Normalization with the Asian Powers } 451
the Century of National Humiliation from 1839 to 1949. Japan was a key
villain in both narratives, but there were important differences. In the vic-
tor’s narrative, Japan had been defeated, its very villainy could be seen as
opening the way to revolutionary victory, and China held the high status of
shinning leader of the world revolutionary movement. In the victim’s nar-
rative, the result of Japan’s villainy was still apparent in China’s weakness
and poverty, while rich Japan was still unrepentant for its myriad injuries
against China. In 1982, the CCP launched its first anti-Japanese campaign,
excoriating Tokyo for softening the language used in textbooks to discuss
the 1930s.^40
Throughout the period of Deng’s reign, Beijing hoped that Japan would
play an important role in China’s modernization drive. Chinese leaders were
critical of the tendency of Japanese firms to invest in hotels and real estate
projects rather than in industrial manufacturing, and also the reluctance of
Japanese firms to transfer high technology to China. Yet Japan was still an
important partner in China’s Four Modernizations. During the first thirty
years of China’s opening, Japan accounted annually for an average 21.3 per-
cent of China’s total trade. Figure 16-2 illustrates Japan’s role in China’s for-
eign trade between 1978 and 2008.
On the Japanese side, the psychological burden of guilt for Japan’s aggres-
sion against China still weighed heavily on Japanese policy during the 1970s
and 1980s. This helped produce greater Japanese willingness to accommodate
China’s demands and demonstrate Japan’s friendship toward China. Japan’s
sense of collective guilt gradually diminished in the 1980s and 1990s due to a
number of factors.^41 Among these factors was Beijing’s periodic brow beating
of Japan with the history issue, a process that gradually fed Japanese resent-
ment, producing a greater Japanese willingness to say “no” to China.
1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987
23% 23% 24% 25% 21% 23% 26% 30% 24% 20%1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997
19% 17% 16% 15% 15% 20% 20% 21% 21% 19%1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007
18% 18% 17% 17% 16% 16% 15% 13% 12% 11%2008
10%FIGU R E 16-2 Japan’s Role in China’s Foreign Trade, 1978–2008 ( Japan as % of total two–way trade)
Source: IMF, Direction of Trade Statistics Yearbooks. Various issues.