The war demonstrated the failure of the Qing dynasty's attempts to modernize its military and fend off threats to its sovereignty, especially when compared with Japan's successful Meiji Restoration. For the first time, regional dominance in East Asia shifted from China to Japan; The prestige of the Qing Dynasty, along with the classical tradition in China, suffered a major blow. The Qing's loss of Korea as a tributary state sparked an unprecedented public outcry. Throughout most of history Korea was a tributary state and vassal state of multiple Chinese dynasties. Japan's victory of the First Sino-Japanese War put Korea completely under Japanese control. Korea became a Japanese vassal state.