The history of China–Japan relations spans thousands of years through trade, cultural exchanges, friendships, and conflicts. Japan has deep historical and cultural ties with China; cultural contacts throughout its history have strongly influenced the nation – including its writing system, architecture, cuisine, culture, literature, religion, philosophy, and law. China, in return, has been deeply influenced by Japan.
The first mention of the Japanese archipelago was in the Chinese historic text Book of the Later Han, in the year 57, in which it was noted that the Han dynasty gave a golden seal to Wa. During the Sui dynasty and Tang dynasty, Japan sent many students on a limited number of Imperial embassies to China. In 663 the Battle of Baekgang took place, the first China–Japan conflict in recorded history. Japan sought ties with China after the fall of the Paekche, with whom Japan was closely allied. Trade began with the two nations, and important elements were brought back from China, including Buddhist teachings, Chinese customs and culture, bureaucracy, architecture and city planning. Japan attempted to invade Korea in the 16th century, but was defeated by Joseon and the Ming dynasty. Direct trade with China was limited by the Tokugawa shogunate after 1633, when Japan decided to close all direct links with the foreign world.
Large-scale trade between the two nations began in the 1860s. After old Tokugawa shogunate was overthrown during the Meiji Restoration, Japan rapidly modernized and started to see the Qing dynasty as weak. Japan achieved victory in the First Sino-Japanese War of 1894–95, forcing China to sign the Treaty of Shimonoseki, forcing China to recognize the independence of Korea and cede Taiwan and the Penghu Islands to Japan. Japanese troops participated in the suppression of the Boxer Rebellion in 1900. Many Chinese students had also studied in Japan and was also used as a base by Chinese political activists to overthrow the imperial Qing dynasty in 1912. Following the outbreak of the First World War in 1914, Japan occupied the German colony of Qingdao and secretly demanded extensive concessions from China. Though forced to back down, Japan provided financial support to China through the Nishihara Loans, and pressured China into signing the secret Sino-Japanese Joint Defence Agreement in 1918. in 1919, China was refused a return of the former German concessions, leading to the May Fourth Movement.
In 1931, the Japanese army staged the Mukden Incident, using it as justification to invade northeast China and establish the puppet state Manchukuo. Between 1931 and 1937 there were intermittent clashes. In July 1937, the conflict escalated after the Marco Polo Bridge incident, marking the beginning of the Second Sino-Japanese War. Japan made rapid territorial advancements in China and committed numerous war crimes, including the Nanjing Massacre and Unit 731. After the defeat of Japan in 1945, China regained all lost territories. After the establishment of the People's Republic of China in 1949, relations were tense, with Japan continuing to recognize the Republic of China based in Taiwan. Japan established diplomatic relations with the PRC in 1972. Since then, trade has expanded greatly between the two nations and despite geopolitical disagreements are generally at peace with each other.
First evidence of Japan in Chinese historical records AD 1–300
The first mention of the Japanese archipelago was in the Chinese historic text Book of the Later Han, in the year 57, in which it was noted that the Emperor of the Han dynasty gave a golden seal to Wa (Japan). The King of Na gold seal was discovered in northern Kyūshū in the eighteenth century. From then on Japan was repeatedly recorded in Chinese historical texts, at first sporadically, but eventually continuously as Japan matured into a notable power in the region.
There is a Chinese tradition that the first Chinese Emperor, Qin Shi Huang, sent several hundred people to Japan to search for medicines of immortality. Xu Fu was sent by Qin Shi Huang to the eastern seas twice to look for the elixir of life.Lee, Khoon Choy Lee. Choy, Lee K. (1995). Japan--between Myth and Reality: Between Myth and Reality. World Scientific publishing. , . His two journeys occurred between 219 BC and 210 BC. It was believed that the fleet included 60 barques with soldiers, ship crewmen, and 3,000 boys and 3,000 girls, and craftsmen of different fields. The Japanese historian Ino Okifu identifies Emperor Jimmu of Japan with Xu Fu.Liu, Hong. The Chinese Overseas: Routledge Library of Modern China. Published by Taylor & Francis, (2006). ISBN 0-415-33859-X, 9780415338592. The Yayoi period started around the time of his supposed arrival.Lee, Khoon Choy Lee. Choy, Lee K. (1995). Japan--between Myth and Reality: Between Myth and Reality. World Scientific publishing. . During the third century, Chinese travelers reported that inhabitants of Japan claimed ancestry from Wu Taibo, a king of the Wu state (located in modern Jiangsu and Zhejiang) during the Warring States era.Encounters of the Eastern Barbarians, Wei Chronicles They recorded examples of Wu traditions including ritual teeth-pulling, tattooing and carrying babies on backs. Other records at the time show that Japan already had the same customs recognized today. These include clapping during prayers, eating from wooden trays and eating raw fish (also a traditional custom of Jiangsu and Zhejiang before pollution made this impractical). Kofun era traditions appear in the records as the ancient Japanese built earthen mound tombs.
The first Japanese personage mentioned by the Wei Zhi (Records of Wei) is Himiko, the female shaman leader of a country with hundreds of states called Yamataikoku. Modern historical linguists believe Yamatai was actually pronounced Yamato.
