The first chapter is a historical review of Japanese market economy.

Japan is a rising capitalist country. /kloc-in the second half of the 0/8th century, marked by the outbreak of the British industrial revolution, Western Europe began to enter the establishment period of the capitalist system, while Japan was in the Tokugawa shogunate era in the late feudal society. It was not until the Meiji Restoration that the development of Japanese capitalism officially began. Compared with western Europe, it is far behind, but it is worth noting that the speed of the formation and development of Japanese capitalism is amazing. From the Meiji Restoration to the establishment of the capitalist system in the early 20th century, it only took more than 40 years, while it took 100 years in Western Europe. The above situation shows that the development of Japan's market economy is not only short-lived, but also directly transits to the stage of monopoly capitalism without western European-style liberal capitalism. After World War II, until the complete collapse of Japanese imperialism. Throughout the development of early Japanese economy, it can be roughly divided into the following periods.

The foundation of Japanese market economy

First, from "locking the country" to "founding the country"

The backwardness of Japanese capitalism stems from its stubborn feudal system, especially the policy of "locking the country" for many years. The Tokugawa shogunate issued the "Lock-up Order" five times from 1633 to 1639, and established a strict "Lock-up System". Provisions: (1) Except for ships with special permission, those who go to sea by boat without permission shall be sentenced to death. Later, the charter was abolished and all Japanese ships were banned from sailing overseas. (2) Any Japanese living abroad who cannot return to China for a while shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not more than five years or death. Later, it was changed to prohibit Japanese living in Japan from returning to China, and all returnees were executed regardless of the situation. (3) Portuguese ships are forbidden to come to Japan, Spanish and Portuguese priests are arrested, and all contacts between foreign churches and Japanese parishioners are prohibited. Children born in Nagasaki by Spanish and Portuguese and those who take them in or hide them will be severely punished. (4) Move the Portuguese to Nagasaki Island and live in isolation from the Japanese. Then, he was deported to China and Macau, where he was not allowed to stay. After the Portuguese were expelled, Dutch businessmen were forced to move to the island in 164 1 year. (5) In addition to maintaining trade relations with China, the Netherlands and North Korea under strict conditions, foreign trade is also strictly controlled. The prices of raw silk and other commodities are determined by the Nagasaki administration and its leaders, and officials are prohibited from directly buying foreign commodities.

The above-mentioned policy of Tokugawa shogunate lasted until the middle of19th century, except for a few periods of relaxation, which formed a "locked country era" of more than 220 years. During this period, Japan closed its doors and was almost isolated from the outside world. Although this eased the internal and external contradictions to a certain extent and maintained the rule of feudal princes, it inevitably seriously hindered the spread of western science and technology and progressive ideas, stifled the growth of modern Japanese industry and greatly delayed the development of Japanese capitalism.

From the end of 18, Britain, France, Russia, the United States and other western countries competed to extend the tentacles of colonial expansion to Japan and asked the shogunate to open ports for trade. According to records, during the 30 years from 1794 to 1823, European and American countries came to Japan for activities 19 times, and during the 30 years from 1824 to 1853, the number of people soared to 30 times. Among them, the United States was the first to knock on Japan's "national gate". On February 1854, 1 1 day, US Navy Brigadier General Perry once again led the fleet into Urawa Port in Edo Bay, Japan, and forced the shogunate to sign the Japan-US Reconciliation Treaty (commonly known as the Japan-US Kanagawa Treaty) on March 3 1 day of the same year. According to the treaty, Japan opened Shimoda and Hakodate as berths for American ships to add coal, water and food. When Americans arrive at the above two ports, their goods will enjoy most-favored-nation treatment in Japan; Allow the United States to send consuls to Shimoda; If an American ship is wrecked at sea, Japan should give rescue. In August and February of the same year, the shogunate was forced to sign a similar treaty with Britain and Russia. Then, between 1858 and 1866, it signed a series of unequal treaties and regulations with the United States, Britain, Russia, the Netherlands, France and other countries, such as the Japan-US Treaty of Friendship and Trade, the Nagasaki Land Lease Rules, the London Memorandum, the Paris Agreement and the Tax Reform Agreement. According to these treaties and regulations, western countries have obtained the right to live in Edo (the seat of the shogunate) and do business in Osaka respectively. Japan has opened five ports: Hyogo, Niigata, Kanagawa, Nagasaki and Hakodate. The state party enjoys consular jurisdiction in Japan; Japan was deprived of tariff autonomy. At this point, Japan's "national gate" has been forced to open completely.

