Week 4 Road to WW11 PDF
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This document appears to be notes or extracts from a history textbook or study guide relating to the period leading up to World War II, focusing on Japan's role and interactions. It contains information on key subjects, such as Japan's Taisho Democracy and the 21 Demands to China..
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Week 4: Road to WW11 ey Words and Questions K 1. Japan’s Taisho Democracy, Period and Emperor (1912-26) - Named after the Taisho emperor - Meji emperor died in 1912 - Crown Prince Yoshihito became the emperor. - The Taisho period ended with his death...
Week 4: Road to WW11 ey Words and Questions K 1. Japan’s Taisho Democracy, Period and Emperor (1912-26) - Named after the Taisho emperor - Meji emperor died in 1912 - Crown Prince Yoshihito became the emperor. - The Taisho period ended with his death in 1926. - Known as Taisho Democracy. Many historians see this as a period of democracy and liberalization because the small group of oligarchs (also known as genros) that had formulated and implemented many of the policies during the Meiji period were getting older or had died. - The Taisho period 1912-1926 was also a time of general prosperity, growing consumerism, and greater civil liberties. - Japan became the first country in East Asia to establish universal male suffrage (men over the age of 25 could vote) - From the 1910s-1930s, Japan experienced a great boost in Industrialization. Japan moved away from its once agricultural ideologies and moved towards innovation, industrialization and urban hood. . Japan’s genros or oligarchs 2 Oligarchs(also known asgenros) refers to individualswho are part of a small, powerful group that holds significant political, economic, or social influence within a country or organization. - They implements many of the policies in the Meiji period, however by the Taisho period they were getting older and had died 3. Moga and universal male suffrage in Japan - Universal male suffragemeans that all adult men havethe right to vote, regardless of their social class, wealth, education, race, or property ownership. It is a form of political equality that ensures voting rights are not restricted to elite or privileged groups. - Japan became the first country in East Asia to establish universal male suffrage (women were excluded) and every man over the age of twenty-five could vote. - Workers rights were generally more recognized with the formation of the Communist Party in Japan ( a classless society ) - Mogameans modern girl (modan gaaru) - captured thepublic imagination representing the new city-dwelling, independent, vocal western-influenced Japanese women. - Women at the time became female writers to uplift women's voices to the public: women continued to be shut out of most professions and public life, female writers began publishing stories and magazines making women’s voices more public. - What we wear reflects who we are and so fashion changed for women through each period from Tokugawa - Meiji - Taisho, as more western influence came. - 4.21 Demands, 1914-1915 issued to China from Japan - apan issued a list of Twenty- One (21) demands to China in January 1915 asking the J Chinese president Yuan Shikai to confirm and expand Japan's growing interests in China. - Without having to fire a gun, Japan succeeded in expanding its empire. - two resulting treaties were signed - The 21 Demandswere divided intoFive Groups: - The first asked China to confirm Japan’s recent acquisitions in Shandong province and expand its sphere of influence over the province’s railways, coasts, and major cities. - The second expanded Japan’s sphere of influence in southern Manchuria - The third gave Japan control of the Hanyeping mining and metallurgical complex, which was already in debt to Japan - The fourth barred China from giving further coastal or island concessions to foreign powers except Japan - The last contained an assortment of demands including appointing Japanese advisors to the Chinese central government and the Chinese police force and allowing Japanese Buddhist preachers to conduct missionary activities in China. - China’s acceptance of many of the demands in April 1915 triggered a wave of outrage in China, in Chinese North America, and elsewhere in the diaspora. - This caused a protest that was spearheaded by university and graduate students from China studying in Japan. Beginning in January 1915, thousands studying there withdrew from their studies, remained in Japan, or returned to China to protest. - Yuan’s acceptance of the 21 demands was an important historical - moment for Sino-Japanese relations and for Chinese nationalism. It - was the first time in Chinese history that ordinary Chinese people- - students, merchants, workers, and intellectuals, took to the street in - the name of their nation. 