Kenneth Li

Euro Hist.
Period 6th
4-18-08
Ch. 37 pg. 1033-1049

I. East Asia in the Late Twentieth Century

A. Intro
1) History of East Asia divided into 2 phases since WWII.
i) Several East Asian nations became Communist but achieved only small
improvement in conditions of the peoples.
ii) Japan led way, achieving economic growth that has often been spoken
of as miraculous but can more sensibly be described as single-
minded.
2) Taiwan and South Korea began their economic development a decade or 2
later and from much lower level.
i) Viewing progress of these countries, it would appear that values of East
Asian heritage- hard work, frugality, family orientation, thirst for
education, and concern for getting ahead.
3) Communist nations, China, North Korea, and Vietnam did less well.
i) China was wracked by almost continuous political convulsions.
ii) Contrast between low productivity of Chinese in China and remarkable
productivity of same people in Hong Kong and Taiwan was
startling.
4) Vietnam plagued by wars during early decades didn’t develop at all.
i) North Korea did a bit better following end of Korean War, but South
Korea did much better.
5) Second phase of postwar East Asian history was eighties and nineties.
i) Japan’s per capita product zoomed past that Germany and that of United
States.
ii) Especially notable were advances in democracy in Taiwan and South
Korea.
6) Most marked change occurred in China even while maintaining Communist
dictatorship, introduced many features of market economy.
i) As economy grew, society changed.
ii) Only North Korea resisted changes sweeping rest of Communist world.
II. Japan
1) For Japan, already bogged down in occupation of China, decisions in 1941
to go to war with United States and its allies was desperate gamble.
i) Japan was far weaker than United States.
ii) Japanese military misread statements about how America had no
stomach for drawn-out war.
2) By early 1945, Japan was poor, hungry, and ill-clothed.
i) Yet despite wretched condition, Japanese people steeled themselves for
invasion and final battle in defense of homeland.
 ii) In early August, atomic bombs were dropped on Hiroshima and
Nagasaki and Soviet Union declared war on Japan and invaded
Manchuria.
iii) Emperor broke the deadlock, and Japan accepted Allied terms of
unconditional surrender.
3) After years of wartime propaganda, Japanese reacted with shock at fact of
surrender, deep sadness at having lost the war, relief that bombing was
over and apprehension about what would come next.
i) Receptivity to new democratic ideas and their repudiation of militarism
led one Japanese writer to label era “second opening of Japan.”
A. The Occupation
1) General Douglas MacArthur was Supreme Commander for Allied Powers in
Japan.
i) Chief concern of first phase of occupation was demilitarization and
democratization.
ii) Ultranationalist organizations were dissolved and Home Ministry was
abolished.
iii) In addition, 210,000 officers, businessmen, teachers, and officials-
leaders of wartime Japan.
2) As part of democratization, Shinto was disestablished as state religion, labor
unions were encouraged, and holding companies of zaibatsu combines were
dissolved.
i) Most radical undertaking was land reform that expropriated landlord
holdings and sold them to landless tenants at fractional cost.
ii) Needless to say, some of these reforms merely accelerated changes
already underway in Japan, and all reforms depended on
cooperation.
3) None was more important than new constitution, written by Government
Section of MacArthur’s headquarters and passed into law by Japanese
Diet.
4) Changed Japan’s polity in 5 respects:
i) British-style parliamentary state was established in which cabinet
became committee of majority party of coalition in Diet. New
constitution also added American style independent judiciary and
federal system of prefectures with elected governors and local
leaders.
ii) Women were given the vote.
iii) Rights of life, liberty, pursuit of happiness, free press, and free
assembly guaranteed.
iv) Article 9, no-war clause, stipulated “The Japanese people forever
renounce war as sovereign right of nation” and will never maintain
“land, sea, and air force” or “other war potential.”
v) Constitution defined new role for emperor as “symbol of state deriving
his position from will of people with whom resides sovereign
power.”
 5) Japanese people accepted new constitution and embraced democracy with
uncritical enthusiasm.
i) Had been readied for the changed status of the emperor by speech on
Jan. 1 1946, in which he renounced all claims to divinity.
ii) By late 1960s most Japanese had come to feel considerable affection
for Emperor Hirohito who had shared their wartime and postwar
hardship.
