Translating the Occupation

Translating the Occupation

The Japanese Invasion of China,
1931–45

Edited by Jonathan Henshaw,

Craig A. Smith, and Norman Smith
© UBC Press 2021
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval
system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without prior written permission
of the publisher.

Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication

Title: Translating the occupation: the Japanese invasion of China,1931–45 /
edited by Jonathan Henshaw, Craig A. Smith, and Norman Smith.
Names: Henshaw, Jonathan, editor. | Smith, Craig A., editor. | Smith, Norman
(Associate Professor), editor.
Description: Includes texts translated from Chinese, Japanese, and Korean.
Identifiers: Canadiana (print) 20200289659 | Canadiana (ebook) 20200289780 |
ISBN 9780774864466 (hardcover) | ISBN 9780774864480 (PDF) |
ISBN 9780774864497 (EPUB)
Subjects: LCSH: Sino-Japanese Conflict, 1931–1933 – Sources – Translations
into English. | LCSH: Sino-Japanese War, 1937–1945 – Sources – Translations into
English. | LCSH: China – History – 1928–1937 – Sources – Translations into English. |
LCSH: China – History – 1937–1945 – Sources – Translations into English. |
LCSH: China – Social conditions – 1912–1949 – Sources – Translations into English.
Classification: LCC DS777.5 .T73 2020 | DDC 951.04/2 - dc23

UBC Press gratefully acknowledges the financial support for our publishing program
of the Government of Canada (through the Canada Book Fund) and the British
Columbia Arts Council.
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for the Humanities and Social Sciences, through the Awards to Scholarly Publications
Program, using funds provided by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research
Council of Canada.
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Copy editor: Sarah Wight
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Cover designer: David Drummond
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In memory of our friend COLIN GREEN
and his scholarly devotion to Chinese military history.
Contents

List of Illustrations / x

Acknowledgments / xi

Introduction: Discarding Binaries and Embracing

Heteroglossia / 3
Jonathan Henshaw, Craig A. Smith, and Norman Smith

PART 1: MANCHUKUO / 13

1 Tales of Opening Manchuria / 19

Ronald Suleski

2 Sakuta Shōichi, “The Light of Asia” / 39

Bill Sewell and Norio Ota

3 Writings of Manchukuo’s Prime Minister Zheng Xiaoxu / 50

Hua Rui

4 Education Policies and Theories in Manchukuo / 64

Wang Yu

5 The Second Sino-Japanese War, Propaganda, and Medical

Publications: Kaneko Junji’s “The China Incident from the
Perspective of Psychiatry” / 78
Janice Matsumura

6 An Inspection Report on Ideological Movements in

Literature and Arts Activities / 89
Xie Miya Qiong
viii Contents

7 Collection of Literary Selections by Each Ethnicity in

Manchukuo-1, “Statements by Selectors” / 103
Annika A. Culver

8 Open Letters from Women Writers of Manchukuo: Mei Niang and

Wu Ying, Jia Ren to Yang Xu / 115
Norman Smith

9 The Lives of Korean Women in Manchukuo / 128

Jonghyun Lee

PART 2: EAST CHINA / 151

10 Xu Zhuodai, “Remarkable Soy Sauce!” / 159

Christopher Rea

11 The Diary of Zhang Gang: An Excerpt / 170

Weiting Guo

12 Two Indestructible Pillars of the Great Wall / 190

Jennifer Junwa Lau

13 Uchiyama Bookstore: Sino-Japanese Cultural Exchanges

in the Midst of War / 199
Naoko Kato

14 Finding China’s “Asia” in Japanese Asianism / 209

Torsten Weber

15 Collaboration and Propaganda: Yang Honglie and His Eight

Speeches on Greater Asianism / 223
Craig A. Smith

16 The New Citizens’ Movement and Wang Jingwei-ism / 238

Craig A. Smith

17 The Diaries of Zhou Fohai: Selected Translations from 1938 / 252

Brian G. Martin

18 Kiang Kang-hu, “Starvation Is a Serious Matter” / 270

Jonathan Henshaw

19 Guan Lu, “How to Be a New Woman”: Shanghai, March 1942 / 278

Norman Smith
 Contents ix

20 Yuan Shu, “The Current Stage of the Chinese Revolution

and the Problem of Constitutional Government” / 288
Matthew Galway

PART 3: NORTH CHINA AND BEYOND / 311

21 Tang Erhe’s Educational Collaboration with Japan in North

China, 1937–40 / 317
David Luesink

22 The Transformation of Zhou Zuoren’s Thought and the

Rhetorical Strategies Found in His Writing: “The Problem
of Chinese Thought” / 327
Xue Bingjie

23 Zhou Zuoren’s Letter to Zhou Enlai / 342

Timothy Cronin

24 Lin Yutang: Non-Aligned Intellectual on the Japanese

Occupation / 364
Son Yoo Di

25 Struggles between Local Powers and Collaboration: Yan Xishan,

the CCP, and the Western Shanxi Incident / 374
Timothy Cheek

26 Tapping into the Premodern Work-Contracting System / 382

Zhang Yuanfang

27 An Anarchist Popular Resistance: The Awakening and China’s

Resistance War at Home and Abroad / 399
Morgan Rocks

28 Resolutions on Preventing Hanjian Activities and Espionage / 412

Yun Xia

29 Kishida Kunio and the Problems of Culture / 421

Timothy Iles

List of Contributors / 432

Index / 438
Illustrations

MAPS
1 Manchukuo / 12
2 East China / 150
3 North China and Beyond / 310

FIGURES
1.1 Cover of Manshū kaitaku monogatari / 21
1.2 Postcard of Harbin, flooded in 1932 / 27
3.1 A page in Zheng Xiaoxu’s last manuscript / 53
4.1 Diagram of spiritual spheres / 71
6.1 Group photograph from symposium organized for
Manchurian writers and members of the Manchuria
Motion Picture Association / 91
6.2 First page of the Inspection Report / 94
6.3 Final page of the Inspection Report / 100
7.1 Box cover and book cover of Manshūkoku kaku minzoku
sōsaku senshū / 113
8.1 Mei Niang and Wu Ying, late 1930s / 118
8.2 Yang Xu on the cover of Qilin, June 1942 / 119
9.1 Advertisement for White Gold: Korean Café in the
International City of Harbin / 131
9.2 Advertisement for Oasis Café: Your Place for Pleasure.
Your Place for Rest / 132
19.1 Guan Lu in the 1940s / 280
20.1 Yuan Shu, 1926 and 1939 / 291
27.1 Morgan — ”Qian jin, xiongdi!,” Ba Jin, “Xibanya de shuguang” / 402
Acknowledgments

This book was made possible through the hard work and important contri-
butions of many people. The chapters for this volume were initially presented
at two workshops hosted by the University of British Columbia’s Institute of
Asian Research in 2016 and 2017, and we as editors are grateful to the many
scholars who presented and attended these workshops. We would like to
express our appreciation to Timothy Brook, Timothy Cheek, and Diana Lary,
whose scholarship has done much to inspire our own. We also thank the two
anonymous readers at UBC Press who provided thoughtful insights and
suggestions during the review process. We are grateful to the graduate
students who contributed their time and effort to our project: Lisa Baer, who
provided excellent organizational and administrative support; Jie Lu, who
offered crucial help with the editing and formatting of the volume; and
Shawn Sun, who did much to keep things running behind the scenes when
we convened.
Funding for Translating the Occupation came from multiple sources: the
2016 workshop was generously supported by a Henry Luce Foundation/
American Council of Learned Societies Program in China Studies: Col­
laborative Reading-Workshop Grant. The 2017 workshop was made possible
through a Connection Grant from the Social Sciences and Humanities
Research Council. We would also like to express our gratitude for additional
funding and support from the University of British Columbia’s History
Department and Centre for Chinese Research, as well as the Department of
History at the University of Guelph.
Finally, we would like to give our deepest appreciation to Randy Schmidt,
Megan Brand, and Valerie Nair at UBC Press for supporting the project
and shepherding us through the publication process and to Alison Strobel
for her proofreading skills. Once again, David Drummond has created an
evocative cover worthy of this work.
Translating the Occupation
Introduction
Discarding Binaries and Embracing
Heteroglossia
JONATHAN HENSHAW, CRAIG A. SMITH,
and NORMAN SMITH

Twenty years after Jiang Wen’s 2000 film Guizi laile! (Devils on the door­
step!) captured the Grand Prix at the Cannes Film Festival, his tragic but
sym­pathetic portrayal of those living in Japanese-occupied Hebei may no
longer seem very surprising. At the time, however, Jiang’s depiction of the
assistance given to a Japanese soldier and this translator by Chinese villagers
was not only controversial, it was banned by Chinese censors who were not
able to look beyond the national narrative of a collaboration/resistance di-
chotomy.1 Both historical memories and political directives have long held
that nar­rative firmly in place. This national narrative delineates the rise of the
Chi­nese nation through righteous battle and marginalizes alternative under-
standings of that era’s history. In the 1930s, when the Japanese military began
occupying large swathes of Chinese territory, China was in a state of disunity,
with local elites presiding over a vast patchwork in which people lived differ-
ent lives, spoke different languages, and encountered different experiences.
While China today is by no means monolithic, the forces that shape historical
memories have long emphasized the standard narrative that the occupation,
and the greater war, galvanized the Chinese people as one in resistance to a
common enemy – captured in the slogan kangRi (Resist Japan).2 The enormity
and simplicity of this narrative has shaped subsequent perceptions of the
occupation, polarized understandings of the actions of the occupied, and
homogenized an unequivocally heterogeneous cacophony of voices.
To excavate these voices, this volume introduces, contextualizes, and
translates a broad range of primary sources written by a variety of men and
women across China. The texts have been selected in order to deepen under-
standings of the myriad tensions, transformations, and continuities that
persisted, seemingly heedless of monumental historical events during the
Japanese occupation of China. Despite the enduring importance of that
4 Jonathan Henshaw, Craig A. Smith, and Norman Smith

occupation to world history and contemporary East Asia, this is the first
English-language volume to offer sources in such a way. Specialists on war-
time history from institutions in six different countries were selected to
provide expertise on a range of disciplines and subjects, and to translate
sources from Chinese, Japanese, and Korean. Each scholar has provided a
translation accompanied by a short, explanatory essay to contextualize the
translation, speak to its importance, and place the occupation within a
broader social, political, and cultural context.
This volume offers multifaceted views of the occupation that enrich
knowledge of the period and encourage further much-needed comparative
analysis. A dearth of English-language materials has resulted in the persis-
tence of Eurocentric analyses of the Second World War in history and his-
torical memories, just as nationalist realities have simplified and polarized
discourses in East Asia. Despite its epochal importance and enduring influ-
ence in contemporary Asia, Japan’s occupation of vast regions of China
remains inadequately understood, both in the context of modern Asian his-
tory and the broader history of the Second World War. Indeed, it was only
in 2013 that a history of the war that narrated events from Chongqing, Yan’an,
and Nanjing was published in English, while such a work fully incorporat-
ing Manchukuo has yet to be written.3
In the decades immediately following the occupation, academic inquiries
on the period were frequently shaped or stymied by shifting political agendas,
with many scholars focusing on the rise of the Chinese Communist Party
(CCP) and the revolutions it launched to transform the nation. In China, at
popular levels and in overarching master narratives, portrayals of the war
were seldom allowed to venture beyond nationalistic narratives of patriotic
Chinese resistance or traitorous collaboration, amid horrific Japanese atroci-
ties. Accordingly, by working to deepen understandings of how the war un­
folded and to introduce previously marginalized voices, this volume is an
effort to develop more complex comprehensions of China’s twentieth-century
history that go beyond the dominant national narratives.
In 1972, American historian Gerald Bunker gave voice to the lingering
international contempt that obscured the occupation period in his assess-
ment of texts produced by the 1940 to 1945 Reorganized National Gov­ern­
ment of the Republic of China under Wang Jingwei (1883–1944), dismissing
them as “nothing more than the most mindless and trivial sort of propaganda
with little historical value.”4 More recently, however, scholars have begun to
engage more seriously with these texts in a way that places them within the
complex moral landscape of wartime occupation.
 Introduction 5

In China, Japan, and across the English-speaking world, linguistic barriers,

restrictions on access to source materials, and the fuelling of highly politi-
cized nationalist narratives have left little room for developing a history of
the war that is transnational, nuanced, and less bound by nationalist myth-
making or Eurocentrism. In China, historical memory of the wartime era
has been reemphasized from the 1980s onward to form a cultural trauma
of occupation that is continually relived and reinforced through popular
media; according to cultural critic Zhu Dake: “War stories make up about
70 percent of drama on Chinese television.”5 The CCP continues to manipu-
late that history as a fount of bitter nationalism, enabled in part by the
Japanese government’s failure to fully accept responsibility for the very real
atrocities perpetrated by its military on Chinese neighbours. Following the
CCP lead, many Chinese-language studies have tended to focus on perspec-
tives that promote nationalist narratives and avoid moral complexity, dis-
missing those who served in Japan’s various occupation states as “traitors to
the Chinese” (Hanjian) and viewing those who lived in occupied territory
with suspicion.
However, in academic discourse, there have been efforts to complicate
these narratives, and such work has accelerated in the twenty-first century.
Yang Kuisong has related the surge of studies to the great release of source
materials and published collections that has been ongoing since the reform
and greater openness of the 1980s.6 Even taking into account recent restric-
tions on access to primary sources in China, historians have more material
to work with than ever before and have risen to the challenges on offer. Yang
Kuisong is certainly not the only historian to investigate these issues. Take,
for example, popular Hui scholar Zhang Chengzhi’s moving discussion of
Japanese Asianists who devoted their lives to the betterment of minorities
in China’s borderlands.7 Han Chinese intellectuals in the 1930s inevitably
interpreted these actions as acts of empire.8 Indeed, whether well-intentioned
or not, such actions contributed to the growing hegemony of the Japanese
Empire (1879–1945), just as similar actions supported American hegemony
in Afghanistan and, today, function for the Chinese state in Tibet, Hong
Kong, Xinjiang, and elsewhere at its periphery. In terms of Japanese imper-
ialism, literary scholar and historian Zhang Quan has recently argued that
Chinese experiences of occupation differed by region, and that those differ-
ences must be critically examined – through Sinicizing Western methodolo-
gies and localizing Chinese research methods.9
In Japan, as in many post-imperial states, memories of the country’s im-
perialist past have created fissures in today’s society, fuelling controversies
6 Jonathan Henshaw, Craig A. Smith, and Norman Smith

and continuing to influence the political realm and national identities.10 Some
Japanese textbooks tend toward nationalist narratives that shift blame away
from even the most complicit individuals or organizations, but, as in China,
the occupation is a popular (if fraught) subject for academic study and is
profoundly political. Due to the sickening level of well-documented violence,
the Nanjing Massacre of 1937–38 remains at the centre of divisive discourse
on the war and the occupation. A litmus test of political perspective, par-
ticularly since the proliferation of historical studies in the 1980s, the Nanjing
Massacre continues to divide what Takashi Yoshida labels as progressive and
revisionist voices.11 Revisionists such as Higashinakano Shudo continue to
deny the massacre. A few historians, such as Kasahara Tokushi, fiercely op-
pose the revisionists with evidence of war crimes, while popular “centrists”
such as Hata Ikuhito attempt to find a middle ground, by challenging the
number of fatalities and questioning alleged atrocities, but still condemning
the massacre in general.12 This plurality is much preferred to the recent past,
when historian Saburō Ienaga had to undertake a series of lawsuits against
the Japanese government from 1965 to 1997 over state censorship of his work
on Japanese war crimes.
With East Asia still riven by disputes over wartime history, leading Can­
adian scholars Diana Lary and Timothy Brook, both of whom participated
in the workshops leading to this volume, have returned attention to the
occupation and brought previously dominant narratives into question.13
Scholarly studies, geopolitical change, and the desire to understand an era
before those who experienced it are no longer with us have rekindled interest
in the occupation, leading to collections such as this volume. Earlier source
collections have concentrated on military incidents or diplomatic texts, for
the most part ignoring other aspects of the occupation, and lack the con-
textualizing essays this volume offers, thereby making them less accessible
to non-specialists. Timothy Brook’s Documents on the Rape of Nanking sheds
light on what many perceive to be the darkest period of the occupation
through documents of the international community, the Nanking Safety
Zone, and personal correspondence.14 Suping Lu’s A Dark Page in History is
a collection of British diplomatic dispatches, Admiralty documents, and
US Naval Intelligence reports.15 Donald Detwiler and Charles Burdick’s War
in Asia and the Pacific contains mostly wartime secondary sources, especially
military reports, troop movements, and statistical reports, more suited as a
reference work than for reconsidering more varied aspects of the war and
occupation.16 Collections with a broader focus have touched on the occupa-
tion but again highlight political and military aspects. David Atwill and
 Introduction 7

Yurong Atwill’s Sources in Chinese History includes three pages on the oc-
cupation, all of which are government pronouncements.17 Sven Saaler and
Christopher Szpilman’s Pan-Asianism: A Documentary History has a number
of excellent texts but is directed at intellectual and ideological essays and
speeches, largely from Japan.18
In terms of sourcebooks on modern Chinese history, there are two main
types: those that focus on primary sources, texts drafted by officials, ideo-
logues, and literary people; and secondary sources produced from other
forms of primary materials.19 This volume falls firmly in the former category.
The texts in this volume enable the reader to gain a firmer sense of how the
occupation shaped official, intellectual, and popular cultures during a most
tumultuous time.
As historians of twentieth-century China, we have an important goal in
our work – to promote more fruitful comparative work and dialogue between
East Asia specialists and our colleagues working on other areas. Beyond the
barrier of language, a major challenge in this effort is the sheer complexity
of working with texts produced under circumstances of invasion, occupation,
or colonization. Accordingly, we have designed this project along very par-
ticular lines. A key feature of our approach is the use of scholarly translation,
which lends itself well to the challenges of language, interpretation, and
moral judgment that inevitably arise while researching a topic as charged as
imperialist occupation. By drawing on the expertise of specialists working
on wartime history, we place at the reader’s disposal not only translations
of primary source documents but the contextual information necessary to
further interpret and make sense of them. This engagement with, and atten-
tion to, context invites the reader to begin evaluation of each text closer to
the environment in which the author wrote, unburdened with the knowledge
of how the war might end or what subsequent events might occur. More
than that, the deep engagement involved in scholarly translation offers a
useful bulwark against the rush to judgment that comes from nationalist
narratives. The introduction to each translation enlarges on the meanings,
contexts, and authorship of the text to draw us nearer to an understanding
of the occupation as it unfolded, at particular points of time, as experienced
by those who actually lived through it.
A long-standing problem in the study of wartime China has been the
persistence of the collaboration/resistance binary as a means of positioning
various individuals and factions during the conflict. Although that binary
has long been called into question, it endures as an alluring form of analysis.
A prime example of this is Pei-kai Cheng, Michael Lestz, and Jonathan
8 Jonathan Henshaw, Craig A. Smith, and Norman Smith

Spence’s still-popular The Search for Modern China: A Documentary Col­

lection, which condemns Wang Jingwei’s “shameless collaboration,” dismiss-
ing out of hand Wang’s explanation of his beliefs in a 1941 radio address.20
Such characterizations are not uncommon, even after the groundbreaking
intervention of Poshek Fu, who proposed a tripartite mode of intellectual
responses to the “grey zone” of Japanese occupation in his 1993 monograph
Passivity, Resistance, and Collaboration.21
Rather than attempting further refinements or offering up additional
schemas for the broad spectrum of wartime behaviour that historians have
long grappled with, this volume is framed around “occupation.” As suggested
above, the terminology surrounding “collaboration” in China (as elsewhere)
remains morally freighted, leading Dongyoun Hwang to aptly describe “trai-
tor” and “Hanjian” as “term[s] in the rhetoric of power that legitimates other
ideologies.”22 “Occupation,” by contrast, is a less freighted term demarcating
a period when the existing order of a state is swept away and a foreign power
props up a new one, militarily, often in the face of local responses that ranged
from armed resistance to passivity to self-serving acquiescence and shifted
as the war unfolded. Within this framework, this volume represents an effort
to spur further reflection on the thoughts and actions of individuals who
remained active in public life under Japanese-occupied territory, with par-
ticular attention to the varieties of Pan-Asianism, Sun Yat-sen thought,
Confucianism and Marxism that occupation officials, ideologues, politicians,
and literary types advocated from within the various occupation states
sponsored by Japan.
Scholarly translation and the application of a more analytical, less con-
demnatory approach to sources produced under and within Japan’s occupa-
tion states reveal the intense ideological competition and blurring of
boundaries that characterized the period. As the following chapters suggest,
those who served in the occupation states were not a uniform group that
emerged from nowhere. In many cases, their careers in prewar Chinese
politics are crucial for understanding their occupation activities. At the
same time, the work they did was more complex than simply regurgitating
Japanese propaganda points. A more careful analysis reveals elements of
subversion, either by advancing a covertly CCP world view, or by defending
a China defined in terms of the prewar Republican state and its Three Prin­
ciples of the People ideology, or by incorporating other indigenous streams
of thought.23 Accordingly, the individuals who staffed the occupation state
and remained in public life, and who took the opportunity to advance an
agenda (ideological or personal) that was stymied prior to invasion, should
 Introduction 9

be recognized not only as more complex than the still-popular Hanjian

caricatures allow but as representatives of the full complexity of prewar
Chinese politics. If scholars accept the idea that the resistance/collaboration
binary is (at least theoretically) insufficient to capture the complexities of
occupation, then a contribution of this volume will be to provoke increasingly
critical approaches to the full range of activity and personality that have
hitherto been shoehorned into the categories of “collaboration,” “Hanjian”
and “puppet,” to name a few.
Implicit in this approach, including the use of scholarly translation, is
the issue of judgment. In 2005, Timothy Brook emphasized the ambiguity
of decision-making processes, arguing that historians should refrain from
making moral judgments on acts of so-called collaboration that cannot be
fully understood today. Continuing this discussion, the February 2012
issue of the Journal of Asian Studies featured three articles revealing con-
siderable disagreement on questions of moral judgment and the role of the
scholar in studies of wartime collaboration, particularly as John Whittier
Treat argued that moral adjudication is possible and understandable, taking
Korean writer Yi Kwang-su (1895–1950) and his love for Japan as an example.
Treat explains that this kind of judgment of those who work with the enemy
“has to do with what we fundamentally are.”24 In the same issue, Timothy
Brook emphasized that in due time regime changes further challenge ques-
tions of collaboration and resistance and repeated that historians should
hesitate before making moral claims.25 Whether historians should make
moral judgments on their subject matter remains a question for many scholars.
But how do our decisions to judge shape the histories that we construct?
Writing on the 1791 to 1804 Haitian Revolution, Michel-Rolph Trouillot
asserted that the silencing of the revolution in Western historiography was
“due to uneven power in the production of sources, archives, and narratives.”26
The same is true of the production of history in any time and place, yet re-
garding the Japanese occupation of China, the Chinese narrative – the
victorious rise of the nation and people from tragedy – has taken on such
power and is delivered with such apparent simplicity and “truth” that “Resist
Japan” has dictated historical construction for decades. Putting aside moral
questions, this dominance has inevitably obscured details that can inform,
challenge, or even substantiate the master narrative. This volume addresses
that paucity of details in the hope that it will inspire further work on the
period.
Translating the Occupation: The Japanese Invasion of China, 1931–45 is
divided into three parts: “Manchukuo,” “East China,” and “North China and
10 Jonathan Henshaw, Craig A. Smith, and Norman Smith

Beyond.” In each region, Japanese imperialism in mainland China developed

in a distinct manner. To accentuate these distinctions, we have selected
readings from a wide variety of persons and topics, ranging from education
to the “woman question,” and much beyond and in between. Some of the
authors were leading figures of their time, such as the well-known Chinese
intellectual Zhou Zuoren. Others were less prominent, including Japanese
agricultural colonists and Korean sex workers. By attending to the contexts
in which these texts were produced and the varied perspectives they provide,
we hope to shed valuable new light on life in China under Japanese occupa-
tion and demonstrate the utility of scholarly translation for advancing aca-
demic discussions on contentious historical topics.

Notes
1 Peter Hays Gries, “China’s ‘New Thinking’ on Japan,” China Quarterly 184 (2005): 835.
2 The term “Second Sino-Japanese War” is commonly used in English-language literature
on the China-Japan conflict from 1937 to 1945. In mainland China, the conflict is called
the “Chinese War of Resistance against Japan,” and is sometimes dated from 1931. In
Japan, the terms are “China Incident,” “Japan-China Incident,” or, from 1941, the “Greater
East Asia War.” We have encouraged contributors to this volume to decide what term is
most appropriate in their work.
3 Rana Mitter, Forgotten Ally: China’s World War II, 1937–1945 (Boston: Houghton Mifflin
Harcourt, 2013).
4 Gerald E. Bunker, The Peace Conspiracy: Wang Ching-wei and the China War, 1937–1941
(Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1972), 272.
5 Cited in Aly Song, “China’s World of Anti-Japan War Films,” 23 August 2013, Reuters:
The Wider Image, https://widerimage.reuters.com/story/chinas-world-of-anti-japan
-war-films.
6 Yang Kuisong, Guizi laile [The devils have come] (Guilin: Guangxi Normal University
Press, 2016), 173–75.
7 Zhang Chengzhi, Zunzhong yu xibie: Zhi Riben [Respect and reluctance at our parting:
For Japan] (Beijing: Zhongguo youyi chuban gongsi, 2008).
8 Ge Zhaoguang, What Is China? Territory, Ethnicity, Culture, and History, trans. Michael
Gibbs Hill (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2018).
9 For example, see the 2018 essay by Zhang Quan, “Zhongguo lunxian qu wenyi yanjiu de
fangfa wenti: Yi Du Zanqi de ‘Manzhouguo’ xiangxiang wei zhongxin” [Methodological
problems in the study of literature and art in China’s enemy-occupied territories: Taking
Prasenjit Duara’s imagination of “Manchuria” as the centre], Wenyi piping [Literary criti-
cism], 30 July 2018, http://www.sohu.com/a/244095274_754344.
10 Akiko Hashimoto, The Long Defeat: Cultural Trauma, Memory, and Identity in Japan
(Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2015), 3.
11 Takashi Yoshida, The Making of the “Rape of Nanking”: History and Memory in Japan,
China, and the United States (New York: Oxford University Press, 2006).
12 Hata Ikuhito, Nankin jiken: “Gyakusatsu” no kōzō [The Nanjing Incident: The structure
of a “massacre”] (Tōkyō: Chūōkōronshinsha, 2007); Kasahara Tokushi, Nankin jiken
ronsōshi: Nihonjin wa shijitsu o dō ninshikishitekitaka [A history of debates on the
Nanjing Incident: On the Japanese people’s understanding of the historical facts] (Tōkyō:
Heibonsha), 2007.
 Introduction 11

13 For example, see Diana Lary and Stephen R. MacKinnon, eds., The Scars of War: The
Impact of Warfare on Modern China (Vancouver: UBC Press, 2001); Timothy Brook,
Collaboration: Japanese Agents and Local Elites in Wartime China (Cambridge, MA:
Harvard University Press, 2005); and Diana Lary, The Chinese People at War: Human
Suffering and Social Transformation (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2010).
14 Timothy Brook, ed., Documents on the Rape of Nanking (Ann Arbor: University of
Michigan Press, 1999).
15 Suping Lu, ed., A Dark Page in History: The Nanjing Massacre and Post-Massacre Social
Conditions Recorded in British Diplomatic Dispatches, Admiralty Documents, and US
Naval Intelligence Reports (Lanham, MD: University Press of America, 2012).
16 Donald S. Detwiler and Charles Burdick, eds., War in Asia and the Pacific, 1937–1949:
A Fifteen Volume Collection (New York: Garland, 1980).
17 David Atwill and Yurong Atwill, eds., Sources in Chinese History (Abingdon, UK: Rout­
ledge, 2009).
18 Sven Saaler and Christopher W.A. Szpilman, eds., Pan-Asianism: A Documentary History,
1920–Present (Lanham, MD: Rowman and Littlefield, 2011).
19 We thank an anonymous reader for drawing our attention to this significance. Two ex-
amples of the first type are Patricia Ebrey, ed., Chinese Civilization: A Sourcebook (New
York: Free Press, 1981) and Wm. Theodore De Bary and Richard Lufrano, eds., Sources
of Chinese Tradition: From 1600 through the Twentieth Century (New York: Columbia
University Press, 1999). An example of the second type is Kenneth J. Hammond and
Kristin Stapleton, eds., The Human Tradition in Modern China (Lanham, MD: Rowman
and Littlefield, 2007).
20 Pei-kai Cheng, Michael Elliot Lestz, and Jonathan D. Spence, eds., The Search for Modern
China: A Documentary Collection (New York: W.W. Norton, 2014).
21 Poshek Fu, Passivity, Resistance, and Collaboration: Intellectual Choices in Occupied
Shanghai, 1937–1945 (Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 1993), xiv.
22 Dongyoun Hwang, “Wang Jingwei, the Nanjing Government and the Problem of Col­
laboration” (PhD diss., Duke University, 1999), 20.
23 For a recent discussion of this, see Annika A. Culver, “Introduction” in Manchukuo
Perspectives: Transnational Approaches to Literary Production, ed. Annika A. Culver and
Norman Smith (Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press, 2019), 1–10.
24 John Whittier Treat, “Choosing to Collaborate: Yi Kwang-su and the Moral Subject in
Colonial Korea,” Journal of Asian Studies 71, 1 (February 2012): 81–102.
25 Timothy Brook, “Hesitating before the Judgment of History,” Journal of Asian Studies
71, 1 (February 2012): 112.
26 Michel-Rolph Trouillot, Silencing the Past: Power and the Production of History, 2nd rev.
ed. (Boston: Beacon Press, 2015), 27.
Manchukuo. Map by Eric Leinberger
 Part 1
MANCHUKUO

—•  MANCHURIA TIMELINE  •—

1910 Korea annexed by Japan

1928 Japanese assassinate warlord Zhang Zuolin; his son,
Zhang Xueliang succeeds him
1931 18 September, Mukden Incident. Japan begins invasion
of Manchuria
1932 1 March, Manchukuo established, with Zheng Xiaoxu appointed
prime minister
August, north Manchuria, especially Harbin, floods for three
weeks
1933 24 February, Japan withdraws from the League of Nations
1934 1 March, Puyi enthroned as emperor
1935 Prime Minister Zheng Xiaoxu resigns
1937 December, rationing and labour requirements increase from
the start of the Chinese War of Resistance against Japan
1941 censorship deepens in Manchukuo’s literary world
1945 August, Manchukuo dissolved
14 Part 1

   MANCHURIA WAS THE FIRST major region in mainland China to be oc-

—•
cupied by Japan. The invasion that began on 18 September 1931 played a
pivotal role in the mid-twentieth-century expansion of the Japanese Empire
and in China exacerbated a sense of the nation’s vulnerability. Japan’s es-
tablishment of the puppet state of Manchukuo on 1 March 1932 contributed
to a near-universal lack of faith in the League of Nations; Japan withdrew
from the organization on 24 February 1933. Manchukuo fostered multitudes
of “bandits,” former warlord soldiers, and Communist insurgents who, in the
aftermath of imperial Japan’s collapse, would defeat the Nationalists in the
region. Communist hatred of the puppet state was visited on the regime’s
capital during the horrific siege of Changchun (May to October 1948), in
which Lin Biao (1907–71) caused as many as 200,000 civilians to die.1 The
highly decorated Communist general sought to turn Changchun into a “dead
city.”2 The subsequent defeat of the Nationalists in Manchuria has been
widely credited with Communist victory in the Civil War. 3 For decades after
the collapse of Manchukuo, many in Japan mourned the loss of what they
believed to be an idealistic state, one that featured prominently in popular
culture and scholarship. In China, the state has been utterly condemned as
“bogus” or “false,” with the de rigueur addition of “wei” to the name of the
state: wei Manzhouguo (bogus Manchukuo). In English-language scholar-
ship, Manchukuo attracted little attention until the 1990s. Presently, there
is considerable and growing interest in the multicultural state as an example
of Asian imperialism.
The readings introduced and translated in this section highlight the ways
that people lived in Manchukuo and the increasing levels of militarism that
framed their lives. Ronald Suleski offers the first translation, of a roundtable
discussion of Japanese migration to Manchukuo in the 1941 book Manshū
kaitaku monogatari (Tales of opening Manchuria). The group of immigrant
farmers is referred to as “armed colonists,” because of their defensive positions
against multitudes of armed “bandits” in the region. In 1933, these particular
migrants had seized over fifty thousand acres of land from the original in-
habitants. The subsequent, violent retaliatory attacks on the community
 Manchukuo 15

lasted several months in the spring of 1934. The Japanese farmers were not
soldiers or starry-eyed intellectuals set on improving Asia’s status in the
world but, rather, were impoverished labourers who often had no choice but
to migrate to Japan’s so-called lifeline of Manchukuo or be labelled unpatri-
otic. Their lives were hard and not to be envied, though the discussants put
a positive spin on their experiences for propagandistic purposes back home
in Japan.
One of the major institutions to promote the driving ideology of Man­
chukuo, the Kingly Way (Ch: Wangdao; Jp: Ōdō), was National Foundation
University (established May 1938), which represented an alternate path for
the puppet state. Bill Sewell and Norio Ota translate “The Light of Asia,”
written by Sakuta Shōichi (1878–1973), a professor of economics and law
who, after retirement in Japan, moved to Manchukuo’s capital to serve as
vice-president of the university. Sakuta had a long-standing interest in China
and was active in attempting to reform Japan, notably working in 1932 at a
tuition-free National Institute of Spiritual Culture for left-leaning students
who had been forced out of postsecondary education. With Manchukuo’s
second prime minister, Zhang Jinghui (1871–1959), as its nominal president,
the university manifested an effort to create an elite Asian cohort to lead the
multiethnic state. In “The Light of Asia,” Sakuta describes how Japan could
contribute to improving the lives of all Asians, a theme that motivated many
educators and politicians in Manchukuo but failed to win the support of the
dominant Japanese Kantō Army.
Hua Rui then introduces writings by the first prime minister of
Manchukuo, Zheng Xiaoxu (1860–1938). Zheng, like Wang Jingwei (1883–
1944), is one of the most contentious figures in modern Chinese history,
known for his high-level collaboration with the Japanese, for which he has
been condemned as a Hanjian, a traitor to the Han (Chinese). Zheng served
from 1932 to 1935 as the figurehead of the State Council and a key defender
of the ruling ideology, the Kingly Way. Zheng was a loyal defender of the
Qing dynasty (1644–1912) and actively weaved late-Qing constitutional-
ism, pacifism, and Italian fascism into a quasi-Confucian utopian project
to spur national development in the face of early twentieth-century national-
ist modernity, which he, and his Japanese overseers, disdained. Realizing
that he was politically impotent, despite his high-ranking political position,
Zheng focused his energies on writing about the Kingly Way as a means of
self-cultivation that he believed had universal application. Unfortunately,
the Kantō Army preferred rule by racist, military force to the virtue that
Zheng so eloquently wrote about.
16 Part 1

In 1933, the Fengtian Education Bureau and the Fengtian Education

Committee began publishing a Chinese-language journal, Fengtian jiaoyu
(Mukden education review), featuring administrative announcements and
education research; Wang Yu translates one of each, from the first issue. As
Japan’s domestic politics turned increasingly conservative and nationalistic
in the early 1930s, some educators moved to Manchukuo, where they sought
to implement what they believed to be the most appropriate and modern
educational techniques. Their pedagogy reflected the Kingly Way espoused by
Zheng Xiaoxu. As Wang makes clear, though, educators mixed Confucian-
inspired ideals with philosophical, educational, and psychological theories
from Germany and Switzerland. In an administrative announcement, Morita
Ryōichi emphasizes labour education, with cooperative schools, short
courses, and special classrooms – a form of education that contemporary
critics disparaged as being anti-intellectual. Nakatani Sadaharu, education
inspector of Fengtian province, introduced the theories of German philoso-
pher, psychologist, and educator Eduard Spranger (1882–1963) in his speech
on “Educational Love,” which he reasoned was “scientific” and therefore not
susceptible to social and political changes, effectively undermining Japanese
notions that they could change Asia for the better.
Perhaps nothing epitomized the hypocrisy behind Japanese claims to
the betterment of Asia more than the regulation and trade of opium. Janice
Matsumura introduces a 1936 essay by Kaneko Junji (1890–1979), “The China
Incident from the Perspective of Psychiatry,” in which he decries Chinese
“addicts” as “notoriously deceptive” in their rousing of anti-Japanese senti-
ments. He links widespread contemporary Chinese narcotics consumption
with what he viewed as the Chinese “national character.” Kaneko, a criminal
psychiatrist, wrote on the dangers of narcotics and alcohol and was affiliated
with the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Board. Yet, as Matsumura argues, it is
difficult to gauge Kaneko’s knowledge of Japan’s opium trade as, for example,
no evidence exists that he ever visited Manchukuo. Kaneko worked in Japan,
where there was seemingly considerable support for censorship as well as
state management of information, a system replicated in the puppet state.
From December 1941, the Manchukuo government tightened ideological
control over literary and cultural production across the state. On 25 July
1942, the Department of Police Affairs in the Ministry of Public Security
ordered an inspection of the activities and writings of ideologically suspect
writers and cultural workers in Xinjing. Xie Miya Qiong translates “Docu­
ments Regarding the Investigation on Ideological Movements through
Literature, Art, and Theatre” to provide a clear picture of official efforts to
 Manchukuo 17

control cultural production. Three Chinese leftist writers from Harbin, who
had been arrested and then half-heartedly obeyed Japanese officials’ demands
to identify suspicious writings and their authors, assisted in the investigation.
Most notably, the officials sought intelligence on workers in the Manchuria
Motion Picture Association and the publishing and broadcast industries.
Contemporary tendencies in Chinese leftist cultural production reveal that
critics of the state encouraged “Anti-Manchukuo, Resist Japan” ( fanMan
kangRi) sentiments in artful and circuitous ways.
Such leftist writers are rare in the Collection of Literary Selections by Each
Ethnicity in Manchukuo, the introduction to which is translated here by
Annika A. Culver.4 In 1942, the Sōgansha press published the first of two
planned Japanese-language collections of multiethnic literature that were
to showcase thriving Manchurian cultural production under Japanese tutel-
age. Four Japanese editors comment on the significance of the collection
and how it boded well for the future development of Manchukuo’s literary
world. Only one Chinese editor contributed: Gu Ding (1914/16–66), who was
widely recognized as a favourite of the Japanese. Most of the essays in the
introduction indicate aspirations for a particularly “Manchurian” literature
that would put a positive spin on Sino-Japanese cooperation and cultural
production.
In the early 1940s, Mei Niang (1916–2013), Wu Ying (1915–61), and Yang
Xu (1918–2004) were writers whose lives and work epitomized the dream of
a multiethnic state. Norman Smith translates three “open letters” published
in popular journals in Japanese-occupied Manchukuo and Beijing, at a time
when authorities stressed the ideal of a “good wife, wise mother” who was
demure, obedient, and loyal to her father, husband, and son. Japan’s colonial
education system and media were enlisted to support the goal of cultivating
such women – women were explicitly encouraged to “go back to the kitchen.”
But these young, educated women were not prepared to go back to the kitchen
in their struggle against patriarchy and social injustice, as reflected in these
translations. Mei Niang and Wu Ying penned letters to each other, while a
writer using the name Jia Ren wrote an open letter to Yang Xu. Each of the
letters remarks on the character of the writers, their professional lives, and
the difficult circumstances in which they lived.
Jonghyun Lee has translated “Women Facing a Crossroads,” a collection
of Korean memoirs published in the Mansŏnilbo (Manchuria–Joseon daily
news) in December 1932. As Lee points out, while there is no assurance that
the memoirs were written by the authors named, they eloquently portray
the lives and concerns of Korean women in Manchukuo. By 1945, Koreans
18 Part 1

in Manchukuo numbered almost two million, almost twice the number of

Japanese, and the third-largest population following the Han and Manchus.
As the memoirs make vividly clear, the Korean women endured colonializing
influences from the Japanese as they became imperialists as well while still
suffering from patriarchal norms.
Part 1 illustrates how varied individuals viewed their lives and ambitions
in Manchukuo, striving to live in an order that was idealistic and militaristic,
and that over time turned more and more to the latter, not to the Kingly Way
or the “light of Asia” espoused by early propagandists and ideologues. The
promises that the idea of Manchukuo may once have inspired were extin-
guished by activities of the military, an education system and ideology that
many viewed with suspicion or contempt, and the opportunistic seizing of
lands for Japanese “pioneers.” Together, the readings demonstrate a complex-
ity of life and cultural production that has often been overlooked, minimized,
or condemned in accounts of the puppet state of Manchukuo.

Notes
1 Diana Lary, China’s Civil War: A Social History, 1945–1949 (Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press, 2015), 126.
2 Quoted in Andrew Jacobs, “China Is Wordless on Traumas of Communists Rise,”
New York Times, 1 October 2009, https://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/02/world/asia/
02anniversary.html.
3 For example, see Harold Tanner, Where Chiang Kai-shek Lost China: The Liao-Shen
Campaign, 1948 (Indianapolis: Indiana University Press, 2015).
4 Exceptions include Nogawa Takashi (1901-44) who contributed the short story “Tonsu
he iku hitobito” [The people going to the hamlet]; he was later imprisoned for his sym-
pathies toward Chinese villagers allegedly being stiffed by the cooperatives. Shimaki
Kensaku (1903–45) is a converted leftist who helped edit the volume, too. For further
information, see Stephen Poland, “The Literary Politics of Harmonization and Disson­
ance” in Manchukuo Perspectives: Transnational Approaches to Literary Production, ed.
Annika A. Culver and Norman Smith (Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press, 2019),
255–68.
1 Tales of Opening Manchuria
RONALD SULESKI

In September 1931, the Japanese Kantō Army (Kantōgun), with help

from Japanese troops stationed in Korea, invaded Manchuria. Resist­
ance quickly fell before the advancing Japanese, and by early 1932
Japan occupied all of Manchuria. In the summer of that year, civilian
employees of the Japanese government arrived in the Manchurian city
of Harbin. Their purpose was to identify areas where Japanese agricul­
tural colonists (nōmin kaitakusha) could farm the land. More than just
farms, the goal was to build Japanese village communities with schools,
medical clinics, machinery repair shops, and regular communication
with Japanese military units stationed nearby.
Nearly ten years later in 1941, a seminar was organized to celebrate
the accomplishments of the early Japanese colonizers. Several of the
men who had visited Jiamusi, a city about 350 kilometres east of Harbin
where the first batch of colonists had been sent, were on hand to give
their recollections of Japanese settlement in the region. The seminar
transcript was published in the book Manshū kaitaku mono­gatari (Tales
of opening Manchuria), a portion of which is translated here. Their
comments are all in conversational Japanese. As I read them, devoid
of political jargon or the honorific speech (keigo) often used at formal
occasions, I felt as if I were attending the seminar, listen­ing to this
friendly and relaxed group of men (only men spoke at the seminar
because the first groups of settlers consisted only of armed men) talk
about the situation they faced from 1932. This text showed me how
little conversational Japanese has changed since the 1930s.
I felt in a friendly mood toward these men as I read and translated
their comments about hard work and scary times. Alas, a wider reading
of materials about those early days of the Japanese colonists in Jiamusi
20 Ronald Suleski

revealed that, even beyond their assumptions that the Japanese

occupiers had a perfect right to be in Manchuria, their recollections
were very selective. The book turned out to be a well-edited piece of
Japanese propaganda presenting convincing and human stories of
sacrifice and hard work. When placed in the context of the wider story,
the transcript is filled with clues about what was taking place. But when
read in a relaxed way by a Japanese person at the time, the accounts
were almost certainly accepted as sincere and admirable.1
In his first remarks, Katō Hisao refers to his group as “armed col­
onists” (busō yimin), the term used at that time. The government said
arms were necessary due to the many armed “bandits” in the region,
who were actually renegade former warlord military units. Unable to
overcome the better-trained and more heavily armed invading
Japanese troops, several Chinese units had moved into the swampy
and hilly terrain south of Jiamusi, where they harassed incoming col­
onists. Historians in the People’s Republic of China (PRC) today might
classify them as anti-Japanese resistance forces. The Colonel Tōmiya
that Katō mentions approvingly was Lt. Colonel Tōmiya Kaneo (1892–
1937), who insisted the first settlers be armed with military rifles.
As the story unfolds, colonist Okada Takeba mentions the ruinous
floods occurring along the banks of the Songhua River, flooding the
streets of Harbin. Later during the occupation, the Japanese tried
building dams to stop the periodic flooding, but it was not until 1958
that the Chinese government finally had enough water-control facilities
to prevent the rampant flooding. 2
According to the story below, the Japanese were encouraged by
regional Chinese officials to take over large tracts of land and bring it
into cultivation. When the group arrived south of Jiamusi, probably in
trucks driven by soldiers of the Kantō Army, they took a horse cart up
to an area of high ground in order to survey the lands available for the
taking. They decided to claim twenty to thirty thousand chōbu of land,
over twenty thousand hectares, for their use. This survey group was
armed but, as Katō confirmed, they did not need survey instruments or
maps in order to decide the lands to be designated for Japanese use.
Colonist Yoshizaki Senshū then talks about a bandit attack on the
small settlement of Hunanying (renamed by the Japanese “Senfuru,”
or Thousand Waves of Prosperity), south of the Yongfengzhen area
mentioned earlier in the text. The speakers conflate the towns of
Mengjiagang and Yongfuzhen, but on current PRC maps these are
 Tales of Opening Manchuria 21

1.1 Cover of Manshū kaitaku monogatari.

Source: Author’s collection

two distinct locations, although they are nearby each other, south
of the city of Jiamusi. Both of these towns seem to have been walled
market towns. The colonists took advantage of these walls, which
defended their camp.
Why were the Chinese attackers so determined to overcome the
Hunanying/Senfuru settlement? Most likely there were several reasons:
in general, even the poorest Japanese settlers had better clothing,
tools, medicines, and sewing machines compared to the neighbouring
Chinese; the Japanese probably had food and grain in storage, which
were always a pressing need for the Chinese renegade soldiers; and it
seems that, in this case, the Japanese colonists had military-issue rifles
and a lot of ammunition, while the scattered Chinese units were not
receiving any resupply. These determined Chinese attacks lasted over a
period of several months in the spring of 1934, a little over a year after
the first Japanese colonists arrived.
22 Ronald Suleski

On 18 April 1934, a small two-passenger DH.80A, a de Havilland Puss

Moth aircraft manufactured in England between 1929 and 1933, landed
in a field outside the besieged Japanese compound. Constructed of
plywood, these planes had a deadly tendency for the struts supporting
their overhead wings to break off – they would begin to flutter and
buckle, and the plane would crash in a nosedive, which may have been
how the plane later crashed that day. After forty days of siege and no
contact with the outside world, the plane brought important treats such
as letters from family in Japan and yōkan (a thick, jellied dessert made
of red bean paste and sugar), to be eaten with tea. Among the items
given to the colonists were some Ruby Queen (rubii kuiin), cigarettes
that could be sold in the local commercial markets for a lot of cash.
This supply may indicate that the local Chinese markets did not accept
Japanese currency, which was also included in the shipment. On the
other hand, trading in precious metals and stones was one of the main
activities of the local Chinese markets in the Jiamusi area, so good
negotiations would allow the Japanese colonists to raise a lot of cash.
Colonist Yoshizaki Senshū mentions a “Longshan Incident” (Ryūsan
jiken). The correct name of this place is Tulongshan, an area west of
the Japanese settlements discussed in this translation, today called
Tulongshangzhen, in Huanan county. In January 1934, Japanese armed
colonists were moving into the area, forcibly buying land from local
Chinese farmers at low prices and taking away their firearms, over the
strong objections of the local Chinese population, who used their fire­
arms to hunt for food. A local gentry chief named Xie Wendong mobil­
ized the local militia and, with other local people joining in, the Chinese
forces soon numbered between three thousand and six thousand men. 3
Early in March, they drove out the Japanese, resulting in the deaths of
at least nineteen Japanese soldiers sent to help the colonists. It was not
until October 1934 that the Japanese forces regained control over the
area, so the attacks against Hunanying being described here took place
at the same time as the anti-Japanese revolt at Tulongshan. This was a
(temporary) setback for the Japanese agricultural colonists and also for
the plan of overrunning Heilongjiang with Japanese settlements. The
event was strictly prohibited from being reported to the Japanese
public, but of course people living in the area exchanged stories about
it. In this case, Yoshizaki seems to be saying that the “bandit” attacks on
Hunanying were part of Chinese anger against the Japanese who had
tried to move into Tulongshan. 4
 Tales of Opening Manchuria 23

Talk at the seminar then turned to the orchard the Japanese developed
to help ensure that fresh fruits would be available to the colonists, named
the Heaven Shining Garden (Ch: Tianzhaoyuan; Jp: Tenshōen). 5 A re­
vealing point mentioned in the discussion is that the Japanese govern­
ment in those days was not able to recruit enough farmers from Japan
to move to Manchuria. So the government began to recruit unemployed
labourers, especially younger men and boys in their teens, who were
unable to find construction or factory jobs in Tokyo and who had to be
trained in every aspect of preparing soil and planting trees. The discus­
sion also reveals that because of the hard work and meagre meals, the
weight of the average Japanese colonist working in the orchards
dropped from fifty-nine to fifty-five kilograms. Most of these males were
of slight stature and were skinny to begin with, so their bodies did not
have any extra weight to lose, and they likely experienced medical
problems as a result.
By the late 1930s, the Japanese government was sending recruiters
directly to rural farming villages in Japan, and (as we now know) often
intimidating portions of entire villages to move together to Manchukuo.
One intimidation tactic was threatening to report these villagers as
being “unpatriotic” and unwilling to aid the imperial war effort. 6
In the translation below, I mix both Chinese and Japanese pronun­
ciations for place names. This is because the Japanese speakers some­
times used the Chinese pronunciations for places (sometimes indicated
by kana script next to the kanji in the text), and also because the
Chinese pronunciation of most Manchukuo place names seem better
known to English-speaking readers. But where Japanese place names
were clearly used by the speakers, such as for the Iyasaka and Senfuru
settlements, the Japanese pronunciations are given.
I am very aware of the narrative of the indignities and cruelties
visited on Chinese, Koreans, Russians, and all the subject peoples of
Manchukuo. That aspect of what the Japanese did cannot be explained
away. Having said all this and having translated many pages from this
book, I still find myself feeling a residue of sympathy for the men whose
comments you will read below. They had no right to be in Manchuria,
where they imposed themselves on the local population. Still, they gave
up the prime years of their lives for the sake of the colonizing experi­
ment. Even if they managed to survive the collapse of Manchukuo in
1945 and eventually got back to postwar Japan to continue their lives,
they surely had lost more than they ever gained.10
24 Ronald Suleski

—•  TRANSLATION  •—

Recalling the Early Days of Opening Manchuria: A Seminar 7

murayama tōshirō: We are talking about the early days of opening Man­
churia, and as we all know this topic is one that continues to have historical
importance. We are talking about the past ten difficult years in which
each of you have been involved in this effort, so we have taken the op-
portunity to gather all of you together to discuss and relive the period.
As we know, this will be talk based on your concrete experiences, and
recalling past times, and maybe some self-congratulation, but we want
to give a clear and wide-ranging account to all our readers.
In the course of recalling these past times all of these events might not
be clearly pulled together in our minds, but let’s take the approach that
we speak as clearly as we can.
The region of the initial opening that we are discussing is the first
Japanese Iyasaka-mura (Prosperity Village) that was on the border of north
Manchuria in the direction of Yongfengzhen. I heard that Katō-san was
one of the first of the armed colonists involved in the initial survey of this
area, so I’d like to begin by asking the person involved to speak.

Looking for Suitable Land near Yongfengzhen

katō hisao: I was a member of the survey team for immigration to Man­

churia (Manshū yijū tekichi chōsahan) of the Ministry of Colonization

(Takumushō). I came to Manchuria for that purpose, and as I recall that
was in September 1932. As most of you know, at that time Jilin province
(currently an area that includes the provinces of Sanjiang, Mudanjiang,
and Binjiang) had a very bad public security problem since it was a time
when thirty thousand followers led by Li Du and Ding Chao were on the
rampage and no one could guarantee the safety of our survey team.
The first area considered for opening was the area of Yongfengzhen.
There was a small village named Mengjiagang that had about one hundred
Manchurian families who made their living by forestry work and extract-
ing gold dust from surface deposits. But after the Manchurian Incident
[1931] the village was attacked by bandits and the villagers scattered. Thus
because of the very dangerous security situation, the plan of having set-
tlers move into the area was by necessity made into having the settlers be
armed.
 Tales of Opening Manchuria 25

When the first group of armed settlers moved into the area of Yong­
fengzhen (now renamed Iyasaka Village), it was through the foresight of
Colonel Tōmiya, because the actual ability to move into the area had been
thought about by Colonel Tōmiya at a time when no one else had made
that consideration. There is an interesting story about how he made the
decision to try this area.
The colonel (he was then a captain) was then in Jilin province as an
adviser to the military. In the area east of Mudanjiang called Dongshi
county there were about 30,000 bandits. Both the Japanese military and
the Jilin military were engaged in trying to subdue them. The colonel
was active by taking military action against the bandits in many areas.
Because the bandits were hard to pin down, the colonel did a lot of recon-
naissance in the region. Because he was a very discerning man, he was
struck by the many areas of fertile land that was not under cultivation.
He became convinced that these were areas where Japanese settlers ought
to move into.
Just at the time that Colonel Tōmiya was commanding the Manchukuo
Protection Army (Manshūkoku gorogun), the current minister of security
(chianbu daijin), General Yu Chencheng, told the colonel that there were
large fields of fertile uncultivated land within his jurisdiction to the
southeast of Jiamusi in the area near to Mengjiagang. It was agreed that
we could have up to a thousand families from Japan come to settle this
area, which was a total of 20,000 chōbu [1 chōbu = 1 hectare], meaning
that each family could be provided with 20 chōbu [20 hectares] of land
without payment, and these conditions seemed appropriate to all sides so
that was our proposal. At that time the county magistrate of Huachuan
county, Tang Chunli, was also encouraging us. Under those conditions
the colonel became excited about the idea.
Since the situation in the area was so dangerous, he returned to
Changchun and – while saying it was imperative that the new settlers be
armed, there also needed to be a plan for their protection – so he returned
to Changchun and approached the Kantō Army.
murayama : So it appears that Colonel Tōmiya devised the plan to have

Japanese settlers move into this area?

katō: That’s correct. And at the same time, we selected a possible area

where the first group of settlers could move into. Both General Yu and
Magistrate Tang recommended this area to Colonel Tōmiya, and also
another place in the county, Beiliushu hezi.
26 Ronald Suleski

So it was then the task of our survey team to decide which of the can-
didate areas would receive the first contingent of settlers. In order to
survey the areas, our team left Harbin in the middle of September, and
that year the waters of the Songhua River overflowed their banks, and
there was a big flood.
okada takeba : Yes, yes. Speaking of that year, in Harbin because of the

flooding we had to ride in boats down Kitaiskaia Street.

katō: I remember we had to ride in small boats down to the dock in order

to board our larger boat to go down the Songhua River to Jiamusi.

murayama: How did you organize yourselves?

katō: Our current director of Manchuria colonizing (Mantaku), Nakamura

Kōjirō, was head of the survey team, Saitō was head of the Chengzi River
group and others were also present; the guide was Colonel Tōmiya; and
the Jilin bandit suppression chief of staff, along with Yang Yushu who
had become a director of the Manchuria Colonizing Organization and
Magistrate Tang of Huachuan county, all went together with us.
Our decision was to send the first group of armed settlers into the
Yongfengzhen area. As I’ve just mentioned, in reaching this decision we
listened to the opinions of Colonel Tōmiya, General Yu, and the magis-
trate. The final decision was up to us, based on what we had actually saw.
Then we departed to inspect the area, each with our own concerns, which
we repeatedly brought up and talked over among ourselves.
We arrived at Yongfengzhen for our inspection. We saw it was on a
high plain with wild grasses of all sorts growing in profusion. Seeing that
the soil was very fertile, we all agreed on that favourable point. We began
to survey the surrounding area in terms of its suitability. We also saw the
hill where the Iyasaka Shrine (jinja) now stands, and we climbed that
hill, from where we could see the surrounding land out to quite a dis-
tance. We had not brought surveying instruments with us, and since
we did not have maps of the area, we thought that we could only truly
see the entire area from the nearby hilltop so we took a horse cart up
there, and we could see the large area of land. That was how we surveyed
the area. We saw the area consisted of twenty to thirty thousand chōbu
of land, a great expanse.
On the second day we began to look at the other possible area, the
nearby Beiliushu hezi. However, this area was very dangerous, and we
noticed that it was narrower, so we ended up recommending the Yong­
fengzhen area.
 Tales of Opening Manchuria 27

1.2 Postcard of Harbin, flooded in 1932. Source: Author’s collection

murayama: So the first area chosen for opening up was based on your con-
clusions after looking at the whole area. Katō-san has a story about tasting
“mercury” that took place during your survey, didn’t it?
katō: Well, yes it did.

The Story of Drinking Mercury

okada: About this story of drinking mercury, what was that all about?

katō: No, it wasn’t really a big thing. It was a bit of a misadventure. In

Director Nakamura’s book The Story of Manchuria Immigrants (Manshū

imin monogatari) he writes about the incident. But in leaving for our
survey trip, we left Harbin and passed through an area where there was
cholera. For those of us who were travelling through north Manchuria
for the first time, that was all a scary business. As said earlier, we were on
a boat travelling from Harbin to Jiamusi. That day following breakfast
the boy (bōi) brought some water to gargle [to rinse out our mouths] and
gave me some, and I rinsed my mouth. I thought: “This is not good,” so I
said to the boy: “What kind of water is this?” Later I thought it was a silly
question to ask.
But the boy replied: “It was mercury (shōkōsui).” I panicked and won-
dered if I was about to die and thought: “I’m too young to die now.” But one
of the members of our group who could speak Manchurian [Chi­nese]
28 Ronald Suleski

yelled over saying: “Katō, don’t worry! That was just a mouthwash. In Man­
churian a mouthwash is soukoushui. Take note of this, when we get back
you’ll still be alive and with us.” (Laughter)

The Battlements of Hunanying and Group Leader Mune

murayama: Technician Yoshizaki, a member of the Colonization Agricultural

Committee (Takushoku inkai) was a leader of the second group, and this
is the first time we’ve invited him here. I’d like him to speak to us about
life as a member of the agricultural group, about his outlook, and also
about the bandit attack experienced by the second group, all in terms of
his role as the group leader.
yoshizaki senshū: As for speaking about leader Mune’s attitude while on

the battlements of Hunanying, we can sum it up in a phrase by saying

he “had a bearing of sincerity and determination.” Usually, when there is
no wind blowing anyone can maintain a calm and steady demeanour. In
the first year after joining the agricultural work, we worked hard to build
something up, then returned [to our camp] with a sense of failure, and
in this past year again we’ve not done well. It was because from the north
and from the south, for days and nights at a time we were attacked by
three thousand bandits. We had no food to eat, no way of communicating
our situation, and never knew if we would live to see the next day. Almost
all of us fell into deep depression and lost hope. At times like that, truly,
human beings are reduced to people with no pretentions. In those times
when it seemed we had no chance, the attitude of Group Leader Mune
embraced all of us. We were in a situation when for two months straight
the bandits attacked us every evening, and we had no way of communicat-
ing with the outside world. We could not conceive of any future for our-
selves. The group leader refused to give in to hopelessness, and [therefore]
we also could not fall into complete despair. The group leader would not
countenance us giving up hope for the future, even when we approached
him with our fears. I have to say that even I myself could not summon
any vision of a future. I experienced the siege for two months with no
contact with the outside world. It got to the point that I was criticizing
our group leader.
We told our group leader that we could not see how we might build
our camp (at that time we were called the Camp Building Unit [Ton­
kondan]). “Leader,” I said, “we worked all last year to protect ourselves
from the bandits, but this year things are just as awful for us.” That was
the way I had completed two months of work with our colonization group.
 Tales of Opening Manchuria 29

It was the exhaustion all of us group members had experienced because

of the bandit attacks every day and every night for so long.
“Well, last year we could not finish our work because of the bandits,
and this year the situation has gotten even worse. So far we’ve been here
two years working hard. And it’s true that all of us have become exhausted
because of the bandit attacks and what you have been saying is all true.
So I can see how you are thinking.” The leader paused in his work of re-
pairing our agricultural tools and was silent and thinking for a while.
“Well, Yoshizaki-san, if things are so bad maybe all of us group leaders
ought to slit our stomachs [kill ourselves] because of this.”
That was the way he answered me. Then all of me, both my mind and
my body, realized what he was saying. I regained my determination to
preserve a spirit of hope for the future of our group.
It was 18 April. We were encircled by bandits for about the fortieth
day. The ground was warming up because spring had come to north
Manchuria, and there were green buds appearing on Tōmiya Mountain
(yama). None of the people in our group had any idea what to expect of
this spring. No one wanted to think about the coming year, and in those
circumstances no one held out any hope. Although the black earth was
loosening up and the green buds were appearing, beyond our protective
walls there were three thousand bandits encamped.
All the members of our group were brave. Since joining the group in
1933, all our work of building by the five hundred members of our group
[gave us] a sense of failure because of the Seven Tiger river bandits[8]. One
winter we had walked thirteen li to the Xiaoshidao River (hezi) to cut
trees for construction but at night, while returning, all our collected wood
was set afire. So besides agricultural work, we could not accomplish any
of the other tasks we had set for ourselves. The time for planting spring
wheat was already past. In the face of our troubles and hard work, we all
fell into depression.
At the same time, some of the members of our planting group had an
idea to do the planting anyway, and they approached the group leader
about it. The supervisor replied with the single phrase: “Let’s try it.” So
the brave Japanese farmers began the spring planting of wheat even with
the danger of the three thousand bandits waiting off in the distance.
k atō: It was really a case of planting in front of the enemy wasn’t it?

(Laughter.)
yoshizaki: It was like the Imperial Army arrived in front of the enemy. When

I think about it now, it seems like a very dramatic act, but at the time none
30 Ronald Suleski

of us felt that sense of glory. Our members ran out from behind the pro-
tective compound walls leading the horses and began the spring planting
in the black earth.
On that day I didn’t feel like going out into the fields, because I was
feeling extremely exhausted. I stayed in my room by myself and was
thinking about the agricultural work we would be doing when, I guess
it was about two o’clock in the afternoon, for no reason I decided to go
out to look at the fields. These days, we have a building used to repair our
agricultural implements there, but at that time it was called the Fukuyoshi
Brewery (Fuji shaojiu gongsi), and I walked among the pear trees growing
in the ruins of the former brewery.
I happened to see our group leader standing in the shade of the pear
trees, along with other group members all standing around without any
wheat sprouts [i.e., they had all been planted]. I felt so much respect for
them, it filled my breast. I didn’t say a word but then quietly went away.
All of the work that these Senfuru (Thousand Waves of Prosperity) set-
tlers have done through their hard work and perseverance has resulted
from the strong character and leadership of our group leader and from
nothing else.
murayama : Indeed, thank you very much. The attitude of Group Leader

Mune at the time has given me a deep impression. So, Yoshizaki, how did
the other members of the group react to Group Leader Mune at the time?
yoshizaki: The group members within the battlements had a strong spirit

of wanting to take control of the land, and I would say that was the central
conviction they all had.
In March, since we heard the bad news that the Seven Tiger river
bandits were in the fields we planned to cultivate, one day we went to the
ruins of Hunanying (today renamed Senfuru Town [machi]), where the
earthen walls were battered and broken because of the constant day and
night attacks from the three thousand bandits.
Beginning in May, the bandits started trying night attacks, when they
sometimes penetrated the walls and started fires, and engaged in hand-
to-hand combat. We later counted sixty bandit bodies and felt we had
achieved a great victory. But the enemy was not ready to desist, and they
continued to mount deadly attacks against us every day. With that reality,
none of our group members could sleep at night or close their eyes in a
restful way, so many stayed at the mud walls with a weapon by their side.
Even now, it pains my heart when I think of those things.
But at least I’m still alive.
 Tales of Opening Manchuria 31

We all would get disheartened as the night would begin to turn into
daylight. All our group members were extremely weary, having had no
communication from the outside and none from Japan, and so we had no
hope about tomorrow.
On about 10 May, our group members wondered what we should do
because we all had wives or children or brothers back in Japan. Harbin
was three hundred li distant, and even though Jiamusi was only twenty-
three li away, we were out in the countryside. None of us had left this site
in the two years we had been here. We wouldn’t be able to do it this spring
either. In this situation we had no idea what the coming year [the new
growing season] would bring.
A senior group member said our government had forgotten us. That
feeling about having no hope for the future was conveyed to the other
members of the group, who began to say that there was nothing we could
accomplish with this land. That opinion grew louder among our members,
who began talking in earnest about returning to Japan. The conclusion
we reached seemed to be that we had entered the road of sacrifices and
the loss of blood, so we needed now to first get away from this area in
order to decide what to do ultimately. We could do that by heading for
Jiamusi, or we could go (farther south) to Lishuzhen, which was in Mudan­
jiang province.
Outside our walls were three thousand of the enemy, while within the
walls was this disquiet. All sorts of danger awaited us, or not, but the work
of opening up the land was surely the greatest danger facing us. This sort
of extreme thinking was in the air at the time. Most people wanted to
follow this course of action.
What was the way to solve our problem? Was there any other way out?
Weren’t we the ones who had left our hometowns expecting our bones
to be buried in north Manchuria? We couldn’t know what would be com-
ing the following year, let alone in two or three years’ time. Will people
say that the Japanese farmers put down their hoes and ran away because
there were a lot of bandits? It seemed it would be good for us to get out
of this area, but after we left wouldn’t other Japanese farmers come to
north Manchuria to farm? Were we like a rock embedded in the land that
couldn’t move away, or could we move away from this land? There was no
one among us who could resolve these ideas. In the end, we all abandoned
the idea of running away.
Even today, like a flame that will not be extinguished, I cannot forget
the voices of those people. They were people who reached young adulthood
32 Ronald Suleski

and are now pillars in Senfuru, uncomplainingly doing the agricultural

work they respect.
murayama: The bandit attacks were still continuing? Among the settlers was

there anyone who was calm?

yoshizaki: There was. In the very centre of our compound.

murayama: So, won’t you tell us about the military hero, Nakamura-san?

The Calm Nakamura-san

yoshizaki: As I remember, it was on 19 April [1934] just at the time of

the Longshan Incident (Ryūsan jiken). The bandits who had organized the
first attack on 10 April were doing so in reprisal for this incident, and we
were surrounded by 3,000 bandits.
On 17 April, the bandits that were in the hills to the north of Hunan­
ying three kilometres away had 2,000 men, four kilometres to the north
of where the Senfuru train station (eki) is today they had 500 men; to the
south in the Seven Tiger river area they had 100 to 150 men; and then to
the southwest of us where the eighth colonizer group has now entered,
they had 50 to more than 100 bandits all gathered for a second concerted
attack on the Hunanying area. Everyone was aware of the coming attacks
and, as I said before, the fierce attacks were unceasing both day and night
against our bodies and our spirits. An especially bad point was that we
could not communicate with anyone in Japan. We wondered if anyone in
Japan knew of our plight, but then if they knew there was no way for them
to contact us. If war with the Soviet Union were to suddenly break out,
wouldn’t we be quickly forgotten? All the people in our group were talking
like that.
Fighting a defensive war is a very difficult thing.
Our group’s funds were soon depleted. Food became more and more
scarce. Tobacco had long before been used up, so we took to pulling grasses
and rolling them up in newspaper in order to make a cigarette.
In that circumstance, on 18 April the bandits took over Tuoyaozi. There
were three or four hundred bandits riding horses for about three thousand
metres surrounding the area of Hunanying. On the following day there
was no wind, and it was very sunny. The earth was so black [i.e., fertile
and ready for planting]. Then many group members came running to our
office where we were working. “An airplane!” they yelled. “It looks like it
is searching for Hunanying.” Our group leader (tanchō) dropped what he
was doing, and his face lit up. Then all the people in the main office who
were with us ran outside. It was a small Puss Moth plane that seemed to
 Tales of Opening Manchuria 33

have been searching for us. People came running out of their homes and
from every nook and cranny. How had that small plane found us? Probably
it was confirming if we were the Hunanying settlement. The plane flew
low overhead, and we saw someone dressed in khaki, so assumed it was
a military plane. An arm tossed out a package. We ran to tear it open and
found it was a memo from technician Nakamura (one of our colonization
officials). “We express our thanks for your hard work.” Inside were 30,000
yen in cash, sugar, cigarettes, and Japanese yōkan.9
But the plane did not land. It was honouring our strenuous efforts.
That’s all it was saying. But people seeing the plane from beyond the East
Gate were jumping up to catch the heavy gunnysacks that were coming
down from the plane. We opened them quickly to find Ruby Queen to sell
on the open market to raise funds for our military supplies. The yōkan
cakes were from the well-known Toraya store in Tokyo, and there were
letters from our hometowns. The words in those letters were like gold
falling from heaven, and it is hard to express how important they were to
us or how good they made us feel.
“It’s Nakamura-san, Nakamura-san!” everyone shouted, as with grate­
ful eyes we watched the plane. That plane that had dropped the packages
to us made another low pass over us, then flew off. The plane had confirmed
our location, and in our joy we forgot about the bandits who were surround-
ing our position. What surprised us was that the plane then seemed to drop
in altitude, and all of us uttered an exclamation of surprise when we saw
that, with a spray of earth, the plane landed in a field to the north of us.
That was completely unexpected by us. It was already past mid-April,
and the ice had all melted, but to see that plane land in our fields was
something we had never even dreamed of. Probably the bandits had also
seen it. Then, before I knew it, out of the airplane stepped Nakamura,
broadly smiling. The group leader and others all ran over to shake his
hand. We should have said something in greeting, but our emotions
were strong, and we were at a loss for words, and we ended up not saying
anything.
“You’ve been reckless,” our group leader said to Nakamura, who replied
simply: “I was worried about you so decided to land.”
Nakamura was a cadre who had guided us and encouraged us many
times as we planned for the Iyasaka and Senfuru settlements. He was
someone we would never forget. Now he had once again engineered an
adventure in order to save us. We simply could not express our gratitude
to him.
34 Ronald Suleski

After a while we began to talk about our situation and our plans going
forward. Later the authorities in Tokyo announced that Administrator
Ogawa and Nakamura, the two people who were in the airplane, were
listed as missing. In taking off, the plane began to wobble in the field al-
though there was no wind, and it was hard for the wheels to get traction.
Somehow or other the plane was able to take off toward the north in spite
of everyone’s apprehensions. According to the reports made later, the
wheels did not have good traction in the soft earth, and the plane was
unable to achieve sufficient speed. About a thousand metres to the north,
the wheels were spinning as the plane lifted off, but we could not see the
metal struts [because of?] the tires. We were all intensely anxious. The
plane with its heavy wing and tail sections seemed reluctant to leave us.
It entered the air heading for Harbin and then seemingly without incident
it disappeared. All of us group members tear up whenever we remember
our last impression of that plane taking off.
He was a reckless guy! He is someone we are grateful to!

Heaven Shining Garden (Ch: Tianzhaoyuan; Jp: Tenshōen)

murayama: While listening to that interesting story I forgot all about the

time moving on, but there are a few other topics I’d like us to cover, so
let’s move on to them. One of the things that very early on illustrated the
attitude of the free immigrants (jiyū imin) in South Hsing’an province
(Xing’an nansheng) were the fruit trees in Tianzhaoyuan. It is acknow-
ledged that the development of this orchard was the result of the hard
work of the Korean colonization (sentaku) Director (riji) Okada. I’d like
us to hear something about those days.
katō: Tianzhaoyuan? Eh? When did cultivation begin there?

okada: Well, it was around the end of May 1932, which means that nine

years have already passed by since then, but it was in the following year
that we planted trees in the orchard.
katō: 1932 was the first year that we did any planting, wasn’t it?

murayama: Those fruit trees are not old trees, are they? So Okada-san, about
the Tenshōen, how was it that you brought in those unemployed people
from Fukagawa? [Fukagawa was a working-class section of Tokyo at the
time.] Wasn’t that a difficult time for a lot of people?
okada: Yes it was. There are a lot of things I could talk about, but among

the agricultural work that I manage in the Kantōshū area [in the southern
part of the Manchurian peninsula], there are fields that have boys in
training working them, which are always successful. The attitude of the
 Tales of Opening Manchuria 35

Japanese in Manchuria at the time was reflected by the young people who
were ready to take on all problems. My friend Imai at that time was with
the Mitsubishi Tenshōen and is now commissioned to work with the
Korean colonizers. And Mr. Kōzaka from Tokyo’s Fukagawa district is
now the group leader of the Tenshōen. He told me that he had people from
age eighteen to age forty-nine there living in the barracks, people he had
not previously met. “Okay,” he said. “If this is the situation, let’s make it
work.” He asked them to do something that would help the agricultural
colonization effort in Manchuria.
We have to say that their life was very hard, even to the point of dying,
but they felt that if dying were necessary, they would do it. From what I
heard them say, they came to Manchuria with that total determination.
Seventy-three of them came on a cargo ship from Yokohama to Dalian in
May, and my family also welcomed them with celebratory dishes of red
rice (sekihan), thinking it might be the last rice they would be able to eat
for two or three years.
They worked diligently for a year learning how to farm in Manchuria,
and they built a camp in South Hsing’an province in the village of
Qianjiadian. They were not receiving any financial assistance from the
government at that time, but with assistance they got from the city of
Tokyo they began to clear the land for cultivation. They could not develop
wet paddy fields from the nearby West Liao River (Xiliao he) because the
volume of water fluctuated much more than they anticipated. So they
began to dig household wells, but the water was brackish. There were
damages experienced from hail, and there were all these unexpected
challenges as they tried cultivation. In 1937, they got some assistance from
the Manchuria Colonization Company (Mantaku kōsha) that was newly
established. They managed to bring about a great transformation and by
good cooperation they set up the new orchard and the trees that are there
today. Murayama-san, what is the latest news about the orchard trees?
murayama: The judgment is that the trees are very productive and are doing

well. There are now fifty-four households there with 140 to 150 people,
and they have built a wonderful community. We can really say that just
as you reported, they have constructed a satisfactory community.
yoshizaki: What kind of practical training did these Tenshōen immigrants

have before they began to cultivate?

okada: Thinking about it from our current perspective, they certainly had

a great will to succeed. It was a practical training facility that encountered

a lot of obstacles, but in addition they received a monthly allowance of
36 Ronald Suleski

6.50 yen. They had to invest 5 yen in the agricultural work, which means
they could only save 1.50 yen to use for their own personal lives. That
1.50 yen was what they had to live on but, based on my research, most
people used 1.29 yen [for expenses?], some could save only 0.30 yen
[30 sen], meaning that the average was about 0.77 yen, which was not
much money to live on. At that time, the typical cost for food for one
month per person was 2.70 yen, or about 0.10 yen per day.
murayama: What kind of food can we eat with a budget of 0.10 yen per day?

Especially if prices rise, then 0.10 yen is not very much for food.
okada: True, but remember that the amount had to cover three meals per

day. For breakfast they ate corn (baomi) with beans, rice soup, maybe
some pickles (tsukemono), and lunch was the same. For supper, they might
add some miso soup or steamed vegetables. That was their typical menu.
They might supplement that with a bit of pork or fish soup once a month.
They would consider that a special treat.
katō: Okada-san, what is the rice soup (mitang) you’ve just mentioned?

okada: It’s just some rice boiled in water. You take one person’s portion of

dry rice, or twenty momme, and steam it and put it in water to make a thin
soup.
yoshizaki: So that is like saying they never eat white rice, isn’t it?

okada: That’s correct. They had to agree that in coming to Manchuria it was

unlikely they would be able to eat white rice, and according to that condi-
tion they did not eat white rice. It was decided that the twenty-sixth of
each month, the day they arrived in Manchuria, would be observed as
Comfort Day (Ian no hi), and on that day they were able to ignore provi-
sions and could eat white rice and a soup made from flour. Everyone began
anticipating the twenty-sixth four or five days before it arrived, and the
twenty-sixth was always noisy like a festival day. All the adults were run-
ning around like children. All the kids were running around with happy
faces; you never saw them crying on that day. There never was a relief
from the hard work, so it was a critical learning experience for us that we
had to set up that day as our Comfort Day. It was an important lesson for
us to learn.
katō: Couldn’t we say that carrying on for months at a time with such a

hard life will have a negative effect on the health of the people?
okada: That was not a preferred situation, but it is one of the factors that I

have investigated. I have paid special attention to this point in my inves-

tigations. The average weight of the settlers before they came to Manchuria
was 15 kan 200 momme [roughly 59 kg], and after three months in
 Tales of Opening Manchuria 37

Manchuria their weight dropped to 14 kan 400 momme [55 kg], meaning
that the average person lost 800 momme [4 kg]. The conclusion is that this
drop in weight was because of the difficulty of life here in the first few
months of their stay.
murayama: What about illness?

okada: Illness? Well, because of the changes they experienced in the geog-

raphy, climate, and similar factors, initially there was a lot of sickness.
But there were very few people who stopped work because of illness. I
would say the most common ailments were problems of the digestive
tract, but beyond that there were irritations like headaches, though we
did have one person who suffered a cerebral hemorrhage while working
and died. Fortunately we did not have other cases of severe illness. Based
on our studies, the situation of farmers surviving on poor rations of
10 sen per day and yet not taking a rest from their work is a question that
should be researched not only for the settlers but for the entire popula-
tion of Japanese as well.
About being able to eat white rice, I do have a tearful story. It was in
the autumn of the year I came to Manchuria, all of the settlers came to
my house to help put on the roof, which was a very kind thing for them
to do. When it came time for our meal, everyone had a good meal and ate
their fill. We were all filled up, and I can’t remember anything else about
that meal. The next day people said: “If I die tomorrow, I’ll have fulfilled
my wishes,” and saying so they returned to their homes. The strange
thing is that the following day while we were in the fields working, we
quietly passed away from this world. (Laughter)
yoshizaki: It was in fact nothing to laugh about, we should say it was some-

thing to cry about.

Notes
1 For the wider context concerning Jiamusi, see Kuwajima Setsurō, Manshū busō yimin
[Armed immigrants to Manchuria] (Tōkyō: Kyōikusha, 1979), 129–50.
2 An excellent article was provided to me by Xiaoran He, “The ‘Baptism’ of Manchukuo:
The 1932 Deluge, State Building, and the Making of Local Memory in Harbin,” presented
at the Regional Meeting of the Association for Asian Studies in Boston, 2017. Cited here
with the permission of the author.
3 The story is that Xie Wendong linked up with the Chinese Communist resistance. Due
to his Communist connections, he was beheaded by the Kuomintang in 1946. See Nimaru
seiki Manshū rekishi jiten [Dictionary of twentieth-century Manchuria history] (Tōkyō:
Yoshikawa kōbunkan, 2012), 375.
4 For these events see Tsutsui Gorō, Tetsudō jikeimura, shisetsu, Manshū yiminshi [Railway
self-defence villages, personal recollections, a history of Japanese immigrants to Man­
churia] (Tōkyō: Nihon tosho kankōkai, 1997), 180–81. Also see Kuwajima, Manshū busō
38 Ronald Suleski

yimin, 204–24. For brief accounts from both Chinese and Japanese sources of these
events, see Liu Wenxin, ed., Mengsui: Riben kaituotuan fumie qianhou [Dreams of
Manchuria: Before and after the Japanese colonizers] (Harbin: Heilongjiang renmin
chubanshe, 1991), 266–83.
5 During the seminar exchange being translated here, Japanese colonist Murayama some-
times pronounced the garden’s name in Chinese. For an account of the Japanese colonists
living in the Jiamusi area during the 1930s, see Takarabe Toriko, Heaven and Hell: A
Novel of a Manchukuo Childhood, trans. Phyllis Birnbaum (Honolulu: University of
Hawai’i Press, 2018). This is a fictionalized account based on Takarabe’s childhood
memories and the stories she heard while growing up in Manchukuo near Jiamusi.
6 See Ronald Suleski, “Salvaging Memories: Former Japanese Colonists in Manchuria and
the Shimoina Project, 2001–2012,” in Empire and the Environment in the Making of
Manchuria, ed. Norman Smith (Vancouver: UBC Press, 2017), 202.
7 Hatsuki no Manshū kaitaku o kataru: Zadankai [Recalling the early days of opening
Man­churia: A seminar], in Manshū kaitaku monogatari [Tales of opening Manchuria],
ed. The Manchuria Colonization Company (Manshū takushoku kōsha. Hsinking (Shinkyō)
and Mukden (Hōten): Manshū jijō annaijo, 1941, 70. Pages 1 to 28 are translated here.
8 Yoshizaki referred to them as originating in the area of Qihuli, to the south of the new
Japanese-controlled settlement areas.
9 A thick, jellied dessert made of red bean paste and sugar to be eaten with tea.
10 In the summer of 1998, a group of Japanese who had been born in the Senfuru colonizer’s
village at Hunanying were invited by the Chinese government to revisit the village. They
were delighted to see the building where they had attended elementary school in the
1940s. The visit was officially to help them locate relatives who had been left behind
in China in 1945. The movement of the Japanese groups was tightly controlled by PRC
authorities, somewhat to their chagrin. See Takuyū [Colonizer’s friend] 52 (October 1998).
2 Sakuta Shōichi, “The Light of Asia”
BILL SEWELL and NORIO OTA

Sakuta Shōichi (1878–1973) graduated from Tokyo Imperial University in

1905 – that heady year in which Japan ejected the Russian Empire from
Korea and southern Manchuria. After graduate work in international law,
he taught economics in China at Wuchang’s new School of Law and
Administration from 1908 to 1912. Returning to Japan, Sakuta taught in
his home prefecture – in the former Chōshū domain, birthplace of many
of Meiji Japan’s elite – at the Yamaguchi Higher Commercial School.
Accepting a position at Kyoto Imperial University in 1923, he made full
professor in 1930 but retired in 1938 at age sixty to relocate to Manchu­
kuo’s new capital, Xinjing (Jp: Shinkyō) and serve as vice-president of
Kenkoku Daigaku (Ch: Jian’guo daxue; National Foundation University).1
“Kendai” opened in May that year, inspired by Ishiwara Kanji (1889–
1949), one of the plotters behind the Manchurian Incident. Ishiwara had
returned to Manchukuo the previous year as deputy chief of staff of the
Guandong Army (Kwantung Army; Jp: Kantōgun). Concerned for the
puppet state’s management and fearing a looming confrontation with
the USSR, Ishiwara preferred a less oppressive system so as to foster
collaboration with Chinese in order to industrialize the region. His later
disapproval of war in China and repeated clashes with then Guandong
Army chief of staff Tōjō Hideki (1884–1948), among others, however,
resulted in his return to Japan at the end of 1938 and assignment to the
Japan Sea port of Maizuru. Continuing to denounce Tōjō, he was put
on reserve in 1941. 2
Kendai represented Manchukuo’s potential for an alternate path.
With the puppet state’s premier its nominal president, it embodied a
genuine, albeit limited, effort to create an elite cohort for Manchukuo’s
multiethnic society, idealized officially as the “harmony of five races”
40 Bill Sewell and Norio Ota

(Ch: wuzu xiehe; Jp: gozoku kyōwa), and for the empire at large. Kendai
recruited diverse students, including Russians, Mongolians, Koreans,
and Taiwanese, for a university curriculum that included instruction in
Pan-Asian ideology and martial arts. Tuition was free, and the university
provided textbooks, room and board, and a small allowance. Sakuta,
however, helped shift Kendai away from Ishiwara’s initial hopes, re­
sulting in a racial hierarchy ensuring Japanese pre-eminence. This
problematized the effort, reproducing in microcosm the puppet state’s
conflicting realities. Tensions eventually led to mass arrests of students
engaged in anti-Japanese activities in 1942, compelling Sakuta to re­
sign. 3 Wang Zhixin has suggested that Kendai may have been a means
of testing how to subordinate universities to the state, a trial run for
universities in Japan. 4
Sakuta’s appointment to Kendai was due not only to his long-
standing interest in China, but also to his work renovating Japan. At a
tuition-free institute in 1932 he helped rehabilitate students forced to
drop out of postsecondary education because of leftist affiliations. 5
That year he began working with the Ministry of Education developing
a “national science” to challenge proliferating Marxist views, something
he continued at Kendai. 6 Sakuta was also one of fourteen contributors
to the ministry’s Kokutai no hongi (Cardinal Principles of the National
Entity, 1937), a widely distributed primer on Japanese identity centring
on the imperial house. Written for educators, it provided the basis for
the ministry’s wartime propaganda, invoking the spirit of Japan’s
“national foundation” and describing Manchukuo’s founding as an
extension of prehistoric Japan’s imperial unification.7 In Manchukuo,
Sakuta proposed a means of “mass rule” in which groups working
within an umbrella organization might form a national organization
that would supersede parliamentary politics. This concept helped
enable Manchukuo’s Concordia Association (Ch: Xiehehui; Jp: Kyōwakai),
which served as a forerunner to Japan’s own Imperial Rule Assistance
Association of 1940. 8
Written in a poetic style, the essay that follows was the lead article in
the inaugural issue of Kendai’s journal Kenkoku (National foundation).9
It reflected not only contemporary propaganda but also themes long
evident in the Japanese colonial imaginary, such as Japanese leader­
ship, shared cultural traditions, and Asian liberation.10 Sakuta, however,
was not the first to identify Japan as the “light of Asia.” Prewar Japanese
Buddhists used the concept to reach out to other Buddhists through a
 Sakuta Shōichi, “The Light of Asia” 41

common religious heritage and the promise of Japan’s successful

modernity. In so doing, some referenced The Light of Asia (1879), an
epic poem by Sir Edwin Arnold (1832–1904) commemorating the histor­
ical Buddha.11 The poem contributed to rekindling Japanese interest in
the historical Buddha after its translation and provided the basis for a
1925 film shown internationally.12 Arnold himself took an interest in
Japan, marrying a Japanese woman and in 1892 receiving the Order of
the Rising Sun.13 Intriguingly, he defended Japan’s first war with China
by arguing that Japan was acting on behalf of the civilized world.14 In
his news magazine Kokumin no tomo (The people’s friend), Tokutomi
Sohō (1863–1957) showed a similar outlook, noting that Japanese

have a duty to radiate the light of civilization beyond our shores and
bring the benefits of civilization to our neighbors. We have the duty
to guide backward countries to the point of being able to govern
themselves. We have the duty to maintain peace in East Asia for this
purpose. As a man has his calling, so too does a nation have its
mission.15

This was part of a coherent world view – an unattributed leading article

in the first issue of the new English-language edition of Tokutomi’s
journal in 1896 opined that Japan “was singularly prepared to receive
the light from the West.”16
Three months later, the liberal parliamentarian Ozaki Yukio (1858–
1954) agreed with Tokutomi that “man can not live without ambition
and the same is true of nations. Japan has her cherished ambition. It
is to become the light of Asia and to spread the beneficent influence of
civilization over the nations of the Far East.”17 A decade earlier he had
even called for war with China to “cure the Chinese of the arrogance
they maintained in spite of their lack of real power and their state of
disorder, and to cure the Japanese of their excessive veneration of
China.” This was because “we have become the most advanced country
of the Orient whereas China and Korea have fallen far behind ... It is
now our turn to take the initiative to these two countries ... to repay
all that we have benefitted from them in the past sixteen hundred
years.”18 Significantly, Ozaki held favourable views of the United States
and throughout his parliamentary career fought for representative
democracy against lingering clan influences in Japan’s military and
government.19
42 Bill Sewell and Norio Ota

Yet while Ozaki and Tokutomi are remembered as progressives, they

clearly shared a sense of Japan’s imperial mission. Tokutomi even ap­
plauded Japan’s seizure of Manchuria and termed Japan’s confronta­
tion of Europeans and Americans in the 1930s a “heavenly calling,”
championing Japan’s withdrawal from the League of Nations. 20 At the
same time, Tokutomi and Ozaki also opposed “national purity thought”
(kokusui-shugi) that maintained Japanese identity in opposition to
“Westernization” – a view Sakuta dismisses below as well. While all
three were internationalist in outlook, they all assumed Japan’s leader­
ship in Asia was natural and expected.
Identifying Japan as the “light of Asia” gained new life in the war era.
Claiming that the light of spiritual culture came from the East, Sakuta
justified an expanded war by echoing his theme below, but he was not
alone. 21 Oka Ōji (also Daiji, unknown–1962), chair of the Manchurian
Construction Society, reported that Manchukuo and its capital were
“models” that shone with the “light of East Asia” (tōA no hikari). 22 A 1936
advertisement for the South Manchuria Railway indicated it was “carry­
ing the light of civilization into Manchuria.”23 Similar views were ex­
pressed in a 1942 roundtable discussion (zadankai) of philosophers
assessing Japan’s new-found role and worldly significance published
in the leading journal Chūō kōron (Central review). 24 In 1942 in the
occupied Dutch East Indies, the short-lived Triple-A Movement
(Pergerakan Tiga A) encouraged the liberated to see Japan as the “light
of Asia,” the “protector of Asia” (“mother” in the Japanese version), and
the “leader of Asia.”25 In 1943, the Asahi newspaper published a photo­
graphic collection called The Light of Asia showcasing Japanese mil­
itary successes and Asia’s liberation, captioned in Japanese, Chinese,
English, and Southeast Asian languages. 26
Fostering Asian progress under Japanese tutelage was a long-
standing goal, widely shared. Although Sakuta did not assert any racial
superiority, he echoed a broad effort seeking to bring Asians together
through Japanese leadership. His essay thus points to the arrogance
with which non-Japanese had to contend. For Japanese, however,
Sakuta suggested positive ways to perceive their actions, thereby pro­
viding a rationale for supporting the war effort. Popular acceptance of
such views in turn helps explain why postwar Japanese views of war­
time activities often remained positive, something men like Sakuta en­
deavoured to reinforce. In a postwar collective memoir on Manchuria,
Sakuta reflected on the significance of Japanese civilians in Manchukuo,
 Sakuta Shōichi, “The Light of Asia” 43

especially the “burning spirit” of student “trailblazers” who were “nation

building in a new era,” in effect “reconstructing a Manchurian nation.”27
Like many other elite participants in the puppet state, Sakuta looked
back on his experience in Manchuria with pride.
Sakuta found postwar employment at Kyoto’s private Ryūkoku
University, writing chiefly about international affairs but also Shinto,
which has gained him some posthumous recognition. 28 After profiling
Sakuta in a series in Gekkan Nippon (Monthly Nippon) titled “Trail­
blazers of Japanese Civilization,” journalist Tsubouchi Takahiko (b. 1965)
called attention to the economic dimensions of Sakuta’s thought. 29 A
more earthy view of Sakuta can be found in a popular manga series
set in 1938–39. Resurrecting also Ishiwara and Tōjō – as well as femme
fatale Kawashima Yoshiko (1907–48) – it opens at Kendai, portraying
Sakuta as a hesitant, perhaps anxious, university administrator. The
series dramatized some of the tensions evident between the military
on one side and Ishiwara and others on the other, but its popularity
suggests that some of the era’s passions continue to resonate in post­
war Japan. 30

—•  TRANSLATION  •—

The Light of Asia

sakuta shōichi

The “light of Asia” – this shining slogan has been frequently praised and
advocated by many people until now. Nevertheless, not only has it not been
sufficiently explained, but it must also be discussed within the current context
with current sentiments.
We can contrast the light of Asia with the light of Europe and the light
of America. The light of America, however, is merely the projection and
enlargement of European scenes brought by European immigrants. America
has not yet undergone sufficient ordeals to emit its own light. While there
were several places emitting their own light in ancient times, Europe accepted
the light of west Asia from the beginning of antiquity and through the medi-
eval era welcomed the religion of west Asia, with almost the whole of Europe
praising and adoring it. Before long the outcry for a renaissance of the ancient
culture, arising in resistance to it, managed to suppress the religion from
the East in part, and displayed Europe’s brilliance, but European culture,
44 Bill Sewell and Norio Ota

which had already been dualistic, was constantly torn between these two
conflicting and interacting streams of brilliance and until now has not be-
come a secure and stable state. Until the time comes when a feeble voice
begging for God’s mercy and a war cry roaring “I will defeat thee” should be
resolved, the light of Europe will remain a succession of constantly oscillat-
ing waves.
The light of Asia is one that Asia emitted itself from prehistoric times.
Initially, light started shining in several locations. The main sites were west
Asia, India, China (Shina)31 and Japan, excluding the Asia Plateau [central
Asia], which we have no means to recall. Moreover, these lights gradually
spread from west to east. The light of west Asia was transmitted widely to
Europe, incorporating the light of Egypt as well, but it was partially trans-
mitted to India and China; the light of India to China; the light of China to
Japan. Furthermore, the weakening and waning of light also began from the
West; first the light of west Asia, next the light of India, and in China the
light of ancient civilization (kodō, literally “ancient way”) has weakened
greatly but not necessarily completely declined. Only the light of Japan has
burned continuously, despite traces of occasional vacillation like adding oil
to the eternal non-depleting light of ancient times and, moreover, has been
gradually increasing in brilliance.
The reason why the light of west Asia went out so quickly was probably
because it appeared early and external stimuli were scarce. The fate of the
light of India was similar, and in comparison with the flash of west Asia, its
light of truth and wisdom ( jakkō) also failed to absorb energies from outside
and ended up sinking below the horizon like a gigantic sun setting in the
western mountains. While the light of China, which absorbed the lights of
west Asia and India, later weakened remarkably, its jewelled light was trans-
mitted for a long time and not only was it welcomed in Japan but also became
known to Europeans in modern times. The light of Japan has a spirit like
the rising sun rather than merely the light of the eternal lamp, which is
probably the main reason why Japan has taken the path of daily improve-
ments with­out submitting completely to the mature cultures of China and
India, even while incorporating them. Moreover, although the light of Asia
was transmitted from west to east and at the same time the light of west
Asia was transmitted to western Europe, and Europeans said that the
light came from the East, this does not mean that the transmission of light
has any geographical direction, but, rather, was probably because light was
transmitted from places where it shined earlier to places where it shined
later. Alternatively, another reason may be that primitive light with potential
 Sakuta Shōichi, “The Light of Asia” 45

for adding external light grows increasingly, [even when] exposed to light
with no such potential.
As the lights of Asia were transmitted from west to east in this way, the
farther east they went they became lights that grew increasingly and turned
into ones with an inner glow, after adding external lights to each of their
own unique lights. Japan, located in the Far East, inherited almost all the
important aspects of the lights of Asia without losing much. Japan was ex-
posed to the light of Europe after successfully putting the lights of Asia in
order. Probably this is also the reason why Japan could persist in firmly
maintaining an Asian soul without submitting completely to European
culture, while assimilating it.
A match for Japan’s accumulative culture (ruiseki bunka) might be ancient
Greece, though Greece disappeared quickly from this world and did not do
more than transmit its glorious inheritance to modern Europe. Japan ab-
sorbed that modern European culture as well. Japan’s culture possesses
uniquely complicated contents. Thus, in Japan there are not a few cases in
which it is not possible to discern whether certain works of culture, life
customs, and the like are of indigenous or foreign origin, or which elements
of those are of indigenous or foreign origin. Thus, it is not uncommon that
while national purists (kokusui ronsha) misjudge those of foreign origin as
indigenous to Japan, worshippers of foreign cultures mistake the indigenous
for having foreign origins.
Japan, which has long been on the receiving end in the Far East, has also
begun to transmit its culture to the continent as part of the recent and rapid
integration of the world: toward China after the Russo-Japanese War, and
toward Manchuria and Mongolia after the Manchurian Incident. At that time,
a group of Japanese said that the return of Japanese culture to the continent
had begun. They meant that after the culture transmitted from the continent
bore fruit in Japan, it has been brought back to the continent. However, this
consideration is still insufficient. The culture that was transmitted to China
after the Russo-Japanese War was not the indigenous Japanese one, but was
the European culture Japanese learned, offered according to requests from
China. The Japanese culture transmitted to Manchuria and Mongolia after
the Manchurian Incident was also one learned from Europe as materialist
culture, but as spiritual culture it was indigenous to Japan. Thus far, it has
not been possible to consider that Japan returns what it absorbed from the
continent to the continent. However, as Japanese culture has absorbed much
of the culture of the Asian continent, there is no doubt that the Japanese
culture that is transmitted to the continent includes continental elements.
46 Bill Sewell and Norio Ota

Therefore, it is Japan’s mission to convey Japanese culture itself to the people

on the continent by taking these common elements as an opportunity as
well as a medium. Even though China’s Kingly Way (Ch: Wangdao; Jp: Ōdō)32
entered Japan, where it was Japanized and put into practice, it would be
troublesome for people on the continent for Japan to bring back to the con-
tinent Japanese culture with the Kingly Way omitted. What is more, it may
not be an honourable task for Japanese either.
Europe at first received the light of west Asia, and after that emitted its
own strong light and swept over the modern world. Asia emitted shining
lights from ancient times, but they remained separate and disappeared one
after another or atrophied without merging into one light of Asia. This is the
main reason why Asian nations toppled over like dominoes under the pres-
sure of modern Europe. However, fortunately only Japan was not only un-
defeated, but also rose up in rebellion. This was indeed because the
good-quality light of Japan had for a long time scrupulously accumulated
the lights of the Asian continent and, moreover, progressively added layers
of the light of Europe on top. The lights of the Asian continent have been
stored by Japan. The light of Japan is the grand sum of light from as much
as possible of the entire Asian continent. As the light of Japan is taking charge
of the lights of Asia, one should not be hung up on the name of Japan. It was
for Japan itself that Japan consciously learned continental culture, but in
reality it is the case that Japan learned more for the sake of Asia. Japan has
been waiting for the opportunity to carry out its duty to open its treasury
and share the lights of Asia accumulated over two thousand years with all
Asians. And that opportunity has finally arrived.
In Europe the crisis of the decline of western European culture has been
widely discussed and many feel that in order to restore Europe it must absorb
the lights of Asia. At this time, Asian people feel that the lights of Asia are
all the more precious. As these lights of Asia have accumulated in Japan,
Japan has no choice but to take action. When Japan leads the lights of Asia
to the continent, the most suitable region first of all is Manchuria and
Mongolia (ManMō). 33 The light of Asia to be strengthened there will prob-
ably reach China next and before long will reach west Asia and India. Thus,
the day of restoring ( fukkō) Asia is nearing.
Asia’s forefathers lit the shining lights of Asia separately. Several thousand
years have passed, and the time has come for Asia’s offspring to illuminate
heaven and earth with the lights they inherited from their forefathers. For
that, the Japanese people have risen first, and brought down the ancient
 Sakuta Shōichi, “The Light of Asia” 47

heavenly fishing boat (ama no tsuribune)34 to the earth to spread the lights
of Asia to various places. It is also necessary to drop bombs and spread
propaganda leaflets from planes, but it is more important to drop welcome
rain and sweet dew from the air. When the time comes for the Japanese
people to fly into the great sky, followed by the people of Manchuria,
Mongolia, the Republic of China, and then west Asians and south Asians,
all of Asia will leap forward.
I wonder if the time will come when the lights of all Asia are emitted again
toward Europe, making Europeans cry out that the lights come from the East
again. Since history does not repeat itself, there might not be the conflict
between East and West as in ancient times. Nevertheless, it seems that the
lights for which Europe is seeking will probably be transmitted from Asia.
When one considers change in world history, one finds that the mission
of imperial Manchukuo, rising with its own Asian light, is critical. Man­
chukuo is not just for itself. The light that Manchukuo has been raising high
to shine on its own way is not simply the light of the Kingly Way, but is also
the light of the Heavenly Way (tendō) shining on the Kingly Way. Neither is
the light of the Imperial Way (kōdō) simply that, but is also the Shinto light
shining on the Imperial Way.35 The light that shines on the earth is the light
of the sun; the light in heaven that shines on the hearts and souls of the
masses is the light of Amaterasu Ōmikami.36

Notes
1 Hayasaka Tadashi, “Sakuta Shōichi,” in Heibonsha, ed., Nihon jinmei daijiten [Dictionary
of Japanese biography] (Tōkyō: Heibonsha, 1979), vol. 3, 352. His surname is sometimes
transliterated as Sakuda.
2 Mark R. Peattie, Ishiwara Kanji and Japan’s Confrontation with the West (Princeton, NJ:
Princeton University Press, 1975), 162–74, 311–16, 329–30.
3 Yuka Hiruma Kishida, Kenkoku University and the Experience of Pan-Asianism: Education
in the Japanese Empire (London: Bloomsbury Academic, 2019); Shin’ichi Yamamuro,
Manchuria under Japanese Dominion, trans. Joshua A. Fogel (Philadelphia: University
of Pennsylvania Press, 2006), 198–202, 213–14. In Japanese, see Miyazawa Eriko, Kenkoku
Daigaku to minzoku kyōwa [National Foundation University and ethnic harmony] (Tōkyō:
Kazama shobō, 1997); Kawata Hiroshi, Manshū Kenkoku Daigaku monogatari: Jidai o
hikiukeyō toshita wakamonotachi [Tales of Manchuria’s National Foundation University:
Young people taking responsibility for their times] (Tōkyō: Hara shobō, 2002); Yamane
Yukio, Kenkoku Daigaku no kenkyū: Nihon teikoku shugi no ichi danmen [Studies on
National Foundation University: A profile of Japanese imperialism] (Tōkyō: Kyūko shoin,
2003); and Shishida Fumiaki, Budō no kyōikuryoku: Manshūkoku Kenkoku Daigaku ni
okeru budō kyōiku [The value of the martial arts training: Martial arts training at
Manchukuo’s National Foundation University] (Tōkyō: Nihon tosho sentā, 2005).
4 Cited in Emer O’Dwyer, “Heroes and Villains: Manchukuo in Yasuhiko Yoshikazu’s
Rain­bow Trotsky,” in Manga and the Representation of Japanese History, ed. Roman
48 Bill Sewell and Norio Ota

