Its purpose was to control inner conflicts as opposed to external conflicts. Chinas army was raised and controlled at the provincial level, the dynasty only endorsed it officially. All recruitment and training was done at the provincial level also. It was after the Taiping rebellion that Chinese leader realized that a national military force was necessary at dynastic, provincial, or local. They believed it was the key to the ultimate survival of the state. By the 1890's China had begun to build up a modern military, the stress of a modern military for national existence is expressly stated. They argued that they would use force against those who doubt that they would not build up a force to protect the salvation and existence of the state. .
Japan however began their military build up well before China. In 1871 Japan had a new core of 6,000 men in the national army. By 1894 Japan had raised the number of the national from 6,000 to 60,000. The Japanese Navy consisted of twenty eight ships. When Chinese and Japanese soldiers met in Korea Chinas forced had amassed to 350,000 men and seventy one ships (Iriye 14, 15) Even though China outnumbered Japan, Japan was still able to overcome Chinese forces. Mainly due to the fact; that Japan had taken such quick action and was able to create a rapid mobilization of head quarters. After securing military superiority over China, Japan was able to get back the theme of the current period; which was the power theme. They developed ideas, and went about and acquired colonies. By the turn of the century Japan still controlled China; "their relationship would be one of a rising military power further strengthening itself at the expenses of a weaker neighbor."(Iriye, 16).
In order to get and even clear picture of how much the two neighbors spent on military build you would need to study the military funding budget. During the 1890's to 1914 Japans annual budget for the military build up was between 30 to 50 percent of national budget.
