The European powers, after years of capital accumulation through the industrial revolution, are ambitious about extending their order and influence beyond the scope of Europe. In the nineteenth century, the European powers and the United States brought their new international order and culture to challenge the east Asian hegemon Qing Empire and its neighbor Japan. Confronting the threat of the western powers, the Qing Empire and Japan had no other choice but to imitate stronger powers to ensure their survival. They imitated in different ways, which later completely diverged the fate of these two empires. As a result, Japan was successfully westernized and made it equal to the other European powers, but the Qing dynasty continued to decline until it collapsed. Why Japan's imitation was successful, but Qing Empire's imitation unsuccessful? Imitation is indeed a shortcut for backward countries to ensure survival and acquire more power; however, the case of Japan and Late Qing shows that not all imitations help prevent a state from survival crisis. Successful imitation comes with preconditions, which have been rarely discussed in imitation literature. This research developed a new term, conditional imitation, using the case of the Qing Empire and Japan to explain why Japan succeeded in imitating and China failed by concluding the necessary preconditions for a successful imitation. The result indicates that those preconditions include 1) the progressive mindset of elites, 2) a stable domestic power structure, and 3) a comprehensive one-step reform.