Rosenbaum (London: Routledge, 2013), 132. On growing oppression in Japan’s universities

after the outbreak of war in 1937, see Ben-Ami Shillony, “Universities and Students in
Wartime Japan,” Journal of Asian Studies 45, 4 (August 1986): 769–87.
5 “Akai seinen o sukū to” [A way to save red youth], Kōbe yūshin nippō [Kōbe daily news],
3 November 1932.
6 Hiromi Mizuno, Science for the Empire: Scientific Nationalism in Modern Japan (Stanford,
CA: Stanford University Press, 2009), 98–101; Sakuta Shōichi, Gendai kagaku to Man­
shūkokugaku [Modern science and Manchukuo studies] (Shinkyō: Manshū teikoku
kyōwakai kenkoku daigaku bunkai shuppanbu, 1942).
7 Robert King Hall, ed., and John Owen Gauntlet, trans., Kokutai no hongi: Cardinal
Principles of the National Entity of Japan (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press,
1949), 5, 7, 8, 10–11, 30, 39, 59, 63, 75, 105.
8 Yamamuro, Manchuria under Japanese Dominion, 192–93.
9 Sakuta Shōichi, “Ajia no hikari” [The light of Asia], Kenkoku [National foundation] 1, 1
(August 1940): 2–5.
10 Barak Kushner, The Thought War: Japanese Imperial Propaganda (Honolulu: Univer­
sity of Hawai’i Press, 2006), 118–33.
11 Judith Snodgrass, “Performing Buddhist Modernity: The Lumbini Festival, Tokyo 1925,”
Journal of Religious History 33, 2 (June 2009): 133–48.
12 On Arnold’s influence in Japan see Richard M. Jaffe, “Seeking Sakyamuni: Travel and
the Reconstruction of Japanese Buddhism,” Journal of Japanese Studies 30, 1 (Winter
2004): 69–70.
13 J.P. Phelan, “Arnold, Sir Edwin (1832–1904),” Oxford Dictionary of National Biography
(Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004; online edition, May 2008), https://doi.org/10.
1093/ref:odnb/30455.
14 Sir Edwin Arnold, “China and Japan,” New Review 64 (September 1894): 221–36.
15 John D. Pierson, Tokutomi Sohō, 1863–1957: A Journalist for Modern Japan (Princeton,
NJ: Princeton University Press, 1980), 240–42.
16 “A Japanese View of Japan,” Far East 1, 1 (20 February 1896): 9.
17 Yukiwo Ozaki, “Our Ambition,” Far East 1, 4 (20 May 1896): 9.
18 Ozaki Yukio, Shina shobun’an [Proposal for dealing with China] (Tōkyō: Hakubunkan,
1895), 98, 219; and Yukio Ozaki, The Autobiography of Ozaki Yukio: The Struggle for
Constitutional Government in Japan, trans. Fujiko Hara (Princeton: Princeton University
Press, 2001), 76–81.
19 Ozaki, Autobiography, 111.
20 Pierson, Tokutomi Sohō, 371.
21 Sakuta Shōichi, DaitōAsen no igi [The significance of the Great East Asia War] (Tōkyō:
Dōshi dōkōsha, 1942), 28.
22 Oka Ōji, “Manshū ni okeru shinkō kenchiku ni taibōsu” [Long-awaited rising architecture
in Manchuria], Manshū kenchiku zasshi [Journal of Manchurian architecture] 13, 6
(June 1933): 1–3.
23 Annika A. Culver, Glorify the Empire: Japanese Avant-Garde Propaganda in Manchu­
kuo (Vancouver: UBC Press, 2013), 17.
24 Harry D. Harootunian, Overcome by Modernity: History, Culture, and Community in
Interwar Japan (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2002), 34–94.
25 Shigeru Sato, War, Nationalism and Peasants: Java under the Japanese Occupation
1942–1945 (Armonk, NY: M.E. Sharpe, 1994), 36–50.
26 Asashi Shinbunsha, ed., Ajia no hikari [The light of Asia] (Tōkyō: Asahi shinbunsha,
1943).
27 Sakuta Shōichi, “Manshū kenkoku no kaiko” [Reminiscing about Manchuria’s National
Foundation], in Manshū kaikoshū kankōkai, ed., Aa Manshū: Kuni tsukuri sangyō
 Sakuta Shōichi, “The Light of Asia” 49

kaihatsusha no shuki [Oh, Manchuria! Notes from country-building industrial develop-

ment officials] (Manshū kaikoshū kankōkai, 1965), 65–66. This echoed Sakuta, DaitōAsen
no igi, 69–71.
28 See, for example, Sakuta Shōichi, “Genshi no kami no michi” [The original way of the
gods] Shintōshi kenkyū [Shinto historical studies] 1, 1 (1953): 25–44. His memoir is Sakuta
Shōichi, Michi no kotoba [The language of the way], 6 vols. (Kyoto: Michi no kotoba
kankōkai, 1963–67).
29 Tsubouchi Takahiko, “Sakuta Shōichi,” Gekkan Nippon [Monthly Nippon] 13, 6 (June
2009): 76–83, and “Bōkyaku sareta keizaigaku: Kōdō keizairon wa shihonshugi o chō­
koku dekiruka” [Forgotten economics: Can Imperial Way economics overcome capital-
ism?], Shin Nihongaku [New Japanology] 20 (Spring 2011): 118–32.
30 Yoshikazu Yasuhiko, Niji-iro no Torotsukii [Rainbow-coloured Trotsky] (Tōkyō: Ushio
shuppansha, 1992–97); O’Dwyer, “Heroes and Villains,” 121–45.
31 Replacing references to dynastic names, “Shina” became the common prewar Japanese
term for China though it is now deemed pejorative. Lydia H. Liu, The Clash of Empires:
The Invention of China in Modern World Making (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University
Press, 2004), 79; and Stefan Tanaka, Japan’s Orient: Rendering Pasts into History (Berkeley:
University of California Press, 1995), 4–7.
32 The “Kingly Way” appears in the Spring and Autumn Annals and was a key term for
Mencius to signify benevolent government. It was later appropriated by many, including
Sun Yat-sen, and Japanese claimed it as a governing principle in Manchukuo.
33 Japanese in the prewar era often conflated the two regions under one label, though in
reality much of western Manchuria was actually eastern Mongolia.
34 Reference uncertain, but likely to a poem or legend. Although the Chinese character for
ama differs, possibly Sakuta refers to a poem by Ono no Takamura (802–52) in which he
asks boats to inform a loved one that he has headed out toward the “innumerable isles.”
See Joshua S. Mostow, Pictures of the Heart: The Hyakunin Isshu in Word and Image
(Honolulu: University of Hawai’i Press, 1996), 175–77. The poem also appears in the Kokin
Wakashū [Collection of Japanese poems of ancient and modern times], no. 407.
35 “Heavenly Way” refers to the traditional Chinese perceptions, ethics, and practices as
discussed by Confucius and other Chinese philosophers, and “Imperial Way” refers to
Japanese perceptions of imperial rule as reimagined in the 1930s.
36 Japan’s Sun Goddess. On 15 July 1940 – the month before Sakuta’s article was published
– Emperor Puyi promulgated a “Rescript on the Consolidation of the Basis of the Nation”
attributing Manchukuo’s establishment and success to the “divine blessing of the Sun
Goddess.” Puyi was likely seeking to secure his authority, but that year the capital’s new
National Foundation Shrine, modelled on Japan’s Ise Shrine, began services. Amaterasu
was enshrined there, as had been the case in other Japanese shrines overseas. Yamamuro,
Manchuria under Japanese Dominion, 164–65; Michio Nakajima, “Shinto Deities that
Crossed the Sea: Japan’s ‘Overseas Shrines,’ 1868 to 1945,” Japanese Journal of Religious
Studies 37, 1 (2010): 21–46.
3 Writings of Manchukuo’s
Prime Minister Zheng Xiaoxu
HUA RUI

Zheng Xiaoxu (1860–1938) is a shadowy figure in modern Chinese

intellectual history, best known for his collaboration with the Japanese
in Manchukuo (1932–45). Zheng was the figurehead of its State Council
and a key architect of its professed ruling ideology. His vision for an
inclusive, developmental state in Manchuria marked the convergence
of several prominent intellectual trends of early twentieth-century East
Asia. Understanding his political thought is therefore critical for a fuller
appreciation of the complex underpinnings of the Japanese colonial
empire on the Asian continent.
Many remember Zheng as a devout follower of Confucian teachings.
Historians have often attributed his choice to collaborate with the
enemy to his desire to restore Qing dynastic rule.1 The texts below,
however, show that Zheng had developed a sophisticated, forward-
looking theory about China’s future before the outbreak of the war
in 1931. I venture to call it Confucian developmentalism. This theory
exhibits the intertextualization of three seemingly incompatible dis­
courses: a radical offshoot of late Qing constitutionalism, post–First
World War pacifism, and a misinterpreted version of Italian fascism.
Zheng framed his utopia as a part of the global struggle to come to
terms with the modern human condition. 2 These texts are a diary entry
from July 1929 about a utopian frontier state in Inner Asia, a treatise
outlining his developmental blueprint for China in 1930, and two
essays about his vision for a pacifist Manchukuo in 1932.
Crucial to Zheng Xiaoxu’s thinking was his early experience on the
Qing frontiers. Born in Fujian province in 1860, Zheng received a neo-
Confucian education, before joining Qing officialdom as the top-ranking
candidate in the provincial exam of 1882. He earned a reputation in
 Writings of Manchukuo’s Prime Minister Zheng Xiaoxu 51

Guangxi province, where he spearheaded efforts to modernize border

defence. 3 His success notwithstanding, Zheng chose to leave officialdom
and moved to Shanghai in 1906, where he advocated for the constitu­
tionalist movement. 4 When the movement stalled in 1909, Zheng went
to Manchuria to oversee construction of the Jinzhou-Aihun Railroad. 5
He almost succeeded in brokering an Anglo-American loan to counter­
balance the ballooning influence of Japan in the region. 6 The constitu­
tionalist moment and railway project sowed the seeds of open
developmentalism in his mind.7
The 1911 Revolution dealt a blow to Zheng’s political ambition.
Throughout the 1920s, he remained in the inner orbit of the former
emperor Puyi (1906–67). The Manchurian Incident in 1931 gave Zheng a
fleeting sense of hope. Convinced that the Japanese takeover had cre­
ated a power vacuum for his own ideals, he accepted the invitation to
serve as prime minister of Manchukuo in 1932. 8 He soon found out,
how­ever, that he was just a puppet. The disenchanted Zheng redirected
his energy to writing about the Kingly Way (Wangdao).9 Zheng’s contri­
bution was twofold: he introduced an orthodox, conservative Song-
learning thread and a profound modernist political critique into the
Kingly Way.10
Zheng’s idealistic advocacy for open borders and racial inclusiveness
briefly earned him the sympathetic ear of the Japanese. His works were
translated into Japanese and English and sold in metropolitan centres
from Xinjing to Tokyo. However, as the Japanese Kantō Army tightened
its grip on the colonial state, Zheng’s pacifist ideas appeared increas­
ingly out of sync. He was ousted from the government in 1935 and died
a suspicious death in 1938.
Three key words define Zheng’s utopian political thinking: race,
development, and peacemaking.11 In the late Qing, he viewed racial/
ethnic tension as an imminent threat to the viability of multiethnic
empires. He warned about the devastating effects of anti-Manchu sen­
timents for the fate of “China.”12 To him, race-based nationalism was
the cause of total war. This sets Zheng apart from contemporaries who
framed their thoughts about identity in racial-nationalist terms.13
Zheng reached back to a mid-Qing discourse of racial relativism.14
Para­phrasing the Yongzheng emperor (1678–1735), Zheng states: “The
Shun emperor [r. 2233–2184 BCE] was an eastern barbarian. King Wen
[1152–1056 BCE] was a western barbarian. They both fulfilled their
aspirations in China.”15 For Zheng, China was a land open to
52 Hua Rui

experimentation, and the racial traits of its dominant population were

background noise.
Anxiety over the politicizing of identity differences led Zheng to con­
stitutionalism and, paradoxically, fascism. Zheng found in the constitu­
tional polity the elimination of racial and class distinctions. As he said
in a 1906 speech: “In the constitution is contained the universal truth of
the philosophy of the collective; there is absolutely no trace of race and
class: all those forms of repression [are gone].”16 This unique view of
constitutionalism continued in Zheng’s writings in Manchukuo.17
Zheng’s brief association with Italian fascism was similarly driven
by a misguided desire to rid human society of differences.18 Among his
sources of knowledge about fascism was an Italian work, which pro­
moted Mussolini’s fascist theory as a cure for “weakness arising from
social distinction and divisions.”19 Zheng was fascinated by the idea of
moral restoration through the peaceful elimination of differences, but
he grew disenchanted in 1932 after Mussolini made racist comments
about the “yellow peril.”20
The elimination of racial differences served Zheng’s plan for China’s
open economic development. During his early stints on the frontiers,
he was intrigued by the power of massive developmental projects: the
Trans-Siberian Railway and the Panama Canal, for example, were to him
“central nodes” that changed the whole world. 21 His developmental plan
for Manchukuo had two parallel steps: the restoration of moral rituals
and the construction of large-scale hydraulic projects. 22
The final key word in Zheng’s thought was peacemaking, as a direct
response to treaties among European powers to curtail the use of force
after the First World War. 23 Seeing the Kellogg-Briand Pact as a stillborn
compromise among the great powers, Zheng offered an idealistic solu­
tion that substituted a neo-Confucian approach to interpersonal trust
building for the Machiavellian balance of power. Manchukuo was to
serve as a model of pacifism, a state focused single-mindedly on the
welfare of its own people.
The haphazard conditions under which the texts were produced adds
another twist to the story of Zheng Xiaoxu and Manchukuo. Between
1932 and 1934, Zheng hired two Chinese writers to interpret his opaque
writings in classical Chinese for the popular audience. Their inter­
pretations were featured in major publications on the Kingly Way.
Unbeknownst to Zheng and his Japanese sponsors, however, these two
men were Kuomintang spies operating under cover, with an express
 Writings of Manchukuo’s Prime Minister Zheng Xiaoxu 53

3.1 A page in Zheng Xiaoxu’s last manuscript.

Source: Zheng Xiaoxu, Sukangong zuihou yigao, 8–9.

mission to sabotage Manchukuo. 24 Embedded in their interpretive texts

were patriotic messages that encouraged resistance, hiding in plain
sight waiting for the savvy reader to notice. 25
This group of essays also demonstrates Zheng’s mistrust of the
interventionist modern nation state. Zheng grew wary of state power
during the late Qing constitutionalist movement. 26 The brutalities of the
First World War escalated his anxiety. He saw total war as a result of
“state-centred, militaristic patriotic education.” His last writing, com­
posed only months before his death, reiterated the need to curtail state
power. 27 Zheng presented his state critique as universally applicable.
These various lines of thinking converged into Zheng’s unique theory
of peaceful development. In Manchukuo, he was seen as a thorny critic
of colonial policies. His poor political judgment sealed his tragic fate.
His utopian theory, however, remains an important piece of the puzzle
that is the intellectual underpinning of the occupation states in war­
time China.
54 Hua Rui

—•  TRANSLATIONS  •—

A Treatise on Rectifying the Wrongs28

zheng xiaoxu

The [degree of] disorder in China has reached 80 percent. From this moment
onward, it will progress from 80 percent to 90 percent, and then from 90
percent to 100 percent. The rate of change will only accelerate. This is not
something that we humans can foresee. However, things will turn to the
opposite if pushed too far. The time for rectification may come sooner than
we think. Now seven out of ten people under heaven resent chaos, but the
rest still revel in mayhem. They stand as an insurmountable barrier – as tall
as the mountains, as wide as the rivers – between us and the opportunity to
rectify the wrongs. They have three mental illnesses. They feel shame in the
illnesses, yet those who resent disorder have not gathered the courage to
critique them. Now it is time to expose their mental illness. Then we might
attempt to direct them back to the right track.
The first is reckless conduct against righteousness. After the 1911 Revo­
lution, those who advocated civil rights saw the hierarchical relationship
between the monarch and the minister as an embarrassment. They aban-
doned hierarchy for equality. [Now], sons are ashamed to serve their fathers;
younger brothers are ashamed to serve their elder brothers; wives are
ashamed to serve their husbands. They discard their traditional headwear,
opting to dress and act outrageously. The disaster is unbearable. Those
who resent disorder can no longer withstand the pain, but they do not have
the courage to articulate it expressly. They cannot free themselves, yet they
are reluctant to try out alternative approaches. This is the first obstacle to
rectification.
The second is xenophobia. Since [we] sent students overseas, they have
only learned about the superficial aspects of foreign [culture]. They resent
the parochial outlook of our country, so much so that they dismiss our own
advantages. They wish to wipe out everything and follow the European-
American model, hoping to find a shortcut to overtake [Europe and Amer­ica]
overnight. When Russia descended into great disorder, [and its people were]
preaching egalitarian values, the waves they made spread far and wide. They
see their country as superior to the other great powers. This marks a new
trend: republicanism will yield to communism. Now [our country] has lost
its discipline and institutions. It cannot stand on its own. It would be impos-
sible to restore order without bringing in external forces. The xenophobic
 Writings of Manchukuo’s Prime Minister Zheng Xiaoxu 55

thugs, however, are resisting [foreign influence] vehemently. This makes

another obstacle for rectification.
The third is the erroneous theories of race. Yellow and White, Chinese
and barbarian, Manchu and Han, south and north: these are all ways to ex-
clude other groups from one’s own. How is this different from warfare be-
tween great powers? How is this different from armed conflicts between
villagers? Confucius said: “In education, there are no differences in kind.”29
This means that “those who keep to The Mean nurture those who do not;
those with talent nurture those who lack it” and that “Heaven, in giving
birth to the people, causes those who are first to know to awaken those who
are later to know, and causes those who are first awakened to awaken those
who are later to be awakened.”30 This is what differentiates humans, the high-
est order of living beings, from birds and beasts. This is not only true for
teaching. Teaching is one element of politics. What Confucius preached was
that there should be no discrimination in politics. To practise the politics of
benevolence means to nurture all living beings. How can there be distinc-
tions between groups? The Shun emperor was an eastern barbarian. King
Wen was a western barbarian. They both fulfilled their aspirations in China.
How can we expel them [from the Chinese world]? This is another obstacle
to rectification.
The three mental illnesses have done much harm to the hearts and minds
[of our people]. Therefore, the so-called National Congress movement is no
more than begging for advice from strangers. If China fails to capture the
opportunity to rectify the wrongs, it will be dismembered by the great pow-
ers. If such an opportunity presents itself, however, rectifying the wrongs in
China would spare the world the perils of warfare. It would also effect a
transformation of political morality across the world. The whole world will
enter a new era of grand peace. These principles are crystal clear. The means
to realize these goals are also easily within our reach. Now I shall present
three proposals to show that rectification is feasible.
The first is about human talent. Talented people rise and fall with the
ebb and flow of politics. When politics is in a good state, talented people
abound. When politics is in disorder, talented people are nowhere to be
found. Hunan and Hubei are known for producing talented people. This is
because leaders [in the two provinces] promoted human talent during times
of bandit pacification. So, talented people presented themselves spontan-
eously. The same holds true for all the other provinces of our country. More­
over, the Chinese people (Hua ren) are by nature wise and kind. They can
thrive anywhere. The recent decades have seen a precipitous decline in the
56 Hua Rui

number of [available] talented people. However, if we look at Chinese emi-

grants in Southeast Asia and North America [things are different]. They were
often taken overseas by slave traders and have enjoyed no state protection.
They are easy prey for local bullies. Having endured all this hardship, they
stand tall and proud nonetheless. There are hundreds of rich households in
Southeast Asia, most of which attained their present status through honest
hard work. The whole world marvels at their success. Since the opening up
of trade ports [in China], foreign merchants have relied on Chinese compra-
dors. The Cantonese served first; the Ningbo compradors followed. Foreigners
have found the compradors to be worthy of their full trust. All the trade
ports owe their prosperity to them. These people work faithfully even when
not bounded by written contracts. Such is the nature of Chinese people.
When politics is in disorder, these talented people eschew serving in the
imperial court. Rather, they spread out to other fields, making their mark in
industry and commerce. If the state brings them back to the right track, they
will surely exert themselves for public good. [When that happens] China’s
human talent will surpass that in all other countries.
The second is about political teaching. The classics tell that those who
rule must base their actions on benevolence and righteousness. Today’s great
powers, however, play by the rules of utilitarianism. Rulers have already
started to find great power politics distasteful. Were China to rise and cham-
pion the ways of benevolence and righteousness, it would help rectify the
excesses of utilitarianism. If practised for a few years, [this good form of
politics] will shine over the world like the bright sun. Why is this? Those
who strive for utilitarian ends always exert themselves for personal gains.
This leads to inequality. At its very extreme, inequality causes annexation
and deprivation. Those who strive for benevolence and righteousness, to
the contrary, exert themselves to transform the world for the better. They
strive to salvage the poor, leaving no one behind. Thus, the sages always say,
Rule the state, pacify the world. Pacification means mitigating the excesses
of power to follow what is best for the time and place. It means [using power
wisely] to create peace and equality. When such goals are achieved, the
imperial court’s power should be curtailed, and self-governance [of the
people] should be promoted. This is the right formula for world politics.
The third is about material wealth. Since the rise of scientific learning,
heaven and earth have proffered their wealth for human consumption.
However, the powers across the world have been exploiting their resources
for so long that they may have to face the peril of resource depletion. China,
however, is blessed with hidden resources that have remained untouched
 Writings of Manchukuo’s Prime Minister Zheng Xiaoxu 57

since the beginning of time. When the cause of rectification succeeds, we

should work promptly to construct a major line of transportation between
Asia and Europe. In the meantime, we should work on developing the north-
west. If we made sure that national highways criss-cross our land within a
few years’ time, people from the southeast would all race to the northwest.
China would then become a great power with a large territory and a sparse
population. In a country with a large territory but a sparse population, the
task of making a living would be urgent. If people invest all their energy in
making their living, then disorder would diminish on its own. Order would
spontaneously return. For [the talented people who have] academic ideas
and capital that no other country would accept, we should allow them to
experiment with the ideas and invest their funds in China. If they produce
results, they should be allowed to naturalize as Chinese citizens. A decade
from now, China will emerge as the strongest nation in the world, splendid
and powerful. The whole world will look up to China as a paradise.
Those who are wise must regain their conscience and recognize the harm
of disorder. They should take it upon themselves to restore order, address
the urgent issues at hand, admit their prior mistakes, and give up their
sense of embarrassment. They should ask themselves: How many more years
do they have left in their lives to serve our country? They should conserve
what is precious and apply it to practical matters. They should eschew any-
thing that subtracts from their energy but does not yield practical benefits.
If an opportunity presents itself, but nobody rises to the occasion, China
will perish.
Editor’s notes: The premier composed this treatise a few years ago, while
witnessing unending disorder in China. It was a manifestation of his benevo-
lent heart. We therefore publish it here. This is the true origin of Manchukuo
politics, an ideal that is now becoming reality. It could even serve as a source
of inspiration for grand world unity in the years to come.

Zheng Xiaoxu Diary, 5 July 1929 31

I visited the provisional imperial residence32 [ ... ] I proposed to send Akedi

(who is a former Austrian naval officer. His full name is Xiao’e Akedi)33 to
Europe to establish a Zhendan Society.34 The gist of the proposal reads: we
cannot create a state of sustained peace and prosperity without the proper
social hierarchy. The vast region in China’s northwest holds wealth that
has never been touched since the beginning of time. Now that we have
four hundred million obedient people, a royal household that has governed
58 Hua Rui

[the realm] in peace for 270 years, and an emperor who has three years of
experience ruling the Qing empire, we should unite to support them and
create a new state [in the northwest]. There we shall abandon the shameful
notions of discrimination in race/ethnicity, religion, and nationality. We
shall share this moral way, this cause, and this glory with our comrades in
arms. If we accomplish this [grand enterprise], we will surely change the
whole world and put an end to the catastrophe of warfare. In the past, the
British people launched a grand enterprise in the Americas on the basis of
people’s rule. Today we are starting another enterprise in Asia in the form
of an imperial state: these two endeavours are the same in nature.

Questions about the Kingly Way35

zheng xiaoxu

States in today’s world are all eagerly promoting patriotism, seeking to nur-
ture citizens with qualities suitable for militarist nations. I nevertheless
advocate the theory of the Kingly Way, which relies upon compassion as its
foundation, rites and righteousness its weaponry. [States that practise the
Kingly Way] do not produce arms. Nor do they maintain an army. Some may
thus wonder, should world powers resent and oppress them, would they
simply give up resistance? I would say that is not the case. Ours is a time of
[territorial] annexations. [States] with no forces for self-defence will indeed
find it difficult to preserve themselves. [Even powerful men like] Napoleon
and Kaiser Wilhelm II [met their demise after] failures in wars of annexa-
tion. The reason why small states can still maintain independence today is
that they are toothless and cannot cause harm. Thus, the great powers left
them alone. This is probably because annexation would affect the balance
of power. The security of small states is therefore tantamount to the security
of the great powers themselves. The conference halls of Lausanne and Geneva
are both set in Switzerland. Is this not because Switzerland never invites the
animosity of other states and has consequently become the world’s Goddess
Huaxu?36
If a state of the Kingly Way arises in Asia, it will be of great benefit and
no harm to the world powers. Even though it will not manufacture weapons
or maintain an army, the weapons and armies of the entire world will come
to its defence. Should [other states] conspire to bully it out of jealousy or act
unreasonably against it, they would be violating the grand principles of All
Under Heaven (Tian xia). It will be difficult to launch such baleful acts.
 Writings of Manchukuo’s Prime Minister Zheng Xiaoxu 59

In recent years, the whole world has entered the era of pacifism. If the
Kingly Way materializes, the thoughts of the world will change, which will
significantly expedite the processes of arms control and peacemaking. The
only thing to worry about is Communist policies. [The Communists] have
developed plans to subvert the world and will surely take my thoughts as a
forceful enemy. It is certain that [Communist policies and my theory] cannot
coexist in peace.

The Theory on Preventing Wars37

zheng xiaoxu

Part I
The path of humanity is unclear. This is why state leaders are all striving for
parochial interests. People are abused for profit; the strong bully the weak;
the many are violent to the few. The disaster of war thus grows day by day,
and the situation of humanity becomes worse and worse. People all over the
world say that a country without arms cannot survive as a country. This
theory only holds true for those who rely on armed forces to maintain the
balance of power. For those who wrestle in such a way, if [their enemies]
constrain one of their arms, they will surely fail: this is certainly true.
However, should they continue fighting without end, they would both perish.
Even those who rely only on physical force should understand this by them-
selves. Is it not therefore appropriate [for them] to come to the realization
that [fighting] will lead to mutual destruction, and that they should relieve
their animosity in order to survive? If they had stopped fighting but still
could not ensure their survival, then we should reconsider our theory.
However, the present situation is that [states] risk perishing because of their
mutual rivalry. If [states] always resort to force in their attempts to eliminate
others and preserve themselves, there will be no end to it.
Alas! Those states that rely on a military to defend themselves impose
unbearable taxes on their people. They expose their people to the dim pros-
pect of death. The king said, I heard that worthy men do not harm people
with what is meant to preserve them (see Mencius for reference). Annihilating
enemies by avoiding them, this is why the Zhou dynasty rose and the Di
barbarians fell.38 [Rulers of the Zhou] understood the path of humanity.
If there are indeed rulers today who are not obsessed with killing, it is
certain that All Under Heaven will [eventually] belong to them. It is fine to
give up arms.
60 Hua Rui

Part II
Today’s gentlemen are well aware of the danger inherent in attempts to
prevent warfare. They are also concerned about the danger that the practice
of the Kingly Way may bring about. This is why the disaster of war is difficult
to avert. Those who clutch their swords with furious glares take retreat and
compromise as signs of shame. They know nothing but deadly feuding. This
is like chickens and insects fighting among themselves. If we propagate the
idea of the Kingly Way on this day to prevent warfare, they will see such
thoughts as deep humiliation. They will think of such ideas as nothing but
an excuse for cowardly escape. If [we] can make them abandon arms and
approach the Kingly Way, then those who are seeking to prevent warfare can
do whatever they wish. They will be the beneficiaries. If such is not the case,
and there are [militarists] who attempt to sabotage their endeavours with
arms, then those seeking to prevent warfare would be committing suicide.
This is not different from being killed by the Kingly Way. Wan Zhang told
the following story: Song was just a small state but planned to practise politics
of the Kingly Way. The kingdoms of Qi and Chu despised, and conspired to
attack, Song. Mencius believed that there was nothing for Song to fear about
Qi and Chu if the Kingly Way were indeed implemented. Mencius explained
why the Kingly Way was not the way of harm and danger, but no one believed
his theory. He [the ruler who did not believe in the Kingly Way] did not truly
trust in the [Kingly] Way and therefore could not resolve this himself.39

Part III
Today’s advocates of the idea of preventing warfare are all doing so in order
to preserve themselves. Does this mean that they are not sincere in their
effort? I must say no. However, if it is true that they are genuinely committed
to this endeavour, why is it that they have failed to gain the trust [of the
world]? I say this is because warfare involves deception. How do we know
that those who advocate pacifism are not playing deceptive tricks? The lan-
guage used in the oaths of alliance making always contain such lines as “I
shall never deceive you; you shall never cheat me.” However, how do we know
whether such oaths are not just part of the art of war? Why is it that the
world sees deception as the norm and sincerity as aberration? Those who
discourage warfare in order to preserve themselves are not afraid of using
such rhetoric as foil for deceptive strategy; it is this possibility that terrifies
the whole world. Holding lethal weapons, entertaining baleful intentions –
such people will end up engaging in violent fighting.
 Writings of Manchukuo’s Prime Minister Zheng Xiaoxu 61

The agreement among Britain, Italy, Germany, and France aims at pre-
venting all wars under heaven by firmly rejecting warfare.40 Although this
may in fact just be [their] strategizing, it does not contradict [my] idea of
peacemaking. If the states that have abolished the military and those that
have not can reach mutual trust without oaths of alliance making, and if
[they can] discard the [said] thoughts about discouraging warfare merely for
self-prevention, then [my] theory of warfare prevention will become reality
even if I do not actively propagate it. This is the true foundation for a world
of faith and sincerity.

Notes
1 Zheng’s biographers have often framed his thoughts in negative terms: he resented re-
publicanism and communism, wishing instead for a return to monarchical rule. See, for
example, Xu Linjiang, Zheng Xiaoxu qianbansheng pingzhuan [A biography of the first
half of Zheng Xiaoxu’s life] (Shanghai: Xuelin chubanshe, 2003); Zheng Yingda, “Huiyi
zufu Zheng Xiaoxu jiqi ersun” [Remembering my grandfather Zheng Xiaoxu and his sons
and grandsons], Ajia bunka kōryu kenkyu [Studies of Asian cultural exchange] 3 (2008):
487–97; Aisin-Gioro Puyi, Wo de qianbansheng [The first half of my life] (Beijing:
Qunzhong chubanshe, 2007); Lin Zhihong, Minguo nai diguo ye: Zhengzhi wenhua
zhuanxing xiade qingyimin [The Republic is an enemy state: Qing loyalists and the tran­
sition of political culture] (Taipei: Lianjing chuban, 2010).
2 In his diary entry on 5 July 1929, for example, Zheng argued that his utopian cause
was the parallel in Asia of the American cause of liberty in the West. In the preface
to his 1934 anthology, his editor/interpreter suggested that Zheng’s theory was the
“newest” of all modern political thinking, because it merged the old and the new into an
organic whole to address global problems. Zheng was not a believer in Chinese Confu­
cian exceptionalism; he was a globalist in intellectual outlook. Zheng Xiaoxu, Zheng
Xiaoxu riji [Zheng Xiaoxu’s diaries] (Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 1993), 2240; “Wangdao
jiushi zhi yao” (Essentials of Worldly Salvation through the Kingly Way) in Zheng Xiaoxu,
Zheng zonglidachen Wangdao Jiangyanji [An anthology of Prime Minister Zheng’s
speeches on the Kingly Way], ed. Cheng Kexiang (Xinjing: Fuwensheng yinshuju, 1934),
1–3.
3 Xu Linjiang, Zheng Xiaoxu qianbansheng pingzhuan, 142–57; Ye Can, Chen Bangzhi,
and Dang Xiangzhou, Zheng Xiaoxu zhuan ji nianpu [The biography and annals of
Zheng Xiaoxu] (Xinjing: Riman wenhua xiehui, 1939), 4.
4 Xu Linjiang, Zheng Xiaoxu qianbansheng pingzhuan, 169–80.
5 Ye Can, Chen Bangzhi, and Dang Xiangzhou, Zheng Xiaoxu zhuan ji nianpu, 26–27.
6 Wang Yunsheng, “Bubai: Zheng Xiaoxu yu Dongbei tielu jiaoshe” [Additional informa-
tion: Zheng Xiaoxu and the railway diplomacy of the Northeast], Guowen zhoubao
[National news weekly] 10, 29 (24 July 1933).
7 See, for example, Puyi, Wo de qianbansheng, 249. When introducing his political theory
to Puyi in 1929, Zheng cited his Manchurian experience as evidence that his plan to bring
in foreign capital for China’s development would succeed. His early experience on the
frontiers probably conditioned the way he understood the political situation of the 1920s.
8 On Zheng’s political activities and frustration in the early years of Manchukuo, see
Yamamuro Shinichi, Kimera: Manshūkoku no Shōzō [Manchuria under Japanese domin-
ion] (Tōkyō: Chūō kōron shinsha, 2004), 209–21.
62 Hua Rui

9 Rana Mitter, The Manchurian Myth: Nationalism, Resistance, and Collaboration in

Modern China (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2000), 97–98.
10 On the conservative twist Zheng brought to the Kingly Way, see Komagome Takeshi,
“Manshūkoku niokeru jukyo no iso” [The topology of Confucianism in Manchukuo],
Shisō [Thoughts] 841 (1994): 57–82.
11 Zheng’s thoughts have often been described in negative terms: he was resentful toward
republicanism, nationalism, and communism, wishing instead for a return to the trad-
itional dynastic era. Race, development, and peacemaking illustrate what drove his fear
and desire. Understanding his perception of the specific historical moment he wanted
to restore helps make better sense of his puzzlingly idealistic vision for the Japanese oc-
cupation state of the 1930s.
12 Zheng Xiaoxu, Zheng Xiaoxu riji, 25 December 1894, 455; 7 January 1910, 1222.
13 Frank Dikötter, The Discourse of Race in Modern China (New York: Oxford University
Press, 2015), 107.
14 Wang Hui, Xiandai Zhongguo sixiang de xingqi [The rise of modern Chinese thought]
(Beijing: Sanlian shudian, 2004), vol. 1, 86–87.
15 Zheng Xiaoxu, “Boluan fanzheng yi,” in Wangdao congkan [Collected essays on the Kingly
Way], ed. Wangdao xuehui (Fengtian: Fengtiansheng gongshu yinshuaju, 1934), 8.
16 Zheng Xiaoxu, “Zheng su’an jingqing yanshuogao” [Transcript of the speech by Zheng
Xiaoxu], Shenbao [Shanghai news], 17 September 1906.
17 Zheng Xiaoxu, “Houteng Chunji wenba” [The afterword of Gotō Harukichi’s article], in
Zheng Xiaoxu, Zheng zonglidachen, 103–5.
18 On Zheng’s fascination with fascism, see Lin, Minguo nai diguo ye, 335.
19 Caveliere Raffaele Muriello, Mussolini: His Work and the New Syndical Law, 3rd ed.
(Edinburgh: MacNiven and Wallace, 1928), 1. Zheng’s close friend Wu Aichen translated
the book into Chinese. Zheng subsequently presented the work to Puyi for his perusal.
Zheng Xiaoxu, Zheng Xiaoxu riji, 18 October 1929, 2254.
20 Zheng Xiaoxu, Zheng Xiaoxu riji, 6 May 1932, 2382.
21 Ibid., 8 March 1909, 1182.
22 Ye Can, Chen Bangzhi, and Dang Xiangzhou, Zheng Xiaoxu zhuan ji nianpu, 7.
23 These include the Locarno Treaties of 1925 and the Kellogg-Briand Pact of 1928. See, for
example, Peng Shusu’s interpretation of Zheng’s peacemaking theory in the context of
European great power diplomacy, Peng Shusu, “Kongyan heyue buruo shixing Wangdao”
[The practice of the Kingly Way is better than empty talk about peace treaties], Manzhou
bao [Manchuria newspaper], 9 December 1934.
24 On the pair’s infiltration activities under the Wang Jingwei regime in Shanghai after
1938, see the memoirs of Kuomintang intelligence officials: Shen Zui and Kang Ze,
Qinlizhe jiangshu: Juntong neimu [Witness accounts: Inside stories of the KMT Military
Intelligence Bureau] (Beijing: Zhongguo wenshi chubanshe, 2009), 257.
25 See, for example, page 48 of Wangdao xuehui, ed. Wangdao congkan. The text described
the misfortune of the citizens of weak states and implored its Chinese readers to take up
arms. One would not notice that this was supposed to be ironic unless one turned to the
next page and read to the last few sentences, which said “this old paradise will actually
turn into hell.”
26 See Zheng Xiaoxu, “Zheng su’an jingqing yanshuogao.” An ardent supporter of Qing rule,
Zheng nonetheless proposed that the constitutionalist movement should start from below.
27 Zheng Xiaoxu, “Sukangong zuihou yigao” [The last manuscript of Zheng Xiaoxu], 1937,
Cornell University Library.
28 Wangdao xuehui, ed., Wangdao congkan, 8–10.
29 Confucius, The Analects, trans. Edward Slingerland (Indianapolis, IN: Hackett, 2002),
189.
 Writings of Manchukuo’s Prime Minister Zheng Xiaoxu 63

30 Mencius, Mencius, trans. Irene Bloom (New York: Columbia University Press, 2009), 87,
106.
31 Zheng Xiaoxu, Zheng Xiaoxu riji, 5 July 1929, 2240.
32 Zheng Xiaoxu continued to think of Puyi as the emperor of China after the 1911 Revo­
lution, as reflected by his choice to refer to Puyi’s residence in Tianjin as the “provisional
imperial residence” (xingzai).
33 According to Puyi’s memoir, this former naval officer branded himself as a well-connected
Austrian aristocrat, but never delivered on his promise to help with Puyi’s plan for res-
toration. He also served in the municipal council of the Austrian leased territory in Tian­jin.
I have not been able to determine his German name. Puyi, Wo de qianbansheng, 229.
34 Zhendan is an ancient term for China.
35 Wangdao xuehui, ed., Wangdao congkan, 6–7.
36 Huaxu was the goddess who gave birth to China’s mythical ancient ancestors. Zheng
used this classical metaphor to emphasize the level of respect Switzerland commanded
in the world.
37 Wangdao xuehui, ed. Wangdao congkan, 41, 49, 57.
38 This is a reference to Mencius’s teaching to the duke of Teng. See Mencius, 25.
39 Wan Zhang was a disciple of Mencius. This story can be found in Mencius, 65.
40 This appears to be an allusion to the Four-Power Pact of 1933, which was a failed at-
tempt to ensure international security in Europe through great power coordination.
4 Education Policies and
Theories in Manchukuo
WANG YU

In recent years, scholars have pointed out that the ruling ideology of
Japan­e se imperialism and colonialism was not monolithic; rather, it
contained var­­iety and conflicts.1 In the case of Manchukuo, Rana Mitter
argues that several coexisting strains of thought competed for local
Han Chinese elites’ attention as an effort at empire building in the late
1920s and early 1930s. These conflicting discourses, Mitter suggests,
effectively produced two contrasting images of the Japanese Empire
in the region, one being collaborative and the other nationalist and
exclusive. 2
The two translations presented here, produced by Japanese edu­
cators in Manchukuo, further complicate the picture of a multivalent
empire depicted in existing scholarship. These two readings tell a fas­
cinating story of Japan­e se colonialism from both structural and indi­
vidual perspectives. In particular, the pedagogy promoted in the readings
incorporates and modifies various scientific theories to legitimize col­
onialism but at the same time differentiates itself from the nationalistic
and militaristic teaching styles then dominant in Japan proper.
These two texts were produced in the early 1930s, when political
spheres in Japan became increasingly intolerant to ideas and influences
that did not conform to the expansion of Japanese imperialism. Some
educators, as a result, decided to move to Manchukuo, the newly de­
veloped frontier of the empire, to continue exploring the possibilities of
innovative educational pedagogy. 3 Meanwhile, the Fengtian Education
Bureau and the Fengtian Education Committee, established after the
founding of Manchukuo in 1932, launched a journal titled Fengtian
jiaoyu (Mukden education review). 4 The journal publicized guidelines
 Education Policies and Theories in Manchukuo 65

and promoted colonial educational policies in Manchuria. It published

fifty issues between 1933 and 1940, covering news events, political
reports, speech drafts, research articles, and administrative announce­
ments. 5 While the article “Fengtian jiaoyu jianshe si’an” (“Mukden Edu­
cation Construction Project Proposal”) was categorized as a research
article, “Jiaoyu ai” (“Educational Love”) was a reprint of the author’s
speech at a local educational institute.
The authors of both writings, Morita Ryōichi and Nakatani Sadaharu,
advocated the New Education Movement that was popular in Europe and
the United States in the 1920s. According to Andrew Reed Hall, the New
Education Movement promoted “student-centered and hands-on teach­
ing methods, an emphasis on practical and vocational learning over aca­
demicism, internationalism over nationalism, and the encouragement of
individual talents over group conformity.”6 Morita particularly favoured
physical participation education (laozuo jiaoyu), which, according to the
author, marked “the pinnacle of education theory and action.”7
To fully implement physical participation education in the colony,
Morita suggested the establishment of cooperative schools, short
courses, special classrooms, and celebratory days within the Fengtian
education system. Such a diverse educational infrastructure not only
took consideration of the spa­t ial needs of certain learning and physical
activities, but also created conditions for students to learn knowledge
and practise it at the same time. Such a proposal entailed, in Tani’s words,
“colonial modernity.”8 That is, it showcased that the cultivation of col­
onial subjects was not merely a process of ideological indoctrination,
but was also closely intertwined with the rise of modern citizenship
and subjectivity.
Moreover, such a colonial modernity, according to Prasenjit Duara,
contained East Asian characteristics. The best example of this would
be the rhetoric and ideology of the Kingly Way (Wangdao). Initially
raised by Sun Yat-sen but later appropriated by the Japanese military,
the Kingly Way promoted the idea of a moral state that emphasized
Confucian values such as loyalty, filial piety, and neighbourly harmony.
Duara has aptly pointed out that such rhetoric and ideology functioned
as a nexus connecting political leaders, Confucian monarchists, and
religious and universalist societies.9 The Kingly Way also served to criti­
cize nationalism and communism and to legitimize the presence of the
Japanese army in Manchuria.10 Nakatani Sadaharu’s article “Educational
66 Wang Yu

Love” offers readers a fine specimen to examine how the moral state of
the Kingly Way administered the hierarchy of love as the latter provided
critical support to the full realization of one’s self.
Nakatani, the education inspector of Fengtian province, introduced
the theory of Eduard Spranger (1882–1963) to an audience in Manchuria
in a talk on education and love. Spranger was a German philosopher,
psychologist, and educator. In his famous book Types of Men: The
Psychology and Ethics of Personality (1914), Spranger divides human
personalities into six types in a hierarchy from what he believed to be
the most elementary to the most complete: the theoretical self who fo­
cuses on the discovery of truth; the economic self who is interested in
what is useful; the aesthetic self who values form and harmony; the so­
cial self who loves people; the political self who desires power; and the
religious self who pursues unity.11 Nakatani largely adopts Spranger’s
theory, but sets up a different hierarchy, reducing the six types to four
and reordering them: the biological self, the aesthetic self, the theor­
etical self and the religious self. According to Nakatani, each type func­
tions in its own territory and the only way for the self to cross the
boundaries is to transcend its limits via love. Nakatani further designates
five types of love to correspond to the four types of self: sexual love,
parental love, educational love, neighbourly love, and Buddhist love.
Nakatani’s articulation of these different types or, to be more accur­
ate, levels of love, corresponded to not only modern psychological dis­
coveries but also social norms and religious doctrines. Furthermore,
according to Nakatani, the self was psychologically proven to be an un­
changing subject; it contained no regional or historical traces and was
immune to social and political changes. What is intriguing in Nakatani’s
theory is that science was significant only at the low-level ascendance
of the self. In other words, science would hinder the self as the latter
ascended. Only Confucianism (neighbourly love) and Buddhism (Buddhist
love), which lay at the core of Manchukuo’s Kingly Way, could further
elevate the self once it reached the level of aesthetics and theory. This,
then, repudiated contemporary idealizations of science.
Overall, these two readings demonstrate how the development of
education in Manchukuo constituted an important part of colonial
modernity with East Asian characteristics. The ideology and rhetoric
of the Kingly Way not only administered the theory of love but was also
consciously built into the modern educational infrastructure. As Morita
claimed, the purpose of education in these varieties of new schools was
 Education Policies and Theories in Manchukuo 67

to “let students have a real understanding of Manchukuo’s Kingly Way.”

These texts illuminate the crucial position that education occupied in
the building of modern Manchuria and the expansion of Japanese col­
onialism in early twentieth-century East Asia.

—•  TRANSLATIONS  •—

The Mukden Education Construction Project Proposal12

chief education inspector, morita ryōichi
Translator from Japanese to Chinese:
Provincial Education Inspector, Gao Wenyin

During the night of 18 September 1931, the righteous Japanese army quickly
rose up following the sound of cannons that shook the Liutiaogou13 in
Mukden.14
Equipped with its internationally incomparable military rule and a his-
torically exceptional Japanese spirit, the Japanese army drove the arrogant
and stubborn warlord Zhang [Zuolin] out of the land of Manchus and
Mongols with actions as swift as light emitted by electricity and fire eman-
ating from the crashing of stones. Therefore, the thirty million people who
have suffered from burdensome taxes and ferocious looting for twenty
years are now rescued. Meanwhile, calls for “Independence for Manchus
and Mongols” came to the Northeast. With devoted instructions from
many of the early awakened, and enormous sympathy from the friendly
neigh­bour Japan, the land of Manchus and Mongols turned itself in less
than half a year into the only state in the world ruled in accordance with
the Kingly Way.
The world viewed Manchuria with shock. The faces of the nearby Chi­
nese turned pale; they gave up and ran away. Only Japan, the neighbour in
the east, happily appreciated this and sent best wishes to the newly born
Manchukuo.
On 1 March, the first year of the Great Unity [Datong] era, the thirty mil­
lion masses stood under the five-colour flag. Their voices joyfully sang for
the rule of right, filling up the space between Heaven and Earth. Glorious
light and boundless happiness shall be bestowed upon Manchukuo forever.
Forget the bandits! Forget the League of Nations! Without them, Man­
chukuo developed its own path, going forward happily and joyfully.
Look at the military achievements of Manchukuo!
68 Wang Yu

Listen to the voices of the thirty million people!

With a head of state that has inherited the Mandate of Heaven, and a
government that supports the head of state, Manchukuo has the best type
of politics. With its society at peace and all industries and businesses devel-
oping prosperously, should Manchurians not find themselves happy with
their current life?
Tortured and humiliated by the bandit Zhang, the education system was
destroyed after the roar at Liutiaogou. As a result, millions of tender students
lost their schooling like lambs losing their way home. However, the elemen-
tary schools in Mukden province resumed on 1 March last year and rescued
the homeless children. On 1 May, middle schools reopened. This comforted
the hearts of the students, their brothers, and fathers.
Education in Mukden province has made comprehensive progress under
the rule of glorious Manchukuo. It has now been operating for one year.
To celebrate the one-year anniversary of the establishment of Manchu­
kuo and the one-year anniversary of schools reopening, the Bureau of
Education and the Mukden Education Committee are honoured to release
the journal Mukden Education Review on 1 March. This inaugural issue is
a special one that carries profound meanings and important duties to cele-
brate the anniversary of the state’s establishment. This is such a good and
proper intention.
Since the inauguration of Manchukuo, we have taken over the respon-
sibility of education in the country. We feel anxious whenever thinking about
it. But when realizing that we have the support of thirty million people, the
cooperation of tens of thousands of colleagues, the sympathy of the early
awakened and our friendly neighbour [Japan], we immediately cheer up and
become unprecedentedly courageous and ready to bravely march forward
to carry out duties.
Concerning the problem of education construction in Mukden, I present
here my view that contains proper and effective methods. I hope that the
educated will not discard this and kindly offer corrections, so that we will
together move this project forward. That is my hope.

Detailed Proposal of the Mukden Provincial Education

Construction Project

1 Outline
1.1 The establishment of education policies. To students and children,
etc., let them have a real understanding of Manchukuo’s Kingly
 Education Policies and Theories in Manchukuo 69

Way. The guideline is to raise real talents for the development of

Manchukuo culture. To realize this, it must be done under the
principles of civic education and labour education. Below are the
specific methods.
1.2 Revitalize vocational schools. Reform existing vocational schools.
1.3 Cultivate a career-oriented education system that produces capable
talents.
1.4 Fundamental reform of teaching education.
1.5 Raise the quality of current faculties.
1.6 Change teaching school districts.
1.7 Engage in methodological studies to explore the theories of each
discipline.
1.8 Study the local adoption of each discipline and textbook editing.
1.9 Fundamental reform of the previous education system to make it
directly connected with the Manchukuo education project, to train
future leaders for state reform and revival.
1.10 It is for the above purposes that the Mukden Education Committee
organized societies for each discipline and uses the societies as
centres of research, textbook editing, and other relevant teaching
affairs.

2 Short courses
2.1 Since the establishment of Manchukuo, the Mukden Bureau of
Education organized the following short courses to help current
faculty build a deep understanding of Manchukuo and to help gen-
eral audiences gain a broad sense of it.
2.1.1 Short course on the Mukden Provincial Education Project
(the following were summoned: heads of the Education
Bureau in the province’s fifty-six counties, county education
inspectors, and principals of provincial and municipal
schools)
2.2 To revitalize the spirit of Manchukuo’s construction and to reform
the education reality, the following short courses were organized.
2.2.1 Short course on school management: Monday, Wednesday,
Thursday
2.2.2 Short course on labour education: Monday, Wednesday,
Thursday
2.2.3 Short course on physical education: Tuesday, Thursday,
Saturday
70 Wang Yu

2.2.4 Short course on school management: Monday, Wednesday,

Thursday

3 Plan for the second year of Datong [1933].

3.1 Types of short courses
3.1.1 Short courses on common classroom facilities renovation
(with on-site instruction at designated schools)
3.1.2 Short courses on special classroom facilities renovation (with
on-site instruction at designated schools)
3.1.3 Short courses on activity room facilities renovation (with
on-site instruction at designated schools)
3.1.4 Short courses for school-employed instructors
3.1.5 Short courses on civic education
3.1.6 Short courses on national language education
3.1.7 Each discipline organizes its lectures in order
3.2 Types of meetings
3.2.1 Meetings of the heads of the County Education Bureau and
county education inspectors
3.3 The province is divided into eight school districts centred around
provincial normal schools to lead education development in each
district. There will be at least three or four district short courses or
meetings this year.
3.4 In the future, the following proper periods will be prescribed at the
convenience of each school to carry out physical education move-
ments, intellectual education movements, morality education move-
ments, and hygiene movements: Physical Education Day, Outdoor
Day, Learning Crafts Day, Social Contribution Day, Cleaning Day.
4 In the second year of Datong, education committees in Mukden munici-
pality and subordinate counties will be established to complete organiza-
tion of the Mukden Education Committee. The following issues will be
emphasized:
4.1 Holding general meetings of the Mukden Education Committee
4.2 Running activities of the teaching research societies under the guid-
ance of each branch committee
4.3 Having the teaching societies edit the most proper textbooks for
each county

27 February, second year of Datong

 Education Policies and Theories in Manchukuo 71

Educational Love15

Mukden Provincial Education Inspector, Nakatani Sadaharu

Head of the Physical Education Team, Ba Kunduan

Today, I want to talk with you about educational love. Before I start, I want
to introduce to you Eduard Spranger’s “spheres of self and objects.”
Our spirit contains different spheres, each of which stays at its own level.
From these levels, one can assume different spheres of self. The objects
corresponding to their respective spheres of self can be explained by the
following diagram [Figure 4.1].
Although our selves may be different on the surface, they cannot separate
themselves from objects in the course of real life. To be specific, located in
the middle, the level of the biological self, which is also the level of the con-
scious self that concerns the body, corresponds to reality through direct
sensorial contacts. It has limited territory. Second, there is the level of the
aesthetic self that expands its territory through the function of imagina-
tion. It corresponds to the imaginative sphere, but it cannot go beyond the

4.1 Diagram of spiritual spheres.

72 Wang Yu

sphere of intuition. Third, with the help of logic to further expand its terri-
tory, the aesthetic self transcends the specific sphere of perception and
reaches the level of the theoretical self. The layer of the theoretical self cor-
responds to the intellectual sphere. In the end, there is the layer of the reli-
gious self (the metaphysical self) that transcends the theoretical sphere via
belief. Its territory is boundless. It corresponds to the transcendental sphere.
In order to seek the focal point of all the above layers, one has to experience
the spheres of reality, theory, imagination, and transcendence. Then, with the
aid of experience, one can be sure that each of the above-mentioned layers
of self has its own value. The value of the layer of the biological self is utility.
The value of the layer of the aesthetic self is beauty. The value of the layer of
the theoretical self is reality. The value of the layer of the religious self is
sacredness.
These are the four basic values. In social life, there is hierarchy and equal-
ity. To communicate the ideas of people between different classes, one needs
rightness. To connect the ideas of people within the same class, one needs
love. Rightness, love, and the four basic values are the six focal points of the
ideal life. See the following:

1 economic lifestyle
2 aesthetic lifestyle
3 theoretical lifestyle
4 societal lifestyle
5 rightful lifestyle
6 religious lifestyle.

These values cannot be divided into stages by type. They have to be divided
by the strength of experience. Strength refers to the degree of experience that
the self gets in relation to value. The closer that the fullness of life reaches
ideal life, the higher and stronger the degree is.
Generally speaking, the religious value constitutes the skeleton (guge) of
the ideal life. It is the strongest and highest among all the values. Then comes
the economic value, which is secondary and also the value of utility. The
economic value exists for the purpose of life preservation. The economic
value is the weakest and the lowest because life only reaches the value of
utility when it gains spiritual value. Between the two are aesthetic value,
theoretical value, followed by the rightful value16 and societal value (or the
value of love). The two values are oppositional and purely formal. Their
 Education Policies and Theories in Manchukuo 73

con­tent has connections with other values, which, depending on the con-
tent, vary to some degree. When the self relates to the economic value, it is
of the lowest degree. When the self relates to religion, it becomes higher in
degree, the more connections it has with religion. Cultivation is the way to
lead the lowest self up to the spheres of the highest self. When consciousness
of the highest self awakens, one is able to use it to rule the subjective spheres
of the self.
Assuming that there is a tunnel in the centre of each level that connects
different levels of the self, hoping to pursue higher, deeper, and purer values,
we climb up via the tunnel. That is the origin of love. With hope in our hearts,
we are able to work together in a cooperative and integrative manner. In
simple words, that is love. Under the layer of love is the biological self, the
instinct to preserve life, which is simply greed. Above the layer of love is the
religious self – the empathy of Buddha, the love of God. That is sacred love.
Between the two are sexual love, parental love, educational love, and
neighbourly love. I will now talk about them.

Greed
Greed is the essence of the biological self. It is not only the essence of the
human self, but also the essence of all animals’ self. It is the desire of animals
to preserve life. Desire only asks for the satisfaction of one’s demand. It does
not care how others might suffer or sacrifice for it. It excludes sympathy. It is
egoistic and utilitarian. It can only be called desire. It does not qualify as love.

Sexual Love
Above greed is love. Love is a common phenomenon among humans. The
first stage of love is sexual love. In order to distinguish sexual love and sexual
desire, Spranger suggests that sexual love is man and woman doing something
together in a cooperative and integrative manner, in the hope of reaching
the sphere of aesthetics. But it is not only the male and female that can reach
the sphere of aesthetics. The nature of sexual love is the sexual instinct be-
tween the two sexes. Before the sextual instinct turns into sexual conscious-
ness, its aesthetic value is nothing more than a type of medium. For example,
a beautiful appearance is only able to attract the other sex, and make it ap-
proachable. The sexual instinct is not only to satisfy oneself – it is willing
to forget oneself, to sacrifice oneself to attract interest from others. This is
a human instinct across races – that one is equal with others and that others
are part of the self; this becomes an instinct. This is no longer greed. It is
74 Wang Yu

one level higher. It becomes spiritual once it transcends by the way of aes-
thetics. Once love is filled with moral consciousness, it becomes pure love
that serves the entire human being. But sexual love essentially bases itself
on sex, for the purpose of preserving posterity. Therefore, it cannot satisfy
itself unless it monopolizes the other. This is the feature of sexual love. If
that monopoly is interrupted and turns into triangular or quadrangular
relationships, the members will feel upset. Love then turns into jealousy and
hatred. This is where sexual love is impure. On this point, although sexual
life can be very heartwarming, it only functions within a limited number
of objects.

Parental Love
Although parental love and sexual love are instincts of the human race, the
former bases itself on parents’ instincts. It is a spiritualized and personalized
human love. While sexual love preserves posterity, parental love develops
the spirit and personality of that posterity. Parental love is not only pure,
warm, and sacrificing; it is also liberating, equal, and sympathetic. These are
the features of parental love.
What is liberation? It is not to monopolize, like sexual love. One does not
feel upset or jealous if there are many people who love one’s son. If the parents
have many sons, they love the sons equally, with no discrimination – just as
one cannot say any one of the ten fingers is useless. One loves the son who
is excellent in virtue as much as one does one’s son who is weak in body and
mentality.
Sexual love develops through the medium of aesthetics. One loves the
other because the other is lovable. Parental love is the opposite – it aims at
something that has potential value in the future. The weaker and worse the
son is, the stronger the love of the parents. That is sympathetic love.
Parental love is purer and higher than sexual love, but it is still limited by
human instincts. Differences exist between one’s own children and those of
others. Therefore, although the territory of parental love is broader, it is still
limited. Once parental love ascends through the sphere of theory and further
extends itself, it becomes purer.

Educational Love
Educational love helps teenagers who are not yet developed and mature
to complete the value of their personality. Therefore, the love of teachers is
the same as parental love – both are liberating, equal, and sympathetic.
 Education Policies and Theories in Manchukuo 75

The love of teachers is altruistic and sacrificing. Although it is not as

strong as parental love, it is a special emotion born out of the common values
of teachers and students. Once theorized, this special emotion becomes purer
and covers even broader areas. Parental love becomes educational love if it
develops one step further. But differences still exist between students that
teachers have and have not taught.
However, if one can make some spiritual effort to go beyond this sphere
and treat the whole human race as one’s sons, as one’s own students, then
educational love becomes religious love, neighbourly love. Neighbourly love
in its extreme form becomes sacred love. It is the essence of the religious
self. Sacred love in its extreme form becomes Buddha’s love, God’s love. It is
equality between humans and animals, equality between grass, trees, fishes,
and insects. It is the ultimate salvation of all human beings. It is the sphere
of Buddha’s empathy.

Conclusion
In this sense, the biological self (greed) purifies itself during ascendance
until it reaches its completion in sacred love. This is the essential method
to teach students how to be human beings. Whether it is possible to evolve
from greed to sacred love and, if so, how to get there are difficult questions
to answer. On the way to purification, there is an aesthetic value functioning
on one side and a theoretical value functioning on the other. The aesthetic
value concerns emotion, [while] the theoretical value concerns reason. They
both can lead us and help us to reach the ultimate goal. In other to get there,
we have to have the same ideals and cooperate with each other.
The purification process follows the order below:

1 greed
2 sexual love
3 parental love
4 educational love
5 neighbourly love
6 Buddhist love.

This is the general order of purification. However, low-level love cannot be

simply changed into upper-level love. Yet the latter contains the former.
As educators, if we can pay attention to the purification of students’
greed, we can claim that we are doing real education. If we teach students
76 Wang Yu

only technical knowledge, then that knowledge will become a tool to satisfy
greed. If that is the case, then we better not teach them. Such instances are
numerous.
I will stop here. Thank you for listening.

Notes
1 Andrew Hall, “The Word Is Mightier Than the Throne: Bucking Colonial Education
Trends in Manchukuo,” Journal of Asian Studies 68, 3 (2009): 895–926.
2 Rana Mitter, “Evil Empire?: Competing Constructions of Japanese Imperialism in
Manchuria, 1928–1937,” in Imperial Japan and National Identities in Asia, 1895–1945,
ed. Li Narangoa and Robert Cribb (London: Routledge Curzon, 2003), 146–47. Similar
contradictions existed in other parts of the empire as well. For instance, Jun Uchida
describes a contradictory dynamic at work in colonial Korea between national autonomy
and racial fusion in Japan’s promotion of the “New Order in East Asia.” See Jun Uchida,
“Between Collaboration and Conflict: State and Society in Wartime Korea,” in Tumultuous
Decade: Empire, Society, and Diplomacy in 1930s Japan, ed. Masato Kimura and Tosh
Minohara (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2013), 136.
3 On Manchukuo as a laboratory, see Louise Young, Japan’s Total Empire: Manchuria and
the Culture of Wartime Imperialism (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1998).
4 Andrew Reed Hall translates the title of the journal as “Fengtian education,” while Wu
Sihan translates it as “Education in Fengtian.” On the back of the original journal, however,
the title is translated as “Mukden education review.” I therefore use this title to refer to
Fengtian jiaoyu. See Andrew Reed Hall, “Constructing a ‘Manchurian’ Identity: Japanese
Education in Manchukuo, 1931–1945,” PhD diss., University of Pittsburgh, 2003, 38; Wu
Sihan, “Fengtian jiaoyu yanjiu” [A study on Education in Fengtian] (master’s thesis,
Northeast Normal University, 2016), 2.
5 Guoqin Chu, “Preface,” in Wei Manzhouguo qikan huibian [Collections of bogus Man­
chukuo periodicals], 2nd series, ed. Guoqin Chu (Beijing: Xianzhuang shuju, 2009), 21.
6 See Hall, “Constructing a ‘Manchurian’ Identity,” 3.
7 Morita Ryōichi, “Fengtian jiaoyu jianshe si’an” [Mukden education construction project
proposal], Fengtian jiaoyu [Mukden education review] 2, 1 (1933): 2.
8 Tani E. Barlow, “Introduction: On ‘Colonial Modernity,’” in Formations of Colonial
Modernity in East Asia, ed. Tani E. Barlow (Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 1997),
3–7.
9 Prasenjit Duara, Sovereignty and Authenticity: Manchukuo and the East Asian Modern
(Lanham, MD: Rowman and Littlefield, 2003), 112.
10 Suk-Jung Han, “The Problem of Sovereignty: Manchukuo, 1932–1937,” positions: asia
critique 12, 2 (2004): 457–78.
11 Eduard Spranger, Types of Men: The Psychology and Ethics of Personality (New York:
Hafner, 1928), 109–248.
12 Morita Ryōichi, “Fengtian jiaoyu jianshe si’an,” 1–5.
13 The Japanese named the site Liutiao Ditch or Liutiao Bridge.
14 Mukden, Fengtian, and Shenyang refer to the same city in Northeast China. The name
Shenyang dates to the Ming dynasty. When the Manchu leader Nurhaci captured Shen­
yang in 1625, he assigned the city the Manchu name Mukden. The name Fengtian initially
referred to the prefecture where the city is located but gradually became applied to the
city. During the Manchukuo period, the puppet state officially named the city Fengtian.
All three names were used in the republican period, but Shenyang became the official,
singular name of the city in the 1950s.
 Education Policies and Theories in Manchukuo 77

15 Nakatani Sadaharu, “Jiaoyu ai” [Educational love], Fengtian jiaoyu [Mukden education
review] 2, 1 (1933): 5–11.
16 In Chinese, this was printed as quanli jiazhí (power value). But it should be quanli jiazhí
(rightful value), as rightful value is discussed in the text while power value is not.
5 The Second Sino-Japanese War,
Propaganda, and Medical Publications
Kaneko Junji’s “The China Incident from
the Perspective of Psychiatry”
JANICE MATSUMURA

In February 1933, the editors of the Chinese Medical Journal issued the
following statement: “Not content with misleading the world in their
relentless campaign of subjugating China through Manchuria, Shanghai
and Jehol, the Japanese Government and their propaganda machine
have enlisted the help of even the medical profession in running down
the praiseworthy efforts of Chinese and missionary organizations in
that region.”1 The editors referred to a communication entitled “News
from Manchuria” by a Japanese correspondent that had appeared a
month earlier in the Journal of the American Medical Association.
Ignor­ing the contributions of Chinese and Western personnel, the
correspondent credited Japan with any medical progress in the region
and asserted that the “natives at large, most of whom are said to have
received medical treatment for the first time, are grateful.”2
As Barak Kushner observes, the postwar Tokyo war crimes trials,
in promoting the vision of an all-powerful military establishment that
duped and oppressed the Japanese people, effectively negated the role
of non-official groups in advancing wartime policies. 3 Individuals in
Japan, as elsewhere, denied their own mastery of propaganda, sug­
gesting that other peoples were more duplicitous and thus adept at the
task. 4 The scope of propaganda activities proves otherwise. “Proposals
and suggestions for improved propaganda products,” Kushner explains,
“came from around the Japanese nation and from a variety of organiza­
tions.”5 Annika A. Culver, for example, has uncovered the participation
of avant-garde artists and writers, whose leftist ideological history
would seem to make them unlikely spokespersons for the goals of the
authorities. 6
 The Second Sino-Japanese War, Propaganda, and Medical Publications 79

This translation draws attention to another group who may not be

immediately associated with state ideologues. While there are works
in English on how medical professionals lent their skills to wartime
research projects, the most notorious being for the manufacture of
bacteriological and chemical weapons, less attention has been given
to their involvement in the production of propaganda.7 One reason this
topic may have stayed under the radar is the stereotype of medicine
and medical knowledge, which, to quote Julie V. Brown, “is presumed
to be derived from supranational scientific principles and hence to
be impervious to such influences as culture, politics, or individual
idiosyncrasy.”8
Historians such as Miriam Kingsberg have refuted this presumption,
demonstrating the intricate ties between medical personnel and
Japan’s informal colony of Manchukuo, which was one of the world’s
first “narco-states,” being financially dependent on the opium trade.9
These experts included Tokyo Imperial University professor of physiol­
ogy, Dr. Sakai Yoshio, who was a notable presence in the Japanese anti­
opium crusade of the 1930s that, Kingsberg points out, functioned as
pretext for contesting China’s sovereignty.10 Sakai went on speaking
tours throughout Manchukuo and north China and published works in
Japan enjoining the Japanese people to refrain from opium consump­
tion and asserting that, without the intervention of Japan, the Chinese
were doomed to extinction due to widespread addiction. He also
worked with the municipal Police Sanitation Bureau in Tokyo, super­
vising addiction cases as well as setting up in occupied China a factory
to produce an analgesic known as IM, which was used to treat addiction.
Investigating the charge that Japanese policy makers had adopted a
policy to drug China into submission, prosecutors at the Tokyo war
crimes trials determined that IM was no different from opium.11
Medical experts such as physiologists figured more prominently in
the research and discourse on addiction before 1945, and it was only
after the war that psychiatrists in Japan claimed addiction as their area
of specialty.12 Throughout much of the twentieth century, a constant
complaint of its practitioners was that officials and the public dismissed
psychiatry as a minor branch of medicine that simply provided custo­
dial care for an unfortunate minority of individuals. In response, activ­
ists within the profession sought to demonstrate psychiatry’s greater
relevance, often melding medical and national interests in making their
80 Janice Matsumura

case. In opposing in the late 1930s the government’s growing support

for a eugenic sterilization law, Kaneko Junji (1890–1979), the author of
the article translated below, argued that such legislation was premised
on goals of racial purification that could only encourage ethnic hatreds
and thus undermine the mission to promote the Japanese spirit among
the Chinese people.13
Kaneko’s foray into the discussion of Chinese opium addiction illus­
trates the range of medical experts who became involved in a propa­
ganda war between China and Japan, as well as demonstrating the
ripple effect of propaganda generating propaganda.14 Although there is
no evidence of a direct connection between Kaneko and other propa­
gandists such as Sakai Yoshio, it is highly likely that the former was
familiar with the work and views of the latter. A specialist in criminal
psychiatry who had written on the dangers of narcotics and alcohol
and who was affiliated with the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Board, Kaneko
enjoyed the same civil police connections as Sakai, who in 1936 simi­
larly scorned Chinese addicts as “notoriously deceptive” and skilful in
using “tricks and charms” to foment anti-Japanese sentiments.15 How­
ever, it is difficult to assess Kaneko’s knowledge of Japan’s opium traffic
in China as, unlike Sakai, he appears to have operated strictly in the
metropole, where members of the public approved of state control of
information, especially that coming from foreign critics.16
Chinese and Westerners charged Japan with encouraging addiction,
and in September 1938, the wife of Jiang Jieshi (Chiang Kai-shek), Song
Meiling, accused Japanese policy makers of a plot “to drench the land
with opium and narcotics with the primary object of so demoralizing
the people that they would be physically unfit to defend their country,
and mentally and morally so depraved that they could easily be bought
and bribed with drugs to act as spies when the time came in order that
their craving might be satisfied.”17
In January 1938, the Chinese authorities appeared to have won a
propaganda war to influence foreign opinion by succeeding in having
Jiang and Song featured on the cover of Time magazine as husband
and wife of the year.18 In the very same month, Kaneko published in
Tōkyō iji shinshi (Tokyo medical journal), a major Japanese medical
publication,19 the following article attributing the enemy’s skill at
propaganda to a national character perverted by an endemic opium ad­
diction that had long predated the Japanese invasion of Manchuria.
 The Second Sino-Japanese War, Propaganda, and Medical Publications 81

—•  TRANSLATION  •—

The China Incident from the Perspective of Psychiatry20

kaneko junji

Since the start of the war, it is often said that “China is skilled at propaganda.”
When hearing this, one is immediately reminded of Lenin’s observation:
“Religion is the opium of the masses.”
The Roman Catholic Church’s Congregation for the Propagation of the
Faith of 1622 is said to be propaganda. But it is not just propaganda’s ety-
mology or the fact that successful religions were those skilled at propaganda
that makes one see a relationship between China’s talent for propaganda and
Lenin’s statement: “Religion is the opium of the masses.”
The premier intellectuals of their time, missionaries had extensive know-
ledge of opium and so used opium smoke when proselytizing. The psycho-
logical state that overcame visitors exposed to opium smoke in resplendent
temples and monasteries was captured by [Thomas] De Quincey, the author
of Confessions of an English Opium-Eater, who wrote that “opium truly is like
carrying bliss in one’s waistcoat pocket.”21 To peoples ignorant of opium,
missionaries promoted as a reward for the faithful the narcotic effect of
opium, which allowed one to forget all spiritual anguish and physical pain.
In this respect, there is much truth in Lenin’s observation that “Religion is
the opium of the masses.” But, aside from this, one may note another con-
nection between opium and propaganda.
From the perspective of psychiatry, the Chinese skill at propaganda, even
though not a case of religious propaganda, is profoundly related to opium.
Ancient peoples had discovered opium’s pleasurable qualities, and, while it
is not known when exactly, it was originally used as a recreational drug. In
Homer’s epic poem, there is mention of “‘a drug for forgetfulness’ called
Nepenthes, which was cast into wine and caused those who consumed it
to lose all memory of worry, anguish, sadness, to forget the deaths of their
fathers and mothers, and, until the end of their day, to never shed tears.” This
was not a product of Homer’s imagination and reveals that opium was al-
ready present in ancient Greece. In particular, [the German pharmacologist
Louis] Lewin proposed that opium had been transplanted in Greece, being
originally produced in Egypt, by the age of Homer and that there existed a
place called Mekone, which means Town of Poppies (Mohnstadt), during the
eighth century BCE.
82 Janice Matsumura

It is not known if opium was first used as a recreational drug and then as
a medical treatment, or vice-versa, but, regarding its use in treating enter­
opathy and convulsions, Greece’s Diagoras [of Melos] and Episistaratus
[Peisistratus?] warned of its abuse. Consequently, there is no doubt that
opium has not only been used as medicine, but has aroused medical concerns
about its harm since ancient times.
Opium as a medical drug has appeared in Chinese documents since
973, but Arabs first imported it into China as a recreational drug between
1280 and 1295. Thereafter, opium smoking quickly spread, and already by
1368 a ban was imposed against opium. The injunction was ineffective and,
since 1739, similar bans were repeatedly issued. However, the import of
opium increased annually, with over 4,054 boxes entering the country in
1796. England was the main supplier for these imports.
The Chinese government at the time issued a ban against opium that
imposed the death penalty on opium smokers, but this failed to eradicate
the problem. It threatened the excessive profits that England enjoyed from
the opium trade, and, as a result, it marked the first step toward the Opium
Wars. With its disastrous defeat in the Opium Wars, China was forced to
conclude the Treaty of Nanking with England. England acquired Hong Kong,
a huge indemnity, as well as the freedom to export opium. China thus dem-
onstrated that “a country where opium as a recreational drug flourishes will
collapse.”
The prevalence of opium smoking in China, of course, differed depending
on the period and, as it was a practice that had to be conducted in secret due
to bans that imposed severe penalties, exact figures are unavailable. However,
specialists have roughly estimated that between 25 and 33 percent of adults
were opium smokers. Moreover, there are sources that propose that 50 to 75
percent of Chinese adults were opium smokers. There is no agreement for
these high and low figures. In any case, written down somewhere, there is a
saying in China that illustrates how opium has permeated life in the country:
“Life is fortunately bearable because of opium and love and, so, opium is love
and love is opium.”
There are not only many smokers of the narcotic known as opium in
China, but, as can be expected, a proportionate number of addicts. Of course,
ever mindful of the enormous profits that it enjoyed through the export of
opium to China, England established in 1893 the Royal Commission on
Opium, which declared that “opium posed no danger to health.” Concerned
about the effect that a duty on opium would have on the revenue of its Asian
 The Second Sino-Japanese War, Propaganda, and Medical Publications 83

colonies, England’s conclusion was self-serving denial of opium smoking’s

irrefutable psychological and physical harm. As Britain’s Royal Commission
on Opium at that time did not include medical doctors among its committee
members, the findings of this commission were bogus and without authority,
and in no way can counter recent psychiatric research.
The degree to which opium smoking is hazardous may be illustrated by
what occurred during the establishment of Manchukuo, when Japanese
bought and moved into homes previously occupied by long-time opium
smokers. The mice in the homes would disappear. That is, mice that had been
long addicted to opium could not live in a home without opium smoke and
would leave and follow the opium smokers. This anecdote is useful as evi-
dence of the prevalence of chronic addiction among opium smokers.
However, an assessment of the calamity of opium in China from the
perspective of psychiatry cannot be limited simply to calculations of “such-
and-such a percentage of present-day Chinese are opium smokers.” In cal-
culating the percentage of addicts among opium smokers but not taking
into consideration the widespread impact of addiction, one overlooks the
harm that opium smoking has on national character.
Moreover, when investigating in terms of psychiatry the relationship
between opium smoking and the Chinese national character, one must not
forget how long ago it was that opium smoking was introduced into China.
The great impact of opium smoking on the national character becomes ap-
parent as one counts the number of generations that have smoked opium,
and just because one set of parents were not addicted to opium smoking,
this does not safeguard the next generation from the scourge of opium.
In psychiatry, it is imperative to trace a patient’s medical history, and
opium, which was imported into China from 1280, has been used as a rec-
reational drug for about 660 years. If one calculates one generation as
amounting to thirty years, then the symptoms of opium addiction could be
traced back for twenty-two generations, which is long enough for it to have
become fixed in the national character. There is thus a relationship between
this national character influenced by opium addiction and the skill of the
Chinese at propaganda. Accordingly, from the perspective of psychiatry, the
Chinese skill at propaganda is simply symptomatic of the influence of opium
addiction. This will be made more evident by comparing the symptoms of
opium addiction and the Chinese national character.
No. 1, the Chinese national character is feminine. A unique trait of the
Chinese national character is the absence of anything that can be deemed
84 Janice Matsumura

masculine. Chinese foreign policy has traditionally pitted barbarians

against barbarians and, even during the China Incident, China has relied on
England, the United States, or the Soviet Union. This lack of courage to act
independently is a symptom of opium addiction that has been implanted in
the national character.
No. 2, in China, the national character lacks a sense of responsibility, and
this is a pre-eminent feature of chronic opium addiction. China has uni­
laterally broken agreements with Japan and does not respect international
agreements. What is notable about this lack of responsibility is that it reveals
how chronic opium addiction has seeped into the national character.
No. 3, a strong sense of victim consciousness may be considered funda-
mental to the Chinese national character, and this is also a tendency notable
in chronic opium addiction. This strong victim consciousness in the Chinese
character, which ensures the unquestioning acceptance of the absurd notion
that Japan is an invading force, is a product of chronic opium addiction.
No. 4, the Chinese number more than four hundred million, but it is said
that they do not have a state. In truth, the utter egoism of the Chinese is rare
among races. Because of this strong egoism, social morality has no way of
developing. There are military cliques that function as private armies, but
there is no national army in China. Causing misery for the masses, huge war
expenditures and hundreds of millions in private funds are expropriated.
Given this selfishness, this glaring flaw in the Chinese national character,
bribery has become the driving force behind politics. Opium addiction in-
variably dulls a sense of social morality and makes selfishness extremely
obvious. The inculcation of selfishness in the national character of the Chi­
nese is directly related to the prevalence of opium addiction in China.
No. 5, those who are untrustworthy and mendacious have been considered
“wretches like the Chinese,” and the Chinese are an unreliable people who
are skilled at lying. The Chinese do not believe that there is anything wrong
with lying, and a propensity for falsehoods is also symptomatic of chronic
opium addiction, which has spread among the masses so much that it has
affected the national character.
No. 6, although scholars throughout the world have grappled with the
question, Is China truly a nation state?, an important feature of the Chinese
national character is the insistence on Middle Kingdom as the name for
China. On the one hand, this is a manifestation of great conceit; on the other
hand, it indicates that China lacks the judgment required for self-evaluation.
This is also evidence of a national character that has evolved from opium
 The Second Sino-Japanese War, Propaganda, and Medical Publications 85

addiction. Even during the present war, the Chinese have vainly over­
estimated their country’s strength and underestimated the actual power of
Japan, and, in such a narcissistic mental state, they have commenced hostil-
ities that they are bound to lose. Extremely conceited and lacking judgment,
chronic opium addicts are doomed to self-destruction.
No. 7, the vanity of the Chinese is famous and usually figures in their
national character. It is apparent when examining the history of Chinese
foreign relations that China is content to revere form over substance.
Although Sinkiang and Outer Mongolia have been invaded by the Soviet
Union and Tibet is being offered up to England, China remains content to
say that it has not lost its suzerainty. But, when it comes to its honest neigh-
bour, Japan, hostility erupts over trivial matters and, despite losing its capital
city of Nanjing, China continues to indulge its vanity through anti-Japanese
resistance. Excessive vanity is a special characteristic of chronic opium ad-
dicts, and China’s vanity may be attributed to the proliferation of this special
characteristic.
No. 8, the Chinese national character also lacks a spirit of independence.
Successive generations of Chinese diplomats have used barbarians against
barbarians and, while this tactic usually ended in failure, China customarily
depends on another’s power rather than its own. China has contrived to
simply borrow the power of England, Russia, the United States, and France.
China’s lack of independence and excessive reliance on others is, once again,
representative of a national character emanating from chronic opium addicts.
In truth, chronic opium addicts, having lost their spirit of independence,
must rely on others for their salvation.
No. 9, in Chinese diplomatic history, even though the use of barbarians
against barbarians has been painfully unsuccessful, it continues to be ap-
plied, and this policy of using barbarians against barbarians is used because
there is a lack of willpower in the Chinese national character. The Chinese
national character is such that individuals, once enticed by the momentary
benefits offered by other countries, become utterly incapable of resisting
the sweet words of foreigners. Taking advantage of this weakness in the Chi­
nese national character, the strong susceptibility to suggestion, the Soviet
Union has seduced China, and England has instigated it into undertaking
anti-Japanese activities. The psychological peculiarity of chronic opium ad-
dicts, their lack of willpower and their great susceptibility to suggestion, is
so widespread among the Chinese people that it has become their national
character.
86 Janice Matsumura

No. 10, notable in the Chinese national character is the absence of a sense
of duty. China is representative of nations that insist on their rights but dis­
regard their duties. Chronic opium addicts insist on their rights but never
live up to their obligations, and chronic opium addiction has made the
Chinese devoid of a sense of duty.
By comparing from the vantage point of psychiatry the Chinese national
character and the symptoms of chronic opium addiction, the preceding ten
points of similarity are discernible. Given this national character, China’s
vanity has reached a high point as result of the instigation, flattery, and
deception of the Soviet Union, England, France, and the United States. Enter­
taining an unjustifiable sense of being victimized by Japan, China remains
suspicious of its honest neighbour. It is inevitable that China’s overestima­
tion of its strength and reckless reliance on others to achieve its objectives
has given rise to a vehement anti-Japanese spirit. Feminine in its vanity and
penchant for falsehoods, utterly selfish and devoid of a sense of account-
ability, irresponsible and dependent on foreigners, China has started an
ill-advised war. Consequently, rather than saying that the Chinese have a
talent for propaganda, it is more apt to say that they are skilful at broadcast-
ing misinformation. There will be no victory for chronic opium addicts,
unless a country can triumph when its people have become addicted to
opium, and, using the language of psychiatry, China’s condition is such that
it must be immediately placed under complete protective care. Unless the
Chinese national character, which is permeated with the psychology of
chronic opium addicts, is thoroughly reformed, China will share the same
fate as chronic opium addicts and be destined to self-destruct. It is more
than just troublesome for Japan to have as its neighbour a country of opium
addicts, and no matter what, Japan cannot simply abandon China. Japan’s
great act of be­nevolence, which it must undertake, is to thoroughly admin-
ister treatment.

Notes
1 “Medical Works in Manchuria,” Chinese Medical Journal 47, 2 (1933): 187, cited in Miriam
Kingsberg, “Legitimating Empire, Legitimating Nation: The Scientific Study of Opium
Addiction in Japanese Manchuria,” Journal of Japanese Studies 38, 2 (2012): 344.
2 “News from Manchuria,” Journal of the American Medical Association 100, 1 (1933): 56.
3 Barak Kushner, The Thought War: Japanese Imperial Propaganda (Honolulu: University
of Hawai’i Press, 2006), 19, 24.
4 Ibid., 23.
5 Ibid., 21.
6 During a workshop, Annika Culver kindly provided information on a restricted-access
government publication, Senbu geppō [The Monthly Report on Pacification]. Among its
 The Second Sino-Japanese War, Propaganda, and Medical Publications 87

contributors was the head of the Home Ministry’s Bureau of Education, Tamura Toshio,
whose September 1938 article included a section entitled “Senden-sen ni okeru: Bunkajin
no batteki” (The selection of cultural figures for the propaganda war). See Annika A.
Culver, Glorify the Empire: Japanese Avant-Garde Propaganda in Manchukuo (Vancou­
ver: UBC Press, 2013), 147, 149.
7 The English-language literature on medical weapons research has become considerable.
One more recent title is Japan’s Wartime Medical Atrocities: Comparative Inquiries in
Science, History, and Ethics, ed. Jing-Bao Nie (New York: Routledge, 2010). Of the various
definitions of propaganda, I use the definition provided by Jacques Ellul, who focused on
the aim of propaganda “to provoke action.” Jacques Ellul, Propaganda: The Formation of
Men’s Attitudes (New York: Knopf, 1965), 25.
8 Julie V. Brown, “Revolution and Psychosis: The Mixing of Science and Politics in Russian
Psychiatric Medicine, 1905–13,” Russian Review 46 (1987): 284.
9 Miriam Kingsberg, Moral Nation: Modern Japan and Narcotics in Global History (Ber­
keley: University of California Press, 2013), 7.
10 Ibid., 2–3.
11 Ibid., 53, 167–68, 175–76. Because the prosecution eventually attributed responsibility
for war crimes to policy makers, little effort was made to go after individuals who did
not hold office, and Sakai’s postwar fate is unknown. Regarding the alleged plot to drug
the Chinese into submission, Kingsberg illustrates the shift in attributed responsibility
to the army, referring to the statements of prominent American officials stationed in
Japan. For example, in the early 1950s, Richard Deverall stated that “the opium-pushing
activities of the Japanese Army in Korea, Manchuria, and, later, in China proper was part
of the planning of a military group that at times behaved as if it were beyond the control
of the civilian government in Tokyo.” Ibid., 185.
12 Ibid., 196.
13 Kaneko Junji, “Shakai mondai toshite no seishinbyōsha no yūseigakuteki danshuhō” [The
law for the eugenic sterilization of the mentally ill as a social problem], Nihon iji shinpō
[Japan medical practice news] 893 (1939): 23.
14 Kingsberg, Moral Nation, 189. Kingsberg discusses Kaneko Junji’s work on addiction
after but not during the war with China and the other Allied powers.
15 Ibid., 78–79.
16 Kushner, Thought War, 19. Kushner describes the results of a January 1940 survey con-
ducted by the conservative magazine Bungei shunjū (Age of art and literature) in which
two-thirds of the respondents recommended tighter social controls – which would have
further limited the public’s ability to assess the political and military situation – in order
to ensure the achievement of Japan’s aims in China.
17 Quoted in Timothy Brook, “Opium and Collaboration in Central China, 1938–1940,” in
Opium Regimes: China, Britain and Japan, 1839–1952, ed. Timothy Brook and Bob
Tadashi Wakabayashi (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2000), 323, 339. Regarding
Song’s accusation, Brook states that he has found “no evidence on the Japanese side that
there was a plot to narcotize the Chinese people, although many Japanese regarded the
extent of addiction in China as grounds for treating Chinese with contempt.”
18 Kushner, Thought War, 27.
19 Kishio Kondō, “Tōkyō iji shinshi – Meiji shoki no igaku zasshi ni tsuite kōsatsu” [Tokyo
Medical Journal: An investigation of early Meiji medical journals], Igaku toshokan [Tokyo
library] 20, 2 (1973): 141. A pioneering journal established in 1877, Tōkyō iji shinshi
remained a leading medical publication throughout its eighty-three-year history.
20 Kaneko Junji, “Seishinbyōgaku kara mita Nisshi jihen” [The China Incident from the
perspective of psychiatry] Tōkyō iji shinshi [Tokyo medical journal] 3065 (1 January 1938):
50–52.
88 Janice Matsumura

21 “[H]ere was the secret of happiness, about which philosophers had disputed for so many
ages, at once discovered: happiness might now be bought for a penny, and carried in the
waistcoat pocket; portable ecstacies might be had corked up in a pint bottle, and peace
of mind could be sent down in gallons by the mail-coach.” The Project Gutenberg ebook,
Confessions of an English Opium-Eater, by Thomas De Quincey http://www.gutenberg.
org/files/2040/2040-h/2040-h.htm.
6 An Inspection Report
on Ideological Movements in
Literature and Arts Activities
XIE MIYA QIONG

After the Greater East Asia War broke out in December 1941, the
Manchukuo government tightened its ideological control over literary
and cultural production across the country. On 25 July 1942, the Depart­
ment of Police Affairs in the Manchukuo Ministry of Public Security
ordered the Capital Police Bureau to launch a long-term inspection of
the movements and works of ideologically suspicious Chinese writers
and cultural workers in the capital of Xinjing. A series of reports were
drafted and submitted to the central police in response to this order
under the title of “Documents Regarding the Investigation on Ideo­
logical Movements through Literature, Art, and Theatre” (hereafter, the
Investigation). In the late 1980s, Howard Goldblatt, a renowned scholar
of Chinese literature from the Northeast, found one of these reports in
an archive in Taiwan. Dated 29 November 1943, this report was marked
as the fourth report of the series. Drafted in Japanese, it is an invaluable
and unique source attesting to Japanese ideological control over
Chinese intellectuals in Manchukuo.
This document has attained considerable fame: Okada Hideki, the
leading Japanese scholar of Manchukuo literature, has studied the
document extensively over the past thirty years. He owns a copy of
the original document, and this English translation is based on his tran­
scription of the document.1 The document has to date been quoted
numerous times by East Asia–based and North American scholars in
the field, including the Chinese scholar Liu Xiaoli’s monograph Yitai
shikong de jingshen shijie: Wei Manzhouguo wenxue yanjiu (Spiritual
world in a time of alienation: Research on bogus Manchukuo literature)
90 Xie Miya Qiong

and the Canadian scholar Norman Smith’s monograph Resisting

Man­chukuo: Chinese Women Writers and the Japanese Occupation. 2 It
has also been translated into Chinese three times. Trans­l ated by Yu Lei,
it first appeared in 1987 in the journal Dongbei wenxue yanjiu shiliao
(Historical materials for the study of Northeast literature). 3 In 1993, a
new translation was included in Wei Man xianjing tongzhi (Police rule
in bogus Manchukuo), a volume from the series Riben diguozhuyi
qinhua dang’an ziliao xuanbian (Selected archival materials on Japan’s
imperialist invasion of China). 4 The latest trans­l ation, by Deng Lixia, is
included in the Chinese translation of Okada Hideki’s monograph Zoku
bungaku ni miru “Manshūkoku” no isō (The topology of Manchukuo:
A literary perspective, continued) and was published in 2017, as one of
the thirty-three volumes in Wei Man shiqi wenxue ziliao zhengli yu
yanjiu congshu (Bogus Manchukuo literary materials compilation and
research collection). 5
The Investigation is divided into three parts. Part 1 provides
intel­ligence information about major movements of Chinese writers
and cultural workers in the Manchuria Motion Picture Association
(Ch: Manying; Jp: Man’ei), the publication and broadcast industry,
and the “Chinese embassy” in Manchukuo. Part 2 summarizes con­
temporary tendencies in Chinese leftist literature in Manchukuo
based on the inspection of a number of Chinese literary journals.
Part 3 consists of a close reading of nine selections from this set of
journals. The censors believed that these selections encouraged anti-
Manchukuo and anti-Japanese sentiments in artful and circuitous
ways. There is also a cover sheet, an original introduction, and a
conclusion attached to the report.
As is shown in the document, parts 2 and 3 were drafted by three
leading Chinese leftist writers from Harbin, namely Li Jifeng (1917–
45), Guan Monan (1919–2003), and Wang Guangti (1918–81). The
three writers had been arrested in two consecutive 1941 crackdowns
targeting Manchukuo’s Chinese leftist intellectual organizations. The
first, commonly referred to as the December Thirtieth Incident, was
a national (in the sense of Manchukuo) motion to undermine a self-
organized underground anti-Japanese reading group across Manchu­
kuo in which Li was involved. 6 The second took place on 31 December,
the following day. Commonly referred to as the Harbin Leftist Literature
 An Inspection Report on Ideological Movements in Literature and Arts Activities 91

6.1 Group photograph from a symposium organized for Manchurian writers

and members of the Manchuria Motion Picture Association. Front row: Shan
Ding (centre). Back row: Manchuria Film Production director and writer Wang Ze
(farthest left), writer Wang Qiuying (third from left), actor Meng Hong (fifth from
left), writer Ren Qing (middle, behind Shan Ding), actor He Qiren (second right).
This photograph was taken at the film studio, without notable participants in the
symposium: Gu Ding, Mei Niang, Wu Ying, and Xiao Song. Source: Manshū eiga
(Manchuria film) 2, 7 (August 1938): 33. Norman Smith collection

Incident, it targeted a Marxist reading group in Harbin that had a secret

connection to Communists in China proper. Guan was its organizer
and Wang was an ardent supporter.7 Shortly after the two incidents, the
three writers, together with many other arrestees, were transferred to
a prison in Xinjing. Beginning in the summer of 1943, the three were
required to read Chinese literary journals provided by the police and to
report any suspicious contents they came across. Their reading reports
were later compiled as parts 2 and 3 of the document here.
There are many possible readings of the two parts. The imprisoned
authors were otherwise the colleagues of the writers they reported on
in the document. The document therefore shows how colonized intel­
lectuals made sense of the principles of ideological control that their
colonizers used against them, and how they reacted to the difficult
assignment of censoring work that they would personally support out
of the prison. Okada Hideki believes that in writing this report, the
92 Xie Miya Qiong

three writers tried their best to protect young and new Chinese writers
in Manchukuo. They reported only on experienced, well-established
Chinese writers in Manchukuo, while minimizing the impact of other
writers in the following statement: “There are two to three other new
writers who have written sporadically on antifeudalism. The negative
impact of such works on our citizens should be limited. As for the rest
of the authors, they merely depict the pain and grief of life and can
hardly qualify as targets of police censorship.”8
As Okada notes, the report likely also contains the three authors’
nuanced satire of the Japanese censors:

There will be cases in which someone pretends to collaborate with

the government but in effect promotes anti-state thoughts. However,
because the form and content of such literature will become all the
more complex and ambiguous, it will be very difficult to grasp its
themes without a good understanding of the local circumstances
and customs in Manchuria and the sentiments of the intellectuals.9

Here, the writers seem to imply that, because the Japanese were
essentially outsiders who imposed their domination on the local
Chinese in Manchuria, the linguistic, cultural, and social divisions
between the two groups made complete ideological control nearly
impossible. When the writers remind the Japanese censors that covert
anti-Manchukuo and anti-Japanese tendencies in Manchukuo’s Chinese
literature “cannot be elucidated through theory; rather, the job left for
the censors is to study and scrutinize the literature” – they know better
than anyone that this would only frustrate Japanese censors who, had
they been able to “study and scrutinize the literature” in meaningful
ways themselves, would not have needed to conscript imprisoned
Chinese writers to compile the report.
Certainly, it is also possible to read the report in ways that are more
critical of the three Chinese writers who drafted it. For this reason,
Okada disclosed their names only after they had all passed away, for
fear that such disclosure would bring a new round of criticism to them
in their later years.
Below is a selective translation of the introduction, the headings in
part 1, the complete part 2, and the conclusion of the original report.
 An Inspection Report on Ideological Movements in Literature and Arts Activities 93

—•  TRANSLATIONS  •—

Capital Police Bureau Special Duties Section

Secret Document No. 3650

an inspection report on ideological movements

in literature and arts activities (fourth report)

29 November, Kangde 10 [1943]

Vice Inspector General of the Police to the Director
of the General Bureau of Police Affairs

Please see attached for reports under the above-mentioned title regarding
the inspection required by the Special Duties Section of the Department of
Police Affairs in the Ministry of Public Security, Secret Document No. 545
issued on 25 June, Kangde 9 [1942].

Contents
1 Updates on cultural work (information acquired through staff
members)
2 Latest literary trends among Manchukuo’s left-wing writers
3 Findings regarding the works of left-wing literature.
Note: Items 2 and 3 are based on other inspections.

Part 1. Report on the Current Status of Investigation Regarding

Literature and Arts
As has been reported, former Manchuria Motion Picture Association writer
Wang Ze has escaped to north China after our August First Initia­tive.10 As
the situation has recently seen objective improvements, he has become active
again. Since last year, he has travelled between Manchukuo and north China
twice. His purpose is to establish a Manchukuo-oriented work base inside
the Department of Literature and Arts of the Manchuria Motion Picture
Association and to collaborate with An Xi and Shan Ding, his ideological
comrades.11 He intends to take advantage of the special nature of the Chi­
nese embassy to maintain contact with his comrades through messengers.
He came to Xinjing from Tianjin on 14 October with the excuse that he had
difficulty sustaining a living there. He attempted to resume his position in
94 Xie Miya Qiong

6.2 First page of the Inspection Report. Source: Okada collection

the Manchuria Motion Picture Association, but the plan did not work out.
He then went back to Tianjin on 13 November. He also has had his wife
Zhang Min submit her resignation (which was then rejected by the associa-
tion) and has planned for her departure from Manchukuo. This is likely
because he sensed danger in the current tension that emerged after the escape
of thought criminal Li Jifeng on 5 November.12 In addition, among all the
writers in Xinjing, there have already been three who have gone missing.
Writers’ manoeuvres will become more obscure in the future. As the at-
tached analysis of periodicals indicates, left-wing consciousness seems to
have been shifting to nationalist consciousness, which corresponds more
closely with the current political situation. However, this does not mean that
historical left-wing consciousness has been thoroughly uprooted. Circum­
stances have compelled a number of writers and college students under our
jurisdiction, who have demonstrated strong nationalist consciousness, to
flee to north China to seek a way out. It is likely that they will try to com-
municate with the mobile agents of the CCP and KMT. Such serious develop-
ments are under (our) investigation.
 An Inspection Report on Ideological Movements in Literature and Arts Activities 95

[The following translation includes only the headings of the detailed report
in part 1.]

1 Manchuria Motion Picture Association related

1 The remittance to Feng Shun13
2 The founding of the Manchuria Motion Picture Association Stage
Play Society
3 Wang Ze’s departure to Beiping
4 The Manchuria Motion Picture Association Stage Play Study Group
and its external relations
5 Wang Du’s visit to Xinjing14
6 The meeting for critiquing Manchuria Motion Picture Association
films
7 The current status of the Manchuria Motion Picture Association
Stage Play Society
8 The latest state of staff members in the Department of Literature
and Arts in the Manchuria Motion Picture Association
9 Wang Ze’s conditions and activities in Xinjing
10 Manchuria Motion Picture Association actors’/actresses’ attend-
ance at a dinner event at the Chinese embassy
11 Prosecution of the actor Zhang Yi15
12 Shan Ding’s recent movements

2 General matters
1 Personnel constitution of Changcheng Bookstore
2 Communications between bookstores in Xinjing and censors at
the Bureau of Publicity and News
3 Movements of Song Yi from Manchurian Books16
4 Activities of the Literature and Arts Broadcast Association
5 Conditions of the constitution of the intelligence network at the
Chinese embassy
6 Shan Ding’s movements after the Greater East Asia Writers’
Congress
7 Shanghai’s Yinxing Troupe’s visit to Xinjing
8 Qingnian wenhua (Youth culture), a magazine newly created by
the Concordia Association
9 Movements of writers in Xinjing after Li Jifeng’s escape.
96 Xie Miya Qiong

Part 2. Latest Literary Trends among Left-Wing Writers

in Manchukuo
The above-mentioned inspection is limited to an extremely narrow scope,
conducted only by the left-wing activists and former writers Jifeng, Monan,
and Guangti; nevertheless, some conclusions can still be made based on the
inspection of periodical and non-periodical publications each month. It is
of course dangerous to conduct general censorship in this way, but we believe
under the current circumstances (in the next year or two), this could be used
as a point of reference for publication censorship.
Due to the political circumstances it confronted in its early stage, the
left-wing literature of Manchuria started with an abstract and seemingly
ambiguous formal style. Consequently, for alien nationalities that entertain
no appreciation of such literature, it is even more difficult to grasp its central
themes.
In particular, after the outbreak of the Greater East Asia War, the govern-
ment’s persecution and oppression of those involved in Anti-Manchukuo/
Resist Japan activities has made the left-wing writers more cautious. As a
result, they tend to write in even more abstract and ambiguous ways.
At the same time, one needs to be mindful of the fact that, for those who
subscribe to theories of left-wing literature, sudden changes in their environ-
ment will not suffice as reasons for them to completely abandon the essence
of such theories. Accordingly, Manchukuo literature will probably evolve
along the lines of New Romanticism in the future.
Digressive as it may be, here we would like to discuss New Romanticism
a little. New Romanticism is a literary form typically associated with the
initial stage of the proletarian movement. Its contents aim to promote liberal
thoughts, raise antifeudalist consciousness, envision an ideal society, and
analyze the old society as a way to suggest directions for the future. Com­
pared to the individualistic way of thinking that is often associated with
Old Romanticism, a style that negates all customary forms of legal, moral,
and social relations and is only enthusiastic about the world of the ego, New
Romanticism is more active and embraces a socialist consciousness. Mind­
ful of this difference, Maxim Gorky (1868–1936) calls the former Bourgeois
Romanticism and the latter Proletarian Romanticism.17
Now we have investigated the possible future directions of Manchukuo
left-wing literature on the basis of the inspection of several available books
and periodicals. It seems that renowned left-wing writers like Gu Ding and
Shan Ding have been rather silent; when they do occasionally publish, they
have, like Xiao Song, shifted completely to national literature.18 There are
 An Inspection Report on Ideological Movements in Literature and Arts Activities 97

two to three other new writers who have written sporadically on antifeudal-
ism. The negative impact of such works on our citizens should be limited.
As for the rest of the authors, they merely depict the pain and grief of life
and can hardly qualify as targets of police censorship.
However, it remains an undisputable fact that, although they have all tried
their best to avoid radical depictions for fear of censorship, they are still
working hard to inculcate their readers with political consciousness. Based
on a comprehensive consideration of the above-mentioned factors, we are
predicting that they may employ the following literary techniques in the
future:

Works That Oppose the Government

They depict the involvement of corrupt officials at the Living Necessities
Cooperatives, Agriculture Development Cooperatives, and other local of-
fices in cheating, bribe taking, and extorting, and expose defects in the
operations of the current government, so as to foster anti-state thoughts
against the government among the people. However, with regard to the
techniques, they try their best to avoid explicit expressions of mass enlight-
enment. Rather, they pretend to criticize the immoral officials and sympa-
thize with their victims from the government’s standpoint; doing so would
evade the eyes and ears of officials yet at the same time garner sympathy
from people.

Works That Oppose the Bourgeoisie

They depict the involvement of house owners, capitalists, and merchants in
illegal trading, hoarding, or speculating, and implicitly criticize the individ-
ualism and egoism of the bourgeoisie, imbuing readers with class-struggle
consciousness and deepening the gap between capitalists and proletariats,
all in the name of such beautiful words as “the War” and “the present political
situation.”
Moreover, they criticize landlords, village heads, and country gentry for
practices that are at odds with the implementation of state policies. They may
at the same time imply that the current government often makes comprom-
ises to accommodate them. This way of representation further deepens
class-struggle consciousness among the people.
They are willing to use all kinds of stories about defects in the familial
system to reflect inequality in the present society while expressing hope for
the future and desire for the construction of a new country and even a new
society.
98 Xie Miya Qiong

Although the above-mentioned literary techniques are all similar to those

in New Realism, in stories, essays, and critiques by these writers, the central
themes are generally not presented in a transparent manner but are rather
depicted in ambiguous and obscure ways. However, with regard to this point,
it cannot be elucidated through theory; rather, the job left for the censors
is to study and scrutinize the literature. In order to deceive the censors,
in addition to the ambiguousness in literary representation, the above-
mentioned left-wing writers probably also drop theoretical jargon and use
emotional expressions unique to educated Manchurian nationals.
Moreover, besides the aforementioned issues, we also project that there
will be cases in which someone pretends to collaborate with the government
but in effect promotes anti-state thoughts. However, because the form and
content of such literature will become all the more complex and ambiguous,
it will be very difficult to grasp its themes without a good understanding of
the local circumstances and customs in Manchuria and the sentiments of
the intellectuals.

1 They aim to raise antigovernment sentiments among the people through

ostensibly advocating disciplinary supervision of the government and
criticizing the misconduct of corrupt officials.
2 They aim to foster antigovernment sentiments by ostensibly collaborating
with the government’s command-economy initiatives but in effect crystal-
ize its contradictions through literary representation.
3 They pretend to embrace totalitarianism and emphasize the need to de-
nounce egoism in modern society. At the same time, they would criticize
the decline of the bourgeoisie on the basis of a historical materialist world
view, prophesize the eventual advent of a world of grand harmony, and
therefore inspire popular passion for socialism.
4 They state that Anglo-American imperialism has conquered Asia and
oppressed the Chinese people, and then skilfully depict the pain of the
Chinese people under oppression. This would cause (readers) to also see
Japan as an imperialist aggressor and thus nurture Anti-Manchukuo/
Resist Japan thoughts.
5 They draw on examples from the national independent movements in
Burma, India, the Philippines, and other countries that emerged after
the outbreak of the Greater East Asia War to denounce the violence of
the British and the Americans. At the same time, they implicitly con­
nect these movements to the current situation [in Manchuria] and
 An Inspection Report on Ideological Movements in Literature and Arts Activities 99

thereby further nationalist consciousness and Anti-Manchukuo/Resist

Japan thoughts.

In addition, there is also a form of anti-state literature that refuses to

compromise with reality. It is antigovernment, antibourgeoisie, and nihilist.
These kinds of people assign the resolution of problems to fate or divine
power, stage active opposition against the government, and disagree with its
policies. Literature as such will encourage passive resistance among readers
and pave the way for future socialist enlightenment.

Part 3. Findings Regarding the Works of Left-Wing Literature

[Detailed analysis of literary works is omitted here.]

Conclusion
To comprehensively review this inspection, we can see that left-wing colour-
ing has almost become latent, yet nationalist consciousness is on the rise.
This is possibly because the Greater East Asia War has reached a stalemate,
and because the Allies have made partial progress in their anti-Axis offensives
in the Mediterranean. To approach the issue from a more theoretical per-
spective, however, [the cause of the transition may be that] left-wing intel-
lectuals have lost their ideological home ground after the dissolution of the
Comintern; as a result, they have been compelled to switch to the nationalist
resistance front. Therefore, if we may conclude based on a comprehensive
consideration of the above two points, we believe that future development
will probably take the following forms:

1 Promotion of nationalist and anti-Japanese consciousness through the

slogan of “Beat the British and the Americans”
2 We may predict that they would integrate the presses and promote col-
laboration among writers of the various factions so as to move forward
in the form of a united front. In other words, from their activities in the
press and their publication plans we may outline their sphere of influence
as follows (see table, Spheres of Influence).