5. Japan’s NationalDiet(assembly) (Think nationalelected assembly and not food!) - he National Dietconsists oftwo sections:The electedlower house known as the T House of Representatives and the upper house known as the House of Councillors - House of Representatives= the electedlower house - House of Councillors= theupper house - power passed from the Oligarchs to the elected National Diet. 6. Versailles Peace Conference and China’s May Fourth Incident, 1919 - The Versailles Treaty that concluded the war in May 1919 was a moment of triumph for Japan, as they attended as one of the victors for their first time, and was for the first time included in the confrenece. - hanks to the secret treaties that it had signed, Japan retained its control over former T German concessionsin Shandong, China. - The German concessions: in Shandong refer to the period when Germany gained control over parts of Shandong Province, particularly the city of Qingdao, after signing a lease agreement with the Qing Dynasty. These concessions symbolized foreign imperialism in China during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Basically Germany controlled a part of China, which due to the secret treaties that Japan had signed, Japan gained control over the former German concession in Shandong China. 7. China’s May Fourth Movement or the New Culture Movement, 1915-1921 (Distinguish between the incident and the movement) On May 4,students in Beijingstaged a massive demonstration,which inspired a series of strikesand associated events that amountedto what Chou Tse-tsung, the author of the seminal work on this event, called “a social ferment and an intellectual revolution”. - Transformations in gender roles were one of the key characteristics of the May Fourth Movement. The Movement: The accompanyingsocialand intellectual changesthatbegan in 1915 and lasted until 1925 were dubbed by the students as the “May Fourth Movement”. - The May Fourth Movement was also a time of revolution for the Chinese language, especially in the written form. The language of the past was Classical Chinese, a dead written language only the educated used. Th e incident: Was the actual protests around May 4th, 1919 are known as the May Fourth Incident. - oved chinese intellectuals to study if not embrace more radical M solutions. These solutions manifested themselves in the form of different political ideologies fused with nationalism. Two of such parties that would later define China were the Chinese Communist Party and the Nationalists. - During this period, China would be at the height of its political and social instability. - he New culture movement - began around 1915 and wasa kind of cultural T renaissance. - What was the movement? - It contains many different ideas and debates. However, at the core, it was the rejection of traditional culture and efforts to define China’s future and Chinese Culture. - he New Culture Movement was also a rejection of the traditional claim of T group over individuality. This is expressed in terms of free romantic love, of making individual choices, of rejecting parental directions. - This new idea needed new forums to be discussed so they used magazines, In particular, the most influential magazine was one entitled New Youth. - The movement and the magazine called on young people to save China. In “Call to Youth,” the magazine’s opening article by editor Chen Duxiu. - Thinkers like Chen urged young Chinese, especially returned overseas students, to overthrow the Confucian patriarchal order and rebel against their elders, especially their fathers. Due to the fact that many believed that it was these hierarchies, especially parents’ insistent training that their children obey their elders blindly and without questioning, that stifled the inquisitive scientific minds of the Chinese. - Young men and women also questioned the position of women. Traditionally, women were kept at home; the last to be educated. Women’s rights during the movement were questioned: - For the Qing Dynasty up until this point a phrase states that a good woman must obey in three ways: before she is married, she must obey her father; after she is married, she must obey her husband; and after her husband’s death, she must obey her son. - What are some examples of the Qing Dynasty devaluing women? - An example of how Qing China and other dynasties had valued women’s absolute obedience and subservience to men was the cult of widow chastity. This was a practice that the Qing had promoted. It meant that upon the deaths of their husbands, the widows were expected to remain chaste and not remarry. - Another physical example of women’s oppression and the actual binding of women was that of bound feet. - Mothers, aunts, and other close female members use a long piece of cloth to