After the fall of Tokugawa Japanese modernization seems to have been relatively smooth, especially compared to the Chinese attempts following the Opium War. I recognize that China was struggling against foreign imperialism but I was wondering what other reasons there were. :)
(1) China's central government weakened, and at the same time, regional interests and power became more entrenched and more powerful. It made it more difficult for the central government to implement any type of reforms (even if they wanted to).
(2) China's Qing era court hierarchical system stymied advancement of young reformers, and reform policies were stifled in endless bureaucracies and debates in the imperial court.