After Japan was forced to be "founded", the western capitalist forces invaded Japan on a large scale, which caused violent political, economic and social turmoil in Japan and accelerated the disintegration of the feudal system. As far as the economic field is concerned, a large number of cheap industrial products from the West have flooded into Japan, which has dealt a great blow to Japan's traditional handicrafts. In addition, foreign businessmen took advantage of the price difference between gold and silver in Japan (1: 4.65) and the price of gold and silver in the international market (1: 15) to transport a large amount of gold and silver from Japan to Japan, in order to make huge profits and destroy Japan's economy. On the other hand, objectively, it also stimulated the development of domestic capitalist factors in Japan to some extent. For example, the growth of foreign trade, especially the expansion of exports of raw silk and other agricultural products, has improved the commodity economy in Japanese agricultural production and promoted the development of cottage and workshop handicrafts in rural areas, including silk reeling, cotton spinning, tea making and wine making. For another example, the shogunate and vassals set up steel mills, shipyards and arsenals in order to develop military industry, which led to the emergence of a new industrial sector dominated by heavy industry in Japan's workshop handicraft industry in the early days. Another example is the handicraft workshops with light industrial properties such as cotton spinning founded by Mu Fan, and private handicraft workshops represented by silk reeling and cotton spinning are also constantly established. Of course, on the whole, rural cottage industry still dominated the Japanese industrial economy in this period, but the rise of the above-mentioned workshop handicraft industry is of great significance to accelerating the disintegration of the feudal economy.

2. Meiji Restoration and "Restoration"

186865438+1On October 3rd, the "anti-curtain faction" centered on Samo and Changzhou staged a coup under the slogan of "respecting the king and rejecting the foreign countries" and "restoring the past to the ancients is king". After several months of civil war, the rule of the shogunate was finally overthrown. In September of the same year, Emperor Mu Ren held an enthronement ceremony, changed the country name to "Meiji", established the Meiji regime, and started a new era in Japanese history.

After the establishment of the Meiji government, the new regime, mainly reformist samurai, made every effort to promote changes in various fields, which was called the Meiji Restoration in Japanese history. At that time, the domestic capitalism in Japan was extremely underdeveloped, and the advanced countries in Europe and America were on the eve of the transition from liberal capitalism to monopoly capitalism. In order to avoid Japan becoming a semi-colony in the west and make Japan among the western powers at an early date, the Meiji government had to implement a series of top-down bourgeois reforms with the help of state power, adjust the superstructure, accelerate primitive accumulation of capital, and promote the transformation from the capitalist system to the feudal system. 1868 During the "reform" period from the early 1980s, the Meiji government put forward three major policies, namely, "enriching Qiang Bing", "prospering agriculture" and "civilization", as the leading policies of the reform.

(A) "Rich Qiang Bing"-the overall goal of social change.

The policy of "enriching Qiang Bing" has its special background and extensive connotation. The so-called "rich country" is to learn advanced western culture and science and technology through "colonial prosperity" and "civilization", actively support modern industry, accelerate the pace of capitalist development, and narrow the gap with western powers in "national strength." The so-called "Qiang Bing" is to reform the military system, implement the conscription system based on the European military system, establish a powerful standing army with Lu Haijun as the center, establish a military attache system, establish a military school for the purpose of training officers, and build a military power with sufficient troops and modern weapons. "Rich country" and "Qiang Bing" complement each other, and "Qiang Bing" is the foundation of "rich country". Under the threat of western powers' invasion and semi-colonialism, the slogan "Rich Qiang Bing" was put forward at an early stage, which had a certain color of bourgeois nationalism. However, based on the incompleteness of Meiji Restoration and the reactionary nature of the imperialist countries established after Meiji Restoration, with the formation and development of Japanese capitalism, the danger of Japan being reduced to a semi-colony by western powers was eliminated, and "rich country Qiang Bing" quickly became a naked militaristic route. It was inherited by successive Japanese governments before the war, and its crazy foreign aggression and cruel internal repression not only brought great disasters to Asian countries including China and North Korea, but also brought great disasters to the Japanese people (after reading it, everyone will know why Japan has such a strong militaristic flavor, and should also understand that there are so many anti-government organizations after the Meiji Restoration, such as the real Ten Sword).

(b) "Reproduction and industrial development"-realizing industrial modernization.

