ABSTRACT
This chapter summarizes Japan-China relations from the early modern period up to 1949, focusing on political and diplomatic relations. A discussion of early modern relations between Japan and China must begin with the official trade relations that were limited to Nagasaki. The Tokugawa shogunate lost the benefits from Nagasaki trade, so to remedy the situation, the Nagasaki and Hakodate magistrates petitioned for trade and consular facilities and sent the Senzai-maru and other Western vessels of the shogunate to try to ship the products directly to Shanghai, but the Meiji Restoration arrived before they could obtain favorable results. The Meiji government, seeking to enter into diplomatic relations with the Qing dynasty, continued its contacts with Peking via Shanghai. Japan and China established legations based on the Sino-Japanese Friendship and Trade Treaty. Japan and Qing China both defined their national boundaries through negotiations with Western countries in the latter half of the nineteenth century.