In particular, with regard to literary publication, they all exhibit a “pan-

Manchukuo” colour. We may observe the integrated character of each press
from it.
100 Xie Miya Qiong

6.3 Final page of the Inspection Report. Source: Okada

collection

Notes
1 Okada Hideki, Zoku bungaku ni miru “Manshūkoku” no isō [The topology of “Manchukuo”:
A literary perspective, continued] (Tōkyō: Kenbun shuppan, 2013), 412–38.
2 Liu Xiaoli, Yitai shikong de jingshen shijie: Wei Manzhouguo wenxue yanjiu [Spiritual
world in a time of alienation: Research on bogus Manchukuo literature] (Shanghai:
Huadong shifan daxue chubanshe, 2008), 257; Norman Smith, Resisting Manchukuo:
Chinese Women Writers and the Japanese Occupation (Vancouver: UBC Press, 2007),
49–57.
3 Yu Lei, trans., “Di wei mijian” [A secret document from the enemy], Dongbei wenxue
yanjiu shiliao [Historical materials for the study of Northeast literature] 6 (1987):
153–59.
4 Zhongyang danganguan, “Shoudu jingcha fu zongjian zhi jingwu zongjuzhang de baogao”
[A report by the vice inspector general of the police to the director of the General Bureau
of Police Affairs], in Wei Man xianjing tongzhi [Police rule in bogus Manchukuo], ed.
Zhongyang danganguan (Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 1993), 588–610.
5 Okada Hideki, Wei Manzhouguo wenxue: Xu [The literature of bogus Manchukuo:
Continued], trans. Deng Lixia (Harbin: Beifang wenyi chubanshe, 2017). This is the
Chinese translation of Okada’s monograph Zoku bungaku, issued as a volume of Wei
 An Inspection Report on Ideological Movements in Literature and Arts Activities 101

Man shiqi wenxue ziliao zhengli yu yanjiu congshu [Bogus Manchukuo literary materials
compilation and research collection] (Harbin: Beifang wenyi chubanshe, 2017).
6 Li Jifeng’s original name was Li Fuyu. Other pen names include Jifeng, Fangjin, and Lei
Leisheng. Li was an influential leftist essayist in Manchukuo and was known for his re-
peated successful jailbreaks after being arrested and imprisoned by the Japanese in the
December Thirtieth Incident in 1941. For more details about the incident, see Zheng
Xinheng, Yi’er sanling yundong shimo [The beginning and end of the December Thirtieth
Incident] (Shenyang: Shenyang daxue chubanshe, 2010).
7 Guan Monan’s original name was Guan Dongyan. Other pen names include Pogai
and Menglai. An influential Chinese leftist intellectual in Manchukuo, he had secret
connections with Communist organizations in China proper. He organized the Harbin
Marxist Study Group of Literature and Art and was consequently arrested by the Japanese
during the Harbin Leftist Literature Incident on 31 December 1941. Wang Guangti used
the pen name Jinming before 1945. In Manchukuo, he worked as a journalist for Da Bei
Xinbao (New newspaper of the greater north), Guan Monan’s company. He is most well-
known as Sima Sangdun, a pen name he used after he became a Kuomintang member
and moved to Taiwan in 1948. See Okada, Zoku bungaku, 289–91.
8 Ibid., 292.
9 Ibid., 293.
10 Wang Ze (1916–44) was a Chinese screenwriter and director at the Manchuria Motion
Picture Association. He also edited several literary journals in Manchukuo, including
Manzhou yinghua (Cinema in Manchuria) and Yiwenzhi (Record of arts and literature),
and was an active writer. In 1944, he was persecuted to death by the Japanese police. For
more about Wang Ze, see Yamaguchi Takeshi, Aishū no Manshū eiga [Melancholic
Manchurian cinema] (Tōkyō: Santen shobō, 2000), 77–118.
11 An Xi (1916–72) was a leading Chinese playwright, director, actor, and critic in
Manchukuo. He launched several influential performance groups, including Fengtian
Xiehe Jutuan (Fengtian Concordia Troupe) and Fengtian Fangsong Huajutuan (Fengtian
Broadcasting Play Troupe). He also held positions at the Manchuria Motion Picture
Association and Shengjing shibao (Shengjing times). For more about An Xi, see He Shuang,
“Wei Manzhouguo juzuojia An Xi lun” [A study of the bogus Manchukuo playwright An
Xi], Shenyang shifan daxue xuebao shehui kexue ban [Journal of Shenyang Normal
University, social science edition] 4 (2016): 11–15. Shan Ding (1914–95) is the pen name
of Liang Shanding, an influential and prolific Chinese writer in Manchukuo. He was
known for his promotion and practice of native soil literature (xiangtu wenxue) and also
worked at the Manchuria Motion Picture Association as a screenwriter. He was awarded
the Literary Award of the Shengjing shibao in 1942 but had to flee to Beijing the following
year due to tightened ideological surveillance in Manchukuo. For more about Shan Ding
and his work, see Niu Gengyun, ed., Shan Ding zuopinji [Collected works of Shan Ding]
(Harbin: Beifang wenyi chubanshe, 2017).
12 As mentioned in n6, Li, an influential leftist essayist in Manchukuo, was arrested by the
Japanese on 30 December 1941 and transferred to a prison in Xinjing. He was able to
escape on 13 January 1942, but was soon arrested again. On 5 November 1943, he broke
out from prison for the second time but was rearrested in April 1945. He was assassinated
on 23 August 1945 after the Japanese surrendered; the Kuomintang was said to be re-
sponsible. Okada, Zoku bungaku, 290.
13 Little is currently known of Feng Shun, apart from Manchukuo police apprehension of
his mail.
14 Wang Du (1918–2014) was an active Chinese writer in Manchukuo and also a screenwriter
at the Manchuria Motion Picture Association. He used the name Jiang Yan at the
102 Xie Miya Qiong

Manchuria Motion Picture Association and changed his name to Li Min after 1948. For
more about Wang Du, see Okada, Zoku bungaku, 198–218. For his own memoir of his
experience in Manchukuo, see Wang Du, Ryūnichi gakusei Ō Do no shishū to Kaisōroku:
Manshūkoku Seinen no ryūgaku kiroku [Poem collection and memoir by Wang Du, a
Chi­nese student in Japan: Records of studying abroad by a Manchukuo youth], ed. Okada
Hideki and Xie Qiong (Tōkyō: Manshūkoku bungaku kenkyūkai, 2015).
15 Zhang Yi’s (1921–2006) original name was Zhang Zhixin. He was a leading actor at the
Manchuria Motion Picture Association and was arrested in 1943 by the Martial Police
Unit of the Japanese Kwantung Army for suspected anti-Japanese political involvement,
but was soon released. This section of the report provides a summary of the incident. For
Zhang Yi’s memoir of his experience at the Manchuria Motion Picture Association, in-
cluding the arrest, see Zhang Yi, Manying shimo [The beginning and end of the Manchuria
Motion Picture Association] (Changchun: Changchunshi zhengxie wenshi ziliao wei-
yuanhui, 2005).
16 Song Yi was the owner of Yizhi Bookstore (Yizhi shudian), a major Chinese publisher in
Manchukuo.
17 Maxim Gorky, the founding literary theorist of Soviet literature, distinguishes two types
of Romanticism. The first type, which he calls “the Old Romanticism,” “the Passive
Romanticism,” or “the Bourgeois Romanticism,” is “based on individualism” and is “sun-
dered, detached from reality.” He refers to the second type as “the New Romanticism,”
“the Active Romanticism,” “the Revolutionary Romanticism,” or “the Proletarian
Romanticism.” He considers it “the teaching of an active attitude towards life, of the
dignity of labor and the will to live, as the source of inspiration in the building-up of new
forms of life and as hate of the old world.” See Maxim Gorky, “Soviet Literature” (1934)
and “How I Learn to Write” (1928), in Maxim Gorky et al., On the Art and Craft of Writing
(Hawaii: University Press of the Pacific, 2000), 44–45, 10–17, and 17 in particular. For
the dissemination of Gorky’s theory of Romanticism in China in the 1930s and the 1940s,
see Yu Zhaoping, “Meixue de langmanzhuyi he zhengzhixue de langmanzhuyi”
[Aesthetical romanticism and political romanticism], Xueshu yuekan [Academe monthly]
4 (2004): 68–77.
18 Gu Ding’s (1914/16–66) original name was Xu Changji. Arguably the Chinese writer from
Manchukuo most well-known among the Japanese, Gu Ding was known, and often de-
nounced by, the Chinese for his close collaboration with the Japanese in Manchukuo.
For a collection of Gu Ding’s work, see Li Chunyan, ed., Gu Ding zuopinxuan [Selected
works of Gu Ding] (Shenyang: Chunfeng wenyi chubanshe, 1995). Xiao Song’s (1921–
unknown) original name was Zhao Mengyuan. A close companion of Gu Ding, he was
an active Chinese writer and editor in Manchukuo. For more information about Xiao
Song and his work, see Chen Shi and Xie Chaokun, eds., Xiao Song zuopinji [Collected
works of Xiao Song] (Harbin: Beifang wenyi chubanshe, 2017).
7 Collection of Literary Selections
by Each Ethnicity in Manchukuo-1,
“Statements by Selectors”
ANNIKA A. CULVER

In wartime Manchukuo, leading Japanese literary authorities of the

allegedly independent state planned two collections of multiethnic lit­
erature to serve as a means to showcase a thriving cultural production
by writers under Japanese tutelage. Published in Japanese and edited
by six intellectuals, of whom only one was Chinese, this endeavour
privileged imperial Japan’s language as well as literature, while seem­
ingly uniting all the different ethnic groups to create a framework for
propagating literature in the new state.1 In 1942 and 1944, the Japanese
press Sōgansha published both collections in Tokyo, the empire’s
cultural, economic, and political capital, whose central locus cast an
imperialist shadow on the project. During this time, the Second Sino-
Japanese War (1937–45) had been waged on the Chinese for over half
a decade, with Manchukuo increasingly serving as a base of military
operations and ramped-up agricultural production. In late 1941, after
Japanese military forces simultaneously attacked the American
Pearl Harbor naval base in Hawaii and others in the US-controlled
Philippines, imperial Japan declared war on the United States and
further enlarged its battlefronts into the Pacific to fight American allies.
Against this backdrop of Japanese invasion and occupation, and amid
planning for the Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere, the propaganda-
like nature of the literary project in Manchukuo becomes starkly appar­
ent when examining the essays that introduce the first collection,
translated here.
This introduction frames a volume compiled in 1941 under the head
editorship of Japanese literary establishment (bundan) writer Kawabata
Yasunari (1899–1972), and published a year later by Sōgansha. 2
104 Annika A. Culver

Kawabata’s high literary stature in domestic Japan lent credibility to

this initiative, in which he as an imperialist agent showcased the talents
of writers from a colonized area under Japanese occupation since 1931.
Along with Kawabata’s remarks, which follow a short essay by the do­
mestic Japanese writer Kishida Kunio (1890–1954), the introduction
includes statements by the Manchukuo-based Japanese writers Yamada
Seizaburō (1896–1987) and Kitamura Kenjirō (1904–82). In addition, the
shortest passage represents the sole Chinese writer, Gu Ding (1914/16–
66). Due to his strong connections with Japanese writers and participa­
tion in collections such as these, scholars have often characterized him
as pro-Japanese, a claim arising out of debates among Chinese intel­
lectuals as early as 1939. 3
Most of these essays, including Kawabata’s, still indicate the aspira­
tional nature of a particularly “Manchurian” literature, even a decade
after Manchukuo’s 1932 establishment, and evidence a tension be­
tween an independently formed literature and one guided by Japan. 4
Kishida believes that, in Manchukuo, he had discovered the voicing of
“a mutual history of myriad peoples” with national consciousness “to
surpass ethnic particularities” (1). He, however, defers authority to
Kawabata and the converted leftist writer Shimaki Kensaku (1903–45),
who had travelled to Manchukuo in 1939 and subsequently wrote a
well-received travelogue, for actually choosing the works in the collec­
tion. Kawabata views Manchukuo as a potential model for the “ideals of
greater East Asia” (5–6) when imperial Japan “advanced the war south­
wards”; he also envisions literature created in Manchukuo not as “a
distant foreign country’s literature” but considers the collection as
“oriented toward Japan” (5) and by implication, as revealing the pater­
nalism intrinsic to its imperial project. Yamada, as a converted leftist
and contemporary proponent of the Japanese-led regime’s cultural
projects, is more cautious about his praise and intentions toward a
literary scene still in the process of maturation. However, he hopes the
first collection will become an annual publication to showcase the
efforts of Manchukuo-based writers that he implies could become
more inclusive.
Interestingly, Kitamura dates the “birth” of a uniquely Manchurian
literature to sometime in 1938, a year notable for the intensification of
the Second Sino-Japanese War and growing anti-Japanese sentiments
among Chinese intellectuals and others. He also refers to the thriving
 Collection of Literary Selections by Each Ethnicity in Manchukuo-1 105

literary debates in Manchukuo, and points to 1940 as a key date when

the Manchukuo-themed works he proposes first emerged. On the other
hand, Gu Ding somewhat deflects responsibility for the literary selec­
tions included in the volume by noting that Liu Jueqing (1917–62)5
actually chose the stories by four of Manchukuo’s most well-known
Chinese writers as representing a kind of microcosm of “Manchurian
literature” (13). Liu had been an active participant in debates on the role
of literature through the Yiwenzhi (Record of Arts and Literature) faction
formed with his friend. Gu Ding also asserts in an oblique critique that
80 percent of the Manchurian population is illiterate, despite a growing
number of youth who “love literature,” and posits that “truly significant
literature” in Manchuria will depend on Japanese “enterprises like
Sōgansha.” The latter seems like superficial flattery of the literary col­
lection’s press, possibly meant to curry favour for future projects.
Unfortunately, only one subsequent volume was published, in 1944,
at a date when Tokyo became the target of Allied bombing campaigns,
and deep restrictions on non-essential paper usage became the norm
for most media.
However, the editors of the first collection frame their endeavour by
communicating grand intentions that also intersected with the Japanese-
led regime’s propaganda goals. Transmitted to Manchukuo’s populace
by organizations like the Kyōwakai (Concordia Association), for which
Yamada had worked as a journalist beginning in 1938, these included
minzoku kyōwa (racial/ethnic harmony) to be expressed within a utopian
space described as Ōdō rakudo (Kingly Way paradise land). Literature
could aid in unifying the new nation’s peoples, while literary production
advanced forward a harmonious new multiethnic culture unique in
East Asia to serve as a model wherever imperial Japan extended its
reach. Kawabata saw this as arising first in Manchukuo, while envision­
ing collaboration with Chinese and peace with China (proper), but cau­
tiously emphasizes that “those who could be our greatest friend, or our
greatest enemy, are none other than the Han ethnicity” (6).
Intended to signify Manchukuo’s multiethnic literary production,
fourteen of the twenty selections in the collection, or the majority,
are written by Japanese writers, of whom the most well-known is
Akutagawa Prize finalist Nogawa Takashi (1901–44). Four are by
Chinese: Shan Ding (1914–95), Shi Jun (1912–unknown), Yi Chi (1913–
unknown), and Wu Ying (1915–61). 6 Two are by Russians, Boris Yu’ilski
106 Annika A. Culver

(1911–unknown) and Arseny Nesmelov (1880–1945), and none by

Koreans – who were sometimes subsumed under the “Japanese”
category in Manchukuo or had assumed Japanized names by choice
or coercion. Interestingly, by the time Nogawa’s story “Tonsu e iku
hitobito” (People going to the hamlet) appeared in this volume, the
author was imprisoned and under investigation for allegedly Communist
activities, while Yamada had firmly switched his loyalties from early
1930s proletarian activism in domestic Japan to active support of a
fascist state within the Manchukuo context by the late 1930s. Around
the time of the June 1942 publication of this first volume, Shan Ding
serialized his novelistic magnum opus Lüse de gu (Green valley) from
May to December on the front page of Datong bao (Great unity herald),
the Manchukuo state’s government mouthpiece. Economic considera­
tions seemingly motivated Shan Ding’s decision to publish his novel
in a state-sponsored media organ, while Nesmelov firmly belonged
to the Russian Fascist Party, which supported Japanese rule as a bul­
wark against Soviet communism, and viewed his poetry as a craft to
combat this.7
Published a decade after the “founding” of the new state, this multi­
authored introduction reveals certain Japanese propaganda aims for
Manchukuo’s new literature: a means to unite disparate ethnicities in
a harmonious way through mutual cultural endeavours, and to appar­
ently create an independent literature representative of the “country” as
it creates a “myth of national construction” (6). Most of all, as Kawabata
proposes, the project exemplified by this initial volume attempted to
help build a thriving literary culture under Japanese tutelage that would
serve as a model for other regions taken over by the imperial Japanese
army, which he describes as having “advanced” into southern regions
in Asia, such as Singapore.
The fact that this lofty endeavour ended with the publication of
volume two in 1944 shows the impact of imperial Japan’s burgeoning,
multifront war on even cultural production in occupied areas. However,
the Allied firebombings of Tokyo – the literal centre of the Japanese
Empire – most likely represented the largest negative factor, causing
publishing to become a spotty enterprise. Efforts toward literary pro­
motion in occupied territories increasingly became subsumed under
survival measures enacted during total war as the domestic Japanese
home front also became a battlefield.
 Collection of Literary Selections by Each Ethnicity in Manchukuo-1 107

—•  TRANSLATIONS  •—

Collection of Literary Selections by Each Ethnicity

in Manchukuo, Volume 1, Edition from the Eighth Year of Kangde,
Shōwa 16 [1941], Statements by Selectors

kishida kunio 8

We are making it so that in Manchuria, literature shall be born. Much of it

is in the hands of the people who are giving birth to literature in Manchuria.
Last year, I walked all over in Manchuria, where a new country is arising
from among the completely different traditions and lifestyles of so many
ethnicities; I sensed that everywhere a mutual history of myriad peoples is
already beginning to be voiced, and if before long this could not help but
form into national consciousness to surpass ethnic particularities, then it
could lead to indicating a type of extremely diverse and unprecedented spirit,
which I suppose is the kind of expectation that I brought back.
In whatever many languages they are written, their works are perhaps
already understood respectively as Japanese literature, Chinese literature,
and Russian literature. However, regardless of whether or not the writer is
conscious of the environment that births literature or [of] the era’s influ-
ence, above all I cannot help but clearly reflect upon that reasoning and
sensibility. I say that even though Manchurian literature might be young,
as young as it is, great hopes can be tied to it. This is because such things as
true traditions always have no old age, I believe.
As for the literary expression “torn up by the roots,” one cannot say that
this is not in their works at all. However, in the future, if viewed from a
personal standpoint, and even viewing this from Manchuria itself, we should
soon try to dispel such an expression; and the writers with this achieve-
ment will probably also, through the cooperation of multiple ethnicities,
yearn to reach that which can arise from the development of the national
land. Thanks to this becoming thus,9 the history of Manchurian literature
has first begun to occupy its own page, and each of these works can literally
arrive at holding classic value.
The problem is only that, in the manipulation of ideas, one cannot grasp
associated tendencies, particularly in literary works.10 Through perceiving dir­
ectly the complicated visage of reality, we truly must arrive at feeling what
should be called the era’s fetal movements. Here is one path for separating
108 Annika A. Culver

doubts from hopes. And now, because of my love of how writers should cor-
rectly stand upon this path, I am bearing this role of indicating a way
for them.
And thus, as I have not had the time to read all the works assembled in
this collection in their entirety, I relied on the other two honourable gentle-
men, Kawabata and Shimaki, for their selections; regarding this result, I who
have depended on these two gentlemen definitely intend to bear this collective
responsibility.
As Manchurian writers, the talent of the individuals named here in this
anthology is unmistakably such a beautiful talent. We all consider the sig-
nificance of the yearly repeatability of this same enterprise as a serious thing.
That is, at the same time that it becomes a clear sign that each separate talent
grows, is it not because we pay absolute attention to the healthy ascension
of an allied culture that hereby should be properly recorded?
One can say more than ever before that Sōgansha’s plan is to introduce
Manchurian writers to Japanese readers; if one considers the multiple effects
encompassing this enterprise, I as one of the people carrying responsibility
as selectors, here in addition to craftspeople of literary establishments from
the two countries of Japan and Manchukuo, expect that one should pay much
attention regarding this anthology.
(At an inn in Fukushima, 21 March 1942)

kawabata yasunari11

In the spring of a decade since the nation’s construction, having regarded

the first publication of this yearbook of collected literary works, our con-
gratulatory mood is fortunately the most appropriate expression and, more-
over, I believe it is something that has certainly attained fruition. The editors
without a doubt privileged all of the writers on the Manchurian side, and
though we on the Japanese side are subordinate, we are not at all holding on
to it as a faraway foreign country’s literature; in a new broad sense we are
making it our literature, and this book can also be said to be oriented toward
Japan. And thus, this belongs to [is of] today’s glory. Isn’t this book a symbol
of beautiful ideals where multiple ethnicities are weaving into history the
milestone of a harmonious culture? Isn’t it also a voice calling upon a great
future?
Japan has now even advanced the war southwards, but constructing a
nation together with other ethnicities and reviving [their] culture does not
yet exist outside of Manchukuo. Because the ideals of greater East Asia were
 Collection of Literary Selections by Each Ethnicity in Manchukuo-1 109

first enacted in Manchukuo, if these are not attained here, then we should
not just consider that they cannot be attained anywhere, but we must ac-
complish these together with the Han ethnicity; this is Manchuria’s import-
ant raison d’être. It goes without saying that this is because there is no other
kind of superior ethnicity like the Chinese ethnicity. In regarding the cul­
tural domain, it is clearly so. Now, as Manchukuo is participating to aid in
Japan’s Greater East Asia War and is constructing itself, we are led to splendid
southern victories and, moreover, must reflect upon this honourable northern
valour, but especially writers and so on require this sense of meaning. Many
of Japan’s writers are moving to live in the southern countries, but when will
be the day when they might create those countries’ literature together with
those countries’ ethnicities? Now, from the point of crystallization of this
book, we should tread firmly. Moreover, we should hope for peace with China.
I, who went to Beijing, also found that there were Chinese who extended
their hands to Japanese writers who must cooperatively construct the path
of literature. Those who could be our greatest friend, or our greatest enemy,
are none other than the Han ethnicity.
As a traveller, I briefly had two viewpoints about Manchurian literature.
One of them is the problem of Manchurian literature’s lofty high ideals.
Along with the country, a new literature, as said by this nation’s writers,
might be creating a myth of national construction, or guiding history from
a point of genesis. Besides, five ethnicities are coming together to raise up
this type of literature. In this virgin land, the significance and message of
literature was extremely easy to see. The other point was the problem of
Manchurian literature’s everyday reality. The country’s exhortations and
general hopes are still shallow, organizations to publish literature haven’t
been maintained, and the market is constricted. Consequently, a strong and
widespread critique has not expanded, writers have received little proper
criticism and praise, [and] readers demand domestic Japanese literature;
[thus] there was an inclination to disdain this country’s literature. The new
continental literature that should be great in scale is on the contrary not
even under a bureaucratizing gaze in a provincial world. Domestic Japan’s
market and critique are still today inspiring and developing the motivations
for Manchurian literature. The domestic publication of Manchurian works
is desirable. Even in this sense, this book’s role is precious. One could say
that Manchurian literature and even the works of ethnic Japanese writers
should not only be an extension of Japanese literature. One could carelessly
propose that it must not be enslaved to Japanese literature. In such a way I
am not opposing Japanese literature, but am myself expecting the planting
110 Annika A. Culver

of an independent Manchurian literature. Manchurian writers’ connection

to Chinese literature is also similar. Is it not so that White Russian authors
even moreso take a different path from Soviet literature, and that they pride
themselves that they are the ones continuing the correct orthodoxy of Russian
culture? We really wish of course for the birth of an independent Manchurian
literature on the one hand; beyond the intimacy of the phrase “Japan-
Manchukuo cultural exchange” and so on, regarding a mutual independence,
I wonder if rather we should not strengthen it? By now, should we not know
a bit about Manchurian culture and literature? Should [we] not suppose that
our thoughts are superficial? It would be fortunate if this book can become
a recompense.
For the works in the first volume of this annual publication, it is hard to
say that we have completely expended all of our aspirations for Manchurian
literature. If that becomes so, one can consider it a level of necessity that
Manchurian literature will also receive harsh critique in domestic Japan.
Additionally, we have to correctly view the true form of Manchurian litera-
ture. However, it will not do to view it like a distant foreign country’s litera-
ture, with cold eyes. If one whips, that whip will hit one’s own body. Are we
not also the ones who should take part in the construction of Manchurian
literature? On the occasion of such a book’s completion, we should extend
renewed respect toward the bitter labour of creation attained by writers in
Manchuria. I suppose that the path of Manchurian and White Russian au-
thors moreover must overstep this suffering. Now, where in the world is the
beauty of multiethnic writers bringing their arms together for a new nation’s
literature in the annual publication of selected works? Possibly in the bright
victory of successive volumes over the years, [and] without a doubt I believe
it is this book’s fine future.
(February 1942)

yamada seizaburō12

This collection is a compilation from among Manchurian literature’s achieve-

ments to date, and for each author who gains acclaim for this selection, I
have chosen representative works and those deserving our gaze. I think that,
in the decade since the nation’s construction, one cannot exhaustively say
this [represents] the whole picture of Manchurian literature, but we can
glimpse enough of such an outline through only the works gathered here.
This collection is, in the way that I just mentioned, like a collective memor­
ial tower of Manchurian literature until today; yet at the same time, if this
 Collection of Literary Selections by Each Ethnicity in Manchukuo-1 111

is also seen as one historic step in the ten years of the nation’s construction,
from here onward, moreover, the newest in the utmost development of Man­
churian literature progressing by leaps and bounds must signify this foothold.
In considering it like this, the import of this collection truly has depth.
Frankly speaking, in this collection, Manchurian literature’s true char-
acteristics still have not yet achieved the pioneering point of the Greater East
Asian new order as the literature of a newly arisen multiethnic nation – what
one should say is that works have not yet sufficiently appeared. Many of them,
those that grasp the new Manchuria following the nation’s construction and,
moreover, the writers who give birth to this founding spirit of the country,
regardless of their desires to move forward, many of them still had no choice
but to suffer the negative aspects of ad hoc cultivation and literary influences
from the past, but is this no small achievement, I am wondering?
However, this aspect somehow has until now not hindered the robust
development and flying leaps of Manchurian literature, and even within each
work assembled here, in terms of the futurity of Manchurian literature, is a
tendency to move forward and [with] plural developmental factors, and the
fact that it is pregnant with multiple forms, on one hand comes from within
Manchuria’s new reality and new literary players, but I already know the
truth that it has already enough matured.
For these reasons, this Collection of Selected Works by Each Ethnicity in
Manchukuo is made into an annual publication, a task until now accumulated
in layers over the years, and together with a plurality of readers, I leave here
my boundless hopes and expectations.
Above all, in the editing of this collection, we have arrived at making
most important the editors on the Manchurian side, and formed it with the
assent of the three gentlemen Kawabata, Kishida, and Shimaki; but, from
the next collection onwards, beyond broadly holding up works for candi-
dacy, via the collective responsibility of all the editors, I await an editing that
is as prudent as possible, and am considering making this annual publication
into one with substantial authority.

kitamura kenjirō13

The coming into usage of the name Manchurian literature is not at all old,
because it arose extremely recently. I suppose it is good to see it as some-
thing that arose four years ago in 1938.
Within this time, one could think that were not the debates concerning
Manchurian literature for the most part exhaustively discussed? These were
112 Annika A. Culver

primarily debates concerning the qualities of Manchurian writers, as well

as the uniqueness of Manchurian literature, and its relationship to Japan­
ese domestic literature and so on, but presently as a natural tendency, I have
been steadily extending the opinion that the most important thing is that
writers write works, and in order not to cut off or end debates as debates,
above all to make work production activities thrive is the only remaining
way. In order to make work production activities thrive, it is not that I do
not have an opinion that debating activities should accompany them, and it
is not even that debating activities are completely in decline, rather that each
writer, in lieu of superficial research into debates, must come to tread upon
and advance along a path of realizing works that is internal, objective, and
concrete; this is the actual condition of the Manchurian literary and art
world. I believe [that] it would be good to say this.
From about the beginning of a year ago (Shōwa 15 [1940]) until the end of
last year, I brought up that we should see multiple results of efforts toward a
process of realizing works.14 While mentioning Manchurian literature’s
uniqueness, when it comes to the actual works, if one were to emit a reply of
how one can amply show the characteristics of what one is so proud of, this
is expressed in extremely subtle grounds, because it only gradually shows
itself sprouting. It is probably through penetrating observation and deeply
rooted investigation that we believe we will first arrive at seeing a big result.
The path toward the process of realizing works is thus also a path toward
investigating the place of the writers’ souls.
Now, while my country, Japan, is engaged in a glorious incomparable
battle and advancing a huge step in construction, the lifestyle of Manchurian
writers and problem of spiritual development, as something at once unshak-
able, can become anew a resource for internal reflection, I suppose.
The issue of coming into contact with other ethnicities truthfully casts
great power over Manchurian writers. Also, the power that the northern
nature and climate wields is also great. How do they deal with this, and as
Japanese, how should we go about loving Manchuria?
Such a large problem as this, lying static over the path of a process of
realizing works, only they [Manchurian writers] must clearly understand.

gu ding15

The one who arrived at the choice of the Manchurian works among this
collection was Mr. Liu Jueqing. I want to multiply his labour. I want to believe
 Collection of Literary Selections by Each Ethnicity in Manchukuo-1 113

7.1 Box cover (right) and book cover (left) of Manshūkoku kaku minzoku sōsaku
senshū (Collection of literary selections by each ethnicity in Manchukuo), vol. 1.
Source: Author’s collection

that, through the four stories collected and recorded within this volume, the
whole picture of Manchurian literature can be promoted and made known.
Up to 80 percent of Manchuria’s people are illiterate, so generally they do
not have a close connection to this literature. However, it is also true that
there are so many youth who love literature; I believe that there is no doubt
that a future blossoming and coming to fruition is something that should
be promised.16
In terms of truly significant literature, though I don’t know about previous
years, I believe that certainly in Manchuria it will come to be produced, and
not only in this sense, but also I think that the most important thing is that
it depends on enterprises like Sōgansha.

Notes
1 For a detailed discussion of this state-led project, see Annika A. Culver, “The Legitimization
of a Multi-Ethnic Literary Culture in Manchukuo,” in Glorify the Empire: Japanese Avant-
Garde Propaganda in Manchukuo (Vancouver: UBC Press, 2013), 169–92.
114 Annika A. Culver

2 Yamada Seizaburō, Kitamura Kenjirō, Gu Ding, Kawabata Yasunari, Kishida Kunio, and
Shimaki Kensaku, eds., “Sensha no kotoba” (Statements by selectors), in Manshūkoku
kaku minzoku sōsaku senshū (1) (Collection of literary selections by each ethnicity in
Manchukuo, vol. 1) (Tōkyō: Sōgansha, 1942). Parenthetical page numbers in the text refer
to this volume.
3 For more about these issues, see Chao Liu, The Matrix of Modernity and National Identity
in Manchukuo Literature from 1937 to 1941 (New York: Peter Lang, 2019).
4 For a comprehensive treatment of the complex, politically layered history of literary
endeavours in Manchukuo, from the perspective of scholars from East Asia and North
America, see Annika A. Culver and Norman Smith, eds., Manchukuo Perspectives:
Transnational Approaches to Literary Production (Hong Kong: Hong Kong University
Press, 2019).
5 Also known as Jue Qing. In March 1939, Liu Jueqing joined with Gu Ding and his associ-
ates to launch the journal Yiwenzhi (Record of arts and literature); this intellectual literary
group also became known by the same name. The focus of their writing was criticized as
too formalistic, lacking in social import, and “pro-Japanese” by their rivals, the Wenxuan
(Literary Selections) group, formed by Qiu Ying (1914–95) and others in December 1939.
6 Wu Ying is a subject of Chapter 8 in this volume.
7 Olga Bakich, “In the Sunken Submarine: Russian Émigré Poetry in Manchukuo,” in Culver
and Smith, Manchukuo Perspectives, 227.
8 Kishida Kunio, Manshūkoku kaku minzoku sōsaku senshū (1), 2–4.
9 In other words, dispelling the expression “torn up by the roots” and reaching a point
where works arise from the development of the land.
10 In this passage, Kishida uses hiragana for torashimeru, which can be alternatively read
as “to get rid of” or “to grasp, to capture,” so this phrase appears to have a double mean-
ing. Kotosara can mean “particularly,” but written in kanji, kotosara means “deliberately,
intentionally, especially.” Kakaru shisei (associated tendencies) can be read as “residual
political attitudes,” or literally, “attitudes hanging on.” One could translate this sentence
as: “The problem is, however, in the manipulation of ideas; associated tendencies are
deliberately not elided in literary works.”
11 Kawabata Yasunari, Manshūkoku kaku minzoku sōsaku senshū (1), 5–8.
12 Yamada Seizaburō, Manshūkoku kaku minzoku sōsaku senshū (1), 9–10.
13 Kitamura Kenjirō, Manshūkoku kaku minzoku sōsaku senshū (1), 11–12.
14 The phrase sakuhin jissen-ka (the process of realizing works) is repeated three times
within the section, revealing Kitamura’s preoccupation with the matter.
15 Gu Ding, Manshūkoku kaku minzoku sōsaku senshū (1), 13.
16 When writing in Japanese, Gu Ding uses many Chinese-sounding expressions, with
classical Chinese influence, which give a heterodox feel to his language. For example, he
uses chengyu: kaika keshitsu, a four-character phrase common among educated Chinese
but also used by Japanese familiar with kanbun (classical Chinese read with Japanese
grammar). At this point, a long vernacular tradition in Chinese prose did not yet exist;
it had developed slowly in the late teens and twenties around the time of the May Fourth
Movement.
8 Open Letters from Women
Writers of Manchukuo
Mei Niang and Wu Ying, Jia Ren to Yang Xu
NORMAN SMITH

In the early 1940s, during the height of the Chinese War of Resistance
against Japan, three women published “open letters” in Japanese-
occupied Beiping (now Beijing) and Manchukuo, at a time when author­
ities stressed an ideal of “good wife, wise mother” (xianqi liangmu), who
was to be demure, obedient, and committed to her father, husband, and
sons.1 Men were raised to be “the national backbone” (guomin gugan)
while women were encouraged to “go back to the kitchen” (zouhui
chufang). 2 In Beiping, colonial authorities encouraged similar agendas.
But many educated young women were not prepared to go back to
the kitchen in their struggle against patriarchy and social injustice.
Progressive women writers in Beiping and Manchukuo (as elsewhere
in East Asia) questioned or outright violated what they believed to be
outdated Confucian ideals.
During the late 1930s and early 1940s, regulations governing literature
were aimed at structuring literary worlds and local culture. In areas
under Japanese occupation, draconian measures increased vigilance
over writers who engaged in social criticism. In Manchukuo, on 21
February 1941, the “Eight Abstentions” (Ba bu) were issued. Severe
sanctions were prescribed for those who wrote in the following ways:

1 Rebellious tendencies toward the current political situation

2 Criticism of the shortcomings of national policies or non-
constructive suggestions
3 Stimulation of a mood of opposition to the nation
4 Singular focus on describing the dark side before and after
establishment of the country
5 Decadent thoughts as the theme
116 Norman Smith

6 About love and desire, descriptions of killing, love triangles, love

games that denigrate chastity, lust, love’s sexual desire, or dying
for love, incest, and adultery
7 Description of the cruelty of crimes or being too explicitly
upsetting [in doing so]
8 Use of matchmakers or maids as themes, exaggerated descriptions
of the peculiar state of affairs in red-light (huajie liuxiang) districts. 3

Nonetheless, each of the “Eight Abstentions” was present in popular

literature, manipulated by writers to express criticism of the colonial
state. Xie Miya Qiong introduces and translates additional examples in
Chapter 6.
Persecution increasingly grew after 1934, when noted writers Xiao
Hong (1911–42) and Bai Lang (1912–94) left Manchukuo. While some
male writers were forced into exile (Liang Shanding, 1914–95), jailed
(Yuan Xi, 1920–79), or executed (Jin Jianxiao, 1910–36), before 1944,
censors usually paid little heed to writing by women. Zhu Ti (1923–
2012) and Ke Ju (Li Zhengzhong) (1921–2020), prominent writers of the
Manchukuo era, later attributed officials’ lax attitudes to a misogyny
that blinded them to the significance of women’s writings. 4 But in the
final year of the occupation, the critical tone and controversial content
of women’s literature was targeted for persecution, especially Yang Xu’s
(1918–2004) second volume of collected works, Wo de riji (My diary,
1944), most copies of which were destroyed.
The first prominent woman writer to emerge in Manchukuo in the
mid-1930s was Wu Ying (1915–61), who was hailed by contemporaries
as “Manchuria’s miraculous writer” (Manzhou baimiao shengshou). 5
Born into a declining Manchu household, she began to publish fiction
in 1934 while she worked at the journal Simin (This people). In 1939,
the literary group Wenxuan (Literary Selections) awarded her story
“Liang ji” (Two extremes) its annual literary prize. From 1939 to 1940,
she worked as an editor at Simin and published in the most important
government newspaper, Datong bao (Great unity herald). In 1941, she
was a contributor to the officially sponsored journal Xin Manzhou
(New Manchuria), and she was a special editor of the June edition,
featuring works of fiction by Manchukuo’s women writers. Also in
1941, she coedited with Zuo Di (1920–76) the critically acclaimed
Shijie ming xiaoshuo xuan (Selection of world famous novels), which
conflicted with the official promotion of Japanese literature as the
 Open Letters from Women Writers of Manchukuo 117

sole legitimate base for literary development. In 1942, she was an editor
at Manzhou wenyi (Manchuria literature and arts) and began work at
Xin Manzhou in the same capacity, a position that she maintained until
1944. Also in 1942, at the age of twenty-seven, she was named a dele­
gate to the first Greater East Asia Writers’ Congress (Ch: DadongYa
wenxuezhe dahui; Jp: DaitōA bungakusha taikai) in Tokyo. In 1943, her
short story “Xuyuan” (Dilapidation) was awarded the Yiwen (Arts and
Literature) prize, and her short story “Ming” (Howl) was published in Xin
qingnian (New youth); “Ming” made her a target of censors, who ques­
tioned the story’s anti-Japanese stance. 6 She subsequently stopped
writing fiction.
In 1944, in a review of Manchuria’s women writers, Wu noted that
Mei Niang (1916–2013) established “liberalism” (ziyouzhuyi) in the local
literary world while Yang Xu was praised for her “bold and unrestrained”
manner of writing.7 Contemporaries called Wu Ying and Mei Niang “a
pair of bright jewels of Manchuria’s literary world” (Manzhou wentan
shuang bi). 8
Mei Niang was born into a wealthy Han Chinese family in Vladivostok
and was raised in Xinjing (now Changchun).9 She published her first
volume of collected writings, Xiaojie ji (Young lady’s collected works) in
1936, and was an occasional contributor to Datong bao. After graduating
middle school, Mei Niang attended Kobe’s Women’s College for two
years, where she met her husband, fellow Manchurian Liu Longguang
(1916–49). In 1938, she worked as a proofreader at Datong bao. Liu
followed her to Xinjing and, in 1939, their home became a salon for
literati, as they became key members of the literary faction Wencong
(Collection of Literature).
In 1940, Mei Niang published her critically acclaimed second volume
of collected writings, Di’er dai (The second generation). At the end of
1940, she and her husband moved to Japan, for his work as an editor at
the journal Daban Huawen meiri (Chinese Osaka daily). In Japan, Mei
continued to write short fiction and translated Japanese fiction into
Chinese. In 1942, the couple moved to Beiping, where Liu helped found
the Huabei zuojia xiehui (North China Writers Association). Mei Niang
continued to write, publishing two more volumes of collected writings
during the occupation, Xie (Crabs) and Yu (Fish); she also worked as an
editor and reporter at Funü zazhi (Lady’s journal).10 In November 1944,
Xie was awarded the prize for novella of the year at the final Greater
East Asia Writers’ Congress, in Nanjing.
118 Norman Smith

8.1 Mei Niang and Wu Ying, late 1930s. Mei Niang

stands behind Wu Ying. Source: Author’s collection

Yang Xu was born into a Hui household, and became one of Manchu­
kuo’s foremost celebrities, famed for her yema xing (wild horse charac­
ter).11 In 1936, in middle school, Yang began to publish poems and
essays in Xin qingnian and Shengjing shibao (Shengjing daily).12 By
1940, she was a staple of the music scene. Gracing the covers of maga­
zines such as Qilin (Unicorn; in June 1942), Yang made frequent radio
broadcasts, personal appearances, and recorded songs on the Shanghai-
based Victory label. Her writing appeared in the most prominent jour­
nals in Manchukuo, including Manying (Manchuria film), Xin Manzhou,
and Qilin. In 1942, she worked as a reporter and editor at Guomin
huabao (Citizens’ paper). In 1943, Yang Xu’s first volume of collected
works, dominated by negativity, Luoyingji (Collection of fallen blossoms),
was published. In direct defiance of regulations such as the “Eight
Abstentions,” Yang described herself as “plodding onto the rugged road
of pessimism” (maizai beiguanlu shang tazhe qiqu).13 For such writings,
she encountered significant problems with Manchukuo censors, and in
1944 Wo de riji (My Diary) was banned for its intense introspection, dis­
cussion of sexuality, and rejection of “traditional Confucian” constructs
of woman­hood.14 Among Yang’s most provocative works in Wo de riji is
 Open Letters from Women Writers of Manchukuo 119

8.2 Yang Xu on the cover of Qilin

(Unicorn), June 1942. Source: Author’s
collection

“Gongkai de zuizhuang” (Open indictment), in which she wrote: “I am

not a person who can accept society’s demands. I never think that I am
a woman and I cannot bear for other people to see me as a woman.”15
In her letter below, Jia Ren describes Yang’s public behaviour and
responds to some of Yang’s assertions regarding womanhood and
modernity.
To various degrees, the open letters that they crafted (Mei Niang,
Wu Ying, and Jia Ren) or received (Yang Xu) remark on the character of
these writers, their professional lives, and the difficult circumstances
in which they lived. These women gave a face to the multicultural en­
vironment that officials sought to promote with Han, Hui, and Manchu
writers. Yet the letters clearly criticize the status quo and the morality
that officials sought to implement; the letters also suggest the degree to
which officials attributed a lack of agency to the women, a disem­
powered position that also characterizes the Korean women who are
introduced by Jonghyun Lee in Chapter 9.
120 Norman Smith

—•  TRANSLATIONS  •—

A Letter for Wu Ying 16

mei niang

Wu Ying:
Since you left last year, I moved from my home where you visited me to this
new residence. Other than that, my life is the same. Within the last three
months, I gave birth to a daughter and she took my freedom away. My cur-
rent situation is the same as when we lived in Xinjing, just managing the
house and parenting.
When you came, I felt as though the words we spoke did not come from
the bottom of our hearts, but I understood your unspoken feelings and emo-
tions; I think that you and I are the same. I often think: Only women can
understand women, can sympathize with women. A considerable distance
always lies between men and women. When in love they have one heart; this
is an affectation of puberty. I now realize “love” is so pure and beautiful, a
rare moment together between life and death. Life is not leisurely enough to
allow love, but it is just at this time that those feelings are real, eternal, and
resplendent. If you now still feel wifely loneliness, then let me comfort you
this way – [can you] take the [merciful heart] of Sakyamuni as your own? If
you have the resolution to enter into hell, you can conquer everything, you
can transform everything. I often encourage myself this way. Perhaps you
think that what I am saying is good to hear, yet empty. But this is exactly what
I think. Often when I am bored and cannot inspire myself, [when] reading a
story about Sakyamuni, subconsciously tears fall. I think that women are the
saviours of this world. Only women can change this world into heaven. [If]
a girl has the compassion of Sakyamuni, her siblings will certainly receive
benefits; a mother like that will certainly make her household peaceful, happy,
really beautiful, and really kind. Her daughter will naturally become a most
complete person among the people. This is the fundamental significance of
women being born into this world. This is the glory of females.
Naturally, this is difficult work – indeed it is tough. The women in our
society suffer more hardship and pain than men can imagine. This hardship
and pain that men need not suffer tempers women, awakens women, makes
women determined, and urges women to forge ahead. It completes this
greatest task of those born as women.
I often cry by myself, but I am unwilling to let others know. This weeping
is saved-up depression after being wronged for a few days. Just like this, I think
 Open Letters from Women Writers of Manchukuo 121

I could cry to make myself feel better. So, when completely alone, my tears,
tame and docile as an obedient child, flow out. After crying, I feel even emptier
and enter a state of melancholy. Then I think of Jesus. I think of Sakyamuni.
I think I am really being tempered and my disturbed emotions subside.
But we are basically ordinary people – ordinary women in a patriarchal
society. Life is always lonely and boring, it can never be ideal. But this idea
is enough to save us, do you not think so?
Beijing’s autumn has just deepened, and the chrysanthemum flowers are
flourishing. Although the mornings and evenings are a bit cold, the noon
sun still makes people sweat. Three yuan can buy four pots of big yellow
chrysanthemums, with ten flowers in each pot. On the street, there are many
people pulling carts selling flowers. I fear that in our native land [Manchukuo],
this time [you are] already wearing cotton jackets? The freezing native land
makes me even more attached to beautiful Beijing, with its many flowers. I
cannot forget that desert wind with its bold and unconstrained, open and
upright atmosphere. I am always afraid that Beijing is too affected, perhaps
because I am a child of the mountains. For this precise reason, my course
and crude temperament cannot come to terms with this capital city on a
[flat] plain! On the surface, Beijing’s women, compared with the women of
our native land, are more enchanting, beautiful, refined, and courteous. In
fact, I think that living in the same city as them, more affectation is less
honest. Perhaps this is my preference. Naturally not all here are like that. I
just feel like that. Perhaps, in a sense, perhaps this is really a kind of merit.
The people who love writing are not a few: Lei Yan,17 Dong Fangjuan,18 and
Ouyang Feiya,19 and others’ writings, I think you have already read them.
Everybody has gotten together to buy coal to pass the winter. Perhaps
in our native land the fires have already been lit; if you do not grasp this
leisurely mood, I really admire your freedom and willpower. I have several
times thought about completely giving my child to someone else, to take [up]
my personal freedom to live. Several times – I could not do it, so most of my
time is taken up. So many things that I would like to do cannot be done.
The day before yesterday, Longguang20 and Professor Shen Qiwu21 – you
know this gentleman – returned from Nanjing. They are busy preparing
a “National Chinese Literature Report Meeting” (Zhongguo wenxue bao
guo hui). This meeting will strengthen the North China Writers Association
organization, gathering together China’s literati, strengthening Chinese
literati’s refined loyalty to protect the country, to work for the whole Chinese
literary world and the nation. We are excitedly looking forward to its early
realization.
122 Norman Smith

When you come again, at that time I will certainly invite several eloquent
writing sisters for a discussion, to let Beijing ladies come to look with rever-
ence at Manchuria’s first-class woman writer, Madame Wu Ying.
How do you feel about your new career? Give my greetings to Wu Lang,22
and your children.
Mei Niang, End of October

A Reply to Mei Niang’s Letter 23

wu ying

Mei Niang:
Many days ago, I read your letter from the faraway ancient capital [Beijing].
I remember it as if I read it several times. Mei Niang, only women can under-
stand women, sympathize with women. Sometimes a person can receive real
understanding, sympathy, and flowing tears from a friend – this has value,
is noble. Just this bit of nobility is the most real, most beautiful emotion in
the world.
Several times, after I heard that you had given birth to a little girl, I wanted
to write you a letter; perhaps this idea has been since coming back from yours
the year before last in the fall. I am ashamed to tell you what few things I
have done all day.
You know, my professional life has been long. This kind of tossing aside
the family, tossing aside a child is a selfish desire I have harboured for a long
time. Yet my inadequate preparation is not enough to dispel the grief of
abandoning my child. And the meagre rewards are not enough to fill up the
void left by that abandonment.24
You say that you manage the household and teach your child. I cannot
help thinking that women, can [they] only find comfort through caring for
their own children as they grow up? Last year, I wrote in a letter to my child
[that] I would really expose my loneliness and the void that I felt after leav-
ing her. If you have some spare time, you should read this piece of writing.
You have said that you several times thought about completely giving your
child to someone else, to free yourself to live. Mei Niang, do not have these
selfish thoughts again. You give me no comfort. Should we not take Sakya­
muni’s heart as our own? Through this, a mother’s household certainly will
have peace, happiness, real beauty, real kindness, [and] her daughter will
naturally become a complete person [that stands out from] the crowd. Do
you not want your child to become complete?
 Open Letters from Women Writers of Manchukuo 123

Recently, I have often thought about how to guide one’s daughter toward
honesty and goodness, how to make one’s daughter engage with society, how
to make her resist all the temptations that society offers. These many ques-
tions vex me, depressing me without any peace. No matter what, we have
arrived at the time of liberating children – do you not think so?
You often shed tears, but are not willing to let others know. I think about
so many things, so many women. Did Jesus not say that women come into
this world to suffer? I could not help but think that when I became a mother,
I would thus reduce my senseless thoughts. Mei Niang, why can’t we use a
mother’s heart as our hearts? Precisely because we are after all normal people,
we ought to use a mother’s heart as our hearts.
Three months ago, I quit my job and returned home. Shopping for rice,
for oil. This life is not at all as peaceful as you imagine: cooking food, clean-
ing clothes; that so-called housewife life. Engaging with these trivial house-
hold matters restricts people from exposing honest emotions, that this is not
an easy life. Perhaps this type of lifestyle exposes emotions that are real – yes,
life does not permit us to have leisure.
Two months ago, our house was very cold. To think of doing something,
it just can’t be done. Just at that time, my troubled ( fanluan) thoughts strongly
occupied (zhanju) me.25 Then, I found myself bored.
Wu Ying

To Ms. Yang Xu26

jia ren

Time, just like artillery shells, flies by. Life is like unpredictably wandering
around (zhao Qin mu Chu).27 Shaobing28 with a wine pot is heaven and earth,
the vast sea has changed into farmland, how unpredictable is the world!
Remember when we parted two years ago, and now? Brave you, [you] can
run with great courage back to your nostalgic national capital [Xinjing] –
what about me? Still the same as in the past – sitting around waiting to die
(hunchi dengsi)29 – I do not know to move up or wait here. Although you and
I are now breathing the same air in this national capital, we have not spoken
together once. Twice, when I saw you, I was in no position to talk to you; till
now my heart is still not calm!
Two years ago, you abandoned a group of friends who were counting on
you and left Xinjing.30 At that time I did not know why you had to go. No, I
did know, but I thought you were not at all the same as women in general.
124 Norman Smith

Other women around you have no courage, [yet] you have determination to
not fear social rejection and not tolerate Confucian ethics. I thought that
you would definitely have fought that evil environment (e huanjing) sup-
pressing you. Even more, I believed that you would win. But what was the
result? It was contrary to all that I had hoped for, [and] you really did just
pick up and go. Then I saw news of your return in the papers. At that time,
I placed my previous expectations on you. Although there were many people
on different sides criticizing you, stepping on you, I believed that you were
a modern new female who would dare to dare and that this time you would.
Working in literature, this gave me even greater hope and, at the same time,
brought our women compatriots even greater expectations because, I think,
your answer to us this time – it will never dare to disappoint us?
Yesterday I read the July New Manchuria and saw your masterpiece [“My
indictment”]. From start to finish, I carefully read it three times. The reason
was to soothe my choking breath. I realized that the more I read, the more
I choked. The result was that I felt wronged and did not read more, but I still
could not breathe, there was nothing to do but fart! I spent two nights think-
ing about this fart – [should I] let it go? Because holding it in was too danger-
ous, I decided to let it out, but who can put it in your name, and I was afraid
that you would not understand my intention? So, finally, with great courage
I publicly send this little to you. I hope you can read it and forgive [me].
Recorded in the masterpiece is this paragraph:

Myself, I am sowed into this group of female colleagues who the whole day
only know sitting around waiting to die – all in a heap. [They] let others see
them as dubious and, in fact, it actually is that – more or less. What exactly
do my female colleagues know – they are fantasizing about a foreign-style
house and banknotes, fantasizing about cars and rings. Besides that, they
know nothing about the regularization or the meaning of life.

When I read this grandiose theory above, it really made me sorrowful.

For thousands of years, men have used us as playthings – is this not entirely
like a feudal opinion? It is a pity that you published this talk after you got
the worst of it, but really it is a bit too late and so, when I read it, I could see
that you are also part of it, pitiless. Actually, you – this knowing the regu-
larization of life and knowing the meaning of life – to be mixed up with us,
this group of people sitting around waiting to die – really, God is blind! In
the end, I am tired of you, this knowing the regularization of life and the
meaning of life, yet you are also fantasizing about a foreign-style house and
 Open Letters from Women Writers of Manchukuo 125

currency, cars, finger rings and, besides, even more when compared to us,
this group of people sitting around waiting to die, you are fantasizing about
lovely foreign students. The result is that you had to leave Xinjing but us, this
group of people sitting around waiting to die, who do not know the regular-
ization of life and also do not know the meaning of life, we make no trouble
and did not have a predicament to leave Xinjing! If you were willing to go,
very well, go. This makes me really afraid – life can be so hypocritical!
Sometimes my faith in you is shaken, but I still consider you a brave female.
If all women in society were like you, why worry about men and women not
being equal? Us, this group of people sitting around waiting to die, our group
of people are really ashamed of you. However, my country until now has not
become a male country. This must be said to be a credit to us, this group
sitting around waiting to die, because this group of things sitting around
waiting to die cannot like you open a convenient door, using the world for
one’s own amusement, although I really do admire your brave spirit.
After you read the above words, do not think that I am accusing you or
attacking you, because you and I have not criticized each other and, I, this
sitting around waiting to die stubborn [one], also how dare [I] ask Sakyamuni
Buddha to say it? But before your masterpiece, “My Indictment,” had been
completely revealed, I admired your bravery to its core. This penetrating
confession finally reveals your taciturn behaviour over the past two years.
Jia Ren, relating to Yang Xu’s “My Indictment”
(the original writing was in this magazine, volume 4,
July–August two-month issue).

Notes
1 “Shidai xiaojiemen” [Contemporary girls], Datong bao [Great unity herald], 5 November
1936, 7.
2 Wang Yeping, Dongbei lunxian shisinian jiaoyushi [The history of education in the North­
east’s fourteen years of enemy occupation] (Changchun: Jilin jiaoyu chubanshe, 1989),
114.
3 Yu Lei, “Ziliao” [Data], in Dongbei lunxian shiqi wenxue guoji xueshu yantaohui lunwenji
[Collection of papers from the International Research Conference on Literature of the
Enemy-Occupied Northeast], ed. Feng Weiqun, Wang Jianzhong, Li Chunyan, and Li
Shuquan (Shenyang: Shenyang chubanshe, 1992), 181.
4 Zhu Ti and Li Keju, “1942 yu 1945 nian Dongbei wenyijie yi wan” [A glimpse of the world
of arts in the Northeast from 1942 to 1945], in Dongbei lunxian shiqi wenxue.
5 Li Ran, “Wu Ying yu di’yi ci ‘DongYa caoguzhe dahui’ – yi ‘Dong you hou ji’ wei zhongxin”
[Wu Ying and the “First East Asian Manipulators’ Conference” – Focus on “Remembrance
of the Eastern Tour”], 28 August 2017 on website “Wei Manzhouguo yanjiu zhongxin”
[Bogus Manchukuo Research Centre], http://www.sohu.com/a/167938517_713945. Wu’s
work is collected in Norman Smith and Li Ran, eds., Wu Ying zuopin ji [Collection of Wu
Ying’s writings] (Harbin: Beifang wenyi chubanshe, 2017).
126 Norman Smith

6 For details, see Norman Smith, Resisting Manchukuo: Chinese Women Writers and the
Japanese Occupation (Vancouver: UBC Press, 2007), 126–27.
7 Wu Ying, “Manzhou nüxing wenxue de ren yu zuopin” [Female writers and writings of
Manchuria], Qingnian wenhua [Youth culture], May 1944, 24–28.
8 Literally, the double wall of Manchuria’s literary world. Li Ran, “Wu Ying yu di’yi ci
‘DongYa caoguzhe dahui’ – yi ‘Dong you hou ji’ wei zhongxin.”
9 Zhang Quan is the foremost scholar on Mei Niang’s life and career. See Zhang Quan,
“Searching for Memories of Colonial Literature in Republican History: Centring Mei
Niang’s Border Crossing and Intergenerational Situation” in Annika A. Culver and
Norman Smith, eds., Manchukuo Perspectives: Transnational Approaches to Literary
Production (Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press, 2019), 189–201; and Smith, Re­
sisting Manchukuo, especially 190–91.
10 For further discussion of Mei Niang’s literary activities in Beiping, see Chen Yan, “Accul­
turation and Border-Crossing in Manchukuo Literature: Mei Niang, Liu Longguang, and
Yuan Xi,” in Culver and Smith, Manchukuo Perspectives, 175–88.
11 Yang Xu, Wo de riji [My diary] (Xinjing: Kaiming tushu gongsi, 1944), 151.
12 Her work is collected in Norman Smith, Xu Jianwen, Hu Di, and Li Ran, eds., Yang Xu
zuopin ji [Collection of Yang Xu’s writings] (Harbin: Beifang wenyi chubanshe, 2017).
13 Yang Xu, Wo de riji, 144.
14 In 1946, Yang argued that if she had been nicer to the Japanese authorities (going to
dinners and entertaining them more often), her book would likely not have been banned,
recalled, and destroyed.
15 Originally published as “Wo de zuizhuang” [My indictment], Xin Manzhou [New Man­
churia], July 1942; republished as “Gongkai de zuizhuang” [Open indictment] in Yang Xu,
Wo de riji, 89–90.
16 Mei Niang, “Ji Wu Ying shu” [A letter for Wu Ying], Qingnian wenhua [Youth culture] 1,
5 (December 1943): 84.
17 Lei Yan (1911–52) was a Beijing-based writer in the 1940s. In 1935, she graduated from
Beijing University Women’s College of Arts and Sciences, Department of English Lit­er­
ature. Among the group of women mentioned by Mei Niang, she is considered to have
been the most successful. For more information, see Zhang Quan, “Cong lunxian qu
wenxue jieshou xian kuang kan jiaqiang shiliao gongzuo de zhongyao xing – Yi Beijing
nü zuojia lei yan wei zhongxin” [The importance of strengthening work on historical
materials to the current reception of literature of the occupied areas: Focus on Beijing
woman writer Lei Yan] in Kangzhan wenhua yanjiu, san [Anti-war culture research, 3]
ed. Li Jianping and Zhang Zhongliang (Guilin: Guangxi shifan daxue chubanshe, 2010),
231–42.
18 Fangjuan (1917–unknown), was a Beijing-based writer, noted for writings in Funü zazhi
(The Ladies’ Journal), during the occupation.
19 The birth and death dates for Ouyang Feiya are currently unknown. Ouyang published
four major novellas in the early 1940s, including Nü Shen (Goddess) in Funü zazhi (The
Ladies’ Journal) 3.2 (February 1942): 80–89.
20 Mei Niang’s husband, a pre-eminent journalist and editor in north China, died in 1949,
when his ship sank in the waters between Taiwan and China. For further details, see
Chen, “Acculturation,” esp. 180–85.
21 Shen Qiwu was a student of Zhou Zuoren, and a professor at Beijing University during
the Japanese occupation; he was considered one of the four most promising of Zhou’s
students. See Qingnian wenhua [Youth culture] 2, 6 (1944): 56.
22 Wu Ying’s husband, Wu Lang, was a famous writer and editor in Manchukuo. He is said
to have committed suicide due to political persecution during the Cultural Revolution
in 1968.
 Open Letters from Women Writers of Manchukuo 127

23 Wu Ying, “Fu Mei Niang shu” [A reply to Mei Niang’s letter], Funü zazhi [Ladies jour­
nal] 5, 4 (1944): 20–21.
24 Wu Ying had a child at the age of seventeen; the child was raised by her parents.
25 Words such as fanluan and zhanju would most likely have been censored in a Manchukuo
magazine, but were not in this journal published in Beiping.
26 Jia Ren, “Zhi Yang Xu nüshi” [To Ms. Yang Xu], Xin Manzhou [New Manchuria] 5, 2
(February 1943): 96–97. The identity of Jia Ren is unknown, but she had apparently worked
with Yang Xu at a bank in Xinjing. She was not a frequent contributor to the magazine.
Li Zhengzhong, personal interview, Shenyang, 9 May 2017.
27 This set phrase literally means “to serve the state of Qin in the morning and the state of
Chu in the evening,” meaning quick to switch sides, or unpredictable.
28 Shaobing is a baked, unleavened, layered flatbread popular in north China.
29 A more literal translation of hunchi dengsi is “drift around, eat, and wait to die.”
30 Yang Xu left Xinjing in the aftermath of a failed romantic relationship, in which she was
betrayed by a man.
9 The Lives of Korean Women
in Manchukuo
JONGHYUN LEE

What was it like to live in Manchukuo as a Korean woman? Many

Koreans migrated to the region, fleeing from poverty and encouraged
by the Japanese authorities that had occupied Korea since 1910. When
arriving in Manchukuo, Koreans had to deal with not only Japanese, the
invading forces in the region, but also with the local Chinese people.1
Because of their gender, Korean women in particular had to endure
additional challenges including the patriarchal oppression that limited
their opportunities to better their lives. However, less is known about
the life experiences of Korean women in Manchukuo than those of their
male counterparts, and they must be differentiated.
“Shipcharoe panghwanghanŭn yŏindŭl” (Women Facing a Cross­
roads) is a collection of eight memoirs written by anonymous Korean
women that appeared in the December 1939 Mansŏnilbo (Manchuria–
Joseon daily news). There is no way to verify that these memoirs were
written by the women themselves. They might have been created or
modified by the editors of the newspaper. 2 However, their accounts
reflect the widespread patriarchal social norms in Manchukuo, where
Korean women were mostly invisible in the public sphere. 3 At the same
time, these Korean women suffered from political marginalization
as the colonial subjects of Japanese imperialism. Korean women in
Man­chukuo faced a crossroads where patriarchal oppression and
colonial exploitation intersected.
The migration of Koreans to what is now Northeast China started
well before modern times. Beginning in the 1620s, some Koreans moved
to Chinese territory fleeing from starvation, debts, and government
oppression. Often, they settled in the Liaodong area just north of the
Korean border, where they collected ginseng or engaged in farming. 4
 The Lives of Korean Women in Manchukuo 129

In the late nineteenth century, the Qing government implemented a

policy that promoted migration to the borders (Yimin shibian) to attract
Koreans to Manchuria in an attempt to protect the region from Russia. 5
By 1904, there were at least fifty thousand Koreans living in the area of
Beijiandao, just north of the border with Korea. 6
After the Japanese annexation of Korea in 1910, the number of
Koreans who lived in Northeast China increased, ranging approximately
from 200,000 in 1910 to almost two million by 1945.7 Between 1910 and
1931, Koreans migrated internationally to this region from colonized
Korea. In Manchuria, Koreans were a marginalized group, exploited by
the Japanese who were trying to colonize the region and viewed as
exploiters by the Chinese who were resisting Japanese encroachments.
During the Manchukuo era from 1932 until 1945, the migration of
Koreans was considered intercolonial within the Japanese Empire as
they moved from Korea, an official colony of Japan, to its unofficial
colony of Manchukuo. 8
Advocating Korean migration to Manchukuo was an economic
strategy of the Japanese colonial authorities. They recognized that the
cost involved in migrating to Manchukuo was lower for Koreans than
for Japanese. At the same time, Japanese authorities wanted to prevent
the influx of Koreans into Japan since they could pose a threat to its
labour market.9
For many Koreans, Manchukuo might have seemed an idealized land
where they could find opportunities for better lives.10 Following the
slogan of Naesŏnilch’e (Japan and Korea Together), some Koreans
decided to assimilate themselves to Japanese colonial power in the
hope of achieving better economic opportunities and social status.11
Despite their hope for a better life, most Koreans in Manchukuo were
unable to access the same opportunities as Japanese migrants. Unlike
the Japanese, the Koreans in Manchukuo tended to reside predomin­
antly in rural areas while engaging in farming. For instance, by the end
of 1938, 87.9 percent of Japanese residents in Manchukuo were con­
centrated in urban areas such as Dairen (currently Dalian), Fengtian
(currently Shenyang), and Xinjing (currently Changchun), which were
protected by Japanese military and police forces. In contrast, the
majority of Koreans resided in rural villages across the Jiandao area of
Jilin, in Fengtian province, and even in the lightly populated lands of
Mongolia.12 Moreover, the daily average wage of Koreans in Manchukuo
was 1.05 yuan in 1939, almost two and half times lower than that of
130 Jonghyun Lee

Japanese, which was 2.56 yuan.13 Thus, “Japan and Korea Together”
was nothing more than a political slogan of the Japanese colonial
authorities who wanted to utilize Korean labour in the region.14
Korean women in Manchukuo had to endure multiple marginality
due to their ethnicity and gender. Just like Korean men, they suffered
from the colonial oppression imposed by the Japanese authorities
while being confronted by discriminatory practices exercised by the
Chinese people. In addition, these women had to endure patriarchy
that offered only fringe opportunities for survival. The wages of Korean
women demonstrate their economic deprivation. Their average daily
wage was 0.65 yuan, almost three times lower than that of Japanese
women in Manchukuo, which was 1.65 yuan.15
Combined with poverty, limited education and scarce resources
pushed many Korean women into involuntary prostitution. The work
of prostitutes was often called inyukchangsa (the human flesh trade).16
Many slang terms were used to refer to the women engaging in prosti­
tution. For instance, the term yŏgŭp refers to waitresses at cafés who
provided erotic services to their male patrons.17 Kisaeng is a Korean
word that is equivalent to the Chinese term jinü, a term that often
refers to professional women who entertain male patrons through song
and dance; yegi is another term especially used for female entertainers.
In contrast, the term ch’anggi was designated for those who engaged
exclusively in prostitution. Chakpu is another term used to refer to
those engaged in prostitution at yorijŏm (restaurants), whereas taensŏ
were women who served male patrons at a dance hall.18
In Manchukuo, the term ch’anggi was not in use.19 As they did in
Korea, the Japanese authorities in Manchukuo tried to hide their in­
volvement in the licensing and management of prostitution. They were
afraid that state-regulated prostitution could tarnish their international
reputation in their colonies. Instead of ch’anggi, new terms such as
yŏgŭp, chakpu, and taensŏ were adopted to refer to women engaging
in prostitution, along with more traditional terms such as yegi or jinü.20
These new terms represented the proliferation of prostitution catering
to the increasing numbers of Japanese soldiers in the region. In order
to prevent the spread of sexually transmitted diseases among its sol­
diers, the Kantō Army, together with Japanese consulate offices, tried
to regulate the people and places involved in prostitution. 21 At the same
time, the Japanese police oversaw the operation of prostitution since it
was categorized as a security-related business. 22
 The Lives of Korean Women in Manchukuo 131

9.1 Advertisement for White Gold: Korean Café in the

International City of Harbin. Source: Mansŏnilbo (Manchuria–
Joseon daily news), 10 December 1939, morning edition, 3.

The Fourth Annual Statistical Report prepared by the Police Affairs

Office in 1942 provides useful information relevant to prostitution in
the region. 23 According to the report, the number of Korean women
engaged in prostitution across Manchukuo was 5,075 in 1940. This
means that Koreans represented 11.2 percent of the 45,323 women
engaged in prostitution. The actual number of Korean women engaged
in prostitution was lower than the number of Chinese or Japanese
women. According to the report, while Chinese women represented
approximately 54.3 percent of those who engaged in prostitution,
Japanese women represented about 33.5 percent. Also noted in the
report were the types of prostitution that Korean women were involved
in. The largest proportion of Korean women (14.2 percent) worked as
chakpu (in restaurants) followed by yŏgŭp (9.9 percent; at cafés), and
taensŏ (0.3 percent, at dance halls). In addition, Koreans made up 12.9
percent of women engaging in prostitution at cafés and 8.5 percent of
those who engaged in prostitution at restaurants. 24
132 Jonghyun Lee

9.2 Advertisement for Oasis Café: Your Place for

Pleasure. Your Place for Rest. Source: Mansŏnilbo
(Manchuria–Joseon daily news), 12 January 1940,
evening edition, 2.

Due to the higher income in comparison to other professions, many

Korean women decided to remain in prostitution. 25 The monthly income
of Korean women engaged in prostitution was much higher than those
of other professional women. According to a report made by the
Mansŏnilbo on 21 September 1940, the average monthly income of
Korean chakpu in Jiamusi was 261 yuan, which was more than thirteen
times higher than the monthly salary (20 yuan) of kindergarten teachers
in the capital, Xinjing. Even compared to the monthly income of nurses
(50 to 60 yuan), typists (65 yuan), or office workers (55 yuan), the
monthly income of Korean chakpu was four to five times higher. Since
they had limited education and professional skills, these women had
few options. Prostitution might have often been the only available
means for their survival.
Korean women had to face a patriarchy that disallowed them to be
agents of their own will. Chastity was their virtue; happiness could be
 The Lives of Korean Women in Manchukuo 133

secured only through marriage. Korean women in Manchukuo faced a

crossroads not because of some supposed moral inferiority but because
of the oppressive Japanese colonial power, discrimination against mi­
grants, and patriarchy that perpetuated the economic and occupational
barriers against them. Their limited access to opportunities, resources,
and privileges deprived Korean women of the ability to reach their
potential, while reinforcing their subjugation to Japanese colonists,
xenophobia, and the pervasive patriarchal system.
“Women Facing a Crossroads” was written by anonymous authors
who represented all walks of life. They were students, nurses, house­
wives, and entertainers. In each account, these women are portrayed as
victims of their own shortcomings. Since they had limited ability to
become independent, these women were at a loss when abandoned by
their husbands, and had to live as concubines, or turn to prostitution.
These eight stories of “Women Facing a Crossroads” provide a view of
the life circumstances of Korean women in Manchukuo.

—•  TRANSLATIONS  •—

Women Facing a Crossroads

A Poor Caged Bird Yearning for Freedom: In the Midst of

Devastating Sorrow, Remembering the Sweet Home I Used to Have26
I am a so-called caged bird. Day and night, I have to pretend that I am happy
by giving a smile and acting charming for strangers. My life is devastatingly
pitiful as I have to sell my chastity, the most important virtue for women, to
a man I do not know.

Chastity
Pretending to be happy and acting charming is distressful. But what agon-
ized me most was to give my chastity to a man that I had no emotion for.
Unfortunately, I had no other choice. I am caged like a bird.

Miracle
I am a woman chained up with misery. Without finding a miracle, day and
night, I have to put oil on my hair and wear makeup to please a man that I
do not know. As I think back, I have been living this caged life for three years
of shedding tears. I was seventeen and lived in Taegu, in Kyŏngsang-Do,
134 Jonghyun Lee

when I met a driver, K, who came from another place. I fell in love with him
and we courted secretly to avoid gossip.

Conjugal Tie
In the fall of that year, we exchanged vows of marriage and committed to
live together till death would us part. It was a marriage built by a loving man
and woman. We kept our marriage happy through loving and by understand-
ing each other’s flaws. However, a demon must have been jealous of our
happiness. Less than half a year after our marriage, I lost my husband in a
car accident. I felt devastated by this tragedy, which caused my current de-
spair that I cannot escape. My suffering might not have been as painful if I
had not gotten a taste of a happy marriage.

Happiness
My current suffering is devastating because of the happiness that I enjoyed
in the past. If I had not enjoyed such happiness, I might not perceive my
current circumstance as such a misfortune. The happiness in my past rankles
in my heart and causes my current sorrow. I see all kinds of people. Some of
them are losers while others are successful. At times, I encounter people
with a gruff manner and at other times I serve people who are considerate.
Despite their diversity, I cannot find anyone whom I can trust or share my
feelings with. They are just frequent visitors to the red-light district.

Someone Else
Even when I find a man whom I want to be intimate with, he is most likely
to be a married man with a wife and a child. I should not be intimate with
any stranger, no matter if he is successful or a failure. The only man that I
can trust would be my husband. Although missing a man who is no longer
alive will not help, I find comfort when I cry over his spirit.

Sympathy
People often say that one should not listen to prostitutes. Who will listen to
my unfortunate tale or even believe my adverse life circumstances? No one
will have sympathy for me. I am the only one who can listen to and under-
stand my own circumstances. As time goes by, the amount of debt that I am
responsible for continually grows. I will not be able to make a family like
other ordinary people. I feel suffocated and agonized by the thought that I
have to continually suffer from my current circumstances.
 The Lives of Korean Women in Manchukuo 135

Fate
I blame fate that forced me into my current life circumstances. However, I
seek solace in the hope that I have. Although there is only a slight chance,
our lives spin over and over again. I hope to find a miracle that will lead to
a brighter future.
– ccha in the mikasa-chō, unknown city
(shinae, mikasa-chō, ccha)

A Virgin Who Lost Her Virginity to the Man She

Was Engaged To: Did He Only Want the Girl’s Virginity?
All Men Are Untrustworthy27

Engagement
I am a nineteen-year-old, inexperienced girl. About a year ago, I met C
through a matchmaker and eventually my parents approved of our engage-
ment. He had been working as a driver. After we got engaged he frequently
visited my home. He always wanted to be alone with me and did not want
to have my parents around. He probably was worried my parents would keep
an eye on him. My parents knew that C did not like their supervision when
we were meeting. Whenever he, their future son-in-law, would visit us they
let us be alone.

Parents
My parents have told me that although we were engaged, I needed to be
cautious until after the marriage and guard myself from him. However,
they left us alone in order not to interfere and this made me feel that the
soldiers who could protect my body had backed off. I did not know how to
answer his questions nor did I know how to respond when he made impolite
requests.

Courtship
Due to his frequent visits to our home and our extended courtship, my
concerns about being left alone with him gradually disappeared. I began to
appreciate my parents’ consideration for creating opportunities for us to be
alone without supervision. This might have been the first step of my love
affair. Whenever we found opportunities just as he planned for, we took a
walk to the park or went to movies together. My parents let us do these things.
They even appeared to be satisfied with what we were doing.
136 Jonghyun Lee

Love
Without having any parental supervision, nothing could interrupt our love
affair. This was only a passionate love shared by a young man and woman.
Because of the strong love that we shared, I lost my virginity. Although I
decided to give my virginity to him, I found a sense of regret lingering in my
mind. After our affair, his visits to our home became less frequent. Initially
I thought it might be because he was shy. I also thought that he might be
tied up with his work.

After That
The truth that I found was devastating. Less than half a month after sedu-
cing me, he was madly in love with a bar girl. I was not able to believe it until
I witnessed it. I asked about this and learned that his affair with the bar girl
was not new but was an ongoing one. If only I had known this earlier, I would
not have made the mistake of giving up my virginity.

Truth
A few days after I found out about his affair, C sincerely apologized to me for
his wrongdoing. He said that there was no way his temporary love affair with
a bar girl would interfere with our marriage. He knew that I would understand
about his affair with the girl. How devious and shameless the man was! I
would not be feeling satisfied even if I could spit in his face. No matter how
much I cried, I felt suffocated due to the pain caused by a sense of betrayal.

Crying
I just cried for several days without even eating at all. Initially, my parents
harshly admonished me. However, they felt pity for my many days of suffering
and began to offer words of comfort. My parents soothed my mind with their
benevolence. The power of parental care was mighty and, with their support,
I decided to start my life anew. Finally, I was able to recover from many days
of nightmarish suffering.

Awakening
Here is the reason I could recover. Not long ago, I heard news about C. He
married the bar girl. On the one hand, I became resentful of her as she was
a rival in love and I thought of her as my enemy. On the other hand, I worried
about her and her future because I see her as a woman just like me.
– a woman living in the city
(shinae il yŏsŏng)
 The Lives of Korean Women in Manchukuo 137

A Woman’s Hysteria Made Her Husband

Leave Home: Couples’ Spats Never Last, Come Back
to the Arms of Your Wives28

Husband and Wife

Couples’ spats never last. However, my husband left home about half a year
ago after we had a quarrel, which was nothing serious. I am concerned
about his well-being and no one knows his whereabouts. At the same time,
I feel bitter about his heartlessness. A sense of lonesomeness has built up
in my mind. This might be the real end of our togetherness. I think about
what happened to us day and night and realized that I am the one who is
wrong.

Husband
My husband and I got into fights almost every two or three days. Each time,
my tight-lipped husband could not manage his anger. He broke household
goods and left home. Every time my husband left home, I wandered around
searching for him. After a day or two, my husband came back home after
calming himself down.

Affection
“How foolish I am living with a hysterical woman like you! It is right for us
to be separated and lead our own lives.” Although he used to talk to me like
this, he continually showed his affection for me. My husband was twenty-
nine years old and I am thirty-one years old. I expressed my gratitude for his
affection and apologized for my wrongdoing to my two-years-younger hus-
band. However, regretting my own wrongdoing was a momentary thing. I
started another quarrel with him. I am upset with myself since I cannot
control my own behaviour. When I married my husband, I confessed to him
that I was not a virgin.

Wife
My husband generously accepted me as his wife. I determined that I would
remain his wife by believing that he is the only person who could save my
life. But we were often on edge and regularly got into fights over trifles.
Initially, he was able to suppress his anger. But he left home after kicking,
hitting, and breaking household goods because of the anger caused by my
offensive evil tongue. It would have been nicer if I were a little more patient.
Why should I pick a fight with my husband?
138 Jonghyun Lee

I Don’t Know the Reason

Although there should have been some reason for our fights, I still do
not know what they were. I was not dissatisfied with my husband’s affection
nor was I unhappy about our limited financial means. Instead, I am appre-
ciative of what we have now and consider us lucky. I cried a number of times
because I did not like myself. Once a woman gets into a wrong circumstance,
she may easily get into a state of hopelessness.

Personality
When I was twenty-one years old, I worked as a nurse at S Hospital in
Kyungseong. I lost my virginity to a twenty-seven-year old male patient
whose name was K. Ever since that time, my personality completely changed.
I became irritable and short tempered with my colleagues and got into fights
over trifles. Therefore, my colleagues tried to avoid me and I did not try to
approach them. That fall, I left the S Hospital and moved to A City where I
worked as a sales clerk. I got married to my current husband when I was
twenty-three years old and it was in the late spring. It was entirely my fault,
as I think carefully about what had happened to us on that cold winter stormy
night under the lonely lamplights.

Overcome
I was not able to overcome my hysteria no matter how hard I tried. Because
of the hysteria, I lost my husband. I do not know where to find my husband,
and he doesn’t respond although I call out for him. Whenever I think of him,
my mind is aching and I am heartbroken.
– o-yŏng kim from a city
­  (a-shi kim o-yŏng)

A Glowing Passionate Love Frozen by Jack Frost:

A Woman Who Sympathized with the Heroines in Tragic Novels,
Leading a Sorrowful Life When Abandoned by a Lover29

School Uniform
A virgin girl’s innocence is wrapped in a blue school uniform. However, it
turns into ash grey as soon as she graduates from a school and takes off her
uniform.

Suffering
Escaping from my parents’ gaze, I used to read romance novels that my
schoolteachers warned us students not to read. I sympathized with those
 The Lives of Korean Women in Manchukuo 139

unfortunate heroines in the stories. Although they were fictional, there are
countless women in our society suffering from much harsher lives than those
appearing in the stories, women who were abandoned by men who toyed
with them. Each time I read such unfortunate stories, I assured myself that
“I would not be such an unfortunate heroine in this society.” Such a deter-
mined girl like me would never have thought that I, too, could be abandoned
as worthless by a man. A couple of years ago, when I was eighteen years old,
late in the spring, I was a student at X women’s school. I became particularly
close to a student in my class whose name was Kim Sukcha (pseudonym).

Intimate
We became close friends, and if she did not come to visit my home, I went
to hers. By the way, Sukcha had an older brother who was five years senior
to her and worked for a company. He was the very man who brought mis-
fortune to me. I just took a first step into social life with a beautiful dream
after graduating from school and no longer in a school uniform. Whenever
I visited Sukcha’s home, her brother greeted me more warmly than Sukcha
would. He always treated me in a soft, friendly, and kind manner. At the
beginning, I was annoyed by him and guarded myself against him. As I got
to know him more, he appeared not to be a mean-spirited man.

Wariness
As time went by, I began to let my guard down. I concluded that he treated me
in a friendly and kind manner because I was a special friend of his sister Sukcha,
and for no other reason. I interacted with him just like I would with my own
brother. Therefore, along with Sukcha, we sometimes took a walk to the
Taedong River and Moran Peak. Also, at other times, we went to the movies.

Him
After many frequent encounters and outings, I began to dislike our brother-
and-sister type of relationship. Honestly speaking, I began to develop affec-
tion toward him. Also, he treated me in a kind and tender manner not because
I was a friend of his sister, but because he took an interest in me as someone
he wanted to be intimate with. That year in the fall, when the trees’ leaves
began turning red, our love was also aglow like the ruddy red leaves.

Proud
I cannot forget the very date, the fourteenth of October. It was the date I
surrendered my virginity, which I had proudly preserved, to him. After this,
140 Jonghyun Lee

I was thrown out of our home by my parents and stayed at my uncle’s house
for a few days. After much consideration about my future, I decided to ask
Sukcha’s brother for an engagement. My parents finally realized that harsh
scolding or other punishments would be useless and approved my
decision.

Engagement
I went to see him to explain my circumstances. I was able to receive his verbal
consent by desperately asking him to be engaged to me. However, around
the early winter of that year, I heard a rumour circulating that he was engaged
to a woman whose name is P and they had even set their wedding date. I
hesitate to share with others what happened after that. I do not even want
to talk about my problems anymore.
– a foolish woman in pyongyang
(p’yŏngyang arisŏkŭn yŏja)

An Anguished Girl Trapped in a Triangular

Relationship: No Matter How Hard I Tried to Get Away,
the Power of Love Was Irresistible30

Love
I am an anguished teenage girl in the midst of a triangular relationship. I
feel foolish and even pity myself for competing with another woman in order
to win the love of a man named H. However, what else can I do? The power
of love is absolute and I became its prisoner. “Let me break away from him
and give him up!” “Let me be courageous and allow my friend to be with
him! Let me sacrifice myself!” I agonized with myself in order not to stay in
a conflicted triangular relationship. Instead, I tried to break away from him
as soon as possible. However, no matter how hard I tried to distance myself,
I found myself getting closer to him. It may be love. Indeed, it is a shame that
I am not able to give him up.

I Began
Starting this spring I began to love H. I do not know when my friend YŏngX
started to love him. One day in the summer, I found him and YŏngX walking
side by side. Not only was he embarrassed when he found me watching them
but also YŏngX blushed when she saw me there. YŏngX blushed because she
 The Lives of Korean Women in Manchukuo 141

was ashamed of herself taking a walk with a man. She might not have known
that H loves me and I still love him.

My Friend
I believed that H would not have anyone he loves other than me. From the
day when I found that H loves my friend YŏngX, I began to develop not only
a fierce jealousy toward my friend but also a rebellious spirit against H.
Such an extreme defiant attitude was a helpless thing in the face of love.
Numerous times I tried to stop my friendship with YŏngX, but such attempts
were useless.

I Back Down
After many days of agony, I decided to ask YŏngX how much progress she
had made in regard to her relationship with H, or when they began dating.
After that, I planned to sincerely request that she back down from H and
give a chance to me. Finally, I visited YŏngX and asked about her relationship
with H, after talking about all sorts of other matters. Initially, YŏngX denied
the relationship by saying: “What do you mean by love?” However, as soon
as she heard that H and I were lovers, YŏngX’s face turned blue with shock.
Based on her confession, I realized that the relationship between YŏngX and
H had begun before I entered the picture.

Not Less
Also, I realized that the affection of YŏngX toward H was not less than mine.
Moreover, I learned that, unlike me, she did not have the courage to sacrifice
herself for me, her friend. I thought that it was not appropriate for me to be
jealous that YŏngX loves H. I tried to overcome my moral scruples by backing
away myself from H. However, those attempts were only momentary.

Absolute
No one will ever surrender love because of morals or sympathy. I blame H
who unexpectedly loved two different women at the same time. But, it is
extremely sad to know that I do not possess the courage to reject him. It is
a great pity for me that I cannot control myself the way I want to.

– an agonized woman in kyŏngsŏng

(kyŏngsŏng kominhanŭn yŏja)
142 Jonghyun Lee

To Avoid Marriage a Woman Runs Away from Home

and Cries Out Her Misfortune: Does Men’s Sympathy Always
Hide a Conspiracy? Lost Virginity in an Instant31

Misfortune
I am a twenty-one-year-old ill-fated woman. I protested against my parents
who forced me to become engaged to a man that I had no affection for by
not eating for a few days. My mother expressed her sympathy by saying that
“affection keeps a relationship stable and we were wrong to force you to get
engaged with a man you have no affection for. If you are really against this
engagement there is not a thing we can do. However, there is no better mate
than him.”

Engagement
My father insisted that I should get engaged to the man. He scolded me by
saying: “He has money, social status, and is good looking. What more can
you ask for? Why do you resist your parents’ arrangements?” I am not ignor-
ing my parents’ intention to secure their daughter’s happiness by forcing
her to marry a wealthy man. However, this society tells us that a person
can­not enjoy happiness only with money. After careful consideration, I de-
cided to run away from home because my parents could not understand my
stance on marriage and happiness. Last year, one summer night I left Seoul
with tears in my eyes by taking a train to Xinjing station from Kyŏngsŏng
Station.

Tragedy
The journey without a purpose threw me into a trap. The following evening
I got off the train at Xinjing Station and checked into XX hotel near the sta-
tion. As a young woman, when I walked into a hotel alone, male customers
looked at me like something they should not see. Among those, there must
have been poisonous attention aimed at my body. By spending a couple of
nights there, I wondered about my future.

The First Time

That was the first time that I ever agonized over the ways I could overcome
the challenges posed by society. The hotel demanded that I make a deposit
for my meals. After paying the deposit of 5 won by using all the money I
had at that time, I felt desperate without knowing what to do with my future.
 The Lives of Korean Women in Manchukuo 143

I was aware of what others say: “Money is all you can trust when you are
away from home.” As time went by, people began to discover that I had run
away from home. Through watching every behaviour of mine, those men
who gave attention to me probably learned about my circumstances. Those
men began to seduce me as they found I was in need.

Money
Some asked me how I could stay in a hotel without money and others told
me that they could help me find a job. At other times, people were curious
about the amount of money that I owed for the accommodation and why I
stayed in a hotel by myself. There were people who tried to seduce me by
asking to go out to see a movie. I was able to learn about the hideous psycho-
logical state of men even at this small hotel. But I did not have the determina-
tion to overcome all these temptations. Moreover, my circumstances did not
allow me to do that.

Employment
One day, I was hired by the XXX department store as a sales agent in the
city through the help of K, a man who stayed in the same hotel. I was sincerely
thankful to K whose help enabled me to pave my future. However, the fact
that he helped me with finding a job became another stain on my life. One
night, it was an extremely brief moment, and I still tremble even thinking
about it.
K came into my room and talked about various things until late at night.
He later went back to his room since he saw me yawning. I made the bed
and fell into a deep exhausted sleep. I began to vaguely sense discomfort and
opened my eyes.

Too Late
But it was too late. K came back into my room while I was sleeping to satisfy
his sexual desire. Despite such a traumatic accident, all I could do was cry
under the covers. Because I was scared of other people’s blame, I was not
even able to yell or scream. I spent that unfortunate night in tears. I went
out to the store to work in order to survive. K, the man who ruined my life,
disappeared from the hotel a few days later.
– a woman living in the city
(shinae il yŏsŏng)
144 Jonghyun Lee

A Beloved and Trustworthy Husband Has Another Wife

and Children: Can Warm-Heartedness Be a Problem? He Gets
into Another Affair – A Troubled Woman Fooled by Love32

Marriage
I am a thirty-five-year-old housewife. I married my husband two years ago.
He is four years older than I am and currently works at a company located
in the city. After our marriage, my husband showed his passionate affection
toward me so much it could even melt my body. He loved me so much that
he stopped drinking only because I did not like it. I was grateful in my mind
to have such a rare husband like him. My mind was filled with pride and
happiness whenever I thought that my husband was exactly who I had ideal-
ized to marry.

Wife and Children

When happiness reaches its peak, one may have to suffer from some mis-
fortune. Less than half a year after our marriage, I learned that my beloved
husband had a wife and children in his hometown. After I learned about his
other family, tornado-like worries began to rise in my mind. “Do I have to
continue this life? Or is it better for me to run away from home in order to
cut off this ill-fated relationship?” I repeatedly asked myself these ques-
tions several hundred times. However, I was not able to gather the courage
to run away from home. This might be because my husband’s love discour-
aged me from making such a decision. I felt that I would not be able to live
without him.

Surrender
Therefore, my effort to surrender to him was useless no matter how hard I
tried. My husband acknowledged that he had lied about his marital status
when he married me and accepted my rage at him. Also, he tried to calm
me down and comfort me. As time went by, our troubles settled down. Our
lives filled with love started again. I should not say that I did not worry about
his former wife who might unexpectedly come to us and cause trouble for
us. However, this concern was nothing in comparison to the love shared
between us.

Husband
But such an affectionate husband of mine had a problem. Every night he
came home late from his work. Since I was suspicious about his behaviour,
 The Lives of Korean Women in Manchukuo 145

I learned that he was dating another woman. At that time, I worried a lot
about this issue. I felt helpless. I not only loved him but also kept a marital
relationship with him even after I learned that he had a wife from his previ-
ous marriage. I could not complain at all even if he fell in love three or four
times with different women. I was able to understand the suffering of his
former wife whenever I remembered what others say: “Understand the pains
of others through your own hardships.”

Separation
After that, a number of times I asked my husband to separate from me. But
each time he responded to me by saying: “My infidelity is a sort of illness.
Please do not worry and wait until I can recover from it.” Because he talked
to me this way, leaving him was difficult even though I wanted to. However,
his infidelity did not seem to get better. I had to wait for him until eleven
or twelve o’clock every night. But I could endure such suffering each day
because of the brief sweet encounter that I could have with him.

Someone Else
No matter how much I love him or he loves me in his entire life, he is the
husband of someone else. Whenever I think of this, I become sad with tears.
However not many people would offer sympathy with my circumstances.
Except for those who are in a similar situation to mine, everyone would blame
me by saying I was paying for what I had done. Because of that I do not dare
to speak about my pain. Instead, I tried to console myself with a deep sigh.
But now I have told this story of mine to the world.
– a troubled woman in fengtian
(pongch’ŏn il kominnyŏ)

A Woman Betrayed Again after Her First Heartbreak:

The Man She Is Engaged to Has a Wife and Children –
A Woman Crying in North Manchuria33
After reading the articles “Women Facing a Crossroads” published in your
newspaper, I decided to write my story – that was never to be told – in the
hope that it might help other women.

I Am
Although my hometown is Pyongyang, I went to a women’s high school lo-
cated in Kyŏngsŏng because of a personal reason. One day in my sophomore
146 Jonghyun Lee

year, I went with classmates to a picnic in Ch’anggyŏngwŏn.34 While walking

around the palace, we enjoyed our time by singing songs originating from
the sentimentality of teenaged girls. I saw a male student walking by who
did not know he had dropped a book. I immediately picked up the book and
handed it to him. He repeatedly expressed his gratitude several times and
walked away. During that time, I commuted to the school from my uncle’s
home. The male student attended a middle school while staying at a boarding
house located next to my uncle’s home. His name was A.

An Encounter
Due to our encounter at the palace, I went out with him a number of times.
While dating, we became passionately affectionate with each other. When
we first fell in love it was autumn, and our affection became pigmented
in red just like all the leaves one could see in the mountains. One year
passed by and another autumn came to us. 24 September is the date that
I cannot forget. It is the date that I gave my virginity and everything to
him. At that time, I was seventeen years old. I wish I could have been more
temperate. I would not have allowed him to take my virginity even though
we were passionately in love. Because I became blind with love, I was not
able to make an appropriate judgment. When our love reached its peak, we
were separated.

In Pyongyang
The following year in March, he graduated from the middle school and went
back to his hometown Pyongyang. There was nothing we could do, but we
had to face our separation while making a pledge to keep our love. After
that, we exchanged letters three or four times. From the letters, I saw that
his affection toward me gradually changed. Our communication stopped
as he no longer responded to my letters. This was the time when I stepped
into a wrong path. But I was able to graduate from the school under the
supervision of my uncle. He might have told my elder brother about my
behaviour. My elder brother came to my graduation to pick me up and took
me back to Pyongyang with him. However, I was not able to start a new life
but fell into a vicious life more and more. I eventually became a kisaeng.35

As a Kisaeng
After I became a kisaeng, I saw A in a city. Not only was I calm that time but
also he did not recognize me. He just passed me by. I had migrated to north
Manchuria in order not to encounter A. In addition, my elder brother forced
 The Lives of Korean Women in Manchukuo 147

me to move. However, life in north Manchuria was not as I expected. There

were other Koreans who were in more desperate circumstances than mine.
I finally started to regret my wrongdoing but knew that resentment would
be useless. While agonizing over my resentment, I fell in love a second time.
He was from south Korea and in this area he was an influential man, called
T. After three or four months of dating, we decided to get married and began
to start a new family. But I must be an ill-fated woman. I thought that T was
single but later I learned that he had a wife in his hometown.

Pregnant
But when I heard this news, I was already five months pregnant. Even though
I had followed a wanton life, I was determined that I would never become a
concubine under any circumstances. But my determination is no longer ef-
fective. I cannot separate from my husband because of my pregnancy. My
only hope is that T will continue to love me. However, I feel extremely sad
whenever I think of his wife, who leads a lonely life in his hometown, and
his children, who miss their father. In fact, my pain is bigger than the time
I found out that I was fooled by A. How can I ask for forgiveness for the pain
that I caused? I am tormented by a guilty conscience. I live my life with tears
because of a child growing in my womb.

