At the outbreak of the War of Resistance, Chen Yinke left Beijing when his university, Qinghua, relocated to Yunnan province. He taught at Southwest Associated University, made up of Qinghua University and two others, including Peking University, and where Wu Han was one of his colleagues. In 1939 he was offered the professorship of Chinese at Oxford, but the outbreak of war in Europe prevented him from taking up the post. After Japan’s surrender, he returned to Beijing, teaching again at Qinghua. In 1948, before the Communists seized Beijing, he moved to Canton, where he taught at Zhongshan, or Sun Yatsen, University. The Nationalists and the Communists vied for his loyalty. He stayed in Canton, in the People’s Republic but far away from Beijing. He replied to an invitation to become head of the Institute of History at Guo Moruo’s Academy of Sciences with the demand that it be exempted from complying with Marxist doctrines and holding political study meetings, and insisting that he receive a letter to this effect signed by Mao Zedong personally. That letter was not forthcoming.
Chen Yinke was well aware of Guo Moruo’s ‘1644’ . His response, a retort really, was a decade in the making and was not published until over ten years after his death. This was The Unofficial History of Liu Rushi, published in 1980, which gave an account of the life of a Ming courtesan from a lowly background who became famous for her poetry, erudition, good taste and enjoyment of life. It ‘lay before the mind’s eye a late Ming elite world of poetry, pleasure, elegance, and opulence amidst the ponds, streams, gardens, and pavilions of central China’.26 Some ten years into the new Qing Dynasty, Liu Rushi was pressured to take her own life after the death of her husband, also a Ming loyal-ist. Chen Yinke’s version of the fall of the Ming was the celebration of a world of friendship, literature and play, as well as a record of the pain that comes when that world is inevitably lost when a new dynasty takes over.
In the early years of the People’s Republic, Chen Yinke was treated well, given a large apartment, books, films, extra allocations of food and Western medicines. The highest officials, including the provincial secretary, visited him to show their veneration for the master. But Chen’s eyesight was failing, making Liu Rushi even more of an achievement. Three assistants were allocated to help him with his research and note down the narrative as he told it to them. But he fell out of favour during the Cultural Revolution and died on 7 October 1969 after being attacked by Red Guards. His books became famous in the 1980s after Deng Xiaoping began the reform period. Liu Rushi was even made into a film.
Until the 1980s, the Communists dismissed anything that went before the Communist revolution as feudal and tolerated history only if it repeated Communist models and phrasings. But then different pasts were allowed to rise to the surface,27 partly to give the country a new source of national pride as the longest continuous civilisation on Earth and partly as a source of inspiration for films, televisions series, novels, advertisements – and restaurant decors. But the past also came back as a new source of ideas with which to contemplate what it means to be Chinese today, what the country should stand for, and what its position in the world should really be, thus illustrating that much of the Sun Yatsen question – that is, who is to have what say and on what grounds in China’s public affairs, what does it mean to be Chinese, and what is the country’s place in the world – has yet to be answered. Where that will lead is impossible to say: no one owns the past; no government controls its interpretation for very long; history can come back to bite, as even Mao Zedong found out; and no historian ever has the last word.
NOTES
CHOC – The Cambridge History of China, see Selected Bibliography, under John K. Fairbank.
ZHMGZYSLCB – Zhonghua Minguo Zhongyao Shiliao Chubian, see Selected Bibliography, under Qin Xiaoyi.
FRUS – Foreign Relations on the USA. See https://uwdc.library.wisc.edu/collections/frus.
SLGB – See Academia Historica, Jiang Zhongzheng Zongtong Dang’an: Shilue Gaoben (The Archives of President Chiang Kaishek: Basic Biographical Documents).
