The Great Kanto Earthquake was the first disaster relief in the world in the United States. Why did Japan thank China the most?

Homeless people after the Great Kanto Earthquake

On September 1, 1923, a devastating earthquake occurred in kanto region, Japan, killing 143, people. Out of humanitarianism, major countries in the world, including China, have provided assistance to Japan. As a capitalist power, the United States has donated a lot to Japan, ranking first in the world. As a weak country, China is only a symbolic aid. However, China and the United States have paid different degrees of efforts, but they have been treated in contrast by Japan: Japan eulogizes China, which is truly anti-Japanese, but gives a cold shoulder to the United States, which really helps Japan.

what are the reasons for this confusing behavior?

The ruins of houses after the Great Kanto Earthquake

1. The wrath of Taisho? The Great Kanto Earthquake

On September 1, 1923, an earthquake of magnitude 8.2 suddenly occurred in Xiangmowan area, and the earthquake disaster affected six counties in Kanto. Because the disaster happened at noon, everyone was cooking, and it was still an open flame. Most buildings in Japan were made of wood or paper, so when the earthquake came, the stove collapsed and set fire to the houses, and fires broke out all over Kanto.

After the earthquake, the damage rate of buildings in Tokyo and Yokohama reached 85% and 96%, respectively, and 575, houses collapsed and destroyed in these two places. In Tokyo alone, the death toll reached 143,, more than 1, people were injured, and more than 2 million people were homeless. The economic losses in Tokyo amounted to more than 8.15 billion yen, and in Yokohama, 7 million yen. Together with the losses in other disaster-stricken areas, * * * has more than 1.15 billion yen. Together with state-owned property, such as roads, railways, electric wires and trams, the damage was 1.37 billion yuan, accounting for 11.52 billion yuan.

Yokohama under the Great Kanto Earthquake

The mainstream Japanese media Asahi Shimbun reported bitterly after the earthquake: In the tenth year of Taisho (the year of the earthquake), Japan's wealth was 8 billion, and an earthquake caused a loss of 2/8, and the affected people reached 6 million. ?

It is obviously impossible for such a great loss and so many people affected by the disaster to be rescued by Japan alone. After all, Japan is one of the top six capitalist countries, and the major countries represented by the United States have done their best to provide humanitarian assistance to the earthquake in Japan.

Houses Collapsed in the Great Kanto Earthquake

Second, Japan-US relations before 1923

In fact, Japan-US relations were on the verge of breaking up before the earthquake. At the end of 19th century and the beginning of 2th century, Japan was in a period of rapid development, and the land annexation of rural landlords was serious, and the exploitation of urban capitalists was also very serious, which caused a lot of young people to live in poverty! These young people, either induced by fellow villagers or for the purpose of pioneering and venturing out to make a living, began to work in the United States on a large scale and gradually immigrated to the United States.

In the United States and Japan

The influx of Japanese people has aroused great concern among white people. The Japanese rose in the Far East as the yellow race, and the Japanese culture is different from the white culture. Its unique oriental culture has caused Americans to worry about the homogeneity of the United States. They think that the Japanese are stubborn and stubborn and cannot be assimilated, so they must be excluded. This led to the vigorous American anti-Japanese movement in the early 2th century.

The anti-Japanese movement has greatly hurt the dignity of the Japanese people, so the Japanese people are very dissatisfied with the United States. Coupled with the California Land Law of 1913 and the Alien Land Law of 192, Americans banned all possibilities of acquiring land in the United States and Japan, directly killing their basic right to exist in the United States and Japan. As soon as the two bills came out, Japanese public sentiment was aroused, demonstrations continued, and Japan-US relations were actually on the verge of rupture.

Japanese deported from the United States

Third, Sino-Japanese relations before 1923

Let's look at Sino-Japanese relations again. Since the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895, Japan has become the fiercest enemy of the Chinese nation, although China's bourgeois reformers and revolutionary parties have had illusions about Japan, such as Zheng Guanying, Kang Liang and Sun Yat-sen. However, with the promulgation of Article 21, Japan's face of never ending China was exposed, especially after the First World War, Japan's greed for Shandong, its smearing of the May 4th Movement, and its own ambitions were more bluntly announced to the world, which led to a sharp decline in Sino-Japanese relations, and a series of anti-Japanese movements broke out in China. China has a deep grudge against Japan.

Article 21 Negotiation Site

IV. Donations from China and the United States to Japan

As soon as the Great Kanto Earthquake broke out on September 1, the United States received the report immediately and took the lead in expressing its position. On the second day, it took the initiative to raise food in the Philippines and was ready to help Japan at any time. US President Coolidge personally sent a message of condolences to Japan and called for donations to the United States.

on the 3rd, the State Council issued the president's call again, calling on the American people to help Japan. The article said? The whole country is immersed in the pain of losing life and property? I urgently appeal to the American people? Please help and relieve the unfortunate Japanese people. ? And claimed that? In order to coordinate and effectively manage the relief funds to the maximum extent, it is suggested that all donations should be sent to local Red Cross Societies? . Coolidge instructed the US troops in the Far East on the same day: they can join in disaster relief when Japan needs it, and naval warships can be used to transfer Japanese victims.

President Coolidge of the United States

According to the figures released by the American Red Cross, the United States donated more than 1 million dollars at that time. Asahi shimbun announced that the American red cross donated 1 million yen to Japan, and the eagle and the rising sun: America and Japan in the twentieth century by American scholar John K. Emmerson said that the red cross spent 4 million dollars on disaster relief.

as for China, at that time, it was in the period of warlords' scuffle, and the country was divided and disunited. Is it possible to give aid to Japan, which is not * * *? Needless to say, it's really helpful. Hatred against Japan among the people is a private matter, and official courtesy exchanges between Zhang Zuolin and China Beiyang Government are still necessary.

Zhang Zuolin in film and television dramas

Beiyang government took the lead in donating 2, cash and 3, stone rice, and called on all localities to donate. Due to the local separatist regime, warlords from all over the country all contributed their own money, ranging from 1, yuan to 1, yuan, which is really hard to count. Among them, Zhang Zuolin, a member of Fengzhi Department, not only called on the people in Northeast China to donate money, but also personally sent Red Cross medical personnel to Japan, which is the most enthusiastic about disaster relief in Japan. China folk members of the public also actively participated in fund-raising, but the total amount of funds was far less than that of the United States.

V. Response of donations from China and the United States in Japan

China and the United States were the first countries to help Japan, which gave Japan a good warm heart. Asahi Shimbun reported on the aid situation of various countries for months, but only mentioned China, Britain and the United States separately, among which Britain was attached to the back of the rest of the world, and obviously only regarded Britain as the representative of the rest of the world. What the Japanese media really want to mention is only China and the United States. The attitude of newspapers towards China and the United States is completely different. In short, out of courtesy, they thanked the United States coldly and lightly, but instead eulogized China.

For example, on October 1st, Asahi Shimbun: zhina, who has a loud voice of rejecting Japan, expressed condolences and assistance to our country. At the same time, the article highly praised China's humanitarian spirit and selfless spirit, and established China as a typical and highest realm of humanitarianism. On October 2nd, the Asahi Shimbun only said that it was grateful to the United States for its assistance to our people. This kind of stepping and holding really made the United States sad for a while.