How did the Meiji Restoration develop the economy in resource-poor Japan?

The development history of Japan has given us profound enlightenment: we should constantly carry out reform and innovation, comprehensively improve the quality of the population, prevent polarization and strive for self-improvement. China's reform and modernization need to learn from Japanese development experience.

Japan has less than 2% of the world's population, 0.25% of the world's area and extremely scarce natural resources, but it has created 17% of the world's wealth. The author went to Japan to study and inspect with the delegation. While appreciating the prosperity, development and civilization of the world's economic powers, he personally feels that we need to learn from Japan in many aspects. Among them, what makes us feel and ponder most is the history of Japan's low starting point and rapid development!

/kloc-Before the middle of the 0/9th century, Japan, like China, pursued a closed-door policy and was not exposed to the emerging civilizations in Europe. 1853, American warships entered Japanese ports, and Japan's door opened. The Japanese government was forced to sign many unequal treaties with western powers and became an oppressed country and nation. Since then, domestic contradictions have been triggered, the Tokugawa era has ended, and the Meiji Restoration has begun. The Meiji government carried out the policy of "enriching Qiang Bing", which quickly improved Japan's comprehensive national strength and put Japan on the road of competing with western powers for foreign aggression and expansion. 1945, Japan was defeated and the whole national economy was on the verge of collapse. Since then, under the external force led by the United States, Japan has begun national transformation and economic recovery. From 65438 to 0960, Japan's economy entered a period of rapid growth. Today, Japan has become the second largest economic power in the world. We cannot deny that Japan has created a miracle. Looking at the development history of Japan, combined with my experiences and feelings in Japan, I think the following experiences should inspire the development of China.

Reform and innovation are the soul of development.

Constant reform and innovation have provided inexhaustible motive force for Japan's development. In history, Japan was deeply impressed by Chinese civilization, and learned from China modestly, which promoted economic and social development. When the western powers opened their doors, Japan saw the western civilization and learned from the west with an open mind. 187 1 year, the Japanese government sent a delegation of more than 100, which lasted for 22 months and went to Europe and the United States to make a detailed investigation and study on the political system, judicial institutions and education system of western countries. When we visited the Japanese Senate, we saw the bronze statues of the head of the delegation, Hirofumi Ito, four prime ministers and three Privy Council speakers. The Japanese people have never forgotten him. After the western world, Japan began a deep and all-round self-innovation, and soon embarked on a developed capitalist road. After World War II, Japan began to learn from the United States. In the 1950s, Japan sent a large number of young people to study in the United States, and most of the students returned home after completing their studies. As can be seen from my life style today, they are a blend of eastern and western cultures, good at eclecticism, brave in innovation, humbly absorbing and drawing lessons from all the achievements of civilization created by human society, providing inexhaustible motive force for Japan's development, and finally establishing Japan's position as a world economic power.

Improving population quality in an all-round way is a strategic choice for development.

Japan is a country that attaches great importance to population quality, with a total population of about 654.38+0.27 billion, and the population density is 2.5 times that of ours. In big cities such as Tokyo, shopping, catering and other life need to line up. Japanese people consciously queue up at stations, supermarkets or other places, which reflects the quality of Japanese nationals. Japan puts national education in a prominent position, vigorously improves the basic quality of the people, pays attention to the all-round development of people, and builds a people-oriented social system. The Japanese education system is similar to that of China, with 6 years in primary school, 3 years in junior high school, 3 years in senior high school and 4 years in university. Education below junior high school is compulsory, with enrollment rate of 100%, high school enrollment rate of 96% and university enrollment rate of 50%. In 1980s, Japan raised the issue of lifelong education. 1990 Japan promulgated and implemented the lifelong education law to promote the formation of a learning society. Japanese teachers have a high status. Teachers in public schools are included in the ranks of civil servants, and their salaries are higher than those of ordinary government officials. The author thinks that compared with Japanese, China's large population is indeed a big social problem, but it can't be regarded as a decisive factor restricting economic and social development, and all problems are attributed to it, blaming others; While doing a good job in family planning, we should make great efforts to do a good job in basic education, especially compulsory education in rural areas, and comprehensively improve the quality of the population.

Preventing polarization is the development path that Japan always adheres to.

