After a long period of isolationism, China and Japan were pushed to open trade and foreign relations with the West in the nineteenth century. During the late 1800s the Industrial Revolution created a huge gap between Western and Eastern powers, which left China and Japan at a military and technological disadvantage (Fruhstuck, Lecture). Initially, China and Japan closed their doors to the West because they were both self-sufficient nations, disliked foreign influences, and believed their society was superior to that of the West. Both tried to resist foreign influences by keeping their interaction with the West to a minimum, but they were no match for Western technology and ultimately had to sign unequal treaties that favored the Western powers (Craig & Reischauer, 1978). However, the reactions of China and Japan to the treaties that forced them to open their trading ports to foreigners were very different; China rejected Westernization while Japan accepted it (Lockwood, 1956). The main difference between China and Japan in responding to Western invasion was that Japan accepted Westernization and China did not, which led to Japan becoming a modernized nation while China failed to do so. In order for China and Japan to keep their trade to a minimum, but also have the spread of trade goods they desired, each nation had opened a port specifically for trade; Guangzhou and Nagasaki, respectively (Fruhstuck, Lecture). Both countries had limited trade with the West and maintained isolation from the 16th century until the end of the 18th century. China opened Guangzhou in the late 17th century but the Western merchants who landed there had no rights or privileges and were confined within the borders... mid-paper... the West was much more superior in military technology and power. Works Cited Cheng, Pei-kai, Michael Elliot. Lestz and Jonathan D. Spence. The Search for Modern China: A Documentary Collection. New York: Norton, 1999. Print.Fairbank, John King and Edwin O. Reischauer. China: tradition and transformation. Sydney: Allen & Unwin, 1979. Print.Gluck, Carol. Modern Myths of Japan: Ideology in the Late Meiji Period. Princeton, NJ: Princeton UP, 1985. Print.Hall, John Whitney. Japan from prehistory to modern times. New York: Delacorte, 1979. Print.Lockwood, William W. Japan's Response to the West: The Contrast with China.. New Haven: np, 1956. Print.Reischauer, Edwin O. and Albert M. Craig. Japan, tradition and transformation. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1978. Print. History, Richard. A history of modern Japan. Harmondsworth, Middlesex: Penguin, 1960. Print.