AMST 280/DWA 246: Term Paper

Student's Name Professor's Name Course Date U.S. Relation between China and Japan Introduction The United States of America, being a superpower, is undoubtedly the most dominant country. The country has been involved in many activities, including wars; therefore, the U.S. has a rich history. In the 21st century, China and Japan are known for their advancements in technology (Vogel 67). The countries have put themselves on the road to success. However, both China and Japan have a rich history with the United States. This paper aims to analyze U.S. involvement in these countries. The paper provides an in-depth analysis of U.S. missionary activities in China. A significant consideration is given to understand the role of the U.S. as a sentimental imperialist. The paper helps the reader to understand the U.S. involvement in China and Japan in the 19th century. American Missionary Activities in China The first-ever U.S. Protestant missionary was Elijah Bridgman, who came to China in the year 1830. The starting period of U.S. missionary activity in china is between the 1830s and 1840s (Cohen 104). There were 13 factories at Canton in which the American missionaries use to live and work. The foreigners were not allowed to travel outside the Thirteen Factories. A compulsion was made for them not to have any business dealings with any Chinese citizen. Moreover, they were not allowed even to learn the Chinese language (Von 44). In case if the missionaries were caught preaching Christianity, a death penalty was made for them in that case. Despite all of this, Williams, Parker, and Bridgman started learning the Chinese language. With the help of this, they were able to translate the scripture into Chinese. Williams and Bridgman were able to spread Chinese in China by translating the bible (Zetzsche 14). On the other hand, Robert Morrison, who came to China in 1807, compiled a Chinese-English dictionary (Hersey 111). Bridgman and Williams expanded the efforts of Morrison for enhancing the later missionaries. Another purpose behind this was to understand China and its language. Following this, a book was written by Williams named The Middle Kingdom, which helped to increase the knowledge about Chinese culture and history. The Chinese Repository was then started by Bridgman. Due to his, several missionaries were able to understand the Chinese language and their culture. A new kind of missionary named as a medical missionary was exemplified by Dr Peter Parker. It must be considered that the Chinese populace then seemed to be in great need of medical service. Therefore, the medical expertise of U.S. missionaries acted as access to Chinese citizens, which in turn, resulted in the spread of Christianity in China (Rodzinski 84). In the year 1842, the Sino-British Treaty of Nanjing resulted in excellent access in China. It was then fostered in the year 1844 by the U.S-Sino Treaty of Wangxia (Hersey 201). There is no doubt that such settlements helped the foreign to attain access to 4 new treat ports which increased the number of individuals that could be reached by U.S. missionaries. At that time, although the missionaries were still not allowed to proselytize openly, there were few Christian converts. With time the U.S. missionaries in China kept growing and many events such as the Second Opium War and British-Sino Treaty of Tianjin which happened in the year 1958 provided assistance to the increasing numbers of U.S. missionaries. Due to such events, the missionaries were allowed to travel anywhere in China, and they were free to proselytize. Moreover, many schools were established, which allowed more missionaries to enter China. In the latter half of the 19th century, there was seen an increase in the female U.S. Protestant missionaries as the Treaties permitted the foreign women in China (Adshead 101). These women aimed to modernize initiatives and convert Chinese women to Christianity. Due to all of this, there were seen many anti-foreign and anti-Christian riots within China. Several Chinese were united against the missionaries, such as the Boxer Uprising. It was seen between 1899 and 1901, where the foreigners were targeted and killed. As it became a life threat, a few missionaries started leaving China (Hersey 212). There is no doubt that the U.S.-Sino relation started with America restricted in the 1830s, however, the relation evolved by 1900, which in turn, allowed the U.S. great freedom and missionary rights in China (Cohen 33). It must be considered that the anti-foreign and anti-Christian sentiment as well as violent outbursts in China at that time. Despite all of this, the relation between the two countries was rocky. However, the only difference is in this time the militarily powerful U.S. was able to dictate the terms of U.S.-Sino relations. To understand the U.S.-Sino relations in the history of between 1830 and 1900, U.S.-Sino relations can be considered as educators, interpreters, and intermediaries. U.S. Involvement in Japan in the 19th century In the 19th century, the United States was seen to rely on mechanics and engineers; meanwhile, Japan used to rely upon learning the European technology. Due to the sugar plantations opening in Hawai in the late 19th century, several Japanese immigrated. In the year 1898, Hawai became the part of the U.S. in which the Japanese were the most significant part of the population (Reischauer 34). In 1907, the immigration from Japan was ended, however, still, the numbers were the largest. The Boxer Rebellion was ended in the year 1900 by the corporation of Japan and the U.S. However; the U.S came into trouble when Japan denied the Open Door Policy (Miller 77). Considering President Theodore Roosevelt, he played a prominent role in 1905 and 1906 to negotiate and end the conflict of war between Japan and Russia. The matter of fact is that the aim of President Theodore Roosevelt was not too angry Japan by banning their immigration into the U.S., such as in China. Due to this, in 1907, a Gentlemen's Agreement was made in which Japan had to stop emigrating the Japanese labourers to Hawai or U.S. However, the agreement remained effective only till the year 1925 when immigration from Japan was set to ban, which in turn, resulted in making Japan angry (Reischauer 65). The California Land Law of 1913 was not to allow the non-citizens to own any land which was much protested by the Japanese government. Considering the American Protestant missionaries, they were quite active in Japan, but they could only convert a few. The 1920s and World War 1. The matter of fact is that both Japan and the United States were on the Allied side during the First World War. By cooperating with the United Kingdom, the military of Japan was able to take control of German bases in the Pacific and China. There is no doubt that the aggressive role of Japan to deal with China was considered as a continual source of tension. The Twenty-One Demands of Japan on China in the year 1915 led to considerable tension (Ch'en 41). Due to the demands made by Japa...