Qing China, Korea, and Japan responded differently to foreign pressure. China was accustomed to viewing itself as the Middle Kingdom and regional center, so admitting that foreign methods were needed carried an unusual political and cultural cost. Korea had a longer tradition of operating within an unequal regional relationship, while Japan's coercive encounter with the United States had already demonstrated the price of technological weakness. The comparison explains why access to machinery alone could not determine the pace of military and industrial reform.
Notable Point · 41:40-43:17
The Middle Kingdom's modernization barrier
China's historic position as the dominant regional power made foreign assistance and institutional imitation politically harder to accept.