Urs Matthias Zachmann's work provides a systematic overview and assessment of changing attitudes in the discourse of Japanese newspapers toward China between 1895 and 1904, a tumultuous decade bookended by significant wars (the Sino-Japanese War of 1894–95 and the Russo-Japanese War of 1904–5). The structure of this book is clear and straightforward—Zachmann takes landmark events during this period and devotes a chapter to each event to gauge the transformation of Japanese newspapers' coverage and representation of political events in China. Of course, Japanese representations of China reflect much about Japan as well, in terms of its self-perception and rise in power. At the same time, changing depictions of China demonstrate Japan's changing relationship with the Western powers.
In the introduction, Zachmann sets up the overall framework, which is founded on the notion of “the Japanese public's attitude” (p. 3) or “public opinion” (p. 7) toward China. The author knows that these terms are problematic, and he is careful in providing sufficient qualification to consolidate a meaningful definition. According to the introduction, “the Japanese public” (p. 3) and other related terms are based on his central sources, six major Tokyo newspapers. Other newspapers and magazines in Japan, China, and the West are also used to a lesser extent, and the reader can gain insight into the world of international relations and journalism. In other words, “the public” (p. 6) is composed of the political elite, and frequently, anonymous writers. As long as the reader keeps in mind the scope of Zachmann's sources and his objectives, his use of the word “public” is less troubling.
In the body chapters, Zachmann covers the 1895–1904 period by focusing on well-known major events—the Sino-Japanese War, the Far Eastern Crisis, the Hundred Days Reform, and the Boxer Incident. Zachmann first discusses the late Tokugawa and early Meiji attitudes toward China before the Sino-Japanese War, during which Chinese culture remained well loved by elites, while Chinese politics caused Japan to see China as the enemy in Asia. Immediately after the Sino-Japanese War, Japan began a decade-long “postwar management” (p. 32) armament program. The press during this time happily reported on the Japanese success against China, and predictably began to perceive Japan as being elevated over China by Western standards of civilization and power.
In 1897–98, the Far Eastern Crisis precipitated a shift in the policy of the Western powers, moving from a restrained China policy to increased willingness to use force before law and diplomacy. The crisis led to greater rapprochement between China and Japan, while public opinion converged on a China policy that sought to protect and civilize China. The Hundred Days Reform in China received little attention from the Japanese press at the time, but after its failure, China continued to lose legitimacy and sovereignty in the eyes of Japan, whose discourse painted Chinese reform as hopeless and increasingly placed Japan among the ranks of the Western powers. Furthermore, after the Hundred Days Reform, China was largely dismissed as a worthy opponent of Japan, and Japanese public opinion began to focus on Russia as the next potential enemy.
The last body chapter deals with the Boxer Rebellion and its aftermath. War reports in the newspapers embellished Japanese military achievements and placed Japan in competition with the Western powers, essentially dismissing China on the international stage. Despite changing power relations, Zachmann maintains that even after full-fledged war with China began in 1937, the façade of Sino-Japanese friendship remained. Zachmann concludes by reminding the reader “to distrust verbal and symbolic excesses that so frequently disrupt public discourse” (p. 162) for a more nuanced view of Sino-Japanese relations.
However, this informative and well-researched book is ill represented by its title, which is excessively generic. The subtitle is also misleading because although the book focuses on Japanese newspaper discourse, the link between discourse and real diplomatic policy is not made entirely clear. A few Japanese thinkers and policy makers wrote newspaper opinions that elicited further responses in the press, but in later chapters, the press seems to be less capable of driving policy. Another issue is the minimal role of the military, which is glossed over by an emphasis on the Sino-Japanese friendship, even as Japan and China were on the path to war.
Zachmann's work, in describing and analyzing Japanese discourse about China, provides good coverage of the historical narrative leading up to and during these events. He offers succinct summaries of the events themselves before devoting most of his attention to parsing newspaper opinions. This book effectively presents the complex and dynamic relationship between Japanese ideas about China, Japanese self-perception, real power, and an ever-present awareness of the gaze of the West. This is important reading for students of modern Chinese, Japanese history, and would provide helpful background information for students of Korean and Taiwanese history as well.