Introduction
1. Leon Trotsky, foreword, Harold Isaacs, The Tragedy of the Chinese Revolution (London: Secker & Warburg, 1938), xii.
2. Rana Mitter, China’s War with Japan, 1937–1945: The Struggle for Survival (London: Penguin Books, 2014), 8–14, and ‘China’s Good War’, in Sheila Miyoshi Jager and Rana Mitter, Ruptured Histories: War, Memory, and the Post-Cold War in Asia (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2007), 173–4.
3. Contribution by Pamela Crossley, ‘What is China’s Big Parade All About?: A ChinaFile Conversation’, 2 September 2015. http://www.chinafile.com/conversation/what-chinas-big-parade-all-about
4. Mitter, China’s War with Japan, 384.
5. For an analysis of these issues, see Philip A. Kuhn, Origins of the Modern Chinese State (Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 2002).
6. Dennis Showalter, ‘Introduction to Part III’, in Roger Chickering, Dennis Showalter and Hans van de Ven, eds., The Cambridge History of War: Volume 4: War and the Modern World (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2012), 413.
7. Michael W. S. Ryan, Decoding Al-Qaeda’s Strategy: The Deep Battle against America (New York: Columbia University Press, 2013), 84–96.
8. Adam Tooze, ‘The War of the Villages: The Interwar Agrarian Crisis and the Second World War’, in Michael Geyer and Adam Tooze, eds., The Cambridge History of the Second World War, Volume 3: Total War: Economy, Society and Culture (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2015), 385–411.
9. David Reynolds, ‘The Origins of the Two “World Wars”: Historical Discourse and International Politics’, Journal of Contemporary History, vol. 38: 1 (January 2003), 29.
10. ‘The Naming of World War II’, 11 September 1945, http://www.ibiblio.org/pha/policy/post-war/1945–09–11a.html
11. Alessio Patalano, ‘Feigning Grand Strategy: Japan’, in John Ferris and Edward Mawdsley, eds., The Cambridge History of the Second World War: Volume I: Fighting the War (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2015), 164–5.
12. Reynolds, ‘The Origins of the Two “World Wars”’, 34.
13. Ibid., 39–41.
14. Lizzie Collingham, The Taste of War: World War Two and the Battle for Food (London: Allen Lane, 2011), 96–101, 339–43.
15. ‘Facing up to Germany’s Past’, The New York Times Magazine, 23 June 1985.
16. J. L. van der Pauw, ‘Door Eendracht Victorie: De Geschiedenis van geen Verzetsorganizatie’ (‘Victory through Unity: The History of a Pseudo Resistance Organisation’), in Scyedam, vol. 22: 2 (1996), 67–9.
17. Rita Steblin, A History of Key Characteristics in the Eighteenth and Early Nineteenth Centuries (Rochester, NY: University of Rochester Press, 2002), 124.
Chapter 1: Chiang Kaishek. Saving China
1. http://www.loebclassics.com/view/thucydides-history_peloponnesian_war/1919/pb_LCL108.143.xml
2. Yang Tianshi, ‘Jiang Jieshi Wei He Cesha Tao Chengzhang?’ (‘Why Did Chiang Kaishek Murder Tao Chengzhang?’), in Zhaoxun Zhenshi de Jiang Jieshi: Jiang Jieshi Riji Jiedu (In Search of the Real Chiang Kaishek: Reading the Chiang Kaishek Diaries) (Taiyuan: Shanxi Renmin Chubanshe, 2008), 1–10.
3. Yang Tianshi, ‘Cong Jiang Jieshi Riji Kan Tade Zaonian Sixiang’ (‘An Examination of Chiang Kaishek’s Early Thought on the Basis of his Diary’), in Jiang Jieshi Midang yu Jiang Jieshi Zhenxiang (The Secret Archive of Chiang Kaishek and Chiang Kaishek’s True Identity) (Beijing: Social Sciences and Documents Press, 2002), 11–37.
4. Chiang Kaishek, Kunmianji (Diary Entries on Striving in Adversity), Huang Zijin and Pan Guangzhe, eds., (Taipei: Guoshiguan, 2011), 47.