Before Meiji Restoration, Japan was still in the stage of development dominated by small-scale peasant economy, and the development of capitalism was extremely weak. Reflected in the structure of export commodities, cottage industry products, as farmers' sideline, still account for the vast majority, while real decent workshop handicraft products are almost absent. For example, on the eve of Meiji Restoration, raw silk accounted for 53.7%, silkworm egg paper accounted for 22.8%, and tea accounted for 16.7%, accounting for 93.2%. According to statistics, during the 33 years from 1834 to 1867, there were only 188 handicraft workshops in Japan, and the developed degree of capitalism can be imagined. Therefore, how to use state power and various policy means to accelerate the primitive accumulation of capital process and vigorously support capitalism, especially to develop modern industry, has become the top priority of the new Meiji regime. It is in this context that the policy of "developing industry through reproduction" was put forward. Its main contents are:

Set up state-owned enterprises. On the basis of taking over Mufan military enterprises and mines, Meiji government vigorously expanded the state-owned heavy industry and related social infrastructure centered on military production. 1870 10 set up the Ministry of Industry (Ministry of Industry) to be in charge of the construction of mines, iron smelting, railways and communications. In the field of industrial production, from 1868 to 1880, the Meiji government established eight Lu Haijun arsenals, some of which have considerable scale and production capacity. For example, Yokosuka Naval Factory is equipped with 1 16 kinds of machinery and equipment, 50 submerged arc furnaces and other smelting furnaces, and nearly 1000 employees. The first warship "Pancheng" designed by the Japanese alone was made by this shipyard. During this period, the Meiji government also set up a number of "model factories", such as Youxiang Reeling Factory, Shinmachi Textile Factory, Qianju Wool Factory, Cement Factory, Glass Factory and Match Factory. According to statistics, by 1880, there were 52 such factories. Because of their large scale and advanced technology, these civilian enterprises have played an important role in popularizing advanced production technology, cultivating and training managers and technicians, and promoting capitalist industrialization. 1870, the official railway from Tokyo to Yokohama was completed, and later the Kobe-Otsu railway broke ground. In the early Meiji period, Japan's maritime transportation, both ocean-going and coastal trunk lines, was almost monopolized by foreign shipping companies. In order to reverse this situation, the Meiji government established Cao Hui Company on 1870, and then established Japan Post Steam Company, and ordered Mitsubishi Chamber of Commerce to open a Shanghai route on 1875 to compete with Pacific Post Company, which monopolized this route. Taking this opportunity, the Japanese government has continuously strengthened the cultivation and support of the maritime industry. In the early Meiji period, the Japanese government decided to adopt the principle of "official line" in the development of communication based on the consideration of maintaining military and public security secrets. The telecommunication line from Tokyo to Osaka was opened on 1873, and the first and second lines from Tokyo to Nagasaki were set up in succession in the following year. In the mineral sector, the principle of "official ownership" is implemented. After the Meiji government was established, it immediately took over the mines owned by Mufan, such as Lin Xiya, Sado and Osaka, and in 1872, it was promulgated that all mines were owned by the government (although the land was owned by real estate, the minerals were owned by the government), thus monopolizing the mining rights of mines. Accepted mines are under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Industry and the province, new machinery is introduced, and "official camp" is implemented (now I understand that some cartoons we read depicting the Meiji period often have government officials in mines). Although the Meiji government developed state-owned enterprises and established transportation and communication services with military and financial purposes as the main purpose, at that time, when private enterprises were extremely underdeveloped, such state-owned factories and mines were of great significance to maintaining Japanese industrial production, especially to the establishment of modern capitalist industries.

