The Competition Between Japan And Britain In The Cotton Market Of China And India (1894-1937)

The cotton textile industry once was one of the most important industries both for Japanand Britain, but to them, the speeds of the development of the textile industry are not the same.As the oldest capitalist country, and as the country that finished the Industrial Revolutionearliest, British power of cotton industry was the No.1in the world for a very long time, andoccupied the most parts of the cotton market. In contrast, as a new capitalist country, Japandidn’t finish her Industrial Revolution until20thcentury, and her cotton industry developedlate, but her tempo was very quickly. During1894₁937, from “prosperous Britain anddeveloping Japan” to “declining Britain and flourishing Japan”, the powers of the textileindustry of the two countries had changed greatly. Japan changed her cotton status: from thebest clients of Britain to the most powerful rival of Britain, Japanese textile industrydeveloped so fast that it could competition with Britain in the overseas markets, especially her“excellent achievements” made our eyes wide and couldn’t make a sound.After sorting out the relative historical materials in English, Japanese and Chinese, thepaper started with the two important cotton industry markets-----Chinese and Indian cottonindustry markets, analyzed the changing process of a new capitalist country and an oldcapitalist country textile industry powers. The paper is divided into five parts: the first partdiscusses the development of modern cotton industry of Japan and Britain and the greatdisparities in strength. When the First World War broke, Britain had to be busy scrambling forthe European supremacy, and had no time to take care of the eastern cotton markets, Japanused the good chance to corrade the markets once belonged to Britain, Britain’s superiority incotton industry met challenges which she never met before.Part Two discusses the whole process of Anglo-Japanese competitions in the cottonmarket of China and India. Many business men in Lancashire believed that it was a temporarysituation. It’s all because of the war, after the war, Britain’s status would be back. So theytried their best, to find the effective strategies to contain Japanese cotton productions’ export,and then carried them out. Then, the two countries’ competitions spread in the mainbattlefield----China and India. There was a war without smoke of gunpowder between them,and they all had victories and defeats.Part Three contrasts the costs of the cotton goods of the two countries, analyzed thereasons of the high-speed of the Japanese cotton industries’ development, the declining ofBritish cotton industry and the reasons of Japanese success in the competition;Part Four is the thinking of the “coincidence”. The process of the changes of Japanese and British cotton industry powers and the process of changes of Anglo-Japanese relationshipwere “coincidence”. Looking back the Anglo-Japanese relationship, we could find that whenthere was a great disparity in strength in the cotton industry, the Anglo-Japanese relationshipwas just in the friendly stage, when their cotton trades were in the competition stage,Anglo-Japanese relationship was just at a worse stage. The changes of the decline and thegrowth of the two countries’ cotton industries’ powers tally with the changes of theirrelationship. Since economic factors affect political strategies, this “coincidence” is not bychance, but inevitable.Either to Japan or to Britain, cotton industry is one of the most important pats of thewhole economic department. The decline and the growth of cotton industry powers couldreflect the whole economic powers of the two countries. Analyzing the changes, not onlycould help us to recognize the economic development orbits of the new and the old capitalistcountries, but also help us to comprehend the formulation of Japanese and British politicaland diplomatic tactics in the same era and the changes of Anglo-Japanese relationship.