5. Yang Tianshi, ‘Cong Jian Jieshi Riji Kan Tade Zaonian Sixiang’, 11–13, provides a list culled from Chiang’s diary.
6. Ibid., 21.
7. Ibid., 21.
8. Ibid., 21.
9. Ibid., 16.
10. For a detailed discussion of Chiang Kaishek’s use of Confucianism to curb what he saw as his character flaws, see Yang Tianshi
, ‘Song Ming Daoxue yu Jiang Jieshi de Zaonian Xiushen’, (‘Song and Mind Dynasty Studies of the Way and Chiang Kaishek’s Self-cultivation in His Early Years’), in Jiang Jieshi Midang yu Jiang Jieshi Zhenxiang (The Secret Archive of Chiang Kaishek and Chiang Kaishek’s True Identity) (Beijing: Social Sciences and Documents Press, 2002), 38–57.
11. Ibid., 38–9.
12. Paul S. Reinsch, An American Diplomat in China (New York: Doubleday, Page & Co., 1922), 241–6.
13. Yang Tianshi, ‘Cong Jiang Jieshi Riji Kan Tade Zaonian Sixiang’, 17.
14. Ibid., 18.
15. Ibid.
16. Hans van de Ven, War and Nationalism in China, 1925–1945 (London: Routledge, 2003), 70.
17. Yang Tianshi, ‘Jiang Weiguo “Shenshi” zhi Mi yu Jiang Jieshi, Song Meiling de Ganqing Weiji’ (‘The Mystery of Chiang Wei-kuo’s “Life Experiences” and the Crisis in Relations between Chiang Kaishek and Song Meiling’) in Yang Tianshi, Xunzhao Zhenshi de Jiang Jieshi (In Search of the Real Chiang Kaishek) (Taiyuan: Shanxi Renmin Chubanshe, 2008), no page numbers.
18. Yang Tianshi, ‘1923 Nian Jiang Jieshi de Sulian Zhi Xing Ji Qi Junshi Jihua’ (‘Chiang Kaishek’s Journey to the Soviet Union in 1923 and His Military Plan’), in Jiang Jieshi Midang yu Jiang Jieshi Zhenxiang (The Secret Archive of Chiang Kaishek and Chiang Kaishek’s True Identity) (Beijing: Social Sciences and Documents Press, 2002), 87–106.
19. Ibid., 90.
20. Ibid., 104.
21. Ibid., 105.
22. Van de Ven, War and Nationalism in China, 83–4.
23. Ibid., 79–93.
24. Wu Hung, Remaking Beijing: Tiananmen Square and the Creation of a Political Space (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2005), 69.
25. ‘Hong Kong Mourns Dr Sun’, The New York Times, 17 March 1925.
26. ‘Many Races Honor Dr Sun’s Memory’, The New York Times, 23 March 1925.
27. Yang Zhiyi, ‘The Road to Lyric Martyrdom: Reading the Poetry of Wang Zhaoming’, Chinese Literature: Essays, Articles, Reviews (CLEAR), vol. 37 (2015), 139.
28. Van de Ven, War and Nationalism in China, 83.
29. Ibid.
30. Ibid., 46.
31. Ibid., 97–9.
32. Ibid., 99.
33. Ibid., 100.
34. Chiang Kaishek, Kunmianji, 51.
35. Ibid.
36. Ibid., 162.
37. ‘Chinese War: Solemn Ceremony at Peking: Victory Announced to Sun Yat-sen’, The Times, 7 July 1928.
38. Van de Ven, War and Nationalism in China, 134.
Chapter 2: Nation Building
1. Chiang Wei-kuo, Kangzhan Yuwu (The War of Resistance and Fighting Humiliation) (Taipei: Liming Wenhua Shiye Gongsi, 1978), vol. 1, 40.
