What is the background and function of Meiji Restoration?

/kloc-in Asia in the middle of the 0/9th century, Japan was in the last shogunate-Tokugawa shogunate era. The tyranny of the powerful Tokugawa shogunate has aroused many people who work as farmers from time to time. The foreign policy of "locking up the country" is implemented, and foreign missionaries, businessmen and civilians are prohibited from entering Japan. Only businessmen from the Netherlands and China (the Qing Empire) were allowed to continue their activities in Nagasaki, which was the only port initially opened to the outside world. In addition, the Tokugawa shogunate also banned Christian belief.

At the same time, in some economically developed areas of Japan, cottage industries or manual workshops began to appear. The system of "hiring workers" appeared in the workshop, forming a capitalist production system. With the rapid expansion of the commodity economy, the strength of the merchant class, especially the financial operators, has gradually increased. Businessmen felt that the old system was serious-it hindered their development, so they began to call for the reform of the political system. Bourgeois celebrities (princes), warriors and businessmen who demanded system reform formed a political alliance, and together with grassroots farmers who opposed the shogunate, they formed the power base of "anti-shogunate".

1852, brigadier general Matthew? Matthew calbraith perry led his fleet into Puhe, near Edo Bay (now Tokyo Bay), and asked for negotiations with the Tokugawa shogunate, which was called "Black Ship Incident" in history (also known as "Black Ship Founding the Country"). 1854, Japan and the United States signed the "Japan-US Goodwill Treaty" in Kanagawa, agreeing to open two ports, Shimoda and Hakodate, to the United States except Nagasaki, and grant the United States MFN treatment. Due to the signing of a series of unequal treaties, the Tokugawa shogunate once again became the object of Japanese social crusade. Japan's feudal camp split, and the elements demanding reform among the middle and lower samurai formed an innovative force, calling for respecting the king and resisting foreign countries. The representative figures of the innovative forces are Yoshida Shōin, Takayama Shinzuo, Kubo Toshiichi, Koji, Saigō Takamori, Konan Yokoi, Yoshijiro Omura, etc., which are mainly concentrated in the southwestern strong vassals such as Changzhou (now Yamaguchi Prefecture), Satsuma (now Kagoshima Prefecture), Tosa (now Kochi Prefecture) and Feiqian (now Saga Prefecture and Nagasaki Prefecture). These vassal States had a deep contradiction with the shogunate in history, accepted overseas influence earlier, and were more active in introducing modern technology and promoting middle and lower samurai.

At the end of the shogunate, capitalism sprouted economically, and at the same time, the so-called rich peasants and rich businessmen appeared. Under the slogan of respecting the king and resisting foreign aggression, the innovative forces among the lower-class warriors and well-known people with lofty ideals joined forces with powerful governors in southwest China and royal officials who were in conflict with the shogunate, and launched a struggle to reform the curtain government and resist foreign aggression, which developed into an armed rebellion under the impetus of the people.

Inverted curtain channel

1in June, 863, the shogunate was forced to declare foreign aggression, and then the American and French warships attacked Shimonoseki and the British fleet attacked Samoa. 1In the spring of 865, Gao Shanxin, the leader of Changzhou anti-foreign faction, put forward the strategy of opening a port to discuss the curtain, decided not to mention anti-foreign, turned to armed opposition, and secretly formed an alliance with Samoans. At the same time, Britain also weighed the pros and cons, changed its strategy and helped the rebels. On the other hand, the shogunate took refuge in France and launched the second war to conquer Changzhou Francisco in July 1866. At this time, the people's uprising was surging, which dealt a heavy blow to the shogunate. Changzhou-Francisco joined forces to fight bravely and forced the shogunate to retreat in September of the same year.

1867 Emperor Xiaoming died, Prince Mu Ren (Emperor Meiji) succeeded to the throne, and shady forces actively allied to send troops. 165438+1On October 8th, the emperor issued a curtain call. On the 9th, Shogun General Tokugawa Yoshinobu called for "returning major policies", but at the same time assembled elite troops in Osaka in an attempt to rebel. 1868 (the first year of Chen Wu) 65438+ 10. On 3 October, the Emperor issued "The Imperial Government Restoration", which abolished the shogunate and made Tokugawa celebrate "resigning from office and accepting land". On the 8th 10, Tokugawa Yoshinobu declared Osaka's "edict of restoring ancient ways" illegal. 1October 27th, 65,438, the imperial army with 5,000 men, mainly Saskatchewan and Nagano, fought fiercely with the shogunate army15,000 men near Kyoto (the battle between Bird Feather and Fujian), and Tokugawa Yoshinobu defeated Edo. The Wu-Chen war began. The emperor's army invaded the East on a large scale, forcing Tokugawa Yoshinobu to hand over Edo City on May 3, 1986, and put down the rebel governors in the Northeast at the beginning of 10. /kloc-in the spring of 0/869, the emperor's army went to Hokkaido, and on June 27th, it captured the last stronghold (Hakodate) of the remnants of the shogunate, and the Chen Wu War ended.

