Rapid Industrial And Economic Developments example essay topic

During 1861-1912, both China and Japan made attempts to strengthen themselves. In China, there were the Self-Strengthening Movement of 1861 -94, the Hundred Days! | Reform of 1898 and the Late Qing Reform of 1901-11. These attempts to strengthen China were mainly caused by China's defeats in wars, the anti-government movements, foreign aggression and natural disasters. On the other hand, in Japan, there was the Meiji reforms with the aim of turning Japan into a modern state, so that the Japanese were able to meet the challenge posed by their enemies and the aggressive West. The primary aim of the Self-Strengthening Movement was to build up China's military strength, therefore, economic changes were only to provide the foundations to build up China's military power.

As a result, economic development mainly included building arsenals and shipyards, developing coal mines, and producing firearms. Next, unlike the former movement, the Hundred Days! | Reform was a more comprehensive reform. It effected changes in the political. education, military, social and economic systems.

Within the economic reforms, building of railways was to be encouraged to improve transportation. Developments concerning agriculture, industry and trade, and the opening of mines were to be encouraged to improve China's economy. New inventions also were to be rewarded. Finally, about the Late Qing Reform. It was mainly aimed at pacifying potential unrest and regaining lost support. Under this reform movement, foreign industries were permitted to be set up in the treaty ports after 1898.

Chinese capitalists were encouraged to set up their own factories. A ministry for agriculture, commerce and industry was set up. Banks were established to stabilize currency. Priority was given to railway construction. Unfortunately, these attempts to strengthen China all ended in failure because of the lack of capable leaders, conservative opposition, inadequate funds and corruption.

The failure to make China strong through reforms stimulated the growth of a revolutionary movement under Sun Yi xian during the late Qing period. On the other hand, different form China, the Meiji Reforms were very successful. The Meiji government provided the leadership for the modernization of Japanese economy by creating a favorable climate for economic growth. It unified the different economic systems of the feudal states. It established new methods of agriculture. It removed restrictions on trade, such as taxes on goods from one part of Japan to another.

Roads and waterways were made safer. A national post office was established. A banking system was established with the yen as the unit of national currency. The decimal system was adopted to provide a uniform system of measure.

Essential public utilities and tax incentives were provided to encourage the development of new industries. To solve the problem of the shortage of capital funds, the government decided to sell the industries to financial groups known as Zaibatsu. Most famous among them were Mitsui, Mitsubishi, Sumitomo and Yasuda. The Zaibatsu played the role of bankers and provided the necessary technical and entrepreneurial skills, making possible a more rapid development in industries. The rapid industrial and economic developments laid the economic foundation and strengthened Japan's national defense. The developments in transportation and communication facilitated trade and encourage industrial developments.

The use of machines in agriculture and the improvement in the farming methods raised the level of production. The introduction of a fixed money tax on land and the use of yen as the national currency stimulated trade and commercial activities. All these changes transformed Japan into a modern state. As a whole, we can find that although China and Japan carried out modernisation reforms at the same time, unfortunately, their results turned different. After the three attempts to strengthen itself, the Qing government was overthrown. China remained weak.

However, the Meiji Reforms succeeded in turning Japan into a modern state.