6) By end of 1947, most of planned reforms had been carried out.
i) To create climate in which new democracy could take root and flourish,
occupation in its second phase turned to Japan’s economic
recovery.
ii) United States also gave Japan 2$ billion in economic aid.
7) Outbreak of Korean War in 1950 marked start of 3rd and final phase of
occupation.
i) By time Japan regained its sovereignty in April 1952, effect of
changeover was hardly noticeable in daily life of Japanese people.
ii) Although attacked by the left, security treaty became cornerstone of
Japan’s minimalist defense policy.
B. Parliamentary Politics
1) In 1945, Japan had parliamentary potential that harked back to rise of part
power in Diet between 1890 and 1932.
i) Had the country been occupied by Soviet Union efficiency of its
bureaucracy, its wartime economic planning organs, its educated
and disciplined work force, and its receptivity to change Communist
state.
2) Japan’s postwar politics can be divided into 3 periods.
i) First, from 1945 to 1955, was continuation of prewar party politics as
modified to fit new political environment.
ii) Japanese Socialist Party, which won 26 percent of vote in 1947, was
heir of moderate prewar socialist party, which had received 9
percent of vote in 1937.
iii) Yoshida had been ardent imperialist but he had favored close ties with
Britain and United States had opposed rise of militarism.
iv) Pro-business and anti-Communist, he was so autocratic in his dealings
with bureaucrats and lesser politicians that he was nicknamed
“one-man Yoshida.”
3) Long second period from 1955 to 1993 has been called one and half party
system.
i) Held power throughout this period, the “LDP”
ii) Had split in 2 in 1951 and come back together in 1955.
4) What did it mean to have one-party rule fore 38 years?
i) In immediate postwar years, strength of conservatives was simply
continuation of prewar constituencies.
ii) It was widely recognized as more able than other parties.
iii) Rule by single party for such long period provided for an unusual
continuity in government policies.
 iv) From 1955 to 1960, Japanese politics was marked by ideological strife.
v) These leaders rather highhandedly modified several occupation reforms
recentralized police, strengthened central government control over
education, and even considered a revision of constitution.
vi) After 1960, confrontations politics declined.
vii) These moves inaugurated more peaceful era.
viii) In many areas a consensus emerged as LDP consulted opposition
politicians before presenting bills to Diet.
5) Another trend was steady decline in LDP popular vote form 63 percent in
1955 to 55 percent in 1963, to 43 percent in 1976.
i) By late seventies conservatives faced possibility that they would have to
form coalition to stay in power.
ii) For next 14 years party enjoyed a stable majority in powerful Lower
house of Diet and maintained its rule.
6) Even though it received less than half of popular vote, LDP maintained its
Diet majority because its opposition fragmented.
i) In 1964, Value Creating Society, a Nichiren Buddhist sect that grew to
include almost on-tenth of Japanese population, formed Clean
Government Party.
ii) Competition at polls between candidates from these smaller opposition
parties benefited larger LDP.
7) Third era of politics began with 1993 election in which established parties
lost ground.
i) Biggest loser in election was Japanese Socialist Party, which dropped
from 136 to 70 seats.
ii) Death of socialist ideology was confirmed when socialists joined LDP
in coalition government.
iii) Whether single conservative party would reemerge to govern in future,
or whether future governments would be based on coalitions, remained in
hands of Japanese electorate.
C. Economic Growth
1) Extraordinary story of economic rise of East Asia after World War II began
with Japan.
i) Shipbuilding, machine tools, steel, heavy chemicals, automobiles, and
consumer electronics and optics led the way.
ii) By late 1970s Sony, Toyota, Honda, Panasonic, Toshiba, Seiko, and
Canon were known throughout world for quality of their products.
2) Several factors explain this growth.
i) International situation was also favorable: oil was cheap, access to raw
materials and export markets was easy, and American sponsorship
gained Japan early entry into the World Bank, etc.
