Japan had to open its ports to foreign trade when it lost the battle against Europe and America in Tokyo Bay (Bentley 508). After losing, Japan began to industrialize and quickly improved its military by investing in tools from the Western empires, which had very strong and powerful armies. Once Japan had built a strong army, it began to fight for Korea. They fought China and “drew the Chinese fleet in a battle that lasted only five hours,” and they later won Korea and treaty rights in China (Bentley 550). The Chinese army was very weak. After losing Hong Kong and many trading ports to Western empires following the Opium War, China was in trouble. The Chinese began to rebel against the Qing dynasty. After the most popular rebellion, the Taiping Rebellion, China launched the self-strengthening movement. “While remaining true to Confucian values, the movement's leaders built shipyards, railways, arms industries, opened steel foundries with blast furnaces, and founded academies to develop scientific expertise” (Bentley 543). After doing all these things, China still did not have a strong enough army. They continued to face the problems of the west