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Chinese Influence On Ancient Japan

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When examining the early Chinese dynasties and ancient Japan, we can see that China was the leading and more dominant country of the two and that the Japanese copied the Chinese nature in quite a few ways. The heaviest influences China had on Japan were intellectual and technological.
Although China never actually conquered Japan, the Japanese accepted Chinas hegemony actively and enthusiastically. (Spodek 232)This was quite unlike the Vietnamese whom were conquered by China, but resented foreign hegemony, possibly because they thought it was disturbing their country’s individualism. Japan attempted to model its state religion, technology, art, and language after those of China. (Spodek 232) It was almost like Japan was China’s number one fan and wanted to mimic their every move. When waves of immigrants from Korea and China arrived in Japan between 200B.C.E. and 500 C.E. about one third of all Japan’s population claimed they were Korean or Chinese. (Spodek 233) Japanese rulers were so fond of China, they sent delegations of hundreds of members …show more content…
The Chinese writing system, for example, was laboriously adapted to the spoken language of the Japanese and provided key tools for intellectual creativity and building a more centralized political system. (Spodek 233) Most of what we know about ancient Japan is from archaeological records or references in the literature of China and Japan, written in this Chinese text. (Spodek 233) Often transmitted from China through Korea, Buddhist religious beliefs and art forms enriched Japanese culture. At the Japanese court and in the peasant villages, these new influences were blended with well-established indigenous traditions of nature worship, which came to be known as Shintoism. Because of this, the Japanese developed a unique civilization from a blend of their own culture and a selective import and mindful refashioning of Chinese influences. (Spodek

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