3) Revolution in education contributed as well.
i) By the early 1980s, almost all middle school graduates went on to high
school and almost 40 percent of high school graduates went on to
higher education, a percentage equal to higher European nations.
 ii) This upgrading of human capital and channeling of its best minds into
productive careers let Japan tap the huge backlog of technology
that had developed in United States during and after the war years.
4) Another factor was abundance of high-quality, cheap labor.
i) Immediately after war about 47 percent of Japan’s labor force was in
agriculture by 1996, less than 6 percent worked on land.
ii) Industrial workers in Japan during immediate postwar decades were
more highly unionized than those in United States, but basic
component of labor organization was company-based union rather than a trade
union.
5) Government aided manufacturers with tariff protection, foreign exchange,
and special depreciation allowances.
i) Small budgets for defense spending and welfare enabled government to
keep corporate taxes low.
ii) Critics who spoke of “Japan Inc” as though Japan were a single
gigantic corporation overstated the case: competition between
companies in Japan was fierce, but government was more supportive
of business than it was regulative.
6) By 1973 Japanese economy had become mature.
i) Behind statistic of slower growth was change in composition of
economy: smoke stack industries declined while service industries,
pharmaceuticals, specialty chemicals, scientific equipment,
computers, and robots grew.
ii) These policies led to friction and demands from United States and
Europe that they be abolished.
7) Even slower growth or no growth at all characterized the nineties.
i) In 1991 the “bubble” burst: land prices dropped by 30 percent or more,
and stocks owned shares or bought property at exaggerated prices
felt poorer; banks that had made housing or margin loans incurred
huge losses.
ii) Some small companies went bankrupt, large companies restructured
and cut their research budgets, some workers were laid off or
retired early, and fewer new graduates were hired.
8) As recession-bound Japan approached twenty-first century, observers asked
why Japanese government dillydallied, taking only palliative measures.
i) Another was absence of national consensus in favor of bailout.
ii) They increased their savings and hoped that Japan would muddle
through.
D. Society and Culture
1) Triple engines of change in postwar Japan were occupation reforms,
economic growth, and rapid expansion of higher education.
i) In 1995 one aberrant and apocalyptic cult released nerve gas in Tokyo
subway, leaving Japanese shocked that something so “un-
Japanese” can happen.
 ii) Middle-class parents of high school students saw after-school jobs as
appalling waste of precious time that might better be used for
study.
2) Yet ability of society to absorb strains and to lend support to individual was
also impressive.
i) Lifetime employment gave both workers and salaried employees a
feeling of security.
ii) Of children born in Japan, 1.1 percent was to unwed mothers; in
United States figure was 30.1 percent.
iii) Despite crowded housing and social pressures, by most objective
measures society was stable and healthy.
3) Even apart from recession economy however, there were several clouds on
the horizon.
i) They asked whether changes could be made in time.
ii) After 2015, when baby boomers retire, Japan will have higher
percentage of non-working old than any other society in the world.
4) Great tradition of Japanese art continued in poetry, painting, the tea
ceremony, flower arrangement, and Kabuki and No theaters.
i) Films by Itami Juzo- Tampopo and A Taxing Woman- combined humor
and biting satire.
III. China
1) Story of China after 1949 might begin with four Ma’s: Malthus, Marx, Ma
Yin-ch’u and Mao Tse-tung.
i) Mao Tse-tung, faithfully following teachings of Marx, purged Ma and
closed down population institutes at Chinese universities.
ii) In face of crisis, in 1981 Chinese government adopted national policy
ran contrary to the deep rooted Chinese sense of family but argued
that without it China’s future would be bleak.
A. Soviet Period (1950-1960)
1) Civil war in China ended in1949 as last troops of Chiang Kai-shek fled to
Taiwan.
i) Decade that followed is often called the “Soviet Period” b/c Soviet
model was adopted for government, the army, the economy, and
higher education.
2) First step taken by Communist government was military consolidation.
i) Tiber, for example, was seized in 1950.
ii) They were occupied by Chinese army and were settled by sufficient
number of Chinese immigrants to change ethnic complexion.
3) Political consolidation followed.
i) Most powerful elite was Communist Party.
ii) He ruled through Standing Committee of Political Bureau of party’s
Central Committee.
iii) Party expanded from 2.7 million members in 1947 to 17 million in
1961.