Create a banking system. In order to implement the policy of "developing industry through reproduction", the Meiji government spared no expense in investing huge financial funds. From 1867 to 65438+February to 1886, the Meiji government spent 2 1 100 million yen on "industrial development", of which the government's general accounting expenditure accounted for 64.5%, special accounting expenditure accounted for 34.7%, and local fiscal expenditure accounted for 0.8%. Of these funds, 45.6% was used for administrative expenses of relevant government departments (Ministry of Industry, Ministry of Interior, Ministry of Industry and Commerce, Ministry of Agriculture and Commerce, etc.) (20.3%). ) and the funds for the establishment of official enterprise (25.3%), 43.5% were lent to private enterprises. However, the government's financial funds are mainly aimed at banks and "political businessmen" (feudal privileged businessmen), so it is of great significance to set up state-owned banks and private banks. 1872165438+10. In October, the Meiji government, based on Ito Bowen's suggestion, formulated the Regulations on National Banks and established four national banks in Tokyo, Yokohama, Niigata and Osaka respectively. 1876 In August, the Regulations of the State Bank was amended and it was decided to stop the free convertibility of bank notes and gold coins. This created conditions for the Meiji government to raise funds for "aquaculture" by issuing non-convertible banknotes. Since then, the number of national banks has been increasing. By the end of 1879, 153 national banks had been approved to be established. In addition, according to the revised National Banking Regulations, private individuals are allowed to set up banks. Then, with the establishment of Mitsui Bank in 1876 as an opportunity, private banks were set up all over Japan, and by the end of 1882, the total number had reached 176. With the development of the national bank, the circulation of various non-convertible banknotes has expanded dramatically. According to statistics, the amount of banknotes issued in 1873 was 79.74 million yen, and that in 1874 was 93.9 million yen. From 1875 to 1880, the average amount of banknotes issued each year increased to about1360,000 yen.

Cultivate private capitalism. In addition to vigorously establishing state-owned enterprises and developing state capital, the Meiji government also tried to transform wealthy businessmen and landlords, especially the "political businessmen" who were closely related to government power and enjoyed feudal privileges, into modern bourgeoisie. The main measures are:

(1) By issuing huge "risk funds" and "encouragement funds", feudal owners after the salary reform were encouraged to set up banks and start railway undertakings with monetary salaries. 1876 In August, the Meiji government issued an order, announcing that all pensioners would donate their wages and be compensated by a one-time "gold bond" (public debt) issued by the government. At that time, the total amount of bonds issued was 65.438+0.75 billion yen, and the number of people receiving bonds reached 3.65438+0.4 million. Due to the different status of the recipients of public bonds, the income varies greatly, and most of them fall into the pockets of the old feudal owners. According to statistics, 5 19 old feudal lords, who account for 0.2% of the total number of people receiving public bonds, receive public debt salaries of 3 1 4 1 000 yen, accounting for 18% of the total number, with an average of more than 60,000 yen per person. Among them, 12 governors, including the Tokugawa family, reached more than 500,000 yen. The junior samurai, who account for 83.7% of the total number of recipients, only received 4 15 yen in salary bonds on average. Huge wage bonds were concentrated in the hands of the old feudal owners, which provided a material basis for their transformation into the modern bourgeoisie. At the same time, most junior samurai began to decline in the economic turmoil in the early Meiji period, and their salary bonds eventually fell into the hands of businessmen and loan sharks, becoming an important part of primitive accumulation of capital. At this point, Xiao Zhong wants to talk about digression. I believe everyone has seen the animation "Rogue Mark" (what? ! You haven't seen it! I'll pour it after I finish it. Time and time again, a considerable number of enemies were dissatisfied with the Meiji government. I believe that the background is probably caused by the problems of salary and public debt. Of course, other factors are written in the book, such as being the king and winning the treasure. While reading this cartoon, we are also thinking about the background of that time. Indeed, when the reform was just completed, it was euphemistically called social stability. In fact, many lower classes have become victims of reform. For example, the samurai who kidnapped Sheng Haizhou's daughter in the play is a typical example. When we watch anime, we should not blindly pursue beautiful pictures and handsome characters. In fact, it is best to know the author's intention and the social background at that time and look deeper. Just like Fei Yu Yan Dian ... Ah ... Before he finished, someone shouted "lavender! Cangzi! " MM trampled on the past ... Sadly, I haven't had time to take it with a counter blade. ...

I'm sorry, everyone, but I'm really digressing. Let's move on.

(2) Take financial, fiscal and tax measures to directly protect and support private enterprises. In the process of promoting "developing industry through reproduction", Meiji government gradually realized that it should not only focus on transplanting modern capitalist industries and establishing state-owned enterprises, but also consider the domestic economic conditions at that time and vigorously revitalize private industries. In addition, a considerable number of state-owned enterprises have suffered losses year after year due to insufficient funds and poor management, which has caused a heavy burden on government finances. In this situation, the Meiji government had to make major adjustments to the original policy from 1880, that is, relying on state-owned enterprises to indirectly drive and demonstrate private enterprises to directly support and cultivate private capitalism. This is fully reflected in the Meiji government's financial allocation for "fertility and development". During the six years from 1874 to 65438+ 10 to 1880, only16.64 million yen was used for private lending, accounting for 27.6% of the total funds of "aquaculture" in this period. 1880 July to 664. This shows that the Japanese government has greatly strengthened its efforts to foster private capitalism since the 1980s.