A Memoir
If A reads this memoir, I wonder what his emotion will be? With what senti-
ment would he read the story of a woman he abandoned three years ago?
Please understand my poor and incomprehensible writing.
– a foolish woman in north manchuria
(pukmanŭi ŏnŭ paboyŏja)

Notes
Acknowledgment | This study was supported in part by the Faculty and Librarian
Research Grant award by Bridgewater State University in Massachusetts, United States.
1 Sŏkchŏng Han, “Manjuguk shigi chosŏninŭi sahoejŏkchiwi” [The social status of Koreans
in the Manchukuo period], Tongbugayŏksanonch’ong [Journal of northeast Asian history]
31 (March 2011): 21.
2 Yŏngju Kim, “Mansŏnilboŭi chendŏjŏk t’ŭksŏnggwa ŭimi” [The meaning of gendered
characteristics in the Mansŏn daily news], Ŏmunhak [Korean language and literature]
120 (June 2013): 365.
3 Keongil Kim, Hwytak Yoon, Dongjin Lee, and Sungmo Yim, Tongasiaŭi minchokisankwa
tosi [Korean diaspora in Manchurian cities in the early twentieth century] (Seoul: Yŏksa­
bip’yŏngsa, 2004), 263–67.
148 Jonghyun Lee

4 Chŏngpong Cho, “Ilche kangjŏmgi chosŏninŭi kando ijuwa yahagundong” [The migration
to Jiandao among Koreans and the night school movement during the Japanese occupa-
tion], Han’gukkyoyuk [Journal of Korean education] 34, 1 (April 2007): 160.
5 Kyŏngsuk Pak, “Shingminji shigi (1910nyŏn-1945nyŏn) chosŏnŭi in’gu tongt’aewa kujo”
[Population and structure during the colonization between 1910 and 1945],
Hankukinkuhak [Korea journal of population studies] 32, 2 (August 2009): 33.
6 Sangch’ŏl Ch’oe, “Kwangbokchŏn chunggugŭi han’gŭl shinmun” [Pro-Japanese Korean-
language newspapers in China before independence], Sinmun’gwa pangsong [News­paper
and broadcasting] 263 (November 1992): 100.
7 Han, “Manjuguk shigi chosŏninŭi sahoejŏkchiwi,” 1,8.
8 Kihun Kim, “Manjuguk shigi chosŏnin imindamnonŭi shironjŏk koch’al – Chosŏnilbo
sasŏrŭl chungshimŭro [Study on the discourses about Korean migration during the
Manchukuo period – Focusing on the editorials of the Chosŏn daily news], Tongbuga­
yŏksanonch’ong 31 (March 2011): 103.
9 An’gi Chŏng, “Manjugukki chosŏninŭi manju imin’gwa dŭtgyumlpbyaet (chu)” [Joseon
people’s immigration into Manchuria and Sŏnman Colonization Co. Ltd. during the
Manchukuo period], Tongbugayŏksanonch’ong 31 (March 2011): 48–49.
10 Han, “Manjuguk shigi chosŏninŭi sahoejŏkchiwi,” 28–33.
11 Yŏngbok Chin, “Chaemanjosŏninŭi naesŏnilch’e tamnon’gwa kyunyŏl – I Sŏkhun ŭi
ilbonŏ sosŏrŭl chungshimŭro” [A study on imperialistic desire and colonial subject in
Manchuria: Centring on Lee Seok-Hoon’s novels in Japanese], Hanminjogŏmunhak
[Language and literature of the Korean people] 58 (June 2011): 138–48.
12 Kim et al., Tongasiaŭi minchokisankwa tosi, 72–90.
13 Han, “Manjuguk shigi chosŏninŭi sahoejŏkchiwi,” 21–22.
14 Ibid., 21–28.
15 Ibid., 21–22.
16 Hyŏnchin Ch’a, Chungangŭnhaengbyŏlgok: Hondonŭi shidae [Unofficial story of the
Korea Central Bank] (Seoul: Inmulgwa sasangsa, 2016), 193–95.
17 Hyosun Kim and Wŏnju Kang, eds. and trans., Chaejo ilboninyŏgŭp sosŏl [Waitress novels
among the Japanese in Joseon] (Seoul: Yŏngnak, 2015), 5–10.
18 Dongjin Lee, “Minjok, chiyŏk, seksyuŏllit’i – Manjugugŭi Chosŏnin Sŏngmaemaejong­
sajarŭl Chungshimŭro” [Nation, region, and sexuality: Focusing on Korean prostitute in
Manchukuo], Chŏngshinmunhwayŏn’gu [Korean Studies Quarterly] 28, 3 (2005):
28–30.
19 Jungae Park, “Manchu chiyŏkŭi ilbonkun wianso sŏlch’iwa chosŏnin ‘wianpu’” [Establish­
ment of a Japanese military comfort centre in Manchuria and Korean “comfort women”],
Ashiayŏsŏngyŏn’gu [Journal of Asian women] 55, 1 (May 2016): 11–13.
20 Lee, “Minjok, chiyŏk, seksyuŏllit’i,” 27–34.
21 Park, “Manchu chiyŏkŭi ilbonkun wianso sŏlch’iwa chosŏnin ‘wianpu,’” 11–13.
22 Lee, “Minjok, chiyŏk, seksyuŏllit’i,” 30.
23 Ibid., 37–41.
24 Ibid., 37–41.
25 Ibid., 48–54.
26 “Chayuŭi segye tonggyŏnghanŭn kayŏpsŭn nongjungjijo: Kwagŏe talk’omhan kajŏng­
saenghwari itkittaemune hyŏnjaeŭi koeromi tŏukk’ŏyo” [A poor caged bird yearning for
freedom: In the midst of devastating sorrow, remembering the sweet home I used to
have], “Shipcharoe panghwanghanŭn yŏindŭl” [Women facing a crossroads], Man­
sŏnilbo [Manchuria–Joseon daily news]. (1 December 1939), morning edition.
27 “Yak’onnamjae chŏngjobach’in ch’ŏnyŏgaanin ch’ŏnyŏ – Kŭŭi yogunŭn ch’ŏnyŏŭi sunjŏng
kŭgŏt ppuniyŏnnŭn’ga – Mitchi mot’algŏsŭn sanaeŭi maŭm” [A virgin who lost her
virginity to the man she was engaged to: Did he only want the girl’s virginity? All men
 The Lives of Korean Women in Manchukuo 149

are untrustworthy], “Shipcharoe panghwanghanŭn yŏindŭl,” Mansŏnilbo, 2 December

1939, morning edition.
28 “Namp’yŏnŭl chibesŏ naetchoch’ŭn yŏjaŭi hisŭt’eri – Pubussahom k’allo Mulgallŏ Nonjari
Kattanŭnde – Anhaeŭi p’umŭro Toraora” [A woman’s hysteria made her husband leave
home: Couples’ spats never last, come back to the arms of your wives], “Shipcharoe
panghwanghanŭn yŏindŭl,” Mansŏnilbo, 3 December 1939, morning edition.
29 “Tanp’ungdŭlttae pulget’an sarang sŏrimajŏ naenggak’aenna – Sosŏlsok nunmurŭi
yŏjuin’gongege tongjŏnghadŭn yŏja – Yŏninege pŏrimbatko nunmullo sewŏl” [A glowing
passionate love frozen by Jack Frost: A woman who sympathized with the heroines in
tragic novels, leading a sorrowful life when abandoned by a lover], “Shipcharoe pang­
hwanghanŭn yŏindŭl,” Mansŏnilbo, 4 December 1939, morning edition.
30 “Samgagaee p’orogadoeyŏ kominŭrhanŭn yŏsŏng – Amuri ijŏbŏrigo tannyŏmharyŏgo
aessŏdo mullich’ilsuŏmnŭn sarangŭi himiyŏ [An anguished girl trapped in a triangular
relationship: No matter how hard I tried to get away, the power of love was irresistible],
“Ship­charoe panghwanghanŭn yŏindŭl,” Mansŏnilbo, 5 December 1939, morning edition.
31 “Kyŏrhonhoep’ik’i wihae ch’ulga yŏch’angeunŭn pangmyŏngnyŏ – Namsŏngŭi tongjŏngŭi
kŭnŭrenŭn ŭmmoman sumŏ innŭn’ga – Ilsun’gane ch’ŏnyŏsŏngŭl ppaeatkyŏ” [To avoid
marriage a woman runs away from home and cries out her misfortune: Does men’s sym-
pathy always hide a conspiracy? Lost virginity in an instant], “Shipcharoe panghwang­
hanŭn yŏindŭl,” Mansŏnilbo, 7 December 1939, morning edition.
32 “Mitko saranghanŭn namp’yŏnen ch’ŏjakkaji itsŏyo – Tajŏngi haniralkka taŭmyŏnaerŭl
ttohago itsŏ – Sarange sogasanŭn kominnyŏ” [A beloved and trustworthy husband has
another wife and children: Can warm-heartedness be a problem? He gets into another
affair – A troubled woman fooled by love], “Shipcharoe panghwanghanŭn yŏindŭl,”
Mansŏnilbo, 8 December 1939, morning edition.
33 “Ch’ŏtsarange ssŭnmasŭl pogo tolchae sarange ttosoga – “Paengnyŏn’gayakŭl maejŭn
namp’yŏnen ch’ŏjakkaji itsŏ – Pukmanesŏ unŭn nunmurŭi yŏin” [A woman betrayed
again after her first heartbreak: The man she is engaged to has a wife and children – A
woman crying in north Manchuria], “Shipcharoe panghwanghanŭn yŏindŭl,” Man­
sŏnilbo, 10 December 1939, morning edition.
34 Ch’anggyŏngwŏn was a former royal palace that was converted into a public venue by
the Japanese. It contained a zoo, a botanical garden, and a museum and opened to the
public starting 11 November 1909.
35 The Korean word kisaeng refers to professional women who entertained male patrons by
performing songs and dances at an event.
East China. Map by Eric Leinberger
 Part 2
EAST CHINA

—•  EAST CHINA TIMELINE  •—

1932 28 January, Shanghai Incident. Japanese forces clash with the

Chinese Nineteenth Route Army in the Shanghai International
Settlement
1936 19 October, Lu Xun dies of illness in Shanghai
1937 13 August, Battle of Shanghai
12 November, Japanese army occupies Shanghai
13 December, Japanese army occupies Nanjing, and Nanjing
Massacre begins
1938 3 November, Prince Konoe announces a “New Order in East
Asia”
1939 8 May, Wang Jingwei arrives in Shanghai
1940 30 April, Reorganized National Government of the Republic of
China (RNG) established in Nanjing under Wang Jingwei. Zhou
Fohai appointed minister of finance, Kiang Kang-hu as minister
of personnel, Lin Baisheng as minister of propaganda, and Fu
Shiyue as minister of rail
1941 1 March, Japanese forces occupy Wenzhou for the first time
8 December, Japanese forces occupy the International
Settlement in Shanghai
1942 24 March, Zhang Gang dies from illness
15 May, inaugural issue of Nü sheng (Women’s voice) pub-
lished in Shanghai
1943 30 October, Nanjing gains further autonomy after signing
Treaty of Alliance with Japan
1944 10 November, Wang Jingwei dies in Nagoya, and Chen
Gongbo takes over as acting president in Nanjing
1945 16 August, responding to the Japanese surrender the day
before, RNG acting president Chen Gongbo announces the
dissolution of the RNG and its replacement by a provisional
political affairs committee in Nanjing
1946 April, trials of major collaborationist officials in East China
commence in Shanghai, Suzhou, and other major cities
1947 10 November, Xu Zhuodai publishes “Remarkable Soy Sauce!”
1948 28 February, Zhou Fohai dies in prison while serving a life
sentence
152 Part 2

   THE JAPANESE OCCUPATION of east China, commencing with the attack

—•
on Shanghai on 13 August 1937, was marked by massacre, gave way to an
occupation of considerable complexity, and bequeathed a legacy that con-
tinues to haunt survivors and Sino-Japanese relations – as well as challenge
historians. Contributors in this section analyze this period with an emphasis
on the multiple layers of ambiguity and range of experiences involved in the
occupation.
For the Republic of China, the fall of the lower Yangtze delta entailed the
loss of a major economic centre, Shanghai, as well as a larger cultural heart-
land, home to writers, artists, and intellectuals, not to mention the universi-
ties, publishing houses, and studios that employed them. This was capped by
the brutal Nanjing Massacre and the deeply symbolic loss of the national
capital; in short order, the Nationalists lost most of the territory that they
had controlled in the so-called Nanjing Decade (1927–37). The emergence of
a series of Japanese-sponsored administrations in the region was not simply
a response to both the Japanese need for local partners in administering the
territories of east China, and the need for Chinese living in this area to re-
establish some form of order. Rather, it was also the outcome of efforts by
Chinese intellectuals and politicians who remained in or returned to the
region with a vision for establishing a new order in the wake of Japanese
invasion.
Such multiplicity makes the lower Yangtze delta and the surrounding
region a fascinating case study for scholars examining the challenges and
difficult choices that occupation posed, not only for ordinary Chinese people
and elites, but the Nationalist state as well. In contrast to the northeast,
where Manchukuo masqueraded as an independent nation in and of itself,
and north China, which was only a region, albeit an important one, under
the Republic of China, east China was home to the national capital of Nan­
jing. It was there that the Reorganized National Government (RNG), with
its pretentions of representing the whole of China and its claims to Nationalist
orthodoxy, eventually emerged.
 East China 153

Over the course of 1937 and 1938, in line with the Japanese advance, inter-
national safety zones for civilians sprang up in Shanghai, Nanjing, Hangzhou,
Hankou, and other cities, all operating with varying degrees of success and
varying degrees of responsibility in providing food, water, and shelter for the
local population. After Japanese military forces swept up the Yangtze River,
invasion gave way to occupation and a series of occupation states and statelets
took shape, sponsored by the Japanese and staffed by local elites. These ranged
from the strictly local and provisional, in the form of “Self-Governance” or
“Order Maintenance” committees that were established in the immediate
aftermath of the takeover, up to the grandly named Great Way Government
of Shanghai (1937–38) and from there the Reformed Government of the
Republic of China (1938–40). This in turn gave way to the Reorganized
National Government (1940–45) of Wang Jingwei (1883–1944).
This rapid turnover at an administrative level was accompanied by a
complex situation on the ground, where the rural-urban divide, uncertain
political loyalties, and the continued tumult of the war complicate any
straightforward narrative of the period. As Diana Lary has observed, and as
the following pieces suggest, there was no “standard experience” of occupa-
tion that could be defined by geography alone.1
This section opens with an abridged translation from the work of the
celebrated Republican-era humourist, Xu Zhuodai (1880–1958), by
Christopher Rea. Xu’s account of his wartime career selling soy sauce offers
an important reminder that, quite apart from questions of ideology, col-
laboration, or propaganda, for many the wartime era was dominated by the
struggle for survival and the search for life’s more basic necessities. Light­
hearted and told through humour, Xu’s account of how he managed to “get
by” through the war years redirects attention to questions of everyday life,
and offers a reminder that it is possible to recount the history of occupation
in multiple ways.
In the countryside, the full extent of Japanese occupation could ebb and
flow, creating contested spaces and reoccupations that left ample oppor­
tunity to “settle the score” with those who served in deposed regimes. Such
is the situation described by Weiting Guo in his analysis of the diary of
Zhang Gang (1860–1942), a local educator in the hinterland of Zhejiang,
who witnessed the turmoil brought on by multiple occupations and retreats
among contending forces. In the course of capturing the confusion and dis­
order brought on by invasion, Zhang’s diary also demonstrates how complex
narratives run the risk of being simplified in the victor’s recounting of
occupation.
154 Part 2

Adhering to a narrative of national resistance is a journalistic account by

Fan Shiqin (n.d.), introduced by Jennifer Lau. Like Zhang, Fan’s focus is on
events in the countryside, in this case rural Anhui, at a time when the dis-
tance from front line to home front was perilously short. As Lau describes,
Fan’s reportage, intended for readers in the interior, was an effort to conjure
the strength of China’s soldiers and the spirit of civilians, one meant to inspire
hope in the future and a sense of national unity amid national crisis.
Shifting to urban China, Naoko Kato turns our attention to Shanghai and
the Uchiyama Bookstore, which played an important role in knowledge
transmission and cultural life in the city, particularly during the lead-up to
war. For Kato, the bookstore as salon, serving as a site of transnational cul-
tural and intellectual exchange, is a reminder that the Japanese in China
during the war, and the relationships that they forged as individuals with
individual Chinese, was variegated and complex. Over the course of the
war, however, public spaces for such exchanges shrank and were eventually
snuffed out.
Above the shifting situation on the ground, Chinese intellectuals work-
ing further up in the occupation state hierarchy were tasked with the need
to adopt new propaganda and articulate new ideological positions. As
Timothy Brook has observed: “Managing needs and interests within the new
order might well mean parroting the hyperboles of Japanese propaganda in
order to get what one needed.”2 Applying this observation to the RNG and
media more broadly, it is worth considering how Nanjing’s propaganda
represented the adoption of appropriate formulations beneath which other
agendas might be more subtly deployed. The following pieces offer a starting
point for considering these and related issues.
Torsten Weber introduces two early examples of such subterfuge by Fu
Shiyue (1891–1947) and Lin Baisheng (1902–46), both of whom played im-
portant roles in the RNG. Fu puts forth an effort to position the Greater
Asianism of Sun Yat-sen (1866–1925), and with it China itself, at the heart
of the proposed “New Order in East Asia,” while Lin emphasizes Sun as a
means of explaining Chinese involvement in Japan’s East Asian League.
Common to both texts, as Weber points out, is the sense of ambiguity and
the challenge of interpretation, particularly around whether to view their
writings as propaganda for domestic audiences or as an attempt, directed at
Japan, to find space for Chinese autonomy within a Japanese order by adopt-
ing the rhetoric of the occupier.
Other elements of RNG propaganda drew much more heavily on existing
Nationalist Party doctrine and political campaigns. Craig Smith reflects on
 East China 155

the RNG’s signature political campaigns and efforts to promote a “Wang

Jingwei-ism” ideology, which turned out to be very much in line with the
Nationalists’ New Life Movement of the 1930s, incorporating elements from
Confucianism, Sun Yat-sen’s Three Principles of the People and, somewhat
less directly, the Japanese-led East Asian League. In other instances, as Smith
shows, the ideological work of collaboration involved less the importation
of Japanese influences in the form of the League, and more a judicious re-
emphasis of neglected aspects of the prewar Nationalist creed. For this, Smith
considers the case of Yang Honglie, an intellectual who, unlike Lin Baisheng
and Fu Shiyue, had no direct connection with Wang prior to joining his peace
movement. Yang did, however, have a Japanese education and a long-standing
intellectual interest in Asianism. Having joined the peace movement, he then
began penning a series of speeches outlining his interpretation of Great
Asianism and his vision for China in the East Asian new order.
Alongside the ambiguity of interpretation in these texts is the complex
network of personal relationships in which they were produced. As in many
other contexts, the political agendas and loyalties of those who staffed the
occupation states cannot be assumed. Personalized factional groupings were
one feature of the RNG, as was the presence of individuals of varying ideo-
logical stripes along the Chinese political spectrum, some of whom held
important public positions but were in fact working as operatives for the
Communist Party or the Nationalist Party.3 While the writings above point
toward the ideological refashioning that took place under occupation, the
following are particularly striking, not only for their content, but the careers
and positions of those who wrote them.
First among them is Zhou Fohai (1897–1948), whose career began in the
Communist Party and continued in the orbit of Chiang Kai-shek (1887–1975)
and the Nationalists, before finally reaching its highest point as a paramount
figure among those who followed Wang Jingwei in advocating peace.4 Brian
Martin’s translation of an extract from Zhou’s diaries not only highlights
the breadth of Zhou’s social network within the many factions of the
Nationalist Party, but also offers an insider’s look at the personal relation-
ships between various figures, the formation of the RNG in its early stages,
and the personality of Wang Jingwei.
By comparison, the subject of the next submission, Kiang Kang-hu
(1883–1954), founder of the Chinese Socialist Party (established in 1911)
and an early advocate for women’s education, stood at a remove from the
leading figures of the RNG, and offered a voice of dissent from within the
occupied territory. His essay, published in 1941 and translated by Jonathan
156 Part 2

Henshaw, critiques the RNG’s failure to deal with the problem of starvation,
and reflects Kiang’s disillusionment with the RNG and its collaboration with
Japan.
These writings are followed by works from two authors whose private
affiliations lend ambiguity to their public writings. The first is an exploration
of youth, capitalism, and the “woman question” written by underground Com­­
munist agent Guan Lu (1907–82) and translated by Norman Smith. Guan’s
work is of interest not only for her complicated pre- and postwar biography,
but also as a platform for considering cultural production under occupation,
the role of personal relationships between “occupier” and “occupied,” and
the space available for critique and discussions of gender under the RNG.
Yuan Shu (1911–87) was another Communist Party spy operating within
the RNG. Yuan’s essay on constitutionalism, translated by Matthew Galway,
offers a critique of Euro-American imperialism, with reference to the Three
Principles of the People and Marxist class categories, which reviews the causes
of China’s semicolonial predicament and outlines a way forward – through
constitutional development. Despite his public position and invocation of
RNG talking points on imperialism and the need for constitutionalism,
Yuan’s arguments and use of Marxist class categories would have likely caused
some consternation to a careful Japanese reader.
Taken together, the documents translated in this section point to the
complex geographic, intellectual, and personal dynamics at work over the
course of the occupation of east China. Geographically, the continued resist-
ance from Nationalist-held Chongqing and Communist-held Yan’an meant
that Japanese control was contested, which contributed to the continued
shuffling of occupation states, one replacing another, as the war unfolded.
Intellectually, Japanese failure to put forward an ideology with local appeal
left Chinese writers, thinkers, and politicians to raid the storehouse of
recent Chinese political thought, resulting in a propaganda landscape of
reworked messaging subject to multiple interpretations. Finally, the occupa-
tion states themselves were staffed by individuals whose allegiance was not
always assured, including reluctant, wavering converts to the Japanese cause
and underground agents whose political loyalties lay elsewhere. This is not
to say that the translations included here are representative of all places, all
propaganda, or all individuals. Instead, they draw out the full range of activ-
ity that took place under occupation and offer a platform for considering what
occupation in east China meant for those who sought to live through it.
 East China 157

Notes
1 Diana Lary, “Introduction: The Context of War,” in China at War: Regions of China,
1937–1945, ed. Stephen R. MacKinnon, Diana Lary, and Ezra F. Vogel (Stanford, CA:
Stanford University Press, 2007), 7.
2 Timothy Brook, Collaboration: Japanese Agents and Local Elites in Wartime China
(Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2005), 8–9.
3 Other high-profile Communist Party agents within the RNG include Li Shiyu in the
Shanghai mayor’s office and Zhang Ke in the Propaganda Ministry. Nationalist Party
agents included Tang Shengming and Li Wenzhai in Nanjing.
4 For Zhou Fohai’s ties with Chongqing, see Brian G. Marin, “Collaboration within Col­
laboration: Zhou Fohai’s Relations with the Chongqing Government, 1942–1945,”
Twentieth-Century China 34, 2 (2009): 55–88.
10 Xu Zhuodai,
“Remarkable Soy Sauce!”
CHRISTOPHER REA

Xu Zhuodai (born Xu Fulin, 1880–1958) was one of Republican Shang­

hai’s most famous comic writers.1 His stories, essays, plays, jokes, trans­
lations, and advice columns appeared in over three dozen periodicals.
In a literary career spanning five decades he also authored two dozen
books and edited a variety of fiction and general-interest magazines.
Xu was a cultural entrepreneur who, in addition to his literary activities,
founded and ran gymnastics academies, theatre troupes, and film com­
panies, acted in plays and movies, recorded phonograph records,
hosted radio shows, and wrote everything from advertising copy for
amusement halls to memoirs of the modern drama scene to textbooks
on sports physiology, martial arts, and film-making technique. Xu was
one of those self-made men who embraced all that modern city life had
to offer. He relied on this considerable resourcefulness to make a living
in Shanghai during the Japanese occupation.
In 1946, the Shanghai tabloid Jipu (Jeep) put Xu Zhuodai second on
their list of the “108 Leaders of Shanghai Literature.” Next to a caricature
of Xu, a caption dubbed him “Dr. Do-It-All, a Man of Innumerable Clever
Tricks,” and also hailed him as a “tycoon of the tofu industry and modern
Dongfang Shuo,” alluding to a celebrated wit of the Han dynasty. 2 The
profile is proof that Xu’s celebrity as a comedian extended across the
eight-year Anti-Japanese War, which he was perhaps uniquely pos­
itioned to survive.
For one thing, he spoke fluent Japanese. In the 1900s, Xu had studied
in Japan, but whereas many contemporaries studied medicine or en­
gineering, he chose physical education. By the 1940s, he had decades
of experience translating works from Japanese as varied as Zhongxue
yuedian jiaokeshu (Middle schools foreign musical course, 1914),
160 Christopher Rea

Xuexiao jubenji (Stage plays for the classroom, preface dated 1924), and
a popular textbook on Japanese martial arts (1917; 8th ed., 1935) based
on the curriculum of the Kodokan Judo Institute. During the war, Xu
remained in Shanghai and continued to write and translate for maga­
zines such as Wan hsiang (Wanxiang) and Dazhong (The masses).
Between 1943 and 1945, he translated at least nine stories from Japan­
ese for Dazhong, including works by Tsutsumi Chiyo (1917–55), Kimura
Ki (1894–1979), Yokomizo Seishi (1902–81), and four works by Kikuchi
Hiroshi (1888–1948), who was an ardent supporter of the Japanese
war effort.
Xu’s versatility and productiveness as a writer was another asset
during the war. He kept people informed and entertained. In its early
years, he published a how-to book, Cinematography (Dianying sheyingfa,
1938) and two editions of Xiaohua xiao hua (Jokes with cartoons, 1937;
2nd ed., 1938). (He’d earlier published thousands of jokes and another
book on film-making, and in the 1920s ran two film companies.) In the
1930s, Xu wrote an advice column under the pen name Dr. Li Ah Mao
(Li Amao boshi), and he later developed Li Ah Mao into a trickster-
detective figure who provides advice to his downtrodden friends and
the general public. Xu wrote screenplays for several film comedies
based on the character (no longer extant), including Li Amao yu Tang
xiaojie (Li Ah Mao and Miss Tang, 1939) and Li Amao yu jiangshi (Li Ah
Mao and the zombie, 1940).
When the Pacific War broke out, Xu was in the middle of serializing
the twelve-part series Li Amao waizhuan (The unofficial story of Li Ah
Mao, July 1941–June 1942) in Wan hsiang. In several stories, Ah Mao
helps his unemployed friends make money by duping gullible urbanites
with scams advertised in the newspaper. In one, he solves the case of a
stolen pearl necklace just by having a friend read him a news report. In
another, he stimulates demand for the book Socializing Techniques for
Men and Women by penning fake reviews labelling it pornographic.
Military conflict is never mentioned, but several stories allude to a gen­
eral climate of economic hardship and food scarcity that encourages
scheming for survival.
The most topical story in the series is the eleventh, “Riyu xuexiao”
(Japanese school). Ah Mao’s friend Ah Yang spends his entire salary
on rice and has no money left over for rent, clothes, or transportation
expenses. Ah Mao’s solution is to open a Japanese-language school
(having just read Japanese in One Day) and recruit students by
 Xu Zhuodai, “Remarkable Soy Sauce!” 161

advertising free tuition. Instead, he charges each student one bag of

rice, and then spends an entire month teaching them one word, kome
(rice). Month two he charges them four catties of cooking oil and, in
exchange, teaches them the word abura (oil). When students complain
about the slow pace of the lessons, he points out that they’re getting
what they paid for, and furthermore that he’s been forced to eat raw
(and then oily raw) rice. The third month’s tuition and lesson is to in­
volve charcoal briquettes, but “yesterday I took one to ask a Japanese
person what they were called but he didn’t know either.” Ah Mao closes
down his home school and replaces the sign on his door with the no­
tice Seeking charcoal briquettes. Will trade rice or cooking oil.
This concern with the basic necessities reappears in Xu’s other
writings of the Japanese occupation period. The same magazines that
carried his fiction and plays also published his home economics advice
pieces, such as “Shengmi chifan fa” (How to make your rice last) and
“Baojian shiliao” (Healthful foods), which contained tips on home eco­
nomics and nutrition. The latter included a table listing foods high in
protein, vitamins, and carbohydrates. 3
Yet even with such language skills, literary talent, industry connec­
tions, and common sense, Xu Zhuodai, by his own account, still had to
branch out into other enterprises in order to make ends meet in occu­
pied Shanghai. “Remarkable Soy Sauce!” (1947), about half of which is
represented in this abridged translation, is something of an infomercial
for a home business that Xu Zhuodai and his second wife, Hua Duancen,
started in Shanghai during the Japanese occupation manufacturing
“scientific” (kexue), or artificial, soy sauce. (Xu’s first wife, Tang Jianwo,
died in 1932 in the Japanese bombing of Shanghai’s Zhabei district.)
Xu jokes that “the second wives that men took in the interior during
the War of Resistance were called ‘wartime wives’; for the same reason,
you could call me a ‘wartime businessman.’” The phenomenon of war­
time polygamy that Xu refers to was dramatized that same year in the
two-part epic film Yi jiang chunshui xiang dong liu (Spring river flows
east, 1947).
Since at least the 1910s, magazine writers routinely wrote autobio­
graphical pieces and biographical sketches of their colleagues both to
make copy and to boost their celebrity. In the 1920s, for example, Xu
wrote an essay about why his two film companies failed. 4 Xu’s wartime
soy sauce business was apparently still a going concern in 1947, as he
devotes much of his energy to building his “Good Wife Brand” and
162 Christopher Rea

touting the quality of his product. His complaints about the machina­
tions of cooks and servants demanding kickbacks for buying his product
suggest that everyone in 1940s Shanghai was trying to make a little
extra on the side. Also symptomatic of wartime pressures in Shanghai –
in Xu’s words, “an age when everyone is a businessman” – is the impulse
to make one’s own home economically productive, whether by renting
out rooms (and subletting parts of rooms), or by operating a home
business, scenarios depicted in films like Huanxiang riji (Diary of a
homecoming, 1947) and Wuya yu maque (Crows and sparrows, 1949).
More particular to Xu Zhuodai’s personality is the extroverted advice
giving. Xu mentions a text within the text: a “Guide to Preventing Soy
Sauce from Going Mouldy” that was popular with customers and com­
petitors alike. Xu’s essay illustrates what makes the writer-businessman
different from the regular businessman: you don’t just do business; you
also sell the story of your business.
A sense of literary flair is evident too in the title (and refrain) of Xu’s
essay, which puns on the phrase “Too remarkable for words!” (miao
buke yan): “words” ( yan) sounds like “salt” (yan) and soy sauce is salty.
Xu refers to himself several times as “Maiyou lang,” one of his many
jocular pen names. Oil and soy sauce are both you in Chinese, so
“Maiyou lang” alludes both to Xu’s occupation as a soy sauce seller
and to the Oil-Peddler, a figure appearing in literature and drama of
the imperial period, who saved up his meagre earnings so that he could
spend one night with a famous prostitute. 5 While struggling to fill our
bellies, why not have a little fun too?

—•  TRANSLATION  •—

Remarkable Soy Sauce!6

xu zhuodai

How, you ask, did I become the Soy Sauce Seller? I used to make soy sauce
purely for my own consumption. I made it myself and ate it myself. It was so
delicious – so much better than anything on the market – that I let a few
friends and family members have a taste. They were all full of praise (were
they just being polite?) and I was delighted. The more people praised it, the
happier I felt and the more I gave away. But prices kept creeping up, and my
 Xu Zhuodai, “Remarkable Soy Sauce!” 163

costs were increasing by the day. I just couldn’t give it away anymore, so I
copied the technique of calligraphers who curtail sponging from friends and
family by setting a fee to “moisten the brush,” and started out-and-out selling
my soy sauce to recoup my costs.
During the War of Resistance I originally made my living with my pen,
but I really couldn’t continue to support myself by writing alone. In an age
when everyone is a businessman, the only thing for me to do was to take a
stab at business myself. Having nothing else to sell, I sold the soy sauce I
made, and began this irretrievably vulgar life as the Soy Sauce Seller. The
second wives that men took in the interior during the War of Resistance
were called “wartime wives”; for the same reason, you could call me a “war-
time businessman.”
A greenhorn who takes up a certain line of business is bound to make a
regular fool of himself. That’s even more the case in this business (if you
could call it that) of mine. I wasn’t speculating in securities or stocks, where
all you have to do is chomp down on your cigar and make a few phone calls.
Nor was I underwriting a major business someone else would be running
for me, where I could just kick back as the big boss. In my trade, I was both
worker and owner, producer and seller. Boss, assistant, technician, worker,
salesman, everything – it was all me. My operation really couldn’t have been
any smaller; it was such a tiny organization that if it were any smaller no one
would probably even notice it. But the product that came out of this teeny-
tiny outfit of mine tasted so delicious to me that I couldn’t help dancing a
jig. As far as I was concerned, it beat every product on the market. Size didn’t
matter to me; so long as the product was good, I was happy.
[ ... ]
The fourth of the four methods for producing soy sauce is called the “scien-
tific method” and involves a completely different approach from the three
fermentation-based methods. With this method you don’t create a fermented
paste and then extract soy sauce; instead, you produce a seasoning powder,
and turn the powder into soy sauce by adding water. It’s the most time-
efficient process, requiring only four or five days.
[ ... ]
Ninety-nine percent of soy sauce consumers, however, are not experts, and
your average person has a hard time telling good soy sauce from bad. Pour
a cup of water into a litre of soy sauce and it’s still soy sauce – few people can
tell that it’s been diluted. Soy sauce is an unregulated product, so on the
market you’ll find people making a buck with bogus soy sauce made with
164 Christopher Rea

the dregs of seasonings, or with salt water. Some shops will even pass off
coloured salt water as soy sauce, and no one detects the fraud. Remarkable
soy sauce indeed!
Your average person judges the quality of soy sauce solely by price. If
the price is high, they think the product must be good. Instead of judging
the flavour with their mouth, they hear the price with their ears and deter-
mine the quality based on that. This puts me at a disadvantage. I come to
this business as an outsider, and my goal is to sell superior goods at an af-
fordable price, so my constant priority is product quality. No matter how
expensive the ingredients are, I never cut corners, while always keeping
my price slightly below the competition. In this period of fluctuating com-
modity prices, my prices track the ups and downs of the market, and yet
there are some people who hear my price and remark: “With a price as low
as that, it must be inferior goods.” What an injustice! When customers hear
the price but don’t taste the flavour, I lose out.
Be that as it may, though I’ve had many long-time customers mysteri-
ously stop buying my soy sauce all of a sudden, after two or three months
they inevitably come back. This is because they’ve tasted the competition’s
soy sauce, compared it to mine, and discovered that mine tastes better
and is cheaper to boot. So these old customers end up returning as new
customers.
At the start, I sold my soy sauce to others cheaply out of the goodness
of my heart. But later I experienced two types of invisible losses: First, when
I set my price low, people would buy a lot with the intention of hoarding
it. But people stockpiling eight or ten crocks of soy sauce obviously won’t be
able to finish it all, and as soon as the weather warms up, the soy sauce starts
going mouldy. The customer invariably blames the quality of my soy sauce,
never allowing the possibility that the mould grew because the soy sauce
was stored for too long, or that it might have had something to do with the
muggy weather. Second, customers buying a lot of soy sauce in one go rarely
have their own containers to store it in, so they insist on borrowing my crocks.
To them, the loan is a trifle, but for me it’s a huge pain in the neck. Over the
course of one month, I might use a single crock to sell thirty jars of soy sauce.
If I lend it out for a month I’m losing thirty orders, so I have to go and buy
another crock. If one hundred customers each borrow a crock, that’s one
hundred crocks, and I have to shell out a fortune. No small matter.
Furthermore, when I, out of the goodness of my heart, lend a customer
a crock, that crock is always like the proverbial yellow crane – “once gone,
 Xu Zhuodai, “Remarkable Soy Sauce!” 165

never to return.” Soy Sauce Seller suffers a humongous loss if he isn’t careful.
A couple weeks or a month later when I send someone to retrieve the crock,
he might have to make as many as five or six trips. Other crocks end up
broken or missing. The maidservant might sell it to the second-hand goods
man, and the customer then claims that he never borrowed one in the first
place. My losses mount, since the profit I made from selling one crock’s worth
of soy sauce is less than the price of the crock itself. So lending out crocks is
a real pain in the neck for Soy Sauce Seller.
But that isn’t Soy Sauce Seller’s only sorrow! Should a cook or a house-
keeper take enemy action against him, his business in that household is kaput.
Imagine, say, that the head of a household is a friend of mine, or the friend
of a friend. He decides to buy soy sauce from me, but his cook or housekeeper
is one of those people who tries to make a little on the side. The latter will
object to buying from me, because if they buy from one of the nearby shops
instead, they can get a kickback. But if the vendor is a friend of the Master
or was introduced by the Master’s friend, there’s no kickback to be had. And
it goes without saying that if I’m the one standing between them and their
kickback. I’m the enemy, and they take enemy action. Their simplest method
of revenge is to pour out a certain portion of the soy sauce and then to weigh
it out in front of the Master, claiming that they’re being shortchanged and
should switch to a different vendor. Just like that, their revenge is complete.
I remember a certain household on Anfu Road that someone or other had
recommended as a customer. Three days after they bought my soy sauce, I
suddenly received a letter from the household saying that the soy sauce was
bad and that I should send someone to exchange it. I immediately sent
someone over with a new crock and brought the original one back, but as
soon as I opened the container my nose was hit by a foul stench that smelled
like some sort of mineral oil. How on earth could I be responsible for some-
thing like this? So I took that crock of soy sauce myself and sought out the
head of household. No sooner had I stepped through the door and explained
my purpose, however, then the cook came out and said: “This concerns me.
It has nothing to do with the Master. If you have something to say, say it to
me.” His attitude was high-handed and intimidating, and he refused to let
me see his Master, even physically blocking me from going upstairs. I’d pretty
much figured out the score, so I told him:

Bad soy sauce warrants an exchange, but this crock smells like kerosene. It
would be impossible for me – or any soy sauce maker – to produce something
166 Christopher Rea

like this. I’m positive this isn’t my original product, so I’m unwilling to
exchange it. I’ll be taking back the crock of soy sauce that was delivered just
now, and if you really believe that this soy sauce is bad because of me, you
can take me and the product to the police station.

My goal at the time was to cancel the exchange, and I thought he’d be un­
willing to agree, but it turned out he had nothing to say, and so I held on to
the kerosene soy sauce and returned home with that and the replacement
crock. I was well aware that the cook had sabotaged me in retaliation for
losing his kickback, but since there was no chance of doing business there
again anyway, why should I suffer the loss of yet another crock of soy sauce?
The unfortunate thing is that the master of the house continued to be hood-
winked by his cook and never discovered the mischief. I expect that the cook
wasn’t doing this just with soy sauce either, and that the head of household
was losing vast sums on his account. Sticking to the principle of selling
authentic goods at a reasonable price, I would rather not do business than
make an exception and pay kickbacks. Soy sauce shops that give kickbacks
to cooks and serving girls are fleecing their customers; they may not be
providing an inferior product, but they’re shorting on quantity, even if the
shop itself suffers no loss. Such an arrangement between cooks or house­
keepers and small businesses may be common, but I’m completely opposed
to it. A cook buying on a budget, however, is always delighted to buy my soy
sauce because it’s such a good deal.
[ ... ]
Does adding preservatives guarantee that soy sauce won’t grow mould?
Preservatives do discourage mould but don’t prevent it. How the consumer
stores it is also a factor. One household I know would keep their soy sauce
in the kitchen where it was extremely hot and humid, and it developed mould
due to improper storage. Another family kept theirs in a storeroom and hung
a ham above the open container. The ham had gone mouldy, and the mould
travelled through the air into the soy sauce, making it go mouldy too. Then
there’s the maidservant who ladled soy sauce out from the container every
day and who accidentally introduced unboiled water into the container,
which of course made the soy sauce go mouldy. Yet another household
hoarded an immense quantity of soy sauce, which, if kept too long in hot
weather, naturally goes mouldy. In each case, it’s the environment and not
the soy sauce itself that’s creating the mould. That’s why I say that use of
 Xu Zhuodai, “Remarkable Soy Sauce!” 167

preservatives can only discourage mould, since storage conditions are also
important. When soy sauce has preservatives in it and storage conditions
are good, it’ll never go mouldy.
[ ... ]
The foolproof way to prevent soy sauce from going mouldy is to transfer the
soy sauce from the crock it came in into a bottle and seal it tightly with the
cork for the months between early summer and early fall. This will prevent
mould. An even more advanced method is to drip one drop of sesame oil
into the soy sauce, which will prevent mould from growing.
The rich flavour of soy sauce comes entirely from protein. The more protein
it has, the greater its richness. My soy sauce’s flavour is superior to other
people’s because it contains more protein. On that score, let me share a couple
of secrets: the Japanese tonic Polytamin will make you fat if you eat too much
of it because it’s made completely of protein. Its ingredients and production
method are identical to that of artificial soy sauce; you could say it’s just es-
sence of soy sauce without the salty taste. The product they sold ten years
ago had a good, rich flavour, but you can’t taste it in what they’re making
nowadays. Put another way, they’re basically selling essence of soy sauce as
medicine, but at a tremendous premium. I call my soy sauce “nourishing”
because its protein is so abundant that it could be used as a substitute for
tonic. Here’s another secret: some of the beef broth on the market these days
has essence of soy sauce secretly added to it. It’s got a great rich flavour and
is extremely nourishing. Beef broth and essence of soy sauce are similar in
that both contain protein – the sole difference is that one comes from animals
and the other from plants.
[ ... ]
The most important person in the household when it comes to soy sauce is
the lady of the house. If she’s not attentive or takes only a cursory interest
in domestic affairs, then her cook and housekeeper will have the run of the
kitchen. In such circumstances, all the ingredients that go into what the
family eats and drinks, including soy sauce and the like, can be manipulated
by the housekeeper and cook as they see fit. They’ll report inflated prices
and take kickbacks, such that the family ends up shortchanged and the
quality of their food declines. They’ll pay big bucks to eat poorly. If, however,
the lady of the house is well educated or has a good mind for running a
household, no cook or housekeeper will ever undermine her authority when
it comes to the running of the kitchen. So long as she inspects all the food
168 Christopher Rea

purchases personally, quality is assured, and the whole family will be able
to eat three delicious meals every day for a reasonable expenditure. My soy
sauce customers are probably this type of housewife. Those who don’t have
much of a personal hand in domestic affairs are unlikely to buy my soy sauce,
and I don’t welcome their business. They’re blind to quality and are not my
true target customers. That’s why I call my brand of soy sauce “Good Wife
Brand” – it’s for the superior housewife.
The Chinese attitude toward prepared foodstuffs could be called: “It’s all
good, so long as you don’t see what goes into it.” What you put in your mouth
might taste delicious, but if you were to see how it’s really made it would turn
your stomach. Nine times out of ten, it’s unbearably filthy. That’s why I don’t
delegate any soy sauce making to other people. I do the whole thing myself,
so as to keep everything clean. The reason is that my family eats what we
make. My constant worry nowadays is: “If one day I were to quit the soy sauce
business, where would I buy reliably delicious soy sauce?” Nobody else’s could
be as clean as ours.
Moreover, soy sauce is typically made with unboiled water. When cooked
with food, there’s no problem of course, but it’s unhygienic to eat raw as a
condiment. My soy sauce, in contrast, is precooked. I pasteurize it by bring-
ing it to a boil, so it can be eaten raw with no problems. What with fuel being
so expensive these days, who but me is willing to do this work that the con-
sumer never sees?
“Remarkable soy sauce!” Soy sauce is a remarkable thing indeed. Busi­
nessmen tend to be experts in their products. Soy sauce is the sole exception
– a trade in which all the people involved are laymen. Should you run into
someone who makes or sells soy sauce, just query him about a few basic
principles or facts related to soy sauce and he’ll always be unable to respond.
Remarkable, wouldn’t you say? As for the big players that have not a single
technician and rely entirely on the recipe of some venerable chef, just ask
them how an age-old soy sauce recipe might be improved. Last summer,
I printed a small booklet called “A Guide to Preventing Soy Sauce from
Going Mouldy,” and advertised it in the newspaper as a freebie for house-
wives, intending to teach them a few basic facts. I received quite a few letters,
but to my surprise over half of them were actually from not housewives
but fermenters at soy sauce factories as far away as Henan province. The
people in need of this advice turned out to be my colleagues in the business.
So, you see, most people involved in the soy sauce trade are not experts at
all. Remarkable as soy sauce, wouldn’t you say?
 Xu Zhuodai, “Remarkable Soy Sauce!” 169

Notes
1 Not to be confused with the Republican politician Xu Fulin (1879–1958). On Xu Zhuodai’s
life and works, see Christopher Rea, The Age of Irreverence: A New History of Laughter in
China (Oakland, CA: University of California Press, 2015), ch. 5. Translations of several
of Xu Zhuodai’s stories and plays, including The Unofficial Story of Li Ah Mao, mentioned
below, appear in Christopher Rea, ed., China’s Chaplin: Comic Stories and Farces by Xu
Zhuodai (Ithaca, NY: Cornell East Asia Program, 2019).
2 Shi Nan’an (text), Dong Tianye (illustration), “Doufuye juzi, jindai Dongfang Shuo Xu
Zhuodai” [A tycoon of the tofu industry and modern Dongfang Shuo: Xu Zhuodai], #2
in series “Haipai wentan yibailingba jiang” [108 leaders of Shanghai literature], Jipu [Jeep]
15 (1946): 5.
3 Xu Fulin, “Shengmi chifan fa” [How to make your rice last], Dazhong [The masses], 1
December 1944, 115–16; Xu Fulin, “Baojian shiliao” [Healthful foods], Dazhong, 1 January
1945, 113.
4 Xu Zhuodai, “Wo ban yingxi gongsi shibai tan” [On my failed film companies], Mingxing
yuebao [Star monthly] 2 (1928): n.p.
5 For one Ming dynasty version of the Oil-Peddler’s story, see: “The Oil-Peddler Wins the
Queen of Flowers” [Maiyou lang duzhan huakui], in Stories to Awaken the World: A Ming
Dynasty Collection, vol. 3., ed. Feng Menglong, trans. Shuhui Yang and Yunqin Yang
(Seattle: University of Washington Press, 2014), 38–77.
6 Xu Zhuodai, “Miao buke jiangyou” [Remarkable soy sauce], Chahua (Tea talk) 18 (10
November 1947): 40–48.
11 The Diary of Zhang Gang
An Excerpt
WEITING GUO

During the Second Sino-Japanese War (1937–45), Japanese troops

occupied Wenzhou, Zhejiang, three times.1 Although brief, these occu­
pations devastated Wenzhou’s infrastructure and disrupted the local
order and economy. In 1941, the Japanese army occupied Wenzhou
and destroyed the goods transportation network of this port city over
fourteen days. Prior to this, Wenzhou had never experienced Japanese
occupation, as many other coastal cities already had. The quick take­
over not only disturbed local order, but also sent a warning signal to the
Nationalist government. A year later, after the United States bombarded
several Japanese cities, Japan fought back by occupying Wenzhou and
destroying the main airbases in southern Zhejiang. This time, the
Japanese army occupied Wenzhou for over a month. Yet it encountered
fierce resistance as the Nationalist army fought to retake this strategic
port. The third occupation took place from September 1944 to June
1945. Fearing that the Allies would take the southeast coast as a stra­
tegic base, the Japanese army took Wenzhou and constructed military
fortifications. 2 Frequent occupations reflected how the Japanese mil­
itary approached the battles and handled the changing circumstances.
To survive Japan’s attacks and atrocities, Wenzhou people and govern­
ment officials also created strategies for managing their daily lives and
navigating the competing military groups and political factions that
operated in their region.
Facing east to the sea, Wenzhou had long served as a hub for goods
transportation and as an important fishing port. 3 Despite the rugged
terrain that separated this area from the prosperous Jiangnan region,
Wenzhou had frequent contact with neighbouring Fujian province, and
had a rich history of maritime trade and smuggling with the surrounding
 The Diary of Zhang Gang 171

regions. 4 After 1876, when Wenzhou became a new treaty port open to
foreign countries, it became a major trade centre on China’s southeast
coast. During the early twentieth century, Wenzhou continued to de­
velop its foreign trade and had increased sea routes for both import
and export.5 Primarily due to its geographical location and its distinctive
role in coastal trade, Wenzhou became a target of Japanese occupation,
particularly when the Japanese army adjusted its plans against the
Nationalists and the Allies.
Zhang Gang, who spent his entire life in Wenzhou’s Tingtian village, 6
witnessed the first occupation in 1941 and observed the rivalries be­
tween the Nationalist authorities, Japanese armies, and local elites. Born
to a lower gentry family in 1860, Zhang Gang obtained the shengyuan
(licentiate) degree and was noted for his prose and poetry.7 He played
a positive role in literati circles and opened his own school in 1887. 8 He
was also active in the introduction of new ideas and made great efforts
in introducing new books from Shanghai to local academies (shuyuan).
Throughout his life, he actively engaged in literature, education, com­
munal activities, and the practice of village mediation.9 More import­
antly, Zhang Gang’s rich experiences with local affairs became an asset
in his remarkable account of local history. For over fifty years, from 1888
to his death in 1942, Zhang Gang recorded almost every development
of his life and local community in his diary.10
Due to its remarkable record of daily life in a Chinese village, Zhang
Gang’s diary reveals how local people acted, perceived, and responded
to the Japanese occupation. It reflects the complex layers of occupation
experiences, including how local officials fled, causing havoc, and then
shamelessly returned to present themselves as heroes. Through his
daily observations, Zhang depicts how government officials persecuted
those who negotiated and collaborated with the Japanese after the
occupation, and how opponents of these collaborators joined the per­
secution and exacerbated political struggles. He also describes how
local elites offered food and supplies to Japanese troops in exchange
for security, and how bandits and government officials disturbed local
communities during and after the occupation. For example, Zhang rec­
ords the entire existence – from its formation to its termination – of the
Committee for Maintaining Order (Weichihui), a Japanese-sponsored
organization that invited locals to participate in various public affairs,
and the consequent political struggles within local society. He also
describes the interesting case of Ye Fuquan, a Wenzhou native who
172 Weiting Guo

worked as a woodworker in Taiwan, then a Japanese colony.11 After the

Japanese occupied Wenzhou, Ye returned to his hometown and served
as an interpreter in the Japanese army. Just before Japanese troops
departed from Wenzhou, he leaked some key clues to the locals that
enabled Zhang Gang and other elites to predict the departure of the
Japanese soldiers before they left. Moreover, throughout his diary,
Zhang Gang chronicles how he maintained his life, gathered informa­
tion, encountered the Japanese army for the first time, contacted
friends and relatives, helped relatives escape from war-ravaged areas,
and heard how his relatives bribed Japanese soldiers to avoid being
executed. This diary provides a first-hand window into life and local
politics under Japanese occupation in a key centre for trade along
China’s southeast coast.12
Zhang Gang entitled his diary Duyinyuan riji (Duyinyuan diary),
following his literary name, the Old Man at Duyinyuan. The original
manuscript of this diary is stored in the Rare Book Department of the
Wenzhou Municipal Library.13 An excerpted version was published by
Shanghai Social Sciences Press in 2003, including about one-fourth of
the original manuscript.14 Below is a translation of selections from this
excerpted version.

—•  TRANSLATION  •—

Diary of Zhang Gang

1 March (4 February on the lunar calendar) 1941

At six o’clock, just as I woke up, I heard the roar of aircraft overhead. Again,
seven airplanes appeared in the sky. They flew from east to north, and then
intensively bombarded Yongjia area [Yongjun, a.k.a. Yongjia]. Now it’s still
unknown which place was damaged. In the afternoon, Tongqing15 came
and told me that [the Japanese army] dropped bombs in Changqiao salt field
and raked Tangxia with machine-gun fire. One was reported killed by gun­
fire in Tangxia. Places around Yongjia area, such as Nantang, Baixiang, and
the county’s East Gate, South Gate, and Xiguo (close to the West Gate), were
each hit by around fifty or sixty bombs. There were over a hundred casualties
from the bombing. Rumour has it that four out of six people in a family were
killed in the bombing. One may well say that it’s extremely tragic.
 The Diary of Zhang Gang 173

4 March (7 February on the lunar calendar)

I have read the Wenzhou News (Wenzhou bao) from the past two days. It said
that the crazed bombing by the Japanese dwarves’ planes (woji) led to dam-
ages to gates and buildings and high casualties in Yongjia. Since the mem­
bers of the Patrol and Protection Corps (Xunhudui), Xue Yinkui and Lin
Lian­sheng, lost their entire families during the bombing, people in the county
raised around 300 [national] dollars in compensation (fuxujin) to help these
two soldiers get by. Fortunately, there has been no [air-raid] alarm today.

5 March (8 February on the lunar calendar)

Today, the noise of airplanes in the sky came once again. Some observers
said the first batch had five airplanes, the second seven, and the third ten.
In total, there were twenty-two airplanes. They all flew from north to south.
Fortunately, they didn’t drop any bombs.

15 March (18 February on the lunar calendar)

Today, I sold out my stored shredded potato (shusi). For 100 jin, the sale price
is 14 yuan. I sold about 825 jin, so I got 140 yuan and 1 jiao in national dol-
lars. Recently, 100 jin of good, clean, and white shredded potato cost 26 to
27 yuan in xiaoyang (yang or xiaoyang; “small foreign-style money”). One
hundred jin of shelled rice would cost 40 yuan in dayang (“large foreign-
style money”). For table salt, the price is 1 yuan for 4 liang. A handful of
good firewood would cost 6 yang or 7 jiao. When daily necessities become
so extraordinarily expensive, what could anyone with a household do?

27 March (30 February on the lunar calendar)

Tongqing came and told me that two of the enemy’s small motorboats entered
the Feiyun River in Rui’an yesterday.16 They realized that there is military
defence in the area, so they left right away. The county government then
warned people to evacuate. Many people in the county capital were so pan-
icked that they were eager to run away. My third daughter-in-law also fled
to the village from the county capital.

4 April 4 (8 March on the lunar calendar)

Today, the fifth fang branch of the family (fang) was dividing its sacrificial
meat offerings (fenzuo). Tongqing is on duty for doing this for this year. It
cost around 300 yuan in national dollars. Now the price of meat is a dollar
for only 14 liang. The price of rice is a dollar for only 11 liang. For shredded
174 Weiting Guo

potato, a dollar only gets you 1 jin of the good-quality stuff, or only 2 jin of
the average stuff. Prices are skyrocketing. For thousands of years, this has
never happened.

15 April (19 March on the lunar calendar)

I went to [my cousin] Haoqing’s17 house, and talked to his wife’s uncle, Chen
Apu, for a bit. Now, the price for shelled rice is 1 yuan for only 4 jin in market
scale. For firewood, 1 yuan can only buy three armfuls. For taxpaying with
new grain, 1 mu of land is now exchangeable for 25 jin of grain, which is
equivalent to around 6 yuan in dayang. Compared to the previous price of
grain, the current rate has increased seventy to eighty times. Ordinary people
like us who have some business and properties all complained about this
in great pain. Poor people who have nowhere to turn find it impossible to
survive in times like this. The world has gone mad such as it has never gone
before!

17 April (21 March on the lunar calendar)

It is said that over ten airplanes came to Yongjia one after another yesterday,
hovering over the area and bombarding it. The Ouhai hospital, which is close
to the end of Fuxue Lane, was also bombarded. The Xiguowai area also re-
ported causalities, and six people were reported dead.
In the afternoon, I heard that Xia A’dong’s son, Zhesheng, was fatally
shot by the dwarf pirates (haikou) while working on the sea for his fishing
business.

19 April (23 March on the lunar calendar)

This morning, before I got up, I heard the sound of the enemy bandits’ planes
up in the air. I can’t imagine what they were spying on.
At eight o’clock, I saw several Japanese airplanes flying from north to
south. They continuously bombed the area. All the people in Rui’an county
fled. At this moment, Tang Leshui18 and his third brother, along with his
third brother’s wife, sons, and daughters, fled to the house of my third son
through the trails on Wansong Mountain. They were really agitated and
could hardly sleep [in this situation]. Last night at ten o’clock, there were
already hundreds of Japanese soldiers landing outside the South Gate of
Rui’an county. People in the city all fled. As they fled, a mob formed, and
some of the very young and old were trampled to death. Some fell into the
riverways. All this misery – it is too much even to put into writing. The
 The Diary of Zhang Gang 175

officers, clerks, and guardians of the county government office scattered

like birds and beasts, and the government offices are now deserted. Some
clerks fled with their female family members into the township office (xiang
gongsuo) in our village. They only stayed temporarily and left after breakfast.
In the afternoon, airplanes were almost constantly circling around in the
skies. It didn’t quiet down until nightfall. Now, Rui’an county has become
an area under enemy occupation!

20 April (24 March on the lunar calendar)

Today, the enemy occupied the [Rui’an] county. Under the command of
Japanese soldiers, various sorts of thugs entered the county to rob wealthy
families who hoarded goods. Many rich families, such as those of Xiang
Yinxuan,19 Xiang Gengyu, Wang Kai, and Wang Chaoliu,20 and many family-
owned shops, such as those of Chen Zhipu, Cao Xuqing, Wang Yuda,21 and
Li Datong,22 were robbed of everything. Also, countless families were separ-
ated, not knowing if their missing relatives are alive or dead. To date, [my
cousin] Leisheng’s23 younger brother’s eldest son Yucong and third daughter
A’he, and, outside the East Gate, his fourth son’s mother-in-law Woman
Cai, wife’s younger sister, and younger female cousin all went missing – their
whereabouts still remain unknown. One may well say that it’s extremely
tragic.
Tonight, someone said that the Yongjia area had also been occupied by
the enemy. It is still not certain if this news is true.

21 April (25 March on the lunar calendar)

This morning, I heard that Yongjia was occupied by the enemy and all the
people there had fled. However, the ferry [to Yongjia] could not sail, the
phone could not connect, the newspaper office could not open, and the
transportation between north and south has been completely disconnected.
[Under such circumstances,] the rumours spread here are really unreliable.
Before dawn, Tang Yunting’s24 wife, along with her female servants, went to
Rui’an to check on their belongings in their residence. At ten o’clock, over ten
thousand jin of shredded potato, which was stored by the township office,
was unexpectedly taken by the local people and distributed among them-
selves. The country is in turmoil, and the people are in panic. The government
has no solutions [for this]. What is there that can be done about it? In the
afternoon, I went by my nephew Zhang Zucheng’s place, Wancha.25 It is said
that most wealthy families in Rui’an have been robbed of everything.
176 Weiting Guo

It is also said that Rui’an’s Cai Pingzhou has been selected by the Japanese
to serve as the county magistrate. It is not certain if this plan has been
realized.

22 April (26 March on the lunar calendar)

My nephew, Gongying,26 came to my place and talked about his life on the
run in the past few days. On 23 March [on the lunar calendar], at ten o’clock
in the evening, he heard the alarm at Zhongxin Elementary School27 and fled
through the North Gate with his fellow instructor, Shen Gongpu. [As they
fled], they were menaced by aircraft overhead more than ten times. When
this happened, they threw themselves down on the ground in the grass and
the fields. Fortunately, they were not under direct fire. But the day was dawn-
ing. Later they asked the peasants in the mountains for directions and took
the long route to flee to Dong Zhenliu’s home in Xianju [a.k.a. Xianyan].28
At that time, the county magistrate Lü Lü also brought a few soldiers as
guards all the way there. [These officers] sat and asked for wine and meals.
In the beginning, Gongying wanted to return home immediately. Yet be-
cause there were Japanese soldiers stationed at Tangxia, he did not dare to
go down the hill, so he stayed at Gong’s house for a night. Today, he was
finally able to return home. He is quite fortunate.

23 April (27 March on the lunar calendar)

In the morning, it was said that the Committee for Maintaining Order’s
meeting on military rations (Bingshi weichihui) was going to be held in
Rui’an. I then called my nephew, Xingtong [a.k.a. Zucheng], to come to Rui’an
for drinks and snacks. He [came to my place and] stayed until late at night.
When I went out this morning and asked around, I learned that the com-
mittee meeting was held, but the people who chaired the meeting were so
hesitant that they did not dare to make any decisions. The committee then
nominated Cai Pingzhou, Shen Gongzhe,29 and He Luofu as the representa-
tives to request the locals to prepare a food supply in order to prevent the
Japanese soldiers from disturbing the community. Since Rui’an is full of
Japanese soldiers, all its shops have been shut down and no goods are for
sale. It has suddenly become a ghost town, and it is extremely gloomy and
miserable. At midday, my nephew Xingtong asked someone to collect eggs
from various families. He had Cai Yuanchu send the eggs to Jin’ao village30
in order to supply them to the Japanese soldiers.
At one o’clock in the afternoon, I suddenly heard consecutive rounds of
artillery from the lower part of Daishi Mountain. A few small motorboats
 The Diary of Zhang Gang 177

crossed the river and the border. I also saw over ten Japanese soldiers who
arrived in this area and went on an inspection tour. As I was sitting in the
main room, I saw a Japanese soldier in uniform carrying a rifle enter our
front entrance, have a glance around and then leave. At that time, an ignor-
ant villager, Luansheng, fled in a panic.31 Japanese troops immediately opened
fire and gunned him down. The son of Pock-face Chang (Chang Malian) was
among those who were shot and killed. This is indeed an unexpected
tragedy.
Due to the occupation of Rui’an and the early escape of the local officials
that led to the tragedy [of the city], I cannot stop my anger and could only
compose a poem to express my painful memories:

Over a night, our military dropped their weapons

The entire city sang in chorus the Flight of Town Father Dong
(Dongtao ge) song.32

24 April (28 March on the lunar calendar)

It was said yesterday that Cai Yuanchu went to Jin’ao to pay respects to the
Japanese army and ask for instructions. The Japanese, in their reply, asked
every district to offer five hundred cows, five hundred pigs, and five hundred
beauties. I really don’t know if the local communities could afford such cruel
extortion. But what is there to do about it?
At two o’clock in the afternoon, I was sitting in the west study room
practising chess with the chess manual. My widowed daughter was cooking
in the kitchen again. The house was empty, with no one else inside. All of a
sudden, a Japanese soldier, carrying a sword, entered my room and searched
every table, drawer, chest and wardrobe. Fortunately, he took only a scarf
and left.

26 April (1 April on the lunar calendar)

In the morning, the newly arrived Japanese soldiers landed in Dongshan. 33
Several hundred soldiers came across the border. From there, they advanced
to Meigang and Yongjia Chang. Some locals in the mountains had just woken
up by this time, and were caught [by the Japanese soldiers] and forced to
guide them along the road. This is because some guerrilla forces reportedly
came to fight the enemy near Taiping Hill (Taipingling) in Yongjia.
Before noon, my clan brother in Huabiao, Zhang Mingdong, 34 accompan-
ied ten Japanese soldiers to visit my nephew Xingtong’s home. They intended
to invite Xingtong to join their discussions. [But] at that time, Xingtong, the
178 Weiting Guo

township chief Cai Yuanchu, and my son Feng [Yufeng] had gone to Zhiluo
to visit his friends. [Zhang Mingdong and the Japanese soldiers] did not get
a chance to meet Xingtong, so they left. In the afternoon, they gathered
the village gentry and elders to discuss the matter [for the local community].
Then, they visited the Japanese troops that were stationed at the Baotan
Temple (Baotansi) of Jin’ao.35 They begged the soldiers not to expropriate the
farm cattle so that the villagers could transplant dry seedlings and increase
grain production. On the other hand, they also promised that they would
supply vegetables [to the Japanese soldiers] and hoped that the soldiers would
not disturb the community or frighten the women. Fortunately, this request
was approved by the Japanese military. The Japanese army also granted the
interpreter, the woodworker Ye Fuquan, a certificate for passage with six
words on the side, “Cenqi Mountain Guard Reserve Unit” (Cenqishan jingbei-
dui), sealed with a stamp reading [the Japanese surname] “Iguchi.” After
completing these discussions, all of them returned to the village.

28 April (3 April on the lunar calendar)

In the morning, Cai Yuanchu came to visit my son-in-law, Dai [Dai Tengqiu].
Then, these men from the Baotian village [Baotian] also admitted that they
and the people from the surrounding five villages had supplied [food to] the
Japanese military in order to prevent disturbances.

29 April (4 April on the lunar calendar)

Yesterday, I heard that Rui’an’s wealthy families, such as Xiang Yinxuan’s,
Xiang Weichen’s, 36 [Xiang] Weifu’s, 37 and Lin Zizhen’s families, and wealthy
merchants, such as Li Datong, Wang Yuda, and Ren Jishan stores, were robbed
of everything by ne’er-do-wells who followed in the steps of the Japanese
soldiers. Also, numerous women were raped by the Japanese, and no one can
tell how many such cases happened. In this chaotic world, all order is lost.
[As ordinary people were so panicked to leave], our corrupt officials escaped
first. Such unscrupulous officials deserve to die a thousand deaths. Even this
harsh punishment could not compensate for the injustice that has been done
to our people.

30 April (5 April on the lunar calendar)

I heard that yesterday, Ye Fuquan [Cai Fuquan] accompanied the Japanese
soldiers to walk around Qianci.38 [The Japanese soldiers] saw many peasants
crowding around in order to see them, and then one soldier randomly shot
[at the crowd] and killed someone. [Human] life in a chaotic time is really
 The Diary of Zhang Gang 179

worse than that of chicken or a dog. How sad! Today, before noon, the Japan­
ese came to inspect the area around Qianci. They saw a woman and robbed
her. The woman’s sixty-year-old father knelt down to beg to the Japanese,
but to no avail, and he was then bayoneted to death.

2 May (7 April on the lunar calendar)

This morning, Tang Wenbo came to talk to me. He said that he had walked
from the East Gate of the county to here. Since there were Japanese sol­
diers stationed at the Baihe bridge (Baiheqiao), he then turned to Longquan
lane and the small lane of Zhouhu village around the hillside of Wansong
Mountain, and that is how he eventually arrived here. Tang also said that
the Japanese have broken and disconnected the Beimenwai bridge (Beimen­
waiqiao) and the Yangjia bridge (Yangjiaqiao) in Rui’an. Barbed wire has
been installed everywhere, outside every city, in order to corral people travel-
ling on foot. Goods and silver found [by the Japanese] were all loaded onto
Japanese ships and sent across the sea. I think [the Japanese] must have had
the idea of abandoning the city and fleeing.39
Today, thousands of Japanese soldiers came from Yongjia to Rui’an. All
of them went through the mountain roads on the west bank [of the Feiyun
River]. In the sky, airplanes circled around in order to prevent any attack.
Since the Japanese army encountered massive forces and strong resistance
around the Kuozhou and Chuzhou areas, it cannot advance and attack
[through this way]. Now that they have robbed over ten million dollars of
property in Dong’ou [Wenzhou], they can return with fruitful results. So are
they still fascinated with our tiny city that is as small as a ball? These Japan­
ese planned their schemes so cleverly, while our Wenzhou merchants, who
intended to hoard and profit, met with karma so quickly. Speaking of this,
our two corrupt officials – Yongjia magistrate Zhang and Rui’an magistrate
Lü – [have committed so many offences] that even cutting their bodies to
pieces could not compensate for the injustice that they have done to our
people.
It is also said that all of the Japanese soldiers are going to cross the sea
tonight. They are going to burn down Baotan Temple.

4 May (9 April on the lunar calendar)

Today, since the [Japanese] bandits have retreated, my relatives and friends
who took refuge at my home are returning to where they came from. At ten
o’clock, Pan Zhimin came from Jiuli to visit me. During our chat, Zhimin
vividly described what happened during the occupation. He was in deep
180 Weiting Guo

sorrow regarding the suffering of his hometown. [This occupation] occurred

mainly due to the ignorance of the former maritime defence commander,
Huang Quan. Huang neglected the repair of cannons and batteries at the
strategically important areas of Dongshan.40 He did not make enough of an
effort to strengthen our garrison, but rather blocked the bridges of the inner
rivers by installing bamboo embankments. He also dug trenches at the major
traffic ways. Such actions were a waste of money and made zero contribution
to maritime defence. His guilt was so manifest that everyone reviled him.
[On the other hand], Rui’an magistrate Lü Lü who, as an official, had the
responsibility to live or die with the city together like a father over his people.
But when the Japanese bandits entered Rui’an on 19 April, Lü Lü had already
led his troops far away the day before. The entire city was left with no gov-
ernment, and the estuaries of the rivers had no soldiers standing guard. This
facilitated the quick entry of the Japanese bandits into the city, and caused
thousands of people to flee from the town in panic. Countless people drowned
or got trampled to death on their way; powerful families and wealthy mer-
chants were all stripped of their possessions; jails released their prisoners.
Lü Lü fled from the wild mountains all the way to a township chief’s home
in Xianju [Xianyan]. This demonstrates that [he only cares about his own
safety] and never sympathized with the lives of the people. Moreover, when
he hid in the harbours and the countryside, he compelled people to make
monetary contributions and pretended that these were all being collected
for counterattacking the enemy. Now, after the enemy bandits have re-
treated, Lü still enjoys his leisure time without returning to the county. He
has failed to discharge his duties and has caused nothing but hardships for
the people. Even cutting his body into pieces could not expiate his guilt.
After Rui’an was occupied, the Japanese army attacked Yongjia one day later.
It quickly occupied Yongjia without the loss of even a soldier or an arrow.
[At that time], the subregional prefect, Zhang Baochen [d. 1951], was still
unaware of the presence of Japanese soldiers. It was not until he heard the
sound of artillery that he hastened to the road and rushed away. Seeing the
officials fleeing, the people also ran away in a rush. The enemy bandits took
all the county valuables away. Even regulating these officials with the state’s
law and beheading them with the sharp sword of Huanshou (Huanshou
jian)41 would still leave a margin of their inexpiable guilt. As to the staff at
the custom and salt offices, they followed the lead of superior officers and
were unworthy of blame. Being here in his hometown, Pan Zhimin witnessed
the tragedy and felt deeply sorrowful. If these three corrupt officials were
not punished by law so that the government could choose another virtuous
 The Diary of Zhang Gang 181

person to gov­ern Wenzhou, how could people feel calm and rest assured in
such an abyss of suffering? As a result, Pan Zhimin asked me to draft a tele-
gram report on his behalf and file this report via telegram with the higher
authorities. This man is really a good-hearted person. In the afternoon, upon
the completion of the telegram report, Pan Zhimin departed.

5 May (10 April on the lunar calendar)

This afternoon, I heard that Yongjia and Rui’an’s magistrates have returned
to their posts. They have arrested many rioters who robbed the people [dur-
ing the occupation]. At four o’clock, several soldiers dressed in plain clothes
and carrying pistols suddenly came to my nephew Xingtong’s house, Wancha.
They took Xingtong to the county office, and stated that they acted under
the secret warrant of the county. The entire village was frightened. The masses
were all discussing this incident. I then went to talk to them, stating that
when Japanese soldiers occupied the county, several Rui’an people who had
studied in Japan – such as Shen Gongzhe – convened an emergency meeting
to maintain local order. Xingtong was also called to attend the meet­ing, and
every attendee signed their names [on the document]. No one expected that
this fleeing official, after returning to Rui’an, instead of repent­ing for his sin,
would unrestrictedly use authority and harsh policies to frame various gentry
members as Hanjian and detaining them. As a result, my nephew Xingtong
was also drawn into this persecution. Alas! What an injustice! I really wonder
how Xingtong could settle down tonight after being arrested.

6 May (11 April on the lunar calendar)

At four o’clock this afternoon, after I took a boat from town to home, I heard
that Pan [Zhimin] had begged the militia commander, Chen Hongliu, to ask
the government for leniency, and that Xingtong had been brought from the
detention centre to Chen Hongliu’s home. It is said that after the county’s
interrogation, Xingtong could be released in two to three days.

18 May (23 April on the lunar calendar)

Yesterday, [Lin] Jian’an told me that the Rui’an magistrate, Lü, concealed his
failure [during the occupation] and sought rewards for his merits. Using an
extravagant approach to magnify his own achievements, Lü urged over seventy
bao villages42 in Rui’an to organize a lantern festival to celebrate the victory
(tideng shenghui) recovery of Rui’an from the Japanese military and compelled
each bao to contribute 10 yang dollars. How could the shamelessness of a
person reach such a level?! The ancient poet’s “Looking at a Rat” (Xiangshu)43
182 Weiting Guo

is just the right poem to be sung for this man. Yesterday I read the Wenzhou
Daily (Wenzhou ribao), learning that the Yongjia magistrate also held a vic-
tory meeting for the great triumph (dajie shenghui). The attendees of that
meeting were scathing in their criticism, claiming that Rui’an brought about
disaster that led in turn to Yongjia falling into the enemy’s hands. The chief
culprit [as they claimed] was Lü Lü, and Lü must be punished immediately.
However, [to me], evils usually collaborate with one another. To be servile
is very nearly the same as to be obsequious.

19 May (24 April on the lunar calendar)

I woke up this morning and read in the Zhejiang-Wenzhou Daily News (Zhe’ou
ribao) that in Yongjia hundreds of shops, companies, and banks had registered
their losses from the Japanese occupation. Critics of this newspaper only
stated that civilians must stay alert and that Hanjian must be spat on and
cursed, but they did not dare to call the [government officials] who [were
supposed to] safeguard our territory to account for their dereliction of duty.
They feared that critiques may call down calamity upon themselves, and thus
neglected the universal principles (gongli); they fawned upon their superiors,
and thus abandoned public commentary (gongping). Thinking of all this,
one can’t help but to stop reading news and sigh.
Yesterday, Lin Jian’an told me that a few days before Rui’an fell into enemy
hands, he suddenly received a letter from a distant nephew, and was inspired
to compose a poem in a happy mood [as his nephew was found alive]. The
poem read:

An evil atmosphere spread amid the Risen Sun44

The land was in turmoil and singing a sorrowful song
Our army, navy, and air force shed their blood in hundreds of battles
Nine out of ten houses were empty [as people fled and died]
Families separated from their flesh and blood
Our old country’s mountains and rivers [a metaphor for national
territory] are now fragmented
Walking under the moon and standing in a quiet night
[I see] a lonely goose flying south in the sky 45

Jian’an pasted this poem on the wall. After Rui’an was occupied, his entire
family fled and left the house empty. A Japanese soldier entered the house
to search around. He spotted the poem on the wall and slowly appreciated
the lines. He then used a pencil to cast out the first line, make a mark on the
 The Diary of Zhang Gang 183

second, put an x on the third, circle the fourth, and keep the fifth. He changed
the sixth line to “Rearranging the old mountains and rivers” (Chongzheng
jiu shanhe). While keeping the seventh line, he changed the eighth to “This
morning, it was fortunate that I passed through here” (Jin zhao xi wu guo)
and signed his name at the bottom as “Mishima Shibaka.” Alas! Our enemy
has such an elegant and cultured soldier. This really makes the people of our
country deeply ashamed.

24 May (29 April on the lunar calendar)

A day before yesterday, I heard that lawyer Yu Zhixia [d. 1941], who was liv-
ing in Neihe,46 next to Baotian, drowned in the night for unknown reasons.
Yesterday, I further heard that Yongjia and Rui’an’s district courts performed
an autopsy on the body. Judging by its shape and condition, [the viewers]
said that Yu appeared to have been murdered and then dumped in the river.
Some claimed that after the Japanese bandits occupied Yongjia, local people
invited Wang Yongshan, Yu Zhixia, and about thirty people in total to or-
ganize the Committee for Maintaining Order. After the enemy bandits left,
the magistrate returned to the county, concealing his failure and seeking
reward for his accomplishments. He framed these committee participants
as Hanjian. As a result, Yongshan fled, and Zhixia’s property was seized.
When Zhixia fled to his hometown alone, detectives suddenly came in order
to catch him. In great panic, Zhixia committed suicide. Others argued that
Zhixia had once taken another’s wife as his own concubine. The husband of
that woman feared Zhixia’s wealth and power, so nursed his hatred and lived
outside the city for years. Recently, this man suddenly returned. He found
Zhixia hiding in a village. During the night, he had someone lure him to a
desolate place for a chat, and then took him by the throat and killed him.
They worried that a body on the road would cause people to investigate, so
they peeled off his clothes and threw the naked body into the water, thus
making it appear as a suicide to the public. These people made their deliber-
ate plan and committed such a cruel crime. Alas! Zhixia was the son of [Yu]
Demu in Dadianxia. Demu worked as a trade broker (ya lang). He once visited
the county capital and the Xu Taihe Hotel (Xu Taihe jiudian). Since he got
along well with my mentor, Xu Zhuyou, his son Zhixia, at the age of thirteen,
was adopted by Master Xu as a foster son. Master Xu thus taught him to
prepare for the civil service exams, and I was fortunate to have him as my
playmate [during my childhood]. Later on, since Master Xu’s fourth brother
[Xu] Yangyi was a barrister in Hangzhou and had a great reputation, Zhixia
studied law with Yangyi, and then registered as a litigation master (zhuangshi)
184 Weiting Guo

to deal with registration and legal affairs. With his bright and clever character,
Zhixia frequently handled big cases and earned a plentiful fortune. [With
this fortune], he was able to purchase a house in Yongjia. And so a poor
scholar became a wealthy man! Yet in recent years, he aged and became fond
of women. He paid to get a mistress, and kept this woman in a love nest. He
failed to stay on good terms with his wife, and this cost him a great deal of
money. Unexpectedly, ghosts and spirits haunted his house and brought
misfortune to him. He died [of such misfortune], and his wealth was totally
dispersed. Isn’t this retribution for being a lawyer?

27 May (2 May on the lunar calendar)

According to the precedent that all that is heard needs to be recorded, we
never expected to accuse newspapers of making untrustworthy historical
records. If a thing has been viewed and heard by nearby people, and has been
known to everyone already, why should one suppress the facts and recklessly
publish unreliable reports? In this regard, the recent news reports in the
Wenzhou News are particularly shocking. For example, Yongjia and Rui’an
fell into enemy hands for half a month. Then, the Japanese retreated from
the town by themselves. But the Rui’an government made an announcement
saying: “After chasing the enemy back and forth for fourteen days, we finally
repelled our ferocious enemy and recovered our county.” Alas! How could
anyone possibly ever trick us this way? Are they going to fool Heaven? Are
they going to fool the people? Now our country has no political deliberation,
and someone has done such a self-deceptive thing, just like the act of stealing
a bell [and making loud noise] while covering his ears [to deceive himself].
Who can be as shameful as this?

Notes
1 Although Wenzhou has abundant sources for local history, few studies have explored its
history during the Second Sino-Japanese War. Most studies repeat either the grand nar-
ratives of nationwide development or the stories of military tactics and atrocities. The
most important exception is Lo Shih-Chieh’s research, which combines historical and
ethnographical approaches to explore Wenzhou’s wartime history and local politics. See
Lo Shih-Chieh, “Chenghuang shen yu jindai Wenzhou difang zhengzhi: Yi 1949 nian
Huang Shisu dang chenghuang wei taolun zhongxin” [Communal religious tradition and
“de-centralized” local politics: Reconsidering the Wenzhou Jinqianhui Incident (1850–
1862)], in 1898–1949: Gaibian Zhongguo zongjiao de wushi nian [1898–1948: Fifty years
that changed Chinese religions], ed. Paul Katz and Vincent Goossaert (Nangang:
Zhongyang yanjiuyuan jindaishi yanjiusuo zhuankan, 2015), 101–39. In addition, Keith
Schoppa’s study of refugees in wartime Zhejiang provides a thorough and comprehensive
view of the socioeconomic circumstances of wartime Wenzhou and other regions of
 The Diary of Zhang Gang 185

Zhejiang. See R. Keith Schoppa, In a Sea of Bitterness: Refugees during the Sino-Japanese
War (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2011). As to the process of the Japanese
occupation of Wenzhou, Zhang Jie’s articles outline its major developments and general
context. See Zhang Jie, “Kangzhan shiqi Wenzhou di’yi ci lunxian de beijing, jingguo ji
tedian” [Wenzhou’s first occupation during the Resistance War: Background, process,
and characteristics], Wenzhou shifan xueyuan xuebao [Wenzhou Normal College journal]
19, 2 (1998): 38–41; Zhang Jie, “Kangzhan shiqi Wenzhou di’er ci lunxian de beijing,
jingguo, ji tedian” [Wenzhou’s second occupation during the Resistance War: Back­
ground, process, and characteristics], Wenzhou shifan xueyuan xuebao 22, 4 (2001):
43–48; Zhang Jie, “Kangzhan shiqi Wenzhou di’san ci lunxian de beijing, jingguo, ji
tedian” [Wenzhou’s third occupation during the Resistance War: Background, process,
and characteristics], Wenzhou shifan xueyuan xuebao 16, 4 (1995): 15–18, 40. Other
studies include Xu Dingshui, “Kangzhang shiqi de Wenzhou gongshangye” [Industry and
commerce of Wenzhou during the Resistance War], Hangzhou shifan xueyuan xuebao
[Hangzhou Normal College journal] 10, 5 (1988): 25–31; and Feng Jian and Liu Zhangjin,
“Kangzhan shiqi Wenzhou sanci lunxian jiyao” [Essential chronicle of Wenzhou’s three
occupations], Wenzhou luntang [Wenzhou forum] 4 (1987): 53–56.
2 See Zhang Jie, “Kangzhan shiqi Wenzhou di’yi”; Zhang Jie, “Kangzhan shiqi Wenzhou
di’er”; and Zhang Jie, “Kangzhan shiqi Wenzhou di’san.”
3 During the Qing dynasty, Wenzhou prefecture was mainly composed of Yongjia,
Yueqing, Rui’an, Pingyang, Taishun, and Yuhuan. In 1913, the Republican government
abolished the prefecture-level unit. This administrative division continued throughout
the Republican era, including the period of the Second Sino-Japanese War. In 1949, the
Chinese Communist Party re-established the prefecture-level unit and renamed the unit
a “city.” Thus Wenzhou became a prefecture-level city, and is now called Wenzhou city.
4 See Weiting Guo, “Living with Disputes: Zhang Gang Diary (1888–1942) and the Life of
a Community Mediator in Late Qing and Republican China,” Journal of the Canadian
Historical Association 24, 2 (2013): 224.
5 Hu Zhusheng, Wenzhou jindai shi [The modern history of Wenzhou] (Shenyang: Liaoning
renmin chubanshe, 2000), 344.
6 Tingtian village is in Rui’an county.
7 Zhang Junsun, Zhang Tiesun, and Dai Ruolan, eds., Duyinyuan shiwen jicun [Collected
essays and poems from the Duyinyuan] (Hong Kong: Xianggang chubanshe, 2005),
433–35, 531–22.
8 With the help of prominent scholar-official Sun Yirang, Zhang Gang also extended his
teaching career to other private schools, and taught at a new public school, Rui’an Middle
School. See Zhang Zucheng, “Congfu Zhenxuan Zhang fujun xingzhuang” [The biography
of my uncle Zhang Zhenxuan], ibid., 521–22.
9 For Zhang Gang’s activities in local academies and mediation, see Guo, “Living with
Disputes,” 218–62.
10 For the potential limitations of this diary, see ibid.
11 Ye Fuquan, also known as Ye Qianshui, is sometimes called Cai Fuquan. According to
Zhang, Ye could speak Japanese after his long stay in Taiwan. See Zhang Gang, Zhang
Junsun, and Dai Ruolan, Zhang Gang riji [Zhang Gang’s diary], unpublished, 27 April
1941 (MG30/4/2). “MG” here refers to the Chinese era name “Minguo” (Republican). The
unpublished verison of this diary was originally written by Zhang Gang, and was re-
arranged, typed, and annotated by Zhang Junsun and Dai Ruolan.
12 Few studies have utilized this diary. See, for example, Shih-Chieh Lo, “The Order of Local
Things: Popular Politics and Religion in Modern Wenzhou, 1840–1940” (PhD diss., Brown
University, 2010); You Yuhao, “Zai jiuxue yu xinzhi zhijian: Yi ge xiangcun shishen de
yuedu shijie” [Between old learning and new knowledge: The reading world of a village
186 Weiting Guo

gentryman], Lishi jiaoxue wenti [History research and teaching] 4 (2011): 93–100; Guo,
“Living with Disputes”; Feng Xiaocai, “‘Zhongshan chong’: Guomindang dangzhi chuqi
Rui’an xiangshen Zhang Gang de zhengzhi guangan” [The “Sun Yat-sen bug”: Political
views of Rui’an’s village gentryman Zhang Gang during the early period of Nationalist
rule], Shehui kexue yanjiu [Social science research] 4 (2015): 156–69; Lo Shih-Chieh,
“Chenghuang shen yu jindai Wenzhou”; Qu Jun, “Xiao chengzhen li de ‘da dushi’: Qingmo
Shanghai dui Jiangzhe difang dushuren de wenhua fushe” [A “big city” in a small town:
The cultural influence of Shanghai toward local literati in Jiangsu-Zhejiang regions],
Shehui kexue yanjiu 5 (2016): 160–72.
13 Wenzhou Municipal Library, Rare Book Department, MS 4506, Zhang Gang, Duyin­
yuan riji, 1888–1942.
14 Yu Xiong, ed., Zhang Gang riji [Zhang Gang diary] (Shanghai: Shanghai shehui kexue
chubanshe, 2003). In addition to this excerpted version, part of the diary was published
in a volume compiled by Zhang Gang’s grandsons Zhang Junsun and Zhang Tiesun, and
granddaughter-in-law Dai Ruolan, titled Duyinyuan shiwen jicun. A reprint version of
this diary has also been published in a sixty-volume collection, Wenzhou shi tushuguan
cang riji gao chaoben congkan [Wenzhou Municipal Library’s collection of diary drafts
and manuscript copies], ed. Wenzhou shi tushuguan [Wenzhou Municipal Library]
(Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 2017).
15 Tongqing is the courtesy name of Zhang Yutong, a nephew of Zhang Gang. For the rela-
tionship between Zhang Gang and Zhang Yutong, see the genealogy of Tingchuan’s Zhang
family in Zhang Junsun, Zhang Tiesun, and Dai Ruolan, Duyinyuan shiwen jicun, 557.
16 Flowing from inner Wenzhou to the East China Sea, the Feiyun River has long served as
a major water route in the area. Various towns relied on the river to connect with one
another and transport goods to other regions and provinces. During the first occupation
of Wenzhou, the Japanese army entered the region via the Feiyun River due to its signifi-
cant role in water transportation.
17 Haoqing is the courtesy name of Zhang Zailü (1867–1944), a cousin of Zhang Gang. See
ibid.
18 Tang Leshui (1861–1959), also known as Tang Zengzhi, lived in Xiaoxia, Rui’an. He was
the brother-in-law of Zhang Gang’s third son, Zhang Yufeng. After Yufeng’s marriage in
1924, Tang frequently contacted Zhang Gang and became Zhang’s close friend.
19 Xiang Yinxuan and his cousin, Xiang Xiangzao, were the founders of Tongji Ferry
Company on the Feiyun River. See Yu Zhentang, ed., Rui’an lishi renwu zhuanlue [Brief
biographies of Rui’an’s historical figures] (Hangzhou: Zhejiang guji chubanshe, 2006),
169–71. In his diary, Zhang described how Xiang Yinxuan eagerly engaged in local com-
petition over fishery, transportation, and various types of business.
20 Wang Chaoliu (1909–91) was the wartime principal of the Wenzhou Middle School.
Zhang Gang also described in his diary how he discussed his friend’s son’s school housing
issue with Wang. For a description of Wang’s life, see Yu Zhentang, Rui’an lishi renwu
zhuanlue, 531–33.
21 Wang Yuda was a company mainly operated by a Rui’an merchant, Wang Zhijian, during
the war. The company’s business included insurance, medicine, dairy products, and food
production. See Rui’an shi difangzhi bianzuan weiyuanhui, Rui’an shi zhi [Gazetteer of
Rui’an City] (Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 2003), vol. 2, 1352; Wenzhou shi baoxian hangye
xiehui, ed., Wenzhou baoxianye bainian shiliao, 1894–1996 [Sources of Wenzhou’s insur-
ance industry in the past hundred years, 1894–1996] (Wenzhou: Wenzhou shi baoxian
hangye xiehui, 2012), 67.
22 Founded in Rui’an in 1889, Li Datong is one of the most famous traditional pastry shops
in Wenzhou. See Rui’an shi difangzhi bianzuan weiyuanhui, Rui’an shi zhi, vol. 2, 953,
1556.
 The Diary of Zhang Gang 187

23 Leisheng is the courtesy name of Zhang Zaitong. See Zhang Junsun, Zhang Tiesun, and
Dai Ruolan, Duyinyuan shiwen jicun, 556.
24 Tang Yunting is also known as Tang Yunchui in Zhang Gang’s diary.
25 Zucheng is the official name of Zhang Yuliu (1886–1951), a nephew of Zhang Gang. Zhang
Zucheng had his own diary, titled Wancha riji [Wancha diary]. He has two courtesy
names: Shengtong and Xingtong. In both Wenzhou and Rui’an dialects, the pronuncia-
tions of Shengtong and Xingtong sound very similar. Both courtesy names – particularly
the latter one – were frequently used by Zhang Gang in his diary. For Zucheng’s place in
Zhang’s family tree, see Zhang Junsun, Zhang Tiesun, and Dai Ruolan, Duyinyuan shiwen
jicun, 557.
26 Gongying is the courtesy name of Zhang Yucong, the eldest son of Zhang Gang’s cousin
Zhang Zaitong (a.k.a. Leisheng). See ibid., 556.
27 Zhongxin Elementary School, in Xincheng, was previously Juxing Academy, where Zhang
Gang coordinated local educational affairs and founded the Civil Service Examination
Aid Association. For Zhang’s involvement in a dispute pertaining to this academy, see
Guo, “Living with Disputes,” 238–41. The school is located right beside a tang river (a
small canal-style river across the Wenzhou region) that links Feiyun River in the south
and the Wen-Rui-Tang river network in the north. On 31 December 2015, I visited this
school and its surrounding area. The canal’s route was well preserved, and the river’s flow
was still rapid. Most of the historical relics had vanished except for a stone inscription
dated in the founding years of the Juxing Academy. The security staff told me that the
stone was soon to be discarded.
28 Xianyan is a mountainous area located at the north of Tangxia, close to the boundary
between Rui’an and Ouhai. According to the diary, Rui’an magistrate Lü Lü escaped from
the county capital in the south (close to the Dongshan area) to the northern district of
the county.
29 In August 1937, when the Second Sino-Japanese War erupted, Shen Gongzhe was elected
as one of the directors of the Committee for War Relief in Wenzhou. Wenzhou shi
zhengxie wenshi ziliao weiyuanhui, “Linshi jinji huiyi (1937 nian 8 yue 5 ri)” [Provisional
emergency session, 5 August 1937], in Wenzhou wenshi ziliao [The historical materials
of Wenzhou], Vol. 22: Wenzhou lǚ Hu tongxianghui shiliao [Documents of the Wenzhou
Sojourners Association in Shanghai], ed. Wenzhou shi zhengxie wenshi ziliao weiyuanhui
(Wenzhou: Wenzhou shi zhengxie wenshi ziliao weiyuanhui, 2007), 63.
30 According to my interview with Zhang Gang’s granddaughter-in-law, Dai Ruolan, on 21
July 2017, Jin’ao here refers to a place beside a mountain in Cenqi, Rui’an, rather than any
of the other Jin’ao in Wenzhou, such as the ones in Yongjia and Longwan. On 22 July
2017, I visited Jin’ao in Rui’an, which is located between Jinqian and Jinhou. This area is
close to Tangxia, Tingtian, Xincheng, and Baotian, where Zhang Gang had activities and
connections. The Cenqi Mountain (Cenqishan) is right on the side of the street market.
The Jin’ao Road is now in Jinhou right beside the main canal of the area. On the other
side of the village, which had a small lane leading to a factory-like facility, is the place
where Japanese army stationed the Baotan Temple (Baotansi). As Zhang Gang mentions
below, the Japanese troops set up a unit called the Cenqi Mountain Guard Reserve Unit
(Cenqishan jingbeidui). This unit was probably located around this area because it’s close
to Jin’ao and the Baotan Temple.
31 Many relatives of Zhang Gang had a “Sheng” in their names, such as “Leisheng.”
32 “The Flight of Town Father Dong” is a folk song that describes how Dong Zhuo, a military
general in the late Eastern Han dynasty, oppressed ordinary people, deposed the emperor,
and then fled and retreated to Chang’an due to his defeat by opposing forces.
33 Located beside the Rui’an County Government and the estuary of the Feiyun River,
Dongshan was one of the first strategic points taken by the Japanese army. On 31 December
188 Weiting Guo

2015, I visited the Xincheng watergate (Xincheng shuizha), and then drove southward
along Binhai boulevard (Binhai dadao, literally the “seaside boulevard”), passing by
the Shangwang seawall (Shangwang haitang) and Shangwang watergate (Shangwang
doumen), and then reaching the Feiyun River and crossing the Rui’an bridge (Rui’an
daqiao). The entire trip went along Rui’an’s previous shoreline, which is now filled with
sand and reclaimed land, as well as packing factories. The shoreline, seawalls, watergates
and the nearby tang canals indicate the significant role of this area in strategy and local
transportation.
34 Zhang Mingdong (1899–1963) was born in Huabiao (now part of Xincheng), and then
moved to Wenzhou prefecture (now city). He was a renowned lawyer who served as
president of the Law Society in Wenzhou. In 1940, when Wenzhou had a rice riot, Zhang
Mingdong negotiated with the Yongjia government on behalf of the citizens. He continued
to engage in various public affairs during the war. See Rui’an shi difangzhi bianzuan
weiyuanhui, Rui’an shi zhi, vol. 2, 1674.
35 As Zhang Gang mentions in his diary entry of 7 November 1941 (MG29/10/8), a regi-
ment of the Nationalist army once stayed in this temple. In the following battles, all the
soldiers of this regiment were killed.
36 Xiang Weichen (1880–1944), also known as Xiang Xiang, was a renowned politician
during the Republican era. In his hometown, Rui’an, Xiang was very active in education
and various public affairs. In 1926, when Chiang Kai-shek’s army set out on the Northern
Expedition, Xiang was also involved in local fundraising for the Nationalist troops. See
Zhang Gang, Zhang Junsun, and Dai Ruolan, Zhang Gang riji, unpublished, 29 December
1926 (MG15/11/ 225).
37 Xiang Weifu, also known as Xiang Zhui, studied at the Tōkyō Shinbu Gakkō with Chiang
Kai-shek. See Zhongguo shehui kexueyuan jindaishi yanjiusuo zhonghua minguo shi zu,
ed., Zhonghua minguo shi ziliao conggao [Collections of historical resources of Republican
China] (Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 1978), vol. 2, 339.
38 According to my interview with Dai Ruolan on 21 July 2017, Qianci here refers to the one
beside Tingtian rather than the one in Baotian.
39 In the complete version of this diary, Zhang Gang notes Ye Fuquan’s remark that “the
Japanese gave him several rewards today [2 May] and told him not to come [to visit the
Japanese army] again; they also asked him to forward their appreciation to our township
chief for his supplies and hospitality.” See Zhang Gang, Zhang Junsun, and Dai Ruolan,
Zhang Gang riji, unpublished, 2 May 1941 (MG30/4/7).
40 Again, Dongshan refers to the district where the Japanese army landed and established
its military base, rather than its literal meaning, “the eastern mountains.”
41 The sword of Huanshou was primarily developed in the Western Han dynasty, replacing
the previous long swords. Its literal meaning – “the decapitation sword” – was borrowed
by Zhang Gang in this critique of local officials.
42 Bao was a unit in the baojia system, which had been used in China mainly since the Song
dynasty and was inherited or modified in different periods. In 1934, the Nationalist
government re-established the baojia system, maintaining the existing household system
and the lowest quasi-officials in local society. In Rui’an as well as in other regions, ten
family hu made a jia, and ten jia made a bao. The head of a bao, baozhang, was held re-
sponsible for checking residency, collecting taxes, organizing local defence, and prom-
ulgating policies and propaganda. See Rui’an shi difangzhi bianzuan weiyuanhui, Rui’an
shi zhi, vol. 3, 2117, 2199.
43 Xiangshu is an ancient poem compiled in the Book of Songs (Shijing). Describing officials
as rats, this poem criticizes the government for violating moral principles and deceiving
ordinary people.
 The Diary of Zhang Gang 189

44 Here, the Risen Sun (bairi, or “broad daylight”) also refers to Japan, whose national flag
is the rising sun flag.
45 In Chinese literature, the goose usually represents those who are displaced, banished, or
separated from their family or friends.
46 While the term neihe literally means “inner river,” Neihe here may refer to the Fengwan
inner river (Fengwan neihe, located in north Baotian) or Qianfeng inner river (Qianfeng
neihe, located in south Baotian). Yu Zhixia is a native of Dadianxia, which is near the
southern region of Baotian. Zhang Gang’s village, Tingtian, is also close to south Baotian.
12 Two Indestructible Pillars
of the Great Wall
JENNIFER JUNWA LAU

In the face of Japan’s attacks against China during the 1930s, Chinese
wartime reportage increased dramatically, and the progression of the
conflict became a major topic of public discussion in the news following
the Manchurian Incident in September 1931.1 Thereafter, the patriotic
narrative surfaced time and time again in wartime writings. However,
as scholar Parks M. Coble notes: “The vast legacy of their wartime writ­
ings had long disappeared from public view for it celebrated China’s
wartime resistance (led by Chiang [Kai-shek]).”2 Only within the past
three decades are these writings being newly “remembered.” The Deng
Xiaoping era saw the repurposing of the memory and history of war for
a new narrative of patriotic nationalism. 3 To be sure, wartime writings
were also incorporated into this new narrative.
During the war, Chinese reporters realized that with Japan’s con­
tinued advances into Chinese territory, the situation was bleak. None­
theless, newspapers and journals emphasized “the heroic resistance
concept” in order to support morale. 4 In other words, because of its
expected patriotic character, wartime reportage did not entirely give
“objective” facts about the circumstances. As a result, wartime reportage
is now perceived as a rich archive to study the “aesthetics of historical
experience,” as put forth by Charles Laughlin. He goes on to explain:
“Reportage authors attempt to make actual historical experience mean­
ingful, to rescue the truth of actual events from the hollowing, reifying
effects of journalistic objectivity.”5 Perhaps unsurprisingly then, strong
emotions were infused into wartime reportage and much creativity
was involved.
Although the literary merit of this genre of writing cannot be over­
looked, English audiences do not have access to these articles and
 Two Indestructible Pillars of the Great Wall 191

reports in full. Translations of these wartime writings are scarce or

piecemeal in secondary research. But this large body of writing carries
deep implications for China’s cultural history as readers consider the
tropes and themes of Chinese reportage as a genre.
A reportage piece written about districts in Anhui, an eastern
Chinese province, is translated below. This geographical location is
noteworthy because contemporary research on the Sino-Japanese War
commonly focuses on sites such as Nanjing, Shanghai, and Manchuria.
Yet Anhui was deeply affected by the war as advances continued. With
much of northern China in the hands of the Japanese by 1938, the
Nationalist leader, Chiang Kai-shek, opened the dykes of the Yellow
River as a “strategic interdiction” to halt Japanese advancement. 6 The
flood caused a reported 300,000 deaths, and most of these casualties
were in Anhui.7 The value of this decision has been contested; the
Japanese were able to find other routes toward their goal of Wuhan
later that year. Nevertheless, destroying land was perceived as prefer­
able to risking its loss to the enemy. Ultimately this decision proved
that these eastern Chinese districts held great significance in the minds
of both nations’ leaders. As such, the following piece of reportage de­
scribing Anhui brings to light this area affected by the war in material
reality as well as in literary representation. This article is presented in
its entirety for interested readers to perform close critical readings via
translation.
The writer of this article is Fan Shiqin (n.d.). In 1934, Fan published
and established a school for reporters to learn shorthand methods and
note-taking. He had self-studied English, German, French, and Japanese
and was known to be a great storyteller. At the time of writing, he
served as a special news correspondent for the official organ of the
Kuomintang, the Zhongyang Ribao (Central daily news), which would
later relocate its headquarters from Guangzhou to Taipei. This piece,
which covers stories from Shou county (Shou xian) and Fengyang dis­
trict, depicts the atmosphere in the 1930s through incorporating vari­
ous incidents showing the national morale of the soldiers and civilians
in Anhui province.
Entitled “Two Indestructible Pillars of the Great Wall” (Liangzuo
buneng cuihui de Changcheng), the five-page essay has many of the
common characteristics of wartime reportage. First, the fundamental
task of a reporter to “foster unity and strength of the Chinese people”8
is lucidly seen in Fan’s title. The metaphor of the indestructible Great
192 Jennifer Junwa Lau

Wall symbolizes the strength of a united Chinese front. Second, the

confident presentation of heroic facts, which are often exaggerated
with larger-than-life reactions and testimonies, makes evident the
patriotic nature of this reportage genre. Third, the idea that China’s
children are significant in the war is echoed in Fan’s discussion of the
nameless children on the streets who are portraying themselves as
soldiers fighting against the Japanese. Lastly, the hopeful future (yet
to be obtained) is constantly renewed in his writing, which follows the
common narrative that China’s resistance to Japan was to be celebrated
and that China’s victory was imminent.
Yet this incontestable victory is challenged by the parallels between
reportage writing and travel literature. There is an “allegorical dimen­
sion” of late Qing travel literature, Laughlin explains, which aligns the
travel writer’s actual journey abroad “as a surrogate for China’s journey
into the modern world.”9 The writer through his writing observes, ac­
cepts, and rejects other cultures. In the same way, the writer of wartime
reportage acts as a surrogate for the psychological collective conscious­
ness. I argue that the temporal shifts and collapsing of time and travel
by the reporter betrays the celebratory rhetoric of Chinese victory and
reveals the psychological struggle to represent the chaotic reality of
war. The narrative timeline fluctuates from “a few days ago,” to “cur­
rently,” to “the eighteenth of last month,” “a couple weeks ago,” and
“last month,” and then returns to “a few days ago” when the reporter
is visiting the wounded soldiers. And there is no clear mention of how
the reporter could verify these stories or how reliable his sources are.
While one could argue that the overlapping timelines suggest the im­
aginative construction of reportage with “its own historical agency” to
change the reader’s mind about historical events in their own historical
moment,10 the fact that Fan does not recount the events in a linear form
suggests the difficulties of penning the war and what I term the “fog of
wartime writing.”
This fog of wartime writing is loosely based on the phrase “fog of
war,” which references confusion of location and perspective on the
front lines by soldiers. Here, the writers of war are the ones disoriented
by the news they are called to write. The shifting chronological pendu­
lum in the narrative suggests the struggle Chinese reportage writers
faced when composing an organized representation of the everyday
experience of the Sino-Japanese War. Instead of a linear narrative about
Anhui, the author produces a disorganized timeline – which can be
 Two Indestructible Pillars of the Great Wall 193

understood as representative of the chaos felt by the author on inscrib­

ing this new genre. As with late Qing travel literature, the writings rep­
resent more than a personal and individual account and reflect a
collective, cultural consciousness,11 which here, I argue, reveals ruptures
in the celebrated patriotic content of wartime reportage.
Although Fan Shiqin is not as well-known as wartime reporters as
Zou Taofen (1895–1944) or Fan Changjiang (1909–70), Fan Shiqin covers
the wartime experience of southern Chinese districts and counties that
more prominent writers did not have the opportunity to visit, and leaves
a small corpus for further analysis and comparison. Fan Shiqin also
exemplifies the influence of wartime writing on Chinese reporters-on-
scene. This translation of his short article will hopefully draw more
attention to the literary merits and readings of texts written during the
Second Sino-Japanese War and give them new meaning.

—•  TRANSLATION  •—

Two Indestructible Pillars of the Great Wall12

fan shiqin

I received a letter from a friend a few days ago asking this reporter about
what he saw and heard about morale on the front lines. These questions, the
reporter believes, are those that the people of the whole nation are concerned
about. Taking on the task of finding news about the war and reporting about
the morale of the civilians, the reporter feels the need to report the answers
to all these questions for the whole nation’s peoples.
Currently, Shou county is where the front lines come closest to the rear
area, which is to say it is the rear area that is closest to the front line. The
bombing of enemy aircraft and the shelling of enemy artillery on the front
lines cannot be seen from here, but there is not a single day when the sounds
of battle are not heard here.13 Fifty to sixty li14 to the east of here, our cour-
ageous soldiers are defending the front lines. Thus, the atmosphere and
morale on the front lines can be seen and heard from here.
Whether the spirit here is lively, or whether civilian morale is strong, the
reporter does not need to first explain to the whole nation’s peoples. As long
as the people of the whole nation consider the stories this reporter tells below,
they will understand the liveliness of the atmosphere and the strength of
civilian morale here!
194 Jennifer Junwa Lau

On the eighteenth of last month was exactly when our enemy was fiercely
fighting in Shangyao,15 and that day we found out that four of our soldiers
were missing. In those four days, there was no news about the four missing
soldiers – without a doubt they had been killed by the enemy’s hands. On
the fifth morning, there was a soldier who happened to enter the bamboo
forest of the beach by the Luo River and suddenly found four soldiers lying
on the ground, which was covered in bamboo leaves. Getting closer for a
better look, they were the four soldiers who had gone missing for the past
few days! But those four comrades strangely did not speak, did not move,
and were already like wooden figures without sense and feeling. Their hands
were still tightly holding two grenades; they looked like they were ready to
throw and attack at any moment. These four soldiers, after having some water
given to them by people, slowly began to awake and gain consciousness. After
fighting an intense battle, these four soldiers lost contact with the camp and
ran to the bamboo forest to wait for the enemies. Even though they consumed
all the dried food they brought with them that day, they still did not wish to
leave the forest. And so, on the fourth day, they fainted and lost conscious-
ness. This story about waiting in the forest for the enemy might seem much
like the proverb “waiting in the forest for a rabbit.”16 But this story tells of,
and underscores, the determined hearts to defeat the enemy.
A few weeks ago, we had over a dozen soldiers fighting the enemy in an
intense battle in a small village of Dingyuan. The result was that the gun-
powder was used up and the enemies were quickly approaching. At the time
under pressing conditions, several soldiers quickly improvised and took off
their battle garments, threw away their guns, pretended to be a group of
refugee men and women, and secretly ran to the rear of the enemy camp.
Coincidentally the enemy had hand grenades, and they went up toward them
and grabbed the hand grenades of the enemy and threw them one after
another toward the enemy camp. Pi-pi-pa-pa! 17 “Using the enemy’s hand
grenades to kill over fifty enemies,” is the phrase they bring back to their
comrades upon their return from the battle.
Everyone still remembers the four hundred enemies in Shangyao that
were surrounded by us, right? To resolve this dangerous situation, the enemy
sent soldiers to assist them along the Fifth Route. But our soldiers success-
fully surrounded them and killed off one-half. On the day war trophies from
the battle were distributed among the soldiers, this reporter was coincident-
ally there to celebrate at the banquet. Those soldiers, who received high praise
from officials and were rewarded with war trophies and monetary rewards,
all suggested using the money to buy shoes and socks for all the comrades
 Two Indestructible Pillars of the Great Wall 195

on the front lines. At the time, this reporter felt such shame and such joy – it
was really indescribable, a story that can never be forgotten!
Last month in Hefei, a turncoat organization was found and a traitor, a
well-known person, was captured. When he was sent to Lu’an, he had a “filial
daughter” (a graduate of Peking University) who insisted on following her
traitor father to Lu’an. After fifty to sixty li, the two feet of the “filial daughter”
could no longer move. An official felt compassion in his heart and gave a
horse for her to use. At the time when this “filial daughter” mounted the
horse, there were three thousand troops and soldiers in charge of accom-
panying the traitor, and the three thousand troops all stopped their feet and
did not advance. It was not until that “filial daughter” dismounted that they
then continued forward. The mind of a soldier might be simple and unsophis-
ticated, but it really is worthy of respect and lovable.
There was a succession of soldiers who in the middle of last month took
orders to create confusion among the enemy’s rear in Quanjiao.18 In order to
gain access to the targeted area, they had to cross three lines into the enemy
camp. Crossing the first lines of the enemy camp, more than fifty soldiers
were sacrificed. The main strength of their army was in the second and third
lines of their front. Those soldiers separated into eight on the front lines. At
that moment, they confused the sight and sound of the enemy soldiers and
so under this disorder and chaos, they crossed into the targeted area. How­
ever, by that time there were only forty or so soldiers left. But there they
played a farce with the enemy. They were firing in a circle around a moun-
taintop. One day the enemy went to Mountain X, and they would go to
Mountain Y. The next day the enemy would go to Mountain Y, and they would
be at Mountain X. They played this game of hide-and-seek for half a month
and again passed through the three lines of the enemy camp to return to
their own original station. Even though at the end there remained only several
dozen soldiers, it was enough to express our unyielding and unrelenting spirit!
A few days ago, this reporter visited a hospital for wounded soldiers. One
incident scared the reporter. In a patient’s room, there were two soldiers who
were badly wounded and who had placed two heads dripping blood by their
sides. After the reporter’s investigation, they said they had just returned from
Shangyao and had used a huge knife to cut off the enemy’s head and brought
it back. Even though they had several bullet wounds, they were unwilling to
throw away the prize they obtained. They had to place this thing beside them
to be content.
The morale is so strong, but how is the civilian spirit? The following de-
scribes the general populace. In the few days in which Fengyang was lost last
196 Jennifer Junwa Lau

month, the military advised the people living there to expedite their migra-
tion elsewhere. But when the troops moved back, there was an old woman,
more than seventy years of age, who would not leave the village. Someone
asked her if it was because she could not move, and she shook her head. When
asked whether she did not have any money to use, she also shook her head.
When asked if she was unwilling to leave her home, she still shook her head.
In the end she loudly exclaimed: “My eldest son died in the hands of the
enemy. My second son also died in enemy hands. Now our chance for revenge
has come. I have to entice the enemy to my home, and then close the door,
and set the house on fire – burning even me within it!” Someone wanted to
take this old lady from this place, but still was rejected. So this tragedy of
warmth and courage must have been performed before the enemy’s eyes!
Whenever a village or a town fell into enemy hands, moving events writ-
ten with tears and blood always appear. The few days before Dingyuan fell,
the people of the village, for the sake of avoiding the contamination of the
enemies, erected the flag of army volunteers. Because many young married
couples from various families had to participate in this great work, they were
willing to abandon their very own children at home. In this tragedy beyond
comparison on earth, a great spirit is held and embodied that plants the seeds
of immeasurable strength!
In Shou county, what makes one the proudest is what is seen of the chil-
dren on the streets. These poor children pester you and make you uncom-
fortable, but what is surprising is how they are not afraid of the enemy and
how they do not hate the sound of cannons. Even more surprising is how a
child from a typical family commonly uses bamboo shoots as guns. Placing
the bamboo shoots on their backs, they march along the streets like they are
patrol officers. This is already enough to rejoice in the future of China! The
most reflective of the times in Shou county is the people’s self-protection
army. Every few houses, there is bound to be one civilian standing who is
clothed in a short-sleeved shirt. The local kids who play this game are every-
where. At a glance, it seems like the civilians in this attire standing outside
the houses have suddenly shrunk to half their height. Moreover, the way they
hide in the corners of the air-raid shelters and pretending to intensely perform
field operations? This shocks you! Although these expressions are just play-
pretend for children, but they are also a miniature reflection of the civilian
spirit.
Yesterday in one place I met with a youth who escaped from Fengyang.
When speaking, this youth was very excited and impassioned. One look and
it was easy to discern that he was someone who had gone through something
 Two Indestructible Pillars of the Great Wall 197

traumatic. This reporter asked why he was so worked up. He suddenly burst
into tears and said: “The day Fengyang fell, my seventy-six-year-old father
told me several times to leave Fengyang. And he sternly told me, ‘Until the
last victory is won and Fengyang is reclaimed, don’t you dare come back
home! No matter what changes happen in the family, you must defend until
death.’” His words touched a nerve of the reporter; it was really like heaping
burning coal on the reporter’s head.
Shou county is only eighty li away from the battle lines, but generally the
people are calm and it does not appear that they have any worry. The reporter
found their town’s composure strange and constantly asked them foolish
questions. They would always respond with the same answer, claiming: “Our
Shou county is not easily challenged: from the battle lines to the city, there
is the power of ten thousand civilian guns!” Their confident hearts are really
harder than iron and firmer than rocks.
Ultimately, the morale and civilian spirit here have already formed two
indestructible pillars of the Great Wall. No matter how violent and fierce
the enemy’s gunfire, it will never destroy these two pillars of the Great Wall!

