Encounter Ito Hirobumi:On Views About Japan Of Chinese Scholars In The Late Qing Dynasty

As a close neighbor of China,Japan has never been absent from the exchanges with China.Since modern times,Japanese authorities had won resounding fame through the Meiji Restoration,and started to play an important role in East Asia and even the whole world.Moreover,it became the third force apart from China and the Occident,which attracted reformist intellectuals.Although many treatises already take notice of Japanese outlook in the late Qing Dynasty,those works mostly talk in general,not knowing that people’s view of a foreign country usually rooted in the speech and behavior of its political leader.Ito Hirobumi（1841-1909）,former Japanese Prime Minister,for instance,was famous for his enterprising spirit and background of “Japanese spirit,but Western material”,that’s why he was regarded as an outstanding innovator.Especially during the Hundred Days Reform,Ito’s visit to China drew great attention from both the Qing government and the Chinese public.His advice and action weren’t only guided Westernization officials,but also inspired new reformers.However,a series of affairs show that the late Qing scholars’ attitude towards Ito had always been welcome or resistant,such as Treaty of Shimonoseki in 1895,Coup in 1898,and Assassination of Ito Hirobumi in 1909.Undoubtedly,these were all related to their views of Japan,whose power was rising rapidly.