Meiji reform

Meiji Restoration refers to the top-down, capitalist, all-round westernization and modernization reform movement carried out by Japan under the background of the impact of western capitalist industrial civilization in the 1960s. This reform began in 1868 when Emperor Meiji established a new government, and the Japanese government carried out modern political reforms and established a constitutional monarchy. Economically, it is necessary to "cultivate and develop industry", learn from European and American technologies and carry out a wave of industrialization; And advocate measures such as "civilization", Europeanization of social life and vigorous development of education. This reform made Japan rank among the world powers and set sail for Japan's modernization, but it also made Japan embark on the militaristic road of foreign aggression and expansion, causing heavy disasters to its Asian neighbors.

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 a 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:1June, 869, Meiji government enforced the policy of "returning official titles" and "abolishing vassals and establishing counties", divided Japan into three prefectures and 72 counties, and established a centralized political system. In the social system, the identity system of "scholar, agriculture, industry and commerce" in the traditional era was abolished, and the nobles such as officials and princes in the past were renamed as "China people", the samurai below the name of "gentry", and other occupations engaged in agriculture, industry and commerce, untouchables and so on were called "civilians"; In order to reduce the financial burden related to "returning officials", the government gradually recovered the feudal salaries of China people and gentry through the form of public debt compensation; 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 circles and promote the development of industry and commerce. In terms of education, the development of modern compulsory education divides the whole country into eight 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 eight primary schools, including eight 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, reform the military establishment, with the army referring to German training 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, and militarism and bushido were practiced. 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. In fuguoqiang 1890, the first Japanese parliament.

Under the slogan of "military civilization develops industry", the government actively introduced western science and technology, carried out large-scale primitive accumulation with the help 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.

Influence and historical significance

The Meiji Restoration made Japan rise rapidly. By learning from the West, it "left Asia and entered Europe" and reformed the backward feudal system, and embarked on the road of developing capitalism. At the same time, Japan abolished the unequal treaties and got rid of the national crisis, becoming the only country in Asia that can maintain national independence. However, the Meiji Restoration was not complete, and a large number of feudal remnants of the old Japanese era were retained in all aspects. Later, Japan embarked on the road of foreign aggression and became one of the world's capitalist powers. After the Meiji Restoration, Japan, which became rich and strong, 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. 1895 and 1904, defeated the Qing Empire and Russia in the Sino-Japanese War and became the Asian hegemon. However, its reform left many problems, such as excessive power of the emperor and serious land annexation, which interacted with some social problems that Japan could not solve in the future, and made Japan embark on the road of aggression and expansion. Then, with the rapid improvement of economic strength, the military strength also increased rapidly, and in 1895 and 1904 ~ 1905, the Qing Empire was defeated in the Sino-Japanese Sino-Japanese War of 1894 and the Russo-Japanese War (1644 ~ 1668) respectively. 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 centered on Kagoshima County in June 1877 and June 18 respectively, which became the last and largest resistance campaign of 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, Otaru Maoji, Nitobe Inazo, etc.). ) Absorbing and introducing western culture, laws and regulations into Japan, introducing a lot of modern things, and gradually forming a trend of "civilization", which has 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); The influence of literature and art is not small. 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. The positive influence of Meiji Restoration: Meiji Restoration promoted the progress of Japanese society, freed it from the national crisis, embarked on the road of developing capitalism and became the largest country in Asia. Historical limit: 1. Although land ownership and private ownership of land were abolished, with the deepening of industrialization, the negative side of land ownership appeared one by one, and farmers lived in poverty, which seriously affected the expansion of the domestic market and restricted industrial development. The emergence of extreme nationalism and militarism has brought profound disasters to Asian countries. 3. After the Meiji Constitution was promulgated, the vassal government monopolized the political power in the name of the emperor for a long time, the parliament was in name only, and the people did not get democratic rights. 4. Carry out the policy of ignorance of the people, instill the idea of worshipping the emperor, and force the people to absolutely obey the emperor and work hard for him. The significance of constitutionalism made Japan the first constitutional country in Asia and established the political system of Japanese modern Mikado system. It takes the form of constitutional monarchy (binary system), but in fact it still practices absolutism, and the vassal valve holds power in the name of the emperor.

And China's Reform Movement of 1898.

Why did China's Meiji Restoration and the Reform Movement of 1898 succeed and fail? There are many reasons, among which may be:

1) social background

(1) Before the Meiji Restoration, various social contradictions were sharp, and the Tokugawa era became the target of public criticism. (2) Although the crisis of feudal rule in China is very serious, the feudal forces are still relatively strong because of the collusion between feudal rulers and imperialism.

2) Leadership

(1) Although the Japanese bourgeoisie is not yet mature, the young samurai transformed into the bourgeoisie acted as the leader of the rebel movement. They understood the strategy of struggle, established troops and bases, and completed the task of cleaning up the old hostile forces by stages, thus ensuring the smooth progress of domestic reform. (2) The reformists in China are weak and only place their hopes on an emperor who has no real power. Coupled with the powerful feudal forces, the reform cannot succeed.

3) Policy measures

(1) After the overthrow of the Tokugawa era in Japan, the Meiji government issued an order and adopted a series of reform measures, which put Japan on the road of developing capitalism. (2) In the Reform Movement of 1898 in China, although Emperor Guangxu also issued a series of letters on politics, economy, military affairs and culture, they could not be implemented because the bourgeois reformists did not have political power and the conservative forces were strong.

4) International environment

(1) The Meiji Restoration in Japan took place in the 1960s in 19. At that time, the world was still in the period of free competition capitalism, and Japan had joined hands with the world powers, and the climax of seizing colonies had not yet begun. In the later period, the western powers concentrated on invading China. Although Japan has completed the Meiji Restoration, it objectively provided a more favorable international environment for Japan's development. (2) China's Reform Movement of 1898 In the late 1990s, world capitalism had already transitioned to the stage of imperialism, and China became the object of partition by the great powers. At this time, the imperialist powers never wanted China to become an independent and powerful capitalist country, and the international environment was very unfavorable to China's reform movement.

5) Influence

Positive influence: Meiji Restoration gradually transformed Japan from a closed feudal country into a capitalist country, and got rid of the fate of becoming a semi-colonial country, which was a major turning point in Japanese history. Negative effects: However, after Japan became powerful, it soon embarked on the militaristic road of foreign aggression.