Notes
1 Parks M. Coble, China’s War Reporters: The Legacy of Resistance against Japan (Cam­
bridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2015), 11.
2 Ibid., 7.
3 Ibid., 2.
4 Ibid., 28.
5 Charles A. Laughlin, Chinese Reportage: The Aesthetics of Historical Experience (Durham,
NC: Duke University Press, 2002), 10.
6 Diana Lary, “Drowned Earth: The Strategic Breaching of the Yellow River Dyke, 1938,”
War in History 8, 2 (April 2001): 191.
7 Ibid., 205.
8 Coble, China’s War Reporters, 57.
9 Laughlin, Chinese Reportage, 43.
10 Ibid., 271.
11 Ibid., 44.
12 Fan Shiqin, “Liangzuo buneng cuihui de Changcheng” [Two indestructible pillars of the
Great Wall], Zhongyang Ribao [Central daily news], in Wang Xunzhi, ed., Huoxian shang
de wu lu jun [The Fifth Route Army on the front lines] (Guangzhou: Zhujiang ribao, 1938),
68–72. Also in Mengzang Yuebao [Mongolia and Tibet monthly] 8, 2 (1938): 29–32, and
Guoji wenzhai [International digest] 1, 4 (1938): 20–22, and Da Mei wanbao [Shanghai
evening post and mercury], 28 March 1938.
13 The text literally says “do not arrive here.”
14 A li, or Chinese mile, is commonly thought of as being one-third of an English mile or
five hundred metres.
15 Shangyao is a town in Anhui province, not be to confused with Sheung Yiu in Hong Kong.
16 This is a Chinese classical idiom found in the classical text of Han Feizi: a man waits for
a rabbit in the forest because he once captured a rabbit there in hopes of the same outcome
198 Jennifer Junwa Lau

(shou zhu dai tu). It points to the inaction of man and the lack of practicality in leaving
things to chance.
17 The onomatopoeia may stand for the sound of repeated throwing of the grenades or the
explosion of the grenades themselves.
18 Quanjiao is in Chuzhou, Anhui.
13 Uchiyama Bookstore
Sino-Japanese Cultural Exchanges
in the Midst of War
NAOKO KATO

Shanghai’s Uchiyama Bookstore 1 operated between 1917 and 1945 in

the midst of heightened nationalism and antagonism between Japan
and China. The store became known as a Sino-Japanese cultural salon
because its owner, Uchiyama Kanzō (1885–1959), focused on new
Japanese publications that Chinese intellectuals sought. Returned
Chinese students from Japan, such as Lu Xun (1881–1936), and visiting
Japanese writers frequented the bookstore, particularly to obtain the
latest Marxist literature. As Shanghai became a war zone, Uchiyama
Bookstore’s role shifted to become a safe haven for many Chinese and
Japanese left-wing activists. Even during the war, the bookstore con­
tinued to act as a hub for Sino-Japanese intellectual exchanges. Chinese
intellectuals absorbed knowledge through Japanese books, and Japan­
ese customers actively sought information about China and Chinese.
I have chosen three primary sources that illustrate the daily face-to-
face Sino-Japanese intellectual exchanges that occurred through the
bookstore. 2 The first is “Yimian” by A Lei (1909–87), which is a short
story written in memory of Lu Xun soon after his death. It describes A
Lei’s experience of going to Uchiyama Bookstore and interacting with
Lu Xun and the bookstore owner. The second is a sample of Lu Xun’s
diary with numerous references to the bookstore. The third is a report
written by a Japanese in 1937, on the books and customers at Uchiyama
Bookstore and other Japanese bookstores in Shanghai.
“Yimian” (“An Encounter”) is one of many stories that have been used
in Chinese high school textbooks to educate students about the founder
of modern Chinese literature, Lu Xun. I include it as an example of how
Chinese students generally come to know of Uchiyama Bookstore. The
200 Naoko Kato

fact that this story is set at a bookstore is appropriate, given the import­
ance Lu Xun placed on the role of literature in changing China. Yet the
little-remarked-on setting was none other than the Japanese-owned
Uchiyama Bookstore. Probing deeper, a logical question is: Why did
A Lei, Lu Xun, and many other Chinese writers at this time frequent
Uchiyama Bookstore?
In “Yimian,” the protagonist of the story, A Lei, recounts his encounter
with Lu Xun at Uchiyama Bookstore. A Lei has thirty minutes to spare
before work, and decides to go to Uchiyama Bookstore. The casual
mention of the bookstore here implies that going to Uchiyama Bookstore
was something that A Lei often considered. In A Lei’s words, Uchiyama,
a “Japanese gentleman” whom he refers to as “Sir,” is portrayed as
somebody who is sympathetic to China, and is an acceptable person
despite being Japanese. A Lei also notes that the two people in the store,
one of whom is Chinese (Lu Xun) and the other Japanese (Uchiyama
Kanzō), talk to each other in Japanese. Just as A Lei’s frequent visits to
Uchiyama Bookstore were nothing out of the ordinary, so too is the use
of Japanese in communicating with the bookstore owner, and in read­
ing books.
On entering the bookstore, A Lei observes that it is dark, and he
can only make out that there were two people behind the counter.
Uchiyama had around seven houses that he rented in order to hide Lu
Xun from the Kuomintang; at least three of them were rented under his
name, including one where Lu Xun kept his books. As soon as Lu Xun
entered the bookstore, he sat at the back of the store as a precaution,
and Uchiyama sat toward the entrance. Those who came to the book­
store to correspond with Lu Xun would pretend to search for some
books, signal, and Lu Xun would come out. This was how they exchanged
letters or talked behind the bookshelves. 3
“Yimian” was written in 1936, but A Lei’s encounter with Lu Xun is
stated as four years prior, which would be 1932. In the story, Lu Xun
recommends two books by Russian proletariat writers: The Iron Flood
by Alexander Serafimovich (translated by Cao Jinghua) and The Rout
by Alexander Fadeyev. The Rout, which Lu Xun himself translated, was
published in 1932. 4
The second translation below is a diary entry, written in 1932, which
demonstrates the frequency with which Lu Xun went to Uchiyama Book­
store. In May 1932 alone, there are twelve entries on it. Lu Xun visited
the bookstore over five hundred times, and the number of books he
 Uchiyama Bookstore 201

purchased is said to number over a thousand. 5 The diary also shows

Lu Xun’s close relationship with Uchiyama, beyond that of a bookstore
owner and patron. Examples include gifts received as well as gifts
bought for people associated with the bookstore; purchases of books
including the price; postcards or correspondence with Uchiyama and
his friends; and routine afternoon visits to the bookstore.
The diary entries also show how closely intertwined Lu Xun’s per­
sonal networks were with the operations of the bookstore and Uchiyama
Kanzō’s network of friends. Uchiyama Bookstore acted as Lu Xun’s post
office: Lu Xun directed all his mail there and paid his manuscript fees
there. 6 Lu Xun was forced to use pseudonyms from about 1933, because
he was writing pieces critiquing the Kuomintang’s crackdown on the
Communists. In order to find ways to publish underground, Lu Xun
resorted to translating, commissioning, and publishing through
Uchiyama Bookstore. Masuda Wataru (1903–77), mentioned in this
diary, was one of Lu Xun’s translators; Uchiyama introduced them in
1931. Masuda published the first biography of Lu Xun in Japanese in
1932, and translated many of Lu Xun’s works thereafter.
Among the correspondence Lu Xun received at Uchiyama Bookstore
were woodcut prints, as Uchiyama provided assistance in organizing
woodcut print exhibits. In the early 1930s, woodcut artists faced intense
persecution from the Kuomintang with many societies disbanded, ex­
hibits banned, artists jailed, and prints confiscated. Kakichi, who ap­
pears in this diary, was Uchiyama Kanzō’s brother and an art teacher in
Japan. During his visit to Shanghai in 1931, he was asked by Lu Xun to
lead a woodcut workshop to teach young Chinese artists. Kakichi led a
woodcut workshop at the Japanese-language school run by Uchiyama,
with Lu Xun acting as the interpreter.
Uchiyama rented rooms on behalf of Lu Xun, paid for utilities such
as water and electricity,7 and assisted in evacuating Lu Xun on three
separate occasions. Kamata, who is featured in this diary, was the
bookstore’s shop assistant and played an important role in securing Lu
Xun’s safety. Lu Xun hung the nameplate “Kamata Seiichi” in front of his
house for safety reasons, around the time that members of the League
of Left-Wing Writers were executed in 1931. Following the January 28
Incident in 1931, Uchiyama was forced to temporarily flee to Japan,
leaving Lu Xun in the care of Kamata.
Uchiyama Bookstore appeared in a March 1937 governmental report,
excerpted and translated as the third item below, which was compiled
202 Naoko Kato

by Uezaki Kōnosuke, who was assigned to lead the Shanghai Japanese

Modern Science Library that same year. The 1936 establishment of the
Modern Science Library was part of Japan’s cultural policy in China
(tōhō bunka jigyō) headed by the China Cultural Affairs Division under
the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. 8 The objective of the report was to
assess Japanese-language books and Japanese-language learning in
China.9 The report assessed the distribution of Japanese books and
magazines in Shanghai through a comparison of major distributors,
noting the percentage of Japanese versus Chinese customers.
Uezaki’s report highlights the significance and uniqueness of
Uchiyama Bookstore, not only noting the mere numbers of books and
magazines distributed, but also by examining its intellectual impact,
especially on the Chinese populace. Uchiyama Bookstore had the
largest percentage of Chinese customers (70 percent) in terms of book
purchases, surpassing the number of Japanese customers (30 percent),
and it distributed the largest number of books among its competitors.
In terms of the number of magazines sold, Uchiyama Bookstore sold
the least. However, Uezaki lays out the types of magazines Chinese
customers purchased from Uchiyama Bookstore. He emphasizes that
they are not entertainment magazines but are widely popular journals
focusing on intellectual content, ranging from social and labour prob­
lems to literature and diplomacy.10
Writer Kaneko Mitsuharu (1895–1975) describes the bookstore as the
“nipple” from which Chinese literati acquired nourishment – namely,
knowledge.11 For example, Uchiyama Bookstore ordered 1,000 copies
of the Complete Works of Japanese Literature, 400 of the Complete
Works of World Literature, 350 of the Complete Works of Marx and
Engels, 200 of the Complete Works of New Economics, and 200 of the
Complete Works of Law.12 Out of the left-wing published materials in
China, those that were originally in Japanese (330 of the publications)
were almost exclusively available through Uchiyama’s store.13 Kaneko
asserts that Japanese translations of Das Kapital and numerous other
works on socialist thought poured into Chinese society from the book­
shelves of Uchiyama Bookstore, and became “the blood and body of
revolutionaries.”14
Despite its significance, Uchiyama Bookstore has been mentioned
either only in passing as a place where May Fourth writers purchased
books, or in the context of Lu Xun’s friendship with the bookstore owner,
Uchiyama Kanzō. This is due to the fact that nationalist or postcolonial
 Uchiyama Bookstore 203

paradigms that essentialize the relationship between individuals and

the imperial project have dominated past historical interpretations.
Uchiyama Bookstore’s Sino-Japanese networks transcend national div­
isions and borders, and its continual cultural exchanges do not fit into
these dominant narratives. Further investigation into the activities of
the bookstore reveals how intricately Chinese and Japanese intellectual
histories were intertwined.

—•  TRANSLATIONS  •—

Yimian (An Encounter)15

a lei

In the fall of 1932, I was working as a bus conductor for the Shanghai Brit­
ish Transportation Company.
One afternoon, it was drizzling as I went to take over my shift. There was
still half an hour left. I thought to myself: “Why not go to Uchiyama Book­
store? That way, I can find shelter from the rain and take a break as well.”
There was not a single customer inside the store, only two people chatting
with each other behind the counter. I took a look inside – it was very dark
and blurry. I could only identify a thin Chinese man, who looked about fifty
years old, sitting at the south end of the shop.
I stood in front of the bookshelves and began to look through the books.
Outside, light rain twirled around like smoke as the autumn wind blew
it in all directions.
The store was as chilly as a cellar and cold air came up through my pants.
Suddenly I noticed the title The Rout in a row of Chinese books.
The Rout? I remembered this book being positively discussed in a magazine.
The spine of the book had three words, Translator: Lu Xun, which provided
a sense of guarantee. I immediately took a copy down from the bookshelf.
I took a look at the postscript first, but after reading the first page, I was
unable to open the book further because the pages were not trimmed open
at the side. A stocky middle-aged Japanese gentleman entered – Mr.
Uchiyama, the owner.
“Sir, how much is this book?” I always addressed the owner Mr. Uchiyama
respectfully as “Sir,” as he was sympathetic toward China.
He nodded politely, took the book, flipped to the bottom page, and said:
“One kuai [yuan] forty.”
204 Naoko Kato

I smiled with embarrassment and felt around in my shirt pocket; I had

only one yuan and a few coins left, enough for a few days of food for my
unemployed roommate and myself. I regretted my hastiness and said with
a reddened face: “It’s too expensive.”
He did not notice my embarrassment, and twiddled the green thick cloth-
pattern book cover with his stubby fingers: “How is that expensive? Take a
look at this paper.”
It was a fairly solid book with thick paper and clear letters. It was an oddly
comfortable feeling to hold it in my hands.
“Go ahead and buy one. This is a very good book.”
I really hesitated. On the one hand I had to eat, but the book was really
good as well. If I were to buy a copy and place it at the head of the bed, I could
curl up with it and read a few pages after coming home feeling exhausted
from work – how wonderful it would be! I kept stroking the book, unwilling
to let go. I did not say I would buy it but nor did I say that I would not.
The owner Mr. Uchiyama could figure out what was going on. Smiling,
he turned and said a few words in Japanese to the person inside.
The old man who had been chatting with him earlier came out with a
cigarette filter chomped between his teeth. His face was yellowish, pale, and
worrisomely thin as if he had just recovered from a serious illness. He was
in good spirits and did not seem the least disheartened. His hair was about
an inch long. It was obvious that he had not cut it for a long time and it stood
straight up. His moustache was eye-catching like the Chinese character “-”
(“one”) in black ink.
“Do you want to buy this book?” He took a look at me. His honest and
kindly gaze landed on me like a father’s touch, stern and affectionate. “Yes,”
I said quietly.
He took a book from the shelf which had the identical paper format as
The Rout, except it was thicker. The cover had two words printed: Iron Flood.
He handed the book to me with his bamboo-like fingers, sleeves wrapped
tightly around his wrists. “You should buy this book,” he said. “This one is
better than that one.”
Who could he be? Why is he giving such sincere advice to me – a routinely
disdained blue-collar worker? I was somewhat puzzled when I first walked
in, and was even more so now. Although I could not figure out who he was,
I was sure he was someone extraordinary.
I turned to the page with the marked price: one yuan eighty.
“Sir, I cannot afford it. I do not have enough money.”
 Uchiyama Bookstore 205

My voice was so low even I could not hear it myself, and I did not know
what to do.
“Do you have one yuan – just one?”
“Yes!” I raised my head and instantly regained my courage.
“I’ll sell them to you – two copies for one yuan.”
What? With surprise I observed his yellowish-pale complexion, worrisome
thinness, inch-high spiky hair, long yellowish long robe, “-” moustache, and
yellow cigarette filter which blackened at the end held in his left hand. It was
at this moment that I suddenly recalled an interview in a magazine.
“Oh, you are ...” I stammered in exhilaration. It had to be him, no mistake,
it had to be! That name bounced around madly around in my heart as I looked
all about, but failed to bounce right out.
He smiled and nodded in acknowledgment as if he fully understood what
I had meant to say. This indicated to me that I could not be wrong. It was
him – the warrior who detested darkness as if it were the devil, who devoted
his lifetime to the betterment of our nation, and grew increasingly determined
as he advanced in age. I looked at his face carefully and it was thin. Our
warrior’s health had almost been ruined by restless toil. He smiled encour-
agingly, pointed to the book Iron Flood. I will only charge you one yuan for
Mr. Cao’s book. My book is a gift to you.”
With much effort, I took the one yuan silver coin, still warm from my
shirt pocket, and placed it in his hand. His hand felt so very thin. I felt a
sudden surge of emotion as if I were going to break out in tears. I bowed
respectfully and stuffed the books inside my canvas bag, placed the bag on
my back and walked out of the bookstore.
This incident happened four years ago, today. In these four years I experi-
enced many hardships and suffered through the most inhumane abuses. But
I clenched my teeth and did not utter a single complaint. I always held my
head up high and said to myself: “Lu Xun is with us!”
10 June 1936.

An Extract from Lu Xun’s Diary, May 193216

2nd Went to Uchiyama Bookstore17 in the afternoon, bought a copy of

Friend­ship, 2 yuan 5 jiao.
4th Went to Uchiyama Bookstore, bought one copy of World Art Col­
lection and 2 copies of Supplemental volume 11 & 14, in total paid
6 yuan 4 jiao.
206 Naoko Kato

6th Went to Uchiyama Bookstore in the afternoon, bought Gudong­

duowan,18 in total five copies, 7 yuan 4 jiao. Also, a copy of Guan
Tianpeng’s Modern Chinese Studies, 6 yuan 8 jiao.
7th Gift given to Uchiyama Kakichi19 – Masereel’s Selection of Wood­block
Prints.
12th Heard from Uchiyama.
19th Went to Uchiyama Bookstore, received a copy of Calligraphy Col­
lection (25), 2 yuan 4 jiao.
20th In the morning, Uchiyama gave me one box of seaweed. Received
from Uchiyama, cigarette tools and a lion-dance toy that belonged
to Masuda.20
21st Bought clothes for Uchiyama, Yamamoto,21 Kamata,22 Hasegawa, and
Uchiyama Kakichi’s wife.
22nd Went to Uchiyama Bookstore, received one copy of Qiaoben
Guanxue’s Shitao (Waves of stone), 3 yuan 2 jiao.
25th Postcard from Uchiyama Kakichi.
26th In the afternoon, went to Uchiyama Bookstore and bought two books,
3 yuan 5 jiao.
31st Went to Uchiyama Bookstore in the afternoon and bought The Con­
sistency of Literature, 5 jiao.

March 1937 Report by Librarian Uezaki on Japanese Books

and Japanese Language in Shanghai, Uezaki Kōnosuke

Report Index
1 Investigation of Japanese Books and Japanese Language
2 Investigation of Exchange Students in Japan
3 Investigation of Chinese Libraries.

Item 1. Investigation of Japanese Books and Japanese Language

1. Investigation of Japanese Book Sales in Shanghai

There are four bookstores that sell Japanese books in Shanghai: Uchiyama
Bookstore and Uchiyama Bookstore Magazine Section23 on North Sichuan
Road, Shiseidō on Wusong Road, and Nihondō. The most prominent and
successful is Uchiyama Bookstore.
I have listed the amount sold, the numbers sold, and the types of patrons
(Japanese and Chinese) for the past year.
 Uchiyama Bookstore 207

Monographs
Number of Amount Patrons – Percentage
Bookstore books/year per year ($) Japanese Chinese
Uchiyama Bookstore 100,000 200,000 30 70
Nihondō 4,000 6,000 100 0
Shiseidō 13,500 25,000 85 15
Note: The subject fields sold at Uchiyama Bookstore range from mental science, history, social
sciences, natural science, engineering, industry, art, language, and literature. Social sciences
was the most popular field among Chinese customers.

Journals/Magazines
Numbers Amount Patrons – Percentage
Bookstore per year per year ($) Japanese Chinese
Uchiyama Bookstore 18,000 9,000 65 35
Shiseidō 120,000 60,000 80 20
Nihondō 54,000 27,000 100 0
Note: Chinese customers at Uchiyama Bookstore’s magazine section do not purchase enter-
tainment magazines but are interested in Kaizō (Restructure), Bungeishunju (Literary maga-
zine), Chūōkōron (Central review), Nihonhyōron (Japan review), and Gaikōjihō (International
affairs). Chinese customers subscribe to approximately eighty journals per month.

Notes
1 Neishan Shudian in Chinese and Uchiyama Shoten in Japanese.
2 This work is based on my PhD dissertation, Naoko Kato, “Through the Kaleidoscope:
Uchiyama Bookstore and Sino-Japanese Visionaries in War and Peace” (University of
Texas at Austin, 2013).
3 Fujii Sōsen, “Rojin no shin no deshi” [Rojin’s true disciple], in Michi [Path] (Tōkyō: Ko
Uchiyama Kanzō nitchū yūkō sōgi iinkai, 1959), 6.
4 Mark Gamsa, The Chinese Translation of Russian Literature: Three Studies (Leiden; Boston:
Brill, 2008), 23.
5 Shin Gō, “Senzen shuppan media no shanhai rūto: Uchiyama Shoten to Kaizōsha no umi
o koeta nettowāku,” Qin Gang, [Transmission of Japanese publications through Shanghai
in the prewar period: The tie between two publishers, Uchiyama Shoten and Kaizōsha]
Nihon kindai bungaku [Japanese modern literature] 89 (2013): 200–7.
6 Hanchao Lu, Beyond the Neon Lights: Everyday Shanghai in the Early Twentieth Century
(Berkeley: University of California Press, 1999), 369.
7 Koizumi Yuzuru, Rojin to Uchiyama Kanzō [Lu Xun and Uchiyama Kanzō] (Tōkyō:
Kōdansha, 1976), 217.
8 See Heng Teow, Japan’s Cultural Policy Toward China, 1918–1931: A Comparative
Perspective (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Asia Center, 1999), 199.
9 Uezaki Kōnosuke, Shanhai chihō no Nihon tosho oyobi Nihongo ni kansuru Uezaki shisho
no shisatsu hōkoku [Inspection report on Japanese books and Japanese language in
Shanghai region by Uezaki Librarian, March 1937], Diplomatic Archives of the Ministry
of Foreign Affairs, H-7–1–0–6_002.
208 Naoko Kato

10 Ibid.
11 Kaneko Mitsuharu, Dokurohai [Skull-cup] (Tōkyō: Chūō kōronsha, 2004), 160–61.
12 Uchiyama Kanzō, Kakōroku [Recollections from the past] Tōkyō: Iwanami shoten, 1960),
145.
13 Shin Gō, “Senzen shuppan,” 200–7.
14 Ibid.
15 Cao Juren, ed., Lu Xun nianpu [A chronology of Lu Xun] (Beijing: San lian shu dian, 2011),
202–4.
16 Lu Xun, Lu Xun Ru Ji [Lu Xun diary] (Beijing: Ren min wen xue chu ban she: Xin hua shu
dian Beijing fa xing suo fa xing, 1976), 781–84.
17 Lu Xun said about Uchiyama Bookstore, “I have been frequenting the place for the past
three years. It is safer than dealing with some of the Shanghai literati, as he is in the
business of making money. He is not in secret investigations and sells books for money,
and I am convinced he will not be selling blood.” Maruyama Noboru, Shanhai mono­
gatari: Kokusai toshi Shanhai to nitchū bunkajin [Shanghai stories: International city
Shanghai and Sino-Japanese literati] Tōkyō Kōdansha Gakujutsubunko, 2004), 189.
18 A Chinese journal edited by the Japanese writer Satō Haruo, who was also a translator
of Lu Xun’s works.
19 Uchiyama Kanzō’s brother.
20 Masuda Wataru, translator of Lu Xun’s works. From March to December of 1931, Masuda
went to Uchiyama Bookstore on a daily basis, followed by three-hour Chinese literature
sessions with Lu Xun.
21 Yamamoto Sanehiko, editor of Kaizōsha, which published socialist and communist
articles such as the Complete Works of Marx and Engels (sold at Uchiyama), as well as
fiction. Yamamoto also introduced many of the Chinese returned students from Japan
and like-minded Japanese revolutionaries to Marxism.
22 Kamata Seiichi, bookstore shop assistant, 1930–33. In 1933, Lu Xun rented the second
floor of Kamata’s house on Dixwell Street (renamed Liyang Road) as his “secret reading
room” for Marxist-Leninist books and leftist journals that he could not keep at home.
23 The Magazine Section is located on the same road as the main bookstore, close to Foo
Ming Hospital. Uchiyama Masao, Uchiyama Yoshie, Kojima Noboru, and Kojima Shizuko,
Robin to Shanhai Uchiyama Shoten no omoide [Memories of Lu Xun and Shanghai
Uchiyama Bookstore], 1996, 17.
14 Finding China’s “Asia” in
Japanese Asianism
TORSTEN WEBER

Many of the publications of the collaborationist government of Wang

Jingwei (1883–1944) focused on reconciling China’s status in Asia and
its domestic situation with 1) Japan’s imperialist policies toward China
and 2) Japan’s anti-Western and Pan-Asianist propaganda. As the title
of this chapter suggests, these efforts could be described as the search
for China’s “Asia” in Japanese Asianism.1 In other words, publications
and other activities sought to portray Japanese Asianism in general as
well as concrete Japanese declarations and activities regarding Japan’s
Asia policy as based on China’s – not Japan’s – central role in Asia. In
this effort, Sun Yat-sen’s (1866–1925) visions of Asianism and of Sino-
Japanese cooperation played a particularly prominent role.
The two sources translated below, originally published in 1940
and 1941, are examples of such attempts at rhetorical harmonization
and appropriation. They focus on the 1938 declaration of a “New
Order in East Asia” by the Japanese prime minister Konoe Fumimaro
(1891–1945) and on the East Asian League, founded in 1939 to promote
a union of Japan, China, and Manchukuo. 2 In both cases, the main
medium of read­ing “Chineseness” into these Japanocentric approaches
is Sun Yat-sen’s conception of Sino-Japanese cooperation, in particu­
lar his famous speech on Greater Asianism delivered in Kobe in
November 1924. 3
Both texts selected – and the majority of writings published in jour­
nals such as Da Yazhouzhuyi yu dongYa lianmeng (Greater Asianism and
East Asian League, published in Nanjing) or DongYa lianmeng huabao
(East Asian League pictorial, published in Guangzhou) – aim at portraying
210 Torsten Weber

Japanese approaches to East Asia as either complying with China’s own

domestic and foreign policy agenda or even as originating in China
itself. While such logic could simply be dismissed as pro-Japanese
propaganda, different interpretations are also possible. Directed at
Japan, they could be seen as skilful acts of diplomacy by a weak gov­
ernment in an occupied country toward a strong, occupying country.
By adopting official Japanese rhetoric of “Japanese-Chinese friendship”
and “East Asian Co-Prosperity,” Chinese writers attempted to navigate
between complying with a Japanese-dictated regional order and pro­
actively seeking autonomy for China within this order. Directed at a
Chinese audience, these texts may be seen as attempts to appeal to as
many Japanophile Chinese as possible in order to recruit support for
Wang’s Nanjing government and its conciliatory political stance toward
Japan. Probably more importantly, references to Sun Yat-sen’s concep­
tion of Asianism and Sino-Japanese cooperation were means of seeking
legitimacy for Wang’s regime within the domestic and internal party
power struggle; after all, following the logic of collaborationists, as a
true follower of Sun and in the spirit of a Chinese patriot, Wang only
continued the work that the founder of the Chinese republic had begun
decades earlier and had left uncompleted when he died in 1925. Col­
laboration with the Japanese, therefore, was the only way to implement
Sun’s legacy and complete the unfinished revolutionary task. In addi­
tion, as Wai Chor So explains, Wang “revived” Sun’s Asianism “to insti­
gate anti-British and anti-American sentiment among his countrymen
for the purpose of expelling the Anglo-American powers from China.”4
In both texts this anti-Westernism is expressed in the typical contem­
porary manner of criticizing “Euro-America” (Ou-Mei) for its aggressive
policies.
The originality of the texts published in Nanjing journals should
not be underestimated. They included criticism of Japan (e.g., Fu
Shiyue’s attack on the Nine-Power Treaty of which Japan was a signa­
tory, as in the essay below), and in many cases where texts from these
journals later appeared in translation in Japan, they were altered to
de-emphasize Chinese nationalism or to decentre China’s role in the
joint Asianist project. 5 The fact that the Japanese considered it neces­
sary to edit these texts before publication in Japan contradicts the
assumption that they were exclusively written as reproductions of
Japanese propaganda or lip service to the Japanese.
 Finding China’s “Asia” in Japanese Asianism 211

Fu Shiyue (1891–1947), a native of Yueqing in the southeast of

Zhejiang province, was a scientist, professor, and Kuomintang (KMT)
politician, and served as the minister of railways in Wang’s government
from 1940 to 1941. He first went to Japan in 1905, and he later gradu­
ated from the engineering department of Tokyo Imperial University. In
1922 he became professor at Xiamen University and helped establish
Daxia daxue (Great China University), a private institution in Shanghai
of which he also temporarily served as president. He was also an execu­
tive board member and president of the Zhonghua xueyishe (officially
known in English as the China Learning Society) in Shanghai, an organ­
ization composed mostly of Chinese exchange students returned from
Japan. In addition to several posts in Wang’s government, from 1940
onwards Fu also served as a board member of the Zhong-Ri wenhua
xiehui (Sino-Japanese Cultural Association), an organization set up by
the Japanese government to promote Japanese culture and policies in
China. In 1943, he was made provincial governor of Zhejiang province
and in 1944 became head of the Construction Ministry in Wang’s gov­
ernment. After Japan’s defeat, Fu was captured in Shanghai by Chiang
Kai-shek’s government in September 1945 and sentenced to death as
a Hanjian in the following year. Fu was executed in Shanghai on 19
June 1947.
In the first text below, Fu tries to explain the Japanese concept
of a “New Order in East Asia” that Prime Minister Konoe Fumimaro
had declared the new guideline of Japan’s foreign policy in East Asia
in November 1938. While in reality the New Order was a propaganda
term to conceal Japanese expansionist and hegemonic ambitions in
the region, Fu argues that it was based on Sun Yat-sen’s conception of
Asianism and would help China’s independence by overcoming the “old
order” of Euro-American white dominance in East Asia. Since China
was the largest country in Asia, Fu argues, it would naturally be at the
core of this new order.
Lin Baisheng (1902–46), from Xinyi in Guangdong province, was a
journalist and KMT politician who served as propaganda minister in
Wang’s government. As his former secretary and one of Wang’s closest
followers, Lin’s writings are seen as particularly representative of the
regime’s political and ideological stance. In 1920, Lin became a student
at the private Lingnan University in Guangzhou but was expelled after
participating in a strike in 1923. In 1925, he became Wang’s secretary
212 Torsten Weber

but left China to study abroad in Moscow. After a dispute with Chiang
Kai-shek, Lin together with Wang went to France in 1927. On his return,
he founded several newspapers in Hong Kong and Shanghai. In 1937,
Lin became a member of the KMT’s Central Propaganda Division. With
the establishment of Wang’s government in 1940, Lin was appointed
propaganda minister, a post he held until he became governor of Anhui
province in December 1944. In August 1945, together with Chen Gongbo
(1892–1946), Lin fled to Japan but was deported back to China two
months later. He was sentenced to death in May 1946 and executed in
Nanjing in October. Lin was a prolific writer whose essays were also
widely distributed in newspapers and journals Japan. A collection of
his writings was published in 1942 in Japanese as Meihō no tomo e
(To our allied friends). 6
In this 1941 interview-styled text, Lin tries to explain the rationale of
China’s participation in Japan’s East Asian League. The league had been
founded in 1939 by the Japanese lieutenant general Ishiwara Kanji
(1889–1949) and quickly grew in membership and branches but proved
short-lived. Prime Minister Tōjō Hideki (1884–1948) viewed Ishiwara’s
activities and prominence with suspicion and started to suppress the
organization as early as 1940. It took two more years before it was dis­
solved, after which it managed to partly reorganize under a similar
name (East Asian League Comrades Association). It continued to pub­
lish its monthly journal TōA renmei (East Asian League) until 1945.
The China General Assembly of the East Asian League was founded in
Nanjing in February 1941 as a merger of different East Asian League
associations that had been founded in China during the previous year,
including two China East Asian League Associations in Beijing and
Guangzhou, with Nanjing’s East Asian League China Comrades Associ­
ation. Wang Jingwei became president of the assembly. Its main publi­
cation, the monthly DongYa lianmeng (East Asian League) was published
from 1941 to 1944.
In order to mask the strong Japanese influence and Japan’s leader­
ship in the East Asian League movement, Lin argues that the East Asian
League was in fact based on Sun Yat-sen’s revolutionary and Asianist
ideals. Therefore, according to Lin, committing to the East Asian League
movement not only meant realizing Sun Yat-sen’s legacy of Sino-
Japanese friendship and Asianist cooperation but also completing
the revolutionary task of securing China’s independence.
 Finding China’s “Asia” in Japanese Asianism 213

—•  TRANSLATIONS  •—

Greater Asianism and the New Order in East Asia7

fu shiyue

The term “Greater Asianism” was proposed by Sun Yat-sen in a speech in

Kobe in 1924. But the idea of Greater Asianism had already existed around
the time of the founding of the Chinese Revolutionary Alliance (Tongmeng­
hui). Sun Yat-sen clearly explained its content and significance in his speech
on Greater Asianism. The term “New Order in East Asia” appeared during
the course of this war from the public debate in Japan. In December last
year,8 the Konoe Declaration also officially declared the plan to establish a
New Order in East Asia. The Japanese side has been using this slogan, but
the definition and contents of the so-called New Order in East Asia is neither
very clear nor very fixed. From my point of view, the so-called New Order
in East Asia aims at initiating actions, namely to build a nonconfrontational
order in Asia by us Asians ourselves and for the benefit of us Asians. In most
cases, any action must depart from a clearly defined thought, which guides
and instructs that action so it can accomplish its expected results, whereas
blind action is unlikely to bear any fruit. But what is the intellectual base for
this action to establish the New Order in East Asia? We think that Greater
Asianism should be the intellectual base for the New Order in East Asia.
Precisely understanding the thought of Greater Asianism will allow us to
complete the important task of establishing a New Order in East Asia. This
means that realizing the thought of Greater Asianism and completing ac-
tions for the establishment of the New Order in East Asia are two sides of
the same coin. Merely possessing a belief in Greater Asianism but not dis-
playing actions to establish the New Order in East Asia renders belief an
empty thought. Simultaneously, not having Greater Asianism as the basis
of the New Order in East Asia, but forcibly establishing it just the same,
would also not conform to our ideal order. Therefore, the realization of
Greater Asianism will be achieved by conforming actions to construct a New
Order in East Asia, and this New Order in East Asia we want to construct
must be an Asianist New Order in East Asia.
There are three preconditions to constructing an Asianist New Order
in East Asia:
First, we must destroy the old order in East Asia. What is this old order?
More than one hundred years ago, the whites from Euro-America, relying
214 Torsten Weber

on military, economic, and cultural invasion, turned East Asia – with the
exception of Japan, which had already emerged as an independent country
– into a more or less complete colony or semi-colony of Euro-America.
Therefore, one can say that East Asia’s old order is a colonial order in which
China – mainly because of its location in East Asia and, importantly, because
unfortunately over the past decades it has not been able to complete the
revolution9– has not yet managed to strip off its semicolonial status until
today. Therefore the old order in East Asia remains deep-rooted until today.
In recent years the Nine-Power Treaty10 between the capitalist powers has
preserved this colonial order. [ ... ]
As the second precondition to establishing an Asianist New Order in
East Asia, we must build a thriving China. In order to understand the import-
ance of China in Asia, we only need to have a look at the map. Its location
is central, its territory vast, and its population is big. Also, its history is long
and its culture is superior. Summed up, China is the only great country in
Asia. If this only great country cannot break away from its semicolonial
status, in other words, if it continuously suffers under Euro-American col-
onialism and the demagogy of Soviet communism, it cannot achieve political
independence and economic autarky. Then, without doubt, China itself and
at the same time the liberation of all East Asia comes under threat; all en-
counter great difficulty or even become impossible.
Japan is the only strong country in East Asia. But it is merely one single
link in the chain of peoples in East Asia. Even if as a part it is incomparably
strong, if China as its neighbouring, large link is weak and powerless, it
[Japan] will naturally be affected too. Therefore in order to establish a healthy
New Order in East Asia from now on we must first strengthen and raise
the big link of China day by day. Then we can join together with the Jap­an­
ese and other segments to start making efforts for the creation of a new
paradise in East Asia. As was clearly laid out in the Konoe Declaration: “Japan
desires of China to share the task of establishing a New Order in East Asia”;
“Japan’s real desire is not China’s ruin but its revival, not the conquest of
China but cooperation with China”; “Japan recognizes the passion of the
Chinese nation and accepts China as an independent country.” All of these
statements deeply express the essence of Greater Asianism. [ ... ]
The third precondition is a thorough cooperation between China and
Japan. Sun Yat-sen pointed this out to us in his Greater Asianism speech
when he said: “The greatest people in the East of Asia are the Chinese and
Japanese. The motor behind this movement is China and Japan.” By “this
movement” he meant the movement for the independence and liberation of
 Finding China’s “Asia” in Japanese Asianism 215

the different peoples in Asia. Unless both countries that form this motor
cooperate, Greater Asianism cannot be realized and the New Order in East
Asia cannot be established. As I have already said before, China is the largest
country in Asia and Japan is the strongest country in Asia. Between these
two countries of size and strength, for the past forty years not only could
we not help and cooperate with each other but, on the contrary, we have
frequently clashed and at times engaged in political infighting. And recently
this has even turned into a bloody war that we are unable to stop. Sun Yat-
sen’s thought of Greater Asianism, which he had proposed for so long, was
practically shelved and no one realized its significance. Although the Jap­
an­ese side has issued the slogan to establish a New Order in East Asia,
the Chinese people on the contrary harbour doubts and curse bitterly. This
non-cooperation between China and Japan is the most painful phenomenon
in East Asia. The reason why the whole of East Asia has not yet been able to
achieve its liberation lies in the inability of China and Japan to cooperate.
As a consequence, Euro-American capitalism and Soviet communism have
come to inflict invasions and to instigate disorder with the result that until
today East Asia has remained in the status of a colony and has been unable
to free itself. [ ... ]
To conclude, in order to establish the New Order in East Asia we must
first destroy the old order in East Asia. In order to destroy this old order,
it is indispensable for China to achieve liberation and independence and
to improve the country’s condition. Improving China’s condition naturally
requires efforts by China itself. But one important condition is to acquire
sincere support from Japan for profound cooperation between the two coun-
tries of Japan and China. In the final analysis this means that in order to
realize Greater Asianism and in order to build the New Order in East Asia,
we must have Sino-Japanese cooperation as its basis. As Sun Yat-sen said in
his speech on Greater Asianism after he had explained that China and Japan
are the motors of the movement for the liberation and the independence of
the Asian peoples: “Neither we Chinese nor you Japanese know the conse-
quences once this motor has started. After all, China and Japan have not
yet formed a great alliance. But the tides of the time indicate that we peoples
in the East of Asia by all means must also form an alliance.” When Sun spoke
these sentences his heart must have been in great grief since, at that time,
in 1924, the [Kuomintang] Party had decided to adopt a policy to ally with
Russia and to acknowledge the Communists. Although, considering the
historical context, he had adopted a policy of acknowledging the Commun­
ists, Sun had always considered Chinese-Japanese relations as the cornerstone
216 Torsten Weber

of safety and decided not to abandon the fundamental ideal he had held for
many years, namely, that of cooperation between China and Japan. There­
fore, on his way from Shanghai to Beijing he made a stop in Kobe and propa-
gated Greater Asianism to the Japanese people as the final teaching of his
life. He said that at the time many people in China and Japan did not know
the principle of Greater Asianism but he believed that against the tides of
time an alliance between China and Japan had to be created in the future.
Unforeseeably, it has now come as far as this bad war, but from this sea of
blood the two countries can take a first step onto the road of cooperation. I
wish that from now onwards we may realize peace, unbroken cooperation,
and shared respect for Sun Yat-sen’s great legacy in order to realize Greater
Asianism, and revive China and East Asia in accordance with our ideal of
establishing a New Order in East Asia.

On the East Asian League Movement 11

lin baisheng

Today, in our capital, promoted by pacifist patriots and East Asianists, the
China General Assembly of the East Asian League was established. It builds
on the legacy of Sun Yat-sen’s Greater Asianism and is guided by Wang
Jingwei. From Chinese and foreign journalists we have recently received
several questions about the character and the intentions of this assembly.

(question) What is the central thought of the East Asian League movement
and where does it start from?
(answer) Although the East Asian League movement has only recently
evolved in a concrete process, the central thought of the East Asian League
movement actually takes its origins from the theoretical system of Sun Yat-
sen’s revolutionary stance. The aim of the Republican Revolution was to
realize China’s freedom and equality. To achieve this aim it was necessary
to raise the masses and to work hard for the revolution. And we also aimed
at uniting with all the peoples in the world who treat us as equals in order
to fight together. As two countries located in East Asia, China and Japan
have both experienced the force of suppression by the Euro-American pow-
ers. Therefore, we feel the responsibility to plan together the revival of East
Asia. Already in the early days of the revolution, led by Sun, this view was
expressed clearly and can be found everywhere in early revolutionary writ-
ings. For example, three years before the founding of the republic, Mr. Wang
[Jingwei] already said in his “On Why the Revolution Will Not Lead to the
 Finding China’s “Asia” in Japanese Asianism 217

Disaster of Splitting the Melon”12 that “Any country must have beneficial
relations with other countries. If countries have contradictory interests this
will lead to hostility, but if they have common interests they possess the
sentiments of allies ... No country can exist in isolation in this world. All
countries must form alliances with countries of common interests to be able
to check others and in order to not be suppressed by others.” And he con-
tinued: “Countries seek alliances to gain mutual support.” In the same text
he also mentions the situation in East Asia and states that because of shared
interests an alliance between China and Japan was necessary. But in Japan
there were conservatives and people advocating aggression with different
opinions. They claimed that because China had no ability to become in-
dependent it would inevitably meet the fate of invasion. The blame was put
on China and we had to abandon our hopes in Japan. In 1917, in the piece
The Question of China’s Survival (Zhongguo cunwang wenti),13 which Sun
Yat-sen asked Zhu Zhixin14 to write, it says:

Because China and Japan have mutual relations that really concern their
survival, there can be no China without Japan and no Japan without China
... China and Japan must under the banner of Asianism develop the re-
sources west of the Pacific as the United States unites the east of the Pacific
under its Monroe Doctrine. In this way we make sure that we achieve growth
and will not have a conflict within the next hundred years. In the future,
we must cooperate as three countries [that is, China, Japan, and the United
States], restrain our armies, and set aside enmity to secure eternal world
peace. This will bring happiness not only to China.

In 1924, after he had completed his lectures on the Three Principles of

the People, Sun travelled north via Japan and in detail set out his Greater
Asianism. He called for the awakening of the two great peoples of the East
and to take the Three Principles of the People as the guiding principle for
the establishment of a new China, with Greater Asianism as the guiding
principle for the establishment of a new East Asia. He said:

China and Japan are the two greatest nations in the East of Asia. China
and Japan should be the motors of this movement (movement for the in-
dependence of nations). Neither we Chinese nor you Japanese know the
consequences once this motor has started. After all, China and Japan have
not yet formed a great alliance. But the tides of time indicate that we peoples
in the East of Asia by all means must also form an alliance.
218 Torsten Weber

And he continued: “What will be the result of Greater Asianism and what
problem does it aim to solve? The problem is how the grieving Asian peoples
can resist the powerful European peoples. To put it simply, it is the problem
of how to help the oppressed peoples to destroy injustice.” From this we can
see again that Sun’s revolutionary claims are not only concerned with China
but take into consideration all of East Asia. In fact, this is the historical origin
of the core thought of the East Asian League (DongYa lianmeng).
In Japan, similar claims have been made by people since the First Sino-
Japanese War [1894–95]. Their motivations and points of discussion have
not necessarily been the same. But an alliance between China and Japan and
the view that both countries must cooperate for the defence of East Asia have
been considered natural in theoretical terms and inevitable in practical
terms. In the course of events, this has eventually resulted in the contrary
of the anticipated aims. But from the grief and bloodshed since the past
incident,15 the peoples of both countries have awakened to their mission in
East Asia. From there, the peace movement was born, a Sino-Japanese treaty
was concluded and a Joint Declaration was issued.16 We are now proceeding
on to the movement of the East Asian League, on the basis of the thus-far-
held revolutionary ideals toward China and East Asia. In the preamble of
the assembly’s statutes we explain the purpose of the founding of the organ-
ization. The first point is that Greater Asianism is the guiding principle of
the East Asian League movement. The second point is that the East Asian
League movement is the concrete implementation of the Joint Declara­tion.
The third point is that “common existence and common prosperity” and
the revival of East Asia are the common objectives of the East Asian League.
These may be plain words, but the central thought of the East Asian League
is probably covered by these points.

What are the characteristics of the East Asian League movement that are
developed from the above-mentioned core thought?
The founding of the East Asian League China General Assembly corresponds
to the developments of our times. Adapting to the needs of our people it has
started the great East Asian League movement, which displays the following
three characteristics:

1 It unfolds as a people’s movement with the KMT at its core.

2 The East Asian League is an intellectual movement that takes Greater
Asianism as its guiding principle and the Joint Declaration as its basic
spirit to promote precise policy proposals.
 Finding China’s “Asia” in Japanese Asianism 219

3 It is an international movement to establish a new system of coexistence

and cooperation by awakening the great peoples of East Asia (taking China
as its standard and Japan as its axis).17

In light of the characteristics you have explained above, can the assembly be
seen as a kind of political party?
No. The East Asian League China General Assembly is not a political party.
As a movement it is a national organization, which takes the party as its
core and unites with other parties and factions and non-political organiza-
tions. The establishment of a central force is what China needs most at
this moment, both internally and externally. Without doubt, one result of
this movement will be the increase and strengthening of the base of the
central force. However, this will be an extension of the party, not a replace-
ment of it.
[ ... ]

The first paragraph of the East Asian League China General Assembly statutes
defines political independence, economic cooperation, military alliance, and
cultural exchange as its four guiding principles. These four points are in line
with the Konoe Declaration, the yandian (December 29 Telegram),18 and the
Joint Declaration. There can be no doubt they are necessary conditions for
the revival of East Asia. But regarding its concrete implementation, what kind
of practical formation will the East Asian League take?
We are not concerned with form but with spirit. As for political independ-
ence, the East Asian League can be seen as a league of nations if the different
national states in East Asia unite, cooperate, and uphold the existence of in-
dependence. As for economic cooperation, the East Asian League can be
viewed as an economic league if the different national states in East Asia
form a fair and mutually beneficial economic union based on principles
of mutual support and exchange. As for a military alliance, the East Asian
League can be seen as a military alliance if the different national states in
East Asia share tasks and cooperate to work together for a common defence.
In cultural terms, the East Asian League can be seen as a cultural league if
the national states in East Asia, based on the original culture of East Asia,
plan to blend their respective cultures within East Asia and promote the
culture of East Asia to the world.
Sun Yat-sen said: “We Chinese people want to unite with the Japanese
people to use the joint power of both people to support the situation in East
Asia” (Conversation with journalists from the Kobe Newspaper on board the
220 Torsten Weber

Shanghai Maru, 24 October 1924), and he also said: “If Japan helps China
the Chinese people will be deeply moved by the Japanese and the two
countries can even further help each other and cooperate. This includes addi-
tional treaties for mutual help, such as treaties for economic or military al-
liances. If both countries would conclude a military alliance, the benefits
that Japan gained would natural multiply a hundredfold” (24 October 1924).
And he said: “Our Greater Asianism aims at destroying inequality by taking
Wangdao19 as its base ... The culture we are now advancing is an antidespotic
culture, a culture that represents the demand for equality and liberation of
the ordinary masses” (Greater Asianism speech in Kobe, 28 November 1924).
The league that we are proposing today has exactly this meaning. If in this
spirit the great nations of East Asia jointly fight for a common purpose, “there
are many ways to ally the two peoples,” as Sun Yat-sen said. There may be
people who think the East Asian League is like the League of Nations or a
different kind of supranational authority but those people are wrong. The
former is a weak and incapable fabrication, while the latter is impairing the
sovereignty of independent countries and therefore nothing we are pursuing.
As I said before, what we are focusing on now is spirit not form.

Notes
1 On the interactions between Japanese and Chinese Asianism, see Craig A. Smith,
“Constructing Chinese Asianism: Intellectual Writings on East Asian Regionalism
(1896–1924)” (PhD diss., University of British Columbia, 2014); and Torsten Weber,
Embracing “Asia” in China and Japan: Asianism Discourse and the Contest for Hegemony,
1912–1933 (Cham, Switzerland: Palgrave Macmillan, 2018).
2 On Konoe’s declaration, see Roger Brown, “The Konoe Cabinet’s ‘Declaration of a New
Order in East Asia,’ 1938,” in Pan-Asianism: A Documentary History, 1920–Present, ed.
Sven Saaler and Christopher W.A. Szpilman (Lanham, MD: Rowman and Littlefield,
2011), 167–73. On the East Asian League, see Michael A. Schneider, “Miyazaki Masayoshi:
‘On the East Asian League,’ 1938,” in Saaler and Szpilman, Pan-Asianism, 179–83; and
Roger Brown, “Ishiwara Kanji’s ‘Argument for an East Asian League,’ 1940,” in Saaler
and Szpilman, Pan-Asianism, 201–7. Although the East Asian League was only founded
in 1939, it was first proposed as a tripartite union in the context of the founding of
Manchukuo in 1932. For a detailed history of the East Asian League, its origins, and its
development in Japan and China, see the excellent essay by Katsuragawa Mitsumasa,
“TōA Renmei Undōshi shoron” [Short essay on the history of the East Asian League
movement], in Nitchū Sensō shi kenkyū [Research on the Japanese-Chinese War], ed.
Furuya Tetsuo (Tōkyō: Yoshikawa kōbunkan, 1984), 363–439. For contextualization of
the movement in the activities and ideology of Wang’s Nanjing government, see Shibata
Tetsuo, Kyōryoku, teikō, chinmoku. Ō Seiei Nankin seifu no ideorogī ni taisuru hikakushi­
teki apurōchi [Cooperation, resistance, silence: A comparative history approach to the
ideology of Wang Jingwei’s Nanjing government] (Tōkyō: Seibundō, 2009), especially chs.
1 and 2.
3 On the speech and its legacy, see Smith, “Constructing Chinese Asianism,” ch. 6; and
Weber, Embracing “Asia,” ch. 5.
 Finding China’s “Asia” in Japanese Asianism 221

4 See Wai Chor So, “Race, Culture, and the Anglo-American Powers: The Views of Chi­
nese Collaborators,” Modern China 37, 1 (January 2011): 69–103, esp. 78.
5 On this aspect see also Torsten Weber, “Nanjing’s Greater Asianism: Wang Jingwei and
Zhou Huaren, 1940,” in Saaler and Szpilman, Pan-Asianism, 209–20.
6 Lin Baisheng, Meihō no tomo e [To our allied friends], trans. Fujita Hideo (Tōkyō:
Ikubundō, 1942).
7 Fu Shiyue, ”Da Yazhouzhuyi yu dongYa xin zhixu” [Greater Asianism and the new order
in East Asia], Da Yazhouzhuyi [Greater Asianism] 1, 3 (1940): 3–9.
8 Actually in November 1938.
9 “The revolution has not yet been completed” (geming shangwei chenggong) is a reference
to Sun Yat-sen’s last will, in which he encouraged his comrades to continue his work for
“China’s freedom and equality,” including the abolition of the unequal treaties.
10 This 1922 treaty, signed at the Washington Naval Conference by the United States, United
Kingdom, Belgium, China, France, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, and Portugal, confirmed
the Open Door Policy that was meant to preserve China’s territorial integrity from
Western or Japanese colonial ambitions. However, it facilitated the continuation of great
power rivalry for special rights in China and failed to prevent the Manchurian crisis and
the founding of Manchukuo.
11 Lin Baisheng, “Guanyu dongYa lianmeng yundong” [On the East Asian League move-
ment], Da Yazhouzhuyi 2, 2 (1941): 4–9.
12 Wang Jingwei’s “Shenlun geming jue buzhizhao guafen zhi huo” (On why the revolution
will not lead to the disaster of splitting the melon), published in 1908, is based on Wang’s
earlier “Geming jue bu zhizhao guafen shuo” (On why the revolution will not lead to
splitting the melon), published in the Minbao (People’s newspaper) in 1906. The metaphor
“splitting the melon” (also “carving up the melon”) refers to the division of China into
spheres of interests or quasi-colonial entities by the powers. On its origins and legacy,
see Rudolf G. Wagner, “‘Dividing Up the [Chinese] Melon (guafen)’: The Fate of a Trans­
cultural Metaphor in the Formation of National Myth,” Transcultural Studies 1 (2017):
9–122; and Marc A. Matten, Imagining a Postnational World: Hegemony and Space in
Modern China (Leiden: Brill, 2016).
13 Reprinted in Sun Zhongshan quanji [Complete writings of Sun Yat-sen], ed. Zhongguo
shehui kexueyuan jindaishi yanjiusuo Zhonghua minguoshi yanjiushi, et al. (Beijing:
Zhonghua shuju chuban, 1985), vol. 4, 39–99.
14 Zhu Zhixin (1885–1920) was a scholar and revolutionary from Panyu in Guangdong
province, considered to be Sun’s ghostwriter. Zhu first met Sun when he, together with
Wang Jingwei, went to Tokyo to study at Hosei University in 1904. In the following year
he became a founding member of Sun’s Revolutionary Alliance.
15 The so-called July Seventh Incident (also Marco Polo Bridge or Luguoqiao Incident) of
1937, which is seen as the starting point of the full-scale war between China and Japan.
16 In the so-called Japan-China Basic Relations Treaty (Ch: RiHua jiben tiaoyue; Jp: Nikka
kihon jōyaku), concluded in November 1940, Japan acknowledged the Wang govern-
ment as China’s central government. Further clauses included friendly relations, joint
defence, and economic cooperation between both countries. The Japan-Manchukuo-
China Joint Declaration (Ch: RiManHua gongtong xuanyan; Jp: Nichi-Man-Ka kyōdō
sengen) was issued together with this treaty. The three parties jointly declared the erection
of a new order in East Asia, resting on moral principles, as their common ideal and mu-
tually acknowledged their sovereignty and territorial integrity.
17 In a Japanese translation of this text in the official journal of the East Asian League,
published one month after the Chinese original, the part in brackets, which appears to
subordinate Japan to China, was omitted. See Lin Baisheng, “TōA Renmei undō no
honshitsu” [The essence of the East Asian League movement], TōA renmei [East Asian
League] 3, 3 (March 1941): 84–88.
222 Torsten Weber

18 Yandian refers to Wang Jingwei’s telegram of 29 December 1938 to Chiang Kai-shek,

which Lin published on Wang’s behalf the following day. It explains Wang’s motivation
for adopting a peaceful stance toward Japan.
19 In his Kobe speech, Sun Yat-sen made several references to the Confucian ideal of
Wangdao, often translated as the Kingly Way or Rule of Right, in opposition to Badao,
the Despotic Way of the Hegemon. In Sun’s speech, the former represented the traditional
Asian way of rule, whereas the latter signified the Western, imperialist way. Sun appealed
to the Japanese to remain true to their Asian origins by adopting Wangdao, not Badao,
as their guiding principle. On Sun’s use of this pair and its origins, see Seki Tomohide,
“‘Tōyō=Ōdō’ ‘Seiyō=Hadō’ no kigen. Ō Seitei, In Jokō, Son Bun” [The Origins of “East=
Kingly Way” and “West=Despotic Way”: Wang Zhengting, Yin Rugeng, Sun Yat-sen], Son
bun kenkyū [Research on Sun Yat-sen] 59 (2016): 1–13. In the 1930s, Japanese propaganda
utilized the term Wangdao to justify Japan’s de facto rule in Manchuria. See Weber,
Embracing “Asia,” ch. 7.
15 Collaboration and Propaganda
Yang Honglie and His Eight Speeches
on Greater Asianism
CRAIG A. SMITH

In the early days of the Reorganized National Government of the

Republic of China (1940–45), Wang Jingwei’s (1883–1944) Propaganda
Ministry was employed to justify collaboration with the Empire of Japan.
Led by Lin Baisheng (1902–46),1 the propagandists published dozens
of journals and newspapers that were focused on explaining the theor­
etical side of collaboration, usually turning to Sun Yat-sen’s theories of
Nationalism and Greater Asianism (1866–1925) to find legitimacy for
their actions. Unlike news articles produced for the daily newspapers
under the occupation, particularly the Zhonghua Ribao (Central China
daily news) and the Nanhua Ribao (South China daily news), theoretical
articles were produced for elite reading in monthly or biweekly journals.
Many intellectuals contributed articles to journals such as Xin Dongfang
(New Orient, 1940–44), DaYazhouzhuyi (Greater Asianism, 1940–42) and
DaYazhouzhuyi yu DongYa lianmeng (Greater Asianism and the East
Asian League, 1942–43). Leading theorists of this movement included
Zhou Huaren (1902–76), a minor political figure in the Kuomintang
(KMT) and the author of An Outline of Asianism;2 Li Shiqun (1905–43),
a Russian-trained intelligence officer and one of the leaders of the in­
famous security service at 76 Jessfield Road;3 and Yang Honglie (1903–
77), a Japanese-trained academic researching legal history.
Yang’s contributions to this propaganda are particularly interesting
because he was a celebrated academic and had no evident relationship
with the core collaborators before the establishment of Wang Jingwei’s
Peace Movement. His earlier writings were both nationalist and Asianist.
And although he had moved from Japan to Hong Kong in the late 1930s
when the Peace Movement began, he hurried to join Wang Jingwei and
support the movement. In a 1940 article, he recalled:
224 Craig A. Smith

I remember the early spring of 1939, not long after Mr. Wang sent out
the December 29 Telegram (yandian), 4 I left Hong Kong’s Kowloon
with my entire family in tow, and set off for the Route Tenant de la
Tour5 area of Shanghai’s Foreign Concessions, what has been called
the area with the most assassinations. Two or three friends suffered
the entire day under a drizzling winter rain ... as they prepared a
secret publication called “Discourse for the Masses,” the front cover
of which outlined the main points of Mr. Wang’s suggestions to the
central government. It was followed by my article, “The Sino-
Japanese War and Sun Yat-sen’s Greater Asianism,” written under
my pen name Zhang Gang. 6

Like most Chinese intellectuals in the interwar period, Yang was a

fierce supporter of Sun Yat-sen. In his eulogy of Sun, he expressed his
excitement that an East Asian thinker had made Euro-American intel­
lectuals take a step back.7 This faith in the words of Sun Yat-sen was
widespread in Chinese intellectual society, and Sun had been the focus
of Kuomintang propaganda since his death in 1925.
After the split with the Chongqing KMT in 1939, it was important
for Wang Jingwei to show himself as following in the footsteps of Sun
Yat-sen and the true heir to Sun’s legacy. To do this, a team of propa­
gandists turned to Sun’s Greater Asianism speech of 1924 and related
it to the Three Principles of the People, an ideology that had not lost
popularity across China. Wang explained: “For China, the Three Prin­
ciples of the People is an ideology to save the country. For East Asia,
the Three Principles of the People is Greater Asianism.”8 These words
were echoed by his minister of propaganda, who unabashedly con­
nected Sun’s philosophy to Japan’s New Order in East Asia and encour­
aged Chinese citizens to accept the Japanese rule as a phase in the
Asian revolution: “The basic theory of the Chinese revolution is the
Three Principles of the People, and the canon that leads the Asian revo­
lution is Greater Asianism.” As Japan’s “New Order” is a phase in the
revolution, “the Chinese people should not fear Japan’s establishment
of the New Order in East Asia as masked imperialism.”9
The application of Sun’s theories to a united Asia was not a stretched
reinterpretation. For the most part, it was not a reinterpretation at all,
at least not a new one. It had always been interpreted in this way by
his closest intellectual associates and protégés: Dai Jitao (1891–1949),
Hu Hanmin (1879–1936), and Wang Jingwei himself. Therefore, the
 Collaboration and Propaganda 225

majority of the propaganda from this period is not very different from
1930s writings that posited China as the leader of Asia. Kuomintang-
sponsored journals such as Xin Yaxiya (New Asia, 1930–37) and Yazhou
Wenhua (Asian culture, 1932–37) had remarkably similar content. How­
ever, after 1937 the political context was different and this propaganda
was used to justify Japanese domination. Although Yang had lived in
Japan for four years, this does not explain his actions. However, his
earlier publications do offer clues to his support of a united East Asia.
Yang Honglie had first made a name for himself when his 1,248-
page Zhongguo falü fada shi (History of the development of Chinese
law, 1930) became a seminal work in legal history. Before this he had
taught at Beijing Normal University and Nankai University, to which he
was recommended by Liang Qichao and Hu Shi, both of whom were
influential in his writings and life.10 He received his PhD after studying
at Tokyo Imperial University from 1934 to 1937, when he published
Zhongguo falü sixiang shi (Intellectual history of Chinese law) and
went on to teach at numerous universities.11
On the eve of the war in 1937, Yang published his third book on
Chinese law, further cementing his position as a top scholar of legal
history. Zhongguo falü zai dongYa zhuguo zhi yingxiang (The influence
of Chinese law in all the countries of East Asia) presented a detailed
study of the legal history of countries within the traditional Sinosphere,
showing how regional legal practices were based on the civilizational
centre of China. In his introduction, Yang explicitly discussed the unity
of East Asia, as he exclaimed: “The author resolutely believes that, be­
cause East Asia was originally all one family, we should all help one
other (huxiang tixie) and work together to plan for development and to
maintain the lasting glory of East Asia.”12 After Wang’s Peace Movement
was established, National Central University employed Yang as a pro­
fessor of history. At the same time, he also served as department chief
for the Propaganda Ministry’s Censorship Department.13
Like Zhou Huaren, Yang was not tried as a war criminal after the fall
of the empire. It is unclear why Yang was not arrested, as his wartime
work and his postwar location in Shanghai were common knowledge
in 1946. His wife, Wan Mengwan (n.d.) was not so fortunate. Labelled
a “female Hanjian” (traitor to China) for her role as principal of the
National Model Girls’ School, she was tried in Suzhou and sentenced
to thirty months in prison, which was later commuted to six months.14
After her release, Wan joined Yang in Hong Kong, where they remained
226 Craig A. Smith

throughout the Civil War.15 Yang returned to China in 1955 or 1956

and continued to teach at universities. He was labelled a rightist in the
Anti-Rightist Movement and sent to a labour reform camp, but survived
until 1977.16
In 1942, Yang delivered eight speeches on Greater Asianism, osten­
sibly in his role as an academic at the National Central University. The
eight speeches were serialized across the first four editions of DaYazhou­
zhuyi yu DongYa lianmeng, and the first three speeches are translated
here. The first two discuss the theory of Sun Yat-sen’s Asianism and
Nationalism. The third speech relates the war and the New Order in
East Asia to the intellectual thought of Sun Yat-sen, as well as of
Japanese military and political elites. The fourth speech criticizes the
Far Eastern Monroe Doctrine for not being proper Asianism. The sixth,
seventh, and eighth speeches offer historical narratives of Asianist
thought from the Opium War to the 1940s. And the eighth speech also
discusses the need for economic and cultural unity with Japan from
the perspectives of Sun Yat-sen and Kodera Kenkichi (1877–1949).

—•  TRANSLATIONS  •—

Eight Speeches on Greater Asianism

Yang Honglie

The First Speech: Defining Greater Asianism17

What is Greater Asianism? For now I offer the following working definition:
Greater Asianism is a form of self-defence policy that resists the aggression
of Euro-American imperialists through the power of all the nations of Asia.
Therefore, all the independent nations of Asia, including China, Japan,
Manchukuo, and Thailand, must first engage in mutual cooperation18 and
unite in an alliance (tongmeng). All of us must unanimously draw out the
spirit of the Kingly Way (Wangdao)19 to revive the glorious history of Asia
and forge lasting peace for Asia and the entire world.
We should all be well aware that there now exist innumerable “isms” that
harbour an emotional bias toward a particular race. Foremost among these
is the overbearing arrogance of the Euro-American imperialists’ belief
in their own superiority. We find Greater Americanism (Da Meizhouzhuyi),
Great Britishism, Russian pan-Slavism, and French pan-Latinism to be re-
pulsive. They are entirely adopting an offensive that is ruthless, violent, and
 Collaboration and Propaganda 227

utterly abominable. Perhaps none will deny that Americans are most wont
to profess their wonderful-sounding doctrines, including “God-given rights,”
and “emancipation of the black slaves.” However, in the twenty years from
the fifth year of Xianfeng [1855] to the second year of Guangxu [1876], the
Americans took advantage of China’s troubles, which included the Taiping
Heavenly Kingdom, the Franco-British united army [Second Opium War],
and the Nian Rebellion. While China’s homelands were in disarray, the Amer­
icans persecuted and humiliated those tens of thousands of overseas Chi­
nese who have drifted across the ocean. Those forced into exile by hardships
at home found themselves thrust into a hopeless twilight. Therefore, al­
though Dr. Wu Tingfang has often been called pro-American, he criticized
the Americans thus:

It will be seen that by the treaty of 1868, known as the “Burlingame Treaty,”20
the United States government formally agreed that Chinese subjects, visiting
or residing in the United States, should enjoy the same privileges and im-
munities as were enjoyed by the citizens or subjects of the most favoured
nation; that being so ...21 the continuation of the exclusion of Chinese labour-
ers and the restrictions placed upon Chinese merchants and others seeking
admission to the United States are not only without international authority
but in violation of treaty stipulations.
The enforcement of the exclusion laws against the Chinese in the
Hawaiian and Philippine Islands is still more inexcusable. The complaint
in America against the immigration of Chinese labourers was that such
immigration was detrimental to white labour,22 but in those islands there
has been no such complaint; on the contrary the enforcement of the law
against the Chinese in Hawaii has been, and is, contrary to the unanimous
wish of the local government and the people. Free intercourse and immi-
gration between those islands and China have been maintained for
centuries.23

Actually, American anti-Chinese legislation is not limited to the country

and its colonies, but has even influenced the countries of Central and South
America, stirring up some of the most violent actions against Chinese in
Cuba, Peru, and Mexico. This continues today with no good means for reso-
lution. Its influence is far-reaching and extends across the entire planet,
including South, North, and Central American countries, including Canada,
Argentina, El Salvador, Chile, and the Dominicans; the Pacific islands of
French Tahiti and British Samoa; Vietnam and the British, Dutch, and French
228 Craig A. Smith

colonies of Southeast Asia; Australasian countries of New Zealand and New

Guinea; and countries of South Africa, such as Sheshengya.24 One after the
other, all these countries followed the American model and issued ruthless
orders to ban Chinese. From this we can see that the spirit of Euro-American
imperialism is still the violent Way of the Hegemon (Badao) from head to
toe, while the Greater Asianism that we call for is the Kingly Way. The two
are polar opposites of each other, as Greater Asianism advocates benevolent
virtue and morality (renyi daode), while imperialism advocates self-interest
and dominance (gongli qiangquan). Greater Asianism leads by virtue, while
imperialism leads by force. Those who lead by virtue must inevitably and
invariably promote peace, while those who lead by force will inevitably bring
about widespread aggression. Therefore, delving deeply into the matter, we
can say that Greater Asianism is a product of Eastern culture, while imper-
ialism is a representative of Western culture. In his speech on this matter,
Mr. Sun Yat-sen explicated most clearly and succinctly on these most import-
ant of differences.
[Here, Yang quotes twelve hundred words of Sun Yat-sen’s 1924 speech,
“Greater Asianism.” Sun connected Western imperialism in Asia to the Way
of the Hegemon, and he connected Asian political culture to a China-centred
Kingly Way as the foundations of Greater Asianism.]25
It could not be more appropriate that Mr. Sun Yat-sen employed the spirit
of Eastern culture to explain Greater Asianism and clarify the extent of its
scope.

The Second Speech: Greater Asianism and Nationalism26

Now that we have illustrated the definition of Greater Asianism, are there
any contradictions between Greater Asianism and the Nationalism found
in the Three Principles of the People? And if there are no contradictions,
then what are the interconnections and indivisible relations? We are all
aware of the position of Nationalism in China, and of the hope that with the
realization of Nationalism, China can achieve the independence, equality,
and freedom of the Chinese people. Therefore, it is imperative that we must
oppose the aggression of Euro-American imperialism. From research into
Mr. Sun Yat-sen’s speeches on Nationalism, we can induce the following
two points:
The first point concerns the domestic perspective. Nationalism opposes
feudal forces and promotes complete equality among all the nationalities of
China. This is because the remaining feudal forces are continually compel-
ling us along the path to mutual destruction and depriving us of the ability
 Collaboration and Propaganda 229

to construct a modern state. So the domestic implications of Nationalism

are the opposition to feudalism and the promotion of complete equality
among the nations for the advancement of peaceful unification.
The second point concerns the international perspective. Since we demand
an equal and independent position for the people of China in the international
arena, it is in Nationalism’s nature to oppose imperialistic aggression.
Therefore, casting off the shackles of international aggression has become
a crucial strategy for our people. If these shackles are not one day eradicated,
then all our efforts for the revolution are not even worth mentioning.
Therefore, the international significance of Nationalism is the opposition
to imperialist aggression. However, here we should point out that Nation­
alism is entirely different from those narrow-minded doctrines of racism,
statism, and other xenophobic doctrines. It most certainly does not include
any concept of aggression. This is because the basis of Nationalism can be
found in the intrinsic peace and morality of China. In his sixth speech on
Nationalism, Mr. Sun Yat-sen explained:

The Chinese people are great peace-lovers. Indeed our people are the only
people in the world who are real peace-lovers. All other big nations are
imperialistic and warlike ... Our people are by nature peace-lovers! ... sincer-
ity and righteousness, and especially peace-loving are good characteristics
of our people; and they have become a part of our spirit of Nationalism. We
should not only carefully preserve this spirit, but develop it to its highest
excellence, whereby the glorious position of our people among the nations
can be restored.27

The true spirit of Nationalism resides in this peaceful morality (heping de

daode).28
The true content of Nationalism is just and honourable, yet we have un-
fortunately been as yet unable to realize it. Remember the strong indigna-
tion with which Chairman Wang opened his “Outline of the New Citizens’
Movement”:

Why are we unable to realize Nationalism? It is because we have forgotten

Asianism. “If China cannot achieve freedom and equality, then we will be
unable to do our part in the construction of East Asia. And to fully achieve
freedom and equality for China, East Asia must be liberated.” The truth of
these words was only realized at the onset of the peace movement, yet they
were earnestly expressed in Greater Asianism much earlier. Why did we
230 Craig A. Smith

forget this and allow China to fall into this plight? From this day forth, we
shall meld the love of China and the love of East Asia into one heart. With
mutual love between all the nations of East Asia, we shall unite for the
protection of East Asia. This is the main point of Nationalism.29

The original goal of the Chinese revolution was the realization of free­
dom and equality for China, but in our efforts to achieve this goal we cannot
consider merely arousing the masses and striving for the revolution to be a
success. In addition to this, we must unite all the nations of the world that
treat us as equals and struggle onwards together. Remember what Chairman
Wang wrote in his article, “Revolution Must Never Lead to the Calamity of
Divid­ing China,” in the first year of the Xuantong reign [1909]:30

The interests of all countries around the world are connected. If one profits
at the other’s expense then they feel themselves to be enemies. If their in-
terests are the same, then they feel themselves to be allies ... A country
cannot isolate itself from the world, but must unite with those of matching
interests. Then that country can govern, rather than be governed ...
Countries seek alliances for mutual benefit. Those that fawn [on the
foreign powers] cannot be autonomous, how can they be of help? And who
would want their help?31

Finally, Chairman Wang expounded on the state of affairs in East Asia,

explaining that the interests of China and Japan lie together, and that there
is actually a need to ally. In the sixth year of the republic [1917], Mr. Sun
Yat-sen encouraged Zhu Zhixin to write the pamphlet The Vital Problem of
China, which clearly and specifically stated:

The relationship between China and Japan is one of common existence or

extinction. Without Japan, there would be no China; without China, there
would be no Japan ... Under the principle of Pan-Asianism, Japan and China
can together develop the natural resources in the West of the Pacific, while
under the Monroe Doctrine the United States can unify authority in the
East of that ocean ... By a concerted effort of these three Powers disarma-
ment might some day be affected, and, going one step further, permanent
peace of the world secured. 32

Later, after Mr. Sun delivered his speeches on the Three Principles of the
People in the thirteenth year of the republic [1924], he made a special detour
 Collaboration and Propaganda 231

to Japan on his journey north and specifically advocated Greater Asianism

in order to advance the awakening of the two great nations of East Asia. He
hoped to use the Three Principles to construct the guiding principles of new
China, and use Greater Asianism to construct the guiding principles of new
East Asia. Therefore, Mr. Sun explained:

In East Asia, China and Japan are the two greatest peoples. China and
Japan are the driving force of this Nationalist movement. What will be the
consequences of this driving force still remains to be seen. [We Chinese do
not yet know. You Japanese also do not yet know. Therefore, China and Japan
have not yet united together.] The present tide of events seems to indicate
that not only China and Japan but all the peoples in East Asia will unite
together to restore the former status of Asia.33

He continued: “What problem does Pan-Asianism attempt to solve? The

problem is how to terminate the sufferings of the Asiatic peoples and how
to resist the aggression of the powerful European countries. In a word, Pan-
Asianism represents the cause of the oppressed Asiatic peoples.”34 From this
we can see that Mr. Sun’s revolution is not only for the country of China, but
is also for all of East Asia.
To summarize, Nationalism is not at all so-called narrow-minded statism,
but is truly the collectivization of states. This is what we mean by Greater
Asianism. Therefore, these two principles are in no way in conflict or con-
tradiction. In fact, they are so closely related that one could even say they
are two sides to the same coin. This is because from China’s perspective, we
resolutely oppose the incursion of imperialism and fight for the independ-
ence and freedom of the Chinese people. Therefore, we urgently require the
realization of Nationalism. On the other hand, if we are to examine this from
the perspective of all Asia, then we must be completely united to fight against
the invasiveness of Euro-American imperialism in the hope that all the na-
tions of Asia can achieve a united and mutual liberation. Therefore, we ur-
gently require the realization of Greater Asianism. What I have just said is
merely for the convenience of explanation. In truth these two principles are
one and the same and have no discernible differences in terms of their
advantageousness.

The Third Speech: Greater Asianism and the New Order in East Asia35
We all know that since the advent of the Marco Polo Bridge Incident of
five years ago, the people of both China and Japan have had to engage in
232 Craig A. Smith

introspection as they have become deeply aware of a readjustment in relations

between the two countries. There is also a renewed need for the establish-
ment of an East Asian order, which led to calls for an East Asian community
in Japan’s public discourse. However, due to the ambivalent nature of this
term, the people of China have rarely made mention of it. More recently
the slogan “Establish the New Order in East Asia” has appeared, the meaning
of which has been much clearer. In a special broadcast on 3 November in
the twenty-seventh year of the republic [1938], Prince Konoe36 explained
Japan’s true intention is not the destruction of China, but rather the pros-
perity of China. Japan hopes to share the responsibility for the construction
of the New Order in East Asia with China. In a further broadcast on 12
De­cember of the same year, he announced the three principles of “friendly
relations with our neighbour,” “joint efforts against communism,” and “eco-
nomic mutual assistance,”37 This brought about the Chinese people’s interest
in the future prospects of all East Asia. They have been continuously exam-
ining this slogan of establishing an New Order in East Asia. Yet still there
remain those who either hold senseless doubts or treat the plan with cold
indifference.
And why do they hold these senseless doubts? Because they “view the
ambitions of the noble through the eyes of the lowly,”38 imagining that Japan
only promotes this slogan to disguise its mainland policy or to cover up its
plot for the merging of China and Japan. However, we need only to hear the
words of Itagaki Seishirō39 to gain a clear impression of the establishment of
the New Order in East Asia: “To return China to China, Japan to Japan, and
East Asia to East Asia.” If we are then to listen to the words of General Nishio
Toshizō,40 we then see that the construction of the New Order in East Asia
is not by some happenstance method but is a concept that has been actively
and specifically pursued: “China must take China into consideration, but
also take Japan into consideration. Japan must take Japan into considera-
tion, but must also take China into consideration. Both countries must take
East Asia into consideration.” And then on 13 March in the twenty-ninth
year of the republic [1940] we read the following lines in the declaration of
Prime Minister Yonai Mitsumasa:41 “We will make the Chinese people find
contentment. Close neighbours must help each other.” Through “mutual
respect for the nature of the other country’s nation” and “mutual defence
against the infiltration of materialist communization,” “we will establish
peace in East Asia, a mutually beneficial economy, and reciprocal financial
assistance in large and small forms.” This gives us a much more firm and
precise understanding of the substance of the establishment of the New
 Collaboration and Propaganda 233

Order in East Asia. After this the Japanese expeditionary commander-in-

chief expressed in a “Report to Officers and Soldiers”:

When the national sovereignty and independence of China has been threat-
ened, this has led to turmoil in East Asia and also led to the intimidation
of Japan as well. In Japan there are those intellectuals who hope to divide
and weaken China, and to manipulate China’s doom. We are not lacking in
such people, but this kind of thinking is no different from that of the various
Euro-American countries that invade China. This is not the objective of our
military operations ... The amiable integration of China and Japan must
await the firm resolution of the Japanese to devote themselves to the assist-
ance of China in the realization of unification and to satisfy the enthusiastic
demands of the nation. Only then can we be successful. If some among the
Japanese hope to trick the Chinese people and gain inappropriate profits,
or treat China as Japan’s colony as the foreigners do, this would go against
the respect for morality that is intrinsic to Japan and would result in Japan
being unable to uphold its once unassailable beliefs.

This offers us unlimited hopes for the spirit surrounding the establish-
ment of the New Order in East Asia. Every day the meaning of this establish-
ment becomes more and more concrete and ever clearer. Therefore, although
there are still those who doubt our slogan of “establish the New Order in
East Asia,” these people become fewer by the day.
However, perhaps there still remains a segment of the population that
sees no good in the establishment of New East Asia, which feels today’s China
is struggling to survive [so] how could there be the time and energy to talk
about establishing the New Order in East Asia? Therefore, Japanese people
view the Chinese people’s indifference and believe that the Chinese are
only aware of their own nation’s independent existence, and think nothing
of the shared responsibility for East Asia. This leads to the Japanese castigat-
ing the Chinese for being too myopic, to which the Chinese retort that the
ideals of the Japanese people are too unrealistic. Investigating this impasse
between the Chinese and Japanese peoples, we find that it is due to these
reasons that there is not yet any mutual understanding between the two
peoples, neither is there mutual trust. Therefore, Lin Baisheng, minister of
propaganda, explained:

The establishment of a strong new world order must be based upon strong
parts. Conversely, a country’s independent existence much be protected
234 Craig A. Smith

through a powerful international order. Both parties should achieve this

mutual understanding, to establish the New Order in East Asia and pur­
sue the independent existence of the nation; if we consider them individ-
ually, these are plans for the independent existence of each one; if we consider
them together, these are plans for mutual and safe development – this means
success through unity, with not the least division. For Japan, in order to
achieve the goal of establishing the New Order in East Asia, the country must
assist with the governance of China so that China may achieve independent
existence, followed by development and prosperity. In order to share the
responsibility of establishing the New Order in East Asia, China must strive
toward the nation’s independent existence, and particularly must unite and
struggle together based upon the equal treatment of our nation. The starting
point for each nation may be different, but our path is the same, and, there-
fore, so is our objective. So today in China, we must understand and ac-
knowledge that the establishment of the New Order in East Asia and China’s
independence are one and the same. China’s independence must be pursued
through the New Order in East Asia. And in Japan, they must understand
and acknowledge this same fact [ ... ] that the establishment of the New
Order in East Asia can only be successful with the independent existence
of China as a cornerstone. In China, we must make Japan aware that the
independent existence of China not only poses no obstacle to the estab-
lishment of the New Order in East Asia, it is actually beneficial to the
order. And then both sides can come to understand each other and advance
together.

These words are both appropriate and valuable! From this we see that the
goals of Greater Asianism and the New Order in East Asia are one and the
same, and so too are the guiding principles. Then what are the differences
between the New Order in East Asia and Greater Asianism? To put it simply
and precisely, we can say that the New Order in East Asia is the realization
of Greater Asianism, and Greater Asianism is the ideal of the New Order in
East Asia before its realization.

Notes
1 Lin Baisheng’s name is also romanized as Lin Bosheng.
2 See Torsten Weber, “Nanjing’s Greater Asianism: Wang Jingwei and Zhou Huaren, 1940,”
in Pan-Asianism: A Documentary History, 1920–Present, ed. Sven Saaler and Christopher
W.A. Szpilman (Lanham, MD: Rowman and Littlefield, 2011), 209–19.
3 Frederic Wakeman Jr., “The Puppet Police and 76 Jessfield Road,” in The Shanghai Badlands
(Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1996), 85.
 Collaboration and Propaganda 235

4 The “Telegram of the 29th” (yandian) was issued by Wang Jingwei on 29 December 1938,
indicating his permanent separation from the Chiang Kai-shek government. Yan indicated
the twenty-ninth day of the month in classical numerology.
5 Ladu Road, now known as Xiangyang South Road.
6 Yang Honglie, “DaYazhouzhuyi yu Yingguo” [Greater Asianism and Britain], DaYazhou­
zhuyi [Greater Asianism] 1, 1 (1940): 39–46.
7 Yang Honglie, “Shelun: Zhongshan xiansheng shishi yaochuan zhengming hou de suogan”
[Editorial: My feelings after the rumour of Sun Yat-sen’s death were proven to be true],
Jiaoyu zhoubao [Education weekly (Shanghai)] 11 (1925): 2.
8 Wang Jingwei, “Sanminzhuyi zhi lilun yu shiji” [The Three Principles of the People in
theory and practice (23 November 1939)], in Wang Jingwei guomin zhengfu chengli [The
establishment of the Wang Jingwei Nationalist government], ed. Huang Meizhen
(Shanghai: Shanghai renmin chubanshe, 1984), 210.
9 Lin Baisheng, “Qianyan” [Preface] to Zhou Huaren, DaYazhouzhuyi gangyao [An outline
of Asianism] (Nanjing: DaYazhouzhuyi yuekanshe, 1940), 1, 3.
10 The Hu Shi archive at Academia Sinica retains family pictures that Yang sent to Hu Shi
(1891–1962). Yang also frequently quoted Hu in his writings, and turned to Hu for financial
support for his studies in Tokyo. He was a student of Liang Qichao (1873–1929) and
turned to him for mentoring and advice. See Ye Shuxun, ed., Yang Honglie wencun [The
writings of Yang Honglie] (Nanjing Shi: Jiangsu renmin chubanshe, 2016), 3.
11 He Qinhua, “Yang Honglie qiren qishu” [Yang Honglie, the man and his writings], Faxue
Luntan [Legal forum] 18, 3 (2003): 89.
12 Yang Honglie, Zhongguo falü zai dongYa zhuguo zhi yingxiang [The influence of Chi­­
nese law in all the countries of East Asia] (Shanghai: Commercial Press, 1937), 9.
13 He Qinhua, “Yang Honglie qiren qishu,” 89. Also see Ye Shuxun, Yang Honglie, 8.
14 The Shanghai media were merciless in condemning Wan, describing her as “skinny like
a gristly pork chop, and ugly to match.” Wu Fu, “Wan Mengwan congqingfaluo” [Wan
Mengwan let off easily], Xin Shanghai [New Shanghai] 41 (1946): 9. Also see “Wan
Mengwan zhuan jiang kaiyi” [Wan Mengwan to be released], Hai Jing [Shanghai crystal]
10 (1946): 11.
15 See Hung Lieh Yang, “A Lonely Evening,” Guoguang yingyu [English fortnightly] 3, 1
(1946): 31.
16 He Qinhua, “Yang Honglie qiren qishu,” 90; Ye Shuxun, Yang Honglie, 42.
17 Yang Honglie, “DaYazhouzhuyi zhi jieshuo” [Defining Greater Asianism], DaYazhouzhuyi
yu dongYa lianmeng 1 (1942): 7–9.
18 Yang was using this term, huxiang tixie, and calling for East Asian nations’ mutual co­
operation before the outbreak of the Sino-Japanese War. See the above quotation from
his 1937 book, Zhongguo falü zai dongYa zhuguo zhi yingxiang.
19 Wangdao, or Ōdō in Japanese, is the “Kingly Way” by which Confucian sages governed
the people through ren (benevolence). In 1924 Sun Yat-sen posited Wangdao as the root
of Asian civilization in opposition to Badao (Way of the Hegemon), which utilizes violent
coercion and represents Western civilization. Wangdao was also a concept for Japanese
propaganda in Manchukuo and China.
20 This treaty amended the Treaty of Tientsin and gave China Most Favoured Nation status.
21 Yang did not include the clause “and as the convention of 1894 has expired, according to
the legal opinion of Mr. John W. Foster, and other eminent lawyers.” Many Chinese im-
migrants were able to legally challenge American restrictions on their entry until 1894,
when Congress passed a bill greatly restricted the right to challenge immigration
decisions.
22 Yang added: “This protest was raised by the Republican Party.”
23 Wu Tingfang originally published this work in English with Frederick Stokes Press in
1914. It has recently been republished with an introduction by Jonathan Spence: Wu
236 Craig A. Smith

Tingfang, America through the Spectacles of an Oriental Diplomat (London: Anthem

Press, 2007), 30–31.
24 I have not been able to find any African country by this name.
25 I will not reproduce the entire text here. Sun Yat-sen’s “Greater Asianism” speech can be
found in a 1941 English translation at https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Sun_Yat-sen%27s
_speech_on_Pan-Asianism.
26 Yang Honglie, “‘DaYazhouzhuyi’ yu ‘Minzuzhuyi’” [Greater Asianism and Nationalism],
DaYazhouzhuyi yu DongYa lianmeng 1 (1942): 9–11.
27 I have used an existing English translation: Sun Yat-sen, San Min Chu I: The Three Prin­
ciples of the People, trans. Frank W. Price (Taipei: China Publishing, n.d.), 3.
28 Yang had actually been arguing this long before the war. In 1933 he argued for the special
nature of Chinese culture as peace-loving and moral, based on Wangdao and in opposition
to Western Badao. See Yang Honglie, “Zhongguo wenhua yu shijie wenhua” [Chinese
culture and world culture], Suijing Xukan [Appeasement weekly] 5 (1933): 22.
29 This paragraph is a quotation from Wang Jingwei’s “Xinguomin yundong gangyao” (A
summary of the New Citizens’ Movement), originally published 1 January 1942, reprinted
in Wang Jingwei guomin zhengfu ‘qingxiang’ yundong [The rural pacification movement
of the Wang Jingwei National government], ed. Zhu Jinyuan (Shanghai: Shanghai renmin
chubanshe, 1985), 371.
30 Yang may have an incorrect date for this article as it is listed as 1908 elsewhere.
31 By “those that fawn on foreign powers,” Wang is referring to the Qing government, but
Yang uses this quote to indicate the Chongqing Kuomintang and the Communist Party.
He did not view Japan as foreign, but as part of a united East Asia. Wang Jingwei, “Shenlun
geming juebu zhizhao guafen zhi huo” [Revolution must never lead to the calamity of
dividing China], in Wang Jingwei quanji, vol. 2, 72–118 (Shanghai: Sanmin gongsi, 1929),
116.
32 Sun Yat-sen, China and Japan: Natural Friends – Unnatural Enemies: A Guide for
China’s Foreign Policy by Sun Yat-sen, with a foreword by Wang Jingwei and edited by
T’ang Leangli (Shanghai: China United Press, 1941), 116. Originally published in the
1917 pamphlet The Vital Problem of China, and republished in Taiwan in 1953. In the
Chi­nese original, the term for “Pan-Asianism” was “Asianism” (Yazhouzhuyi). Sun Yat-
sen, Sun Zhongshan quanji [Complete writings of Sun Yat-sen], ed. Zhongguo shehui
kexueyuan jindaishi yanjiusuo Zhonghua minguoshi yanjiushi, et al. (Beijing: Zhonghua
shuju chuban, 1985), vol. 4, 95.
33 Translation taken from the 1941 China and Japan. I have added the sentences that were
not translated in 1941 in [brackets].
34 Ibid., 151–52.
35 Yang Honglie, “DaYazhouzhuyi yu ‘DongYa xin zhixu’” [Greater Asianism and the New
Order in East Asia], DaYazhouzhuyi yu DongYa lianmeng 1 (1942): 11–12.
36 Prime Minister Konoe Fumimaro was officially known as Prince Konoe in English.
However, the title was not equivalent to the English term “prince” and was also regularly
translated as “duke.” This speech in November, known as the Second Konoe Address (dai
niji seimei) was the first official call for the New Order in East Asia. See Marius Jansen,
The Making of Modern Japan (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2009), 623.
37 Known as the Third Konoe Address (dai sanji seimei), this was an important declaration
for establishing the Wang Jingwei government.
38 This is a popular expression from the Zuozhuan.
39 Although minister of war in 1939, General Itagaki Seishirō (1885–1948) was the com-
mander of Korea’s Chōsen Army at the time of this article. He was hanged for war crimes
in 1948.
 Collaboration and Propaganda 237

40 General Nishio Toshizō (1881–1960) was commander of the Second Army (dainigun),
an army mobilized to secure north China after the Marco Polo Bridge Incident. He served
in north China and Manchukuo before retiring in 1943.
41 Yonai Mitsumasa (1880–1948) was a commander of the Japanese navy before being ap-
pointed to the position of prime minister for six months in 1940. He was the third of the
military-appointed prime ministers after Konoe Fumimaro stepped down in January
1939, but he was unpopular and replaced by Konoe, who returned for his second term in
July 1940 and stayed in power until Tōjō Hideki became prime minister in October 1941.
16 The New Citizens’ Movement
and Wang Jingwei-ism
CRAIG A. SMITH

On 1 January 1942, the Reorganized National Government (RNG) offi­

cially began a nationwide movement to revitalize the spirit (jingshen)
of the Chinese people. Wang Jingwei (1883–1944) and his government
designed the New Citizens’ Movement (NCM) as a means to penetrate
all levels of society to enforce correct thought and morality in individ­
uals. Published in journals and newspapers across the nation, Wang’s
“Xinguomin yundong gangyao” (Outline of the New Citizens’ Movement)
listed eight points to develop the strengths and amend the shortcomings
of the Chinese people. By following these eight points, the Chinese
people would create a “new spirit,” which would be able to “realize the
Three Principles of the People” and “protect East Asia.” At the same time,
the Wang government attempted to develop a cult of personality around
Wang, called Wang Jingwei-ism.
Having an acute understanding of the importance of such a con­
struction, propaganda ministry chief Lin Baisheng (1902–46) called his
office the “Publicity Bureau” in English and assembled a team of able
propagandists and academics to create an image of both Wang and the
RNG that was in contrast to the governments of Chiang Kai-shek (1887–
1975) and Mao Zedong (1893–1976). An examination of this official
propaganda from the RNG at its strongest moment shows that, although
Wang’s government constructed the NCM on the existing models of
three related movements, this movement largely employed the moral
and political authority of both Confucianism and the nationalist image
of Sun Yat-sen to motivate the people and encourage loyalty to the col­
laborationist regime.
 The New Citizens’ Movement and Wang Jingwei-ism 239

RELATED MOVEMENTS

The New Citizens’ Movement was built on the previously established

frameworks of Chiang Kai-shek’s New Life Movement, Ishiwara Kanji’s
(1886–1949) movement for an East Asian League, and the Wang regime’s
existing Rural Pacification Movement.
The connection with Chiang’s New Life Movement, which began
eight years earlier in 1934, has been well-documented by scholars.1
David Barrett explains: “Both movements stressed spiritual, or ideo­
logical, training as essential to the creation of a disciplined, unified
people. Both movements fostered the idea that a properly motivated
populace would spur material development of the nation ... Both move­
ments testify to the strong tradition of Confucian inner rectification
and social harmonization present in the Kuomintang.”2
As in the New Life Movement, NCM efforts to control the people were
focused through a combination of nationalism and Confucianism and
attempted to turn the populace into agents of the state with fascist
populism centralized on an absolute leader. However, the NCM took
this a step further, making Wang’s rule into the first example of an East
Asian cult of personality, which I will return to below. Hans van de Ven
describes the New Life Movement as an “attempt to propagate a new
Chinese identity around which to make the armed forces and society
cohere,” matching modernity and Confucianism for a new China. 3 The
same definition could be applied to the New Citizens’ Movement.
The second movement connected to the NCM was the Rural Pacifica­
tion Movement. This effort to root out communism and “cleanse” rural
areas of east China had begun six months earlier. The NCM was, in part,
an urban extension of the effort, which Wang had been very supportive
of. “Model peace zones” would be cleared of Communist guerrillas,
through the baojia collective responsibility system, and then economic­
ally developed. 4 The Rural Pacification Movement was more effective
than the NCM, but failed to extend the territory of the government or
deepen its reach as Wang had hoped. 5
The NCM was also connected to the movement to construct an East
Asian League, which had first been propagated by Ishiwara Kanji and
Miyazaki Masayoshi (1893–1954) as an Asianist plan to integrate the
five nationalities of Manchukuo in an egalitarian union based on the
240 Craig A. Smith

Confucian concept of the Kingly Way. 6 Sun Yat-sen’s “Greater Asianism”

was also based on the understanding that East Asia was fundamentally
opposed to the West due to its political and moral basis in the Kingly
Way.7 Therefore, the East Asian League and Greater Asianism over­
lapped conveniently. Shibata Tetsuo has shown that the NCM arose out
of the movement for an East Asian League, but that Wang concentrated
on the political independence that Ishiwara had maintained was crucial
for the development and integration of Asian states. 8 The Wang gov­
ernment did gain greater autonomy throughout 1942 and 1943, yet
never managed to convince citizens of its authority, despite consistent
attempts to do so through invocations of Confucianism and the sym­
bolism of Sun Yat-sen.

CONFUCIANISM AND SUN YAT-SEN’S THREE PRINCIPLES

The position of Confucianism in Wang’s “Outline of the New Citizens’

Movement” is evident in the emphasis on loyalty and ethics in general,
and in references to the Great Learning in the introduction in particular.
Although these references were strategically placed to draw on both
traditional and modern authorities to validate the party state, some his­
torians have accentuated other Confucian elements evident in the NCM
and the Wang regime. As Poshek Fu argues, movements such as the
NCM “promoted a collectivist, forward-looking outlook defined by an
amalgam of the Confucian virtues of ‘loyalty’ and ‘propriety’ with
Western scientism.”9 Still, the most important discourse evident in the
New Citizens’ Movement was Sun Yat-sen’s Three Principles of the
People.
Although once a leader of the left-wing cadres in the Kuomintang,
Wang became a fervent anticommunist in the 1930s. He also held no
sympathy for liberalism. This can be seen in points three and four of
the translation below, as he rails against “Communist bandits” as a rea­
son for China’s lack of material development while also arguing that “in
the face of danger, we must sacrifice the individual in order to save the
state.” He made a number of other speeches denouncing liberalism and
individualism in 1942, arguing that the survival of the state must be
paramount.10 This stemmed from Wang’s understanding of Sun’s Three
Principles as offering a third way, an alternative to liberalism and com­
munism in the form of nationalism. He was not the only disciple of Sun
 The New Citizens’ Movement and Wang Jingwei-ism 241

Yat-sen to see the ideology in this way, although he may have pushed
the limits of interpretation, crossing the line to statism and fascism. Hu
Hanmin (1879–1936), Dai Jitao (1891–1949), and others had also criticized
the “red imperialism” of communism and the “white imperialism” of
Europe, arguing for Sun’s nationalism as an alternative to both.11 The
wartime Propaganda Bureau employed almost identical criticisms of
red and white imperialism.12 However, Wang was not attempting to re­
interpret Sun’s ideology in this text; rather, he was limning the methods
that could encourage China to achieve the ideology.
The first three points of Wang’s outline are brief explanations of the
means by which to achieve Sun Yat-sen’s Three Principles of Nationalism,
Rule by the People, and the People’s Livelihood (minshengzhuyi). How­
ever, Wang went beyond Sun’s original texts, asserting that Greater
Asianism was the path to the realization of Nationalism; democratic
centralism was the path to Rule by the People; and anti-communism
was the path of the Principle of People’s Livelihood. Deriving a sense
of legitimacy from his long apprenticeship under Sun Yat-sen, Wang
propagated his understanding of the Three Principles, and his team in
turn propagated him as a new Sun.
Alongside the NCM, the propaganda bureau developed a cult of
personality around Wang, seeking to both bolster his authority and to
contradistinguish him from Chiang Kai-shek and Mao Zedong.13 Wang
Jingwei-ism was first detailed in an article by, oddly enough, a Com­
munist spy in Wang’s employ. Yuan Shu published “Wang Jingwei-
zhuyi” (Wang Jingwei-ism) in Xin Zhongguo bao (New China) on 21
December 1941, highlighting four main points: the correct understand­
ing of the Three Principles of the People, Greater Asianism, peace, and
Action over Words.14 The propaganda of Wang Jingwei-ism was almost
inseparable from that of the NCM. However, the particular effort to de­
velop these ideas under the leader’s name merits further consideration
and has left behind sufficient sources for analysis. In 1942, Yuan Shu
made efforts to define the central texts through a two volume Wang
Jingwei-zhuyi duben (Wang Jingwei-ism reader) that compiled many
of Wang’s published political texts.15 This campaign, which included
Nanjing residents wearing buttons with Wang’s image on their lapels,
was short-lived and ineffective, but resulted in a plethora of images of
Wang Jingwei being made available across the areas under the control
of the Reorganized National Government.
242 Craig A. Smith

The NCM and Wang Jingwei-ism ultimately failed. Education cam­

paigns were carried out, but due to the lack of loyalty and organization
in the RNG, they were slowly implemented and ineffective.16 As Wang
himself notes in the introduction and conclusion to the essay translated
here, this movement was never intended to be an ideology, but instead
brought together a number of rules and guidelines intended to boost
spiritual (non-material) and material development in China. However,
the government did not have the authority or support to mobilize the
people with such a campaign, and the war was gradually but definitively
slipping away from the Nanjing government during these years. Still,
the movement defined in these texts reveals the efforts of the collab­
oration regime to establish itself as an independent and legitimate
state. It shows the importance of Sun Yat-sen as a symbol for the RNG
and the importance of Confucianism in the field of ethics, both of
which point to continuity in propaganda and discourse with the gov­
ernment before it. These texts also show change, particularly the efforts
to employ Greater Asianism as a justification for participation with, and
inevitably domination by, the Empire of Japan. And, finally, they show
the haphazard attempts to make sense of the regime’s position and
situation in the world, attempts that would soon be meaningless.

—•  TRANSLATIONS  •—

Outline of the New Citizens’ Movement 17

wang jingwei

War is like a military review of citizens, or, to put it more precisely, it is a

military review of the spirit (jingshen)18 of a country’s people. These four
years of turmoil have brought both the strengths and the shortcomings of
our compatriots to light. The strengths should be developed and glorified,
while the shortcomings should be amended. With more than four years
passing since the Sino-Japanese Incident,19 we have now entered the Great
War to Protect East Asia.20 If we fail to have a new spirit at this junction, how
can we live up to our new responsibility and accomplish our new mission?
Calling this a new spirit does not simply imply that it should be manufactured.
We must dispel our old debasements and engage in self-renewal.21 This can
be understood to mean that we must bravely acknowledge our deficiencies,
and then rectify these deficiencies. In particular, we must bravely root out
 The New Citizens’ Movement and Wang Jingwei-ism 243

and sweep away our worst attributes. This is the emphasis of the New Citi­
zens’ Movement.
The New Citizens’ Movement is not another ideology, as we already have
the Three Principles of the People for the foundations of the Republic of
China. The question we must now consider is why we cannot realize the
Three Principles of the People. It is not due to a lack in our ability to imple-
ment, but in our ability to research this ideology. In short, the strength of
our spirit (jingshenli) is lacking. The New Culture Movement’s resolve and
measures to deal with these failings must be a treatment that matches the
ailment. I therefore propose the following outline:

1 Why are we unable to realize Nationalism? Because we have forgotten

Asianism. “If China cannot achieve freedom and equality, then we will
be unable to do our part in the construction of East Asia. And to fully
achieve freedom and equality for China, East Asia must be liberated.” The
truth of these words was only realized at the onset of the peace movement,
yet they were earnestly expressed in Greater Asianism much earlier. Why
did we forget this and allow China to fall into this plight? From this day
forth, we shall meld the love of China and the love of East Asia into one
heart. With mutual love between all the nations of East Asia, we shall unite
for the protection of East Asia. This is the main point of Nationalism.
2 Why are we unable to realize Rule by the People (minquanzhuyi)? Be­cause
we ignored the system of democratic centralism.22 Therefore, although
we praised the people’s rule (minzhi) on the surface, in practice we created
a dictatorship by an individual. From this day forth, our group must be
organized, our action must be disciplined. Matters of great importance
shall be thoroughly researched before any decision is made. And once a
decision is made, implementation shall be uncontested. At all times, we
must remember that something may be “difficult to understand, but easy
to implement,” and we should dare to implement. This is what is meant
by truly and loyally seeking knowledge, and is the main point of Rule by
the People.23
3 Why are we unable to realize the Principle of the People’s Livelihood
(min­shengzhuyi)? Because we ignored the development of the state cap-
ital. If we are able to emphasize this and develop the country’s capital,
then private capital will fall in line. The Communist bandits will then
have no excuse to promote class struggle; and the British and American
economic invasion will have nowhere left to play its tricks. Operating in
concert, the Communist bandits and the British-American invasion have
244 Craig A. Smith

formed a pincer movement uniting the left and the right. From this day
forth, through the aggregation of spirit, we must develop the country’s
capital. This is the main point of the Principle of People’s Livelihood.
4 If we are to pursue the three main points described above, then it is im-
perative that we enhance our spiritual power by bolstering all that we
can and researching all that we can. Therefore, we must first promote the
public spirit and forget the individual spirit. The individual must give to
the state rather than receive from the state; must be sparing to oneself
to be prodigal to the state. In the face of danger, one must sacrifice one­
self in order to save the state.24
5 The key to uniting the strength of the nation is amicable relations between
people. We must remember the following points concerning amicable
relations: speak honestly; do not conceal your thoughts; employ virtuous-
ness and dispel malevolence. It is important that we hear of people’s
goodness, then happiness will prosper. If we hear of people’s ills, then a
negative spirit will prosper. Let people take pleasure in the good and shame
in the bad. Particularly those working together must collectively weather
hardship, labouring together and resting together, to foster amicable rela-
tions. One should acknowledge others’ achievements and not take undue
credit. One should admit fault and not blame others. Failing in this, we
cannot say that we have united in an ardent spirit.
6 Our nation has been ruined by impetuous and superficial actions. We are
aware of our many shortcomings, and that the greatest of these are that
our actions cannot be disciplined and our knowledge cannot be made
scientific. From this day forth, discipline will extend from the individual
to the multitude; science will not only be made universal, it will be
deep-rooted.
7 The majority of Chinese people remain mired in poverty. And now, it is
needless to say, they must be ever frugal. Therefore, increasing production
is of the upmost importance for us. Yet prudence in consumption and the
policies of People’s Livelihood are both still advantageous. For example,
we can increase the production of grains as a substitute for rice. Only a
small minority of people are currently trying to live a spartan life, but
there are both economic and ethical reasons for them to do so. The eco-
nomic reasons are the passive restriction of unnecessary consumption
and the active apportioning of resources to effective means. From a moral
perspective, to observe this many people mired in poverty with our eyes
yet still not economize would be absolutely unconscionable.
 The New Citizens’ Movement and Wang Jingwei-ism 245

8 In the political realm, we must drive out corruption in the shortest pos-
sible time. All public servants and all soldiers must have guarantees on
their livelihood, yet it is entirely inexcusable for them to use dissatisfaction
with their living conditions as an excuse for corruption and negligence.
We must aspire to the spirit of “the cries of one family do not compare to
the cries of the entire district.”25 We must exterminate the corrupt and
negligent as mercilessly as we do locusts.

The points raised above, including total mobilization for spiritual purposes
and economic construction for material purposes, are simple words with no
lofty theory; however, we seek to save China, to protect East Asia, to depart
from this impossible path, and so we launch the New Citizens’ Movement
as a means of encouraging ourselves and also encouraging each other. All
of the items listed above should be persistently discussed and persistently
implemented.
(New Year’s Day of the thirty-first year of the republic)

Wang Jingwei-ism26
yuan shu

Before today, no one used the term “Wang Jingwei-ism,” yet the concept was
actually formed much earlier. We take up this term now to raise this standard
of a common belief and united efforts that we aspire to.
An “ism” is a mixture of thought (sixiang), belief (xinyang), and power
(liliang). The formation of an ism stems in part from the great character of
an individual, and in part from the ability of this great character to fit the
needs of a society and become the representative figure in a particular his-
tory and environment. Therefore, to truly be called an “ism,” this ism must
be an objective of a common belief and united efforts. This goes without
saying.
The formation of Wang Jingwei-ism began three years ago with the
December 29 Telegram.27 Through these three years of development, the
content of Wang Jingwei-ism has been clearly stipulated. And what is this
content?
1. Wang Jingwei-ism is based in the Three Principles of the People. Since
the time of the president’s death, 28 people have been distorting the Three
Principles. In Chongqing, people of the likes of Dai Jitao have interpreted
the Three Principles entirely from the perspective of philosophy, making it
246 Craig A. Smith

a vacuous and abstruse ideology, while others cite it to collaborate with

British and American imperialists and to discriminate against others. As for
those in the Chinese Communist Party, they too cheer for the Three Prin­
ciples in order to support the reunion of their United Front and their pipe
dreams of wresting political power. However, distinguishing their words
from those in Chongqing, they invariably add “the revolutionary” before
“Three Principles of the People.” These kinds of interpretations and applica-
tions are entirely a matter of strategic employment and sink under the
quintessence of the Three Principles of the People. And what is the quintes-
sence of the Three Principles? In “The Theory and Practice of the Three
Principles of the People,” Mr. Wang explains very clearly. Simply put:

Nationalism is not the same as the statism of Europe and the United States.
Statism is narrow-minded and xenophobic, while Nationalism is produced
upon the intrinsic peaceful thinking of China and has no xenophobia.
Rule by the People is not the same as the “natural rights” of Europe and
the United States, neither is it the same as the social democracy of these
countries. Natural rights promote individual liberty, while Rule by the People
promotes collective liberty (quanti ziyou). Social democracy is an economic
concept, while Rule by the People is political. In terms of quality, the goal
of Rule by the People is a politics of all the people (quanmin zhengzhi).
Likewise, the Principle of People’s Livelihood is not the same as socialism
or communism. Marxist communism promotes class struggle, but Mr. Sun’s
Principle of People’s Livelihood promotes class cooperation. One method
is violent, while the other is peaceful, and on this point they remain com-
pletely different. Marxist communism aims to entirely abolish private prop-
erty, while Mr. Sun’s Principle of People’s Livelihood aims to develop the
state’s capital while protecting personal capital under a planned economy.
On this point too they remain completely different.29

This is the special nature of the Three Principles of the People. The Three
Principles “has the goal of saving the country and sets off from this stand-
point of saving the country.” This can be understood from the lines: “The
Three Principles are principles for saving the country”; “The goal of the
Three Principles of the People is to save the country, and liberating China
from the economic invasion and economic oppression of Europe and America
is the first requirement for saving the country”; “How can we liberate China
from the position of semicolonialism and achieve freedom and equality for
 The New Citizens’ Movement and Wang Jingwei-ism 247

China? Mr. Sun prepared two methods for this: The first was through the
efforts of China; the second was through mutual cooperation with the ad-
vanced country of Japan.” Wang Jingwei-ism is based on this quintessence
of the Three Principles of the People.
2. Wang Jingwei-ism is based on the president’s Greater Asianism. For
three years now, Mr. Wang has repeatedly expounded on the essential mean-
ing of Greater Asianism, the speech that our president made in the thirteenth
year of the republic [1924]. Mr. Wang believes that the significance of Greater
Asianism “is to rouse our love for China, as well as our love for Japan and
East Asia.” He also explained:

Done in accordance with the Three Principles of the People, China will
inevitably gain freedom and equality, as well as the power to shoulder the
burden for bringing stability to East Asia alongside Japan, establishing
our sense of responsibility for East Asia. Therefore, for China, the Three
Principles of the People are principles to save the country. For East Asia,
the Three Principles of the People are Greater Asianism.”

