Why did Japan and China pursue different policies toward industrialization?

Question

I'm wondering what's the difference between the two

Answer 1

Japan closed itself off from the outside world for a couple of hundred of years and China followed a more open approach.  

Answer 2

china is more traditon thus makes progress slowly in terms of changing tradition and japan doesn't really care  

Answer 3

to be blunt?

China was too populous to become a colony. Japan had to modernize because otherwise it would surely have ended up beeing a colony. The Black ships of Commodore Perry were nothing more than a wake up call.

Later on, the krach of '29 was a major factor too. The japanese light industry (textile) was obliterated. So they had to go for heavy industry. With the lack of resources, a war over Manchuria with both the sovjet union and china was inevitable. (bye the way, to get to the nearest oilfields (operated at that time)...they had to get past the americans. major factor in the 1942 attack)

Anyway, war in manchuria, war with china, enters communism...china goes for heavy industry as well.

After the war, there was the strong focus on technology in Japan. We start to see a similar thing in china.

So to make a long story short: in essence, only the timing was different.

Answer 4

China takes advantage of herpopulation to industrialize by cheap labor.  The Japanese took advantage of her intelligence, and her neighbor during Japanese imperialism.