In a paper of at least FIVE double-spaced (standard margin and standard font) pages in length, you will be using...

In a paper of at least FIVE double-spaced (standard margin and standard font) pages in length, you will be using documents we have read in this class to compare the extent, nature, and “success” of Westernization in China and Japan. Here we will attempt to both get beyond the simple stereotype of “failed” Chinese Westernization and “successful” Japan. Both China and Japan struggled to adapt Western ideas and practices, and, if Japan was by the end of the nineteenth century more successful in translating these foreign ideas, we must ask why this might be the case. The broad question of your paper is “How did the encounter with the West in the nineteenth century shape China and Japan differently?” Your paper should focus on the following elements (although you may choose to focus more on certain aspects than others)

In what specific areas of life was the effect of Westernization felt in China and Japan (examples: trade, technology, religion etc.)? How did these affect everyday life for Chinese or Japanese people? What reactions did they provoke?

How were Western ideas, practices and movements “translated” into the Chinese and Japanese contexts? How did pre-existing cultural ideas in Japan and China influence the ways in which Western religions, ideologies, and institutions were expounded and established?

Which Western ideas and practices provoked the most unease? Why? Did this differ between China and Japan?

How did the respective governments of China and Japan react to Westernization? What different approaches were utilized at different points in time in dealing with Westerners and Western imports?

Why, ultimately, might Japan have been better able than nineteenth-century China to adapt Western beliefs and institutions?