19世纪中后叶,作为东方大国的日本与中国都受到了现代化的挑战,在西方列强的压力下开始了近代化进程的探索。变革专制政治,选择民主政治是现代化进程的必然逻辑,然而两国对现代化反应不同,现代化改革的成效也相去甚远。明治维新使日本在经济上、政治上、法律上开始走上资本主义道路,建立起了现代的民主宪政,一跃而成为后起的法治强国;晚清政府也进行了模仿日本民主政治的 In the mid-to-late 19th century, Japan and China, as the great powers in the East, were all challenged by modernization. Under the pressure of the Western powers, they began the exploration of the process of modernization. The transformation of authoritarian politics and the choice of democratic politics are the inevitable logic of the modernization process. However, the two countries react differently to modernization and the results of the modernization reform are far from complete. Meiji Restoration enabled Japan to embark on the path of capitalism economically, politically and legally, establishing a modern democratic constitutional government and leapfrogging into a strong legal rule since the late Qing Dynasty. The government of late Qing Dynasty also carried out a policy of imitating Japan’s democratic politics