In Chongqing, where they rely on British-American imperialism, Greater

Asianism has long been forgotten. Yet Mr. Wang explained through theory
and contemporary conditions: “From beginning to end, Mr. Sun maintained
the belief, the perpetual belief, that Sino-Japanese cooperation lies at the
heart of solving the problems of East Asia.” Wang Jingwei-ism is based on
this belief.
3. Wang Jingwei-ism is based on peace. In the December 29 Telegram,
Mr. Wang explained: “With such a sincere declaration from the Japan­ese
government, if we follow the peaceful approach, not only will the northern
provinces be safeguarded, the territory lost since the War of Resistance
[began] can be regained, allowing Chinese sovereignty, administrative in-
dependence and integrity to be maintained.”30 Mr. Wang’s adoption of peace-
ful means toward Japan is the consistent spirit that he continues to maintain.
This consistent spirit is formed by loyalty to the president’s dying command
for “Peace, struggle, and save China”31 as well as adherence to the proverb
“It is better to dissolve enmity than to let it bear fruit.”32 After 1931, Mr. Wang
advocated “Resistance and diplomacy”33 to rectify the climate of “Oppose
direct diplomacy,” successively concluding the [1932] Cease Fire Agreement
in Shanghai and the [1933] Tanggu Truce. Mr. Wang explained his intentions
thus: “At the time, my intentions were rooted in the concept of ‘it is better
248 Craig A. Smith

to dissolve enmity than to let it bear fruit.’ From the localized and temporary
cessation of hostilities, I hoped to expand to peace across the entire country.”
The December 29 Telegram also advocated resolution through peaceful
means. However, it was upon seeing the three principles of the Konoe Dec­
laration, which, he stated, “are the ideal of Greater Asianism and the under-
lying spirit of the Three Principles of the People,”34 that he believed the time
had truly come in which we must rely on resolution through peaceful means.
Wang Jingwei-ism is based on this consistent spirit of peaceful means.
4. Wang Jingwei-ism is based in action. Mr. Wang is not a dreamer but
a doer. We need not discuss his spirit shown here: “Among the crowds of
[Beijing] I chaunt elate, Tranquilly, I enter the prison-house.”35 Nor do we
need speak of the numerous times he was forced into exile or shot at. We
just need to consider the courage of his escape from Chongqing. This is
enough to make us sigh in admiration, because we know that, were Mr. Wang
to remain in Chongqing and falsely shout out “Fight the War of Resist­
ance,” he would easily have received blind praise. However, he had to brave
countless dangers and endure spite and abuse while promoting the peace
movement. This is the true spirit of action. This is why Mr. Wang is not a
scholar, but a man of action,36 and this is why he has become the leader. Wang
Jingwei-ism is based on the spirit of action.
Of course, the content of Wang Jingwei-ism does not stop with the four
points discussed above. From the sincerity of “honest words and responsible
actions”37 and progressing to a “polite dignity” externally and a “harmonious
sense of responsibility” internally, these are all concrete expressions of the
great personality of Mr. Wang. However, it is the four points listed above that
encompass the most basic elements in Wang Jingwei-ism. Wang Jingwei-ism
continues the final will of the president, but through Mr. Wang’s subjective
efforts and objective historical environment, Wang Jingwei-ism has the value
and inevitable development of an independent existence.
Mr. Wang has said: “When I left Chongqing, all I had was the shirt on my
back. I relied on thought and belief. And today, my power has manifested
and it grows day by day. These are not subjective but objective words.” This
describes the formation of Wang Jingwei-ism. Mr. Wang continued: “For
example, if all those in this hall today are united in thought, united in belief,
then we can naturally surge forth with united strength. This hall could be
like this, and the entire country could be like this.” This describes how Wang
Jingwei-ism must become the standard for our common belief and united
efforts. We have created this term “Wang Jingwei-ism” today in order to raise
this standard of a common belief and united efforts for our aspirations.
 The New Citizens’ Movement and Wang Jingwei-ism 249

Notes
1 Rana Mitter, China’s War with Japan, 1937–1945: The Struggle for Survival (New York:
Allen Lane, 2013), 229; David P. Barrett, “The Wang Jingwei Regime, 1940–1945:
Continuities and Disjunctures with Nationalist China,” in Chinese Collaboration with
Japan, 1932–1945, ed. David P. Barrett and Larry N. Shyu (Stanford, CA: Stanford
University Press, 2001), 105–6.
2 Barrett, “Wang Jingwei Regime,” 105.
3 Hans J. van de Ven, War and Nationalism in China: 1925–1945 (London: Routledge,
2003), 163–68.
4 John Hunter Boyle, China and Japan at War, 1937–1945: The Politics of Collaboration
(Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 1972), 314–16.
5 Barrett, “Wang Jingwei Regime,” 108.
6 Shibata Tetsuo, Kyōryoku teikō chinmoku: Ō seiei nankin seifu no ideorogī ni taisuru
hikakushiteki apurōchi [Cooperation–opposition–silence: A comparative history ap-
proach to the ideology of Wang Jingwei’s Nanjing government] (Tōkyō: Seibundō, 2009),
18. Also see Michael A. Schneider, “Miyazaki Masayoshi: ‘On the East Asian League,’
1938,” in Pan-Asianism: A Documentary History, 1920–Present, ed. Sven Saaler and
Christopher W.A. Szpilman (Lanham, MD: Rowman and Littlefield, 2011), 179–83.
7 See Chapters 14 and 15 in this volume.
8 Shibata, Kyōryoku teikō chinmoku, 22.
9 Poshek Fu, Passivity, Resistance, and Collaboration: Intellectual Choices in Occupied
Shanghai, 1937–1945 (Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 1993), 148.
10 Lo Jiu-jung, “Survival as Justification for Collaboration, 1937–1945,” in Barrett and Shyu,
Chinese Collaboration with Japan, 120.
11 Hu Hanmin, “Minzu guoji yu disan guoji” [The International of Nations and the Third
International], transcribed by Zhang Zhenzhi, Xin Yaxiya [New Asia] 1, 1 (1 October
1930): 18.
12 Shibata, Kyōryoku teikō chinmoku, 23.
13 Jeremy E. Taylor, “Republican Personality Cults in Wartime China: Contradistinction
and Collaboration,” Comparative Studies in Society and History 57, 3 (2015): 665–93.
14 Yuan Shu, “Wang Jingwei-zhuyi” [Wang Jingwei-ism], reprinted in: Zhengzhi yuekan
[Monthly report of political affairs (Shanghai)] 3, 1 (1942).
15 Dongyoun Hwang, “Wang Jingwei, The Nanjing Government and the Problem of Col­
laboration” (PhD diss., Duke University, 1999), 298–99.
16 Barrett, “Wang Jingwei Regime,” 106.
17 Wang Jingwei, “Xinguomin yundong gangyao” [A summary of the New Citizens’ Move­
ment], originally published 1 January 1942, reprinted in Wang Jingwei guomin zhengfu
‘qingxiang’ yundong [The Rural Pacification Movement by Wang Jingwei’s National
government] (Shanghai: Shanghai renmin chubanshe, 1985), 371.
18 Jingshen is an important keyword in modern China, but also a defining concept in the
New Citizens’ Movement. Jingshen referred to the spirit, zeitgeist, energy, or intellect of
a group or individual.
19 The Sino-Japanese Incident refers to the Marco Polo Bridge Incident, usually called the
7–7 Incident in Chinese.
20 Although Wang was already attempting to prepare his citizens to enter the war with the
Allies, the Reorganized National Government did not declare war until January 1943.
21 This is a slight edit of a popular line from Zhu Xi’s commentary on the Great Learning.
Explaining why he changed qin min to xin min, Zhu Xi explained that xin or “‘Renewing’
means stripping away what is old. This part means that, having already enlightened one’s
own enlightened Virtue, one should then extend it to reach others, making it so that they
too have the wherewithal to get rid of impurities from their old contaminations” (my
emphasis of the relevant phrase in Bryan Van Norden’s translation). Liang Qichao used
250 Craig A. Smith

this phrase to explain his own understanding of xinmin (new citizens), and Sun Yat-sen
employed the phrase to explain revolution in “On the Significance of Revolution.” Zhu
Xi, “Collected Commentaries on the Great Learning,” trans. Bryan W. Van Norden, in
Readings in Later Chinese Philosophy: Han to the Twentieth Century, ed. Justin Tiwald
and Bryan W. Van Norden (Indianapolis, IN: Hackett, 2014), 188.
22 Democratic centralism (minzhu jiquan) was a Leninist concept that encouraged demo-
cratic discussion within the party, but demanded united action. It was formally taken up
by the Kuomintang in the First National Congress, 1924.
23 “Difficult to understand, easy to implement” (zhinan xingyi) was a phrase that Sun Yat-
sen constantly employed to explain the importance of “seeking knowledge” (qiuzhi). For
example: “The fundamental aim of Marxism is to overthrow capitalism, but whether the
capitalists should be overthrown or not is a question which still needs serious study.
Indeed, it is easy to act but difficult to know.” See his 3 August 1924 speech, “The Social
Question: Definitions and Solution,” in Sun Yat-sen, San Min Chu I: The Three Principles
of the People (Taipei: China Publishing, undated), 124, 125.
24 Wang was fond of reminding readers of his own sacrifice and his attempt to assassinate
the emperor’s regent in 1910. The act was certainly suicidal, but Wang was released from
prison after the 1911 Revolution.
25 The Northern Song anticorruption official Fan Zhongyan (Fan Wenzheng) wrote this
famous line to indicate the necessity of punishing corrupt officials without mercy. Fan
Zhongyan, “Fan Wenzheng nianpu” [A chronicle of Fan Wenzheng], in Fan Wenzheng
gongji [Collected writings by Fan Wenzheng (Fan Zhongyan)] (originally published in
1043) (Taipei: Taiwan shang wu yin shu guan, 1968), 29.
26 Yuan Shu, “Wang Jingwei-zhuyi.”
27 The December 29 Telegram, known in Chinese as the yandian, was the proclamation
issued by Wang on 29 December 1938, to indicate his “Peace Movement” in opposition
to Chiang Kai-shek’s War of Resistance.
28 Sun Yat-sen died in 1925, followed by an explosion of books and articles explaining the
Three Principles of the People. Like numerous other Kuomintang writers, Yuan Shu in-
cluded a space before every mention of Sun Yat-sen or “the president,” a custom reserved
for references to the emperor in texts from imperial China.
29 Sanminzhuyizhi lilun yu shiji (The theory and practice of the Three Principles of the
People) was a speech Wang made to a conference for Japanese Imperial Army Propaganda
Officers on 23 November 1939. The speech is available in Shidai wenxuan [Times selec-
tion] 2, 1 (1940): 25–28. Unattributed quotations in this essay are taken from Sanmin­
zhuyizhi lilun yu shiji.
30 The entire December 29 Telegram has been translated into English and is available in
David G. Atwill and Yurong Y. Atwill, eds., Sources in Chinese History: Diverse Perspectives
from 1644 to the Present (Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall, 2010), 226–27.
31 These are commonly believed to be Sun Yat-sen’s dying words.
32 Wang used this Ming dynasty idiom to refer to Sun Yat-sen’s willingness to work with
Japan after the Twenty-One Demands in “Theory and Practice,” 28.
33 This policy is outlined in English in T’ang Leang-Li’s uncredited translation: Wang
Ching-wei, “National Defence and Dictatorship,” China’s Problems and Their Solution
(Shanghai: China United Press, 1934), 59–60.
34 Noted in Sanminzhuyizhi lilun yu shiji.
35 This is an excerpt from Wang’s famous poem composed after his arrest in 1910, while he
awaited his death sentence. This translation is based on Seyuan Shu’s 1938 translation.
Seyuan Shu, “On Being Arrested, I Improvise,” Poems of Wang Ching-Wei (London: George
Allen and Unwin, 1938), 16.
 The New Citizens’ Movement and Wang Jingwei-ism 251

36 The term zhishi, more commonly known by the Japanese term shishi in English, refers
to men of action that fought against the Qing.
37 This was one of Wang Jingwei’s favourite sayings. Just before his death, he wrote the
booklet My Final Feelings, in which he returned to the concept. Boyle, China and Japan
at War, 395–97.
17 The Diaries of Zhou Fohai
Selected Translations from 1938
BRIAN G. MARTIN

The career of Zhou Fohai (1897–1948) demonstrates in microcosm the

extreme volatility and uncertainty of politics in China in the first half of
the twentieth century, and especially the complexity and contingency
of collaboration in the Sino-Japanese War. He began his career as a
founding member of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), and was a
member of the CCP-Kuomintang First United Front in the 1920s. Later
he became a stalwart of the Chiang Kai-shek (1887–1975) regime, be­
coming a senior member of the so-called CC Clique, named for the
two brothers Chen Guofu (1892–1951) and Chen Lifu (1900–2001),
which controlled the party on Chiang’s behalf and that was a factional
rival to Wang Jingwei’s (1883–1944) group, the so-called Reorganiza­
tionists (gaizu pai). Finally, he joined Wang Jingwei in collaboration
with the Japanese, becoming minister of finance, head of the regime’s
central bank, minister for police (in 1940) and deputy head of its
Executive Yuan.
Zhou Fohai placed great importance on his political and social net­
works. During the 1930s he forged close links with the political factions
around Chiang Kai-shek, such as the CC Clique, and enjoyed good rela­
tions with the Renaissance Society (Fuxingshe), founded by right-wing
nationalist Huangpu graduates, many of whom Zhou taught when he
was an instructor at the Huangpu Military Academy in the mid-1920s.
He also maintained good working relations with two of Chiang’s closest
confidants, Shao Lizi (1882–1967) and Chen Bulei (1890–1948). And he
developed close relations with a constellation of military commanders
around Chiang, including Gu Zhutong (1893–1987), He Yingqin (1890–
1987), and Xiong Shihui (1893–1974). As the CC Clique’s point man on
relations with the Communists in 1937–38, he maintained correct
 The Diaries of Zhou Fohai 253

relations with the Communist representatives on the United Front,

Zhou Enlai (1898–1976) and Guo Moruo (1892–1978). In his efforts to
seek a diplomatic exit from the war, Zhou developed relations with like-
minded individuals such as Mei Siping (1896–1946), Gao Zongwu
(1905–94), and Tao Xisheng (1899–1988). At the same time, he also
began to develop closer relations with Wang Jingwei on this same
issue, as well as with those in Wang’s entourage. These included Chen
Gongbo (1892–1946), Zeng Zhongming (1896–1939, Wang’s secretary),
Lin Baisheng (1902–46), and Chen Chunpu (1900–66, Madame Wang’s
nephew), although his relations with Chen Bijun (1891–1959, Madame
Wang) remained correct but distant.
Zhou Fohai’s diaries are one of the most valuable sources for the
Wang Jingwei government in that they provide a first-hand account of
the personalities and policies of that regime. They also provide a unique
insight into the motivations of one of the key collaborators in the Wang
regime.
Zhou’s decision to keep a diary was influenced by his deep respect
for his fellow Hunanese, the Qing statesman Zeng Guofan (1811–72),
who played a leading role in the suppression of the Taiping Rebellion,
and who also kept a diary. The late Cai Dejin (1935–99), the leading
authority on Zhou’s diaries, believed that Zhou only began to keep a
diary at the beginning of 1937, and not earlier. Cai also noted that Zhou
stopped his diary on 9 June 1945 when he had to attend to his mother’s
obsequies.1 In the intervening years Zhou, who was a facile writer,
proved to be a meticulous and assiduous diarist. He used two of the
more popular annual diaries produced by the Commercial Press to write
up his entries, devoting a page to each daily entry, no matter how short,
and a book to a year. Normally he would write up the diary on a daily
basis, but when pressure of work intervened he would occasionally
write up his entries after an interval of several days. The writing up of
his diary was almost an obsession with Zhou, as his son, Zhou Zhiyou
(1922–85), noted: “If he had not written up his diary he could not sleep.”2
Zhou attached great importance to his diaries, and in some way, saw
them as his political testament. When a fire broke out in the family home
in Nanjing in January 1943, Zhou’s first thought was to save his diaries.
Immediately after the Japanese surrender, Zhou sought to ensure the
safety of his diaries by entrusting them to the father-in-law of General
Gu Zhutong, commander of the Third War Zone, with whom he had a
long-standing personal relationship. However, with his formal arrest
254 Brian G. Martin

in September 1945, Zhou’s diaries were handed over to the Juntong

(National Bureau of Investigation and Statistics), along with his other
household goods, to be used in his prosecution; once he had been sen­
tenced, they were stored in the Office for the Management of Enemy,
Puppet, and Traitors’ Property. When a Juntong officer was prepared to
sell Zhou back the diaries for ten ten-ounce gold bars, Zhou was keen
to purchase them, but his wife resolutely opposed this as being too
expensive. 3
The fate of the diaries became somewhat obscure after the collapse
of the Kuomintang state in the Civil War (1946–49). According to Pro­
fessor Cai, the former head of the office managing traitors’ property
fled to Hong Kong in 1950, taking with him two volumes of Zhou’s diaries
– those for 1939 and 1940. He lent the 1940 volume to an acquaintance,
who later sold it to a local publishing house. What happened to the
1939 volume remains a mystery. 4 The loss of the diary for 1939 is a
major blow to scholarship on the Wang Jingwei regime. This volume
would have covered a crucial period in the formation of that regime –
the discussions both with Japanese intelligence officials in Shanghai
and with the Japanese government in Tokyo on the formation of a
“National Government” (guomin zhengfu) under Wang Jingwei – and
Zhou Fohai played a key role in these discussions.
After his trial and sentencing, Zhou resumed keeping a diary, and he
kept writing up entries for almost nine months in 1947 until ill health
forced him to stop. After the Communist takeover in 1949, Zhou’s diaries
enjoyed a rather sinister afterlife. With the fall of Liu Shaoqi (1898–1969)
during the Cultural Revolution they were used by the Central Investiga­
tion Group as criminal evidence against Communist underground
members active in the “White Areas” during the Sino-Japanese war. 5
To provide an analytical context for the translations that follow, an
overview of the events of 1938 is helpful. 6 This was the year of decision
for Zhou Fohai. In the course of 1938 his earlier efforts to seek a negoti­
ated peace with Japan within both the structures of the Kuomintang
government and the parameters of the War of Resistance 7 were pro­
gressively replaced by a search for peace in spite of Chiang Kai-shek’s
government and in lieu of the War of Resistance. By year’s end, Zhou
Fohai, like other members of Wang Jingwei’s group, had taken the fate­
ful decision to leave Chongqing and to seek separate negotiations with
the Japanese.
 The Diaries of Zhou Fohai 255

Zhou Fohai grew to believe that the only way to secure China’s
sovereignty was to seek a negotiated settlement to the Sino-Japanese
War, which was necessary both for the survival of China and for the
survival of the Kuomintang as a party and as a government. The mount­
ing military defeats and the continued retreat of China’s armies in the
face of superior Japanese military power only strengthened his convic­
tion that China could not win militarily. At the same time, he believed
that, as conditions worsened, the only political beneficiary of the United
Front would be the CCP. So, despite the setback of Konoe Fumimaro’s
(1891–1945) statement refusing to deal with Chiang, Zhou’s pessimistic
assessment of the prospects for the Kuomintang and China persuaded
him of the urgent necessity for reopening communication channels
with the Japanese.
Zhou’s senior governmental positions in 1938 – deputy head of
Chiang’s Personal Office and acting director of the Kuomintang’s Propa­
ganda Department – gave him a broad overview of the situation that
only reinforced his views. It was during the second quarter of 1938 that
Zhou began to have regular official dealings with Wang Jingwei, and
gradually came to share his views. The attempts to open up back chan­
nels were conducted initially within the structures of the Kuomintang
state and with Chiang’s backing. Zhou played an important role in
facilitating the activities of Gao Zongwu (1905–94), China’s unofficial
go-between with the Japanese, and in encouraging him to deepen his
contacts. Even when Chiang withdrew his support in mid-year, after Gao
made an unauthorized visit to Tokyo, Zhou and the others believed that
continuing the contacts clandestinely was in the best interests of the
party state, and there was no consideration yet of developing a peace
party separate from the Chongqing government.
The change in the nature of prosecution of contacts with the Japan­
ese by Zhou and the Wang group was the result of the general crisis of
morale within the Kuomintang government that followed the double
blow of the fall of Guangzhou and Wuhan. In an atmosphere where many
right-wing members of the government thought that China had to make
terms with Japan, the Wang group reassessed its approach. They de­
cided to actively pursue peace discussions with Japan on 30 October,
deputed Gao Zongwu and Mei Siping (1896–1946) to hold discussions
with Japanese representatives in Shanghai in November, and made an
in-principle decision to leave Chongqing on 21 November. The key
256 Brian G. Martin

period, therefore, for the emergence of the Wang Jingwei “peace move­
ment” was thus October–November 1938.
Zhou Fohai was one of the strongest advocates of the decision to
leave and was disturbed by Wang Jingwei’s last-minute procrastination.
In the first half of December, while Zhou prepared the ground in Kun­
ming, Wang frequently postponed his departure from Chongqing. This
demoralized Zhou, who decided to return to Chongqing the day before
Wang finally arrived in Kunming. With Wang’s failure to persuade Long
Yun (1884–1962), governor of Yunnan, to actively support his “peace
movement,” Zhou and the Wang group quickly left for Hanoi, where
Zhou was actively involved in drafting Wang’s telegram to Chiang ex­
plaining his motives; Zhou oversaw its publication in Hong Kong. Despite
the formal expulsion of Wang from the Kuomintang on 1 January 1939,
Zhou continued to believe that contacts could be maintained with
Chongqing, and he was concerned that the Japanese not treat the
“peace movement” as on a par with the existing pro-Japanese govern­
ments in north and central China. The die, nevertheless, had been cast.

—•  TRANSLATION  •—

Zhou Fohai’s Diaries for 1938

Sunday, 3 April 1938

[In Wuhan] I heard Gao Zongwu report on the circumstances of his consul-
tations in Shanghai and Hong Kong. In the afternoon I went over to Mr.
Wang [Jingwei]’s residence and we discussed the issue of the director of the
Propaganda Department, where I expressed my unwillingness [to take it up],
and issues concerning the party and politics for about half an hour. In the
evening I was summoned by Mr. Chiang [Kai-shek] and I went across the
River, where I met Chen Guofu, Chen Lifu, Chen Bulei, Chen Cheng [1897–
1965], He Zhonghan [1900–72], and Zhang Daofan [1897–1968], and we
were strictly ordered [by Chiang] to dissolve the two organizations [i.e.,
the CC Clique and the Renaissance Society (Fuxingshe), also known as the
Blue Shirts (Lanyishe)] and henceforth all are to work openly [ ... ]

Friday, 8 April 1938

Chen Bulei telephoned to tell me that the plenum had passed a resolution
this evening appointing Gu Mengyu [1888–1972] as director of propaganda,
 The Diaries of Zhou Fohai 257

[ ... ] and Dong Xianguang [Hollington Tong, 1887–1971] and myself as deputy
directors. Since Gu could not come to Hankou, I am to act as director. On
hearing this I was extremely anxious, and as a result I spent a sleepless night.

Saturday, 9 April 1938

Shao Lizi [the outgoing director of propaganda] came over and we discussed
the handover and I laughingly thanked him; I briefly enquired about the
situation in the Department of Propaganda. I went directly to the residence
of Zhang Qun [1889–1990] to request that he act on my behalf with Chiang
and Wang and to do all he could to persuade them that Chen Gongbo or
Wang Shijie [1891–1981] should be acting director and that I could be ap-
pointed deputy director; we talked for an hour and a half, as there were a
great many party and political issues that were involved. In the afternoon, I
called on Mr. Wang. I emphatically declined [the acting post], and he con-
tinued to express his agreement but told me that it was not convenient to
recommend Chen Gongbo to Mr. Chiang. I then crossed the river and had
a detailed discussion with Chen Bulei, and then I telephoned Zhang Qun
and informed him of Wang’s desire, and requested him to talk forcefully
with the chairman [Chiang].

Wednesday, 13 April 1938

[I] went to the residence of Gao Zongwu, with whom I discussed our methods
toward Japan in the immediate future, as Gao Zongwu was flying to Hong
Kong tomorrow charged with a secret mission.

Saturday, 14 May 1938

[ ... ] Cheng Cangbo [1903–90] and Xiao Tongzi [1895–1973] came over and
we all had lunch together, and then we discussed the reorganization of the
Kuomintang’s Central Daily (Zhongyang ribao). Because there are a lot of
hidden dangers to do with its finances and personnel, we do not dare to hope
that it can go smoothly [ ... ] I had arranged to meet [Wuhan] Defence
Commissioner Guo Huiwu, and we discussed matters concerning press
censorship in Wuhan. Guo went back on his word; he made me angry, but
for the time being we have just to put up with it.

Friday, 20 May 1938

I went to the Central Party Headquarters to attend the Three People’s
Principles Youth Corps Preparatory Committee [ ... ] I received a letter from
Gao Zongwu, but the contents were vague [regarding Gao’s negotiations with
258 Brian G. Martin

the Japanese]. This was only what I anticipated, but I had only heard about
it [previously]; without doubt I am very anxious and losing hope.

Saturday, 28 May 1938

In the evening I was summoned to an appointment by the chairman, it was
a meeting and a banquet. The chairman himself had just returned from the
front, and he was in excellent spirits, and selfishly I was relieved to see him.

Monday, 6 June 1938

I remember the time we were in Nanjing, and we would talk frequently about
the fifteen [actually thirteen] years when Nanjing was the capital of the
Taiping Heavenly Kingdom; however, did we not know how many years we
would stay there? Now we have evacuated the capital unexpectedly only ten
years after its establishment, and so, suddenly it fulfills a prophecy! I do not
know when we will be able to recover [the capital].

Saturday, 18 June 1938

Tao Xisheng and Chen Bosheng [1891–1957] came back to my home, and we
discussed the future of the current political situation; I am extremely pes-
simistic. My generation do not want to be the running dogs of Russia or to
join the Communist Party, and we certainly are not willing to be the puppets
of the Japanese, so, apart from suicide, what is to be done?

Saturday, 25 June 1938

I discussed with Tao Xisheng and Mei Siping the ways of handling the un-
blocking of the impasse in Sino-Japanese relations [ ... ] Mei Siping returned
from a call on Mr. Wang, and we speculated on Gao Zongwu’s trip to Japan
[Gao secretly went to Tokyo on 23 June, on the orders of Wang and Zhou].
Tao Xisheng came over at 6 p.m., and we crossed the river together to go for
dinner at the residence of Mr. Chiang, and afterwards we had a roundtable
discussion.

Thursday, 7 July 1938

I read Konoe’s statement, and not only does it not seek to win over the Chiang
regime, but it does not even seek to woo the National Government; even if
Mr. Chiang stepped down, the Japanese politicians who are in power will
not negotiate with the National Government. So any gleam of hope for peace
has been eradicated.
 The Diaries of Zhou Fohai 259

Friday, 22 July 1938

Gao Zongwu had sent Zhou Longxiang [1905–69, who had accompanied
Gao to Tokyo] to present his report to the chairman; I summoned him [i.e.,
Zhou Longxiang] to come over and discuss it, and then I invited Tao Xisheng
to come over for a discussion. I delegated someone to hand the report over
to Chen Bulei. The other side [i.e., Japan] insists that the chairman must step
down, which caused us disappointment. I called on Mr. Wang, and we talked
for half an hour.

Tuesday, 26 July 1938

I had a brief conversation with Zhou Longxiang. I telephoned Zhang Qun
and we discussed the Gao Zongwu affair [ ... ] At 5 p.m. I called on Mr. Wang,
and we discussed China’s future for about an hour. I heard that Mr. Chiang
had ordered Wang Liangchou [1881–1958] to request the British and Amer­
ican ambassadors to try to get Britain and the United States to propose a
ceasefire to China and Japan, or to propose the hope of an early cessation of
hostilities to China and Japan. If the Japanese would not accept this, then
Britain and the United States should demonstrate their absolute [intention]
to protect their rights and interests in China, and not to recognize any or-
ganization imposed by force. I heard that Britain could agree to the first
measure but that the United States would not, and that both agreed to the
second measure; but I fear that it is too late to implement this, and that it will
not be easy to succeed [ ... ] I talked with Zhou Longxiang for half an hour,
and I urged him to go to Hong Kong tomorrow, and to transmit everything.

Friday, 12 August 1938

Chen Bulei telephoned to say that the chairman had indicated that there
have been no propaganda successes over the past three months. I am scared
out of my wits, and from now on I must make a real effort. I summoned Xu
Xiaoyan [1900–80], and we discussed the means of unifying propaganda. In
the evening I accepted an invitation from Hollington Tong [ ... ] and I had a
brief talk with Hollington Tong and Xiao Tongzi on various propaganda
questions. I returned home at 9 p.m., where I answered He Zhonghan’s
telephone call regarding the chairman’s profound dissatisfaction with the
Communist Party propaganda outline published in today’s New China Daily,
and I immediately telephoned Commander Guo to stop the publication of
the newspaper for three days. There were several telephone calls back and
forth on this matter.
260 Brian G. Martin

Sunday, 14 August 1938

Xu Xiaoyan came over, and we discussed the report that Mr. Chiang is
extremely dissatisfied with propaganda in the [enemy-]occupied areas
in Hebei and Chahe’er. Naturally I need to pay attention to this fact, be-
cause in the past I did not pay attention to it, for which I am now suitably
reprimanded.

Thursday, 1 September 1938

In surveying the current political situation, I became uncontrollably angry;
through this long, long night, when will dawn break? In the future, diffi-
culties and misery will increase greatly. If, for argument’s sake, Wuhan does
not hold out, then news from Hong Kong will become relatively sluggish,
and news from Hankou will be basically cut off; reading this aloud makes
me twitchy.

Monday, 12 September 1938

In the evening I was invited to a banquet by Mr. Wang, where I drank a great
deal of French white wine, and it was really precious. Mr. Wang talked about
a great many things, and I deeply admired his very good memory. Mr. Chiang
has an exceptionally good memory, which I have come to know and admire,
and Mr. Wang is also like that, and it goes to show that great figures have
special gifts. I have a very weak memory: I always forget past events, and I
cannot completely remember what I have read; this is a reason why my life
is commonplace. I returned [to my residence] at 9 p.m., and I drafted a tele-
gram to the National Office for Examining Newspapers banning newspapers
from defaming the German leader Hitler, and I telegraphed a warning to the
New China Daily.

Saturday, 24 September 1938

I returned to my residence at 11:30 a.m. Just then I received a telephone call
from Yang Tianyun telling me that Zhu Jiahua [1893–1963] had sent a tele-
gram in which he stated that the chairman stressed the importance of
propaganda, and still urged me to go to Wuhan immediately [ ... ] This action
forces me to take risks, and clearly he will not tolerate my refusal, but I fear
that the chairman fails to understand my situation, and has been too critical
of my administrative responsibilities, which has put me into a sulk. But sulk-
ing is not the way to escape from this dilemma, and one can only submit
and accept it [ ... ]
 The Diaries of Zhou Fohai 261

Tuesday, 27 September 1938

Tomorrow I have an audience with the chairman, and there will be a lot of
criticism of propaganda [policy]. I have heard recently that he is very bad
tempered, and that he cannot avoid hurling insults; if he injures my dignity
I certainly will not accept it.

Thursday, 6 October 1938

I need to consider carefully the very uncertain discussions that Mei Siping
had [in Tokyo; after Gao Zongwu became incapacitated with tuberculosis,
Mei was given responsibility for the secret talks with Japan] [ ... ] In the
evening I accepted a summons from Mr. Chiang for dinner, and we had an
informal discussion on the international situation.

Friday, 7 October 1938

I sent a letter to Mei Siping, requesting him to be my department’s special
representative in Hong Kong.

Monday, 17 October 1938

I went to the home of Chen Bulei, and we discussed [the fact] that the
situation from now on looks increasingly grim, and we can only heave a
great sigh as there are no means to remedy [it]. China is completely lost at
the hands of the Kuomintang [as the result of] one past mistake after an-
other; for generations to come we will certainly not be forgiven; we are the
guilty men of history! With the outbreak of conflict at Shanghai last year, I,
together with Tao Xisheng, Mei Siping, and Gao Zongwu, early on foresaw
[this outcome], but, alas, we were the only ones and our words were too
subtle, and no one was won over to see the gravity of the situation! From
the present circumstances there is only collapse, we cannot find any other
way out.

Tuesday, 18 October 1938

[ ... ] The republic has been established for twenty-seven years, but now, quite
unexpectedly, the trend is toward the conquest of the nation, and I cannot
help being desolated and wishing for the end. At the moment we are preserv-
ing our actual strength in order to prepare for a protracted war of resistance,
so there is no intention to defend Wuhan to the death. Before we say goodbye
to Wuhan, we should all feel crestfallen.
262 Brian G. Martin

Saturday, 22 October 1938

The airline office telephoned saying that there were no flights to Chong­qing
tomorrow, and that it could give no guarantees for the next two to three
days; there was, however, a flight to Chengdu this evening, but I must get
there [to the airline office] by 6 p.m. It was already 5 p.m. when I received
this telephone call! I hurriedly made preparations, and by 6:15 p.m. I got to
the [airline] office, with a friend accompanying me. I got to the airport by
7:30 p.m. and by 8:30 p.m. I was in the air. Farewell Wuhan! ... This morning
at 10 a.m. Guangzhou fell. The enemy forces took only ten days to land, and
so Guangzhou fell before Wuhan. Who would have expected such an out-
come? From now on the situation will grow worse. Recalling with feeling my
sad lot and my concern about the nation, I could not get to sleep, and I only
began gradually to fall asleep after 4 a.m.

Tuesday, 25 October 1938

Mei Siping and Tao Xisheng came over to discuss a number of things, and
we had a detailed discussion concerning our propaganda in Hong Kong.

Thursday, 27 October 1938

I was startled awake by the telephone at 7 a.m.; it was Mr. Wang who sum-
moned me to a meeting, as he had some instructions to give me. When I
returned to my residence, Chen Gongbo came over for a chat.

Friday, 28 October 1938

[ ... ] In the evening I went to Mr. Wang’s place for an informal dinner, where
we had a detailed discussion of China’s situation and a fairly detailed dis­
cussion of [possible] ways out. But it is in fact difficult to predict exactly what
changes will occur in the future.

Saturday, 29 October 1938

Wang Shaolun [1902–82] came over and in addition to the Communist Party
we discussed the general public mood, which almost entirely hopes for
peace, and I regard this as right. But Japan cannot rescind its declaration of
16 January [Konoe’s “no dealing with Chiang Kai-shek” policy]; moreover,
Mr. Chiang is unable to, indeed, cannot step down from office, so how can
talks about peace begin? The British ambassador has gone to Hunan, but
although there is a lot of speculation, it is really no more than an exploratory
visit, and it is unlikely that he will recommend mediation. In that case the
path to peace lies on a different road [emphasis added]
 The Diaries of Zhou Fohai 263

Tuesday, 1 November 1938

I discussed with Mei Siping and Tao Xisheng various propaganda ques-
tions, and tomorrow Mei Siping goes to Hong Kong via Yunnan. I went to
bed at 11 p.m. My whole body is itching, and there are red spots; according
to what I am told it is nettle rash. I am terribly upset and I cannot sleep.

Wednesday, 2 November 1938

Whatever the changes in the overall situation, there is a clear trend that they
could occur in the course of this month [emphasis added].

Thursday, 3 November 1938

I heard that today Japan had issued a declaration the gist of which is: Japan’s
aim is to create a new order and permanent peace in East Asia, and if the
National Government renounces its policy of opposing Japan and close rela-
tions with the Communists, and fundamentally reorganizes its governing
authorities, then Japan would not reject the National Government’s partici-
pation in this creative work. But the implication is that the National
Government and the two puppet organizations in Beiping and Nanjing would
be considered on an equal basis – this is really bitter.

Tuesday, 8 November 1938

Luo Longji [1896–1965] came over for a talk, and he said that if this pro­
crastination dragged on, it must surely result in the destruction of the nation.
I said that to break out of it is very difficult, and it will require extraordinary
action. It [such action] does not seek understanding from the state, but it
surely will obtain the understanding of future generations. If the nation can
be saved, then it is inappropriate that I should be bothered about temporary
damage to my reputation; the Communist Party opposes peace, and its theory
is to persevere in resistance until the nation is destroyed, which is not worth
thinking about. Luo considered this to be correct.

Monday, 21 November 1938

As regards the matter [the secret discussions in Shanghai between Mei
Siping and Gao Zongwu and Kagesa Sadaaki (1893–1948) and Imai Takeo
(1900–82)], there is a slight prospect of success, but I cannot predict whether
or not there will be [further] changes.

Saturday, 26 November 1938

I rose at 8 a.m. Mei Siping has come from Hong Kong and we had a brief
chat, and I then went with him to Wang’s mansion, where he reported on
264 Brian G. Martin

the progress of his trip with Gao Zongwu to Shanghai, and he then brought
out the agreement signed by both sides and the draft of Konoe’s declaration,
and we discussed these matters until noon, when we dispersed [ ... ] I returned
to Wang’s mansion at 4 p.m., where Wang suddenly wanted to totally reverse
our past decisions, and said that we needed to have a discussion. I waited
coolly for him to begin, and I listened to his self-justification, but I did not
offer any suggestions [ ... ] I talked to Mei Siping about Wang’s temperament;
everyone knows very well that he is indecisive, and that it is easy for him to
change [his mind], and as a result for over ten years he has been repeatedly
defeated by us [i.e., Chiang’s group]. But concerning this matter, then, despite
his vacillation, we decided that the outcome must be that we stick with the
original plan. [Entry made in the diary on 31 December in Hong Kong.]

Sunday, 27 November 1938

At 5 p.m., I went with Mei Siping to the Wang mansion, and we had a dis­
cussion with Mr. Wang and his wife [Chen Bijun]. Mr. Wang had suddenly
changed his attitude and raised very many difficult questions. I immediately
suggested that we give up the previous views, so that all discussions would
indicate one conclusion. To retrieve the situation Wang, however, said that
he could agree to sign part; the rest [of the “Record of the Secret Agreement
between Japan and China”] would wait until further discussions in the future,
so he decided in accordance with this [decision] to send a telegram in reply.
In the course of numerous meetings Mr. Wang’s reluctance to take respon-
sibility, his irresolution, his vacillation in doing things are increasingly re-
vealed, as are his easy and modest actions. But this affair is momentous, so
it is understandable that he turns it over in his mind and looks at it from
different perspectives. I myself have considered this matter repeatedly from
all directions, and I am mentally and physically exhausted.

Tuesday, 29 November 1938

At 9 a.m., I again went with Mei Siping to the Wang mansion, and he had
just summoned Chen Gongbo, who will arrive by airplane from Chengdu.
After we had again studied all of the documents we decided that we could
agree [to them], and then we sent a telegram to Hong Kong to let them know
... At four in the afternoon I went again to the Wang mansion, where I had
a discussion with Chen Gongbo and the others, and we decided that Wang
will go to Chengdu on the eighth [of December], and then go to Kunming
on the eleventh; I will go first to Kunming and wait [ ... ] [Entry made on 31
December in Hong Kong].
 The Diaries of Zhou Fohai 265

Thursday, 1 December 1938

[ ... ] Lately I have felt that Wang’s shortcomings are at times vacillation and
at other times [engaging in] restless activity, and his strong point, by contrast,
is his considerable ability with words.

Friday, 2 December 1938

Today I consulted the news report in the Tongmeng News Agency, that the
Japanese Cabinet on 28 [November] had agreed on the key points in Sino-
Japanese relations, and this had then passed at an imperial conference;
and then Konoe issued his formal statement, but I do not yet know what it
contains.

Monday, 5 December 1938

At 10:15 a.m., I boarded the airplane and we took off. Farewell Chong­qing!
The existence or the destruction of the nation and the making or breaking
of myself hinge on this trip! But, since I have been early resolved to sacrifice
myself, therefore I cannot shirk the dangers of the trip. At the very moment
the aircraft left the ground I thought, Have I now destroyed my political
career? I slept for an hour on the aircraft, and an hour before we landed at
Kunming we experienced some bad turbulence [ ... ] I contemplated the
vast­ness of the future, in which the nation’s destiny and my own are equally
uncertain.

Thursday, 8 December 1938

After lunch, Chen Chunpu [1900–66] came himself from Chongqing, and
said that Chen Bulei had arrived yesterday [in Chongqing], Mr. Chiang could
arrive today, and Mr. Wang urges caution in everything, as he will cancel
his trip [scheduled for] tomorrow. I wrote to Chairman Long Yun reporting
on the postponement of the date of [Wang’s] trip, and I then sent a telegram
to Hong Kong, urging them to delay the issuing [of a statement]. There have
been many setbacks in national affairs, but this is usually the case, as success
and failure are truly determined by fate, and are beyond the power of man’s
capacity to plan for. I took my afternoon nap, but I could not sleep as I pain-
fully racked my brains in a way that I have not usually done. Should I break
immediately with the present situation? Should I return to Chongqing for
the time being to observe the situation? I thought hard and deep, but I decided
not to return. The reasons were very many, but two were most important:
first, sooner or later he must make a break, if sooner then he will suffer a
great deal of abuse for a number of days, if later it only will be a few days of
266 Brian G. Martin

abuse, but I fear that he will not be able to leave when the time comes; second,
the clues to Mei Siping’s two visits to Chongqing are being sought everywhere
and they will be discovered shortly, so the nation would then not be saved
and it would be led to its funeral! On the 21st of last month the decision was
taken to go to Hong Kong [emphasis added], and if fate will not destroy China,
then perhaps Mr. Wang will be able to leave Chongqing within ten days.

Sunday, 11 December 1938

Tao Xisheng and Chen Chunpu came over, and we speculated about whether
or not Mr. Wang has the freedom to move. In the present circumstances,
even if the secret perhaps does not leak out, nevertheless there are suspicious
aspects, and even if its details are not known, yet I fear that a long delay is
fraught with trouble. If Mister Wang cannot leave Chongqing before the
twentieth, then the affair is finished. A telegram came from Hong Kong
urging me to wait for Wang and stating that [information on] the situation
had been passed on to other parties.

Saturday, 17 December 1938

Chen Chunpu came over for a talk, and he said that Wang had sent a telegram
cancelling the railway tickets to Hanoi for the nineteenth. This then [dem-
onstrates] that he will be unable to leave Chongqing before the twentieth.
After all what should I do? It is in fact difficult to decide, as I am not in control
[of events ...] I thought it over again at four, and I am still determined to
return to Chongqing [ ... ] Today my mood is 80 percent in favour of return­
ing to Chongqing, and 20 percent for going to Hong Kong.

Sunday, 18 December 1938

I thought hard about it, and I felt that it would be appropriate if I did not
care at all about going to Hong Kong. A variety of difficulties were now re-
solved, and I would put off for the time being [replying] to the Hong Kong
telegram. At 9 a.m. I went to the Air Force Academy to give a lecture. I took
my leave at 10 a.m. and, as I was passing the airport, I saw troops and a
military band, and all along the way there were neatly turned out gendarm-
erie. Very strange! Does this mean that Mr. Chiang or Mr. Wang is coming
to Kunming? If Chiang is coming it must be on a special aircraft, so why did
the Air Force Academy not know? And If Wang is coming then why did
Chen Chunpu not let me know? Later I walked out with Long Tiyao [1904–89]
for lunch, and we ran into the police chief so we asked him whether he knew
[what was going on] and he told us that Wang has come. I was very happy
 The Diaries of Zhou Fohai 267

[ ... ] For over ten days I have had a piece of stone in my heart and now it has
gone [ ... ] I just received a written summons from Mr. Wang to call on him
immediately. We met and shook hands happily greeting one another, and I
then learned that Mr. Chiang was still in Chongqing, and that this trip was
extremely dangerous [for Wang]. We talked for thirty minutes and then I
took my leave, and I sent a telegram to Hong Kong to inform them [of Wang’s
arrival]. From now on whether or not we are able to leave Kunming certainly
depends on Long Yun’s attitude, but we probably cannot make things difficult
for him. This evening Mr. Wang and Long Yun had a discussion, and the
outcome was very good.

Monday, 19 December 1938

At 9 a.m., I returned to my residence, where Tao Xisheng was waiting for
me, and I went with him to call on Mr. Wang, and I heard that at 2 p.m. this
afternoon we were guaranteed an airplane to fly to Hanoi [ ... ] At noon I
went to Wang’s place, and Long Yun was there, and we talked together for
an hour [ ... ] At 2:30 p.m. we went to the airport, and Long Yun personally
saw us off [ ... ] On the airplane I thought about my mother not being settled,
and I fear that from now on it will not be easy for us to meet, and I shed tears.
In one hour we crossed the frontier into Annam, and I now felt safe; at 5:30
p.m. we arrived. I was now overseas, and it is very difficult to predict when
my exile will end. I am housed in the Hotel Metropole along with Tao Xisheng
and Zeng Zhongming, and the language is different and I am extremely
embarrassed!

Sunday, 25 December 1938

Mister Wang requested the others and I to visit him in the hills for two or
three days, and change our flight to Hong Kong to the twenty-ninth [ ... ]
From the outset we stayed at Mr. Wang’s residence there. Wang is unable to
walk for two weeks because a few days earlier he had fallen and hurt his leg,
and it is an unexpected calamity; at this time the full text of Konoe’s state-
ment arrived, and we read the translation and then studied it.8 Mr. Wang
will issue a statement on the contents [of Konoe’s statement], and tomorrow
after Wang has done a draft, we will again discuss it.

Monday, 26 December 1938

I drafted a written submission to Mr. Chiang and I sent a letter to Chen
Bulei, explaining the meaning of this trip. Of course I know that it will cer-
tainly be unlikely to gain their understanding, but I put everything into it
268 Brian G. Martin

[ ... ] We returned to [Wang’s] residence at 11 a.m. Mr. Wang had just drafted
a statement and suggested that after we studied it we should meet for a
discussion this afternoon. I first had a discussion with Chen Gongbo and
Tao Xisheng, and we added and revised two points: Japan must renounce
both its invasion of China and its humiliation of China’s traditions and
thought; the War of Resistance seeks the nation’s independence and well-
being, and now the peace measures will be able to fully protect the nation’s
independence and well-being, so the aims of the War of Resistance will
have been attained. In the evening we resumed our discussion of the future
implementation of policy and future measures, but we did not make concrete
decisions.

Thursday, 29 December 1938

[ ... ] At noon, we reached Hong Kong; when we had just got out of the air­
craft, Chen Gongbo was immediately discovered by a British journalist who
enquired as to the purpose of this trip. Tao Xisheng and I left immediately.
Mei Siping came to greet us and took us to the Peninsula Hotel, where we
went in by the front door and immediately went out by the back door. Tang
Shoumin’s [1892–1974] motorcar was waiting there to receive us, and we
went directly to his home [ ... ] Just as I was going to bed, Chen Gongbo
and Lin Baisheng came over, and said that Gu Mengyu insisted that it was
inadvisable to publish Mr. Wang’s statement, and then urged Lin Baisheng
to stop publication, and prevented him [i.e., Lin] from sending a telegram
to Wang. I disagreed deeply with this, as I believed it had to be published
immediately. Chen Gongbo maintained that no matter whether Wang
replied to the telegram or not, it would be published tomorrow, and I agreed
with this.

Friday, 30 December 1938

I had a discussion with Chen Gongbo and we decided that we would inform
the Japanese that we would not consent to be a puppet organization in re-
sponse to Konoe’s statement, otherwise Mr. Wang would have the same
position as a puppet organization! [ ... ] Mei Siping telephoned at 7 p.m. and
I heard that there were still problems with [Wang’s] statement, as it could
not be published today and I still did not know why, so I then asked him to
go to the offices of the Nan Hua [a newspaper controlled by Wang] to super-
vise and urge Lin Baisheng to publish it immediately. I waited until 8:30 p.m.
but still no telephone call [from Mei Siping], and I was very anxious! If it is
 The Diaries of Zhou Fohai 269

not published today, then all our plans will be destroyed and we will have
nothing left! So I telephoned Lin Baisheng to ask about it, and it was then
that I learned that it had been published, and I could relax.9

Notes
1 Cai Dejin, foreword to Zhou Fohai riji quanbian [The complete edition of Zhou Fohai’s
diaries], ed. Cai Dejin, 2 vols. (Beijing: Zhongguo wenlian chubanshe, 2003), 2; hereafter
cited as ZFHCD.
2 Zhou Zhiyou, “Guanyu Zhou Fohai riji” [On Zhou Fohai’s diaries], preface to ZFHCD, 1.
3 Ibid., 2–3.
4 Cai Dejin, foreword, ZFHCD, 3; Zhou Zhiyou, “Guanyu Zhou Fohai riji,” 4.
5 Cai Dejin, foreword, ZFHCD, 4.
6 This overview is based on my conference paper: Brian G. Martin, “Leaving Chongqing:
Zhou Fohai and the Origins of the ‘Peace Movement’ 1938,” presented to the International
Conference on Modern China in Global Contexts, Institute of Modern History, Academia
Sinica and the Historical Society for Twentieth-Century China, 11–13 August 2014,
Taipei. The events of 1937 as they affected Zhou Fohai can be followed in Brian G. Martin,
“The Dilemmas of a Civilian Politician in Time of War: Zhou Fohai and the First Stage
of the Sino-Japanese War, July–December 1937,” Twentieth-Century China 39, 2 (May
2014): 144–65.
7 Martin, “Dilemmas of a Civilian Politician,” passim.
8 Konoe’s third declaration on China policy, issued on 22 December, outlined the principles
for future Sino-Japanese cooperation: both China and Japan would regard the creation
of the New Order in East Asia as a common goal, and would cooperate to achieve mutual
friendship and good neighbourliness, joint defence against communism, and economic
cooperation.
9 This was Wang’s so-called amorous telegram, or yandian [December 29 Telegram].
18 Kiang Kang-hu, “Starvation
Is a Serious Matter”
JONATHAN HENSHAW

The following essay, written in 1941 by Kiang Kang-hu (1883–1954), was

first published in Minyi yuekan (The people’s will), a monthly journal that
Kiang founded in 1940 and for which he served as editor. As the minister
of personnel (Quanxu buzhang) in the Reorganized National Govern­
ment (RNG) of Wang Jingwei (1884–1944), Kiang was a prominent figure
in occupied Nanjing, but remained something of an outsider, in office
but out of power among the capital’s movers and shakers. In this essay,
Kiang laments widespread starvation in China, offers a critique of
cooperation with Japan, and levels a warning of what the occupation
authorities and the Japanese can expect if the problem of hunger is not
resolved. While more recent scholarship has dealt with the problem of
hunger through Japan’s grain extraction processes or the Chongqing
Nationalist policy on grain control at a regional level, Kiang wrote as
an insider to the occupation state, concerned with all of China and out­
lining the consequences of failing to feed the people.1 The Chinese press
under Japanese occupation is not typically remembered for pointed
dissent, but by broaching the subject of hunger and committing his
dissent so explicitly to print, Kiang offered a clear example of the dis­
content that lurked beneath the surface in occupied China. 2
As a historical figure, Kiang Kang-hu remains somewhat obscure. He
enjoyed a flash of early celebrity after establishing the Chinese Socialist
Party in 1911 (the first organization to call itself a dang, or “party”) be­
fore fleeing the country as a fugitive following the party’s dissolution
by decree of Yuan Shikai (1859–1916) in 1913. Kiang thereafter led a
peripatetic existence, advocating his political views while travelling
mostly between China and North America and never quite managing
 Kiang Kang-hu, “Starvation Is a Serious Matter” 271

to secure employment for more than a few years at a time. 3 During

these wanderings, Kiang collaborated with the American poet Witter
Bynner (1881–1968) in translating a famed collection of Tang dynasty
poems, published in English in 1929 as The Jade Mountain. In 1939,
Kiang travelled from Hong Kong to Shanghai, by then under Japanese
occupation, where he joined Wang Jingwei’s peace movement. Fol­
lowing the inauguration of the new government in Nanjing, Kiang held
a series of government posts and served as president of Southern
University. In March 1940, he was appointed as minister of personnel,
a peripheral post that he held until succeeding Wang Yitang (1877–
1948) as president of the Examination Yuan two years later. After Wang
Jingwei’s death in Japan in 1944, Kiang retired and wrapped up his
affairs in Nanjing. Thereafter, he lived in Beijing with his family until he
was arrested by Nationalist agents after the war, put on trial, and sen­
tenced to life imprisonment. In 1954, he passed away while incarcerated
in Shanghai’s Tilanqiao Prison (formerly the Ward Road Gaol).
Food supplies and starvation were contentious issues during the
occupation. They bedevilled the RNG from its establishment and also
challenged the returning Nationalist administration after the war. 4 In
1940, Nanjing was struck by a rice shortage, with prices doubling in a
matter of days, while the nearby agricultural hub of Wuxi was struck by
a wave of “rice robberies” as Japanese demand induced popular panic. 5
In response, the RNG established a Foodstuffs Adminis­t ration Commis­
sion in an effort to stabilize prices. 6 Scarcity, forced extraction, and
hunger also gave rise to profiteering. In 1943, the president of Nanjing’s
National Central University, Fan Zhongyun (1901–89), was dismissed
after student protestors marched on Wang Jingwei’s official residence
to petition for his removal amid accusations of corruption in the cam­
pus dining halls. That same year, a major corruption scandal engulfed
the minister for foodstuffs, Gu Baoheng (1903–85), and his deputy,
who were both removed from office and later sentenced to life
imprisonment.7
By his own account, Kiang’s criticism of Japanese policy toward
China and the measures taken by the RNG circulated widely and brought
him into conflict with Wang Jingwei. As Kiang recalled at his postwar
trial in 1946, the RNG’s Ministry of Propaganda prohibited the circula­
tion of “Starvation Is a Serious Matter,” and ordered the police to seize
and destroy copies from newsstands. Ultimately, however, the Capital
272 Jonathan Henshaw

High Court paid no heed to these or Kiang’s other writings, dismissing

them as “momentary outbursts” that were insufficient to absolve Kiang
of his criminal culpability as a Hanjian (traitor to China). Despite mul­
tiple appeals, including one from the procurator, who sought the death
penalty, the verdict handed down from the bench remained unchanged
– life imprisonment. 8 Verdict aside, it is useful to consider Kiang’s essay
from the lens of conditions within occupied territory, with regard to
starvation itself; as part of the full range of opinion or dissent within
the RNG; and as an indicator of the focus of the postwar collaboration
trials.
Fittingly for one who began his career advocating education for
women, Kiang opens his essay by reversing a well-known quotation
from the neo-Confucian scholar Cheng Yi (1033–1107). Asked about the
propriety of a widow who remarries after the death of her husband in
order to avoid starvation, Cheng proclaimed: “To starve to death is a
minor matter, but to lose one’s integrity is a major matter indeed” (e’si
shi ji xiao, shijie shi ji da).9 Educated readers of Kiang’s claim that “to
starve to death is a major matter” would likely recall the second half of
Cheng’s declaration and wonder at the implied loss of integrity Kiang is
suggesting, be it large or small. Certainly this was the reaction of one
author, based outside occupied territory, who acknowledged reading
only the title of Kiang’s essay and immediately completed the thought,
assuming that the unspoken “loss of integrity is a minor matter” was
Kiang’s attempt at a rationale for collaboration.10
In fact, Kiang makes an entirely different critique. By highlighting the
problem of starvation under a regime founded ostensibly to protect the
people during wartime occupation, Kiang calls into question its very
raison d’être. As for the implied loss of integrity, Kiang remains circum­
spect, although his readers might well have been inspired to question
just what exactly Wang and his associates achieved by compromising
themselves before the Japanese.
Citing famous figures from Chinese history, Kiang argues for toler­
ance for the vast majority of people who, unable to match the high
moral standards of exemplars from antiquity like Boyi and Shuqi, or
Kiang’s own townsman, Xie Fangde (1226–89), instead choose the path
of compromise.11 Rather than offering a self-serving defence of the
compromises made with Japan by the RNG leadership, however, Kiang
 Kiang Kang-hu, “Starvation Is a Serious Matter” 273

pivots to issue a direct warning to the Nanjing leadership and its

Japanese backers over the consequences of starvation in occupied
territory.
Failure to address the issue of starvation, Kiang warns, will under­
mine the government’s efforts in other areas, be it the anti-communism
trumpeted by the RNG, the Co-Prosperity Sphere proposed by the
Japanese, or the great task of national rejuvenation. In closing his
argument, Kiang invokes Li Zicheng (1606–45) and Zhang Xianzhong
(1606–47), two well-known leaders of peasant revolts against the
Ming dynasty, in order to illustrate the danger of neglecting the basic
needs of the people. This was not an uncommon rhetorical move.
As Geremie Barmé has noted, the Nationalists repeatedly likened Mao
Zedong (1893–1976) and the Chinese Communist Party to Li Zicheng
and his forces. It is likely that Kiang, an anti-communist literatus
writing only three years shy of the three hundredth anniversary of
Li Zicheng’s entry into Beijing and the fall of the Ming, was making
a similar rhetorical move. Soon after Kiang, the left-wing writer Guo
Moruo (1892–1978) marked the anniversary with an influential essay
of his own, “Jiashen san bai nian ji” (In commemoration of the three
hundredth anniversary of 1644). Guo drew a much different historical
lesson than Kiang or the Nationalists did, however, using the failure of
Li’s undisciplined forces to hold the capital as a cautionary tale for the
Communist leadership as they sought to seize power through a rebel­
lion of their own.12
Despite the brutality of Japan’s invasion of China, the Japanese
met with little success in eliminating voices of dissent or enforcing
ideological compliance within occupied territory; indeed, factionalism,
based on both personality and politics, ran rampant even within the
RNG, let alone across the full spectrum of Japan’s client states. More
broadly, Chinese intellectuals remained alive to the plight of their
countrymen and, as Kiang’s essay suggests, occasionally committed
their critiques to print. At the same time, such outspokenness was not
without consequence. Gadflies find few friends in high places, and
Kiang’s refusal to join the Nationalist Party, the independent streak that
characterized his prewar career, and his criticisms of the RNG, such as
the ones contained in this essay, undermined his influence in a govern­
ment that was already circumscribed in what it could do.
274 Jonathan Henshaw

—•  TRANSLATION  •—

Starvation Is a Serious Matter 13

kiang kang-hu

The neo-Confucianists tell us: “Starvation is a minor matter.” Alas! How

easy for them to say, and how different from what I know of Mencius. As
Mencius says:

It is only scholars who, without a certain livelihood, are able to maintain a

fixed heart. As to the people, if they have not a certain livelihood, it follows
that they will not have a fixed heart. And if they have not a fixed heart, there
is nothing which they will not do in the way of self-abandonment, of moral
deflection, of depravity, and of wild license.14

The neo-Confucianists demand, then, that everyone be a gentleman, that

everyone be a saint, a sage, a Boyi or a Shuqi, yet they do not know that in
all of Chinese history, there have only been these two sons of Guzhu who
rose to fame by starving to death. Thereafter, from the Spring and Autumn
period down to the end of the southern Song, there was only one perfect
person who starved rather than accept a scornfully offered handout – my
fellow villager, Xie Fangde, who likewise earned renown throughout the
ages by starving himself to death. From ancient times down to the present,
those who have endured starvation have been so few, and have done so with
such hardship; how can [starvation] be called a minor matter? Yet in these
years of hardship, of civil war and foreign conflict, of natural and human
calamity, and of political and economic oppression, not a day goes by and
not a place is spared from the death of those who cannot help but starve
unwillingly. It is the same for our people and for all humanity; with so many
starving, and so easily, how can this be called a minor matter?
In today’s China, we are truly in an age without hope of saving the dying.
In the past three years, the price of grain that northerners live off of and the
rice that southerners rely on for their subsistence has risen tenfold and con-
tinues to rise today. The same is true of other grains and produce. The oc-
cupied territories will starve, and so will the guerrilla districts; those in the
resistance will starve, and so will those in the peace movement. Those with­out
kith and kin to call upon will starve, as will those with work, with hearth
and home. The common people will starve and the civil servants will starve.
Of course, there is no hope of making a man on the brink of starvation resist
 Kiang Kang-hu, “Starvation Is a Serious Matter” 275

foreign aggression or safeguard the country. Should he establish the New

Order through mutual assistance, it would still be impossible. Even with
pencil-pushing bureaucrats and flag-waving minions, only those who are
not ravenous with hunger could gladly do such tasks. Unless the problem of
sustenance is resolved first, it is foolishness, if not self-delusion, to pass each
day in anticipation of victory and to babble about rejuvenation.
Today I am speaking out to warn the authorities, and to warn our friendly
ally: “Starvation is a serious matter!” As the Western proverb goes: “Hunger
knows no law.” Hunger knows no culture, no education, no foreign or do-
mestic affairs, nor does it know anything of friendly neighbours, economic
cooperation, joint anti-communism, or other principles. Therefore, for those
who wish to bring about a Sino-Japanese cooperation treaty, or to achieve
the ideal of an East Asian alliance, or to realize the slogan of clean govern-
ance or the great enterprise of national rejuvenation, the first step is to attend
to food for the people. Luxury goods can be banned and jewellery done away
with, entertainment expenses can be halted and banquets refused. Daily
expenses can be economized, with only two meals per day to fill one’s stom-
ach. Redundant offices can be merged, idle personnel dismissed, and official
salaries reduced. The defence forces can rely on powerful neighbours, but to
the best of their ability, these officials must always follow the path of caring
for the people from cradle to grave. Moreover, the lives of the ordinary people,
compared with the select few in officialdom and the military, are especially
gruelling, and especially important. It is necessary to enable the planters to
tend their fields, the merchants to ply their markets, and the artisans to
practise their crafts, and only then will the majority be able to fend for them-
selves without relying on government granaries and donations from charity
for support. Never mind that neither government nor charity has the power
to provide such support. Even if they did, and all the strength of the nation
was bent toward providing disaster relief, with our great cities made over
into congee factories, what form of government would we have then? And
what kind of nation?
Our country’s people – docile, law-abiding and capable of arduous labour
– have for thousands of years had the habit of relying on their own efforts,
with no need for the government’s aid or for philanthropists to open their
purses. For the people to live and work in peace and contentment, their only
requirement is to “benefit by that which is beneficial to them,” nothing more.
The path to their prosperity lies in agriculture, industry, commerce, and
trade. The simple, ordinary people dare not concern themselves and are un­
willing to become involved in the schemes of great powers, in foreign policy,
276 Jonathan Henshaw

in culture, and in thought. When the farmers are left to their farms, the
workers to their work, the merchants to their usual business, and the hawkers
to moving their goods as always, only then will the problem of food naturally
be resolved, and the nation’s destiny will be prosperous. And what of today?
The farmers’ crops, the workers’ goods, the merchants’ capital, and the hawk-
ers’ wares are monopolized, seemingly frozen. Leaving aside for a moment
the larger issues, even the gifts exchanged between rural scholars in the
distant countryside and the everyday goods of the street peddlers are viewed
as hoarding or smuggling.15 Carts and boats cannot carry their cargo, the
post cannot make deliveries, and the banks cannot send remittances. Under
these conditions, how can the cost of goods not soar? How can resources not
grow scarce? How can life be anything but hard? How can the people not go
hungry and perish? Alas! Freedom and independence are all well and good,
yet many vassal states have also been well-protected. At minimum, however,
the people must not be driven to starvation. If one is not a Boyi or a Shuqi,
one will be a Li Zicheng or a Zhang Xianzhong. But in a world where the
likes of Boyi and Shuqi are seldom seen, the Li Zichengs and Zhang Xian­
zhongs will run amok. And so I say: “Starva­tion is a serious matter.” What,
then, are those who call for anti-communism, who speak of close and friendly
ties, still thinking about?

Notes
1 For exacerbating factors surrounding the problem of food, see Odoric Wu, “Food Shortage
and Japanese Grain Extraction in Henan,” in China at War: Regions of War, 1937–45, ed.
Stephen R. MacKinnon, Diana Lary, and Ezra F. Vogel (Stanford, CA: Stanford University
Press, 2007), 181; and Jin Pusen, “To Feed a Country at War: China’s Supply and Con­
sumption of Grain During the War of Resistance,” in China in the Anti-Japanese War,
1937–1945: Politics, Culture and Society, ed. David P. Barrett and Lawrence N. Shyu (New
York: Peter Lang, 2001): 157–69.
2 Edward M. Gunn describes quips at Nanjing’s expense, and also credits Zhou Zuoren
as the source of “serious, direct dissent with Japanese policies.” See Edward M. Gunn,
Unwelcome Muse: Chinese Literature in Shanghai and Peking, 1937–1945 (New York:
Columbia University Press, 1980), especially 46–48.
3 Apart from public lecturing and organizing art exhibitions, Kiang worked primarily in
education, teaching at the University of California, Berkeley and at McGill University.
He also had an intermittent affiliation with the Library of Congress during the 1910s and
1920s. For a discussion of Kiang and socialism, see Edward S. Krebs, Shifu: The Soul of
Chinese Anarchism (Lanham, MD: Rowman and Littlefield, 1998), 79–85. A partial dis­
cussion of Kiang’s career in Canada is available in Macy Zheng, “Principal Sir Arthur
Currie and the Department of Chinese Studies at McGill,” Fontanus 13 (2013): 75–77.
4 The RNG-appointed mayor of Shanghai, Chen Gongbo (1893–1946), for example, sur-
prised his British and American counterparts on the Shanghai Municipal Council by
engaging them on the topic of rice supplies for the city. See “Visit of Shanghai Mayor to
H.M. Consul-General,” 1941, FO 371/ 27713, “Foreign Office Files for China, 1919–1980,”
 Kiang Kang-hu, “Starvation Is a Serious Matter” 277

http://www.archivesdirect.amdigital.co.uk.ezproxy.library.ubc.ca/FO_China; and
Norwood F. Allman, Shanghai Lawyer: The Memoirs of America’s China Spymaster, ed.
Douglas Clark (Hong Kong: Earnshaw Books, 2017), 328. For the situation faced by the
postwar returning government in terms of depleted granaries, disrupted distribution
networks, and poor harvests, see Hsu Kan, Report on Food Problem (Nanjing: International
Department, Ministry of Information, 1946), 1–4.
5 For the case of Wuxi and the complex dynamic that developed between Japanese occu­
piers, Chinese officials, and local elites over the course of occupation, see Toby Lincoln,
“From Riots to Relief: Rice, Local Government and Charities in Occupied Central China,”
in Food and War in Mid-Twentieth-Century East Asia, ed. Katarzyna J. Cwiertka (Surrey,
UK: Ashgate, 2013), 12.
6 See Huang Meizhen, ed., Wei ting youying lu–dui Wang wei zhengquang de huiyi [Hidden
records of the bogus court: Remembering the bogus Wang regime] (Beijing: Dongfang
chubanshe, 2010), 140.
7 For an account of the scandal by two former officials, see Xu Xilin and Zhao Tianyi, “1943
nian ‘liangshi tanwu an’ zhenxiang” [The truth about the 1943 foodstuffs corruption
case], Jiangsu wenshi ziliao [Jiangsu literary and historical materials] 29 (December 1989):
289–95.
8 Nanjing dang’anguan, ed., Shenxun Wang wei Hanjian bilu [Interrogation records of the
traitors from the bogus Wang regime] (Nanjing: Fenghuang chubanshe, 2004), 374, 376.
9 For further discussion, see Lydia He Liu, Rebecca E. Karl, and Dorothy Ko, eds., The Birth
of Chinese Feminism: Essential Texts in Transnational Theory (New York: Columbia
Uni­versity Press, 2013), 133.
10 See Yun Qing, “E’si shi da” [Starvation is a serious matter], Da feng ban yuekan [Great
wind bimonthly] 101 (1941): 1.
11 The brothers Boyi and Shuqi were natives of the state of Guzhu who lived during the
Shang dynasty and became renowned for their willingness to starve rather than com-
promise their principles. Xie Fangde was a southern Song loyalist at the time of the
Mongol conquest who was unwilling to take office under the new regime. After being
forcibly brought to Beijing and incarcerated, he refused all food and succumbed to
starvation.
12 See Geremie R. Barmé, The Forbidden City (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press,
2008), 143–44. For a more in-depth overview of Guo’s historical analogies, see Hans
van de Ven, China at War: Triumph and Tragedy in the Emergence of the New China,
1937–1952 (London: Profile Books, 2017), 200–2.
13 Kiang Kang-hu, “E’si shi da” [Starvation is a serious matter], Minyi yuekan [The people’s
will] 1, 9 (15 February 1941): 1–3. Reprinted in Kiang Kang-hu, Huixiang dongfang [Return
to the Orient] (Nanjing: Minyi she, 1941), 97–101.
14 James Legge, ed. and trans., The Works of Mencius (New York: Dover Publications,
2011), 49.
15 On this point, Kiang might well have been writing from personal experience. Long after
the war, Wang Manyun, an attaché who worked in the RNG’s counterinsurgency cam-
paigns, recalled an incident in which Kiang was caught by Japanese gendarmes illegally
transporting hog bristles (considered at that time to be a military resource). As president
of the Examination Yuan, Kiang was normally exempt from being searched when board-
ing a train as part of the privileges accorded at that time to anyone of ministerial rank
or higher. By Wang Manyun’s account, Kiang had the misfortune of boarding a train
from Nanjing to Shanghai that was being used to transport Wang Jingwei himself as part
of an inspection tour to one of the cleared districts. As an added security measure, the
Japanese imposed additional checks and consequently discovered the bristles in two of
Kiang’s suitcases. See Huang Meizhen, Wei ting youying lu, 276.
19 Guan Lu, “How to Be a New Woman”
Shanghai, March 1942
NORMAN SMITH

Guan Lu (1907–82) was an “editor, a journalist, a writer, a social critic,

and first and foremost, a ‘new modern urban woman.’”1 Her writings
include novels, essays, poems, and even the lyrics for a popular song. 2
From 1942 to 1945, during the Japanese occupation of Shanghai, Guan
worked undercover, at the behest of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP),
for the Japanese-owned and -operated journal Nü sheng [Women’s
voice]. In the preface to its first issue, the editors describe it as a journal
“by women, about women, and for women.” However, the journal was
also widely viewed as a “Japanese propaganda tool for Chinese women.”3
After the war, Guan Lu was denounced by the Kuomintang (KMT) as a
Hanjian traitor to the (Han) Chinese and later by the CCP in the 1950s
and 1960s as an “educated traitor” and “cultural traitor.”4 Guan Lu spent
ten years in prison for her social activities in Shanghai and her work at
Nü sheng. The translation provided below, “How to Be a New Woman,”
is considered by scholar Nicole Huang to be “probably the centerpiece
of the entire journal collection.”5 In it, Guan critiques new youth and
especially new women for adopting the worst aspects of capitalist cul­
ture in a much more explicit, and Marxian, manner than did women
writers in Manchukuo.
Guan Lu was born Hu Shoumei in Youyu (currently in Shanxi prov­
ince). Both of Guan’s parents died while she was young, and she moved
from relative to relative, acquiring whatever education she could. In
1928, she enrolled in Nanjing’s Zhongyang University to study philoso­
phy. After a year, she transferred to the foreign languages department.
While at university, she began to write and befriend left-wing writers,
 Guan Lu, “How to Be a New Woman” 279

such as Ouyang Shan (1908–2004) and Zhang Tianyi (1906–85), while

also establishing her own reputation as a left-wing writer. After three
years at university, she was expelled on the grounds that she had sub­
mitted a fake high school diploma, though her growing reputation as
a leftist was more likely the deciding factor. 6 In the summer of 1931,
she moved to Shanghai. In the spring of 1932, recruited by Zhou Enlai
(1898–1976), the future premier of the People’s Republic, Guan joined
the CCP.7 That same year, Guan joined the League of Left-Wing Writers
and on 14 May 1933, when Ding Ling (1904–86) was arrested, she
assumed Ding’s committee duties. Guan also joined the Shanghai
Association of the Cultural Circle and Women’s Circle to Resist Japan
and Save the Nation, and served on its board of directors.
In the early thirties, Guan Lu met and wed Shen Zhiyuan, a CCP
member since 1925. They were married for three years before divorcing,
as Shen apparently sought a domesticated “good wife, wise mother”
(xianqi liangmu), a role that Guan could not commit to. 8 She did not
remarry. After 1949, she requested permission to marry a diplomat,
and Zhou Enlai would not allow it.9
In the 1930s, Guan Lu worked at various magazines, including Funü
shenghuo (Women’s life) and Shanghai funü (Shanghai women). The
latter was first published in April 1938, and was edited by Guan Lu, Xu
Guangping,10 and underground CCP members; it was published by the
Eighth Route Army Office.11 At the same time, she began writing her
most famous novel, the autobiographical Xin jiu shidai (New and old
eras). In 1939, Guan was instructed to go to Shanghai, a city under
the control of the Reformed Government of the Republic of China, to
gather intelligence on the occupation government and, eventually,
from her Japanese coeditor at Nü sheng.12 Subse­q uently, she began to
drop out of her leftist social circles.13 She became a regular at the in­
famous secret service “No. 76” social gatherings and became close
friends with the wife of the head of the unit, Li Shiqun (1905–43).14
The first issue of Nü sheng was published on 15 May 1942; its final
issue was volume four, number two in July 1945. Co-sponsored by the
Japanese embassy and the Navy publication department, Nü sheng
printed approximately thirty-four hundred copies per month.15 The
journal has been named “the most important and long-running women’s
periodical in the central regions of China.”16 According to Nicole Huang,
280 Norman Smith

19.1 Guan Lu in the 1940s. Source: Author’s

collection

the journal was to “create, restructure, and propagate a discourse on

domesticity that transcended national and ethnic boundaries.”17 The
journal’s motto was Women de di’yi sheng (Our first voice).
Guan Lu worked at Nü sheng as an editor as well as a writer.18 Her co­
editor was leftist woman writer Satō (Tamura) Toshiko (1884–1945), who
had been influenced by the women’s movement when she lived in
Vancouver, Canada, from 1918 to 1936. The CCP sought information from
her, believing that she could be sympathetic to their anti-imperialist,
leftist agenda.19 Tamura and Guan lived as housemates for one year
and seven months; their relationship, to date, has not been a focus of
scholarly analysis. 20 Nicole Huang has argued that Guan “played a more
crucial role in producing every page of the journal.”21 Guan also hired
many undercover CCP members as editors and advocated for socialism;
in her view, “the nation” and “society” were of the utmost importance –
“individual issues” were secondary. 22 Kishi Yōko argues that Guan was
covertly telling Chinese female readers to call for the freedom of women
and the Chinese, in opposition to Japan. 23 Thus, while the journal could
be seen as a form of Japanese propaganda, its call for women to be
“progressive” and “new” implicitly challenged contemporary political,
 Guan Lu, “How to Be a New Woman” 281

social, and economic circumstances that prevented such behaviour –

and Japanese imperialism was likely foremost in readers’ minds. Over
time, Guan Lu assumed most editorial duties, and she published two
final issues after Tamura died on 16 April 1945. 24
After the collapse of the Reorganized National Government in 1945,
Guan was denounced as a Hanjian by the KMT, and the CCP removed
her from Shanghai. After 1949, Guan fared no better as she was jailed
for over ten years. Her supervisor, Chinese intelligence leader Pan
Hannian (1906–77) was tried after the war as a double agent and traitor.
Guan’s reputation was tarnished by association with him as well as by
her own high-profile activities during the occupation – despite having
undertaken her duties at the order of the CCP. Guan was imprisoned in
Beijing’s infamous Gongdelin (Virtuous Forest) prison from 15 June
1955 to 26 March 1957. During the Cultural Revolution, she was arrested
again, on 1 July 1967, and remained incarcerated until 20 May 1975. 25 It
was not until 23 March 1982 that Ding Ling personally took the news to
her that the unjust prosecutions had been overturned. Emotionally
scarred by her decade of imprisonment, Guan Lu killed herself with
an overdose of sleeping pills. 26
The post-1949 treatment received by Guan Lu was very similar to
that visited on the writers who created successful careers in other
parts of Japanese-occupied China. Although many wrote highly critical
accounts of the societies within which they lived, all were severely per­
secuted by the Maoist regime. Guan Lu’s case stands out because she
was punished for working as a CCP member as directed by one of the
party’s most powerful leaders, Zhou Enlai.
As evident in the translation below, Guan Lu’s writing focuses on
gender self-awareness, individualism, and social responsibilities, within
a Marxist narrative. In the translation, Guan criticizes “modernized
youth” “for their superficial understanding of capitalism and ignorance
of its essence.”27 She especially urges young women to “use the correct
kind of perspective,” cautioning that many have only adopted “decadent
and degrading” activities from a capitalist civilization on the decline.
Guan Lu advocated for “new women of substance” to be in step with
the “historical development of the times.” For this, she was mercilessly
persecuted by the CCP during the Maoist era, as were the women
writers of Manchukuo.
282 Norman Smith

—•  TRANSLATION  •—

How to Be a New Woman 28

guan lu

With the arrival of a new atmosphere of equality and the arrival of freedom
in China, there are now many “modernized” youth among the Chinese people.
We can divide these modernized youth into two groups. The first group en-
tertains new thinking and resists feudalizing, decayed institutions. For ex-
ample, they resist the old Confucian ethics in their homes, resisting arranged
marriages. Not only do they resist, but they can even help their sisters to
resist and fight against old-style family marriages. They respect women and
love their own wives. In terms of the nation, they labour [for it with] their
bodies. They are not pale-faced scholars and do not quote the sages from
morning to night, like some kind of bookworm that can do nothing but
read. Sometimes they suddenly show their spine with mighty acts that shock
and awe. And the other style of modern youth? They wear exquisite Western
clothes, they comb their hair so bright it glistens like a mirror, and they
throw on cologne. They joke, tease women, and talk trash in front of them.
They pry their long legs open and dance till dawn. They not only throw on
cologne, they use perfume and candy to cheat women; they take a young
woman to a hotel to pass the night and, the next day, change her for another.
And sometimes, even cleverer, they talk new economics; they may discuss
dialectical materialism. They say that one of the three great principles of
dialectical materialism is that everything changes with the times, and that
nothing in the world is cast in stone. And so, equipped with their ideal, their
theory of dialectical materialism, it is natural that they long to put it into
practice, and change love for a long-faced woman today for a round-faced
woman tomorrow.
Above are some “modernized” young men. As for whether their “mod-
ernization” is correct or not, we will not discuss that now, because it is beyond
the scope of this essay. What we need to talk about now is the “modernized”
woman, the so-called modern woman (modeng funü), or new woman (xin
funü) for short.
Since the raw material for “modern” youth first arrived from abroad, China
has had new youth, and naturally also the new woman. The new woman,
similar to the previously discussed new youth, can be divided into two types.
The first one? They also can resist the old kind of family, its ethical teachings
and system, and arranged marriages. They use many methods to respect
 Guan Lu, “How to Be a New Woman” 283

themselves, and also make men respect them. They have a good ideal, that
is, one day they want equality with men in all respects. They want to enjoy
equal rights with men, and fulfill the same types of obligations. The other
kind? That is the now-trendy so-called modern girl (modeng nülang). Their
good points? The first is their fashionable dress. They can go from a short
qipao to a long qipao, a long qipao to a three-quarter-length qipao, from a
three-quarter-length qipao to wearing a foreign-style long skirt and a blouse.29
From round-toed leather shoes to wearing pointed leather shoes, from
pointed leather shoes to square-toed leather shoes. They have to wear dif-
ferent kinds and colours of jackets – long and short, red and green. And they
need to have matching colours for their outer clothes, qipao, leather shoes,
and leather purses. Second, they use cosmetics. They use foreign, imported
brands. The foreign brands are not only good quality, but famous. Using
famous cosmetics for oneself, one can also become famous. Besides using
cosmetics, they would state the original name of the makeup (although, in
their mouths, the foreign word pronunciation is a combination of Chinese
and Western [languages] – or seemingly right but actually wrong, or simply
outright wrong. Take “cold cream,” for example. Instead of saying “cold cream”
[lengshuang], they would think about the English and say “icy cream” [leng
qi lin]). Not only that, they would periodically announce the cost of a long
list of makeup. And then, they could see a movie and go to a coffee house.
Drinking coffee, they would naturally have to go to a foreign shop. To see a
film, if one is to say it is really modern, it has to be a foreign film. Although
they cannot fully understand the foreign film, when discussing it with other
people, they would inevitably spit out a long list of film stars’ names.
Also, this kind of modern female (modeng nüxing) must enjoy life: they
have inherited the freedom of western European capitalist society. They have
broken the shackles of the old family ways, they enjoy equality between
husband and wife, and they consider themselves new women in society. Be­
sides the above few material enjoyments, there are even more non-material
benefits for them to enjoy. Through their qualifications as modern women,
they throw off the old traditions of a woman’s lifestyle and duty. They do
not go into the kitchen. The kitchen has oil and smoke, and that oil and
smoke can ruin their beautiful clothes and looks. In the kitchen, any little
thing can damage their hands, so kitchen work would destroy their elegant
appearance.
Besides these, they have other things to do at certain times, and it changes
with the weather. When the weather is good, they will find themselves friends
to go out with, and apart from going to places for pleasure, they go to all
284 Norman Smith

sorts of shops: candy and fruit shops, leather shoe stores, and clothing
boutiques. Sometimes they will go to hair salons, where they not only have
their hair done, but also paint their nails, from fingers to toes, which is to
say, not only their hair and face have to look good, their four limbs and nails
all have to look good as well. When it is bad weather, they naturally do not
fancy going outside for a walk, and just do indoor work, the most trendy
and common type of which is mah-jong. Naturally, when they play mah-
jong it simply cannot be dull, and at all times they must have candy, snacks,
and fruit to eat.
The lives of this large group of women described above can be seen as
lives of extreme freedom and enjoyment. In their lives, there is not the slight-
est trace of the pain and bother brought on by the old family ethics. In the
eyes of the average person, they are a kind of fortunate new woman.
However, in order to critique something, we should use the correct kind
of perspective, and work to create a deeper episteme. To do this, we have to
focus on reality; we cannot just look at its surface. We must look at it now
and think about the future. We cannot just look at it and limit it to present
aspects. We must use this kind of method to see it all, and also use this way
to look at the woman question.
Since capitalist culture came to China, owing to changes in the Chinese
mode of production and relations of production, the lifestyles of the Chinese
people have undergone tremendous changes, becoming more capitalist day
by day. The elderly are usually conservative, but because young people are
restless and they harbour no assumptions, they are easily swayed by new
influences. Above, we discussed new tendencies among modern youth in
general that are due to the new desire to absorb capitalist culture. Under this
kind of cultural environment, they became the morbid new woman discussed
above.
Originally, capitalist culture was progressive compared to China’s old
feudal culture, and young men and women could toss aside old lifestyles and
ideas, could go and receive a kind of new baptism – this was a good thing.
However, to accept this new kind of culture is a choice and, regardless of
what kind of thing we are accepting, we should never accept it in its entirety,
but should accept it in a critical manner. This is to say, no matter what kind
of culture, it must have its advantages and shortcomings. We have to take
in its advantages and discard its shortcomings. If we talk about feudalism,
“loyalty” and “piety” are feudal society’s advantages, but “autocracy” is its
shortcoming. Also, no matter what kind of system a culture has, when the
kind of system arises, it must have good points; when it falls, it must have
 Guan Lu, “How to Be a New Woman” 285

many shortcomings. Capitalist culture is also the same – when capitalism

began to emerge in Europe, it brought much positive culture. For example,
those working on literature and art opposed classicism, praised freedom,
and praised the progressive spirit of youth. In terms of science, the Europeans
brought about many inventions. They used scientific methods to advance
social production. They developed both material and spiritual culture. In
their ways of living, they were very frugal. They were not only careful with
money, but [also] careful with time. In their lives, there was no wasted time
and money. They had scientific, rational thinking, and science became a part
of their lives in all respects. With scientific and disciplined lives, they found
happiness and joy. In recent years, capitalism has already developed to its
highest level and, in many respects, it is already at the stage of breaking down
and collapsing. So in this recent century, European capitalist culture, besides
those few good things left behind from its first rising, is defined by tragic
and decadent hedonism, such as crazy nights in bars, the sexualization of the
movie business – Hollywood movies – enticing and perverted pleasures, like
the fleshpots of Paris – all is decadent and degrading, such as dance halls,
gambling dens, and all kinds of improper, unnatural entertainment.
We must understand that to receive and absorb advanced nations’ culture
is a good thing. If we are to see this from the position of a young woman, to
think first of the self, we naturally have to wash away and resist the spread
of toxic Chinese feudal holdovers and absorb advanced capitalist nations’
science and material culture, because society and history must progress
every day, and people’s lives also must move forward every day. Because of
this, accepting advanced capitalist nations’ culture is a principle of our in-
dividual lives. But we have to pay attention – we must accept the good parts
from the emerging period, and we have to avoid the bad parts from the de-
clining era. All those modern women that we see today are the opposite of
what we hope for. They misunderstand capitalist civilization. They have not
used grander or deeper points of view to look at the good things in the early
era of capitalist society. They only, on the basis of their laziness and lowly
habits, accept those decrepit, decadent enjoyments and morbid beauty, the
decrepit culture of capitalism. These women are then the Chinese new women
that average people imagine. They have the external appearance of capital-
ism, wearing trendy European clothes and using foreign cosmetics. They
dance, bet on jai alai and other games, truly lacking the essence of capital-
ism.30 They have neither scientific minds nor scientific epistemes. They lack
a disciplined lifestyle as well as the defining features and independent skills
of women in capitalist societies. The Chinese new woman.
286 Norman Smith

We are all young women, and naturally we want to be new women. We

need to follow the example of advanced countries, to absorb progressive
culture. However, we have to pay attention to our own choices, to make our
episteme firm. We have to think deeply to analyze our own lives and reality,
so we do not become superficial, but are new women of substance. We have
to focus on the significance of the new woman and think about the individ-
ual’s relationship with society and the future. In viewing your own life, do
not stop and be satisfied with the current appearance of life. Think about
and consider life now and in the future. Do not be excited or sad about your
current material life and enjoyment, but plan on how to exist and structure
life in this changing society and with historical developments of the times.
Otherwise, if we appear as the perfect embodiment of the indulgent new
women, yet are in fact empty, then nothing but tragedy lies in our future.

Notes
1 Nicole Huang, Women, War, Domesticity: Shanghai Literature and Popular Culture of
the 1940s (Leiden: Brill, 2005), 98.
2 Guan wrote the lyrics for the theme song of the popular 1937 film, Shizi jietou [Cross­
roads]. Amy Dooling, Women’s Literary Feminism in Twentieth-Century China (New
York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2005), 227n41.
3 Anne Sokolsky, From New Woman Writer to Socialist: The Life and Selected Writings of
Tamura Toshiko from 1936–1938 (Leiden: Brill, 2015), 46.
4 Louise Edwards, Women Warriors and Wartime Spies of China (Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press, 2016), 140.
5 Huang, Women, War, Domesticity, 115.
6 Ibid, 98.
7 Edwards, Women Warriors, 140.
8 Luo Jiurong, Ta de shenpan [Her trial] (Taipei: Zhongyanyuan jin shi suo, 2013), 87.
9 Ibid., 174.
10 Xu Guangping (1898–1968) was the widow of Lu Xun (1881–1936). In 1941, she was
arrested by the Japanese, tortured, and jailed for two years.
11 Dooling, Women’s Literary Feminism, 305.
12 See Peichen Wu, “Satō (Tamura) Toshiko’s Shanghai Period (1942–1945) and the Chinese
Women’s Periodical Nü-Sheng,” U.S.–Japan Women’s Journal 28 (2005): 122.
13 Nicole Huang, “Fashioning Public Intellectuals: Women’s Print Culture in Occupied
Shanghai (1941–1945),” in In the Shadow of the Rising Sun: Shanghai under Japanese
Occupation, ed. Christian Henriot and Wen-hsin Yeh (Cambridge: Cambridge University
Press, 2004), 305n4.
14 Number 76 was the regime’s intelligence and secret police centre, established in April
1939 at 76 Jessfield Road in Shanghai. Edwards, Women Warriors, 141.
15 Dooling, Women’s Literary Feminism, 306.
16 See Wu, “Satō,” 109n4.
17 Huang, Women, War, Domesticity, 103.
18 Guan Lu published over seventy essays in the journal; her pen names included Fang Jun,
Fang, Lan, Mengyin and Lin Yin, Huang. Women, War, Domesticity, 101.
19 Wu, “Satō,” 111.
 Guan Lu, “How to Be a New Woman” 287

20 Rumours of a same-sex relationship between Guan Lu and Bai Yang (1920–96), one of
China’s “Four Great Actresses,” were dismissed in a short article in Nü sheng in 1942.
Both women were jailed during the Cultural Revolution.
21 Huang, Women, War, Domesticity, 97.
22 See Wu, “Satō,” 110.
23 Cited in Sokolsky, New Woman Writer to Socialist, 47.
24 Huang, Women, War, Domesticity, 97.
25 Luo Jiurong, Ta de shenpan, 123.
26 Huang, Women, War, Domesticity, 101.
27 See Wu, “Satō,” 114.
28 Guan Lu, “Zenmeyang zuo yi ge xin funü” [How to be a new woman], Nü sheng [Women’s
voice] 3 (1942): 12–13.
29 A qipao, or cheongsam, is a Chinese body-hugging dress, inspired by Manchu clothing
of the Qing dynasty, which was popularized in the 1920s and 1930s. In the 1934 silent
film Shennü (The goddess), a qipao is hung on the wall to indicate that the lead female
character is a “lady of the evening.”
30 Jai alai is a sport in which a handheld wicker basket is used to throw a ball against a walled
space, and thereby accelerate it. For more on jai alai in Shanghai, see Tina Kanagaratnam,
“Dangerous Game: Shanghai’s Hai Alai Auditorium,” 20 February 2015, Shanghai Art
Deco, http://www.shanghaiartdeco.net/lost-treasure-shanghais-jai-alai-auditorium.
20 Yuan Shu, “The Current Stage
of the Chinese Revolution and
the Problem of Constitutional
Government”
MATTHEW GALWAY

The true allegiance of Yuan Shu (1911–87), the famous five-faced spy
(wumian jiandie), is difficult to pinpoint.1 He infiltrated as many as five
major organizations during his career as a spy. Yuan wrote the essay
below in 1941, while he was a card-carrying Chinese Communist Party
(CCP) member and intelligence officer infiltrating the Kuomintang (KMT)
and Reorganized National Government of the Republic of China (RNG)
of Wang Jingwei (1883–1944) during the tenuous Second United Front
(1937–46). 2 In the two years that preceded the release of his article,
“The Current Stage of the Chinese Revolution and the Problem of
Constitutional Government” (Zhongguo geming xian jieduan yu xian-
zheng wenti), Yuan (under the alias Yan Junguang) “established the
headquarters of the ‘Movement for Asiatic Regeneration and National
Reconstruction’ (Xingye jianguo yundong),” which called for Chinese
coexistence and co-prosperity with Imperial Japan. 3
In his article, Yuan proposes his vision of a rejuvenated China in
which a peaceful movement for constitutionalism and against reaction­
aries, Communist or otherwise, precludes revolutionary victory. The
article reflects the ideological machinations of a networked individual
responding to the crises of a China in uncertainty. Although Yuan, in
his guise, argues for cooperation with Japan in uniting all oppressed
peoples against Euro-American imperialism, he criticizes KMT stagna­
tion and the United Front’s failures. He decries the CCP (presumably
his main party of affiliation at the time) for propagating falsities and
stresses the vision of Sun Yat-sen (1866–1925) for Asian unity. Yuan
concludes that China must cooperate with Japan to create a new East
Asian order and expel Euro-American imperialists who impede the con­
stitutional movement.
 Yuan Shu, “The Current Stage of the Chinese Revolution” 289

Importantly, his writing captures his viewpoint as an intellectual-spy

who pairs Sun’s rhetoric with leftist class cat­e gories to contextualize
China’s historical situation while invoking Pan-Asianism as the solution
to China’s “state of backwardness, semi-development, and semicolonial
subjugation.” Yuan draws from Marxist class categories and Lenin’s
criticism of imperialism to frame China as “semicolonial, semifeudal,”
identifying Euro-American imperialism as the cause of China’s “eco­
nomic backwardness, political corruption, low standard of living, in­
ability to defend itself, and inertial policies.” Solutions, he urges, lie in
the Three Principles of the People (Sanminzhuyi) and Sun’s ideal of
“equal political, economic, and international status” that forms the
basis for Yuan’s advocacy of constitutionalism. He concludes that only
a peaceful constitutionalist movement that collaborates with Japan in
an East Asian order uniting all oppressed persons will uplift China from
its state of weakness. The article also broadens our understanding of
critiques of Chinese society before the foundation of the People’s
Republic, and throws light on the complicated internal dialogue of a
committed spy who wrote for collaboration with the Japanese occu­
piers while simultaneously working to undermine them.
Yuan Shu (born Yuan Xueyi, a.k.a. Yuan Junguang, Zeng Dazhai,
Zeng Huaming) was a writer and intelligence officer. He was born in
Qizhou town, Hubei, where his father, Yuan Xiaolan, served as a
Chinese United League (Tongmenghui) member before joining the
KMT. 4 At sixteen, Yuan participated in the 1926 Northern Expedition,
and in 1929 he studied journalism at the University of Tokyo, where he
first encountered Marxist works. After returning to China in 1931, he
founded Art news (Wenyi xinwen) magazine and met leading CCP
Central Special Service Section (Zhonggong zhongyang teke) cadre
Pan Hannian (1906–77), who hired him as a special party member (tebie
dangyuan). 5 Yuan went underground as a Communist whose fluency in
Japanese led him to serve as a Japan specialist for the KMT and CCP,
sometimes simultaneously. 6 His spy career began shortly after joining
the CCP in 1931 and lasted to 1955.7 Pan facilitated Yuan’s infiltration of
the Japanese Foreign Ministry through contact with Japanese vice-
consul general Iwai Eiichi’s (1899–unknown) “Intelligence Agency.”8
Yuan’s connections at news agencies also brought him into the orbit of
the Japanese consulate, where he collected intelligence. From the con­
sulate, Pan “worked out all the information about the CCP to be trans­
ferred to his different employers.”9
290 Matthew Galway

To strengthen his intelligence sources, Yuan joined the Qinghongbang

(Green and Red Gangs) secret societies in 1933. After the Battle of
Shanghai broke out, Du Yuesheng (1888–1951), a leading Green Gang
figure and Yuan’s “co-brother” within the society, used his KMT connec­
tions to introduce him to Dai Li (1897–1946), the acting head of Chiang
Kai-shek’s intelligence services.10 Dai oversaw a bureau collecting intel­
ligence on Japan that included nearly twenty thousand spies, and his
reputation as a fierce anticommunist later earned him the nickname
“Himmler of Nationalist China.”11 Including espionage work on Soviet
Red Army Intelligence officer Yakov Bronin (1900–84), Yuan held affilia­
tion with and spied on five organizations, earning him the nickname
“five-sided special service agent” (wufang tewu): the KMT Juntong
(Bureau of Investigation and Statistics), which he infiltrated in 1932
through his cousin Jia Botao (1902–78) and politician Wu Xingya (1892–
1936); the Japanese consulate in Shanghai; the CCP; the Soviet Union,
on which he spied in 1935 and, in 1940, aided through his reports on
the Japanese “southern march”; and the secret service of Wang’s RNG.12
Yuan also authored reportage literature during this time; his July
1931 “On reportage literature” (Baogao wenxue lun) represented “pos­
sibly the first published article after the League of Left-Wing Writers’
August 1930 resolution promoting reportage along with other genres to
define reportage and link it with recent worldwide literary trends.”13 His
writings betray a proletarian-internationalist leaning, credentials as a
Marxist cognoscente, preoccupation with factory labourers, and com­
mitment to broadening leftist readership. Such works are reminiscent
of those by Kawaguchi Hiroshi (pseudonym for Yamaguchi Tadayuki,
1905–84), a Japanese Marxist literary theorist whose “more extensive
treatment of the genre (translated by Xia Yan) ... was published the fol­
lowing year.”14 Kawaguchi’s stylistic imprint on Yuan highlights Yuan’s
views at the time. Yuan also wrote on larger political issues – the article
below among them – while working simultaneously as a CCP member
and spy.
Yuan published the article translated below in the Shanghai-based
Constitutional Monthly (Xianzheng Yuekan). He also operated under­
cover, serving Wang Jingwei as a KMT Central Committee member,
deputy minister in the Propaganda Department, and education minister
of Jiangsu province.15 Yuan’s discussion of constitutionalism was not in
isolation; intellectuals outside of the Japanese-occupied zone concerned
themselves with similar issues. The choice to publish in Constitutional
 Yuan Shu, “The Current Stage of the Chinese Revolution” 291

20.1 Left: Yuan Shu in Shanghai, Autumn 1939. Right: Sixteen-

year-old Yuan prepares for the Northern Expedition. Source: http://
www.xinhuanet.com/politics/2015–12/29/c_1117606731.htm.

Monthly was fitting because its coverage was mainly of the develop­
ment of, and obstacles to, constitutionalism in China. In response to
the mounting constitutional movement, which developed into a push
for more general political research, Constitutional Monthly reorganized
in 1941 at 308 Henan Rd., Shanghai, as Political Monthly (Zhengzhi
yuekan). Yuan was editor-in-chief and publisher, and the Jiangsu
Education Depart­ment operated, in name only, as producer; New China
Newspaper (Xin Zhongguo baoshe) a pro-Japanese outlet, handled pro­
duction. Wang Jingwei viewed Political Monthly as especially important
for the RNG. The first issue included essays by Wang himself, and by
Xingzheng Yuan (Executive Yuan) second-man Zhou Fohai (1897–1948)
and politician Lin Baisheng (1902–46). Virtually every Political Monthly
issue contained a Wang-written essay, and it became one of his most
important media outlets in Shanghai.16
By October 1945, Yuan had relocated covertly to the northern Jiangsu
liberated areas. In 1949, he was repositioned to the Central Intelligence
Department responsible for Japan-US research. The “Pan Hannian case”
on 3 April 1955, in which the People’s Republic of China Ministry of
Public Security charged Pan with collusion with Wang Jingwei and
Japanese intelligence, led to Yuan’s incarceration for twelve years (until
1967). Because the end of his prison sentence coincided with the early
Cultural Revolution,17 however, Yuan served another eight years that the
CCP tacked onto his sentence, whereas Pan died in prison in 1977. On
292 Matthew Galway

15 May 1975, the CCP granted Yuan clemency, after which he moved to
a farm in the mountains of Wuchang to reform through labour (laodong
gaizao). He returned to Beijing in 1980, and the CCP declared him re­
habilitated. On 26 November 1987, he died in People’s Liberation Army
Hospital 309, after which his ashes were placed in Beijing Babaoshan
Revolutionary Cemetery.18

—•  TRANSLATION  •—

The Current Stage of the Chinese Revolution

and the Problem of Constitutional Government19
yuan shu

Presently, China is a republic that safeguards the people’s freedom to speak

their minds. I supported peaceful reunification, “an open solution,” at the
National Assembly that was attended by groups of representatives of organ-
izations to discuss and solve national affairs.

I. Euro-American Imperialist Aggression and

Developments in China
China is an important country, with great territory, a large population,
and rich history, and today stands as the geographical centre of Asia and an
Eastern political culture with important contributions for future genera-
tions. Yet China is not a very progressive or developed country. China can
and should progress, and it is making progress. But today’s China is among
the world’s backward countries, a semicolonial and semifeudal society. This
does not prove that the Chinese people do not want to make progress; rather,
China’s backwardness is merely due to imperialist aggression and the op-
pression of the Chinese people, who have remained “static” instead of pro-
gressing toward a new era.
Over the past century, China has become a semifeudal, semicolonial
society, with European countries building capitalism that has been intrusive
to China. In this process, 450 million Chinese have fought against Euro-
American imperialism. Their effort reflects an inevitable desire to progress,
and has laid the foundation for progress now and in the future. In the
development of Euro-American capitalism during the nineteenth century,
commodity output gave way to seizing fertile Chinese lands for the market.
Capitalism in Europe was still in a fledgling state, so capitalists assaulted
 Yuan Shu, “The Current Stage of the Chinese Revolution” 293

China through trade. Sporadic local trade developed thereafter, which re-
quired producing for larger trade requirements. The development of com-
merce led to the consolidation of power necessary to protect Euro-American
interests and to maintain their advantage over competing world powers. Thus
economic aggression on the political stage, and again through mediums such
as missionary schools, led these capitalist hegemons to develop the Chinese
comprador class, whose innate reliance on Euro-American capitalism for
survival meant that they stand only for Euro-American imperialism.
Naturally, China’s economic backwardness, political corruption, low
standard of living, an inability to defend itself, and inertial policies have all
benefited capitalist countries. The Manchu government, for instance, sealed
China’s fate with many unequal treaties. But the Chinese people have not
been willing to be conquered, so the national revolutionary movement in the
private sector emerged in various forms, and everywhere around the country
it has spread. This process began under Manchu government rule and to
succeed required a powerful new political system to represent the people’s
interests, to resist imperialist aggression, and to revive the Chinese nation.
The Manchu government had brought the country to near total collapse, with
its fragile structure, complex bureaucratic problems, widespread corruption,
and imperialists demanding repayment of huge debt. To suppress rural re-
bellion, which had emerged in response to government weakness, and to
prolong its rule, the Manchu government made a transition from exclusion
to capitulation, a so-called policy of “allies with gifts, not with slaves.” The
imperialist conflicts of interest in China made it so that no single foreign or
domestic party could monopolize the country. China was thus divided into
spheres of influence and, ultimately, imperialist-related conflicts arose with
no clear end in sight. Why, then, does China still exist?
Sun Yat-sen once said that “China today still has reason to exist, because
its own strong resistance against the powers that want China refuses to give
in to other states’ forces in China. It has become a state of equilibrium, so
China still exists.”20 Indeed, the Chinese people’s national revolutionary
movement opposed the Qing government and indirect European imperial-
ism, which led both to collapse in the face of the Chinese national revolution.
Ever since, our movement has been in the interest of self-reliance. The arrival
of a new imperialism – which is supported by the very foreign powers that
eroded the Manchu government, weakened its policies, and established in-
direct rule in China – is responsible for China’s semicolonial status and for
cementing the unequal treaties that have allowed such nations to achieve
their interests. As Sun Yat-sen states: “These treaties are nothing short of
294 Matthew Galway

bonds signed by the former Chinese government selling the Chinese people
into slavery to the foreigners.”21 Thus began China’s semicolonial status.

II. China’s Semicolonial Economy and Political Affairs

Imperialist aggression, surprisingly, had the effect of stimulating China’s
economic development. The Qing government’s defeat led it to change its
military requirements, and with the arrival of foreign powers on Chinese
soil and the subsequent establishment of factories and other undertakings,
China was forcibly inserted into a capitalist mode of production. One may
evaluate how modernizing industry, financial industry, and business under-
takings developed gradually. But imperialism did not, and does not presently,
help China’s progress, since imperialists will always be in a position to re-
press China. If China is to modernize, imperialists cannot dominate the
country. Due to societal developments, China’s progress is not a part of the
reactionary rulers’ subjective will; there are objective laws. To prevent im-
perialism, China must develop its capitalist economy, even though capitalism
established a comprador class. We cannot ignore the powerful forces of
imperialism. China is developing its national capitalism, but outside of the
resistance there has not been a positive move forward. China has therefore
stagnated, with semifeudalism dictating socioeconomic relations in the rural
sector even today.
China’s economy is indeed underdeveloped although, objectively, imper-
ialist aggression brought it into the capitalist mode of production. Accord­­
ingly, many Chinese cities became commercial centres and the development
of relatively large-scale modern enterprises and financial institutions fol-
lowed suit. Across the country, however, the places in which such techno-
logical innovations benefit the people compose only a very small part of China.
The majority of mainland China’s population is still dominated by agricultural
production, and productivity has stagnated, with large numbers of people not
benefiting from outdated and insufficiently mechanized production methods.
In terms of the development of modern enterprises, most are subjected to
Euro-American control, especially with Chinese currency relying heavily on
capitalist countries. So strong is international capitalism that it has domin-
ated, and will continue to dominate, the world financial industry.
China will not be politically independent under this system of exploita-
tion either. Although nominally a “government,” and not taking orders from
Europe or the United States, Chinese economic imbalances as reflected by
political disunity have led to feudal separatism and government corruption.
 Yuan Shu, “The Current Stage of the Chinese Revolution” 295

Before the 1926–28 Northern Expedition, warlords divided China in op-

position to the ruling Nationalist Government. The Northern Expedition
crushed warlordism and brought about administrative factional differences
with the Central Army, in which many military wings were manipulated
by Red Moscow [the Soviet government].
Although the Three Principles of the People were nominally its founda-
tional principles, the Nationalist Government remained simply a one-party
military dictatorship, which is a powerful political force. The Nationalist
Government, of course, does not have active public support. We certainly
cannot achieve real unity in China to complete the revolution (Xinhai
geming) that began in 1911. Despite Chiang Kai-shek’s courage, China cannot
achieve independence, freedom, and equality, for he and his party represent
different political forces of imperialism in China that account for the major
imperialist powers. They fear that democracy will improve the knowledge
and power of the Chinese people and guide them onto the anti-imperialist
road toward a true national government. Chiang also fears that democracy
will present strong competition in the country’s political sphere and bring
an end to one-party dictatorship and political disunity. Citizens always strive
to educate themselves, organize, and support a political party. Modern Chi­
nese society definitely does not welcome private political appointments,
crony politics, exploitation, the absence of civil rights, and limited freedom
of speech, among others. Poverty has also worsened peoples’ lives and limited
their political liberty and civil rights. Our international status, too, is behind
other nations. No wonder the Communist Party of the Soviet Union has
taken advantage of China’s weakness to incite anxious civilians, frustrated
intellectuals, and weakened public services to carry out their plot to influence
our politics. No wonder Chinese politics are even more of a spectacle than
ever! But the Chinese people move forward, engaged with and coming to
understand Chinese demands and consciousness through the lens of Sun
Yat-sen’s Three Principles.