2. Hans van de Ven, War and Nationalism in China, 1925–1945 (London: Routledge, 2003), 136.
3. Zhang Xianwen, Zhonghua Minguo Shi (History of the Republic of China) (Nanjing: Nanjing University Press, 2005), vol. 2, 71.
4. Quoted in Zhang Xianwen, Zhonghua Minguo Shi, vol. 2, 358.
5. I am grateful to my Ph.D. student Wu Rong for pointing out the popularity in China of Friedrich von Bernardi in China at this time.
6. Zhang Xianwen, Zhonghua Minguo Shi, vol. 2, 53.
7. For Max Bauer, see Adam Tooze, The Deluge: The Great War and the Remaking of the Global Order, 1916–1931 (London: Viking, 2014), 112.
8. Chiang Jui-te, ‘The Nationalist Army on the Eve of the War’, in Mark Peattie, Edward J. Drea and Hans van de Ven, eds., The Battle for China: Essays on the Military History of the Sino-Japanese War (Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 2011), 94.
9. Ibid., 92–3.
10. Van de Ven, War and Nationalism in China, 166.
11. Ibid., 164–6.
12. ‘Queding Jiaoyu Zongzhi Ji Qi Shishi Fangzhen An’ (‘Proposal for Determining the General Aim of Education and Guidelines for Its Implementation’, 25 March 1929, in ZHMGZYSLCB, series 2, vol. 3, 409.
13. Liu Cuirong and Zhong Jideng, Zhonghua Minguo Fazhanshi: Jingji Fazhan (The Historical Development of the Republic of China: Economic Development) (Taipei: Cheng-chi University Press, 2011), vol. 2, 356–7.
14. Lloyd E. Eastman, ‘Nationalist China during the Nanjing Decade, 1927–1937’, CHOC, vol. 13, 155.
15. Zhang Xianwen, Zhonghua Minguo Shi, vol. 2, 464–80; Etu Zen Sun, ‘The Growth of the Academic Community’, CHOC, vol. 13, 361–420; Ramon Myers, ‘The Agrarian System’, CHOC, vol. 13, 256–7.
16. Prasenjit Duara, Culture, Power, and the State: Rural North China, 1900–1942 (Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 1988). For the baojia, see van de Ven, War and Nationalism in China, 142–6.
17. Van de Ven, War and Nationalism in China, 142–6.
18. Zhang Xianwen, Zhonghua Minguo Shi, vol. 2, 490–91.
19. Frank Dikötter, The Age of Openness: China before Mao (Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 2008).
20. Peter Mauch, ‘Asia-Pacific: The Failure of Diplomacy, 1931–1941’, in Richard J. B. Bosworth and Joseph A. Maiolo, eds., The Cambridge History of the Second World War: Volume 2: Politics and Ideology (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2015), 259.
21. Chiang Kaishek, ‘Di Hu? You Hu?’ (‘Friend or Enemy?’), in Qin Xiaoyi, ZHMGZYSLCB: series 3, supplementary materials, vol. 3, 614.
22. Ibid., 616–17.
23. ‘Soong, Here, Denies China is in Chaos’, The New York Times, 23 May 1933.
24. ‘Conference Speeches’, The Times, 16 June 1933.
25. For Jiang Tingfu’s experiences in the Soviet Union, see his Jiang Tingfu Huiyilu (Memoirs of Jiang Tingfu) (Changsha: Yuelu Press, 2003), 156–78 and, especially, 199–216.
26. Hans van de Ven, Breaking with the Past: The Maritime Customs Service and the Global Origins of Modernity in China (New York: Columbia University Press, 2014), 223.
27. ‘China War Lord Era Near End, Says Mme Chiang in Broadcast’, Washington Post, 22 February 1937.
28. Myers, ‘The Agrarian Crisis’, CHOC, vol. 13, 265.
29. For details, see http://www.disasterhistory.org.
30. Dr John H. Finley, foreword, Walter H. Mallory, China: Land of Famine (New York: American Geographical Society, 1926).