bind young girls’ feet. The young girls’ toes and even feet could be broken in the process to make the feet smaller. The tighter a foot was bound, the more pain and physical disabilities it created. - Mothers and other female family members bound their girls’ feet not out of cruelty, but out of a desire to see their young charges marry well. You were seen as more desirable to be married if you had bounded feet. - What did the New Culture Movement Do/ Advocate for? - During the New Culture Movement, women’s inferior status in society as captured by the Cult of Widow Chastity and foot binding egan to be challenged ,especially in cities and in more affluent b families. - Urban women pushed for opportunities to study in the West and Japan in unprecedented numbers. Schools for girls and women were created in urban centres. - Education, especially for girls and women, became a badge of modernity. And as more girls attended schools the preference for female teachers to teach girls and women ironically created more opportunities for educated women. - Women and their supporters pushed for choices in marriage partners and work. Having unbound feet, wearing short hair, wearing western clothing and appearing in public spaces all became symbols of modernity and liberation. 8. What were Japan’s contributions to WWI and the war’s impact? - Japan’s diplomatic successes during theGreat War(1914-1919) illustrated its new ability to use international diplomacy to its advantage. - Example of contribution: when war broke out in August 1914, Great Britain, the first world power to sign a treaty of alliance with Japan in 1902, asked Japan to seize German soldiers on the Chinese coast. Japan took advantage of this request and took control of German-held concessions in the province of Shandong in China. - Japan was not involved in any other military operations, but thanks to this act, it was considered a member of the Allies 9. What were China’s contributions to WWI and the war’s impact? - China was not an active combatant though itsidedwith the Alliesand contributed by sending thousands of men to work in France. - China Sent 140,000 men:Many Chinese believed thatwith an Allied victory, China’s contribution of 140,000 Chinese labourers to France would translate into reclaiming Shandong from Germany. - Loss of Sovereignty:Despite supporting the Allies,the Treaty of Versailles (1919) awarded Shandong to Japan instead of returning it to China. - This betrayal led to widespread discontent. - May Fourth Movement (1919):Nationalist and anti-imperialistprotests erupted, driven by anger over the treaty. - Sparked intellectual and cultural reforms, promoting ideas like democracy and modernization. - Weakened Qing Legacy:Contributed to the rise of nationalismand the eventual strengthening of movements like the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). 10. Yuan Shikai - An outstanding military leader - ecame The president of China after the Revolution and at the Start of the Republic of B China. - Yuan had no interest in being part of a republic. He wanted to be emperor. - He became dictatorial and had selfish ambition to be the emperor of china (trying to bring it back to dynasty days) - Over the course of his presidency, he steadily assassinated his opponents and increased his power - By late 1914, he had formally absolved the upper and lower house - In December 1915, Yuan declared himself emperor of his own dynasty with the support of his son, who was supposed to inherit the throne. - the Chinese people were not ready for democracy, they were not ready or willing to return to the dynasty system. - Numerous provinces rebelled against Yuan. His own once loyal generals were wary of his ambitions and did not put up much of a fight. - Yuan stepped down in March of 1916 and died in June. 11. Puyi, the Last Qing Emperor - In 1912 the last Qing Emperor, Puyi, abdicated (gave up) and left the throne. - Sun approached Yuan Shikai, a Qing general and arguably the most powerful military man at the time, and told him that if he could get the Qing to abdicate, Sun would support Yuan as the first president of the Chinese republic. Yuan succeeded in his mission and in 1912, he was proclaimed as the first president of the Republic of China. - The end of the Qing dynasty did not just spell an end to Puyi’s reign as the emperor or the end of China’s dynastic system, it also meant that thousands of eunuchs, or men who had been castrated to serve the imperial family had lost their livelihood and a way of life that they had sacrificed so much for. 12. Sun Yat-sen’s Three People’s Principles - The Three People's Principle is: Nationalism, Democracy, and people's livelihood 13. Warlordism in China - China would nominally return to republicanism. However, it would essentially descend into warlordism until the late 1920s -
