The countries of China and Japan share numerous similarities other than their

geographical proximity. They both have established extremely rich cultures and
great senses of national identity. Their histories have crossed paths during several
periods since both civilizations have existed for such a long times. The countries
also share similar religions and value systems, which have influenced each other.
However, despite all of these similarities the recent history of these two countries
has caused them to diverge into two very distinct modern civilizations. A great
factor in this divergence is the extreme differences in the evolution of each
countrys economic policy.
The Chinese civilization is one of the oldest in the world. The Xia dynasty, Chinas
first, existed as long ago as 2200 B.C. Up until the early twentieth century China
remained a world leader in arts and sciences. However, famine, civilian uprising,
and foreign occupation crippled the nation in years to come. After World War II,
Mao Zedong installed a communist dictatorship which allowed China to be
sovereign but constricted the rights of the people to a great extent. One of Maos
successors, Deng Xiaoping allowed the modernization of China to begin around
1978. He began to move the Chinese economy away from the planned socialism of
Mao towards a market socialism which could carry them into the next century. He
began to decentralize economic decision-making while keeping stringent political
control. This led to an enormous growth of GDP, placing China second in world rank
behind the U.S. China continues to contain the largest population in the world,
despite efforts to curb population growth by regulating births per family since the
1970s. China also maintains the worlds largest standing army.
Meanwhile, Japans history led the civilization down a much different path. Because
of Japans geographical isolation as an island, for much of its history it existed as a
closed cell. After the Meiji restoration in the late 1860s, Japan began to adopt
many types of Western technologies which would eventually enable substantial
growth. After being devastated in World War II, Japan began use of a democratic
parliament system installed by British and American forces. For the decades
following the war, Japan experienced unbridled growth fueled by an unparalleled
collective work ethic, national pride of culture, relatively new found technology, and
the governments ability to collect capital from international sources. The 1990s
saw slowed growth especially in the recession which struck between 1997 and 1998
mostly because of financial difficulties in the Japanese banking system. However,
government spending began to stabilize the economy in 1999.
Japan is home to approximately 1/10 the population of China. It is technically a
constitutional monarchy with the emperor still on the throne acting as a figurehead
to maintain a sense of surviving tradition. Much of the power lies in the hands of
business executives and politicians. Japans rugged, mountainous landscape allows
for minimal agricultural productivity so economic policy has been an integral part of
the countrys unbelievable growth. Japanese culture instills a strong sense of
loyalty to family work and country which is an important intangible. The Japanese
economic boom of the 60s, 70s, and 80s has led to a large accumulation of capital
which at first was largely invested in the U.S. but more recently has been invested
in neighboring China. A key to Japanese economic success has been their relatively
small dedication of budget to defense around 1%.
For China, philosopher Confucious developed a pattern of thought which was key
informing a sense of national identity. His ideas have had a profound impact on the
evolution of Chinese culture, government, and economics. He believed in and
practiced the highest standards of morality, yet did it all in the spirit of moderation
and harmony so admired by the Chinese. (Morton, 33). Although his ancestors

may have been aristocracy, Confucious was born into a rather plebeian family in
551 B.C. He wanted to eliminate the moral relativism of his time. In contrast to
the spirit of Confuciouss age and to the behavior of those addicted to the pursuit of
selfish whims, the gentleman must banish from his conduct and even from his
manner or expression anything savoring of violence, arrogance, or impropriety.
(Morton, 37). Confucious stressed five virtues: humanity, courtesy, honesty,
knowledge, and integrity. This laid the foundation for a restructuring of the Chinese
moral value system. This foundation still lies under present day Chinas heightened
sense of morality.
While Confucious teachings may have helped structure a stronger moral code in
China, it may have actually hindered the evolution of Chinese economics. First
Confucianism stressed agriculture while giving commerce an inconsequential role.
Also, Confucianism saw profit-making as a selfish endeavor making competition in
markets almost sinful. The way of life prescribed by Confucious included
renouncing assets and pursuing the Way. All of these aspects of Confucious
thought contributed to the inept economy preceding the revolution in China.
On the other hand, Japans value system was formed with an inherent emphasis on
refined work ethic. This value worked to help rather than hinder Japans evolution
into an Economic Power in the modern world. The aforementioned sense of loyalty
to work stems from an internalized sense of responsibility in Japanese citizens to
work for one anothers well-being. Here, more than in the family, work is self
validating in the sense of affirming ones personal achievement and maturity, and in
validating ones belonging and participation in a social group.(Eisenstadt, 538).
When they are away from their work, they identify themselves as part of their
company different to others who work elsewhere. In this way work is another
family-type unit to which the citizen belongs and gains a sense of identity from.
Since family and work are so similarly structured in life, individuals cannot help but
equate to some degree their sense of membership to each and relish their ties to
each in a similar manner. The organization and unity of Japanese companies can be
seen in rituals performed at work in the morning. The rituals reinforce the
collectivity between co-workers and give the group a sense of belonging.
Differences between Japanese and Chinese economic statistics can be traced to the
different economic systems employed by each country. For example, the GDP real
growth rate in China was about 8%, while in Japan it was 1.3% both for year 2000.
(1) Saving is mostly an individual decision under a market capitalism system
similar to Japans. When this decision is left up to the individuals in the economy it
usually results in a lower savings rate and, in turn, investment than under a mixed
socialist system like Chinas. Chinese government has the ability to control
investment rate unlike the capitalist system which deflates the role of government
in economic activity. The discrepancy between these two countries in terms of GDP
real growth can also be the result of Japans extreme growth in past decades and its
leveling off. China on the other hand still has much room for economic growth even
though they too have experienced impressive growth. Economic systems impact
on hard data can also be seen within Chinas history

In the eyes of much of the Japanese public, patriotism education in China is

synonymous with anti-Japanese education, and a source of friction. Much of that
friction, however, can be attributed to the differing roles and functions of patriotism in

the two countries as well as the variant connotations of the very word for patriotism.
In China, the communist party avails itself of the strong levels of patriotism among the
people in order to advance modernization of the country. Patriotism education is not
designed to serve as anti-Japanese education. In Japan, however, given the countrys
past role as an aggressor nation, that word has had consistently negative connotations.
Debates over its own patriotism have continued and there are accordingly inexorable
apprehensions over patriotism education in China. To address the recurrent frictions
between these two countries, both must overcome their ignorance about the differences
that Chinese and Japanese societies manifest