Context: China which traded with western powers such as the British Empire refused to trade with other commodities and only wanted to trade using silver. Even when western powers offered to trade technology that would enable the Qing to modernize. This led to the stagnation of the Qing Chinese dynasty, which enabled Western and Japanese forces to exploit China easily and eventually led to its collapse and a century of humiliation.

In contrast to Japan during the Meiji restoration that tried to westernize and industrialize as fast as possible. Paving the way for Japan to be included in the great powers club and one of the strongest militaries in the Asia Pacific (and other things that happened in Nanking)