31. Guy S. Alitto, The Last Confucian: Liang Shu-ming and the Dilemma of Chinese Modernity (Berkeley, CA.: University of California Press, 1979) and Charles W. Hayford, To the People: James Yen and Village China (New York: University of Columbia Press, 1990).
32. Zhang Xianwen, Zhonghua Minguo Shi, vol. 2, 180–87.
33. ‘Szechwan Famine Taking Heavy Toll’, The New York Times, 22 March 1937.
34. ‘Famine in China is Wide’, The New York Times, 12 March 1937
35. ‘Making Smuggling Easier’, Manchester Guardian, 25 June 1937.
Chapter 3: Nanjing, Nanjing
1. Ye Zhaoyan, Nanjing 1937: A Love Story, Michael Berry, trans. (London: Faber & Faber, 2004), 112.
2. Charles D. Musgrove, China’s Contested Capital: Architecture, Ritual, and Response in Nanjing (Honolulu, HI: University of Hawaii Press, 2013), 56.
3. Ibid., 55–88.
4. ‘China’s “Washington”’, The New York Times, 3 June 1929.
5. Musgrove, China’s Contested Capital, 128.
6. Ibid.
7. Lai Delin, ‘Searching for a Modern Chinese Monument: The Design of the Sun Yat-sen Mausoleum in Nanjing’, Journal of the Society for Architectural Historians, 64 (March 2005), 25. The following paragraphs are based on Lai’s article as well as on Charles D. Musgrove, ‘Monumentality in Nanjing’s Sun Yat-sen Memorial Park’, Southeast Review of Asian Studies, 29 (2007), 1–19.
8. Lai Delin, ‘Searching for a Modern Chinese Monument’, 47–9.
9. This point is elaborated fully in John Fitzgerald, Awakening China: Politics, Culture, and Class in the Nationalist Revolution (Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 1996).
10. Sun Yatsen, ‘The Three Stages of Revolution’ (1918), in Wm Theodore de Bary and Richard Lufra
no, Sources of Chinese Tradition, Volume 2: From 1600 through the Twentieth Century (Second edition, New York: Columbia University Press, 2000), 328–30.
11. Musgrove, China’s Contested Capital, 144.
12. Henrietta Harrison, The Making of the Republican Citizen: Political Ceremonies and Symbols in China, 1911–1929 (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2000), 49–60; and https://www.powerhousemuseum.com/hsc/evrev/mao_suit.htm
13. Reba Soffer, ‘Conservatism as a Crusade: F. J. C. Hearnshaw’ in History, Historians and Conservatism in Britain and America: From the Great War to Thatcher and Reagan (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2008), 51–78.
14. On Liang Shuming, see Guy S. Alitto, The Last Confucian: Liang Shu-ming and the Chinese Dilemma of Modernity (Berkeley, CA.: University of California Press, 1979).
15. Chi Pang-yuan, Juliuhe (The Great Flowing River) (Taipei: Yuanjian Tianxia, 2014), 27–8.
16. Ibid., 37.
17. Ibid., 22.
18. Ibid., 53.
19. Ibid., 76.
20. Ibid., 63.
21. Ibid., 54.
22. Ibid., 71.
Chapter 4: To War
1. ‘Happy Ending in China: Chiang Kaishek Released’, The Times, 28 December 1936.
2. Hallett Abend, ‘Leniency is Asked by Nanking Leader for Rebel’s Chiefs’, The New York Times, 27 December 1936.
3. ‘Happy Ending in China’, The Times.
4. Zang Yunhu, ‘Qiqi Shibian Yiqian de Riben Duihua Zhengci Ji Qi Yanbian’ (‘Japan‘s China Policy before the 7 July 1937 Incident’), in Kang Ri Zhanzheng Yanjiu (Research on the War of Resistance), vol. 64 (2007), 1–29.
China at War Page 41