(3) Cheap "handling" state-owned enterprises to a group of big "political businessmen". 1880, the Meiji government decided to transfer most state-owned enterprises to big capitalists such as Mitsui, Mitsubishi, Kawasaki, Furukawa and Asano Nagaakira at low prices while taking measures to tighten fiscal expenditure, paving the way for these big "political businessmen" to transform into big chaebols in the future. 1880 in may, the idea of "dealing with" state-owned enterprises was put forward by the then minister of finance, Li Ben Zheng Xin. David divided state-owned enterprises into three categories: the first category is the military and coin-making departments, the second category is the metal refining, printing and communication departments, and the third category is the textile, machinery, shipbuilding and kiln industries. Among them, only the third type of enterprises belong to the "processing" category. In June165438+1October of the same year, the Meiji government promulgated the Regulations on the Disposal of State-owned Enterprises based on this idea. In view of the fact that the main purpose of Dagu's "conception" is to increase fiscal revenue and save fiscal expenditure, the regulations stipulate that the "treatment" conditions are extremely harsh, and the "treatment" targets are limited to loss-making state-owned enterprises, excluding those railways and mines with better economic conditions. Therefore, after the promulgation of this regulation, the "handling" of state-owned enterprises has not made much progress. 1882 and 65438+February, the Meiji government decided to relax the conditions of "handling" according to the suggestion of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, and abolished the regulation in 1884 and 10, and the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology "handled it properly" as appropriate. The object of "treatment" has also expanded from state-owned enterprises to state-owned mines. Since then, the "processing" of state-owned enterprises has accelerated, and it has basically come to an end by the end of 1885. A large number of state-owned enterprises are allocated to big "political businessmen" who are "well-funded", "familiar with management" and "capable of running enterprises well" (the selection criteria of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology) at low prices. For example, Nagasaki Shipyard, which invested 620,000 yen, and Hyogo Shipyard, which invested 590,000 yen, were only "disposed" to Mitsubishi and Kawasaki respectively. Obviously, the Meiji government's practice of "handling" state-owned factories and mines is nominally to solve financial difficulties, but in essence it is to use state power to promote the primitive accumulation of private capital through the redistribution of national income. On the other hand, it is to "handle" state-owned enterprises as an introduction to accelerate the process of transforming private capital from commercial capital to industrial capital.

Introduce technical talents and advanced mechanical equipment. Hiring foreign experts and introducing western advanced technology and equipment are important components of the policy of "developing industry through reproduction". In the early Meiji period, many industries were waiting to be developed, and the domestic technical force was extremely insufficient, forcing the new government to hire a large number of foreign experts and technicians, and in February 1870, the Foreign Employment Instructions were formulated. The foreign experts and technicians hired are well paid and have strict work requirements. The foreign experts employed in the early Meiji period were mainly government agencies, involving more than ten departments, including the Ministry of Industry, the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of the Navy, the War Department, the Ministry of Finance, and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, among which the Ministry of Industry had the largest number and ranked first. 1872 * * * There are 2 employees14, including 24 employees from the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology 153. Among the foreigners employed by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, 104 is British, accounting for the vast majority, followed by 33 French. The former focuses on railways, communications and other fields, while the latter focuses on shipbuilding, machinery manufacturing and other departments. During the period of 1874, the number of employed people surged to 503, including 228 from the Ministry of Industry, 77 from the Ministry of Education, 66 from the Ministry of the Navy, 38 from the War Department, 27 from the Ministry of Finance, 27 from the Ministry of the Interior and 269 from the United Kingdom, accounting for 53.5% of the total. France 108, accounting for 21.5%; 47 people in the United States, accounting for 9.3%; There are 37 people in Germany, accounting for 7.4%. This shows that the introduction of advanced Japanese technology in the early Meiji period mainly depended on Western Europe, especially Britain. In addition to hiring foreign technicians, the Meiji government also introduced a batch of advanced machinery and equipment from abroad according to the actual needs of China during this period. For example, in 1872, relying on French technicians and equipment, the government-run Fugang Silk Reeling Factory was built, and in 1876, two sets of 2,000-spindle spinning machines were purchased from Britain to establish the government-run Aichi and Hiroshima Textile Institute. The introduction of this advanced equipment has played an important role in the development of modern Japanese industry.

