Historical background of boycotting Japanese goods

The "boycott of Japanese goods" movement in history

It should be said that boycotting Japanese goods is an old topic in the history of China. The earliest boycott of Japanese goods was in 1908, when the Japanese navy detained Japanese ships smuggling weapons near Macau, which triggered a diplomatic dispute between China and China. Subsequently, the Guangdong Merchants Federation launched the first boycott of Japanese goods in China's modern history.

19 19 During the May 4th Movement, China launched the most vigorous boycott of Japanese goods at the Paris Peace Conference around the issue of Shandong's ownership, with obvious results.

In 19 18, Japan accounted for 44.9% of the total exports of big countries to China, but it continued to decline after 19 19, and it fell to 24.5% in 192 1 year; 1923, due to the recovery of Lushun and Dalian, Japan boycotted the resurgence of Japanese goods. At that time, Japan's exports to China only accounted for 24.2% of the total exports to China.

In the "boycott of Japanese goods" movement in China in the first half of the 20th century, the commodities involved were relatively simple, mainly cotton cloth, daily necessities and other light industrial products, including Japanese mining production in China. During this period, the direct export of Japanese capital to China on a large scale was relatively small, and the boycott was easy to happen and achieve its goal.

Boycott of Japanese goods is also helpful to the development of national industry. The competition between China and Japan in textile industry is fierce, while boycotting Japanese coarse fabrics reduces the competition with cotton mills in Shanghai, Jiangsu and Zhejiang. Nanyang Brothers Tobacco Company also made a fortune during the boycott of Japanese goods. The company has been promoting products with the theme of boycotting foreign goods and revitalizing domestic products.

China boycotted Japanese goods for the first time in the late Qing Dynasty.

1February 5, 908, the Japanese ship "Chen Er Maru" carried out arms smuggling activities in Jiuzhouyang, the territorial waters of China near Macau. The patrol boat of Guangdong Navy in the Qing Dynasty heard the news and went to search. The navy detained the crew and weapons on board and lowered the Japanese flag on board.

After this incident, on February 14, the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs accused China of violating Japan's interests and insulting the Japanese flag, and lodged a serious protest with the Qing government. Portuguese colonialists also have ulterior motives, slandering China Navy's anti-smuggling action as "infringing on Portugal's coastal rights and obstructing its sovereignty". Japan pursues its robber logic and pushes its luck. 13 on March 3rd, five unreasonable demands were put forward to the Qing government, such as the immediate release of "Chen Er Pill", the punishment of China officers and naval officers who handled the matter, public apology to Japan, compensation for all losses of Japan, and compensation for all arms carried by China on board. On March 15, the foreign affairs department of the Qing government accepted the Japanese request.

After the news reached Guangzhou, people from all walks of life were extremely angry. On March 18, 2008, thousands of people gathered in the yamen of Guangdong and Guangxi to petition, demanding that Governor Zhang state his interests to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and reject Japan's conditions. At the same time, Xu Qin and Xu Fosu called a Cantonese rally in Shanghai to advocate boycotting Japanese goods. However, the Qing government feared the enemy like a tiger and ignored it.

On March 19, Chen Huipu, president of Guangdong Chamber of Commerce, and others called a meeting attended by more than 10,000 people, and designated it as the National Shame Memorial Day. Members of the Guangdong Merchants Association proposed to launch a boycott of Japanese goods, and all the participants responded, determined to carry forward the spirit of 1905 Guangdong people's boycott of American goods and protest against Japan's criminal acts. Someone immediately proposed to investigate the situation of Japanese goods in Guangdong. Before the meeting, a businessman took the Japanese goods stored in the shop to the meeting place and burned them. After the meeting, "for a time, businessmen from all walks of life abandoned Japanese goods." More than a thousand people gathered again, holding high the banner of "saving national rights", giving speeches along the street and posting slogans such as "Don't buy Japanese goods" and "burn Japanese goods". When Wen Zongyao, the general manager of the Westernization Bureau, wanted to apologize for firing a gun at a Japanese warship, the Guangdong Chamber of Commerce led the crowd to stop him, scaring Wen Zongyao away. The masses also spontaneously held a memorial service to commemorate Feng, a patriot who committed suicide by jumping into the sea in protest against American atrocities, in order to stimulate anti-Japanese sentiment. On March 22, the Japanese ambassador to China asked the Qing court to ban Cantonese people from boycotting Japanese goods.

During this period, in Guangzhou, "Japanese goods almost withdrew from the market, and Japanese businessmen suffered countless losses." The wave of opposition to Japanese goods soon spread to Shanghai, Wuzhou, Nanning, Hong Kong and other places. "The impact is as great as that of ports in Southeast Asia and America, and it has been persistent for several years."

1908 The Guangzhou People's Boycott of Japanese Goods was initiated and led by the Guangdong Merchants Association and other merchant organizations. This is the first time that China boycotted the Japanese goods movement. From the end of March to April, in Guangzhou alone, Japanese goods imports decreased by 3 million yuan. In the past two years, 1908 and 1909, Japan's exports to China decreased by 25 million yuan and 850,000 yuan respectively compared with 1907.