The Sino-Japanese war which ended in Japan's brilliant victory over China had various aspects, of which we have long been unaware. First of all, the war was fought between Japanese and Chinese armies, but actually it was a war armoured by Western weapons on both sides. The Japanese army had been trained under the German military system, and her navy also had been traditionally influenced by the British navy. The Chinese armament was also Western-made. That is to say, it was a war by proxy of Western powers, therefore it was an experiment of modern western weapons and all the world watched the course of events. Japan made most of what she learned from the Western military and obtained great success. Secondly, the aftermath of the war brought remarkably important consequences. As a result of victory, Japanese imperialism began to grow, and Japan became the symbol of the most civilized country in Asia, advancing into the rank of Western powers. On the other hand, China soon lapsed into chronic anarchy, inviting Western colonization. According to the Shimonoseki peace treaty, China was obliged to pay a heavy indemnity to Japan, and had to borrow from abroad. The sum of indemnity itself was 2 hundred million taels, but because of payment for the bond to Western countries, the total sum amounted to 6 hundred million teals, and China was actually reduced to bankruptcy; financially she lay in ruins. Such being the case, although the war meant remarkable success for Japan and led her to the rank of the civilized nations, for China it meant tragic disaster and China harboured deep resentment toward Japan, which we Japanese unfortunately were unaware. The war was the opening of the dark age for China, which terminated with the defeat of Japan in the Second World War in 1945.
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