(3) "Civilization"-bourgeois social enlightenment.

Due to the long-term feudal rule, the development of Japanese capitalism is extremely slow and cannot be compared with that of European and American countries. Therefore, in order to implement the "Reform" reform and speed up the development of capitalism, the Meiji government can only learn from advanced countries in Europe and America, introduce western civilization and related systems, and import modern science and technology. In this sense, the Meiji government's policy of "civilization" is a historical necessity and a wise choice. The so-called "civilization" covers a wide range of contents, involving not only social ideology fields such as social fashion and lifestyle, but also the implementation and popularization of the modernization of science, culture and education. As far as the social impact of "civilization" is concerned, it is not an exaggeration to say that it is the bourgeois enlightenment. It is of far-reaching historical significance not only to the social changes in the early Meiji period, but also to the development of Japanese capitalism and the modernization of the bourgeoisie.

To learn from the west, we must first understand the west. Therefore, shortly after the establishment of the Meiji regime, a large delegation of 48 people was sent to Europe and the United States in 187 1 1 year with Iwakura Tomomi as the plenipotentiary ambassador and Hiroyuki Ito, Junichi Kubo and Fong Yamaguchi as the deputy ambassadors. In the past two years (1 year and1month), they extensively investigated the political system, laws and regulations, finance, industrial economy, culture, education and military situation of the countries concerned, marveled at the degree of civilization development of western powers, and explored what kind of systems and civilizations of these countries could be used by Japan. Among the 12 countries visited, such as the United States, Britain, France, Germany, Italy and Russia, Britain, then known as the "workshop of the world", and the newly unified German Empire attracted the most attention of the delegation. The former has developed industry and the development of capitalism has reached a "mature" level, while the latter is an emerging country with many "similarities" with Japan and a high level of military technology. The experience of the delegation in these two countries had a great influence on the policy-making of Meiji government after returning to China, especially on the proposal of "enriching Qiang Bing" with "colonizing and developing industry" and expanding armaments as the core. Learning from the experience of developing culture and education in Europe and America is one of the main contents of the delegation's overseas inspection and an important aspect of the "civilization" policy. In the process of bourgeois reform, especially through the practice of hiring a large number of foreign experts and technicians in the early days, Meiji regime deeply realized the importance of cultivating domestic scientific and technological personnel and all kinds of talents, and the key to cultivating a large number of specialized talents lies in developing cultural and educational undertakings. This idea can be fully reflected in the letter from one of the heads of the above-mentioned delegations, Kimura Longji, to China. He wrote in his letter that ... the only person who has built an unbreakable national foundation lies in people, and the only person who expects endless talents for thousands of years lies in education. "The Meiji government's main measures to revitalize education are:

Popularize primary education and improve the overall cultural quality of the people.

"The reason why a country is prosperous and healthy is all because of the great development of civilized talents in the world, and civilization depends on the civilization of ordinary people." The Meiji government recognized the importance of popularizing national education earlier, took the development of primary education as the basis and basic starting point for cultivating talents, and went all out to implement it in order to realize "no school in the city, no school at home".

Establish western-style schools. 1872, the Meiji government promulgated the "academic system" and decided to abolish the "temples" in the shogunate era (schools located in temples and other places) and open 53,760 western-style primary schools throughout the country. The establishment of primary schools is very simple, according to local conditions. The school site mostly adopts the old houses and ordinary houses of "Temple House". There are various schools, including girls' primary schools, rural primary schools, poor primary schools, naive primary schools and disabled primary schools, and private schools are also allowed. The academic system is divided into two levels, each level is 3 years ***6 years. Children usually start school at the age of 6.

Enrich the learning content, focusing on imparting modern western culture and preliminary scientific and technological knowledge. According to the provisions of the "academic system", the courses in the lower grades of ordinary primary schools (1 to 3 years) include alphabet spelling, writing, conversation, reading, cultivation, alphabet, grammar, arithmetic, geography, physics, gymnastics, singing and so on 14 courses. Senior ordinary primary schools (4-6 years) also add courses such as historical essentials, geometric wall charts (tool charts), natural history essentials and chemical essentials. In addition, it is also advocated that schools can add foreign languages, bookkeeping, art and other subjects according to the actual situation. In the arrangement of weekly class hours, pay attention to educational content and teaching quality. Chinese courses account for 40% of the total class hours, and courses such as arithmetic, science, history and geography account for 53%.