III. China’s Path to Rejuvenation

China has excellent qualities, but today, it suffers from the illness of im­
perialism. The only way to treat this illness is to break the Euro-American
imperialist chains and obtain true independence! This is the basic principle
of China’s revival. This basic principle includes two major components: 1) A
democratic, multiparty state and representative government; and 2) equitable
international relations and exchange.
296 Matthew Galway

First, Chinese politics must get on the right track, and the Chinese gov-
ernment will turn into a genuine representative of the interests of the Chi­
nese people. For it is only in this way that the government can obtain genuine
public support, reunify China, end one-party rule, develop China’s economy,
defeat Euro-American imperialism, and achieve Sun Yat-sen’s ideals of
“equal political, economic, and international status.”22 Past Chinese gov­ern­
ments were one-party and military dictatorships that marshalled foreign
imperialism to deceive people and control public opinion. In a system wherein
only a dictator and imperialism are welcome, whereas the very Chinese
people it claims to govern are not, we ask what one-party politics since Sun
Yat-Sen’s death has achieved? Have we failed to resolve the myriad problems
of the Chinese people’s livelihood? Have we failed to obtain national in-
dependence? What about our civil liberties? Has our economy failed to de-
velop? The true liberation of the Chinese nation and the elimination of
imperialist oppression requires an end to one-party rule. The Chinese people
do not need to draw from nineteenth-century democratic politics. Indeed,
the Declaration of the First Congress of the Kuomintang [KMT] declared
that “modern/contemporary provisional states of the so-called civil rights
system often benefit the bourgeoisie, and this becomes suitable as a tool
of repression of civilians.” Hence why Sun Yat-sen stated: “We stand for civil
rights, but these rights are not necessarily the same as those in Europe or
the United States; we draw from Euro-American history for inspiration
with­out studying solely Euro-American progress and following in their
footsteps.”23 But people of import have the right to vote, the right of initia-
tive [one of the four civil rights in Sun Yat-sen’s doctrine], and to call for a
referendum; the government has executive/administrative power, legis­
lative power, judicial power, and supervisory power over the politics of the
Three Principles of the People system. But it is the people who ought to
have the power to continue Sun’s legacy of carving a Chinese course from
diverse sources so that one day China will no longer be governed by a one-
party dictatorship.
But what do national politics mean? Before addressing this issue, four
hundred million people must come to influence the man in charge. How can
we do this? We need the four civil rights of the people to manage our national
affairs. The people have four powers with which to supervise the government,
whereas the government must concentrate its efforts on handling its affairs.
What methods can we use inside the government? The government must be
a full working body, work efficiently, and use its five branches effectively. Sun
 Yuan Shu, “The Current Stage of the Chinese Revolution” 297

Yat-sen recognized the inherent contradictions and the future decline of

democracy in Europe and America, and present history confirms that Sun
Yat-sen predicted correctly. Our task is to learn from Euro-American demo-
cratic decline to establish a democratic system that works in China for the
Chinese people.
Second, since China is a semicolonial and semifeudal country, it will
need foreign assistance to obtain true independence from imperialism. Sun
Yat-sen spoke repeatedly about “my nation among equals in a united world.”24
Because China’s major industrial and financial lifeblood is in the hands of
imperialism and its agents (the comprador class), the Chinese national econ-
omy is underdeveloped, and the dictatorial Chinese Communist Party has
seized control of all cultural enterprises for its sole benefit. The knowledge
of the masses is still not enough. To be a truly independent nation, apart
from intensifying the organization and education of the masses, foreign
support and assistance are essential. But external assistance goes against the
CCP’s propaganda of a “Proletarian China” like the Soviet Union, and does
not factor into the European and American imaginaire of “China’s Anti-
Japanese War of Resistance making for an advantageous international situa-
tion” for Euro-American imperialism. All oppressed nations of East Asia
must therefore unite and strive for new political systems. As Sun Yat-sen
once said:

In the future, the general trend indicates that our East Asian people will
achieve cooperation, with only the issue of time as a constraint. People have
to realize this trend before the possibility of ameliorating the status of Asia
and Africa is no longer available. This current shines brightly and warmly
in the eyes of European and American people. An American scholar [Dr.
Lothrop Stoddard, author of The Rising Tide of Colour against White World
Supremacy (1920) and The Revolt against Civilization (1922)] even predicted
the rise of the coloured races. Japan defeated the Russians, as Asians defeated
the Europeans. The future trend is to expand, with people of colour uniting
hand in hand to attack Europeans and Americans. This is their greatest
calamity, and they may strive to prevent this from occurring. The scholar
later attacked the cause of all national liberation movements as an inversion
of the cultural movement ... This notion is that almost all the Euro-American
privileged classes share a common ideology, and that they, as a minority,
may suppress a majority from their continent. But now they come to Asia
to oppress nine hundred million people. The minority demands that the
298 Matthew Galway

great majority becomes their slaves. It is truly a cruel and hateful ideal. As
the scholar said: “In a short time the Asian nations will awaken and rebel
against Euro-American culture and, so it seems, consider themselves equals.
People outside the Euro-American cultural sphere are at the point of rebel-
ling against it.”25

We must ultimately gain a deep understanding of Pan-Asianism.

IV.  The Position/Status of Constitutionalism in the

History of the Chinese Revolution
To accomplish this undertaking, Sun Yat-sen advocated for constitutional
government. The implementation of constitutionalism guarantees democ-
racy and allows for further discussions on helping small nations. The imple-
mentation of constitutionalism also guarantees freedoms of speech, assembly,
and association to the Chinese people, and as we have said in the past, al-
though the Chinese government is a one-party dictatorship with little to no
support, it has not actually unified China. Rights of the people to assembly
and political participation will make it possible for the Chinese government
to end one-party dictatorship and all past drawbacks, and ultimately unite
and mobilize 450 million people. Indeed, the implementation of constitu-
tionalism shall mark an era of great action in Chinese history, a summary
process of the Chinese revolution. We believe that the drafting of a constitu-
tion, though not the Chinese revolution’s end goal, will at least initiate the
implementation of constitutionalism and progress the Chinese nation to a
higher stage than when the Chinese revolution began. In a previous stage,
the people’s rights, political achievements, our regulated economic system,
and improvement to the people’s standard of living formed pillars to a foun-
dation that held for many years with clearly defined regulations in a constitu-
tion. Further implementation of constitutionalism will yet again bring us
forward and consolidate people’s livelihood, and only on that day, though
likely not the day of finalizing the constitution, can the Chinese people
achieve real independence, freedom, and happiness. The total liberation of
the Chinese people thus does not rely solely on drafting a constitution; rather,
liberation can be obtained through a constant struggle, by fighting continu-
ously against domestic and international evils.
The delicate relationship between domestic and international evils in
China, which are inextricable, has made it so the Chinese people are indeed
capable of defeating the evil scourge of Euro-American domination. In a
declaration to foreign business groups in China, Sun Yat-sen stated that
 Yuan Shu, “The Current Stage of the Chinese Revolution” 299

the veil of imperialism seeks to destroy the KMT government, so China

must strive to uphold and maintain the unequalled revolutionary spirit of
the government, and only then can we combat counterrevolutionaries. [ ... ]
First was the overthrow of the Qing dynasty, and today, a period of wiping
out the greatest hindrance to China’s revolutionary history – imperialism
– has begun.26

This task does not mean that China relies solely on its own strength to achieve
it; rather, it means relying on the genuine solidarity of all Asian nations in
a new representative body for the interests of Asians, united under a com-
mon ideal, working together and committed to the long-term achievement
of such goals. Thus Sun Yat-sen held forth time and time again the vision of
“a thorough awakening of our own people” and the need to “ally ourselves
in a common struggle with those peoples of the world who treat us on the
basis of equality.”27 His words teach us especially to emphasize among Asian
peoples the principle of working together to achieve his ideal of Pan-
Asianism. The implementation of constitutionalism will elevate the Chinese
revolution to a new and higher stage. And at this stage, the task of national
liberation in China will unite with the task of liberating Asia and its nations!
Only in this way will international and domestic imperialists be unable to
defeat it.
To implement constitutionalism and realize the provisions of Sun Yat-sen’s
ideals, we must not break into military, political, and constitutional branches,
for this is a great struggle for the Chinese nation. We must strive to achieve
constitutionalism soon, so that the Chinese people may someday live peace-
ful lives. Thus as Sun said in the early Republican era:

Now the whole country is for the members of the legislature, which is
completely disappointing for citizens; to resolve the state’s affairs, we cannot
rely on those members. We ought to rely on our own citizens. So I initiated
this meeting so that people may understand the current status of the state,
and so the people can know the relationship between politics and people’s
interests, with the decency to maintain the Republic of China. Since its
name is the Republic of China, it must always be people-oriented and let
the people speak.28

Unfortunately, soon after Sun Yat-sen died, those who held power surren-
dered to Euro-American imperialism; thus the Chinese revolution has faced
an enormous obstacle! Constitutionalism, which would have given Chinese
300 Matthew Galway

people independence, freedom, and improved their livelihood for many years,
was never realized.

V. A Peaceful Movement for Constitutionalism/Constitutional

Government
At present, the implementation of constitutionalism is required more ur-
gently than ever before. Yet some people are rather skeptical and say: “China
is in a period of war and total peace has not been achieved, so how can we
implement constitutionalism?” Such a view indeed represents the perspective
of a considerable number of people. But the problem that surfaces is, in fact,
not a problem at all, because in the current domestic and international en-
vironment, to achieve a comprehensive peace is just a possibility, and to be
only close to success is not genuine or true success. And just as now in this
moment of near, yet incomplete, success, all reactionary and war-prone forces
are in the process of using their greatest powers of influence to struggle on
to their final destiny. They understand that if they can struggle against cur-
rent difficulties, they can have a chance to recuperate their health temporar-
ily and swell their ranks. They can pose a greater threat to peaceful factions
and dupe the people as they establish a new type of control over the whole
country. Especially clear is the CCP’s intensified propaganda campaigns, and
the comprador class’s pro-American policy, which plans to obstruct peace­
ful movements, including expansion; meanwhile, the Soviet Union and
Chongqing authorities hesitated, so as to use a number of petty favours such
as bribes to perpetuate the War of Resistance. Since the CCP understands
that the beginning of a comprehensive peace will initiate a wave of anti-
communism, the Soviet Union understands that after a comprehensive peace
the Communists will no longer occupy a prominent position in China. Hence
Moscow’s orchestration of the CCP plot to seize political power in China,
though they have thus far been unable to realize their goals. The Soviet
Union’s eastern border will also be at risk under a comprehensive peace since
it will rebuff Moscow’s attempt to establish a greater “Red Asia.” Both mo-
tivations have prompted Moscow’s use of propaganda that incites the Chinese
people to prolong the war, raving wantonly and singing the “persist in the
war, insist on the war” fallacy.
But empty words cannot hide the pain of war. The CCP’s all-domineering
attitude shall put the pressure squarely on the people for further warfare,
and ultimately make them give up all hope for the war and for communism.
Thus as the days go on, if the peace movement is inspired and stimulated
theoretically, in political practice it can resolve the real problems of the
 Yuan Shu, “The Current Stage of the Chinese Revolution” 301

people, who will themselves now experience in China that only a peaceful
movement is necessary for the country! War is good only for the CCP.
Therefore, the implementation of constitutionalism, the democratic rights
of the people, our security and stability, the development of the national
economy and solving the unemployment problem, among other livelihood
issues, is not an empty slogan; rather it is the goal of the peace movement.
These problems can be resolved by implementing constitutionalism.
Each year, we support fully the establishment of a new constitutional
central government, for we support constitutionalism today as China pre-
pares mentally and materially for its implementation. We believe that only
through constitutionalism will we meet the people’s political demands and
link the central government to its people closely. Only through constitution-
alism will the central government be a strong, well-rounded government,
and only then will the people, in fact, discover that the central government
is the representative of the people’s interests. Only then will it be possible to
expose the CCP’s malicious class hatred and the central government may
move to repair its prestige among the people.

VI. The Possibility of a Peaceful Movement of Constitutionalism

Is it possible under the current domestic and international situation to im­
plement constitutionalism? Our answer is yes. Some characteristics of the
current international situation are: the ruling imperialist forces are already
weakening, and in the current large-scale war in Europe, they will continue
to weaken. A British and German encounter is still quite far away today,
because of terrain restrictions, so Germany is not able to mobilize its light-
ning tactics in the United Kingdom, whereas the British navy cannot yet play
a decisive role in the European theatre. Both are looking to strike at each
other’s weaknesses, making peace between the two less likely, while air force
bombings during the war have yet to play a decisive role. The first offensive
for the Germans may appear to be relatively large, thus England cannot but
attempt to bring about peace in France alone and, later, make great efforts
to break itself out of an isolated situation. And for England, the most likely
and reliable new ally is the United States, which is aiding England’s fight,
but is unable to take military responsibility at present. Modern warfare is
total warfare, with the military as only one aspect alongside economic and
political power, and to succeed a military must show great acumen. The
United States, although by no means making any progress in granting
direct military aid, has enhanced the English war effort economically and
through propaganda, in part because in the American ruling class’s opinion,
302 Matthew Galway

Anglo-American competition is better than a future German-American

competition. Thus in their view, it is better if the British prevent the German
rise, which serves US interests in maintaining Britain at least, and main-
taining the balance of power in Europe more generally. To do the inverse
will lead to Germany achieving Europe-wide and, soon, worldwide hegemony.
Yet the cost of American aid to England, by political means, can win a lot of
interest from English abroad. The US desire to replace the British for dom-
ination of the world today is not merely beginning, and in fact has a great
chance to come to fruition.
In this international situation, the circumstances for us in East Asia are
clear. The old imperialist forces will increasingly weaken in Asia, which will
give Asian people a great opportunity for resurgence. Although American
resistance is likely, as long as we Asian people have determination we will
achieve close unity and mutual assistance for each other with a common
interest, and then under this common vision it will be completely possible
for China to achieve its independence. Hence China’s position is, first, to
oust Euro-American imperialism. Historically, the power of white people
has yet to weaken. In Asia today, the innate power of white people is weak-
ening and has been unable to maintain a dominant position amid new and
emerging forces. This is China’s opportunity to break from the shackles of
Euro-American imperialism, repeal all unequal treaties, and eliminate all
unfair means to obtain so-called legitimate interest in the best of times!
Sun Yat-sen laboured for great causes in his lifetime, yet never had such a
great chance as today. This responsibility is on our shoulders, and the prob-
lem is whether we have the determination today to capitalize on it. In practice,
will Sun Yat-sen’s thought struggle steadfastly and assiduously? Or be used
by those in power to deceive and cheat people to maintain their dominant
status over the people’s livelihood? Do we or do we not want to be responsible
for Sun Yat-sen and his legacy? What about our history? Or the needs of all
the world’s people? Or the Chinese Communist Party’s needs?
Second, one of Japan’s positions during its occupation of Asia is to reach
out to us, expecting us to cooperate with them. Japan’s new cabinet has
expressed full commitment to building a new order in East Asia: the Greater
East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere. However, a true statesman cannot incite
others merely because of a slogan; this is an evil attack. We do need to es-
tablish a new order. But what does the Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity
Sphere mean for us? The establishment of a new East Asian order is precisely
what Sun Yat-sen envisioned with his doctrine of Pan-Asianism. In today’s
 Yuan Shu, “The Current Stage of the Chinese Revolution” 303

environment, “Pan-Asianism” has to be modified so that the Japanese under-

stand Sun’s intention. As Japanese diplomat Toshio Shiratori [1887–1949]
once said: “In Japan’s new political system, the people will profit from
Asianism, and will strive toward realizing the ideal of building a new order
in East Asia. [Asianism] conforms to the ideals for which Sun Yat-sen advo-
cated; shall we not cooperate with them?”

VII. The War of Resistance against Japanese

Aggression, Constitutionalism, and the Chinese
Revolution’s Reactionaries
In China, several members of the comprador class now regard Britain and
France as powerless. But they were once victim to a pro-British habit of
stereotyping about inferiority, so they do not see themselves as Asians in a
united sense, and would nonetheless like to switch from relying on British
imperialism to relying on American imperialism. This type of pro-American
thinking is truly unclear, as the United States is still trading flirtatious
glances with China’s comprador bourgeoisie, maintaining the status quo,
and enabling China’s War of Resistance against Japan with the compradors
hoping that it [the United States] will strike a blow in the future. In addition,
those who hold a deep prejudice toward pacifists are singing loudly for a
War of Resistance without end. Since foreign aid in support of China’s War
of Resistance is necessary, they blindly use force. However, the result of
using force leads to exploitation by external forces, as those who condone
the Communists do not recognize that the CCP’s followers dance to the
Soviet Union’s tune. These people ignore completely the true peace-loving
nature of the Chinese people, and ignore our all-around need for a peace­
ful and stable life. Regardless of how hypocritical white people in China are
today, when their purpose is nothing more than to maintain a presence in
China’s economic and political spheres, they will ultimately eat their own
words and their own hand will seal their fate. They advocate for constitu-
tionalism today, but only insofar as it benefits their purpose.
The intermediary that is clamouring to cause the most destruction is
the CCP, whose members advocate for “democracy” and urge recognition of
its equal status with the KMT. The Communists demand the legal acknow-
ledgment of the Shaanxi-Gansu Communist regime, and call for greater
expansion of the Eighth Route and New Fourth Armies and the permanent
maintenance of its regime’s independence and institutional system. In es-
sence, the CCP wants China to become a “Democratic Republic of the Three
304 Matthew Galway

People’s Principles” in correspondence with a Marxist critique of democracy

with a “socialist future.” It also wants the Chinese revolution to comprise
two stages: the stages of “bourgeois democratic” and “socialist” revolution.
For the CCP, the War of Resistance against Japan belongs to the first stage,
and must be completed during China’s first revolutionary stage, after which
China will enter a political stage with the proletarian and petty bourgeoisie
classes participating in a joint dictatorship. Specifically, the CCP wants to
seize state power and government. Then, the joint dictatorship will make the
transition to the second revolutionary stage: the Chinese socialist revolution.
But specific measures precede the joint dictatorship of the proletariat and
petty bourgeoisie turning into a dictatorship of the proletariat. One such
measure is the transformation of the coalition of the CCP, KMT, and other
“anti-Japanese resistance” parties into a one-party dictatorship of the CCP.
This is the current and most harmful Communist Party propaganda of “New
Democracy”! The CCP at once opposes the current one-party dictatorship
and democracy. To pander to popular feeling, they speak more favourably
about democracy than do certain others. But as we can see, their current
Communist regime in the Shaanxi-Gansu border region is merely a so-called
“resistance,” as official KMT newspapers, the China Daily, Saodang Daily,
and Dagong Daily, all characterize it.
While this is their approach, our conclusion is the following: to complete
the Chinese revolution, we must accomplish the first stage of the bourgeois
class and the second stage of the socialist class. So it must be the CCP suc-
ceeding and developing a hundredfold, and the Eighth Route and New Fourth
Armies succeeding and developing a hundredfold. Various Communist re-
gimes, of regions of every shade and stripe, will establish themselves every-
where, for the sake of their so-called “fight for final victory”! (Of course, any
discerning person can see that the CCP’s final victory does not belong to all
of the Chinese people, who are led by Mr. Chiang Kai-shek, and does not
belong to the KMT in Chongqing, but belongs instead to the CCP, which
belongs to the Comintern of Moscow and Stalin!) China does not belong to
the proletariat because today, it has suffered through unemployment, dis-
placement, countless sufferings, and high costs of living! Today’s Chinese
proletariat needs peace, not the War of Resistance!
We have discussed the true substance of the CCP’s advocacy for consti-
tutionalism, and now we examine the contents of the KMT’s case for the
same. The CCP has already sacrificed constitutionalism, which succeeded
in obtaining the support of many progressive activists, and over the course
of this movement’s development the Communists will become increasingly
 Yuan Shu, “The Current Stage of the Chinese Revolution” 305

powerful. The KMT, accordingly, will be weakened slightly, but again, one
cannot allege arbitrarily that constitutionalism is bad, and cannot speak
frankly saying that a one-party dictatorship is good. Hence, the use of a
method of fighting fire with fire, as the Chongqing-based KMT advocated
for a constitutional movement. But the constitutional movement requires
several local self-governing bodies to be accomplished fully. It needs support
for future movements such as KMT leader Chiang Kai-shek’s Association
for the Promotion of Constitutionalism.29 Although we do not see any indica-
tion that it will conflict directly with New Democracy, it will give orders to
various local parties and associations, thereby preventing different party
activities, namely the CCP’s ideologically tempered propaganda, and if ne-
cessary, it will catch a few CCP members, the Eighth Route Army, and the
New Fourth Army. The KMT’s faithful comrades cannot stand idly by and
watch Communist Party aggression, and there is no small number of them
proceeding from a standpoint of justice. Yet despite the KMT’s handling
of, general approach to, and proclamations on constitutional issues, they are
still unable to assert emphatically a concrete position, wanting to maintain
their one-party leadership. In other words, they want to implement consti-
tutionalism as a smokescreen under a new name, and then continue the
one-party dictatorship, which for the KMT is a military dictatorship.
Today, the Chongqing KMT and the CCP are both talking about consti-
tutionalism and democracy, and each have their own intentions for their own
benefits and plans. Evidently, they are most afraid of the Chinese popular will,
not as a tool of the constitutional political struggle, but as a powerful driver
to resolve the Chinese people’s problems and carry out anti-communism
clearly and the movement for constitutionalism peacefully. Thus both parties
attack a peaceful constitutional movement not only in words, but also in
action, attacking our constitutional peace movement’s cadres. But we persist
in working for peace and implementing constitutionalism peacefully. As
representatives of the Chinese public opinion, we know how to solve the
problems of our people and complete the Chinese revolution. For these
reasons, we will inevitably obtain widespread popular support.

VIII. Conclusion
Although the peace movement is progressing, we are still far away from the
requirements that we need, because old forces have not been eliminated, and
part of the strength of our faction has not awoken. Our movement is the
future of peace and national reconstruction, whereas these evil forces cause
a shortfall of confidence and no group consciousness among the masses, as
306 Matthew Galway

public opinion cannot be developed. Yet in the middle of this very short
three-year period, the development of the peace movement has taken a great
leap. Its work and message has changed tremendously, as the movement
demands peace, but lacks confidence in its own movement for peace; it lacks
foresight/vision, as it only sees its immediate difficult environment/
surroundings. It therefore needs to reform this environment even though it
does not yet understand how to go about realizing reform. Henceforth, we
must redouble our great efforts and our important constitutionalist move-
ment must smash to pieces all heresies and fallacies, so that we may destroy
once and for all Euro-American imperialist manipulations from behind the
scenes.
We have to understand the actual situation and the reality of Chinese
societal needs, to learn, to study how to apply skilfully Sun Yat-sen’s theory
in all the revolutionary processes. We have to study the relationships be-
tween China, Asia, and the world, and should bear the responsibility of
understanding how China, through such methods, can cooperate with Asian
nations to achieve universal unity. We believe that China can progress since
it possesses abundant objective conditions, and we have to grasp these ob-
jective conditions and put them on the right track toward completing the
Chinese revolution, regardless of forces that may bring our movement down,
which will collapse in the course of the peaceful constitutional movement.
China’s revolutionary success will liberate Asia’s one billion Asians, whose
task will be to rise up in unity. Today, we are committed to the constitutional
movement for peace, not only because of the needs of Chinese society, the
objective needs of the Chinese people, and the need for the peace movement
itself, but also because of the need to combat all disinformation and slander
against the peace movement. The present peaceful constitutional movement
is a specific task of the Chinese revolution and today’s domestic as well as
international situation. The constitutional peace movement will inevitably
move the Chinese revolution to a stage of great rejuvenation, and shorten
the distance to the completion of the Chinese revolution and liberation of
the Asian peoples. Then, all peoples of the world shall take a great breath of
relief.
We revisit the Chinese revolutionary leader Sun Yat-sen’s ingenious teach-
ings, in which we can see that:

We advocate pan-Asianism in order to restore the status of Asia. Only by

the unification of all the peoples in Asia on the foundation of benevolence
and virtue can they become strong and powerful. But to rely on benevolence
 Yuan Shu, “The Current Stage of the Chinese Revolution” 307

alone to influence the Europeans in Asia to relinquish the privileges they

have acquired in China would be an impossible dream. If we want to regain
our rights, we must resort to force. In the matter of armaments, Japan has
already accomplished her aims, while Turkey has recently also completely
armed herself.30

In short, Sun Yat-sen’s many teachings were entirely correct. The problem
is: Do we have the determination to put theory into practice? And how do
we organize and determine the concrete means of practice? On the former,
we have illustrated time and again that the ultimate aim of the constitutional
peace movement, its “determination,” will without a doubt answer this ques-
tion. On the latter, the Nationalist Government has contributed positively
since returning to the capital after its exile. It has stood genuinely among
the people, who are united under its leadership and its efforts to carry out
progress. Especially in China and Japan, the premise of our inseparable re-
lationship means constructing a new order in East Asia to achieve the Greater
East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere, to realize Pan-Asianism, and to receive the
friendly nation of Japan’s active support in carrying out our national move-
ment. Now we should put these forces together to fight for a new China and
the birth of a new Asia.

Notes
1 Shen He, “Zhongguo juewu jinyoude hongse ‘Wumian Jianjie’” [The uniquely red “five-
faced” spy in China], Chuangji [Legend] 6 (2015): 11–12; Zeng Long, Wode fuqin Yuan
Shu [My father Yuan Shu] (Nanning, Guangxi: Jieli chubanshe, 1994); and Tan Yuanheng,
“Zhonggong qingbao shi shangjuewu jinyoude ‘wufang jiandie’” [The only ‘five-layered
spy’ in the CCP intelligence history], Dangshi bolan [Party history overview] Part 2
(March 1999): 36–38.
2 Zeng Long, Wode fuqin Yuan Shu, 280–81; and Yuan Chengliang, “Yuan Shu: Nande di
qingbao rencai” [Yuan Shu: The valuable intelligence talent], Jingdie chunqiu [Stories of
the police and spies] 6 (2004): 44.
3 Joseph Yick, “Yuan Shu: Chinese Special Service Agent and Spy, 1931–1945,” Southeast
Review of Asian Studies 39 (2017): 92.
4 Zeng Long, Wode fuqin Yuan Shu: Huanyuan wumian jiandiede zhenshi yangmao [My
father Yuan Shu: Restoring the five-faced spy’s true identity] (Taipei: Duli zuojia, 2016),
10, 82; and Po Meisheng, “Juewu jinyoude ‘wufang jiandie’” [The unique “five-faced” spy],
Dangan jiyi [Archives and memories] 5 (2016): 45.
5 Yick, “Yuan Shu,” 88; and San Mu, “Dageming qinhoude Zhonggong ‘tebie dangyuan’ he
‘mimu dangyuan’” [CCP “special party members” and “secret party members” before
and after the great revolution], Dangshi bolan [Overview of party history] 6 (2007): 49.
6 Chen Yung-fa, Making Revolution: The Communist Movement in Eastern and Central
China, 1937–1945 (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1986), 83, citing Chin Hsiung-
pai, Wang zhengquande kaichang yu shouchang [The beginning and end of the Wang
regime] (Hong Kong: Ch’un-ch’iu tse-chihshe, 1959), vol. 3, 27–31.
308 Matthew Galway

7 Yick, “Yuan Shu,” 84–113.

8 Xiaohong Xiao-Planes, “The Pan Hannian Affair and Power Struggles at the Top of the
CCP, 1953–1955,” China Perspectives 4 (2010): 116–27.
9 Barbara Barnouin and Yu Changgen, Zhou Enlai: A Political Life (Hong Kong: Chinese
University of Hong Kong Press, 2006), 81.
10 Zeng Long, Wode fuqin Yuan Shu: Huanyuan wumian jiandiede zhenshi yangmao, 175–81;
and Yick, “Yuan Shu,” 89.
11 Frederic Wakeman Jr., Spymaster: Dai Li and the Chinese Secret Service (Berkeley:
University of California Press, 2003), 1.
12 Gu Xueyong, “Zhenshide ‘weizhuangzhe’: ‘Wufang tewu’ Yuan Shu” [The real ‘pretender’:
‘Five-sided special service agent’ Yuan Shu], Wangshi [Past events], December 2016, 73–74.
See also Zeng Long, Wode fuqin Yuan Shu: Huanyuan wumian jiandiede zhenshi yang­
mao; and Yick, “Yuan Shu,” 85–86 (on names), 89–92 (on Yuan’s espionage on the Soviets
and later intelligence aid to Moscow).
13 Charles A. Laughlin, Chinese Reportage: The Aesthetics of Historical Experience (Durham,
NC: Duke University Press, 2002), 22, 285n33, 286n43.
14 Ibid., 22.
15 “‘Sanmian Jiandie’ Yuan Shude hongse rensheng: Duochong shenfen ru diying gong­x ian
zhuoyue” [Triple agent Yuan Shu’s revolutionary life: Multiple identities in the enemy
camp and outstanding contributions], Xinhua xinmen [New China news agency], 23
March 2010, https://news.qq.com/a/20100323/002064.htm.
16 Ma Guangren, Shanghai xinwenshi (1850–1949) [The history of Shanghai journalism]
(1850–1949) (Shanghai: Fudan daxue chubanshe, 2014), 926.
17 Quan Yanchi, Zhongguo miwen neimu [Secrets and insider stories of China] (Lanzhou:
Gansu wenhua chubanshe, n.d.), 44; and Warren Kuo, Analytical History of the Chinese
Communist Party, vol. 2 (Taipei: Institute of International Relations, 1969), 285–87.
18 “Sanmian Jiandie”; and “55 Nian Pan Hannian: Fangao qingbao gongzuode daduo dou
meihao xiachang” (55 Years of Pan Hannian: Most of those who did intelligence work
met a bad end), Liaochen wanbao [Liao Shen evening news], 2 March 2012, https://news.
qq.com/a/20120302/000614.htm.
19 Yuan Shu, “Zhongguo geming xian jieduan yu xianzheng wenti” [The current stage of
the Chinese Revolution and the problem of constitutional government], Xianzheng yue­
kan [Constitutional monthly] 1, 2 (18 September 1941): 9–24.
20 Sun Yat-sen, “Sanminzhuyi: Minzuzhuyi diwujiang” [Three People’s Principles: Fifth
lecture on nationalism], 24 February 1924, in Zhongshan xiansheng jian’guo honggui yu
shijian [Sun Yat-sen’s foundational plans and practices], ed. Sun Yat-sen Academic and
Cultural Foundation of the Republic of China (Taipei: Caituan faren zhonghua minguo
zhongshan xueshu wenhua jijinhui, 2012), 278.
21 Sun Yat-sen, “Riben yingzhu Zhongguo feichu bupingdeng tiaoyue: Dui shenhuge tuanti
huanying yanhui yanshuoci (shiyiyue nianbari zai Shenhu Dongfang fandian)” [Japan
should help China abolish the unequal treaties: Address delivered by Dr. Sun Yat-sen at
a welcome banquet on 28 November 1924 at the Oriental Hotel in Kobe, Japan], in Sun
Zhongshan xiansheng you Shanghai guo Riben zhi yanlun [Mr. Sun Yat-sen’s Speeches
from Shanghai to Japan] (Guangzhou: Minzhi shudian, 1925), 25–36.
22 Sun Yat-sen, “Sanminzhuyi: Minzuzhuyi diyijiang” [Three Principles of the People: First
lecture on nationalism], 27 January 1924, in Zhongshan xiansheng jian’guo honggui yu
shijian, 227. Mao referenced Sun’s Three Principles of the People and their pursuit of
“equal international status, equal political status, and equal economic status for China”
several times, most notably: Mao Zedong, “Interview with a Correspondent of New China
News in Yan’an (on One-Party Dictatorship),” 2 February 1938, in Mao’s Road to Power:
Revolutionary Writings, 1912–1949, vol. 6: The New Stage, August 1937–1938, ed. Stuart
 Yuan Shu, “The Current Stage of the Chinese Revolution” 309

R. Schram (Armonk, NY: M.E. Sharpe, 2004), 202; and Mao Zedong, “Mobilize Our
Forces on Every Hand to Defeat the Enemy’s Encirclement of the Shanxi-Chahar-Hebei
Border Region,” 2 October 1938, in Mao’s Road to Power, vol. 6, 513.
23 Sun Yat-sen, quoted in Li Yunhan, “Sun Zhongshan Xiansheng sixiang tixi zhongde
Meiguo yinsu” [American elements in Dr. Sun Yat-sen’s ideological system], in Zhong­
shan xiansheng jianguo honggui yu shijian, 272.
24 Sun Yat-sen, “Zai Beijing-Meng-Cang tongyi zhengzhi gailiang huanyinghuide yanshuo”
[Speech at the Beijing-Mongolia-Tibet political reform and unification welcome party],
in Sun Zhongshan quanji [Complete works of Sun Yat-sen] (Beijing: Zhonghua shudian,
2011–15), vol. 2, 340.
25 This speech was also translated under the RNG slightly differently. See Sun Yat-sen,
“Speech on Pan-Asianism: Translation of a speech delivered in Kobe, Japan on 28
November 1924,” in China and Japan: Natural Friends, Unnatural Enemies (Shanghai:
China United Press, 1941), 144.
26 Sun Yat-sen, “Wei Guangzhou shangtuan shijian duiwai xuanyan” [Manifesto regarding
the Guangzhou Merchant Corps Incident], 1 September 1924, “Collected Works of Sun
Yat-sen Online Full Text Retrieval System,” http://sunology.culture.tw/cgi-bin/gs32/
s1gsweb.cgi/ccd=cLGSg9/record?r1=240&h1=0, http://www.sunyat-sen.org/index.
php?m=content&c=index&a=show&catid=46&id=6703. See also Sun Yat-sen,
“Dayuanshuai fandui diguozhuyi ganshe wu guonei zhengzhi xuanyan” [Declaration of
Grand Marshal Sun Yat-sen’s opposition to the internal affairs of our country against
imperialism], Minguo ribao [Republic of China daily], 1 September 1924, 2.
27 Dr. Sun Yat-sen’s Will, quoted from Sun Yat-sen and Tang Leang-li, ed., China and
Japan: Natural Friends—Unnatural Enemies; A Guide for China’s Foreign Policy
(Shanghai: China United Press, 1941), viii.
28 Sun Yat-sen, “Zai Shanghai xinwen hizhe zhaodaihuide yanshuo” [Speech at a Shanghai
news press conference], 19 November 1924, in Sun Zhongshan xiansheng you Shanghai
guo Riben zhi yanlun, 67–68.
29 Not to be confused with the Association for the Promotion of Constitutional Govern­
ment, which Mao discussed on 20 February 1940. Mao Zedong, “New Democratic Con­
stitu­tional Government,” in Selected Works of Mao Zedong (Beijing: Foreign Languages
Press, 1965), vol. 2, 407.
30 Sun Yat-sen, “Speech on Pan-Asianism,” 149.
North China and Beyond. Map by Eric Leinberger
 Part 3
NORTH CHINA AND BEYOND

—•  NORTH CHINA TIMELINE  •—

1933 21 January, Japanese invade Rehe, which is then annexed by

Manchukuo
1935 25 November, Hebei Autonomous Government established as
the first collaborationist government in north China
9 December, Beiping students stage the December Ninth
Movement to protest increasing Japanese influence
1937 7 July, Marco Polo Bridge Incident. The Japanese military
begin occupying much of north China
12 December, Provisional Government of the Republic of China
established and Beiping renamed as Beijing
1939 Chiang Kai-shek’s Chongqing government issues “Resolutions
on Presenting Hanjian Activities and Espionage”
1 September, Mengjiang United Autonomous Government
established
December, Western Shanxi Incident. The United Front enters
difficult times when Yan Xishan turns against Communist Party
forces
1940 30 March, the Provisional Government of the Republic of China
dissolves and its members join the Reorganized National
Government led by Wang Jingwei in Nanjing
1942 18 November, Zhou Zuoren publishes “The Problem of Chinese
Thought”
1945 15 August, Japan surrenders and occupying forces begin
withdrawal
1949 4 July, Zhou Zuoren appeals to Zhou Enlai in an open letter
1 October, Mao Zedong announces the foundation of the
People’s Republic of China in Beijing
312 Part 3

   THE DATE 7 JULY 1937 is a traumatic day in the Chinese historical memory.
—•
After years of tension and gradual encroachment on Chinese soil and sover-
eignty, Japanese troops surged across the Yongding River in what is known
in English as the Marco Polo Bridge Incident but referred to in Chinese as
the 7 July or Double Seven Incident (Qiqi shibian). Although the Japanese
army had occupied Manchuria since 1931, this incident marked the beginning
of the occupation of China proper, land long established as Chinese territory
despite having been occupied by the Manchus for over two hundred years.
In the years leading up to 1937, Japan had gained valuable experience with
the benefits of collaborationist governments from its efforts in Manchukuo,
beginning in 1932, and the Hebei Autonomous Government, beginning in
1935. The autonomy of these governments fluctuated wildly, and ambiguity
surrounded decision-making procedures. However, whether control was dir-
ectly or indirectly actualized, the might of the Japanese military presence was
undeniable.
After 7 July, the invasion proceeded quickly. The troops overwhelmed
Chinese defenders and, throughout the remainder of 1937, quickly streamed
across the north and then the east of China. Unlike the south and east of
China, north China had spent most of the years since the fall of the Qing
dynasty in 1912 relatively disconnected from the Nationalist government.
Some rural areas remained largely under the control of warlords and, when
the Japanese invasion began in full force, Nationalist armies and politicians
in the region immediately retreated south to be closer to their power bases.
The hastily thrown together Provisional Government of the Republic of
China (Zhonghua minguo linshi zhengfu), led by President Wang Kemin
(1879–1945) and his close ally Tang Erhe (1878–1940), nominally controlled
North China from 14 December 1937 until 30 March 1940, temporarily
restoring Beiping to its former name of Beijing, the northern capital. For the
final five years of the war, Beijing was subordinate to the much larger Nanjing
government of Wang Jingwei (1883–1944), but just as in many places across
China then, and for millennia before, the people adapted to the situation and
continued to live their lives.
 North China and Beyond 313

Conditions varied dramatically across this region. Some areas were re-
peatedly decimated throughout the eight years of conflict, while others were
quickly and peacefully occupied by the Japanese. The chapters to follow
capture this variety by presenting voices from inside and outside of relevant
political institutions, as well as inside and outside of the geographic zone of
north China. They represent the ambiguous and mercurial nature of these
experiences in a textual voyage from the centre to the periphery, consistently
returning to the concept of colonized life under duress.
This section begins in Beijing, a city that remained one of China’s cultural
and political capitals during the war and occupation. The first four chapters
introduce and translate works by Tang Erhe, Zhou Zuoren (1885–1967), and
Lin Yutang (1895–1976), three of China’s most renowned intellectuals of
the time. These are followed by two chapters concerning the rural areas of
north China before turning to external perspectives on the occupation and
the obligations of those living under it.
To begin this section, David Luesink examines the work of Tang Erhe,
who played an important role in the development of medical and educational
modernity in addition to his role in establishing a collaborationist govern-
ment. Revealing Tang’s intellectual importance, as well as the complexity of
his roles in government, Luesink translates archival records of Tang’s direc-
tives during his time as minister of education and in other important pos-
itions in the Provisional Government. This chapter ends with the notes of a
Japanese political cartoonist, whose candid descriptions of Tang indicate
the difficulty that the Japanese had in working with this collaborator. The
cartoonish image of a collaborator sits in stark contrast to his complicated
intellectual agenda, as found in Tang’s Chinese texts.
After the Japanese government removed Tang Erhe as the minister of edu-
cation, an even more famous and troublesome collaborator took his place.
Zhou Zuoren’s years of working with the Provisional Government, as well
as his later trial and release, perhaps embody the ambiguities of colonial life
better than any other wartime example. One of the most influential intel-
lectuals of his generation, and the brother of iconic writer Lu Xun (1881–
1936), Zhou’s apparent support for the regime posed an arduous dilemma
for patriotic Chinese elites to deal with after the war. The two texts introduced
and translated here were at the heart of debates over Zhou’s culpability.
They put to rest any simplistic or binary understandings of his activities, and
they reveal the difficulty of attributing fault to those who worked with the
Japanese.
314 Part 3

First, Xue Bingjie introduces and translates “Zhongguo de sixiang wenti”

(The Problem of Chinese Thought), Zhou’s 1942 defence of Chinese thought,
which he essentialized as “Confucian.” As Xue explains, this pivotal article
was an important element of Zhou’s defence at his postwar trial. During the
war it prompted Japanese intellectuals to angrily denounce Zhou for per-
ceived opposition to Japan’s War for Greater East Asia. Second, Timothy
Cronin discusses Zhou’s spirited and fecund assertion of his own innocence
in a letter addressed to Communist Party leader Zhou Enlai (1898–1976)
just months before the establishment of the People’s Republic of China in
1949. In a thoughtful consideration of Zhou Zuoren’s intention and strat-
egy, Cronin outlines his calculating and timely gambit. Perhaps this letter
played a role in the respite from retribution afforded to Zhou until, like many
accused of collaboration with the Japanese, he lost his life in the Cultural
Revolution.
The fourth chapter of this section examines Lin Yutang, an intellectual
who lived in the north for many years. Lin expresses his dismay at the Japanese
occupation in his usual style of sarcasm and criticism. Son Yoo Di examines
two works, “Wuzi de piping” (Criticism without Words), an analysis of the
occupation of Shenyang, and the 1936 article “Guanyu Beiping xuesheng
‘yier-jiu’ yundong” (On the “December 9” Students’ Movement in Beiping),
a vocal support of the students’ resistance to Japanese control. Reflecting
Lin’s sensitivity to the human element, these articles highlight the danger
of accepting legal and rational argumentation over moral realities.
These four chapters examine texts by those living at the urban heart of
the occupation of north China. But what of those on the margins of the oc-
cupation? To what extent do they add to diverse understandings of the
occupation?
Timothy Cheek translates a report from the Jiefang Ribao (Liberation
daily) on Yan Xishan (1883–1960), a warlord in control of territory strategic-
ally situated between the Communist Party stronghold of Yan’an and the
Japanese puppet regimes of north China and Mengjiang. The ambiguities of
life and loyalty in such an imbricated space can be seen through Cheek’s
translation of this report, which was personally revised by Mao Zedong
(1893–1976) in 1944, highlighting the text as an unquestionable statement
of the Maoist perspective on the issue of cooperation with the Japanese.
Also moving away from Beijing’s centripetal magnetism, Zhang Yuanfang
turns to the rural areas of north China with an analysis of the batou system,
the local work-recruitment system adopted by wartime Japanese enterprises.
Zhang offers a portrait of Japanese thought and research on work conditions
 North China and Beyond 315

in the empire through a study of batou by Japanese researcher Nakamura

Takatoshi (n.d.). Resurrection of the batou system was a rejection of mod­
ern or Western labour practices, yet it was in no way a reaffirmation of
feudal practices. Rather, it was an indication of the accommodating fluidity
of the empire as it brought labourers into its ever-burgeoning means of
production.
Following Zhang’s study of Japanese intellectual discourses on occupied
China, Morgan Rocks and Yun Xia offer two chapters on Chinese intel-
lectual perspectives beyond the occupation. In a study of the Chengdu-based
anarchist journal Jingzhe (The awakening), Rocks shows that, despite the
unwillingness of anarchists to work with either the Nationalist or the Com­
munist Parties, they were adamant in their call for resistance to the Japanese
occupation. Surprisingly, these international-minded revolutionaries turned
to the Spanish Civil War (1936–39) for their inspiration, even establishing
a branch of the Solidaridad Internacional Antifascista in 1938, explicitly con­
necting events in Spain with those in East Asia. The anarchists were clear
in calling for resistance and condemning collaboration. Like Rocks’s study
of anarchist thought, Yun Xia’s examination of Nationalist laws regarding
those who worked under or with the Japanese is relevant to all of China and
is a crucial text for understanding wartime and postwar China. Xia explains
the creation of Hanjian (traitors to China) laws and regulations, arguing
that they exemplified and amplified existing prejudices in Chinese society
by succumbing to populist paranoia that typified wartime society.
From the centre to the periphery, and then beyond the occupation, these
eight articles do not offer a comprehensive picture of the Japanese occupa-
tion of China, but rather limn the frustration, fear, violence, and abuse that
traversed wartime China in response to Japanese occupation. Unlike most
perspectives on this time and place, these chapters are not limited to any
political party, but offer myriad voices from inside and outside of the political
institutions, as well as inside and outside of the region. Collectively, these
chapters confirm that the occupation was a many-faceted fact of life that
needed to be accepted, often in the face of harsh physical and intellectual
violence.
21 Tang Erhe’s Educational
Collaboration with Japan in
North China, 1937–40
DAVID LUESINK

On 12 December 1937, the Provisional Government of the Republic of

China was established by a group of Chinese elites with close ties to
Japan. One of these Chinese collaborators was Tang Erhe (1878–1940),
physician, anatomical researcher, educator, and politician, who served
on the Peace Preservation Committee, then as chairman of the Legis­
lative Council of the Provisional Government, minister of education,
chairman of the East Asian Cultural Association, and chancellor of
National Peking University before his death in 1940. Although a key
figure in many events of Chinese politics, education, and medicine
between 1905 and 1940, Tang, like the north China wartime regime
itself, has remained largely ignored by scholars.
Beginning during his student days in Japan, and throughout his life,
Tang Erhe’s relationship with Japan was complicated, but as a fluent
Japanese speaker with a Japanese wife, he inevitably moved within its
powerful orbit. He became a fierce antimonarchist revolutionary before
the Republican Revolution and devoted himself to establishing the
National Medical School in Beijing. After returning from an educational
mission to Germany in 1921, Tang resigned as head of the National
Medical School and took up a cabinet-level role as minister of education
among a group of reformers known as the “cabinet of able men.” He was
made minister of the interior in 1926, and served as minister of finance
under Zhang Zuolin (1875–1928) before the latter’s assassination by the
Japanese.
In 1929 Tang travelled to Japan and studied to receive a doctorate
of medicine from Tokyo Imperial University. When Zhang Zuolin’s son
Zhang Xueliang (1901–2001) took over Manchuria, Tang Erhe became
his adviser and liaison with Japan. After the Manchurian Incident of
318 David Luesink

1931, Chiang Kai-shek (1887–1975) ordered Zhang and his army to

retreat and allow the Japanese occupation of Manchuria. When the
Japanese army invaded Rehe, in 1933, they sought to establish a de­
militarized zone all the way to Beijing and Tianjin, south of the Great
Wall. Tang served in the Northeast Political Affairs Council, from which
position he helped negotiate the Tanggu Truce in 1933. In 1935, Tang
became a member of the Hebei-Chahar Political Council, which worked
with the Japanese while nonetheless not making any vital concessions
toward their goal of setting up a puppet state in all five northern prov­
inces of Shandong, Hebei, Shanxi, Chahar, and Suiyuan.1 Tang Erhe
became a leading collaborator after the Marco Polo Bridge Incident
on 7 July 1937 led to open war with Japan, 2 when he decided that the
retreating Nationalist government had abandoned its responsibility to
care for the common people and was cooperating with the Communist
“troublemakers.”
There were major debates in Japanese military and government cir­
cles in the opening months of the war about whether they should come
to terms with Chiang Kai-shek and the Nationalists or rely on new local
regimes and control China region by region. These divisions, between
the Kantō Army in Inner Mongolia, the North China Army centred in
Beijing and Tianjin, and Tokyo government offices such as the Foreign
Ministry, allowed collaborators like Wang Kemin (1879–1945) and Tang
Erhe to play various groups of Japanese against each other in the
defence of Chinese interests. 3 Yet the proclamation of the inauguration
of the Provisional Government read by Tang Erhe distinguished it from
the collaborationist government that would develop in Nanjing under
Wang Jingwei (1883–1944) in that it was completely contemptuous of
the Nationalist Party. The Nationalist government, according to Tang,
had brought the war on itself with a hostile attitude to Japan, and then
demonstrated its incompetence, disorganization, and corruption in its
inability to defend China. Crucially, the inauguration speech emphasized
the unity of the Chinese and the Japanese races and focused squarely
on an anticommunist stance. 4 Tang then supported a revival of Con­
fucianism and its ideal of the “Kingly Way” as an ideology to do battle
with Western materialism, liberalism, and communism.
Japanese and collaborationist attempts at ideological control in
education were stymied by the anti-Japanese nature of student life in
the years preceding the Marco Polo Bridge Incident. 5 The Nationalist
Party under Chiang Kai-shek and especially under Dai Jitao (1891–1949)
 Tang Erhe’s Educational Collaboration with Japan in North China, 1937–40 319

had long attempted to “partify” schools (danghua) by emphasizing the

Three Principles of the People of Sun Yat-sen (1866–1925): nationalism,
democracy, and people’s livelihood. By the mid-1930s, the focus was on
an antiforeign and especially anti-Japanese nationalism, given that
democracy had been diluted by Sun’s later emphasis on “tutelage” or
party dictatorship. Dai Jitao saw the first function of primary and sec­
ondary schools as political inculcation. 6 Tang Erhe sought to use edu­
cation for the same purposes, but against the Nationalist “partification.”
A brief surviving order appears to demonstrate that in early 1938
Tang ordered the removal and dispersal of all archival equipment from
the Academia Sinica Institute of History and Philology and the Inter­
national Library, but whether he was trying to protect it from soldiers
or follow orders from the Japanese command is not clear.7 Students of
elite north China universities were driven out of their campuses, and
many left with faculty to a branch campus of Tsinghua in Changsha,
and later marched on foot to Yunnan as Japan occupied the central
Yangtze region as well. 8 While the Japanese Foreign Ministry hoped to
use financial support of institutions of higher learning to influence the
remaining educated classes, the overall lack of funding meant that the
North China Army’s policy of suppression and occupation of these
institutions would continue.9 The initial Committee for Public Safety
was tasked with taking control of, and financing, the government edu­
cational institutions in Beijing.10 The Japanese Foreign Ministry eventu­
ally convinced the North China Army to cooperate on educational and
cultural affairs, although in reality, the army was able to ignore the
Foreign Ministry. When the committee was replaced by the Provisional
Government in December 1937, Tang Erhe became head of the Ministry
of Education of the Executive Committee and early in January of 1938
announced that some funds were available and that classes would
resume in April. A large slate of education officials was announced, in
Beijing and as far away as Shandong,11 while all former universities were
combined into one teaching university and one research institute.12
Textbooks were rewritten and censored for any evidence of anti-
Japanese sentiment, although the rest of the content was barely
touched.13
At the newly unified Peking University, the first two faculties to
resume were medicine and agriculture, and by 1942 only engineering
and science had been added.14 In this choice of faculties, a clear pattern
can be seen of focusing on professional education and avoiding the
320 David Luesink

ideologically more suspect subjects of the humanities and liberal arts,

such as history, philosophy, or the social sciences. And yet eventually
Tang appointed his old friend Zhou Zuoren as dean of literature and
another friend as head of philosophy.15 In his New Year’s speech of
1938, soon after becoming minister of education, Tang railed against
the Nationalist Party’s toleration of Communists and its “hoodwinking
of the gullible” students and their “extinguishing of the personal stan­
dards of the youth.”16 This tirade was aimed directly at the by then long
tradition of Chinese Communist Party organization among students.
Although Tang had supported his students in the 1919 protests by
securing their release from prison, at that time and even more so in
1938 he felt that protesting was a waste of time and claimed that stu­
dents were merely manipulated by “those people” – meaning the
Communists.17 Demonstrations of Chinese nationalism aimed against
Japan were counterproductive to academic goals.
Although available records are not clear, several sources indicate
that Tang eventually found Japanese military dominance of the Provi­
sional Government unbearable.18 In 1938, a Japanese manga artist,
Tsutsumi Kanzō (1895–1972), met with the three top Chinese collabor­
ators and wrote brief impressions to match his cartoons. When it was
time to meet the sixty-year-old Tang Erhe, Tsutsumi found him on the
upper floor of a German restaurant eating a relatively cheap set menu
meal with two friends. In the final translation below, Tsutsumi writes
that Tang eventually became difficult to handle, and that he was sent
to Japan as part of a political “castration.” This anecdote points to the
possibility that Tang pushed as far as he could against the Japanese
military authorities who came to dominate Sino-Japanese relations in
Beijing. Tang died not long after returning to Beijing, and his long-time
colleague, Zhou Zuoren, took over his position.

—•  TRANSLATIONS  •—

Government Gazette

[The first six documents were selected from among hundreds signed by Tang
Erhe and found in a search of the Government Gazette, published in Beijing.
Decrees 48 and 49 seem to indicate concern to limit the circulation of archives
and library sources to employees of the Ministry of Education.]
 Tang Erhe’s Educational Collaboration with Japan in North China, 1937–40 321

29 January 1938, Ministry of Education Decree #48

Regarding the decree to Academia Sinica Institute of History and Philology/
formerly Beijing Research Institute
Immediately cancel all requests for archival files from this ministry dis-
patched to employees and carefully hold in the warehouse. We hope you will
act accordingly.
Minister of Education, Tang Erhe

29 January 1938, Ministry of Education Decree #49

Regarding the decree to the International Library
Immediately cancel all requests for library materials from this ministry
dispatched to employees appropriately and carefully hold in the warehouse.
We hope you will act accordingly.
Minister of Education, Tang Erhe

18 February 1938, Ministry of Education Decree #49

[Decree 49 is an example of many decrees making new appointments to vari-
ous educational institutions.]
Dispatch Xu Zuzheng to fill the position of president of National Beijing
Teacher’s College.
Minister of Education, Tang Erhe

27 February 1938, City Government Order /

Provisional Government Order
[As minister of education, Tang led a group of fellow collaborators to offer the
sacrifices to Confucius at the spring festival in 1938 as an attempt to establish
ideological cohesion. This follows the patterns developed in Japanese-
dominated Manchukuo.]
For this period’s Spring Confucian Sacrifices, dispatch the following people
to Government Affairs Committee member and education minister, Tang
Erhe, who should respectfully go to the sacred temple to prostrate himself.
Dispatch Beijing Special Government mayor, Yu Puhe, to conduct the cere-
mony in the side hall and to the two porticos of twelve wisdoms, and also send
the following to attend: Jiang Chaozong, Ji Yuanzhu, Zhu Tutu, Wang Yitang,
Zhang Xiaoyi, Wang Yongquan, Li Shiheng, Zhu Shuyuan, Fang Zongbie,
Tao Zhuxia, Qing Yi, Liu Qian, Wu Chengshi, Li Xuanwei, Yang Yanpu,
Xiong Zhengyuan, Zhang Xinpei, Liu Shiyuan, Zhang Shuiqi, Shen Yunchang,
Hou Yuwen.
Head of Administrative Council, Wang Kemin
Minister of Education, Tang Erhe
322 David Luesink

1 March 1938, Ministry of Education Order #104

[Order 104 indicates the concern Tang Erhe had to control editorial processes
for school textbooks.]
Now formulating the promulgation of the organizational rules of the Editorial
Commission under the jurisdiction of this ministry.
Minister of Education, Tang Erhe

12 November 1938, Provisional Government Order #293

[Order 293 indicates that Tang Erhe’s ministry had jurisdiction as far as
Shandong province. Order 985 of 9 September 1939 lists all regions under
control of Beijing at this time, specifically the provinces of Shanxi, Hebei,
Shandong, and Henan, and the cities with independent educational bureaus:
Tianjin, Beijing, and Qingdao.]
Decree ordering Deputy Hao Shuxuan to become education minister for the
Shandong government.
Head of Administrative Council, Wang Kemin
Minister of Education, Tang Erhe

[The next two documents aimed to implement the reversal of a policy estab-
lished under the Nationalists to instill allegiance to the Nationalist Party, a
policy known as “partification.” The main goal was to reverse the schools’
role as centres for anti-Japanese sentiment.]

15 April 1938, Ministry of Education Order #245

To all schools in Beijing; all provincial schools; each city’s education
department:

A decree ordering compliance with the educational plans of the new govern-
ment has already circulated as notification about this issue, which should
now be implemented by conducting or paying attention to each item below:

1 This incident gradually arose from the means of the implementation of

the former Nationalist Government’s Partification Education Plan.
Henceforth, the program of “Daily Partification Education” will be se-
verely suppressed.
2 Regarding the resumption of classes from primary school to middle
school and also including university, in order to get to work, schools
should first apply to the government to receive from this ministry guid-
ance with the new regulations for each level of school, which will then
be promulgated.
 Tang Erhe’s Educational Collaboration with Japan in North China, 1937–40 323

3 The length of primary and middle school will remain of short duration,
with three years for middle school and three years for primary school,
compared to four and two in the old system.
4 Education can have the positive function of transforming lifestyles for
the better; therefore, the implementation of education must ensure the
implementation of policies to ensure lifestyle preservation. Hereafter,
beginning in the primary school stage, educators must conscientiously
emphasize lifestyle functionality so that education and lifestyle can
merge into an organic whole. At the same time, educators must espe-
cially emphasize hygiene education.
5 Secondary schools should be based on the principle of separate schools
for boys and girls. Universities and colleges had to admit women before
since there were no women’s universities and women’s technical schools.
6 Girls have their vocation in the family and in society, so it is suitable
that the education they receive is not quite the same as the education
boys receive. In addition, the insecurities of girls mean that it is neces-
sary that they receive a suitable education, one that especially empha-
sizes the cultivation of moral character.19
7 For those schools established by foreigners, it is appropriate to earnestly
supervise and lead them to make sure they adhere to the educational
plan of the new government.20
8 The physical education classes in primary and middle schools, now
called physical education in all the textbooks, should now consider being
divided up into gymnastics exercises and martial arts.
9 Boy Scouts should change its name to Youth League, with the practical
goals of group drilling, disciplined training, and service spirit. Military-
style joint organization and personnel will be abolished and each school
will establish its own general “Youth League of Such-and-such School.”
10 Previously, school textbooks of various levels were improper in many
places. The publisher has revised editions that are already being sold,
but they should all be the same, and so revising the not-yet-perfect books
from here on should be according to the new government’s educational
plan, and the ministry’s senior editor should compile these independ-
ently of the publisher.
11 Corrupt practices in the examination system have multiplied and should
be abolished. The principal of each school should study the academic
records repeatedly and conscientiously investigate, increasing the num-
ber of school inspectors who conduct meticulous inspections of each
field of study.
324 David Luesink

12 After the [Marco Polo Bridge] incident [7–9 July 1937], if students of
each province and city want to transfer schools because their school
had ceased to operate, but cannot obtain their transfer document or
other transcripts, they can transfer by undergoing a rigorous inspection
and examination.
13 Elementary and middle school teachers should add new drills to enable
the correction of ideological errors. The educational administration
organization of each place should organize lectures by the senior official
of that locality. All of the short lecture courses sponsored by this min-
istry for Beijing elementary and middle school teachers have already
been promulgated and can be consulted as reference.

The most pressing matter among the above points is to conscientiously pursue
this policy and handle and implement them according to conditions while
making timely reports back to the ministry.
Minister of Education, Tang Erhe

15 April 1938, Education Ministry Order #246

To: Beijing academies; all provincial schools; all urban
departments of education; General Order

Since the [Marco Polo Bridge] incident [7–9 July 1937], education in the entire
nation and each province and city has ceased and even school buildings have
been reduced to ruins, and so young people have discontinued their studies.
The cause is nothing more than the result of the former Nationalist govern-
ment’s policy of the “partification” of society, permitting the Communist
errors of using the absolutely sincere patriotism of the youth to instigate
national feeling, and at the same time promoting class struggle and advocat-
ing a war of the people’s front in order to harm the people, including the
Nationalist use of floodwater.21 To think about the influence of these policies
is to be grieved.22
This ministry has learned from past errors to avoid future mistakes and
knows well the East Asian people have a heartfelt close connection in history,
geography, culture, and thought that is long cherished. For states that were
brothers and mutually dependent, how could there be no mutual guidance
and support? Is it not important to recognize that antiforeign thought should
not be guiding our policies? Yet one can see it grow vigorously and still not
be able to root it out. From now on, the aim of Eastern cultural tradition,
and its relations of benevolence and good neighbourliness regarding the
people’s impressions, are suitable to make a radical reform with regard to
 Tang Erhe’s Educational Collaboration with Japan in North China, 1937–40 325

international friendship. We should sincerely bring it into line with true,

general education.
In this way, we will be able to establish a national base of administrative
politics, to select a level road and stride forward, the masses mutually as-
sisting each other, and to work in unison and help one another if possible,
all advancing in proper sequence step by step. In this way it will not even be
difficult to plan a world commonwealth. Each province and city and place
would be responsible for its own educational administration organization.
We should take the essence of these ideas and wash away all that is exerting
a pernicious influence: the old attempts of the Nationalists at “partification”
of society, Communist appeasement, and antiforeign sentiment. In a variety
of ways we can bring order out of chaos and lead youths to accept discipline
and standards – a matter of fundamental importance for generations to
come. But it will also be advantageous if we declare that the educational laws
and decrees from the past are not in conflict with the purposes of the pro-
visional government, thus we can allow the use of the old method.

Tojiwa23 (Mr. Tang Erhe)

Tsutsumi Kanzō

Please remember, he is the equivalent of vice-premier, because he is leader

of the deliberative council. Close to the Hatamen neighbourhood in Beijing,
in a foreign restaurant run by Germans called Kalatsuas with sweets on the
first floor and a restaurant on the second.24 It is a place where criminals
gather, white palace dancers perform, and “modern boys” are to be found.25
The restaurant lets one eat a fixed menu of three items for 1 yuan. I happened
to see Mr. Tang eating together with a friend. It is said that he graduated
from Kanazawa Medical Vocational School, has a Japanese wife, and he
speaks Japanese very well. Anyway, Mr. Tang is friendly with Japan, which
puts him in a dangerous position, but he had not even one security guard.
In this kind of situation, anything can happen in Beijing.
At the time of the Great Kantō Earthquake [1923], he was a representative
of the Red Cross and came to Japan and, before the Manchurian Incident,26
he was a member of the Chinese cabinet. For the sake of building a friendly
relationship between Japan and China, he has accomplished good results for
many years. His characteristics as chancellor of Peking University are warm
and good. However, at times in the past we could not handle him when he did
not follow the official agenda. If he returned to being a doctor, then there would
be no problems, so he was sent to Kanazawa and was politically castrated.
326 David Luesink

Notes
1 Xu Youqun, Minguo renwu dacidian [Republican dictionary of biography] (Shijiazhuang:
Hebei renmin chubanshe, 1991), 1188.
2 The Marco Polo Bridge Incident is described merely as an “incident” (shibian) in some
of the documents below.
3 John Hunter Boyle, China and Japan at War, 1937–1945: The Politics of Collaboration
(Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 1972), 10.
4 Ibid., 91.
5 Rana Mitter, The Manchurian Myth: Nationalism, Resistance, and Collaboration in North
China (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2000), 130–56.
6 Peter Zarrow, Educating China: Knowledge, Society and Textbooks in a Modernizing
World (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2015), 35–36; Wen-hsin Yeh, The
Alienated Academy: Culture and Politics in Republican China (Berkeley: University of
California Press, 2000), 172–79.
7 Jiaoyubu ling [Ministry of Education order] no. 48–49, Zhengfu gongbao [Government
gazette], 29 January 1938.
8 John Israel, Lianda: A Chinese University in War and Revolution (Stanford, CA: Stanford
University Press, 1998), 7–60.
9 Lincoln Li, The Japanese Army in North China, 1937–41: Problems of Political and Eco­
nomic Control (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1976), 99.
10 Ibid.
11 Lingshi zhengfu ling [Provisional government order], Zhengfu gongbao, 1 January 1938;
Lingshi zhengfu ling no. 293, Zhengfu gongbao, 12 January 1938; Jiaoyubu ling no. 82,
Zhengfu gongbao, 18 February 1938.
12 Jiaoyubu ling no. 82, Zhengfu gongbao, 18 February 1938.
13 Jiaoyubu ling no. 104, Zhengfu gongbao, 1 March 1938.
14 Li, Japanese Army, 100.
15 Zhou Zuoren (1885–1967) was the estranged brother of Lu Xun (Zhou Jianren), and a
major literary talent in his own right. Zhou read a eulogy for Tang at a memorial in Tokyo
one year after his death. Tang Yousong [Tang Qi], Tang Erhe xiansheng [Mister Tang
Erhe] (Beijing: Jinhua shuju, 1942), 175, 184–90. See chapters 22 and 23 in this volume
for more information on Zhou.
16 Ibid., 103.
17 Ibid., 171.
18 Sophia Lee, “Education in Wartime Beijing: 1937–1945” (PhD diss., University of Michigan,
1996), 100.
19 This appears to indicate a need to educate young women to avoid sexual encounters.
Chinese schools throughout the twentieth century have attempted to inculcate
abstinence-only sexual education. The administration was also antifeminist.
20 For more on missionary education during this period, see Lee, “Education in Wartime
Beijing,” 146–219.
21 This refers to the blowing up of the Yellow River dikes in 1937 that killed half a million
people and created at least three million refugees.
22 No mention is made of Japanese bombings and other violence.
23 Tsutsumi Kanzō, “Tojiwa” [Mr. Tang Erhe], Chūō kōron [The central review] 53: 6 (1938):
257–58.
24 Hatamen was a neighbourhood of Beijing from the Yuan dynasty to the Republic, now
part of the Chongwenmen area. “Kalatsuas” is a Japanese spelling of a German word of
uncertain provenance.
25 This seems to indicate that unsavoury types might gather at this restaurant.
26 The Manchurian Incident, known in English as the Mukden Incident, initiated the Japanese
creation of the puppet state of Manchukuo in 1931.
22 The Transformation of Zhou
Zuoren’s Thought and Rhetorical
Strategies Found in His Writing
“The Problem of Chinese Thought”
XUE BINGJIE

The renowned essayist and translator Zhou Zuoren (1885–1967) was

one of the most influential intellectuals in modern China. During the
Second Sino-Japanese War (1937–45), Zhou collaborated with Japan
and held office in the North China Political Affairs Council as director
of the Department of Education, following in the footsteps of Tang Erhe
(1878–1940), discussed by David Luesink in the previous chapter. Zhou
also served as chief librarian and chair of the Department of Literature
at National Peking University, and president of the East Asia Cultural
Council. This period of Zhou’s life led to divergent assessments of the
man and his work.1 After the war, Zhou was arrested by the Nationalist
government of Chiang Kai-shek (1887–1975) and stood trial in Nanjing
for treason, for which he was sentenced to ten years in prison. Zhou
was released in 1949 and returned to Beijing, where he made a living
by writing and translating. He died in 1967 at the age of eighty-two.
Zhou wrote “Zhongguo de sixiang wenti” (The Problem of Chinese
Thought) on 18 November 1942, and originally published it in 1943, in
Zhonghe yuekan (Zhonghe monthly). 2 At that time, Japan was waging
the Greater East Asia War, and its propaganda organs were agitating for
the revival of traditional Chinese thought and advocating “coexistence
and co-prosperity.” In his later years, Zhou explained his reasons for
writing this piece:

That article advocated original Confucianism, as I often was wont to

do, but I had a special intention for this text, which was to prevent the
New People’s Association (Xinmin hui) [a Japanese-backed political
group organized in 1937] clamouring to set up a core school of thought
to cooperate with the principles of Greater East Asia. Like the braying
328 Xue Bingjie

of donkeys and the barking of dogs, their activities would disappear

with the passing of time, so they were not worth paying attention to,
but their braying was annoying to have to listen to at that time, so I
determined to strike a blow against it. 3

In this article, Zhou made it clear that there was no problem with
Chinese thought, which was Confucianism as represented by Confucius
(551–479 BCE), Mencius (c. 372–289), and the legendary sages Yu and
Ji. 4 Zhou writes:

Some think that China is always lacking a “central thought” and they
labour to find China a new one. This is a difficult task to accomplish
and naturally leads to failure. In my opinion, there is no need for such
efforts because China’s central thought has existed and has not
changed for thousands of years. In brief, it is Confucian thought
(Ruxue sixiang).

As a representative of Chinese intellectuals, Zhou’s actions and words

exerted great influence on other intellectuals’ decisions to advance or
withdraw. He retained his moral integrity at the early stage of Japan’s
occupation but, as time went on, he finally cooperated with Japan, for
which he was accused of being a traitor by successive generations of
Chinese. Zhou tried to relieve his moral pressure by advocating
Confucianism.
Chinese scholar Zhao Jinghua has explained:

Since the 1930s, Zhou Zuoren was deeply disappointed in the political
government of China, and therefore his national identity and national
consciousness began to convert to a cultural and historical under­
standing of China; one could also say that his thoughts gradually
changed from viewing China as a “political state” to viewing China as
a “cultural state.” During the war, he reintroduced Confucianism and
emphasized using Chinese traditional literature to resist Japanese
calls to establish “the central thought” in order to achieve the goal of
“Greater East Asia co-prosperity.”5

We can analyze Zhou’s articles from the 1940s to see that his major
concerns were Chinese culture and thought. Two years after Zhou
 The Transformation of Zhou Zuoren’s Thought 329

wrote this article, he wrote the following in the postscript to a collec­

tion of his essays:

In 1942, I wrote “The Problem of Chinese Thought,” which went

beyond the scope of literature to touch on the reasons for a nation’s
rise and fall, as well as the fundamental ways of living ...
I was always worried and apprehensive about the future of China,
and became more so recently, not only because I myself am part of it
and have the feeling of involvement and drowning, but also because
I think that it is China’s traditional morality to give one’s heart and
strength and even one’s life to work for the interests of the people, or
at least find some ways to achieve that. Every intellectual should take
that as a standard, as is indicated in the Confucian classics and
commentaries. 6

After the Japanese occupation of China, the Japanese began con­

trolling Chinese thought and publishing. Therefore, intellectuals in the
occupied areas needed to use rhetorical strategies to express their
thoughts. China has a long history, and there are large numbers of
resources, such as historical allusions and literary quotations, which
bring richness to classical Chinese writing. Scholars have observed that
intellectuals in occupied Beijing often used strategies such as “the
resurrection of concepts, the employment of literary allusions, and the
imitation of literature genres.”7 In “The Problem of Chinese Thought,”
Zhou used three rhetorical strategies to indicate his dissatisfaction with
Japan while escaping censorship: the first was to reinterpret political
concepts in the direction he wanted, disguising the replacement of
their original meaning; the second was to use historical and literary
allusions; and the third was to weaken the contemporary setting.
The second of these rhetorical strategies – historical and literary
allusion – was the most popular and commonly used by writers in
occupied areas. The reason for the popularity of this rhetorical strategy
was because, on the one hand, there were abundant resources to use,
and on the other hand, writing in literary Chinese or quoting classical
Chinese texts was subtler than writing in modern language. Although
Zhou was a representative of New Culture or vernacular literature, his
articles written during the war utilized a much higher proportion of
classical Chinese prose. In the foreword of his book Yaotang zawen
330 Xue Bingjie

(Essays from Yaotang), Zhou explained: “Something changed in the

articles I wrote, as if the proportion of classical language increased ...
this is not because I wanted to write the article in a classical style ... it
is not impossible to use modern things, but in terms of living condi­
tions nowadays, I have to use ancient things.”8
Reader responses further reveal Zhou’s intentions. The strongest
response came from Japanese writer Kataoka Teppei (1894–1944). On
27 August 1943, at the second Greater East Asia Writers’ Congress,
Kataoka made a speech entitled “The Establishment of Chinese Litera­
ture” that criticized Zhou as “an old reactionary literary writer who is
currently active in the pacified regions.”9 Zhou wrote to the Japanese
Literature Patriotic Association to ask Kataoka for a clear explanation.
Kataoka wrote in response:

In my opinion, advocating to tolerate the desires of the Chinese

people is in fact a refutation of the current war for the liberation of
the Greater East Asia. What is more, if Chinese people are in favour of
the liberation of Greater East Asia but do not want to give up their de­­­sire
to survive, then this implies that Chinese people will not share any
pain to assist in the Greater East Asia War. And if such thinking becomes
generally accepted, what is the position of China on this war?10

Kataoka Teppei directly linked “Chinese thought” with the war and
pointed out that Zhou’s opinion about the problem of survival was, in
fact, a rejection of the Greater East Asia War.
After the war, the article translated below was used as important trial
evidence in Zhou’s defence. Zhou’s friends, the writer and translator Xu
Zuzheng (1895–1978) among them, said this article was “Zhou’s most
significant anti-Japanese text” in their affidavits to the court.11 The in­
itial verdict of the High Court was that this article “was very insightful
in taking loyalty and forbearance as China’s original thought.”12 Although
reader responses to a certain degree indicated that this article expressed
Zhou’s dissatisfaction with Japan, there is a great difference between
dissatisfaction and resistance. Zhou repeated many times that there
was no problem with Chinese thought, but his primary preoccupation
was with the concept of turmoil. He replaced the problem of thought
with the problem of survival, believing that avoiding turmoil was of the
greatest importance. It is difficult to see his intention to resist from
reading this article alone.
 The Transformation of Zhou Zuoren’s Thought 331

The final verdict from Zhou Zuoren’s trial stated: “Although it is

difficult to prove such an article offered strategies for Japan’s colonial
domination, it was the voice of the puppet government under the
oppression of Japan. Therefore, the opposition of Kataoka Teppei,
representative of the Japanese Literature Patriotic Association, cannot
exempt Zhou from the charge of treason.”13 Zhou Zuoren finally accepted
his legal guilt and went to prison in 1946. However, as detailed in the
following chapter by Timothy Cronin, Zhou was released amid much
controversy in 1949.

—•  TRANSLATION  •—

The Problem of Chinese Thought

Zhou Zuoren

The problem of Chinese thought, though important, is not a very serious

problem. I am not an easily optimistic person about any other matter, yet
I remain optimistic about Chinese thought, and I think that there is hope
for its future. Recently Chinese intellectuals have indeed been confused;
however, this is merely a superficial and temporary phenomenon. Looking
across its distant and deep past, the thought of the Chinese people was
once very robust. Based on this robust foundation, if it is properly culti-
vated, a robust thought will develop from which a robust citizenry will be
created.
What is this intrinsic Chinese thought? Some think that China is always
lacking a central thought and they labour to find China a new one. This is a
difficult task to accomplish and naturally leads to failure. In my opinion,
there is no need for such efforts because China’s central thought has existed
and has not changed for thousands of years. In brief, it is Confucian thought
(Ruxue sixiang). While it cannot be stated so simply, before it was called
Confucianism this thought was already established, and scholars continued
to parade the term “Confucianism” even after they focused on the eight-
legged essay.14 If we simply call it Confucianism, there will be confusion
and perplexity, so I must restate it clearly and succinctly: The Confucianism
of which I speak is represented by Confucius and Mencius, with the sages
Yu and Ji as its models. Several examples will make this clearer. The following
is from Mencius, chapter 4, Li Lou II:15
332 Xue Bingjie

Living in their peaceful times, Yu and Ji used to pass their houses many
times without entering the door. For this, Confucius appreciated them.
Living in an age of disorder, Yanzi16 dwelt in a backstreet, living off his simple
food and plain water. Though others could not have endured such adversity,
he never changed his optimistic attitude. For this Confucius also praised
him. “Yu, Ji and Yan acted on the same principle.” Mencius commented:
“When Yu thought of people across the land getting drowned, he felt as if
he had caused them to be drowned. When Ji thought of people across the
land going hungry, he felt as if he had caused them to go hungry. That was
why they kept engaging themselves in matters of great urgency. If Yu and
Ji had been placed in Yan’s position, each would have done what the other
had done.”17

Also by Mencius, in chapter 1, King Hui of Liang I: 18

Let mulberry trees be planted in five mu19 of land around the house, then
people in their fifties can be clothed in silk. Let fowls, pigs and dogs be bred
at due time, then people in their seventies will have meat for meals. Let no
farming schedules be upset, then a fairly large family with a hundred mu
of land will not suffer from hunger. Let prudent heed be paid to schooling
and the sense of fraternal duties be taught to the young, and you won’t see
a gray-haired on the way carrying a heavy burden on his back. If a state ruler
guarantees that his elderly people have silk to wear and meat to eat, if he
exempts his people from cold and hunger, it will never occur that he cannot
become a unifier of the entire kingdom.20

The latter quotation discusses specific matters on what is called benevolent

governance. The former shows a benevolent person’s diligence. These show
that the fundamental thought of Confucianism is benevolence, which can
be divided into loyalty and forbearance, and benevolence pervades all of Con­
fucianism. The term “humanitarianism” may be misinterpreted, so perhaps
we can say that this is the doctrine of humanity. In On the Analects and
Benevolence, Ruan Boyuan21 wrote:

The Doctrine of the Mean22 states that benevolence is the characteristic

element of humanity. Zheng Kangcheng23 read “humanity” as people in a
good relationship. People in a good relationship indicate that there are at
least two human beings. Benevolence can be seen only if it is put into prac-
tice, and only when there are two people. If someone shuts one’s door, closes
 The Transformation of Zhou Zuoren’s Thought 333

one’s eyes, and sits quietly in one’s room, although one has virtues and logic
in one’s mind, one can never be regarded as benevolent in Confucianism.
The benevolence of ordinary people is reflected in the circle of one’s clans
and fellows; the benevolence of emperors, princes, and officials is reflected
in their kingdom and their subjects. The meaning of people in a good rela-
tionship is that there are two people and then benevolence can be seen.

His explanation of Confucian benevolence is very simple and clear. To be

benevolent is to be human, and regarding others likewise as human, meaning
do not do to others what you would not have them do to you. Moreover, do
to others what you would have them do to you. That is to say, one wishing
to establish oneself should also seek to establish others; one wishing to en-
large oneself should also seek to enlarge others, and then do to others what
they want done to them and then one will achieve forbearance and even
loyalty. In Subtle Notes from Daohan, Zhang Taiyan24 wrote:

Confucius took an all-pervading unity as his doctrine, and what does unity
mean? It is loyalty and forbearance. Many people discuss the principle of
regulating one’s conduct with a measuring square, and about considering
others in one’s own place, which can be explained by the word forbearance.
Human beings eat food crops, deer eat grasses, centipedes eat snakes, and
eagles eat rats; they have different preferences. Although we are human, we
like different things, only knowing social regulations and offering others
what general people like, while you may happen to offer others what they
do not want. How can we know whether we do the right thing and achieve
the principle of loyalty? The person who achieved the greatest loyalty and
forbearance was Zhuangzi,25 and his theory of the equality of everything
contained loyalty and forbearance. Neo-Confucianists Cheng Yi and
Cheng Hao26 did not understand the doctrine. They stated that Buddhism
let people abandon their body, donate their heads, eyes, and brains to others,
and this is giving others what they themselves do not want. If so, the emperor
of the kingdom of Lu has no need to raise the Aiju bird27 with beautiful
music and rich food. Letting people know the principle is the duty of for-
bearance, and giving people property and courage is the duty of loyalty.

One who excels in loyalty and forbearance brings benevolence to its ex-
treme. Though the mountain peak is very high and steep, and its roots very
deep and vast, people from the sages to the ordinary all share the same
thought – to do their part and try their best. Like Ruan Boyuan said, “the
334 Xue Bingjie

benevolence of ordinary people is reflected in the circle of one’s clans and

fellows; the benevolence of emperors, princes, and officials is reflected in
their kingdom and their subjects.” This is also like the taste of seawater; no
matter a spoon of it or the entire ocean, it tastes the same regardless of the
measure. Another significant point is that, when we talk about benevolence,
we think it is very illusory, while actually it is very practical or simple, since
it is a fundamental human instinct. In Study Notes on the Book of Changes,
volume 12, Jiao Litang28 wrote:

My father told me that life is all about food, drink, and sexual pleasure. One
cannot live without food and cannot procreate without sex. I want food and
others want it too, I like sexual pleasure and others like it too. Mencius’s
theory of the fondness of wealth and beauty explains it all. There is no need
to abandon one’s desire for food and sexual pleasure, but one should not
forget that one has survived on food and was born by one’s parents. I have
studied the Book of Changes for thirty years, and thus I can understand what
the sages mean. It is not easy to be a sage.

The chapter “Li Yun” in The Book of Rites29 states: “The things that men
greatly desire are comprehended in food, drink, and sexual pleasure; those
that they greatly dislike are comprehended in death, exile, poverty, and
suffering.” This is no different from what Jiao Litang said, but Jiao explained
it more clearly. Food and drink are necessary for individual survival, while
procreation is necessary for the survival of a race. These desires are instinctive
for all creatures, and are labelled “the will to live” by evolutionists. Human
beings also have such instincts because they too are living creatures. However,
regular creatures’ will to live is quite simple. They strive to exist through any
means necessary, only worrying about their own existence and not hesitat-
ing to jeopardize the lives of others. Human beings are not like this. Like
animals, they strive to live. However, at first on finding it impossible to achieve
this goal all by themselves, they feel the need to connect with others and
help each other to live a better life. Later, on finding that others also have
their likes and dislikes, they try to live together in harmony. The former is a
way to live that some animals can also achieve, while the latter is a kind of
survival morality that is unique to humanity. This is similar to what Mencius
said: “The difference between human beings and animals is very small.” This
primitive survival morality is the roots and shoots of benevolence, and is
shared by all human beings. However, people’s minds vary as much as their
faces, and so too does the psychological development of each nation. Some
 The Transformation of Zhou Zuoren’s Thought 335

strive to live, seeking immortality yet ending up with destruction, like the
theistic tendencies of Jews and Hindus; some chase power on the road to
survival, like the establishment of imperialism in the Roman Empire. These
are all typical examples. Among all nations, China is the only one sticking
to simple secularism by emphasizing actual utility and moderation, thus the
pursuit of the Chinese nation is helping each other to go through difficulties,
which is the same as the worn-out slogan of coexistence and co-prosperity, 30
and contains no lofty proposals. This, viewed from the surface, is based on
creatures’ survival instincts; therefore its foundations run deep. Moreover,
from a profound perspective, it is completely natural and able to conform
to nature’s principle and human beings’ feelings to put all creatures in their
places, which coincides with the sages’ diligence and the ordinary people’s
capabilities. This contributes to the soundness of Chinese thought that I
have mentioned above. Being derived from human nature and different from
thoughts instilled by external sources, it is certainly better comprehended
by well-educated scholars, yet can also be understood by the illiterate who
have never read the books of the sages. Thus even the illiterate can get along
with others, conforming to rites and laws as the way of the ancient sages.
This is why I said I am optimistic for Chinese thought. The foundation of
Chinese people’s thought is Confucianism, naturally with Confucius as the
primary representative. This is not because Confucius established Con­f u­
cianism and advocated his doctrines with great endeavour, rather, Confucius
himself, as a native Chinese, represents and epitomizes the peak of Chinese
thought. The thought of a nation is its roots and shoots, and political educa-
tion is its nutrients, like sunshine and water. No doubt, nutrients are essential,
yet the roots and shoots are infinitely more important as innate things that,
whether good or bad, are difficult to alter by external forces. Fortunately, the
roots and shoots for Chinese thought are good, which is something to be
grateful for. In an unpromising age, for me this is the only thing to be opti-
mistic about, and I can positively acclaim that there is absolutely no problem
with the roots of Chinese thought.
With these optimistic words said, I do not mean that there is no danger
or concern for us to fear now or in the future. As the old saying goes, there
is not any advantage without disadvantage; so it is with Chinese thought.
This is understandable. People cannot live without water and fire, yet flood
and conflagration can also be serious disasters. If mishandled, things that
benefit people may turn harmful. We have always found the thought of the
Chinese citizenry to be a good thing, helping the people deal with things in
past times, and undoubtedly helping us to deal with future matters as well.
336 Xue Bingjie

As no matter how the world changes, people always need to learn to behave
and to survive, thus seeking “coexistence and co-prosperity” with others is
the correct path. Yet this is the positive side, and of course there is a negative
side that one needs to be concerned with. Chinese people’s need for life is
quite simple but urgent: they want to survive. With avoiding harming others
for their own benefit as their survival morality, they are also unwilling to
hurt themselves to benefit others like saints do. People of other religions,
dreaming that heaven is near, can walk into boiling water or fire for the sake
of eternal life. Chinese people do not have this faith and are not willing to
sacrifice their lives for God or religious service. Yet when they feel that there
is no hope for life, they too can also walk through water and fire without
flinching, risking all in desperation. According to Mencius, a benevolent
government focuses on protecting people from hunger and cold. When this
is not done, people “do not have enough to support their parents or wives or
children, they suffer all the while even in good years, and in bad years they
cannot escape death.”31 Such things are signs of turmoil. What Mencius said
is very simple, so I quote Confucius to explain it: “There are two ways: be-
nevolence and not benevolence.” The manifestation of benevolence is people
living and working in harmony and happiness, and its consequence is peace.
The manifestation of not benevolence is people living on the edge of star­
vation, and its consequence is turmoil. As explained above, turmoil is the
threat that is our greatest concern. After studying Chinese history and
examining Chinese thought, I came to the conclusion that the most terrible
thing in China is turmoil, and this turmoil arises in reaction from the people’s
will to survive. It is not due to any doctrines or theories, but arises because
the desires of the people are prevented or left unsatisfied. In more modern
times, turmoil arose in the times of Zhang Xianzhong and Li Zicheng in the
late Ming dynasty, 32 and Hong Xiuquan and Yang Xiuqing in the Qing dy-
nasty.33 Though historians have provided a variety of critiques, the different
periods of turmoil are fundamentally of the same kind. The process of de-
struction still shocks people today, and the reason for the periods of turmoil
was the desperate living status of people. These are all lessons to be learned.
Chinese people generally love peace and sometimes seem to be too tolerant,
however, when circumstances are out of control, they may totally change by
discarding their original manners and unleashing a wild nature. But who is
to blame? It is said that there are neither quarrels with nice words nor fights
with weak blows. It is not unfair that not being benevolent brings no benevo-
lence from others. I will reiterate my idea that I see no problem with Chinese
thought. The most important thing is to prevent turmoil, and to prevent
 The Transformation of Zhou Zuoren’s Thought 337

turmoil our primary task is to stop those who would arouse turmoil. The
responsibility for this falls within the realm of politics rather than Confucian
training. Again in Mencius’s words, even if we are not capable of providing
the elderly with good food and clothing and guaranteeing that people do not
suffer from hunger and cold, we must do our utmost to ensure that condi-
tions are not so terrible that people “do not have enough to support their
parents or wives or children. They suffer all the while even in good years,
and in bad years they cannot escape death.”34 Although it is a passive ap-
proach, avoiding the creation of conditions and opportunities for turmoil
may be much more effective than eliminating and adjusting people’s thoughts.
Although it may not coincide with Western theories, this method should be
more suitable for China’s circumstances as it is obtained from thousands of
years of Chinese history. History books are indeed national treasures, as they
record the whole nation’s health and diseases. On reading about the history
of roving bandits, we can identify China’s problem; on learning how Wang
Anshi’s35 political reform injured people, we can realize that the misuse of
drugs is also lethal. Ancient people likened history books to mirrors and
named them “helpful books to govern the state.” This is a very appropriate
statement. By reading history books, we take Confucian classics, philosoph-
ical writings, essays, and poems as historical records and draw conclusions
from them. Their words are often simple but true, and they are indeed better
medical records and prescriptions for China than lofty unrealistic ideas. I
recall a piece in Notes from the Old Learning Study,36 chapter 1:

Taoist Shangguan37 of Mount Qingcheng38 was a northerner who lived in

trees and ate wheat, and he was ninety years old. He only smiled when being
visited by people. And when asked questions, he never replied, using illness
as an excuse. When I met him in the Taoist temple, all of a sudden he began
to talk to himself about how to preserve one’s health. According to him,
keeping the nation at peace and being alive forever were both impossible
tasks for ordinary people. What one should do at the moment is to protect
the nation from disorder and wait for a person of extraordinary talent, and
to protect people’s lives from death and wait for a distinguished person. To
keep the nation in order and keep people alive depends not on magic arts
but on discretion. I was excited and bowed down to him, but he said no more.

I was impressed and convinced by these words. Although a priest in the

Taoist tradition, Taoist Shangguan’s theory of keeping people alive and the
nation in order accords more closely with Confucianism. It is the minimum
338 Xue Bingjie

requirement of Confucianism’s political ideal. However, things are always

easier said than done. I used to sigh for the unusual circumstance in which
turmoil from the Northern and Southern Song dynasties to the Ming dynasty
was almost all caused intentionally, while on second thought, this is not so.
Louis XIV had known the flood39 would come yet chose to do nothing to
help his people to survive. Was this not the most inane thing under heaven?
I read Du Muzhi’s “Ode to E-pang palace” in Analysis of Ancient Essays,40
which ends with the sentence: “People of the Qin dynasty had no opportunity
to lament themselves while later generations lamented them. If later genera-
tions only lamented the Qin dynasty without learning a lesson from it, their
descendants would again lament them.” At that time I read it out aloud to
appreciate the rhyme. Now, I find the meaning of it even more profound.
What I have stated above is of simple meaning yet too verbose, so I would
like to make a summary. I believe that there is no problem with Chinese
thought since its main idea exists forever. Its main idea, stemming from
people’s biological instincts and being bound by human morality, is very
solid and sound. In some nations, the supreme ideal is the monarch, while
in others it is God. However, ordinary Chinese people serve themselves and
their clans, while Confucian scholars serve the people. Actually, these are
one and the same. This is not unique to some people or a certain class; rather,
it is shared by everyone to different extents, from the narrowest to the widest.
It is not created by sages and introduced gradually to the people; on the
contrary, it is derived from the ordinary people and gradually improved
and expanded on by the sages. Because of this, I see no problem with Chi­
nese thought, and the only thing needed is to cultivate it for a normal de-
velopment. While Chinese thought is based on people’s need for subsistence,
with subsistence being jeopardized, the thought will be shaken, leading to
the danger of turmoil. As this is not brought about by any theory, it cannot
be prevented by language and words. Perhaps some will object to both the
optimistic and pessimistic sides of my essay, for their inconformity to foreign
theories, but I think my words are very reliable and honest. In the past I
studied foreign books with an open mind, yet only to absorb knowledge
about the universe and biology. When it comes to Chinese affairs, especially
Chinese thought, I think Chinese people know it better or know it more
correctly. I will not take the words and deeds of heroes and sages as examples
like patriots do, but I think it is in common with observing ordinary people
and finding the Chinese outlook of life from their words, and then con-
firming it with the rise and fall of dynasties in history. The result may not be
 The Transformation of Zhou Zuoren’s Thought 339

absurd. So I believe that although what I have stated is simple, my reasoning

is correct and can be identified by people with deep insight. These outdated
words, although perhaps behind the times, reveal my poor talent but can
reflect my sincerity.
(18 November 1942)

Notes
1 Susan Daruvala, Zhou Zuoren and an Alternative Response to Chinese Modernity (Cam­
bridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2000), 2.
2 Zhitang [Zhou Zuoren], “Zhongguo de sixiang wenti” [The problem of Chinese thought],
Zhonghe yuekan [Zhonghe monthly] 4, 1 (1943): 4–8. Zhitang is one of Zhou Zuoren’s
pen names. Zhonghe yuekan was founded by Qu Duizhi (1894–1973), a Chinese historian
and politician, in Beijing on 1 January 1940 and ended publication in 1945.
3 Zhou Zuoren, “Fandong laozuojia” [Reactionary old writer], Zhitang huixiang lu [Mem­
oirs of Zhitang] (Taipei: Longwen chubanshe, 1989), 714.
4 Yu, also called Yu the Great, was a legendary person in ancient China famed for his
prevention of flood by water control. He also established the Xia dynasty. Ji, also called
Hou Ji, was a legendary person famed for his agriculture skills in the Xia dynasty. He
taught people how to plant food crops and was claimed as the ancestor of the Zhou
dynasty.
5 Zhao Jinghua, “Zhou Zuoren de minzu guojia yishi” [Zhou Zuoren’s national conscious-
ness], Wenxue Pinglun [Literary review] 1 (2015): 70.
6 Zhou Zuoren, “Lichun yiqian xu” [Postscript of Before Spring], in Zhou Zuoren Wenxuan
[Analects of Zhou Zuoren], ed. Zhong Chuhe (Guangzhou: Guangzhou chubanshe, 1995),
34.
7 For example, see Yuan Yidan, “Yinwei xiuci: Beiping lunxian shiqi wenren xuezhe de
biaoda celue” [Subtle rhetoric: The strategies of literati during the occupation of Beiping],
Zhongguo xiandai wenxue yanjiu congkan [Modern Chinese literature research studies]
1 (2014): 1.
8 Zhou Zuoren, Foreword, Yaotang zawen [Essays from Yaotang] (Beijing: Xinmin chuban-
she, 1944), 1–2.
9 Nanjing shi danganguan, ed., Shenxun Wang wei Hanjian bilu [The trial transcripts of
the Wang Jingwei regime traitors] (Nanjing: Fenghuang chubanshe, 2004), 1398.
10 Quoted in Zhi An, Zhou Zuoren zhuan [The biography of Zhou Zuoren] (Jinan: Shandong
huabao chubanshe, 2009), 240.
11 Nanjing shi danganguan, Shenxun, 1390.
12 Ibid., 1434.
13 Ibid., 1439.
14 The eight-legged essay was a special style of essay that was used in imperial examina­
tions during the Ming and Qing dynasties.
15 The book Mencius, named after its writer, is one of the Confucian classics. Mencius has
seven chapters, each named after the first person to appear in the chapter. Li Lou was a
legendary person with strong vision.
16 Yanzi (521–481 BCE), also called Yan Hui, was Confucius’ best disciple.
17 Wu Guozhen, Mengzi zuixin yingwen quan yi quan zhu ben [A new annotated English
version of the works of Mencius] (Fuzhou: Fujian jiaoyu chubanshe, 2015), 198.
18 King Hui of Liang (400–319 BCE) was the third king of Wei during the Warring States
period.
340 Xue Bingjie

19 Mu is a unit of area equivalent to 667 square metres.

20 Wu Guozhen, Mengzi, 31.
21 Ruan Yuan (courtesy name Boyuan, 1764–1849), was a writer and philosopher in the
Qing dynasty. In Lunyu lunren lun [On the analects and benevolence], he tried to explain
the Analects of Confucius and the concept of benevolence.
22 Zhong yong [The doctrine of the mean] is Chapter 31 of The Book of Rites and became
one of the Four Books of Confucian philosophy after the Song dynasty. It is a text rich
with guidance to gain perfect virtue.
23 Zheng Xuan (courtesy name Kangcheng, 127–200), was a Confucian scholar in the East­
ern Han dynasty.
24 Zhang Taiyan (1869–1936), also known as Zhang Binglin, was a revolutionary, philoso-
pher and scholar during the late Qing dynasty and the early Republic. Daohan weiyan
[Subtle notes from Daohan] is a collection of his philosophical essays discussing Buddhism
and Confucianism. Daohan was the name of his study.
25 Zhuangzi (369–286 BCE), also known as Zhuang Zhou, was a Chinese philosopher, lit-
térateur, and one of the foremost representatives of Taoism.
26 Cheng Yi (1033–1107) and his older brother, Cheng Hao (1032–85), were philosophers
and educators in the Song dynasty.
27 The Aiju is a seabird in a story from an ancient Chinese history book, Guoyu [Discourses
of the states].
28 Jiao Xun (1763–1820), courtesy name Litang, was a Chinese philosopher, mathematician
and opera theorist in the Qing dynasty. Yi yu yue lu [Study notes on the Book of Changes]
is a collection of his academic notes of his study of the Book of Changes, an ancient Chi­
nese divination text.
29 Li Ji (The Book of Rites) is a collection of texts describing the social forms, administration,
and ceremonial rites of the Zhou dynasty. The chapter titled “Li Yun” describes Confucian
political thought and historical viewpoints. The “Great Unity” thought in this chapter
has had a profound impact on politicians and reformers of China.
30 “Coexistence and co-prosperity” was a popular Japanese propaganda slogan during the
war.
31 Wu Guozhen, Mengzi, 30.
32 Zhang Xianzhong (1606–47), nicknamed Yellow Tiger, was a leader of a peasant revolt
who later became the emperor of the short-lived Da Xi dynasty in Sichuan. Li Zicheng
(1606–45), nicknamed Dashing King, was a leader of a peasant revolt that overthrew
the Ming dynasty in 1644. Li later became the emperor of the short-lived Da Shun
dynasty.
33 Hong Xiuquan (1814–64) was the leader of the Taiping Rebellion during the Qing dynasty
and established the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom in Nanjing. Yang Xiuqing (1823–56) was
an organizer of the Taiping Rebellion and the east king of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom.
34 Wu Guozhen, Mengzi, 30.
35 Wang Anshi (courtesy name Jiefu, 1021–86), was an ideologist, politician, and littéra­
teur. Wang initiated the socioeconomic reform known as the New Policies in the Song
dynasty.
36 Laoxuean biji [Notes from the old learning study] was written by Lu You (1125–1209), a
Chinese poet in the Song dynasty.
37 Shangguan is a relatively rare Chinese compound surname.
38 Mount Qingcheng, a mountain in Sichuan, is considered one of the birthplaces of Taoism.
39 The flood indicates the French Revolution, which started over seven decades after the
rule of Louis XIV.
40 E-pang gong fu (Ode to E-pang palace) is an essay written by Du Mu (courtesy name
Muzhi, 803–52), a poet and essayist of the late Tang dynasty. E-pang was a palace complex
 The Transformation of Zhou Zuoren’s Thought 341

of the first emperor of the Qin dynasty. Through describing its construction and destruc-
tion, Du Mu summarized the historical experience of the Qin dynasty. Guwen xiyi
(Analysis of ancient essays) is a book written by Lin Yunming (1628–97), a poet and
essayist of the late Ming and early Qing dynasties who selected and analyzed Chinese
classics by making commentaries and annotations.
23 Zhou Zuoren’s
Letter to Zhou Enlai
TIMOTHY CRONIN

On 4 July 1949, the day to which this letter to Premier Zhou Enlai
(1898–1976) is dated, Zhou Zuoren (1885–1967) was living in the home
of his former student You Bingqi 1 in a newly liberated Shanghai. He had
resided there since his sudden release from Nanjing’s Tiger Bridge
Prison in January, scarcely two years into a ten-year sentence for the
crime of “collaboration with an enemy nation and conspiracy against
his own country.”2 This turn of good fortune accompanied the Kuomin­
tang (KMT) abandonment of the capital, as part of a general amnesty
to all state prisoners not serving a life sentence. 3
Although cut off from his family in Beiping, Zhou was not without
moral and financial support, and the months he spent in Shanghai present
a picture of relative ease and collegiality atypical even of his life before
the 1937 invasion. Among his visitors, for poetry and games of mah-jong,
was a veritable who’s who of literary luminaries from the Shanghai and
Nanjing wartime scene, many of whose reputations were similarly
clouded by association with the Wang Jingwei (1883–1944) regime.
After the resumption of regular rail services, Zhou resolved to return
north. Although his conviction had been issued by the court of a defunct
regime and it was possible that the freshly triumphant Communists
might display a measure of magnanimity that the legitimacy-strapped
KMT could ill afford in 1946, Zhou’s situation remained precarious and
many questions hung over his future livelihood and the status of his
estate. His impressive library had been requisitioned as “enemy prop­
erty” and lay piled in a wing of the Palace Museum, while People’s Liber­
ation Army soldiers billeted in the front rooms of his old home and his
large family rented the rooms around the rear courtyard only at the
new government’s forbearance. 4
 Zhou Zuoren’s Letter to Zhou Enlai 343

Zhou Zuoren was anxious to ascertain his status in the regime’s eyes,
and this letter can be seen as an attempt to accommodate himself to
China’s new rulers before his return. But Zhou, who believed that he
had done much to ameliorate the excesses of the Japanese and their
more opportunistic hangers-on, remained quietly aggrieved at his
treatment. This was, therefore, equally an opportunity to restate his
case before a new authority and partially redeem his sullied reputation.
This letter is the most coherent account we have of Zhou’s own
views on the circumstances and motivations behind the collaborative
act that rendered him persona non grata in the world of Chinese letters.
The arguments marshalled here, as idiosyncratic as the man himself,
confound the common categories of loyalty and disloyalty that Zhou
himself rejected as inappropriate standards for action. He was dismis­
sive of any mode of abstract patriotism that privileged political purity
over tangible goods delivered to actual people. Indeed, the “scorn of
hypocrisy” that Zhou accorded to his intellectual heroes led him to a
particular disdain for literary men who fancied themselves warriors,
and this attitude coloured his views on resistance itself.
In his mind, years of internecine struggle under warlord and KMT
rule alike had sapped China’s capacity to defend itself against imperial
Japan’s military might. 5 But he did not celebrate the Japanese victory
he believed inevitable. Before the war, Zhou had written as forcefully as
anyone against the tide of fascism that disfigured the Japan of unbound
feet, ribald poetry, and reverence for the ordinary that had disclosed
itself to him with all the force of revelation as a young exchange student.6
He regarded Japan’s appalling behaviour on the international stage as
a tragedy for both victim and victimizer alike.7
While ample evidence exists of resistance and insubordination
against the Japanese authorities on Zhou’s part, 8 these acts were pos­
sible only because of the inherent propaganda value his cooperation
held for the occupiers and the legitimacy it lent them.9 Did Zhou’s pur­
ported ends justify his means? Or does his argument smack too keenly
of post facto justification? While these questions remain open to debate,
according to Zhou the status of either dedicated resister or opportunis­
tic collaborator appears equally implausible.
This is all in support of Lu Yan’s trenchant assertion that “in Zhou
Zuoren’s case, [Poshek] Fu’s three patterns of behaviour – passivity,
resistance, and collaboration – seem to coexist in one person, and thus
do not fit well. These categories ... are only relevant in an intellectual
344 Timothy Cronin

context dominated by nationalism.”10 For Zhou, the integrity of the

nation was not the summum bonum of ethical action but was second­
ary to fundamental questions of individual well-being and maintaining
conditions amenable to its flourishing. For Zhou, expecting individuals
to sacrifice themselves in the name of the nation was not only a relic
of feudal virtue akin to the fetishization of female chastity (valorizing
suicide over survival), but was also wasteful and counterproductive.11
Against these ideas, he invoked the practical virtues of a pristine “proto-
Confucianism” and the scientific truths revealed by Western advances
in sexual psychology, sociology, and anthropology – dual intellectual
streams that buttressed his appeals to the “practicalisation of morality”
and “naturalisation of ethics” respectively.12
Whatever their ultimate exculpatory power, it is crucial to note that
most of Zhou Zuoren’s arguments herein predate the outbreak of war.
His apparent apprehension of communism’s essential correctness
through the circuitous path of “the Woman Question” can indeed be
traced back to a 1918 essay published in the pages of Xin qingnian (New
youth).13 The letter’s basic gambit rests in Zhou’s attempt to establish
his natural sympathy for the Communist cause via his verifiable pro­
gressive record, even in the absence of a legitimate socialist pedigree.
He hoped to earn a place in the New China as an essentially benign, if
not beneficial, member of the body politic.
It remains unclear whether Zhou Enlai ever read the letter, but Zhou
Zuoren seems to have copied it out more than once. A copy of the letter
made it into the hands of Feng Xuefeng,14 founding editor-in-chief of
the People’s Literature Publishing House. Wei Shijing writes that “one
day Comrade Xuefeng arrived at the Lu Xun Publishing Society ... and
sat across from me. Turning on the desk lamp, he began to read some
documents, becoming more and more agitated until exclaiming loudly:
‘Look! If Zhou Zuoren had even an ounce of self-awareness, he would
know not to write this sort of thing!’”15 When the letter was first pub­
lished in May 1987, the editor’s note asserted that its provenance was
precisely from this copy of Feng’s. Indeed, this copying process may
explain the conspicuous absence of a named addressee.16
This also seems not to have been the only letter Zhou wrote to senior
party members. In January 1951, he appears to have written to Mao
himself – with a copy sent to Mao’s influential cultural czar, Zhou Yang
(1908–89). If extant, neither of these letters are publicly available, but
 Zhou Zuoren’s Letter to Zhou Enlai 345

some of their content has survived in Hu Qiaomu’s correspondence and

Zhou Zuoren’s diary. Addressing Zhou Yang, Zhou Zuoren wrote:

I am unwilling, under the People’s Government, to be spoken of as

either a collaborator with an enemy nation, or a conspirator against
his own country. Back in the days of the Kuomintang, concepts of
right and wrong were upside-down and so I thought there was no
point in arguing with it. But I believe that our present government is
imminently possessed of reasonable feelings ... like a drowning man
in sight of a rescue vessel, I cannot help but feel a certain sense of
hopefulness – this is a thoroughly human weakness, after all. It is
with happy heart that I humbly entreat your consideration.17

The following week Hu Qiaomu wrote to Mao:

My opinion is that [Zhou] should completely admit to his wrong­

doings and repent in the papers like Li Ji 18 ... He currently translates
classical European literature, earning his living from the proceeds of
these manuscripts and perhaps he can continue work in this area in
the future. Zhou Yang seconds this suggestion. Please indicate your
instructions, for or against.19

Mao’s mark instructs to “proceed as suggested.” Zhou Zuoren’s diary

indicates that he did draft several versions of a confession, but accord­
ing to Lou Shiyi’s 20 later account they were rejected because Zhou
“would not admit fault ... and insists that he entered the puppet regime
only to preserve our national culture. Our leaders thought that there
was no way they could possibly present a confession like this to the
People.”
These letters did not earn the redress or rehabilitation Zhou had
hoped for. Nonetheless, he was treated with relative leniency in these
early years, even as his literary endeavours were restricted to reminis­
cences of Lu Xun and translations from the Classical Greek and Japan­
ese. For the most part, ( ... ) he lived out an anonymous, industrious life
– never vindicated, but neglected more than actively persecuted. 21
Tragically, this anonymity failed to protect Zhou at the outbreak of the
Cultural Revolution. His old home was stormed by a contingent of Red
Guards, and he was subjected to a series of savage beatings before
346 Timothy Cronin

being forced to eke out his final year in a state of malnourishment and
appalling privation. 22
The reigning interpretation of Zhou’s collaboration as an ipso facto
betrayal of race and nation likely contributed to the brutality of his end,
as the young guards – stirred by revolutionary rhetoric – arrogated for
themselves the right to execute with violence what they must have be­
lieved to be the solemn judgment of history. To the extent to which def­
initions of patriotism and loyalty remain unreflective and
unreconstructed in China and elsewhere, the complicated wartime
experience of Zhou Zuoren – one of modern China’s most accomplished
literary stylists and broad-minded social commentators – will remain
relevant and illustrative.

