The Meiji Restoration of 1868 was a major event in the modern history of Asia, making Japan an Asian outlier with a logic that was completely different from that of other Asian countries. Why didn't China interfere in such an important historical event? To answer this question, compare two similar countries, one is Vietnam and the other is North Korea. When Western pressure came to the two countries, both countries invariably asked the Qing for help, and the Qing Dynasty also fulfilled the due diligence of the suzerainty and sent troops to help, although the result was "helpless and the flowers fell".
Two questions arise here: First, in 1853, why did Japan not ask for help from the Qing Dynasty, the first brother in Asia, but knelt down and bowed three times? Second, why was the Qing Dynasty so slow to turn a blind eye to such a drastic turn in a vassal state within a traditional sphere of influence? **There are three possible reasons: First, Japan is only a nominal vassal state, and its evolution is independent, and it belongs to the type of overt and covert, difficult to control, and has other plans. To be more precise, Japan is neither a vassal nor a "friend", and it deliberately maintains its independence at the expense of creating antagonism, a phenomenon that has persisted until now. The "poll thermometer" of China and Japan is now freezing, 922% of Japanese people have a "bad" impression of China**Overseas Chinese in Japan Network China-Japan "poll thermometer" is now freezing, 92Second, the Qing Dynasty was slow and could not understand the changes of the times, mainly in two aspects: First, they were arrogant and felt good about themselves, and they knew nothing about the history, culture, and national psychology of neighboring countries, or they had no interest in understanding it, and second, they were ignorant of the nature and consequences of the "Restoration." In other words, the "one acre and three points of land" under the nose of the Qing Dynasty did not include Japan, which was a remote island in the eyes of the Qing Dynasty and was not a problem. Third, after two "Opium Wars", especially in 1860, when the British and French forces captured Beijing, burned the Old Summer Palace, ceded land and paid reparations, quelled the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom and the Twist Army Uprising, the Qing Dynasty ushered in the Cixi era, and was busy with foreign affairs and self-improvement, and did not pay attention to the changes in Japan. In other words, China and Japan have their own logic for modernization, but there is a difference in speed and slowness. To sum up, Japan is special in the traditional circle of influence in modern China, with a low degree of dependence, and China does not care about matters other than those directly related to its own interests.
The basic pattern of Sino-Japanese relations since the Sui and Tang dynasties is: First, as long as Japan does not look for China, China will absolutely not deal with Japan (except for Kublai Khan's conquest of Japan). Second, as long as Japan does not move North Korea, it will love wherever it goes. If in 1853, when the U.S. Perry fleet "knocked on the gates," the Qing Dynasty strongly condemned and warned the hegemonic behavior of the United States, and promised to give the necessary help to the Japanese side, it would have been a different story. Being close but not close can not only summarize Sino-Japanese relations, but also can be used to explain the character of the Japanese, the kind of withdrawn**, the characteristics of two skins on the outside and inside. In fact, the Meiji Restoration was not only advanced and sudden to Asian countries, but also unbelievable to Europeans and Americans, as if they had waited for thousands of years for this moment, so the logic of Japan's modernization is really incomprehensible.