Compare And Contrast Japan And China
Congcong Yang
Professor. Olga Dror
HIST 352
30 November 2014 Compare and Contrast China and Japan China and Japan, both with thousand years of ancient culture and civilization history, share numerous similarities and differences. Confucianism is a collectivist based value system which embraces a set of moral codes of behavior designed to regulate the relationships between ruler and subject, father and son, friend and neighbor, husband and wife, and brother and brother. Even though both China and Japan employed Confucianism as the state ideology, there were many features of Confucianism in the two countries that shaped each country’s societies. China and Japan isolated themselves from the rest of the world in the beginning, but later on, the differences in response to the pressure from the West led them to different paths. This essay is going to compare and contrast two main differences between Japan and China, which include a cultural legacy known as Confucianism and the response to the West in 19th century. To begin with, Confucianism stresses particular social relationships, but it is also a universal moral code, which makes it easy for the Japanese adoption. However, the Japanese transform it in their way and to a certain degree Confucian concepts are applied to relationships carrying a different meaning from those in China. At its most basic of culture, Chinese morality is founded on the family structure, with the most important social ties being 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 extend to members who have no blood relationship, with the primary tie being that between leader and follower. Therefore, Japanese political culture is more group-oriented, more tribal, or more radical. Another example is the paired concepts of loyalty and filial piety that characterize the two
Professor. Olga Dror
HIST 352
30 November 2014 Compare and Contrast China and Japan China and Japan, both with thousand years of ancient culture and civilization history, share numerous similarities and differences. Confucianism is a collectivist based value system which embraces a set of moral codes of behavior designed to regulate the relationships between ruler and subject, father and son, friend and neighbor, husband and wife, and brother and brother. Even though both China and Japan employed Confucianism as the state ideology, there were many features of Confucianism in the two countries that shaped each country’s societies. China and Japan isolated themselves from the rest of the world in the beginning, but later on, the differences in response to the pressure from the West led them to different paths. This essay is going to compare and contrast two main differences between Japan and China, which include a cultural legacy known as Confucianism and the response to the West in 19th century. To begin with, Confucianism stresses particular social relationships, but it is also a universal moral code, which makes it easy for the Japanese adoption. However, the Japanese transform it in their way and to a certain degree Confucian concepts are applied to relationships carrying a different meaning from those in China. At its most basic of culture, Chinese morality is founded on the family structure, with the most important social ties being 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 extend to members who have no blood relationship, with the primary tie being that between leader and follower. Therefore, Japanese political culture is more group-oriented, more tribal, or more radical. Another example is the paired concepts of loyalty and filial piety that characterize the two
Cited: Miller, John H. "Belief Systems and Religions." Modern East Asia: An Introductory History. Armonk, N.Y.: M.E. Sharpe, 2008. 19. Print.