Gradually implement the compulsory education system. Since the early 1980s of 19, the Meiji government has successively implemented a three-,four-and six-year compulsory education system, during which students are exempt from paying tuition fees.

Attach importance to the development of normal education. When the Meiji government vigorously set up primary education, it did not neglect to take teacher training as the basis for developing primary schools. It is believed that to grasp primary education, "the urgent task is to establish a model school immediately." Following 1872' s establishment of a normal school for boys and girls in Tokyo, 1874 established normal schools in Osaka, Kyoto, Aichi, Hiroshima, Nagasaki and Niigata. In addition, "workshops" and "training centers" have been established to speed up the training of teachers. Because the Meiji government spared no effort to set up primary education, the primary school enrollment rate has been rising. The primary school attendance rate was only 28. 1% in 1873, and rose to 4 1.2% in 1879. By the end of the Meiji period, the proportion had almost reached 100%. In other words, in about 40 years, Japan has completely achieved the popularization of primary education.

Develop middle and higher education and cultivate the backbone of science and technology.

In improving and enriching secondary education, the first step is to reform the academic system. At the beginning of the Meiji government's educational reform, the educational system of middle schools was different, ranging from 2 years to 6 years. 188 1 year was unified into a "four-two system", which stipulated that junior high school was 4 years and senior high school was 2 years. 1886 changed to a seven-year system, which stipulated five years for ordinary middle schools and two years for high schools. The second is to clarify the school-running policy of secondary education. In the early Meiji period, the purpose of developing middle school education in Japan was to pay equal attention to employment and further studies, and then gradually turned to further studies, supplemented by employment. The most representative in this respect is the government high school. While implementing the "seven-year system" of secondary education, the Meiji government established five high schools (later changed to institutions of higher learning) throughout the country as key schools of secondary education. These institutions of higher learning offer professional disciplines such as industry, agriculture, commerce, law, science, medicine and literature. In fact, it is a pre-university school that specializes in cultivating "top students" for universities. Third, the middle school curriculum is strict. For example, in 1886, the Meiji government stipulated that the subjects that ordinary middle schools should offer were ethics, Mandarin and Chinese, the first and second foreign languages, agriculture, geography, history, mathematics, natural history, chemistry, calligraphy, painting, singing and gymnastics, and put forward requirements for the teaching level of these courses respectively, such as that the first and second foreign languages should meet the standards of conversation, grammar, composition and translation. Another example is the algebra course, which requires the explanation and operation ability of integers, four laws, fractions, linear equations, quadratic equations, squares, cubes, exponents, roots, arithmetic progression, proportional series, harmonic series and logarithm. This shows that although the development of modern secondary education in Japan started late, it has strict requirements on curriculum and teaching content, which fully reflects the Meiji government's determination to attach great importance to the quality of personnel training and catch up with western advanced countries in the field of science and technology. In the development of higher education, shortly after the birth of the new Meiji regime1August, 869, Shogunate Changping School, Kaicheng School and Medical College merged to form a "big school". 187 1 In April, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology set up an "engineering hut" and began to form a university. In April of the same year, the South School and the East School merged to form the University of Tokyo, which was divided into four schools: management, science, literature and medicine. The Meiji government, while setting up universities, also sent outstanding talents to study abroad. From 1869 to 1870 * * 174, students are further sent to study abroad at public expense, and 1882 encourages students to study hard.

Revitalize industrial education, popularize scientific and technological knowledge, and cultivate middle and lower-level scientific and technological talents.

The Meiji government carried out a wide range of industrial education, including the popularization of scientific and technological knowledge, the application of scientific and technological knowledge and the operation of production technology. In fact, it is a comprehensive science and technology education. According to the above contents, the Meiji government divided industrial education into three levels: primary school is handicraft industry, middle school is industry (referring to industrial, agricultural, commercial and other production and management undertakings), and practice tutorial schools. Middle school is an industrial subject (industry, agriculture, commerce, etc.). ) In normal schools, ordinary middle schools and industrial schools. Among them, industrial schools, as secondary technical education institutions, have higher requirements for curriculum, deeper teaching content and more professional subjects. For example, agricultural colleges offer subjects such as agriculture, forestry, sericulture, horticulture, agricultural civil engineering, veterinary animal products and so on.