How Japan Succeeded in its Economic Takeoff (and not China)

This article explores the economic development strategies implemented by Japan and China in the 19th century, focusing on the reasons for Japan's success and the difficulties encountered by China. It examines the importance of cultural and institutional reforms, drawing on the Japanese example and drawing parallels with the influence of Protestantism on economic development in Europe.

The Chinese Challenge: How to Catch Up with the West? ▶ 0:00

In the 19th century, imperial China faced unprecedented humiliation at the hands of Western powers. After the Opium Wars, the Qing empire was forced to recognize its military and technological weakness. The emperor then entrusted his mandarins with a crucial mission: to understand the foundations of Western power and develop a plan to enable China to catch up and regain its dominant position. This challenge involved questioning centuries of traditions and certainties. Chinese leaders had to analyze the strengths and weaknesses of their own system, identify the key elements of Western success, and devise a strategy adapted to the Chinese context. The central question was how to transform a thousand-year-old empire into a modern power capable of competing with Western nations.

Map of Europe with sailing ships, symbolizing Western maritime power

Escaping the Malthusian Trap: The Economic Imperative ▶ 2:29

For millennia, human societies have been trapped in a cycle of economic stagnation known as the Malthusian trap. To escape it, economic growth would have to be so strong that it outstripped population growth for several generations. In the 19th century, some European countries managed to break this cycle, significantly increasing the standard of living of their populations. For China, the goal was not only to modernize its army, but to find a way out of the Malthusian trap and enter an era of sustained economic growth. China needed to identify the factors that had enabled Europe to become wealthy and adapt them to its own context.

One explanation often put forward for Europe's economic development is the exploitation of colonies and the use of slave labor. However, a closer analysis reveals that the reality is more complex. England, for example, was not the largest colonial empire at the start of the industrial revolution. Spain and Portugal possessed larger and richer empires, but their economic growth was much slower. These examples suggest that there is no direct correlation between the size of a colonial empire and economic prosperity. For China, adopting an imperialist policy would therefore be risky and potentially counterproductive.

The Chinese Self-Strengthening Movement: A Technological Approach ▶ 14:07

Faced with the Western threat, Chinese leaders implemented a self-strengthening plan to modernize the country. This plan was based on the idea that Western success was due to international trade and technological advances. The top priority was therefore to modernize the army by adopting Western technologies. European engineers were recruited, Western weapons were purchased, and students were sent to Europe for training. At the same time, the government encouraged the adoption of Western technologies in civil society. An important aspect of this plan was the desire to preserve Chinese culture. The motto was "Chinese learning for the essence, Western learning for the application". However, when China went to war with Japan in 1894, it suffered a humiliating defeat, revealing the limitations of the Chinese self-strengthening plan.

Meiji Era Japan: A Cultural and Institutional Revolution ▶ 16:41

Unlike China, Japan experienced remarkable success in its modernization. As early as 1905, Japan managed to defeat the Russian Empire in a conventional war. This success was due to a strengthening plan initiated in 1868. What distinguishes Japan from China is its ability to understand the true mechanisms of Western success. The Japanese intellectual Yukichi Fukuzawa played a key role in this understanding. During his travels, Fukuzawa was struck by the importance of social equality and individual responsibility. Based on these observations, Fukuzawa and other Japanese reformers implemented a series of radical reforms aimed at transforming Japan's culture and institutions. The first step was the destruction of social classes. The second step was the importation of Western ideas, such as individual responsibility. The third step was the transformation of Japanese institutions and laws to align them with Western standards.

Culture and Economic Development: Lessons from Japan and Protestantism ▶ 26:57

Japan's success shows that economic development depends not only on the adoption of Western technologies, but also on a profound cultural and institutional transformation. Japan understood that to compete with the West, it had to adopt its ideas and values, such as equality, individual responsibility and respect for the law. There is a strong correlation between Protestantism and economic development. At the beginning of the 20th century, the richest countries in the world were historical strongholds of Protestantism.

Map of Europe showing the distribution of the Protestant Reformation between 1545 and 1620

Protestantism conveyed ideas about work, saving, investment and entrepreneurship that were particularly compatible with the development of capitalism. The real secret of the Europeans was therefore to create a culture that allows and legitimizes the full exercise of capitalism.

---\n\nThis article is based on the YouTube video "Comment le Japon a réussi son décollage économique (et pas la Chine)" from the Thinkerview channel.