Short And Long Term Effects Of Japanese Imperialism

China and Japan, 2 countries with large historical backgrounds were highly impacted by numerous events such as imperialism in Europe, civil wars and WWII. As a result, profound and long-term effects have been introduced to the lives of entire populations, which can be still perceived today. Nowadays many people see Asians as xenophobic, fearing the outside world or simply just involved on their own affairs which have led to a deep nationalistic feeling. Indeed, this was the reaction to many humiliations, betrayals and atrocities made for many years, which have now been forgotten. Moreover, internal politics of China and Japan have made these events to be omitted from the world history general knowledge, for instance, the origins of WWI or the
While Great Britain had a powerful army and the desire to control over other nations, the Chinese were part of their list. The British took the first step invading Chinese territories such as Hong Kong and Taiwan, and leasing them to the legitimate owners. Soon after, the opium trade not only had a huge impact on Chinese foreign trade but also on the health of an entire country, weakening the population and the government. As it was expected, China was defeated in the process of getting rid of the British and had to pay for war damages, open their ports for further trading, and assign extraterritoriality to them. This intervention made other countries such as France, U.S., Germany and many others to force China to concede privileges on their land, trade and government by unfair treaties, basically a complete humiliation to an entire population that in the long-run lead to fear and distrust with the rest of the
On the following years, tensions between China and Japan during WWII led to an indescribable massacre over the Chinese population when the Japanese invaded their land. Murders and rapes were one the main activities of Japanese officers against Chinese population, with the aim of exterminating everyone on their way. “By the end of the massacre an estimated 260,000 to 350,000 Chinese had been killed. Between 20,000 and 80,000 Chinese women were raped --and many soldiers went beyond rape to disembowel women, slice off their breasts, nail them alive to walls” (Chang, Exposing the Rape of Nanking). Apart from questioning the levels of rationality that soldiers and governments can reach, this event led to the distancing and constant political confrontation between these 2 countries. As a result, a disunity among Asian nations. Kids from each of these societies learn their own version of the story given by the government, thus, increasing the divergence between China and Japan, while trying to increase the resentment due to the