On The Evolution Of The Japanese Trend Of Thought In Japan Before And After The Sino-Japanese War

Japan,near to China geographically,always has frequent contact with China.However,with China invaded by powers,Japan changed its conception of China.After getting rid of powers,Japan followed the lead to invade,making China its primary target.This paper,based on the previous researches and the background of First Sino-Japanese War,is going to reveal the changes of Japan's conception of China before and after the war,and work out the ideological roots of Japan's policies to invade China.This paper consists of five chapters.The introduction part states the research object and research purpose,and briefly reviews the domestic and foreign research results.The first chapter introduces the conception of China of some representative personages who had great influence on Japan's thinking---Sakuma Sh?zan,Sato Shinen,Yoshida Sh?in.They had different focuses while they all looked down upon China to some extent.This chapter describes about Japan's investigating visit to China,“Qiansuiwan Trip”,and the changes of both China's and Japan's thoughts during their competition in Korea.From all above it can be found that during this period Japan's attitude was mainly admiration and worship for China with little effect of looking down upon China.The second part is about how Japanese scholars Takekoshi Yosabur?,Sei Arao(Tungfong Sai)and war commander Mutsu Munemitsu thought about China.During this time,Japan started the propaganda despising China through the press.It can be found that there was some generalization among Japan's thinking and public opinion in the wartime.The third chapter's statement is based on the former two chapters and the fact that China was defeated,and it points out Japan's final conception of China that reached a nationwide reversion.Japan's postwar conception of “leader of East Asia” and “China conquered” is the best proof.Although the former one was obstructed by powers' interference,the nationwide reversion wasn't affected.The conclusion makes a summary of the whole paper and briefly introduces Japan's policy of invasion into China under those conceptions that looked down upon China.