An Investigation Of Japanese Agriculture By Officials And Gentry In Late Qing Dynasty (1895-1911)

After the defeat of the Sino-Japanese War in 1894,the Qing Dynasty began to face up to the rise of Japan,and its neighbors,which were close to China in cultural tradition,became the object of study strongly advocated by a large number of people of insight.As a result,under the background of urgent reform in the late Qing Dynasty to save the nation from extinction,Sino-Japanese relations became increasingly prosperous,and the upsurge of visiting Japan was set off.After witnessing the rapid rise of Japan after the Meiji Restoration,the officials and gentry of the "elite" class in the Qing Dynasty resolutely embarked on the road of crossing to Japan to investigate the best way to save the nation.The investigation involves politics and law,education,military affairs,industry and other aspects.As a large agricultural country,agriculture naturally became the focus of the investigation.Therefore,in the official gentry’s diary of the expedition to the east,we can also find relevant accounts of Japanese agriculture everywhere.This article attempts to organize and review the contents of the official gentry’s agricultural investigation in Japan in the late Qing Dynasty in two chapters after explaining the overall social background of the late Qing Dynasty through the official gentry’s diary and other supporting documents.The representative figures are used as examples to show the inspection of Japanese agriculture by the self-paid and government-dispatched officials and gentry and their different emphases.Through the official gentry’s own records,newspapers and magazines and other materials,this paper objectively analyzes Japan’s response to the investigation in the late Qing Dynasty,and shows the welcome attitude of Japanese officials and civilians to the agricultural investigation in the Qing Dynasty under the background at that time.Finally,on the basis of mastering the basic historical facts,the important role played by the government officials and gentry in the agricultural reform of the Qing Dynasty and the adjustment of China’s modern agricultural structure in the later period was comprehensively summarized.Based on the final results of the agricultural reform,the limitations of this investigation were discussed.After inspecting agriculture in Japan,officials and gentry offered suggestions to the Qing government or put themselves into the modernization of agriculture.By spreading advanced agricultural technology and introducing new production equipment,they promoted the renewal of people’s ideas and concepts in the late Qing Dynasty,promoted the establishment of new agricultural institutions and accelerated the reform of the modern agricultural education system.It played an important role in guiding the transition of agriculture from tradition to modernization in the late Qing Dynasty.Reviewing the contents of this investigation will help us understand the important role played by the "officials and gentry" in promoting the modernization of China’s agriculture,and learn from the inspection spirit of the officials and gentry,who are deeply attached to their country and spare no effort to learn modestly.