| This dissertation examines the role that Japanese graphic media played in the formation of Japanese attitudes towards China and Chinese during the prewar era from 1894--1937. Bracketed by the two Sino-Japanese Wars of 1894--1895 and 1937--1945, this period witnessed the formation of much of modern Japan's physical and cultural infrastructure. As such, studying the graphic imaging of China during these years will further increase our understanding of how Sino-Japanese relations deteriorated to such an extent, for such a long time, and so rapidly after the Meiji Restoration of 1868.; In approaching this topic, I used three major research strategies. First, I analyzed quantitatively the commercially produced graphic material of China. For the years up until the Boxer Rebellion of 1900, this meant looking at hundreds of woodblock prints; for the rest of the period, I examined hundreds of photographs published in mass-market oriented graphic magazines. Second, I examined the development of Japan's modern infrastructure in conjunction with the technological evolution of its print-media industry. Finally, I looked at the relationship between the Japanese media and censorship. My overall rationale was to determine how the Japanese media graphically depicted Chinese, how widely this portrayal of China extended, and censorship's role in the imaging of China.; I found that, in spite of extremely negative caricatures that characterized the portrayal of Chinese during the first Sino-Japanese War, Japan's graphic portrayal of Chinese appeared, on the surface, to improve over the following decades. However, Japan's media actually marginalized the accurate portrayal of contemporary Chinese reality over time. It created an image of a China dominated by Japanese, where Chinese were often literally "out of the picture" in photographs purportedly about China. When the media depicted Chinese, it usually was in terms of "good" or "bad," with the good Chinese seeking Japan's aid in modernizing against the backward, bad Chinese. In contrast, Japanese in a Chinese context were portrayed in terms of courage, discipline, and loyalty. In addition to creating an image of cultural superiority, this dichotomy made it easier for the Japanese public to justify Japan's lengthy aggressive military presence in China. |
