Views On China In The Travel Notes Of Modern Japanese Travelers

This thesis takes the travel notes of modern Japanese travelling toChina as its research subject, and mainly introduces their views on Chinaand specific reflection, with a thorough analysis of the reason.The first chapter is introduction, presenting the background,motivation and significance of the thesis alongside the methods and ideas.It elaborates the relevant studies of both Chinese and Japanese academicsand highlights the main theme of the thesis.The second chapter indicates the background of the modern Japanesetravelling to China. This chapter is divided into three parts: firstly, Japan’sblocking the country and opening up, and thanks to the opening up,advantages and conditions for Japanese travelling overseas; secondly, theestablishment of diplomatic ties between China and Japan, which createdadvantages for Japanese travelers; thirdly, the motivations of the travelers.The magnificent influence of ancient China on Japan generated massive Chinese complex among those travelers.The third chapter introduces their travelling to natural scenery andplaces of historical and cultural heritages. It has two parts: in the first part,the author analyses the time and area of the travelling according to theirtravel notes, and their communications with walks of life in China; thesecond part is an introduction of their travelling to the magnificent naturalbeauties and cultural places.The fourth chapter covers the Japanese travelers’ inspections onChinese society. The first part is about their typical image of traditionalChina: poor labors everywhere, natural disasters and human catastrophe,decline of rural and urban areas, opium overflow etc.; the second part isabout modern Chinese construction in their eyes, including Chineseachievements and expenses. The achievements are progress in commerce,transportation, education and social atmosphere; the expenses are foreignexploitation of Chinese wealth, deterioration of Chinese sovereignty,insulting and bullying Chinese people and the damage on Chineseculture. The fifth chapter illustrates Japanese travelers’ impression onChinese. The first part is their impression on lower-class Chinese:addicted to money, lousy, superstitious, conservative, cowardly, onlooking and etc.; the second part is their impression on upper elites.Chinese upper elites were spoken highly of because of their knowledgeand outstanding talents. Therefore, a huge difference existed betweentheir impressions.The sixth chapter analyses factors accounting for the complexity ofJapanese travelers’ Chinese views. Five parts in these chapters are: first,the Sino-Japanese war of1894-1895turned Japanese attitudes towardsChina around, which was a direct reason; second, a contrast betweenimagination and reality. The Japanese appreciation of ancient Chineseculture led to their disappointment of then Chinese reality; the third partis the westernization of their standards: they assessed and evaluatedChina according to westernized standards; fourth, their Confuciusbackground led to a higher evaluation of Chinese upper elites; fifth, thedifference of nationalities and values between China and Japan and the influence on the Japanese view on China.The last part is my conclusion. Based on the research into Chineseviews of modern Japanese travelling to China, the author think they lookinto China with bias and their Chinese views are very one-sided. Itrequires us a correct understanding.