From Fukoku Kyohei to Fu-Guo-Qiang-Bing: a comparative analysis of Imperial China and Japan

Abstract

Japan’s Meiji Restoration was a modernisation reform Imperial China aimed to transplant. However, China failed in applying Japan’s (Meiji) constitutionalism of Fukoku Kyohei and the institution thereof. This article examines the then social-political grounds of both China and Japan through a comparative approach to explore why China floundered whilst Japan succeeded from the perspective of institutes of constitution. The conclusion of this article is that the differences between China and Japan were underestimated, that the Imperial Court of China neglected the difficulties of the transplantation because they saw only the fruits of Fukoku Kyohei (Fu-Guo-Qiang-Bing).