China and Japan Face the West

Britain defeated China in the Opium War of 1839–42, forcing it to open ports. In 1853 American warships forced Japan open too.

The two reacted differently. Japan's young reformers overthrew the shogun and copied Western industry and armies; China's Qing court, weakened by the Taiping rebellion, reformed too little and too late.

By 1895 Japan had beaten China, and by 1905 Russia. In 1912 China's last emperor abdicated.