April 17,1895

What Does the War Show the Chinese People Today?

By Elizabeth Daly

Today is a day of sadness for the Chinese people. Our government signed the Treaty of Shimonoseki with Japan, which has demoralized both the Chinese military and our way of life.

Previous to the Sino-Japanese war, Korea has always been a place that depended on China, and looked upon our Chinese culture as superior to other countries. Korea also used our Chinese culture and government as an inspiration to developing the Korea culture.

(Picture right: "Map of Eastern Asia")

However, as Japan westernized, the country realized that they would need land next to China, and decided to attempt to capture Korea. Japan had always told the Chinese goverment to consider Korea as an "independent" country, but in actuality Japan just wanted a chance to be able to conquer China for itself.

Within the past year, the Korean government called on China for help in suppressing the Tonghak rebellion. That was a peasant rebellion led by people who were adherents of Tonghak, a religious movement that opposed both Westernizations and the breakdown of traditional Korean society.(1) Fourtunately,when the rebellion in Korea occurred and the Korean government called on the Chinese military to help surpress the uprising, the Chinese government was forced to tell the Japanese about the Chinese military entering Korea to help end the rebellion.(2)

By the time the Japanese had sent troops to Korea, China was able to suppress the problems, and both Japan and China were supposed to leave. However, when the Manchus wanted the Japanese to retreat the Japanese didn't leave because the Japanese goverment viewed this time as an oppurtunity to go in and gain control over Korea. (3) When, Japan didn’t leave, and proceeded to sink part of a Chinese fleet, the Sin-Japanese war began.

On August 1,1894, war was declared between the two opposing sides, and it seemed that China's military would be superior to the smaller and lesser Japanese military. However, as the Battle of P'yongyang on September 16,1894, Battle of the Yellow Sea on September 17, 1894, and the Battle of Port Arthur on November 21,1894,(4) took place China began to lose, due to Japan's more modernized army. Japan was proving to be superior on both land and sea.(5)

(Picture Below: "The Sino-Japanese War").

Due to this war I am ashamed to call myself a Chinese citizen. Previous to this war we were considedered the cultural center of Asia, but now after the war, we have been demoted to be considered less than Japan. China is supposed to win this war, but because of Japan’s ability to modernize in a more devoted way than our weaker Chinese people, Japan has surpassed our older Chinese way.

Although China had already gone through modernization, we obviosly weren’t as convinced as Japan that the western way is the best, instead the Chinese people wanted the benefits of the modernizations, without actually changing our country. Previous to this war, China avioded relying on the more superior Western views, but now the Chinese people need to realize that the reconstruction of our government and military into a more Westernerized way is mandatory.

Footnotes:

1. Charles Dobbs, “Sino-Japanese War,” in Encyclopaedia of Modern Asia, ed. David Levinson and Karen Christensen (New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 2002), 233-234

2. “Sino-Japanese War.” Encyclopaedia Britannica from Encyclopaedia Britannica Online. <http://search.eb.com/eb/article-9067946> (accessed December 2, 2005).

3. Steve Warshaw, China Emerges: A concises History of China from its Orgin to the Present (Berkley: Diable Press, 1994), 80.

4. “Sino-Japanese War,” Encyclopaedia of Asian History. 4 vols. Available from: Gale, Student Resource Center-Gold, Menlo School Lib.<http://library.menloschool.org> (accessed December 2, 2005)

5. “Sino-Japanese War.” Encyclopaedia Britannica from Encyclopaedia Britannica Online. <http://search.eb.com/eb/article-9067946> (accessed December 2, 2005).

Images:

1. “Map of Eastern Asia” (image), Available from: Vanderbilt MBA Japanese Business Club <http://www2.owen.vanderbilt.edu/owenclubs/japanese/en/img/japan_map.jpg> (accessed 8 December 2005).

2. “The Sino-Japanese War” (image), available from: War Galleries <http://www.informationwar.org/wars%20gallery/China-sino-japanesewar02.JPG> (accessed 8 December 2005).