ABSTRACT
Located in the center of the traditional world order, throughout its imperial history China had an enormous impact on neighboring countries. Japan itself has been infl uenced by the Middle Kingdom since earliest times. In particular, during Japan’s modern history, the perceived importance of its policy towards China divided Japanese public opinion. China’s changing status had obvious implications for Japan. From the mid-nineteenth to the mid-twentieth century, China was semicolonized by imperialist forces and faced almost continuous dislocation from internal and external uprisings and wars. Starting in 1949, the People’s Republic of China embarked on a three-decade experiment of socialist industrialization, which did not, however, generate unambiguous economic success.