Statistics show that compared with the United States, Britain, Germany, France and other countries, Japan has the lowest crime rate. This is related to Japan's emphasis on the coordinated development of economy and society. In the post-war rapid development stage of Japan, although the capitalist market economy was implemented, due to the appropriate measures taken by the state, the society did not form polarization, and the urban-rural differences and regional differences were gradually eliminated. According to the survey of relevant institutions, Japanese residents think their living conditions are in the middle range compared with others, and their satisfaction is 72% in 1958, 9 1% in 1979 and 87.3% in 1989. Most Japanese believe that they live in an "equal society", "classless society" and "homogeneous society". Eliminating the excessive income gap among members of society and maintaining social equity have been the development path that Japan has been adhering to since World War II. Japan's post-war development history attaches great importance to the narrowing of the income gap among members of society. The main ways to solve the income gap in Japan are as follows: first, to establish a wage system in relatively equal, so that the wage gap between management and ordinary employees in enterprises is small; Second, the personal income tax rate of farmers, self-employed individuals and small and medium-sized private enterprises is low; Third, personal income tax is growing at a high speed. In Japan, if you have 654.38 billion yen, you actually have only 30 million yen at your disposal.

Self-improvement is the national spirit of Japan.

Enduring humiliation and self-improvement have solidified into the fine character of the Japanese nation. Many Japanese "played down" the history of militaristic aggression and aroused international public indignation; However, they still remember the horror of failure. In the Edo Tokyo Museum, there are not only pictures and videos of bombing in Tokyo and other places, but also some specially made scene models. They educate future generations not to forget the "tragic past". When you talk to the Japanese and mention Japanese history, you always talk about being bombed by the US military. It can be seen that these have been deeply rooted in their thoughts and emotions, and have become the spiritual driving force to inspire their efforts. Looking back on Japan's modern history, we can see the track of Japan's national change and development: the closed door led to national humiliation, and Qiang Bing became rich from it. After Qiang Bing became rich, she invaded abroad and almost died. After the war, Japan took off again on the ruins. For more than 50 years, Japan ushered in peace because of defeat, realized democratic reform because of occupation, lost its right to speak in international affairs and achieved the success of rapid economic growth. Although there are external forces at work in these changes and developments, as a country and a nation, its spirit of facing the future, enduring humiliation and striving for self-improvement cannot but be admired.

China's reform and modernization are facing new opportunities and challenges, and we are in a period of strategic opportunities for development. While actively developing itself, China needs to actively learn from the beneficial experience of Japanese development. We should learn to get important enlightenment from the development history of Japan. "Stones from other mountains can attack jade", we should learn from the profound enlightenment brought by Japan's development model. [The author is a master student at China Geo University (Beijing) School of Humanities and Economics]

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The main stages of Japan's economic development after World War II

Japan is a developed capitalist country, and its post-war economic development has experienced a period of rapid development. This can be divided into four stages.

Economic recovery period (1945— 1955). The war destroyed 42% of Japan's national wealth, economic chaos, soaring prices, massive unemployment and inflation. Under the great influence of the occupation army, the Japanese government put forward the policy of "increasing production to stabilize inflation and stabilize national life" and carried out economic and social democratic reforms. 1949 basically stabilized inflation and the economy began to recover. 1953 is close to the pre-war level.

High-speed growth period (1955— 1973). During the period of 18, the gross national product increased by 12.5 times, and the per capita national income increased by 10 times, with an average annual growth rate of 9.8%. 1966 surpassed Britain, 1967 surpassed France, and 1968 surpassed west Germany, becoming the new Asian giant in capitalist countries, second only to the United States, attracting the attention of the global economic circles and being called "the miracle of the world economy".

Medium growth period (1974— 199 1 year). Hit by two oil crises, Japan's economy entered a period of medium-speed growth. Japan's economy, which was founded by trade, was forced to speed up the reorganization and adjustment of industrial structure, and the heavy industrial structure turned to knowledge-intensive product structure. During this period, GDP grew at an average annual rate of 4.3%, which was half of the period of rapid growth.

Economic crisis and getting out of the predicament. 1992, Japan's bubble economy burst and there was an economic crisis. 1992- 1998, the average annual growth rate of real GDP is only 1%, of which 1997 and 1998 have negative growth, but they are still world economic powers. Stimulated by the recovery of enterprise benefits, equipment investment has gradually recovered, and the employment and income environment is gradually improving. Due to the promotion of enterprises, the prospect of Japan's economic recovery is becoming clearer and clearer.