The reform of the new government

The new government, headed by the Emperor, issued five vows with political programmatic nature on April 6, 1868, and issued the Constitution in June1/. On September 3rd, the Emperor issued a decree to change the name of Edo to Tokyo. 654381October 23, the year number was changed to Meiji. 1869 moved its capital to Tokyo on May 9th. And promulgated a series of reform measures:

From June 65438 to June 0869, Meiji government enforced the policy of "returning official history" and "abolishing vassal counties", divided Japan into three prefectures and 72 counties, and established a centralized political system.

Reform the identity system, abolish the identity system of "scholars, farmers and businessmen" in the traditional era, change the nobles such as officials and princes into "China people", and change the samurai below their names into "gentry"; In order to reduce the financial burden related to "returning the edition", the feudal salary was gradually abolished; In addition, the samurai's "scraper order" and the "household registration law" which laid the foundation of the household registration system were promulgated.

In terms of social culture, we advocate learning western social culture and habits and translating western works. In the calendar system, stop using the lunar calendar and use the solar calendar (except the year number).

Introduce modern western industrial technology; Reform the land system, abolish the original land policy, allow land sales and implement a new local tax policy; Abolish the checkpoints set by governors; Unify the currency and set up the Bank of Japan (the central bank of the country) at 1882; Cancel the guild system and monopoly organizations in the industrial and commercial field to promote industrial and commercial development.

In terms of education, the development of modern compulsory education divides the whole country into 8 university districts, including 65,438+0 universities, 32 middle schools, 65,438+0 middle schools and 265,438+00 primary schools. Each middle school district has 8 primary schools, including 8 public universities, 245 middle schools and 53,700 primary schools. Educational institutions promulgated Kao Yu Yi Yu, inculcating ideas such as Kao Dao, loyalty to the monarch and patriotism (some people think this is intended to strengthen the centralized social system and pave the way for future external expansion). In addition, we also send overseas students to study in advanced countries such as Britain, America, France and Germany.

On the military side, the army was reformed, with the army training according to Germany and the navy referring to the British navy. In 1872, the draft order was issued, and all adult men over the age of 20 were required to perform military service. General service is 3 years and reserve service is 2 years. Later, the general service and reserve increased to 3 years and 9 years respectively, totaling 12 years. 1873, the number of mobilized combat troops can reach 400,000. In addition, the Meiji government also developed the state-owned arms industry; In the middle and late Meiji period, the military budget increased sharply, accounting for about 30% ~ 45% of government funds.

In terms of transportation, improve local transportation and build new railways and highways. 1872 The first railway-Tokyo (Xinqiao) to Yokohama (Sakuragi-CHO) was opened to traffic; By 19 14, the total mileage of Japanese railways has exceeded 7000 kilometers.

In the judicial aspect, following the western system, 1882 enacted the French criminal law, 1898 enacted the Franco-German mixed civil law, and 1899 enacted the American commercial law.

Religion, for political reasons, the government strongly encourages Shinto, because it promotes the idea of loyalty to the emperor and helps the emperor to govern the country. At the same time, other religions are allowed to exist. 1873, Japan lifted the ban on Christian missionary work.

187 1 year, the Meiji government sent a large-scale envoy headed by right minister Iwakura Tomomi to visit Europe and the United States to inspect the capitalist country system. Under the slogan of making Qiang Bing a rich country, achieving prosperity through industrialization and moving towards civilization, the government actively introduced western science and technology, carried out large-scale primitive accumulation in the form of high land tax, and established a number of state-owned enterprises focusing on military industry, mines, railways and shipping. At the same time, introduce modern equipment such as silk reeling and textile, establish demonstration factories and popularize advanced technology; Hire foreign experts, send overseas students abroad and train senior scientific and technological talents. Due to the heavy financial burden, the financial crisis was once triggered. In the early 1980s, the government sold a number of state-owned enterprises and mines to privileged capitalists (so-called political businessmen) who colluded with the government, encouraged Chinese, landlords, businessmen and upper-class gentry to invest in banks, railways and other enterprises with generous protection policies, and trained a number of chaebols. Since the mid-1980s, the climax of the industrial revolution began to appear, centering on the textile industry.

Emperor's despotism and foreign aggression and expansion

The Meiji government deified the absolute authority of the emperor politically, established the "Han family" system to safeguard the special status of the old vassal ministers, and incorporated the heroes of the reform and the chaebol into the Han family to cultivate the privileged class; Economically support feudal chaebol and parasitic landlords; Ideologically, it advocates Shinto, Imperial Taoism and Confucianism, and introduces German idealism philosophy. 1882, the imperial edict advocated bushido. 1890 issued an imperial edict on education, promoting militaristic education with loyalty to the emperor as the core. After Meiji Restoration, Japan changed from a feudal country ruled by Mufan to a feudal capitalist country. Warlords and bureaucratic aristocrats with strong suzerain-vassal origins, such as Samo and Changzhou, who are closely associated with the chaebol, have long held political handles and promoted "suzerain-vassal politics" in the process of establishing modern emperor system. 19 In the 1970s and 1980s, there was a movement of freedom and civil rights in Japan, which opposed autocratic politics and fought for bourgeois freedom and democratic rights. The Meiji government disintegrated the movement through violent repression and political division, and promulgated the Meiji Constitution in 1889, and opened the parliament in 1890, thus establishing an autocratic constitutional monarchy, that is, the modern Japanese emperor system.

