An Analysis on Meiji Japan's"War Propaganda"after the Outbreak of the First Sino-Japanese War
Following the outbreak of the First Sino-Japanese War,the Meiji government of Japan issued the Edict Declaring War on Qing,prompting a wave of publications titled"True Accounts of the Sino-Jap-anese War"from various sectors of Japanese society.These works not only informed the Japanese pub-lic about the course of the war but also assigned full blame for its outbreak to China.In this context,Ja-pan utilized the concept of International Lawto present its intervention in Korean affairs as a means of"assisting Korea in achieving independence",thereby crafting an image of itself as a"civilized"and"peaceful"nation,while depicting China as"barbaric"and"backward".Additionally,Japanese schol-ars promoted the historical narrative of"Zheng Chenggong's resistance against the Qing",framing the First Sino-Japanese War as a continuation of this anti-Qing struggle,with Taiwan of China being iden-tified as a target for occupation.This approach illustrates Japan's efforts to rationalize its war involve-ment through"war propaganda",despite evident distortions of the truth.As Japan achieved successive victories in the conflict,the elements of this propaganda began to resonate with Toyotomi Hideyoshi's Imjin War and the expansionist ambitions of the late Edo period.This led the Japanese public to recog-nize that Hideyoshi's unfinished"mission"was progressively being realized,further strengthening na-tional pride and accelerating Japan's imperialistic pursuits.
The First Sino-Japanese WarChinaJapanWar Propaganda
NETL
NSTL
万方数据