Introduction of Chinese political system and culture in Japan AD 600–900
During the Sui dynasty and Tang dynasty, Japan sent many students on a limited number of Imperial embassies to China, to help establish its own footing as a sovereign nation in northeast Asia. After the fall of the Korean confederated kingdom of Baekje (with whom Japan was closely allied) to combined Tang and Silla forces, Japan was forced to seek out the Chinese state on its own, which in those times was a treacherous undertaking, thus limiting the successes of Japanese overseas contacts during this time.
Important elements brought back from China (and some which were transmitted through Baekje to Japan) included Buddhist teachings, Chinese customs and culture, bureaucracy, architecture and city planning. The Japanese kimono is very similar to the clothing of the Tang dynasty, and many historians believe that the Japanese started wearing robes like what Tang royalty wore, eventually adapting the garb to match Japanese culture. The capital city of Kyoto was also planned according to Feng Shui elements from the Chinese capital of Chang'an. During the Heian period, Buddhism became one of the major religions, alongside Shinto.
The use of the Chinese model of Imperial government ceased by the tenth century, overtaken by traditional Japanese clan and family rivalries (Soga–Mononobe, Taira–Minamoto).
First recorded China–Japan battle In AD 663 the Battle of Baekgang took place, the first China–Japan conflict in recorded history. The battle was part of the ancient relationships between the Korean Three Kingdoms, the Japanese Yamato, and Chinese dynasties. The battle itself came near the conclusion of this period with the fall of Baekje, one of the three Korean kingdoms, coming on the heels of this battle.
The background of that large battle involves Silla (one of the Korean kingdoms) trying to dominate the Korean Peninsula by forging an alliance with the Tang dynasty, who were trying to defeat Goguryeo, an ongoing conflict that dated back to the Sui dynasty. At the time, Goguryeo was allied to Baekje, the third major Korean kingdom. Yamato Japan supported Baekje earnestly with 30,000 troops and sending Abe no Hirafu, a seasoned general who fought the Ainu in campaigns in eastern and northern Japan. As part of Silla's efforts to conquer Baekje, the battle of Baekgang was fought between Tang China, Baekje, Silla, and Yamato Japan.
The battle itself was a catastrophic defeat for the Yamato forces. Some 300 Yamato vessels were destroyed by a combined Silla–Tang fleet of half the number of ships, and thus the aid to Baekje from Yamato could not help on land, having been defeated at sea. Baekje fell shortly thereafter, in the same year.
Once Baekje was defeated, both Silla and Tang focused on the more difficult opponent, Goguryeo, and Goguryeo fell in 668 AD. For the most part, Silla, having been rivals with Baekje, also was hostile to Yamato Japan, which was seen as a brother state to Baekje, and this policy continued (with one pause between roughly AD 670–730) after Silla united most of what is now Korea and repelled Tang China from what is now the Korean peninsula. Yamato Japan was left isolated for a time and found itself having to forge ties with mainland Asia on its own, having had the most safe and secure pathway obstructed by a hostile Silla.
The prosperities of maritime trading 600–1600 Marine trades between China and Japan are well recorded, and many Chinese artifacts could be excavated. Baekje and Silla sometimes played the role of middleman, while direct commercial links between China and Japan flourished.
After 663 (with the fall of allied Baekje) Japan had no choice (in the face of hostility from Silla, which was temporarily deferred in the face of Tang imperialism – as Tang imperialism posed a threat both to Japan and unified Silla – but resumed in after 730 or so) but to directly trade with the Chinese dynasties. At first the Japanese had little long-range seafaring expertise of their own but eventually (some suggest with the aid of Baekje expatriates who fled their country when it fell) the Japanese improved their naval prowess as well as the construction of their ships.
The ports of Ningbo and Hangzhou had the most direct trading links to Japan and had Japanese residents doing business. The Ming dynasty decreed that Ningbo was the only place where Japanese–Chinese relations could take place. Ningbo, therefore, was the destination of many Japanese embassies during this period. After going into Ningbo they then went to other cities in China. In 1523, two rival embassies were sent to Ningbo by Japan, then in a state of civil war known as the Sengoku period. One of the emissaries was a Chinese, Song Suqing, who had moved to Japan earlier. A hundred Japanese monks visited in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, visiting, making contact with Chinese literati in Ningbo, Beijing, Hangzhou, Suzhou, Nanjing, the valley of the Huai and Tianjin. Song Suqing became involved in a disagreement with a rival Japanese trade delegation, which led to the Ningbo incident where the Japanese pillaged and plundered in the vicinity of Ningbo before escaping in stolen ships, defeating a Ming pursuing flotilla on the way. In retaliation the port of Ningbo was closed to the Japanese and two more Japanese missions were received (in 1540 and 1549) until the end of the Ming dynasty. Direct trade with China was limited by the Tokugawa shogunate after 1633, when Japan decided to close all direct links with the foreign world, with the exception of Nagasaki which had Dutch and Chinese trading posts. Some trading was also conducted by the Shimazu clan of Satsuma province through the Ryukyu Islands and with the Ainu of Hokkaido.
Japanese piracy on China's coasts and Mongol invasions 1200–1600