In terms of foreign relations, with the continuous strengthening of national strength, we have been negotiating and demanding the revision of the treaty. The treaty was amended from 1894, and finally abolished at 19 1 1. In the early years of Meiji, Japan planned to invade and expand its Asian neighbors. 1874 invasion of Taiwan Province province, China. 1875 invaded Korea and forced North Korea to sign the Jianghua Treaty the following year. 1879 annexed Ryukyu and changed it to Okinawa prefecture. By the end of 1980s, a mainland policy with aggression against China and Korea as its main goal was basically formed. Since the mid-1990s, it has been waging a war of aggression against foreign countries.

Historical significance

Japan, which gradually became rich and strong after Meiji Restoration, used its strong national strength to gradually abolish the unequal treaties signed with western powers, restored national sovereignty, and got rid of the crisis of becoming a colony. Then, with the rapid improvement of economic strength, military strength has also been rapidly strengthened. 1895 and 1904 ~ 1905 defeated the two great powers in the Sino-Japanese Sino-Japanese War of 1894 and the Russo-Japanese War, respectively, and became the Asian hegemon. Fukuzawa Yukichi's theory of "leaving Asia and entering Europe" also became the orthodox theory in this period.

At the beginning of the restoration, due to the policy of Meiji government, the social status of samurai declined greatly. With the gradual reduction of salary, the economic security of samurai has also been weakened. All these led to the gentry's dissatisfaction with the Meiji government, and armed resistance broke out one after another. Saigō Takamori, the hero of the Reform, launched the Southwest War centering on Kagoshima County in 1877, which became the last and largest battle against the gentry. After the defeat, the remaining gentry went underground, combined with the "movement of establishing elected house" led by Banyuan Seijiro, and formed political opposition by developing the "freedom and African-American people's rights movement". 1889, The Constitution of Imperial Japan was published, becoming the first written constitution in Asia. 1890, the Japanese parliament (imperial parliament) officially began to operate.

As for the social and cultural changes, it is related to intellectuals who have studied abroad (Ito Bowen, Oda Chongxin, Nitobe Inazo, etc.). ) The absorption and introduction of western culture, laws and regulations to Japan, as well as the introduction of many modern things, gradually formed a trend of "civilization", which had a great impact on the traditional conservative Japanese society. Not only has there been a westernized change in material needs and living habits, but with the extensive implementation of the education system and social organizations, there has also been a tendency to modernize ideas (such as punctuality, hygiene and western etiquette); Literature and art have a great influence (especially modern literature and European architecture).

On the other hand, although the Meiji government was determined to reform, it paid more attention to promoting the prosperity of the country as a whole, leaving many problems, such as the emperor's excessive power, the powerful people from the vassal areas controlling state affairs for a long time, forming a powerful "vassal politics" system, serious land annexation, and the monopoly of market economy by emerging chaebols. These negative problems interact with some thorny social problems that will occur and accumulate in the future, and finally directly or indirectly push Japan onto the road of aggression and expansion.

Meiji reform

Meiji Restoration was a political revolution in Japanese history. It overthrew the Tokugawa shogunate, returned the main government to the emperor, carried out great political, economic and social reforms, and promoted Japan's modernization and westernization. The main leaders of Meiji Restoration were some young warriors who tried to build a country that could keep pace with the West under the slogan of "Rich Qiang Bing". 187 1 year, abolish feudal counties and eliminate all feudal regimes. In the same year, a new standing army was established. 1873 implemented the national compulsory military service system and reformed the agricultural tax. In addition, the currency was unified. In the mid-1970s of 19, these reforms were opposed by two sides: on the one hand, frustrated soldiers rallied farmers who were dissatisfied with agricultural policies to revolt many times; On the other hand, civil rights theorists influenced by western liberalism demand constitutionalism and parliament, and everything is decided by public opinion. Under the pressure of all parties, the Meiji government implemented the cabinet system in 1885, and began to formulate the constitution the following year. 1889 formally promulgated the constitution, 1890 convened the first parliament. At the same time of political reform, economic and social reforms are also going on. The main goal of Meiji government is to realize industrialization. Military industry and transportation have made great progress. The first railway was built in 1872 and the new bank was established in 1882. In order to meet the needs of modernization, a large number of western science and technology were introduced. By the beginning of the 20th century, the goal of Meiji Restoration had been basically accomplished, and Japan was advancing on the road of modernization as an industrial country.