated young men of Chinese origin but were fighting for the freedom of their nation in other countries including Japan and the United States. This is evident in people like Liang Qichao as well as Sun Yat-sen that lived in the United States and was seeking freedom of their people from abroad. What this did is delay the whole process of gathering freedom as they only fought using ideologies rather than physically, which led to the bullying of their nation.
The eventual success to gain freedom from imperialists and other western colonizers was indeed touched by the educational values of these young nationalists. They used their brains and ideologies learnt from their high education to finally fight and influence others inside China to fight the imperialists. It is their foreign education and a combination of forces eventually rather that fighting for the freedom alone that ended the years of bullying, colonization and end of a harsh dynasty that offended the people of China (R07_Roberts, p.217).
The acts of violence in China that lacked military strength and support of the local community led to hurting the quest for freedom more than it helped. The violence lacked organization most of the time. This was until towards the end where organization and joining of hands of these nationalists abroad and those in the country physically led to the defeat of the westerners as they felt threatened by the organization and they eventually left. The ruling dynasty that supported the western bullying also crumbled in the process.
The fight for an end to imperialism was fought based on class and gender. String evidence of this fact is where Liang Qichao chose to travel overseas to the United States to learn how he could change his people, make them better and hence strong enough to end the bullying by the Europeans. The fact that he stayed for months in this country is an indication of upper class money to fund him (R6_Liang Qichao, p.81). This was common in other young Chinese nationalists that fought using ideologies from abroad and were all male.
Similarities and differences
The similarities were only limited to the final act of eventually defeating the European colonialists using various strategies. The strategies worked for both nations that eventually turned to organization and violence to end the era of imperialism that had engulfed them for a very long time.
There was however more differences than similarities in the way China and Japan handled their imperial era and the quest towards ending bullying and colonization, which is why it happened at different times. The fact that the Chinese chose to fight from other nations rather than their country and on the ground instead of using ideologies is what led to their colonization era by the European nations to be prolonged compared to Japan that fought on the ground and the fight was by all the people and not just the educated young men.
- Qichao, Liang. “The power and threat of America.” In Arkush, David and Leo Lee. Land without Ghosts. London: University of California, 1903.
- Roberts, John. “Challenges and challengers in the making.” In Twentieth Century: The history of the World from 1901-2000. New York: Viking, 1999.