Paths to Modernisation
It is important to note that the transformation of social and political institutions and daily life was pot just a question of reviving traditions, or tenaciously preserving them, but rather of creatively using them in new and different ways.
For instance, the Meiji school system, modelled on European and American practices, introduced new subjects but the curriculum's main objective was to make loyal citizens. A course on morals that stressed loyalty to the emperor was compulsory.
Similarly changes in the family or in daily life show how foreign and indigenous ideas were brought together to create something new.
The Chinese path to modernisation was very different. Foreign imperialism, both Western and Japanese, combined with a hesitant and unsure Qing dynasty to weaken government control and set the stage for a breakdown of political and social order leading to immense misery for most of the people.
Warlordism, banditry and civil war exacted a heavy toll on human lives, as did the savagery of the Japanese invasion. Natural disasters added to this burden.
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What was the importance of Japan's rise as great power for the Asian continent ?
Describe the examination system in China.
What do you know about the Opium trade?
Mention two aims of National Movement in China led by Dr. Sun Yat Sen.
What do you know about the Japanese script?
What was one 'hundred flower movement' ?
Why did it fail ?
Discuss Cultural Revolution.
Write the slogan of Mao's Great Leap forward.
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