Compare And Contrast Japan And China Essay

china and lacquer, twain with thousand historic period of ancient nuance and civilization history, cope numerous similarities and differences. Confucianism is a collectivist base value system which embraces a caboodle of moral codes of behavior designed to say the relativeships among ruler and subject, father and son, jock and neighbor, husband and wife, and br a nonher(prenominal) and brother. Even though two mainland China and lacquer engaged Confucianism as the state ideology, there were numerous features of Confucianism in the cardinal countries that caused to each bingle countrys societies. China and japan isolated themselves from the rest of the world in the beginning, but later on, the differences in reply to the crush from the western hemisphere led them to various paths. This essay is going to comp atomic number 18 and crinkle two main differences between lacquer and China, which include a cultural bequest known as Confucianism and the response to the west in 19th century. To begin with, Confucianism stresses special social relationships, but it is withal a universal moral code, which makes it easy for the Nipp sensationse adoption.However, the Nipponese transform it in their expressive style and to a certain degree Confucian concepts are applied to relationships carrying a contrary meaning from those in China. At its or so basic of culture, Chinese morality is founded on the family structure, with the most authorized social ties world that of parent and child and its blood-related family clans. The Japanese moral system is founded on a set of kinship relations that go beyond blood ties or operate to members who restrain no blood relationship, with the prime tie being that between draw and follower. Therefore, Japanese semipolitical culture is more(prenominal) assort-oriented, more tribal, or more radical. other example is the paired concepts of loyalty and filial piety that characterize the two cultures. Thes e two values are related twain are the duties we owe to our superiors. Loyalty is our concern to our ruler, and filial piety is our duty to our parents. both(prenominal) came into the Japanese culture as bug out of the Confucian influence, but they are set differently in China and Japan. In China, filial piety or prise for parents is the most important of theserelationships and the one that binds the Confucian moral system together. Confucianists assume that if e genuinelyone internalizes such(prenominal) family values, society will come into atmosphere with heaven, and harmony, contentment, and prosperity will ensue as a matter of course (Miller, buttocks H). When there is a conflict between the two, our duty to our parents usually outweighs that to the ruler. In Japan, the Japanese do not acknowledge this tension or contradiction one is a filial child only if one gives loyal service to ones superior. Therefore, loyalty is expressed in unquestioning slave-like obedience a nd implies total selfless veneration to ones lord. In other words, loyalty in the Japanese culture usually take precedence oer filial piety.In addition, harmony, rather than competition, is one of the core Confucian ideas and the concept that helps to shape both Chinese and Japanese political cultures. Both China and Japan are highly collectivistic societies under the Confucian influence, in which each person is born(p) and melt into a collective entity each family, clan, group, society, or state, each person knows his or her status and identity in relation to others in social relations, and each person is required to conform to the collective values. However, in Japan, more emphasis is placed on group orientation and loyalty to the group, for it is the group that gives one a social identity, provides a feeling of security, and receives the re shelters of service. Not only the home plate and the village but also colleagues, gadfly students, neighbors, and even industrial sector s constitute the important groups from which one acquires social status and identity.The consequence Imperialism of the 19th century, driven by both America and westerly Europe deep affected Africa and Asia. In Asia, both Japan and China were impacted, but in real different ways. Japan was able to ward off the threats of imperialism, and emerge as a world power. China, on the other hand, suffered the exhalation of sovereignty and status. The elites of both countries responded to the challenges posed by Western penetration by initiating reforms. In Japan, the Meiji regime chose to remake themselves entirely done Westernization, while in China, the Qing government chose rather to hold on to traditionalisticistic Chinese values and institutions. Chinas efforts at reform, the Self-Strengthening Movements, was in essential traditional answers to traditional problems. There was no significant, large-scale industrial enterprise in China, and they displayedlittle willingness to ab andon traditional imperial institutions that were incapable to dealing with coetaneous problems.Chinese cultural pride was fairish too deeply ingrained, so such(prenominal) so that it became an impediment, blinding many Chinese and preventing them from recognizing the need to learn from the barbarians and for fundamental change. On the other hand, Japanese efforts to adopt alien technology to meet their army and industrial needs were largely conquestful. The Meiji regime, however, saw that military technology and industrialization could not be separated from institutional structures that had produced and accompanied such developments in the West, and showed little hesitation in transforming or abolishing traditional institutions in esteem of those that could give Japan the modernity it involve to survive. Overall, the Meiji Restoration was a tremendous success for the Japanese and allowed them to join the ranks of Western novel imperial powers. Both nations pursued the rem ainder of a rich nation and upstanding army as the way to modernisation through the Self-Strengthening Movement in China and the Meiji Restoration in Japan.However, most of the reforms in the Self-Strengthening Movement belonged to the surface layer of modernisation which included manufacturing technology of military and faint and heavier industries, and certain infrastructures. The reforms in the Meiji Restoration not only replicated the material manufacturing technology, but also touched the inner and deeper parts of Western civilization that included political structures and profound systems, and Western types of philosophy, culture and ways of thinking. China and Japan, due to geographical proximity, historical, and cultural ties, have many similarities and differences. Confucianism played a very important part in both Chinese and Japanese, but their different understandings in many same concepts lead to different cultures and societies.In addition, during the nineteenth cent ury, facing the pressure of the West, different responses changes the fate of China and Japan. Chinese responded to the Opium Wars and western intrusion through a combination of challenging the West, embracing traditional ways, challenging the Qing Dynasty, or seeking centrist reforms. Japan, though never conquered, responded to the intrusion of West quite differently. Rather than looking to the past, the Japanese sought to emulate the West. During the Meiji Restoration, Japan modernized. Japan sought to avoid Chinas fate by adopting aspects of Western culture and faced a turning run in its history.Works CitedMiller, John H. look Systems and Religions. Modern East Asia An Introductory History. Armonk, N.Y. M.E. Sharpe, 2008. 19. Print.