A note on terminology

It occurs to me that I tend to throw around certain chronological adjectives while assuming that people know what I mean when there's no guarantee that they do. So when I say…

"Modern" Japan: roughly from the Meiji to the Taisho era, 1868-1920s
"Imperial" Japan: roughly from the Taisho era to the end of the war, 1910-1945
"Postwar" Japan: 1945 onward, but especially until the 1970s
"Contemporary" or "postmodern" Japan: 1970s onward, especially since 1991

"Modern" China: You'll get a lot of different answers on this one. I say 1894 onwards
"Republican" China: 1912-1949
"Communist" China: 1949-onwards, but especially until 1980
"Contemporary" China: 1980s onward, especially since 1989

But as far as departmental divisions go, all of these subdivisions fit under the "modern Japan" and "modern China" rubrics.