—•  TRANSLATION  •—

A Letter by Zhou Zuoren

Dear Mister XX:

It is with a good deal of hesitation that I write this letter to you, sir, because
judged according to old norms, doing so cannot but seem a little inappro-
priate. If one were to adopt the tone typical of an old-society news reporter,
then it might be said of the whole thing that it smacks a bit of unabashed
brown-nosery and shameless self-promotion – for the fact remains that there
is really no pleasant way of discussing these matters. Yet, after a period of
deliberation, I finally made the decision to write. This is because our present
time differs markedly from preceding ages, and past concepts of right and
wrong are no longer fit guides for present action. It simply behooves us
now to speak the truth, and to do so with sincerity. If it happens that one
has some matter or other to declare before the People’s government – which
is to say, my government also – then there is nothing about this that is
impermissible. This state of affairs is diametrically opposed to how we
were expected, from our position as subjects, to address the authoritarian
governments of the past; and it is for this reason that I have resolved to
write this letter to you, sir, so as to offer some manner of explanation of my
views on New Democracy23 and give account of some matters of personal
significance.
I am not a researcher of the social sciences, and can by no means lay claim
to any great understanding of communism’s scientific essence, even though
 Zhou Zuoren’s Letter to Zhou Enlai 347

I have had occasion to read a little of its standard texts, and believe, further-
more, that history is (as it has ever been) the history of class struggle, in
which prevailing categories of morality and law through the ages have
represented nothing so much as the interests of the privileged classes of
the day. I also have no specialized knowledge to speak of and, as far as litera-
ture is concerned, I am quite conscious of my lack of propensity for it – so I
have long since given up that particular game. Yet in saying this, even now
I find myself interested in the myths of the Greeks,24 in the tales of children
and their songs, in folklore and popular customs and other things of this
sort – and this all happens to be deeply implicated in the so-called Woman
Question and Child Question,25 two issues to which I have devoted a con-
siderable amount of attention in my day. There was a time in which my in-
vestigations into this Woman Question also led me to much the same
conclusion as the English thinker Edward Carpenter:26 that that Woman
Question had to be solved alongside the “question of the worker.” It is
from this realization that I came to believe that communism was our only
sure way out of this bind, a sentiment from which I have never wavered in
all these years since. Coming to the issue obliquely, from the question of
women’s proper role in society, I came to understand the righteousness of
communism’s path and believe in its power to solve all of our society’s many
ills. Those of us who have lived under Kuomintang rule know very little of
the formal theories of the Chinese Communist Party, nor much of its cur­
rent realities – only what information we could glean from the two or three
works of Chairman Mao available to us, or from the books of the American
journalist Edgar Snow and others like him.27 But this year, with Tianjin and
Beiping liberated one after the other – followed in quick succession by
Nanjing and Shanghai – we are finally able to see and hear for ourselves, and
it can finally be said of us that we properly understand. But while we know
that the theory of communism is correct, we desire most of all to know how
its reality will prove. The people have all witnessed for themselves the superb
discipline of the People’s Liberation Army, but to speak quite plainly, though
this is a very positive thing indeed, it is also something that should go without
saying. Instead, the more pressing question is how politics will be done, and
it is this question that the average person’s attention is fixed upon today.
On the topic of north and east China, we are aware of the party’s efforts
at implementing the principles of New Democracy there. While this is only
a very vague characterization of the kind of work underway, the significance
of these acts themselves is, in fact, quite monumental. Ever since the found-
ing of the republic, there has been no shortage of “-isms” and theories that
348 Timothy Cronin

have swept across the public stage only to betray themselves as little better
than the placards and advertisements they ever were: an interminable ser­­ies
of uncashable cheques. But for there now to be a theory actually put into prac-
tice, represents something of an unprecedented miracle for China. And as
a person who has long believed in the pressing need for morality to be trans-
formed into a form of practical ethics, naturally I can only express my sincere
admiration. It is obviously difficult to encapsulate the full import of this new
turning point in Chinese history. Yet speaking generally of what we have
witnessed to date, we know that the Chinese Communist Party possesses
an established system of self-criticism and a studious spirit and are witness
to the rigour and practicality of its dealings, its prudence and industry, and
its willingness to “seek truth from facts” (to quote, in the main, the words of
Zhang Zhizhong).28 That these developments represent a new and previously
nonexistent direction for China is probably something of which the whole
world is well aware. But I think that the most meaningful aspect of this is
the fact that theory and practice are unified for the party, and that the trad-
itionalism once so rife in our governing circles is being smashed in favour
of a politics characterized by the rustic decency of the peasantry. The value
and significance of this is difficult to adequately quantify, of course, but it is
a feat at least equal to breaking the military dominance of the feudal aris-
tocracy and one that is in many ways even more challenging for being an act
of creation. I mean only to offer here some expression of my admiration for
these recent developments, and will refrain from embellishing further, given
that these are all things that the party itself is perfectly well aware of – and
no doubt more than a few outsiders have expressed similar sentiments,
besides.
Because I am not someone with any great understanding of politics or
economics, my words cannot help but sound just so crudely superficial as
this. But these words are nonetheless true, insofar as they serve to express
my meaning. Therefore, I will quit my hemming and hawing and just write
my mind as best I can. Perhaps, however, there will be those who will wonder,
who does he think he is to say such things? – and because this criticism is a
perfectly reasonable one, I think I must also offer a few words of explana-
tion for myself, sir, since I fear that there may be certain aspects of my thought
and actions that you may not entirely understand.
Regarding the criticisms that have been levelled at me: before the War of
Resistance, they were because I was deemed too leisurely and passive, whereas
after the war, it was for my having reputedly betrayed the nation and col-
laborated with the enemy. As far as my own situation is concerned, severe
 Zhou Zuoren’s Letter to Zhou Enlai 349

criticism is entirely warranted and there ought to be a frank admission of

fault on my part. However, it is also necessary for me to offer some account
of how these circumstances came to pass. And although it is altogether
unavoidable for this to smack a little of self-justification, I can claim in all
honesty that none of these justifications are of the spurious and sophistic
sort and I will categorically admit to whatever errors of mine that emerge
from the recounting.
Because of my cursory readings into the Woman Question and its rela-
tionship to sexual psychology, my thinking became influenced by the ideas
of August Bebel,29 Edward Carpenter, Havelock Ellis, 30 and others. Through
them I was led to conclude that women’s sexual and economic liberation
could only be found within a communist society, a view from which I have
never wavered since. As for Chinese thinkers of the past, there have been
three that have significantly influenced my thinking: the first of these is
Wang Chong of the Eastern Han dynasty; the second, Li Zhi of the Ming;
and the third, Yu Zhengxie of the Qing. 31 All these men were united by their
scorn for hypocrisy and falsity, their intimate knowledge of human feelings
and the natural order of things32 and their opposition to the feudalistic
ethical codes and Confucian ritualism that prevailed in their days. Li Zhi’s
example in particular has long been for me a particularly potent source of
inspiration, and there was also a period around the May Fourth movement
in which everyone was engaged in discussion of him, praising the ideas he
espoused in works like A Book to Burn (Fenshu), A Book to Keep Hidden
(Cangshu) and Upon Arrival at the Lakeside (Chutan ji) – all books that were
roundly condemned during the Ming and Qing dynasties as blasphemous
tracts and strictly banned. Li employed new and independent insights to
criticize the old historiographical traditions and overturn the moral system of
the Three Bonds,33 while authoring essays that sought to re-evaluate the leg­
acies of such maligned figures as Zhuo Wenjun, female Emperor Wu Zetian,
and Feng Dao.34 Li argued that Confucius’s standards of right and wrong
were inadequate guides for current norms, despite his own essays being
riddled with canonical quotations and classical allusions. Instead he makes
it clear, in a letter contained in A Book to Burn, that his aim was not to hand
down the teachings of the ancients even though he happened to cite their
words prodigiously; rather he quoted them simply because of the sheer stock
the people placed in such allusions and for the plausible degree of cover that
the words of the ancients might be able to provide him and his ideas. I quite
categorically do not believe that teachings of Confucius or Mencius can ever
be productive of democratic ideals, and I likewise hold a special dislike for
350 Timothy Cronin

the brand of Confucian that emerged from the Han and Song dynasties
onward. Even so, in spite of this I frequently cite the words of Confucius and
Mencius in the course of my essays and have claimed, furthermore, that
there existed “Confucians” predating Confucius and Mencius who possessed
certain ideas that remain worthy of our continued consideration today. Their
paragons were not Kings Wen or Wu or the Duke of Zhou, but it was rather
to Yu the Great and Hou Ji (the Lord of Millet) that they traced their lineage
– or perhaps even all the way back to the words of Shennong (the Divine
Farmer), who can be sure?35 Regardless of these questions of lineage, we can
say that their common aim lay, first and foremost, in guaranteeing the people’s
livelihood. And although we can hardly regard their example as “government
by the people,” it certainly touched on, at the very least, the principle of
“government for the people.”36 But it was in this sense, therefore, that I em-
ployed much the same tactic as Li Zhi: using the examples of the past for the
cause of present reform – well aware that my words were not the truth per
se, but finding myself in circumstances that presented few alternatives. “The
Problem of Chinese Thought,”37 “Two Kinds of Chinese Literary Thought,”
and several other pieces authored in the thirty-second year of the republic
(1943) are prime examples of this sort of essay of mine. And indeed, Li Zhi’s
views and my own were basically of a piece as far as antiquated Confucian
ethical codes were concerned. But whereas the tool with which he sought to
demolish Confucianism’s autocracy was the teaching of Chan Buddhism,
those of us in this day and age must naturally arm ourselves with a different
tool altogether, that is, with science.
The cannibal nature of the old Confucian orthodoxy is borne out by the
bare facts of history, inscribed there – line by line – in the pages of our
books.38 For these past two thousand years, China’s governing morality has
served the interests of the family head (for whom it was established) and its
guiding principle has been the chauvinist ideology of the Three Bonds. For
these men, the male as family head represented the absolute centre of the
moral universe: wives were his personal possession, and sons and daughters
were expected to exert themselves to their utmost in order to ensure his full
provision. In times of need they could be sold off as slaves or as prostitutes,
or even to act as paid scapegoats for capital crimes. Then, if he fell ill, they
would make him medicinal soup prepared from flesh hewn from their own
thighs; if enraged, he could simply kill them indiscriminately.39
If this “filial bond” between father and child were not bad enough, then
the conjugal bond between man and wife was basically intolerable. For if
children were his chattel and livestock, then wives and concubines were not
 Zhou Zuoren’s Letter to Zhou Enlai 351

only chattel and livestock, but also tools for his personal use. On top of the
arbitrary treatment with which we are already familiar, there was added a
level of cruelty and abuse born out of the particular sense of jealous entitle-
ment by which this bond is distinguished. For example, on the death of a
patriarch it was common practice for his wives and concubines to be buried
next to him in the grave alongside his chariots, his horses, his precious gar-
ments, buried there so that he might continue to use them in the afterlife.
By way of a second example, it was also typical, on encountering the ravages
of war, that the first wish of the patriarch (that is, the gentry and scholar-
officials familiar to us from later ages) should be for his wives and concu­
bines to promptly hang themselves – or hastily cast themselves into the river
– lest they be carried away by the hands of others. This is all to say, since
they were his to use and because he could not protect them, it was better
they die cleanly than be despoiled. Indeed this act could even be for him a
source of honour and glory: on the one hand, when peace was restored he
could return and stock his household with new wives and concubines, while
on the other hand he could erect an arch in memoriam, nailing up a plaque
to extoll the virtue of the most chaste of martyrs40 and going on to reap, in
so doing, even further renown for his house and prestige for his person.
This iniquitous and inhumane brand of morality has dominated our so-
ciety down to the present day, continuing to flourish especially from the Song
dynasty onwards. I have spoken here at some length on the subject of the
conjugal bond, not necessarily to make specific reference to the Woman
Ques­tion itself, but also because it is precisely from this bond that the bond
between ruler and subject arises. Therefore, it was necessary to offer some
explanation for the former first. Now, there have certainly existed monarch-
ical autocracies in every corner of the world, and in each alike has ruler been
exalted and subject demeaned. But where these have differed from China’s
case is that, in spite of the incredible inequality that has existed between
lord and subject in those parts too, the relationship was only ever that of
master and slave. While the slave remained at his master’s beck and call (and
even life and death awaited his master’s pleasure), the demands of the rela-
tionship nonetheless ended there. In China, however, the relationship be-
tween lord and subject was modelled on the bond between man and woman:
hence, we find “subjects” and “concubines” referred to as necessary counter-
points and terms such as “virgin-official” and “virgin-maiden” uttered in the
very same breath. Indeed, the poetic corpus abounds with lines that analogize
the lord-subject relationship to that of a man and a woman – with the clear-
est and most ubiquitous lines of connection drawn between “faithfulness”
352 Timothy Cronin

and “integrity,” clear evidence of the degree to which the statuses of subject
and concubine had been reduced to an essential equivalence.
These are ideas that should be regarded as altogether unreasonable in our
modern age. Whereas in ancient times this might not have seemed at all
outlandish, under a republic it should be a different matter altogether. For
while it is good and proper for citizens to hold affection for their country
and their people, any standard that would take their measure against the
norms once applied to the “virtuous mistress” or the “chaste woman” should
simply no longer exist. I believe that a republican morality should represent
the interests of the people, nothing more – and I cannot condone any morality
founded on such antiquated standards, even if I have no particular desire to
go out of my way to destroy them.
One final point on this subject: I find myself utterly dissatisfied with the
words of Dong Zhongshu when he wrote: “He makes his relations correct
and does not reckon upon profit; he makes clear his way and does not calculate
over accomplishments,”41 because I really cannot escape the feeling that people
of old only knew how to speak in platitudes and harp on in tones grandilo-
quent, while expending little to no effort in actually enacting their high-flown
ideals. This is a monumental failing. So, while my advocacy for a “practical-
ization of morality” has certainly been influenced by Yan Yuan,42 it can also
be said to arise from a place of personal intuition and true feeling.
I have rambled on at such length in hopes of offering some explanation
for how this antipathy for traditional Confucian orthodoxy has informed my
thinking, since my later actions bear some connection to this fact. Indeed,
if one were to pronounce me an iconoclast or a heretic – or to say that I have
somehow blasphemed against certain pious orthodoxies, then this is a charge
that I can readily accept; but if it were claimed that I had somehow betrayed
my people through my actions, then I deny there having been any such intent
on my part. I do not offer this by way of justification, but merely as an explana-
tion of fact.
To elaborate on circumstances just a little further, it was in the sixth year
of the republic [1917] that I first arrived at Peking University, and by the time
of the twenty-sixth year [1937] I had already spent a full two decades there.
According to university policy, staff were entitled to a year’s sabbatical after
having completed five years’ employment, but up until that time I had yet to
make use of any of my entitled leave. It just so happened that I was finally
intending to take leave (the paperwork was just in the process of being formal-
ized) when the Marco Polo Bridge Incident broke out. As Peking University
was making its preparations to relocate to Changsha, the professoriate met
 Zhou Zuoren’s Letter to Zhou Enlai 353

on two occasions, during which it was agreed that final decisions on whether
to remain or to leave should rest with the individual. As such, there were a
number of professors, who due either to old age or the heavy burden of family
dependants, declined to head south. My mother was still alive at the time,
and my younger brother’s wife and three children, as well as my daughter
and her three children (my son-in-law had gone to the National Northwestern
Associated University to teach) were all living under my roof. This amounted,
when added to the members of my immediate family, to some fourteen de-
pendants altogether. In light of this I opted to stay put and not to go.43 The
university also designated four elderly professors – Meng Sen, Ma Yuzao,
Feng Zuxun, and myself (although I was only fifty-four at the time) – to serve
as “Peking University resident professors,” entrusted with the job of safe-
guarding the university’s campus and property. Later on, in November, I
was sent a telegram with further instructions to this effect from the dean of
the university, Mr. Jiang Menglin.
At the end of that year, the custodian of the university’s Second College
(which is the College of Natural Sciences) located me and informed me that
the Kempeitai had recently dispatched people to inspect the college’s build-
ing, issuing a two-day ultimatum to vacate the premises. At the time, Professor
Meng was incapacitated by illness and Ma Yuzao was unwilling to deal with
the matter, so it fell upon Feng Zuxun and myself to write to the puppet
Provisional Government’s minister of education, Tang Erhe,44 to urge his
immediate intervention on the university’s behalf. Through his negotiations
with the Kempeitai that very evening the building escaped unscathed and
was preserved to such an extent that during an inspection tour of Beiping
after Japan’s defeat, Zhu Jiahua, then the Kuomintang secretary of the De­
partment of Education, gave a speech proclaiming the university’s natural
science department to be the best preserved in the country.45 Following this
earlier incident, I leveraged my name and position to safeguard the university
library and the Department of Literature and History and was able, fortun-
ately, to preserve the original state of the institutions’ staff and assets – while
I employed similar tactics later on to spare the collection of the National
Library.
Following Tang Erhe’s death shortly thereafter, it was suggested that I
assume his place in the ministry, a proposal I chose to accept in the end fol-
lowing a period of consideration. Since the management of higher education
rested entirely with the minister at the time, everyone saw the need for me
to fill the position so as to defend against the likes of Wang Yitang46 and his
ilk. In the two years that I spent in the role, the job of actively sustaining the
354 Timothy Cronin

school’s activities occupied a place of secondary importance to the pressing

demands of passive defence. We strove to offer some manner of resistance,
sometimes explicit, sometimes implicit, against the pressures and interfer-
ence we faced at the hands of the enemy Asia Development Board and the
puppet New People’s Association.47 All this was done in hopes of lessening
the pains and burdens imposed on students and on the school. Indeed, these
can be said to have been the problems that most sorely taxed our minds from
day to day. I do not dare to speculate on the efficacy of any of these efforts,
of course, but I believed that they were worth doing at the time, if only to
bring some small measure of benefit to students and young people alike. I
believe that if I had escaped instead to the interior and gone on to teach there
for a few years, this would been just so much empty talk for me, quite unequal
to having stayed in the midst of occupation and worked – even in the most
minute capacity – on the school and students’ behalf. For me it was a tangible
contribution at any rate.
I do not believe in any of this talk of keeping one’s faithfulness or of
losing it, I only believe in doing some practical good for the people. Moreover,
all these nominal categories of loyalty and disloyalty, right and wrong, are
basically malleable: to be entrusted, for example, with the special mission
of “suppressing [communist] rebellion” by the Kuomintang government
absolutely cannot be deemed an act superior to the job of sustaining a school
in the occupied territory. I know that my opinions on these matters cannot
avoid some bias, even though I am speaking the truth as I know it. But it is
also true that my attention was only ever focused on the concerns of the
school and students – the fact that I only considered the needs of the intel-
lectual classes, while neglecting the broader plight of the masses, was cer-
tainly a mistake, and one to which I must readily admit.
Collaboration with the enemy is an exceedingly rare thing among the
Chinese people, and the act of merely making do and muddling along under
trying circumstances certainly cannot genuinely be regarded as collaborative
acts. As for those engaged in some form of resistance against the invader –
whether implicitly or explicitly – this is naturally even less the case for them.
As far as my published thoughts and writings from before and after the
occupation are concerned, there are two pieces of evidence I can offer to
show that my thinking did not undergo any kind of drastic transformation
before and after the outbreak of war.
First, before the War of Resistance I published several articles in the
Guowen Weekly under the heading of “Limited Views on Japan.” The fourth
and final instalment of these was published in July 1937, in what would be
 Zhou Zuoren’s Letter to Zhou Enlai 355

the magazine’s last issue before the outbreak of war. In that essay, I sought to
explain how our attempts at understanding the Japanese national character
through the prism of culture, with literature and art as our keys, were ultim-
ately futile endeavours. While keys of this sort can certainly be applied to
questions of culture, attempting to use them to unpick problems of a military
or political nature naturally sends us running into walls that remain, in spite
of our best efforts, thoroughly impenetrable. Rather, I argued that it was neces-
sary for us to tackle these questions from the starting point of religion and
turn our scrutiny to Shinto as practised in the popular realm – differing so
markedly from the foreign imports of Confucianism and Buddhism and char-
acterized, as it so often is, by the mad fervour of one possessed. The spectacle
of the divine palanquin48 on festival day, for example – thrashing about wildly
from side to side as it was carried shrine to shrine, often in complete defiance
of the established route – is a sight that one would never encounter in the folk-
ways of China. The sheer emotional impulsivity of these displays, above and
beyond the bounds of common reason and manifesting in outbursts of sheer
irrationality, may hold some explanatory power for the acts of violence
perpetrated by Japan both domestically and internationally.
Later, in the winter of the twenty-ninth year of the republic [1940], the
Japanese International Cultural Revival Association solicited an essay from
me in commemoration of the 2,600th anniversary of the founding of the
Japanese nation. Since there was no way that I could possibly refuse, I penned
an essay entitled “Re-understanding Japan” for the occasion. This essay duly
appeared in print, and readers can verify for themselves that the essay’s
conclusion is precisely the same as that I have just drawn. In it I made the
argument that any attempt at understanding the national character of a
people through the lens of culture will always prove fruitless, that for there
to be any hope of understanding, such questions must be approached from
a religious perspective. This piece can be said to be representative of my
published views on Japan.49
Second, as far as any writings on the subject of China are concerned, I
happened to write quite a few these during the occupation, and of these,
“The Problem of Chinese Thought” can be seen as the most representative.
This piece was written in the winter of the thirty-first year of the republic
[1942], at a time when the Asian Revival Society and the New People’s Associ­
ation were enthusiastically seeking to establish a central ideology on behalf
of the Chinese people. That this centre was meant to be found within the
bounds of the “New Order of Greater Asia” goes without saying, and it was
in direct opposition to these efforts that my essay was written. As per usual
356 Timothy Cronin

practice, I made amply sure to quote the words of Confucius and Mencius
and I loudly sang the praises of Yu the Great and Hou Ji’s style of governance
– all in an effort to argue for China’s possession of just such a central system
of beliefs from its very earliest days. This set of beliefs, I explained, did not
arise merely from the advocacy of the scholar and literatus. Instead, there
was no heart that did not possess it innately, whether sage on high or com-
mon man and woman below. Therefore, it was possible neither to eliminate
it nor to inculcate it either – rather, it was founded on the people’s basic will
to live. Each individual desired survival, and desired that all others might be
able to live as well, and while the saints and sages dignified this desire with
the name of “benevolence,” even the common folk were able to comprehend
its meaning innately, though they may not be able to read it if written down.
In ordinary times, the Chinese people are very peaceful and willing to en­
dure considerable hardship if necessary, yet they will refuse to yield if they
are brought to a juncture where their survival is threatened. I am well aware
that these conclusions are shallow – not to mention vague and full of gross
generalities. But the important thing here is less the soundness of these
theories than the practical effect they had. In September of the following
year, the Japanese army–controlled Patriotic Literature Society organized
the Greater East Asia Writers’ Congress in Tokyo, during which society
member Kataoka Teppei called for the elimination of a certain “old reaction-
ary writer” in China. His speech contained the following assertions:

I come before you to identify an enemy who must count among those ves-
tigial foes that you honoured gentlemen would recognize all too well. As
we speak, this old writer of the reactionary literary establishment continues
to sow discord and disruption in the pacified areas; for although he resides
within the pacified zone, this enemy of ours insists on setting himself against
the literary activities pursued with such vigour and enthusiasm by you
honoured gentlemen – using his formidable literary qualifications in order
to occupy China’s literary arena. This man frequently employs his extremely
reactionary thoughts and actions to oppose the Great Asian Thought that
you, honoured gentlemen, and I seek to establish. On the road of our struggle,
this man is an obstacle and an active saboteur – representing a heretical
idol at the heart of East Asia, which must be torn down and smashed

– and so on, and so forth. (The original text of this speech was published in
the third issue of Patriotic Literature [Bungaku hōkoku], the society’s official
organ, and the full Chinese translation of the speech was published in
 Zhou Zuoren’s Letter to Zhou Enlai 357

Shanghai in the thirty-third year of the republic, in the May issue of

Miscellany [Zazhi].)
Although Kataoka did not mention any names on that occasion, after
direct interrogation, he admitted in a letter that this “vestigial foe” of his did
indeed refer to me (the original was delivered as evidence to the high court
in Nanjing, where there exists an official copy). The third paragraph of the
letter goes on to read:

If a reader, after reading the “The Problem of Chinese Thought” in full, fails
to perceive the reactionary and conservative role played by this text, in light
of this present historical moment of ours, it is because the reader in question
lacks the necessary perspicacity to perceive the meaning lying beneath the
pages’ surface. I perceive in its words a position which argues that the sup-
posed “will of the Chinese people” should be left unstifled: which, in fact,
constitutes a passive repudiation of the war that struggles even now for the
liberation of Greater East Asia. It is for this reason that I delivered the speech
I did at the Greater East Asia Writers’ Congress in September of last year.
The people of China look up to you, sir, as a moral compass; and knowing
the powerful influence that essays of yours would necessarily have there,
reading them instilled in me no small sense of trepidation. If this essay of
yours, sir, is not an outright repudiation of the Greater Asia War, then at
the very least it represents the attitudes of a certain subset of the Chinese
people whose desire it is to sit on the sidelines of this war and it serves to
endow these views with a certain respectability based on traditional moral-
ity and to normalize them thereby.50

You can see from this something of the tone and quality of the essays I
authored under the occupation – such that the enemy itself regarded me as
an obstacle on their road of struggle, an active saboteur, and an idol in need
of smashing. This sort of evidence should go to show that I was not some
willing collaborator. Beyond this one particular essay, there were a few more
that I wrote at the time, but none really worth mentioning here and so I will
decline to go on any more superfluously.
I had originally hoped to do my very best at writing simply and to the
point, and yet now I have already gone and blathered on rather incessantly.
It is simply that there were a few areas for which I could not help but try to
offer up some manner of explanation, and for this I have to beg your forgive-
ness. To the delusion of some of my past ideas, and for the errors of my ac-
tions, I myself readily confess – and yet I earnestly and sincerely hope that
358 Timothy Cronin

you are able to understand my true nature and intent, sir. It is for this reason
that I have written you this letter. I had originally thought to write to Mr.
Mao, but knowing how busy he most certainly is, I did not dare to bother
him. I hope, therefore, that you might represent to him my case.
(The fourth of July, the thirty-eighth year of the republic [1949])

Notes
1 You Bingqi (1912–84) was an accomplished translator of Japanese and English. Notable
translations include Kenneth Grahame’s The Wind in the Willows; Lu Xun’s old friend
and publisher, Kanzō Uchiyama’s Ikeru Shina no sugata (China as it is); and several works
of Natsume Sōseki, including his famed novel Wagahai wa neko de aru (I Am a Cat).
2 Nanjing shi dang’anguan, ed., Shenxun Wangwei Hanjian bilu [Records of the trial of
Wang puppet regime traitors] (Nanjing: Jiangsu guji chubanshe, 1992), 1486–89.
3 Geng Chuanming, Zhou Zuoren de zuihou 22 nian [Zhou Zuoren’s final twenty-two
years] (Beijing: Zhongguo wenshi chubanshe, 2005), 125.
4 Zhi An, Zhou Zuoren zhuan [A biography of Zhou Zuoren] (Jinan: Shandong huabao
chubanshe), 267.
5 Kiyama Hideo, Beijing Kuzhu’an ji: RiZhong zhanzheng shidai de Zhou Zuoren [Zhou
Zuoren in the Time of the Sino-Japanese War], trans. Zhao Jinghua (Beijing: Shenghuo,
dushu, sanlian shudian, 2008), 11.
6 Susan Daruvala, Zhou Zuoren and an Alternative Response to Chinese Modernity (Cam­
bridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2000), 59–65; Lu Yan, Re-understanding Japan
(Honolulu: University of Hawai’i Press), 51–59.
7 For a poignant account of Zhou’s outspoken criticisms of Japan, both immediately pre-
ceding the war and long before its outbreak, see again Lu Yan, Re-understanding Japan,
138–43, 220–29. In a quote that speaks clearly to both Zhou’s affection for Japan and
sorrow at its actions, Lu cites him angrily exclaiming in 1925: “Those who truly love
China naturally should curse China, just as those Chinese who truly love Japan must
become absolute Japanophobes” (138).
8 See Nanjing shi dang’anguan, Shenxun Wangwei Hanjian bilu, 1424–89, for evidence
positively attesting to Zhou’s actions during the war, submitted to the court during his
1946 trial.
9 See Qian Liqun, Zhou Zuoren zhuan [A biography of Zhou Zuoren] (Beijing: Beijing
shiyue wenyi chubanshe, 1990), 450–52. Qian details some of Zhou’s more potentially
dubious activities during his collaboration. Responding to similar facts, Jianmei Liu,
although otherwise sympathetic to Zhou’s intellectual accomplishments, takes a dim
view of recent attempts to justify Zhou Zuoren’s wartime conduct, no doubt speaking
for many when she writes:
Zhou did not have the courage to stand up and fight or the wisdom to avoid dis-
graceful political involvement – both characteristics he regarded as important
components of the Confucian Spirit. Instead, he wore the Japanese military uniform
while he inspected a parade of the youth regiment, visited Japan, and lived a lux-
urious life during the war; all these deeds violated the basic Confucian standard.
Without wisdom, courage, loyalty, honesty and benevolence in his behaviour, Zhou
Zuoren’s talk of “the central theory of Confucian culture” appears very hypocritical
and even ironic.
Jianmei Liu, Zhuangzi and Modern Chinese Literature (Oxford: Oxford University Press,
2016), 88.
 Zhou Zuoren’s Letter to Zhou Enlai 359

10 Lu Yan, “Beyond Politics in Wartime: Zhou Zhouren, 1931–1945,” Sino-Japanese Studies

11, 1 (1998): 12, referencing Poshek Fu’s influential study on Chinese collaboration with
Japan: Passivity, Resistance, and Collaboration: Intellectual Choices in Occupied Shanghai,
1937–1945 (Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 1993). Lu finds the eponymous
formulation complicated by the complexities of Zhou Zuoren’s case.
11 See especially, his essays “Guanyu yingxiong chongbai” (On the worship of heroes, 1935)
and “Yue Fei yu Qin Gui” (Yue Fei and Qin Gui, 1935), both collected in his October 1935
collection of essays Jottings from Bitter Tea Studio [Kucha suibi], reissued in 2011 as Zhou
Zuoren, Kucha suibi [Jottings from Bitter Tea Studio], ed. Zhi An (Beijing: Beijing shiyue
huayi chubanshe, 2011). For an English translation of the latter, please see the author’s
previous translation at: http://www.chinaheritagequarterly.org/features.php?searchterm
=028_yuefei.inc&issue=028.
12 Daruvala, Zhou Zuoren and an Alternative Response, 110–12; Wang Pu, “Law, Morality,
and the Nation-State in the Trial of Zhou Zuoren: Revisiting the Case of Zhou’s
Collaboration with Japan during the Second Sino-Japanese War,” Frontiers of Literary
Studies in China 7, 4 (2013): 574–83.
13 Li Tonglu, “The Sacred and the Cannibalistic: Zhou Zuoren’s Critique of Violence in
Modern China,” Chinese Literature: Essays, Articles, Reviews 36 (December 2014): 40.
Zhou had also been a close friend of Li Dazhao, one of the cofounders of the Chi­nese
Communist Party. On Li Dazhao’s execution in 1927 at the hands of the forces of
Zhang Zuolin, Zhou harboured Li’s orphaned son from the authorities until he and the
famous calligrapher Shen Yinmo were able to secure him funds and passage, under an
assumed name, to the relative safety of Japan. For a detailed account, see Ni Moyan, Kuyu
zhai zhuren [The Master of Bitter Rain Studio] (Shanghai: Shanghai renmin chubanshe,
2003): 249–50.
14 Feng Xuefeng (1903–76) was an important member of the League of Left-Wing Writers
in Shanghai and a close friend and protégé of Lu Xun, instrumental in recruiting Lu to
the Communist cause. During the 1950s, Feng occupied prominent positions in China’s
literary hierarchy, before being branded a “rightist” during the 1957 Anti-Rightist cam-
paign and purged from the party. He was rehabilitated following Mao Zedong’s death.
15 Wei Shijing, “Guanyu Zhou Zuoren” [About Zhou Zuoren], Luxun yanjiu dongtai [Trends
in Luxun Research] 4 (1985): 27, as quoted in Zhi An, Zhou Zuoren zhuan, 266.
16 Zhou Zuoren, “Zhou Zuoren de yi feng xin” [A letter by Zhou Zuoren], Xin wenxue
shiliao [Historical materials on new literature] 2 (1987): 213–16, 221.
17 Zhi An, Zhou Zuoren zhuan, 267–86.
18 Li Ji (1892–1967) was an early member of the Communist Party, a distinguished transla-
tor of Marxist theoretical literature, and a leader of the Chinese Trotskyists. On 21
December 1950, he and fellow Trotskyist Liu Renjing publicly expressed remorse for
their political heterodoxy in the pages of the People’s Daily. See Wu Jimin, “Purgatory:
The Chinese Trotskyists’ Ordeal and Struggle,” in Prophets Unarmed: Chinese Trotskyists
in Revolution, War, Jail, and the Return from Limbo, ed. George Benton (Leiden: Brill,
2015), 133.
19 Zhi An, Zhou Zuoren zhuan, 268.
20 Lou Shiyi (1905–2001) was a prominent leftist critic and translator. Notably, he was re-
sponsible for drafting an open letter to Zhou Zuoren in 1937 urging him to evacuate
Beiping and head south, lest he be considered a traitor to the nation. This entreaty was
signed by seventeen other prominent writers, including such luminaries as Mao Dun,
Ding Ling, Hu Feng, Lao She, and Zhou’s close personal friend, the novelist Yu Dafu.
21 Zhi An, Zhou Zuoren zhuan, 275–99.
22 Ibid., 300. For a detailed first-hand account of Zhou’s final years, including his tragic end,
see Wen Jieruo’s (1927–) account “Wannian de Zhou Zuoren” [Zhou Zuoren’s later years],
Dushu [Reading] 26 (1990): 127–35.
360 Timothy Cronin

23 New Democracy refers to a distinctive Chinese revolutionary program promulgated by

Mao Zedong and adopted by the Chinese Communist Party. Through a coalition of classes
under communist and proletarian leadership it sought to enter directly into socialism
via the proactive participation of the people, bypassing the capitalist phase that Marx
theorized as the necessary and inevitable sequel to feudalism and colonialism. For in-
formation on New Democracy, including a full translation of Mao’s essay “On New
Democracy” that introduced its tenets, see Timothy Cheek, ed., Mao Zedong and China’s
Revolutions: A Brief History in Documents (New York: Palgrave, 2002), 76–122.
24 Wei Zhang, professor of Greek and Latin classics at Fudan University, regards Zhou as
“the foremost translator of ancient Greek literature modern China has yet seen.”
Particularly pertinent to our discussion here is the cultural connection Zhou drew be-
tween ancient Greece and Japan. The formulation was not his own, but rather borrowed
from his intellectual idol, British sexologist Havelock Ellis (see note 30 below), who called
the Japanese “the Greeks of another age and clime.” Nonetheless, the connection was
borne out by Zhou’s own experiences in Japan, when the twenty-one-year-old was inspired
by the sight of the bare and unbound feet of his landlady’s daughter, an epiphany on par
with his brother Lu Xun’s famous (and possibly apocryphal) experience at the medical
school in Sendai some months earlier. This revealed to Zhou the “love of the natural and
appreciation of the simple” (Lu Yan, “Re-Understanding Japan,” 41) inherent to the country
and her people, virtues he would soon find echoed in his readings of ancient Greek
mythology and literature. His hopes to inculcate the Chinese people with such a spirit
by means of his extensive translations from both languages became an integral part of
his program for cultural reform. For a detailed discussion of Zhou Zuoren’s engagement
with and translation of Greek mythology and literature, see Wei Zhang, “Zhou Zuoren
and the Uses of Ancient Greek Mythology in Modern China,” International Journal of
the Classical Tradition 22, 1 (2015): 100–15; and Daruvala, Zhou Zuoren and an
Alternative Response, 59–64.
25 Funü wenti is a direct translation from the English “the Woman Question.” Although
the term is somewhat ungainly to modern ears, it was commonly employed in the nine-
teenth and early twentieth centuries with reference to the debates that surrounded the
changing role of women in society, including such issues as women’s suffrage, repro-
ductive rights, property rights, and other legal privileges, and extending into questions
of women’s sexuality and criticism of the institution of marriage. These issues were a
major fixture of intellectual debate during the May Fourth and New Culture Movements.
26 Edward Carpenter (1844–1929) was a British poet, philosopher, socialist propagandist,
and early proponent of many and various social causes, including homosexual rights,
women’s rights, and vegetarianism. See Sheila Rowbotham, Edward Carpenter: A Life of
Liberty and Love (London: Verso Books, 2009).
27 See Edgar Snow, Red Star over China (London: Victor Gollancz, 1937).
28 Zhang Zhizhong (1895–1969) was an important KMT general and close confidant of
Chiang Kai-shek. As governor of Hunan during the War of Resistance, he was infamous
for accidentally causing the devastating Great Fire of Changsha after ordering key pos-
itions and building razed in anticipation of a Japanese attack that never materialized.
Later, he represented the Kuomintang in peace talks with the Communists, before de-
fecting in the final round. Presumably, Zhou is referring to public affirmations of support
that Zhang would have made in favour of the Communists following his defection. S.C.M.
Paine, The Wars for Asia: 1911–1949 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2012),
148–49, 291.
29 August Bebel (1840–1913) was a German socialist statesman and cofounder of the
So­cial Democratic Party. He was author of the influential treatise Woman under Social­
ism (1883) and an outspoken proponent of women’s social, economic, and sexual
liberation.
 Zhou Zuoren’s Letter to Zhou Enlai 361

30 Victorian-era social reformer and “sage of sex” Havelock Ellis (1859–1939) was, according
to Zhou Zuoren, “the thinker I most admire,” and Susan Daruvala views Ellis as the most
important of all the Western thinkers Zhou was exposed to. Ellis’s holistic world view
sought to reconcile science, through biology, with an aesthetic sense of “the world as a
vision of beauty,” according the organic desires of men and women an appropriate place
in the affective and moral life of human beings. Chief among these desires was sex, seen
as innate, good, and ultimately blameless. Ellis’s philosophical campaign against prevail-
ing ethical norms of Victorian Britain caused considerable controversy, a fact that would
have appealed strongly to Zhou who, along with Lu Xun and other progressive compatri-
ots, was likewise engaged in the struggled against the “feudal” norms still pervasive in
Chinese society, particularly around sexuality. Indeed, Daruvala writes, “Ellis’ rejection
of norms of false modesty as destructive to women, physically and morally, struck a deep
chord in Zhou and was part of the May Fourth ethos.” Naturally this greatly influenced
his later ideas around the “naturalisation of ethics.” Daruvala, Zhou Zuoren and an
Alternative Response, 87, 207–10.
31 Wang Chong (courtesy name Zhongren, 27–c. 100) was a Han dynasty thinker best
known for his collection Lunheng (Discourses weighed in the balance), which was dis-
tinguished by its broad investigations into history and the natural sciences and notable
for its skeptical and materialist approach toward the received wisdoms of the day. See
Rafe de Crespigny, A Biographical Dictionary of Later Han to the Three Kingdoms (23–220
AD) (Leiden: Brill, 2007). Li Zhi (courtesy name Zhuowu, 1527–1602) was a philosopher
and historian from the Ming dynasty, whose iconoclastic writings ultimately saw him
arrested by the authorities on charges of heresy; he eventually killed himself in prison.
See Rivi Handler-Spitz, Pauline C. Lee, and Haun Saussy, eds., A Book to Burn and a Book
to Keep (Hidden) (New York: Columbia University Press, 2016), for selected translations
of his most prominent and controversial works (mentioned below in the text). Yu Zhengxie
(courtesy name Lichu, 1775–1840) was a noted mid-Qing scholar famous for his remark-
able memory. Today Yu is often cited as a kind of Confucian proto-feminist, having been
uncharacteristically outspoken for his time regarding the hypocrisies inherent in trad-
itional notions of gender. Among other things he wrote against widow chastity, foot-
binding, and the notion of “women’s jealousy.” Two of his most famous works are Guisi
leigao (Categorized manuscripts from the Guisi year [1833]) and Guisi cungao (Further
writings from the Guisi year), collections of notes made on an array of topics such as
history, the classics, folklore, anthropology, medicine, economics, and geography.
32 Here I have borrowed Susan Daruvala’s translation of the term renqing wuli in her dis­
cussion of this important concept and its place in Zhou Zuoren’s thought. See Daruvala,
Zhou Zuoren and an Alternative Response, 87, 211.
33 The Three Bonds (or Three Cardinal Guides, san gang) refers to the three asymmetrical
relationships – ruler-subject, father-son, and husband-wife – that served as the founda-
tions of the Confucian social order from the early imperial period onwards. They were
characterized by a system of mutual, albeit unequal, social obligations that served to
reify an ideal social hierarchy. See Xinzhong Yao, ed., The Encyclopedia of Confucianism
(Abingdon, UK: Routledge, 2003), 522.
34 The mainstream historiographical tradition took a dim view of these figures, and they
were often portrayed as cautionary examples of moral deficiency; therefore, for Li Zhi
to seek to re-examine or even rehabilitate their legacies was a considerable and contro-
versial departure from common historical wisdom. Zhuo Wenjun (c. 179–after 117 BCE)
was a renowned writer of fu rhapsodies in the Han dynasty, whose elopement with
fellow poet Sima Xiangru, following the death of her husband, was the cause of consider-
able controversy. For a detailed biographical treatment, see Lily Xiao Hong Lee and A.D.
Stefanowska, eds., Biographical Dictionary of Chinese Women: Antiquity through Sui,
1600 B.C.E.–618 C.E. (Abingdon, UK: Routledge, 2015), 257–59. Emperor Wu Zetian
362 Timothy Cronin

(624–705) was the founder of the short-lived Zhou dynasty and China’s only female
monarch to reign in her own name. The facts of her rule are often difficult to untangle
from the scandalous deeds attributed to her by later scholars and historians. For a study
on her life and times, see C.P. Fitzgerald, The Empress Wu (Vancouver: UBC Press, 1968).
Feng Dao (882–954) was officially credited with overseeing the first systematic printing
of the Confucian classics during the tumultuous Five Dynasty era. In later ages his repu-
tation proved contentious for his willingness to serve at the courts of no less than ten
different emperors. For a comprehensive treatment of these issues, see Wang Gungwu,
“Feng Tao: An Essay on Confucian Loyalty,” in Confucian Personalities, ed. Arthur F.
Wright and Denis Twitchett (Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 1962), 123–45.
35 For a detailed discussion of Zhou Zuoren’s political and rhetorical uses of these ancient
culture heroes, who traditionally bequeathed the Chinese people the tools of flood-taming,
agriculture, and medicine, see Edward M. Gunn, Unwelcome Muse: Chinese Literature
in Shanghai and Peking, 1937–1945 (New York: Columbia University Press, 1980); and
Daruvala, Zhou Zuoren and an Alternative Response, 111–12.
36 See Lyon Sharman, Sun Yat-sen: His Life and Its Meaning (Stanford, CA: Stanford
University Press, 1968), 94, 271, for a discussion on the direct influence of Lincoln’s
Gettysburg Address on Sun Yat-sen’s formulation of the Three Principles of the People,
whose tenets of nationalism, democracy, and livelihood echo Lincoln’s language: “Of
the people, by the people, for the people.”
37 Please see Xue Bingjie’s complete translation of this essay in Chapter 22 of this volume.
38 For a thorough and enlightening discussion of Zhou’s scholarly and literary meditations
on violence, including his extensive use of cannibalistic symbolism in his discussions of
Confucianism and ideology, see Li Tonglu, “Sacred and the Cannibalistic,” 25–60.
39 For a recent and comprehensive study of many of these practices and social phenomena,
including “filial slicing” and “chastity suicides,” see Jimmu Yu, Sanctity and Self-Inflicted
Violence in Chinese Religions, 1500–1700 (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2012).
40 For a detailed discussion of the cult of chastity and the role of women in late-imperial
China, see Jane Theiss, Disgraceful Matters: The Politics of Chastity in Eighteenth-Century
China (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2004).
41 Dong Zhongshu (179–104 BCE) was an influential Han dynasty Confucian scholar who
played a decisive role in establishing Confucianism as the state cult of the imperial
Chinese realm, as well as being the first thinker to formally classify the aforementioned
Three Bonds.
42 Yan Yuan (courtesy name Xizhai, 1635–1704) founded a practical and empirical school
of Confucianism in fervent opposition to the dominant Zhu-Cheng neo-Confucianism
of his day. A considerable proportion of his works deal with pragmatic issues of govern-
ance, agriculture, and the livelihood of the people. For a detailed study of his life and
works, see Jui-sung Yang, Body, Ritual and Identity: A New Interpretation of Yan Yuan
(Leiden: Brill, 2016).
43 Zhou Zuoren is referring here to his brother Zhou Jianren’s first wife, who was the younger
sister of Zhou Zuoren’s Japanese wife. Curiously he does not mention Lu Xun’s estranged
wife, Zhu An, who had lived with Zhou Zuoren since Lu Xun’s departure from Beiping
in 1926.
44 For more on Tang Erhe (1878–1940), see Chapter 21 in this volume.
45 For corroboration of Zhu Jiahua’s (1893–1963) speech, as well as Hu Shi’s testimony on
behalf of Zhou Zuoren, see Nanjing shi dang’anguan, Shenxun Wangwei Hanjian bilu,
1458, 1477.
46 Wang Yitang (1877–1948) was a former member of the Anhui warlord clique and close
ally of Duan Qirui who sought refuge with the Japanese on the collapse of Duan’s govern-
ment in 1928. He later served in the Hebei-Chahar Political Council and then in the
 Zhou Zuoren’s Letter to Zhou Enlai 363

Provisional Government of the Republic of China. For a discussion of Wang and his
postwar fate, see Dongyoun Hwang, “Wartime Collaboration in Question: An Exam­in­
ation of the Post-war Trials of the Chinese Collaborators,” Inter-Asia Cultural Studies
6, 1 (2005): 75–97.
47 For a discussion of the New People’s Association as north China’s principal “mass mo-
bilisation” organization, including its important role in the dissemination of the “New
People’s Principles” (concocted to supplant Sun Yat-sen’s Three Principles of the People)
and their relation to the “Kingly Way” of Manchuria, see Kitamura Minoru and Lin Si-
Yun, The Reluctant Combatant: Japan and the Second Sino-Japanese War (Lanham, MD:
University of America Press, 2014), 73–75. Notably, Zhou Zuoren’s primary competition
for the minister of education position vacated by Tang Erhe was the head of the New
People’s Association, Miao Bin (1899–1946), whose role as an enthusiastic propagandist
for the Japanese spurred concerned parties to encourage Zhou to nominate himself. See
Wang Dingnan, “Wo dui Zhou Zuoren de ren weizhi yishi de shengming” [My statement
regarding the matter of Zhou Zuoren’s assumption of a false office], Xin wenxue shiliao
[New literature historical documents] 2 (1987): 220–21. For more on Miao, see Frederic
Wakeman Jr., “Hanjian (Traitor)! Collaboration and Retribution in Wartime Shanghai,”
in Becoming Chinese: Passages to Modernity and Beyond, ed. Wen-hsin Yeh (Berkeley:
University of California Press, 2000), 323–24.
48 Mikoshi; see Brian Bocking, A Popular Dictionary of Shinto (Abingdon, UK: Routledge,
2005), 92.
49 For a deeper discussion of these two essays, including Zhou’s ruminations on the par-
ticular religious character of the Japanese people, see Lu Yan, Re-understanding Japan,
239–43, which takes its title from the latter essay. An excellent translation of this piece
by Richard Rigby – which he translates as “Japan Re-encountered” – can be found in
Renditions 26 (1986): 97–106.
50 For a detailed discussion of this incident in English, see Gunn, Unwelcome Muse,
165–71.
24 Lin Yutang
Non-Aligned Intellectual on
the Japanese Occupation
SON YOO DI

In the mid-twentieth century, Lin Yutang (1895–1976) was a rare example

of a Chinese writer and intellectual who enjoyed fame both at home and
abroad. Part of his legacy was built on his English-language publications,
but he was even more prolific in Chinese. Between 1917 and 1920, Lin
studied at Harvard University, publishing copiously before returning to
China. Lin’s literary work featured in the popular journals Lunyu (The
analects) and Ren jian shi (This human world), coedited with Shao
Xunmei (1906–68) and Zhang Kebiao (n.d.), through which he advocated
xingling (personality), youmo (humour), and xianshi (light leisure). He
became increasingly political in the 1920s and 1930s, when he estab­
lished the Chinese League for the Protection of Civil Rights (Zhongguo
minquan baozheng tongmeng) with Song Qingling (1893–1981), Cai
Yuanpei (1868–1940), and Yang Xingfo (n.d.). Lin’s biographer Suoqiao
Qian has praised the critic as China’s foremost advocate of democracy
and human rights in the early twentieth century, deserving recognition
as one of the “three pillars of modern Chinese intellectuality” alongside
Lu Xun (1881–1936) and Hu Shi (1891–1962).1 The translations below
confirm these aspects of Lin’s liberal critique in fierce and poetic
denunciations of Japanese occupation that while removed from any
affiliation to political parties remain unquestionably political.
Chinese leaders faced difficult challenges in the mid-nineteenth cen­
tury as they struggled to imagine the fate of the Qing dynasty (1644–
1912), and such problems carried over into the fate of China in the
twentieth century. May Fourth Chinese authors, such as Lu Xun and
Zhou Zuoren (1885–1967), hoped to strengthen the country on the global
stage and attempted to raise national awareness through numerous new
publications, such as Xin qingnian (New youth), which predominated in
 Lin Yutang 365

literary circles in the 1920s. In 1924, Lin and Sun Fuyuan (n.d.) contrib­
uted to this movement when they founded the pro-revolution period­
ical Yu si (Threads of conversation), to which Lin regularly contributed
essays. It was during this time that Lin established himself as a liberal
critic and a fierce proponent of democracy, yet his writings remained
critical of both China’s major political parties.
Literature cannot be separated from society; thus, an author’s liter­
ary direction is often determined by political disposition. Lin did not
lean toward either the Kuomintang (KMT) or the Communist Party (CCP).
He criticized the KMT’s passive anti-Japanese resistance and, although
he did view communism as in many ways superior to feudalism, he
nevertheless deemed it too impersonal, institutional, and incompatible
with human nature. 2
Heavily influenced by Enlightenment ideas, Lin was opposed to intel­
lectuals’ support of political parties. 3 He was disappointed by writers
who produced exceedingly politicized works and their efforts to inject
ideology into literature under the slogans of enlightenment and the re­
construction of the national character. Hence, Lin gradually dissociated
himself from both the KMT and the CCP to write at his own leisure.
Lin moved to Shanghai during a very tumultuous time; his 1927 move
coincided with Chiang Kai-shek’s anticommunist massacre. Initially, Lin
associated with Lu Xun and energized the Chinese literary scene, but he
shifted to the political centre in the 1930s. The city was attacked by
Japan in 1932. Despite this horrendous violence, Lin re-established
Lunyu in 1932, and soon earned himself the title “The Ambassador for
Humour.” In fact, Lin coined the term youmo as a Chinese transliteration
of the English word “humour.”4 His writings were so well-loved by read­
ers that they dubbed 1933 “The Year of Humour.” Coincidentally, George
Bernard Shaw (1856–1950), one of the greatest English-language play­
wrights, visited Shanghai in 1933 while travelling around the world. Lin,
then the editor-in-chief of Lunyu, hosted Shaw, who greatly influenced
Lin’s own literary philosophy.
Lin produced more than a hundred essays while he lived in China.
He left China for the second time in 1936 and spent most of the rest of
his life in America. He was later banned in China for his anticommunist
stance, and his writings were all but forgotten for decades. His works
began to be translated into Chinese and attracted more scholarly atten­
tion only in the 1980s. In 1966, he settled in Taiwan, after having become
more positive toward the KMT. Lin’s Taiwan-era literature is unique and
366 Son Yoo Di

liberal, yet did not lead to nationwide Chinese interest and garnered
attention only from a handful of scholars in his hometown, Xiamen. In
the process of transitioning from his short essay writing style in Chinese
to an English, novel-writing style, he wrote two lengthy essays called
“My Country and My People” (Woguo womin) (1935) and “The Importance
of Living” (Shenghuo de yishu) (1937).
In 1931, after Japan invaded Manchuria, Lin turned to writing about
war. Below, I translate two of Lin’s essays from this period: “Wuzi de
piping” (Criticism without words) published in Ren jian shi on 20
August 1934; and “Guanyu Beiping xuesheng ‘yier-jiu’ yundong” (On
the “December 9” students’ movement in Beiping), published in Yuzhou
feng (Cosmic wind) on 1 January 1936. These are representative of a
non-aligned liberal critic’s rejection of Japanese occupation. Lin was
very optimistic for the KMT and CCP to work together during the United
Front to oppose Japanese aggression and forge a new China. 5 These
two essays show this spirit and foreshadow the brief political unity that
was to come. The essays focus on two cities struggling under Japanese
control, Shenyang and Beiping respectively, showcasing Lin’s under­
standing of Chinese national issues and politics and reflecting a noted
Chinese intellectual’s understanding of China under Japanese
occupation.
“Criticism without Words” displays Lin’s frustration with efforts by
Japan and the US-based Council on Foreign Relations to obscure truth
in order to justify invasion and occupation under international law. Lin
himself was involved in the council’s debates on the occupation and
struggled to make sense of the injustice and his own impotence to
influence events.
While “Criticism” is a philosophical essay, “On the ‘December 9’
Students’ Movement in Beiping” offered angry and direct support for
the mass student movement. In 1939, Mao Zedong (1893–1976) men­
tioned the December Ninth Movement as a major student movement
alongside the 1911 Revolution, the May Fourth Movement, and the May
Thirtieth Movement. 6 However, almost no research has been published
on this movement since the 1960s.7 In this article, Lin also compares the
December 9 Movement to the May Fourth and May Thirtieth Movements,
fiercely arguing for the importance of such mass movements as “the
people’s lament and the people’s cry” and refuting Japanese attempts
to stifle and silence students in occupied Beiping.
 Lin Yutang 367

These translations allow readers to visualize Lin’s perspective on

Japan’s invasion of Manchuria, particularly illuminating China’s student
and youth movement during this pivotal time as understood by a prom­
inent Chinese author with first-hand experience of the May Fourth
Movement and China’s revolutionary history.

—•  TRANSLATIONS  •—

Criticism without Words8

Lin Yutang

Mendelssohn titled his composition “Songs without Words,” and Hans

Christian Andersen called his book “A Picture-Book without Pictures.”
Similarly, “A Speech without an Audience” or “A Letter without a Recipi­
ent” could have been excellent book titles, but, sadly, nobody has attempted
these. Beyond these, Zhuangzi’s similar expression, “Disputation without
Argu­ment,”9 contains significant meaning, and the expression is not very
different from “criticism without words.”
Zhuangzi indicated that the truth of the world is vague and every single
individual has their own truth and falsehood; the more one argues, the more
fragmented those become. Therefore, the more that people argue with each
other, the more arguments can be found in writings, consequently obscuring
the meaning of truth. The Way which can be spoken of is not the eternal
Way.10 The title “Disputation without Argument” implies that people should
learn from self-experience. “Self-experience” refers to an internal concept
of truth and falsehood that readers usually have within their selves. To see
the essence of the Way, ordinary people require neither profound theory nor
trained logic. They can implicitly understand right and wrong. Thus, the
word “self-experience” is far from the mystical enlightenment discussed in
the Buddhist text Understanding of Zen (Wu Chan) or Lu Jiuyuan’s Under­
standing of the Way (Wu Dao).
Logically speaking, there is deep academic meaning to the phrase, “The
Way which can be spoken of is not the eternal Way.” The Way is by nature
chaotic and unenlightened, but when it undergoes scholars’ analysis and
disputation, it loses its unity and becomes fragmented. After such disputa-
tion, the Way, divided and broken, is stripped of its original meaning and
completely shattered. Because of this brokenness, the cunning person can
368 Son Yoo Di

argue and cover themselves with rhetoric; thus the more they argue, the
more the Way suffers. For example, an outstanding argument can be written
in defence of Japan’s invasion of the three eastern provinces if one wished to
defend it. By listing historical, economic, and realistic reasons, one can ex-
plain why Japan had to invade Shenyang and Jinzhou. The renowned Council
on Foreign Relations in New York once held a meeting regarding this issue,
during which an international law expert came to the conclusion that “Japan’s
occupation of Shenyang was never in violation of international law.” Here,
we can see how empty argument and theoretical analysis are unreliable. I
happened to be at the meeting, and I made two statements without making
a counterargument: “Japan’s occupation of Shenyang is lawful according to
international law. This is proven by experts, so it may very well be true.
However, I absolutely do not believe in what lawyers have said.” We do not
need experts’ theories unless we are going to use an ordinary way of speak-
ing. Japan’s occupation of Shenyang is torturing people and is clearly an
invasion and forced occupation. Therefore, the Way is chaotic and unenlight-
ened, and theories of analysis are unreliable. And this is Zhuangzi’s profound
meaning in “Disputation without Argument.”
This is the reason why the Chinese are said to be an illogical people who
rely on intuition for all things. Intuition is general and non-analytical, and
hence prone to logical disputes. This is the true essence of the Way. Women
tend to rely on intuition without reasoning; when a situation strikes, I depend
on women’s ability to improvise the decision and not on men, because intui-
tion is realistic and allows one to understand the overall situation. Men’s
arguments seem logical and methodological, but when they speak of point
A, they forget point B; when they talk of point B, they forget point C. Their
various points all contradict one another. Furthermore, men have often al-
ready formed their own opinions, and only assert all these points to comfort
themselves. The saying that a revolution led by a scholar cannot succeed even
after three years comes from this context as well. Past dynasties’ founding
emperors, Zhu Yuanzhang and Liu Bang in particular, were all mere street
hoodlums who achieved success not because of their studies, but because
their intuition made them more capable than scholars in responding to
events. These emperors took no heed of studies and theories, but still they
founded great dynasties that lasted for a long time. The Chinese know that
theories cannot be trusted, so they base their relationships on affection (qing).
A characteristic principle of Chinese ideology holds that through both an
affirmation of affection and an affirmation of reasoning anything can be
achieved.
 Lin Yutang 369

While Zhuangzi spoke of “disputation without argument,” people in the

modern era prefer argumentation. Magazines and newspapers lure readers
with rumours about people. Also, criticism, which Western scholars find
difficult, has become an easy task for people of today in spite of the fact
that criticizing others’ weaknesses does not accentuate one’s own strengths.
The critics should be criticized by readers as well. When readers criticize the
critic, then the critic becomes the criticized; however, the counterpart may
not respond. Most readers do not criticize by writing – rather, their im­
pression of a certain critic is enough to make them stop arguing and keep
silent. This silence is “criticism without words.” For instance, if someone on
the street were to shout: “Shit!” then passersby would pour their “criticism
without words” onto the person who shouted, implying: “Why is this person
shouting out dirty words?”
In another example, someone stands on a stage criticizing today’s teachers
for inadequate language skills. If the language used by the critic is the same
language as that used by the teachers, people will have no choice but to keep
silent. And such silence is “criticism without words.” It is unfortunate that
no one has discovered a method through which to criticize others’ language
skills while speaking a foreign language. Such an approach would be master-
fully proficient. Silent argumentation is superior to vocalized argumentation.
Disputation without words is superior to disputation with words.
Some critics have also cursed others for not participating in revolutions
– they are timid and reside in foreign concessions. Readers may then wonder
why the critics themselves are not fighting in battles in Jiangxi, and this is
also considered silent and odourless criticism without words.
Critical essays are all confined within the realm of writing. Such writings
remain bound by points of view, opinions, theories, perspectives, styles, and
motives. A point of view can be lofty or deficient, just as an opinion can be
deep or shallow. Theories can be well structured or disordered. Perspectives
can be wide or narrow. Styles can be eloquent or coarse. Motives can be true
or false. If a piece of writing has a deficient point of view, shallow opinion,
disorderly theory, narrow perspective, coarse style, and false motive, it will
give such an impression and then receive people’s “criticism without words.”
Regrettably, people’s wisdom is often not unlike that of a sow, but one
thinks of oneself as an exception. A person who writes short essays and states
“I hate short essays” is a common phenomenon. Zhuangzi said that every
single individual has their own truth and falsehood. If someone falls into a
right or wrong dispute, the more one fights one reveals one’s narrow-minded,
servile-hearted, cowardly, shallow, evil, and silly character. Whether writings
370 Son Yoo Di

fill up papers with righteousness, ideology, or manners is meaningless, be-

cause the writings have already received criticism without words by their
readers.
People fear that critics might argue that clay is jade or that deer are horses,
and that if nobody criticizes the critics, there will always be traces left behind.
Then, the next generation determines someone’s criticism with only two or
three sentences of argument that clay is jade or that fish eyes are pearls. A
recent example is how people falsely believe that Wu Yuseng opposed writ­­
ten vernacular Chinese in the twenty-second year of the Republic of China
[1933] and that Dai Jitao converted to Buddhism in the twenty-third year
[1934].11 These examples of disputation without argument can be terrifying.

On the “December 9” Students’ Movement in Beiping12

Lin Yutang

Newspapers report that Suma visited Tang Youren to protest against the
Beiping student movement.13 Was it necessary for Suma to visit Tang Youren?
Suma could have simply called, but the fact that he personally visited him
illustrates how much importance he placed on the movement. Moreover,
since Suma did not protest when He Yingqin moved north, but did protest
politely against the student movement, one can conclude that Suma feared
the student movement more than the Chinese military.14 How brilliant Suma
is! Who said there are no men of talent in Japan? What Japan wants is a quiet
and stable China without mass movements and protests. How can one ex-
plain this? The reason is that both the Tanggu Agreement, which resulted
in the loss of national sovereignty, and the impending Tanggu Truce were
formed through the indirect actions of people behind the scenes. The Treaty
of Versailles, which received global attention, was destroyed by the clamour­
ing, nonviolent May Fourth Movement of the Chinese masses, demonstrating
how the power of the masses is like a blazing fire – much more fearsome
than the Chinese military. Rethinking the May Thirtieth Movement,15 we
see that it forced the British to surrender; the Kuomintang youth movement
brought down the northern government, while the combined forces of the
Revolutionary Army and the masses achieved the glorious historical achieve-
ment of the party-state Northern Expedition, based on movements by the
masses and students. Dr. Sun Yat-sen and Japanese politicians all knew this,
which is why Dr. Sun Yat-Sen wrote in his last will and testament the phrase,
“Awaken the people!” (huanxing minzhong) to bring prosperity to the nation.
 Lin Yutang 371

Politicians in neighbouring countries also know this, so they have paid extra
attention to student movements. I say to Suma that the current movement
against the independence of north China follows the protocol of the May
Fourth Movement, with great strength and vigour, so the result will be un-
imaginable. If the Beiping student protests aim to protect the government
and preserve Chinese territory, then can the Beiping military police stop
them by force? They will never be able to do so. Then what will the police do?
The police will surround the universities and confine the students to prevent
them from participating in protests. Then, if Peking University students are
willing to be confined at the Third Garden, just as in the May Fourth Move­
ment, student strikes might spread to other universities in Beiping, just as
in the May Fourth Movement. Students and chambers of commerce across
the country might participate, just as in the May Fourth Movement. Would
this not complicate the situation? Would it not revive the dying national
spirit? At this time, if the Chinese government wishes to pursue friendly
diplomatic policies toward neighbouring countries, it must carefully observe
public sentiment. Against my protests, the response of the Chinese govern-
ment was that it was unable to put a stop to it – not that it did not try. The
government is incapable because of public sentiment and also because ter-
ritorial integrity and independence of administration are demanded by
academic and economic circles. At this time, I cannot blame the Chinese
government. The movement in north China is a domestic issue of China and
is thus difficult for Japanese to interfere with but, if things play out as such,
this change in circumstances will allow the Ju Ren Tang (Ju Ren Hall) and
its Third Floor Officials to easily take advantage of the north China region!16
This is the perspective of foreigners and, from a Chinese perspective, Japan’s
request to eliminate mass movements in China is the same as erasing the
phrase, “Awaken the people!” from the last will and testament of the Kuo­
mintang’s president and founding father. Beiping’s student movement is the
people’s lament (minxu) and the people’s cry (minhu) proposed by propagand-
ists such as Ye Chucang and Yu Youren.17 How much territory did China lose
twenty to thirty years ago? How much territory did we lose today? People
lamented then – why can we not lament today? As we lose our territory,
people can lament and cry. If the people do not stand up when north China
is being occupied, people cannot lament and cry, because China has lost all
of its vitality. Never mind the destruction of north China, the end of the
entirety of China is not far away. Even dogs kick their legs twice when they
die, should not the people do the same? Were I to cut off a dog’s leg today,
372 Son Yoo Di

and that dog did not breathe or struggle, this would mean that the dog was
already dead. The dog would have died regardless of me cutting off its leg,
so why try to beautify this by covering it up with the word “calm” (zhenjing)?
Much in the same way, the fall of China has not been caused by Japan. Even
if it were not for Japan, another country would have destroyed China. If I
were Japan, I would take wretched and discarded China; I would rather kill
a living rooster than a dead dog. Mass movements are like a patient’s pulse.
Doctors say that a patient’s pulse determines the course of a disease. If the
pulse is healthy, there is nothing to worry about even when symptoms are
severe. However, light symptoms can prove lethal for a patient with a weak
pulse. I think that the pulse of education leaders and students in Beiping is
healthy. Does China have hope?
(12 December [1935])

Notes
1 Suoqiao Qian, Lin Yutang and China’s Search for Modern Rebirth (Singapore: Springer,
2017), 15, 26.
2 Wang Zhaosheng, Lin Yutang di wenhua qinghuai [Lin Yutang’s cultural sentiments]
(Beijing: Zhongguo shehui kexue chubanshe, 1998).
3 Lin Taiyi, Lin Yutang zhuan [A biography of Lin Yutang] (Taipei: Lian jing chubanshe ye
gongsi, 1989).
4 Qian, Lin Yutang and China’s Search, 21–22.
5 Qian, Lin Yutang and China’s Search, 18.
6 Mao also indicated the importance of the December Ninth Movement in ending the Civil
War in 1937. See Mao Zedong, Selected Works of Mao Tse-tung, vol. 2 (Beijing: Foreign
Languages Press, 1965), 23, 322.
7 This included John Israel’s article as well as comments by Israel, Edgar Snow, and Hao-Jan
Chu in the 1966 and 1967 editions of the China Quarterly. John Israel, “The December
9th Movement: A Case Study in Chinese Communist Historiography,” China Quarterly
23 (1965): 140–69.
8 Lin Yutang, “Wuzi de piping” [Criticism without words], Ren Jian Shi [This human world]
10, 20 (August 1934): 6–8.
9 Zhuangzi, Qi wu lun [On levelling all things], ch. 2.
10 This is the first line of the Taoist classic, the Tao Te Ching. Lin Yutang, The Wisdom of
Laotse (New York: Greenwood, 1948).
11 Wu Mi (Wu Yuseng, 1894–1978) was a famous scholar of Western literature. He was
born and died in Shenyang. Dai Jitao (Dai Chuanxian, 1891–1949) was an important pol­
itician and intellectual associated with the Kuomintang.
12 Lin Yutang, “Guanyu Beiping xuesheng ‘yier-jiu’ yundong” [On the “December 9” students’
movement in Beiping], Yuzhou Feng [Cosmic wind] 8 (1936): 355–56.
13 Suma Yakichiro (1892–1970), consul general of Japan in Nanjing; Tang Youren (1893–
1935), undersecretary of national government diplomacy. Unknown assassins killed Tang
for having pro-Japanese sentiments in December 1935, after student-led large-scale
protests against Japanese efforts to encourage North China independence.
14 He Yingqin (1890–1987), senior general of the Republic of China Army.
 Lin Yutang 373

15 The May Thirtieth Movement (Wusi yundong) was a 1925 labour and anti-imperialist
movement.
16 Ju Ren Tang – the “Hall where Benevolence Resides,” originally called Hai Yan Tang in
Zhongnanhai – was the building where Yuan Shikai lived and worked; Third Floor Offi­
cials were the core leadership who usually gathered on the third floor.
17 Ye Chucang (1887–1946), general secretary of the Central Executive Committee; Yu
Youren (1879–1964), premier of the Executive Yuan.
25 Struggles between Local
Powers and Collaboration
Yan Xishan, the CCP, and the
Western Shanxi Incident
TIMOTHY CHEEK

This news report from the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) main
news­paper of the day, Jiefang ribao (Liberation daily) in Yan’an, provides
an emblematic example of how the CCP cast collaboration with the
Japanese by 1944. The text is doubly useful because it is both a piece
of central propaganda of the CCP, therefore likely to reflect central
party policy, and was personally revised by Mao. The case has to do
with the independent local general, Yan Xishan (1883–1960), and efforts
of the CCP between 1936 and early 1940 to cooperate with his armies
in resisting the inroads of the Japanese Imperial Army. These were
the early days of the Second United Front between the Communists
and the Nationalists under Chiang Kai-shek (1887–1975). Yan Xishan
was nominally aligned with the Nationalists but was, in fact, quite in­
dependent of Chiang’s forces. Thus, the Communists, who had invaded
the western counties of Yan’s Shanxi province in early 1936 only to be
knocked back, shifted later that year to the nonconfrontational, “let’s all
work together” spirit of the United Front to woo Yan Xishan. How­ever,
Yan was no more interested in working under the Communists than
he was in submitting to the Nationalists, and ultimately Yan and the
Communists fell out.
The specific case – which is detailed in this report – has to do with
fighting in 1939 between the CCP forces, in which Han Jun served as
political commissar, and Yan’s forces.1 Han Jun had been a leader in the
“Dare-to-Die Corps” and other units tied to the Communists. In a com­
plicated series of manoeuvres, the Communist forces were overwhelmed
and forced to leave the area by early 1940. The interpretation of what
happened was still contested in 1944; this news article is a response to
a press conference Yan had given a few days earlier. 2 The issue at hand
 Struggles between Local Powers and Collaboration 375

was, of course, who was at fault for the split between these two Chinese
forces. Historians might write the conflict off as local competition, but
the actors at the time sought to make their justifications in terms that
had national significance. Yan cast the Communist forces as “rebels”
and “bandits” who helped the Japanese; the Communists denounced
Yan for “working with the Japanese.”3 Regardless of the merits of each
side’s case, this shows the status of Japanese collaborators among the
Communists and independent local forces under Yan Xishan: nothing
less than traitors.
This text was reportedly edited by Mao Zedong (1893–1976) himself
and is included in a collection of his works on journalism. This report
was extended in the days that followed through further articles by
senior CCP leaders such as Bo Yibo elaborating the claim that Yan Xishan
“colluded with the enemy to sell out the nation.”4 The fact that Mao, as
the newly anointed supreme leader “Chairman Mao,” took a personal
interest in this historical case reflects the propaganda significance of
being cast as a “traitor working with the Japanese.” Mao could not let
Yan Xishan’s claim that Communist forces were collaborating with the
Japanese stand without a vigorous rebuttal. In all, the Communist
propaganda on the case stressed that Yan Xishan had made a secret
peace deal with the Japanese. 5
Two further contexts are worth considering when reading this docu­
ment. First, in 1944, the CCP had not yet unequivocally made its case as
the revolutionary party of China. The Kuomintang (KMT), or Nationalists,
continued to present themselves as China’s revolutionary party. Indeed,
one of the reasons that the CCP pursued a renewed United Front with
the KMT in the mid-1930s was because of the success of news and
propaganda in the Nationalist press that presented the CCP as a puppet
of the Soviet Union rather than as a force for change in China. 6 Second,
Mao’s vision here was a minority voice in China at the time, only one in
a segmented public sphere in which media and information was divided
among spheres controlled by the Nationalist government and its forces,
Japanese forces and their subordinates, and areas controlled by Com­
munist forces. Of the three, the Communist voice reached the smallest
audience at the time, but its message of social revolution was one that
increasingly appealed to young Chinese as the Japanese occupation
faltered and the Nationalist government seemed unable to restore order
and prosperity. Mao’s version came to dominate in the new People’s
Republic after 1949. Only in recent decades has newer scholarship
376 Timothy Cheek

(even abroad) challenged the Communist narrative of resistance and

revolution.7
This text is also interesting for showing that the CCP had firmly
embraced a hard line of zero tolerance for any collaboration or accom­
modation with Japanese forces during the resistance war. The language
and arguments of the text are thus useful for illustrating how the CCP
made its case and its claim for public support.

—•  TRANSLATION  •—

Han Jun Tells the Inside Story of the

Western Shanxi Incident 8
Han Jun
(with text in italics added by Mao Zedong)

(New China News Agency, Yan’an, 13 August [1944] )  In Yan Xishan’s talk
with the delegation of Chinese and foreign reporters carried in the Western
Capital Daily in Xi’an, he discussed the betrayal of the Second Column of
the New Army led by Han Jun in 1939 when Yan Xishan was preparing for
the winter offensive. In order to let the Chinese people know the inside story
of this incident, which saddens friends but pleases the enemy, our reporter
conducted a special interview with Comrade Han Jun, who endured all the
hardships and dangers himself. First, Comrade Han Jun told the reporter
that in the past he had concealed the facts and remained silent on the cruel
and vicious inside story of the Western Shanxi Incident and had never made
it public in the press, in the hopes that Mr. Yan would come to his senses.
This time, because Yan Xishan reversed fact and fiction, and openly confused
the truth before the Chinese people and people abroad, Comrade Han could
no longer remain silent. Therefore, Comrade Han Jun gave us a detailed
description of the process of the incident.

Yan Xishan Is Hostile to the People

After the fall of Taiyuan [in November 1937], Yan Xishan became shaky
and was preparing to surrender and compromise. After Wang Jingwei’s sur­
render, Yan Xishan called a meeting of senior cadres to feel out the possi-
bilities for peace. He said: “Resistance and peace are political issues; we
cannot say that those who are for resistance are correct and those who are
for peace are wrong.” At that moment Comrade Bo Yibo said: “The enemy
 Struggles between Local Powers and Collaboration 377

invaded our country and occupied our territory; we want national independ-
ence. We can only resist to the very end. Peace and appeasement are sur-
render; this is to be a traitor to China.” Yan remained silent. It was not the
first time that he talked in this way, but this was always exposed and opposed
by the Sacrifice League and the New Army.9 However, Yan’s preparation for
surrender never stopped. The Sacrifice League and the New Army believed
that to win victory in the War of Resistance, we had to implement democracy
and mobilize the masses. Yan is against democracy. He dismissed the popu-
larly elected county heads, district heads, village heads, and other popularly
elected institutions. He said: “Political power is a dagger; if it is in our hands,
we will be able to rule; but if it is in the hands of the people, we will be in
danger, hence we cannot have democracy.” He was also against the establish-
ment of the Peasants’ Anti-Japanese National Salvation Association, of the
self-defence army, and so on (but these are the foundations of the Chinese
resistance forces). He said:

The peasants are tigers; once they are mobilized it will be dangerous (he is
afraid the peasants will fight to the end of the War of Resistance and refuse
to obey him), but it is an opportunity if they are not mobilized (he is afraid
that the Communists will come and mobilize the peasants). Now it is not
a question of whether to mobilize; instead, it is a matter of controlling the
electric whip (an electric whip is used to control tigers).

The reason he was against democracy and mobilizing the masses can be
attributed entirely to his desire to surrender and compromise. He also said:
“Survival is everything, and resistance is only the means.” During the 7 July
Incident,10 in order to survive he had to resist a few days; later, when he found
out that the War of Resistance will be long and difficult, he wanted to sur-
render. This was also for survival. There are no such words as justice, self-
evident truth, or sense of state and nation in his dictionary. While making
these preparations, he pretended to be resisting, but in fact he was already
collaborating with the enemy and was secretly against the Communists. He
held meetings with the enemy in Liucun and Anping. Many of his diplomatic
envoys collaborated with the enemy on the road between Xingji and Taiyuan.
The commander of the Dare-to-Die Corps repeatedly expressed: “The purpose
of our cooperation with you is to fight the War of Resistance to its very end,
not to surrender and compromise. We are against anybody who wants to
surrender and compromise.” Consequently, Yan Xishan regarded the New
Army as the biggest obstacle in his way to surrender and compromise. He
378 Timothy Cheek

could not make the Dare-to-Die Corps give in, through persuasion or other
means, so naturally he began to carry out his “wise counsel.” “Unconsciously”
he “transformed” the New Army into a “rebel army” and began to “send
armed forces to suppress it.” This is the true inside story of the Western
Shanxi Incident.

The Converging Attack on the Dare-to-Die Corps

by the Yan and Japanese Armies
In terms of the Western Shanxi Incident itself, it was Yan Xishan who first
broke faith and started the Civil War. Yan Xishan attempted to get rid of the
New Army, and he had planned for it for a long time. By October 1939, he
ordered Wang Jingguo and Chen Changjie11 to prepare to attack the New
Army. He met with the anticommunist generals and lobbied them one by
one, telling them that the strength of the Communists and the Eighth Route
Army was expanding every day. With the addition of cooperation from the
Sacrifice League and the Dare-to-Die Corps, there would be no place for our
Shanxi-Suiyuan army to survive. Now was the time to get rid of the New
Army and the Sacrifice League, using mutual assistance between China and
Japan as proposed by the Japanese, in order to achieve our goal of survival.
One reactionary officer (Liu Wuming) asked how to get rid of them. Wang
and Chen answered that we should first reshuffle the Fourth Column of the
Dare-to-Die Corps and transform it into the “Chinese Anti-Japanese
Vanguard Army of Loyal Braves.” Then we will muster six armies in western
Shanxi, in cooperation with the Japanese army, to get rid of the Second
Column of the Dare-to-Die Corps. Finally, we will get rid of the First and
Third columns in coordination with the Japanese army. Not unexpectedly,
Yan Xishan soon appointed Chen Changjie as the commander-in-chief of
the “rebel suppression” army. On 29 November 1939 (nine days before the
Western Shanxi Incident), Chen sent out a secret order to attack the New
Army from three directions. The southern column consisted of the Sixty-
First Army, Eighty-Third Army, and the Seventy-Third Division of the
Garrison Army. Chen held concurrent command. It attacked Yiquan and
Huangtu (the location of the headquarters of the second column of the Dare-
to-Die Corps) in Xi county. The commander-in-chief of the northern column
was Liang Peihuang. He commanded the Nineteenth Army and part of the
Thirty-Third Army attacking the Shuitou-Shikou-Damaijiao area (at that
time this was the location of the western Shanxi detachment of the Eighth
Route Army) in Xi and Xiaoyi counties. The right column consisted of the
New First Brigade and others, commanded by Cui Daoxiu; it attacked the
 Struggles between Local Powers and Collaboration 379

Quanziping area in Xi county. Meanwhile, the enemy also gathered the more
than five thousand garrison troops between Linfen and Pingyao and stationed
them along the Hanxinling area. So on 1 December 1939, Yan Xishan ordered
that the second column of the Dare-to-Die Corps prepare to attack and
destroy the Tongpu rail line12 on the fifth to implement the “winter offensive.”
When we were just mobilizing the troops to carry out the order of attack
and destruction, Yan’s army and the Japanese army began to attack us simul-
taneously. Our second column was encircled and suffered the converging
attack of the Japanese and of Yan’s army. The situation was extremely danger-
ous, and we were facing the danger of being completely exterminated. If we
did not engage in self-defence, we would be dead. We had to fight against
the enemy with bayonets, on the one hand, and defend ourselves against the
Old Army,13 on the other. We fought for twenty days before breaking through
the encirclement of the Japanese invaders and the Old Army, and then moved
to northwest of Shanxi. This is the “rebellion of the Dare-to-Die Corps.” Ever
since then, the Dare-to-Die Corps began to be called the “rebel army.”

Who in the End Is the Rebel Army?

Who in the end is the rebel army? Who works hand in glove with the enemy
against the people, sabotages the War of Resistance, and betrays the nation?
Is it the New Army, or Yan Xishan? The New Army did not work against the
people, regarding them as fierce tigers, nor did it attend the Linfen meeting
or the Anping meeting to collaborate with the enemy and betray the nation,
nor did it send Zhao Chengshou, Liang Yanwu, Wang Qianyuan, or anyone
else to Taiyuan, Beiping, or Nanjing to call on the enemy and the traitor
Wang Jingwei, nor did it conclude the “present territorial agreement” with
the enemy. On the contrary, it was Yan Xishan himself who did these things.
It is quite clear that Yan himself knows that the Dare-to-Die Corps is not
the rebel army. Before 1939 he praised the Dare-to-Die Corps in every pos-
sible way, saying that they were revolutionary youth and all their methods
were revolutionary, and he felt ashamed that his Old Army was all muddle-
headed, backward, unprogressive, and unable to keep up with the Dare-to-Die
Corps. Let us put aside all this for the time being. Even after the Western
Shanxi Incident, he once said in his small circle of a few “faithful comrades”:
“The Dare-to-Die Corps was revolutionary and was the most resolute in the
War of Resistance”; “Bo Yibo is not a serviceman, but the troops trained by
him and his men are capable of fighting the enemy. This is because his meth-
ods are revolutionary and progressive.” Then why does he insist that the
Dare-to-Die Corps is the rebel army? “The Old Tippler’s delight is not in the
380 Timothy Cheek

wine (he has ulterior motives).”14 His aim is to use this to conceal his ugly
collaboration with the enemy against the people and the Communists, and
his real image as a traitor or quasi traitor. It was not the “Han Jun betrayal”
or the “conflict between the New Army and the Old Army”; on the contrary,
it was a struggle between surrender and antisurrender, between disintegra-
tion and unity, and between progress and retreat. Action speaks louder than
words. Even if Yan Xishan had one hundred mouths, it would be hard for
him to talk his way out of it.
In this affair not only can Bo Yibo, Han Jun, and other Communists and
non-Communists who worked in the Dare-to-Die Corps and the Sacrifice
League confirm this from their personal experience but also Mr. Xu Fanting
(1893–1947), a senior figure in the KMT (who was appointed the commander
of the Provisional First Division by Mr. Yan and later became the general
commander of the New Army) can also confirm it from his personal experi-
ence. More important, all the ordinary people in Shanxi province can tell of
Yan’s crimes against the public as if enumerating their family treasures.

Notes
1 Han Jun (1912–49) joined the CCP in 1932 but was soon imprisoned along with fellow
Communist Bo Yibo (1908–2007). They were released in September 1936 to join the
United Front. Bo brought Han Jun to work in Shanxi and both took leading positions in
the Sacrifice League.
2 Yan Xishan gave interviews to Xijing ribao (Western capital daily) that were published
on 21 and 22 July 1944.
3 According to Odoric Y.K. Wou, the clash with the Communists did force Yan “to make
friends with the Japanese,” something not at all out of line with the other cases docu-
mented in this volume. See Edwin Pak-wah Leung, ed., Historical Dictionary of Revo­
lutionary China, 1839–1976 (New York: Greenwood Press, 1992), 484.
4 “Bo Yibo tongzhi jielu Yan Xishan tongdi panguo neimu” [Comrade Bo Yibo exposes the
secret plot of Yan Xishan to collude with the enemy to sell out the nation], Jiefang ribao
[Liberation daily], 14 August 1944.
5 The official CCP version is given in “Xu Fanting Shanxi fanzhan ji” [Xu Fanting’s Resistance
War diary], in the “Archives of Chinese Leading Cadres” section of Zhongguo gongchan-
dang xinwen wang [CCP news net], 21 July 2015. This is the same figure Mao mentions
as proof at the end of the 1944 report, http://dangshi.people.com.cn/n/2015/0721/c85037
-27335933-4.html.
6 Joseph Esherick, “The CCP in the 1930s: The View from Defectors’ Declarations,” PRC
History Review 2, 2 (April 2017), http://prchistory.org/review-april-2017.
7 Diana Lary, China’s Republic (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2007); and Hans
van de Ven, China at War: Triumph and Tragedy in the Emergence of the New China
(Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2018).
8 [Mao Zedong], “Han Jun tan jin xi shibian zhenxiang” [Han Jun tells the inside story of
the Western Shanxi Incident], Mao Zedong xinwen gongzuo wenxuan [Selected Writings
by Mao Zedong on journalistic work] (Beijing: Xinhua, 1983), 309–13, giving the date 13
August 1944, being a news report from Jiefang ribao of 14 August 1944 plus material
from the CCP Central Archives. The original text was an unsigned article in Jiefang ribao.
 Struggles between Local Powers and Collaboration 381

9 The Sacrifice League for National Salvation was a Communist front organization that
Yan Xishan was persuaded to endorse. Founded on 18 September 1936, the fifth anni-
versary of the Mukden Incident of 1931 (in which the Japanese took over Manchuria),
this patriotic association allowed Communists, such as Bo Yibo, to organize troops legally
in Shanxi to resist the looming Japanese presence in north China. The “New Army” (also
known as the Dare-to-Die Corps) was the military wing of the Sacrifice League. See Feng
Chongyi, “The Making of the Jin Sui Base Area,” in North China at War: The Social Ecology
of Revolution, 1937–1945 (Boulder, CO: Rowman and Littlefield, 2000), ed. Chongyi Feng
and David S.G. Goodman, 157–62.
10 That is, the start of the war with Japan with the Marco Polo Bridge Incident on 7 July
1937.
11 Wang Jingguo (1893–1952) was one of Yan Xishan’s leading generals; Chen Changjie
(1897–1968) was the Nationalist general in western Shanxi.
12 The Tongpu rail line was the major railroad in Shanxi, running from Datong in the north,
through the capital in Taiyuan and to Puzhou, near Xi’an in the southwestern corner of
the province.
13 The “Old Army” refers to Yan Xishan’s forces that had turned on the CCP-backed forces.
14 This literary phrase, Zui weng zhi yi buzai jiu (the Old Tippler’s delight is not in the wine),
draws from a poem by the Song period literatus, Ouyang Xiu (1007–72). The full line
reads in translation: “The Old Tippler’s delight is not in the wine but in the mountains
and waters.”
26 Tapping into the Premodern
Work-Contracting System
ZHANG YUANFANG

This selected excerpt is from Nakamura Takatoshi’s (n.d.) study on the

local work-contracting system (batou zhidu) that Japan’s wartime com­
panies utilized in the area of the North China–Manchukuo border during
the Second Sino-Japanese War (1937–45). The batou system was the
coolie-recruitment mechanism employed in foreign-owned industries
in China. This mechanism reduced the cost of managing workers by
contracting the task to local labour organizers. Unlike modern capitalist
enterprises, which employ workers through contracts, the batou system
relied on Chinese contractors to recruit and control unskilled coolies.
These contractors recruited poor peasants in groups that usually came
from the same village. Two types of contractors are mentioned in this
text: the group leader (zuzhang) and his underling, the team leader
(duizhang). The group leader was responsible for delegating the daily
work­load to the team leader and passing wages to his under­lings. The
team leader managed the coolie workers, including supervising their
work, and determining and paying their wages. These organizers used
their own reputation and influence to deal with recruitment, the man­
aging of coolies’ lives, and the supervision of coolies working on the
shop floor.
The unskilled Chinese coolies were an important part of the batou
system. Nakamura notes that unlike modern disciplined industrial
workers, Chinese coolies coming from the countryside worked for
industries only during winter fallows. The seasonal migration of labour
from rural agriculture to mining endowed Chinese coolies with a
specific characteristic coded by Nakamura as “semi-industrial and semi-
agrarian.” Interestingly, Nakamura treats the so-called backwardness of
Chinese agrarian workers not as an impediment to but as a condition
 Tapping into the Premodern Work-Contracting System 383

for the development of wartime industry in occupied China. The hiring

and management of Chinese coolie labourers during the war consti­
tuted the condition for Japanese wartime industries to intervene in,
negotiate, and restructure indigenous social mechanisms as one solu­
tion to the labour deficiency magnified by the wartime controlled
economy.
Nakamura’s research took place in the context of the wartime
national mobilization of labourers1 and the expansion of production
in Manchukuo (1932–45), a puppet state of Japan in Northeast China
and Inner Mongolia. In 1942, heavy industrial production was about
to reach its pinnacle. 2 His research was sponsored by the Labour
Science Institute, an organization conducting research on workers
across the territory of the Japanese empire. In Japan, labour science
research organizations were responsible for designing policies that
nurtured labourers in order to promote their technical level. 3 In
Japanese-occupied Manchukuo, labour research institutes were also
charged with collecting, differentiating, and disseminating biopolitical
information on colonial labourers to make sure that they fit labour
market niches in response to the expansion of wartime production
in the empire’s periphery regions.
For example, the word “coolie” denoted a politics of categorization.
It was not simply a pejorative term but referred to peasants from China
proper who migrated to become cheap labourers for Manchukuo’s
heavy industries. These people lacked skills and were exclusively Han
Chinese. The word itself embodied some finer distinctions between
Chinese coolie workers and Japanese labourers in Manchukuo’s indus­
try along the fault line of race. 4 The document translated below reflects
how mining workers in Manchukuo were differentiated in terms of eth­
nicity, and how Chinese workers were coded as unskilled coolies who
were placed at the bottom rank of labour differentiation.
In fact, the utilization of unskilled coolies against the background
of heavy industrialization contained a structural ambiguity concerning
the role of precapitalist social forms not only in Manchukuo but also in
Japan’s political economy. As a late-developed country, Japan started
its state-driven industrialization in the Meiji Restoration in the late
nineteenth century. In its transition to capitalism, the Meiji government
instituted reforms that laid the foundation of Japan’s modern rise as
a new power in the region of East Asia. The Japanese state played a
pivotal role in promoting reforms effectively. It redistributed the wealth
384 Zhang Yuanfang

and income accumulated since the Tokugawa period for the political
and economic expansion of Meiji oligarchies. It also established foun­
dations for building urban industries through its introduction of modern
technologies from the West. Aside from that, the Meiji oligarchs launched
land-tax reforms in the 1870s, unleashing small peasants from their
bondage to feudal tenancy that centred on the complicated relation
between landowning and land-leasing; at the same time, land owner­
ship was legalized as a commodified title that was free to be traded on
the market. Unlike its Western counterparts, in Japan there was no in­
stitutionalized land enclosure that forced landless peasants to become
workers necessary for the development of capitalist social relations. As
a result, small peasantry survived in the countryside. Thus, the social
change accompanied by land reform cannot be characterized as a
typical capitalist revolution. Rather, the Meiji Restoration successfully
established a dual economy constitutive of a modern industrial sector
and residual precapitalist social forms that remained partially separated
from the new modern economy.
The dual structure of the national economy paved the way for Japan’s
rise as a modern power in several respects. First, the countryside be­
came a main source of cheap labour for urban industries. Because the
process of peasant expropriation advanced more rapidly than the de­
velopment of capitalism, the dispossessed peasantry were converted
into tenants or part-time tenants who depended largely on domestic
industries, such as spinning, weaving, and sericulture. 5 The presence
of “backward,” low-skilled peasants brought down the wage levels of
industrial workers in cities, which was conducive to capitalists’ profit-
reaping activities. Second, during the time of crisis, the countryside
became a buffering space that offset the negative effects of capitalism.
Jobless workers who had agrarian connections with the countryside
were channelled back to their villages, which helped urban industries
to dispense with social care for rural workers.
The co-presence of different social forms was also fundamental to
the development of the colonial economy in association with Japan’s
imperial expansion between the 1860s and the 1940s. For example, in
Okinawa, along with its national incorporation into Japan as a prefec­
ture, the development of capitalism did not dissolve its traditional rural
social relations. Rather, the government enacted a preservation policy
to keep the existing social structure and agrarian productive forces in­
tact. This policy benefited the home market of Japan because the inland
 Tapping into the Premodern Work-Contracting System 385

merchants could import sugar, the most important commodity exported

from Okinawa, at a lower price than the market. 6 In Korea, the formal
colonization of the country in 1910 and the inflow of Korean workers
to Japan enabled Japanese colonialism to racially classify and identify
Korean workers, who were then institutionally channelled into the day-
labour market. In the meantime, the state gave preferential treatment to
Japanese workers by securing their niche in factories and other long-
term positions.7
The doubling effect of feudal elements could also be found in occu­
pied China during the Sino-Japanese War (1937–45). As can be seen
from the translated excerpt below, Nakamura held an ambivalent atti­
tude toward the local work-contracting system. On one hand, he argues
that this system should undergo reform in the future, which corres­
ponds to the discourse on the establishment of a modern productive
mechanism. On the other hand, he concedes that the wartime expan­
sion of production could take advantage of the existing local system
to manage coolie workers in order to reduce costs.
This text should not be read simply as a work that documents the
contrast between modern and coolie workers. Neither can the observa­
tion be interpreted simply as an imperialist and condescending view of
the colonized. Rather, it is evidence attesting to the specific way in
which the occupied economy was organized and developed.

—•  TRANSLATION  •—

A Study of the Batou System8

Nakamura Takatoshi

The General Definition of the Batou System

After the Marco Polo Bridge Incident [hereafter the Incident],9 the economic
development and the expansion of productions under Japan’s supervision
were highly reliant on coolies’ manual labour, and furthermore, labour re-
inforcement. This fact does not have to be understood as an exigent strategy
due to the shortage of resources. It will be clear, if facts are contrasted against
their background, that mining industries operated by foreign capitalists
failed to employ the mechanized means that had been used in other coun-
tries. Even though there is an enormous amount of potentially stagnant
surplus population, modern companies are still distressed by the shortage
386 Zhang Yuanfang

of modern workers. It is for this reason that these industries have custom-
ized production to the hiring of semi-agrarian coolies characterized by their
lack of discipline and skills, rather than to the use of machines characterized
by programmatic planning and high-quality yields. Rather than developing
the central-organized production system, industries take advantage of the
local batou system, or the work-contracting system – an indigenous institu-
tion inherited from the past – to organize workers in production.
The batou system is not rooted in petit commodity production.10 Its for-
mation is rooted in the development of capitalism, especially the separation
of owner and manager in the capitalist production (though maintaining the
traditional traits of capitalism) and the extensive recruitment of unskilled
coolies (who cannot be regarded as modern labourers). Moreover, this system
is not a developed form of “guild.” It is not an inherent system that foreign-
run industries utilize, and there are unexpectedly many opinions that confuse
this system with labour management by Chinese agents in a foreign-run
industry. In Chinese industries, since the development of capitalist relations
is shrouded by bureaucracies and warlords, capitalism managed to prove its
presence in capitalists’ direct control of mechanisms in the sphere of circula-
tion and their indirect control of production. Doubt­less, this tendency forms
the hotbed for the development of the work-contracting system. The applica-
tion of the contracting system can be found not only in mines, but also in
textile industries. The use of the batou system, whose tenacious presence
could be found in project-contracting (sakugyō ukeoi) and work-contracting
(rōdō ukeoi) arrangements, must be distinguished from the daily hiring
system (hamba)11 that was applied in Japan’s coal mines in the past.
The other element persistently supporting the batou system is the semi-
agrarian and semi-industrial nature of Chinese coolies. In this case, it must
be made explicit that this nature cannot be understood in generic terms.
Rather, the batou system demonstrates the qualities of coolie workers. Af­
flicted by hunger and poverty, coolies must become migrant workers to sup­
plement their family budget. This type of worker must also be distinguished
from Japanese semi-agrarian labourers who work in different fields. The semi-
agrarian and backward type of worker constitutes the foundation for the
presence of the batou system.
Although the batou system is deeply rooted in Chinese society, this does
not mean that it has never changed. Its evolution throughout history invites
a realistic understanding of its cause, which is influenced by two factors. The
first is the priority for the expansion of production, which will absolutely
 Tapping into the Premodern Work-Contracting System 387

help overcome shortcomings of the feudal production system, namely, the

absence of overall planning and the presence of limits constraining tech-
nical progress. With the disintegration of China’s rural society, the semi-
agrarian nature of coolies – the second factor – has been gradually changed
with respect to its structure; and this change has also weakened the depend-
ent relations of coolies with others, which shakes the foundation of the batou
system. The establishment of the planned economic system itself is a question
of adopting a specific operational mechanism. In this report I will address
these two conditions as the leverage for the development of the batou
system.

The Particularity of the Batou System in the Ryūen Iron Mine

According to Andersson’s survey,12 the Ryūen iron mine company was in-
augurated as a joint state-private business in 1918 during the First World
War with an initial capital of 2 million yuan. In 1919, with another 5 million
yuan invested into the company, the company was renamed Mount Yantong
coal mine and proceeded to manage mining activities. However, due to the
poor development after the war, it was shut down, and mines were sealed.
The Nanjing national government took over the mine after the Northern
Expedition. After the Incident, it was again taken over by the Kōchū com-
pany.13 In this way, twenty years after its abandonment by China’s govern-
ment, it was reopened by Japan without intervention of foreign capital. It
was run in this disadvantaged condition in face of the deficiency of resources
and the lack of historical experience. At the same time, due to the commodi-
fied nature of ores, there was no room to shift the burden caused by higher
prices for the means of subsistence in the area near the mining locations. In
addition, regarding the production mechanism, unlike coal mines, drilling
for iron ores cannot be carried out simply through manual labour; rather,
the industry must rely to a large extent on the use of machines. Finally, with
respect to the source of workers coming to the mining area, the industry
must depend on poor coolies from Henan and Shandong provinces. These
conditions, which constitute the basis for the running of the company, are
very different from other mines in north China. At the same time, the batou
system shows its particularity in many ways. Nevertheless, the organization
of the semi-agrarian and semi-industrial coolies in the feudal production
system has always been consistent in different areas. Hence, it is imperative
for us to master and understand the diversified aspects of Chinese coolies
in north China as well as the batou system.
388 Zhang Yuanfang

Before Japan took over Ryūen, the production was contracted to five su-
perior batou. These five superior batou had two to five underlings respectively,
and each underling had almost a hundred workers. In total, there were fifteen
batou and fifteen hundred workers. Most of the batou came from Tangshan.
After the ore mine was sealed, most batou returned to Tangshan, and some
of them ended up in Mongolia as batou in construction industries. The take­
over of industry by the Kōchū company marked the restoration of the batou
system under the direct control of the company itself, rather than the su-
perior batou. The working camp consisted of fewer coolies.
Although the company made efforts to recruit more batou supervised
by the superior batou in 1939, it failed due to the lack of suitable candidates.
As a trial, some competent candidates were invited from Manchuria to take
the position of superior batou, but they had difficulty adapting to the en-
vironment because of their identity as outsiders. The local batou clique
persisted in denigrating them to the technicians. Those outsiders were forced
to leave because of circulating rumours. The Ryūen mine decided to accept
small-scale batou units that consisted of batou born in Hebei.
The Ryūen mine is different from other mines in north China because its
operation represented Japan’s national interest. Production plans are accord-
ingly installed in response to commands from the imperial Japanese state.
The core section of production is controlled by the company. In other words,
basic equipment, such as dowsing tools and explosives, are either well inte-
grated into other means of mining dynamics or are strictly controlled by the
company. In this regard, the batou system is to a large extent limited in terms
of its functioning as a project-contracting mechanism; on the contrary, its
functioning as a work-contracting mechanism is strongly reinforced. It is for
this reason that only a small portion of capital has been invested into the
maintaining of the batou system.
Because they could no longer benefit from working as an agent of labour
supply, batou have to make every effort to recruit coolies and manage their
dormitories. For this reason, although their engagement have to make every
effort to recruit coolies and manage their dormitories requires the investment
of an amount of capital, the financial burden has been largely relieved, since
distribution of the means of subsistence has been taken up by the company.
In this way, the company can dispense with the need for a large amount of
capital. In addition, since the section of fixed capital constitutes only a small
portion, and since this amount of capital is mainly invested into the recruit-
ing and managing of migrant coolies, the foundation for the batou system
becomes unstable due to the migratory nature of coolies. Forming a small
 Tapping into the Premodern Work-Contracting System 389

clique allows these batou to present themselves as a community, while it still

does not help improve batou’s reputation. I think this aspect has laid the foun-
dation for the dramatic fluctuation of batou, accompanying social changes.
The instability and vulnerability of the batou system cannot help but
impact the lives of coolies. This could be reflected in the frequent migration
of coolies, the difficulty of nurturing a professional mining worker, and
decreases in productivity. In April 1941, thanks to the rising price of the
means of subsistence because of the drought in Mongolia, coolies’ lives
were on the verge of collapse. This event laid foundations for the urgent re-
form of the batou system in the next year. However, since this reform rushed
to an end, the state was not ready to install a new mechanism in place of the
batou system. In addition, this reform also caused some components of the
batou system to fail to take effect. At the same time, batou who took advan-
tage of this reform experienced a change: in the past, they played a dominant
role in directly docking a portion from coolies’ wages as their extra income;
now, they had to distribute an amount to coolies to pay for the means of
subsistence. This reform was not thoroughly carried out and it was flawed
in two aspects: the preservation of the remnants of the old system, and the
failure to establish a new mechanism. Now the pressing question is how to
understand comprehensively the batou system in order that a real reform
could be launched.

The Semi-agrarian and Semi-industrial Nature of Coolies

I have already outlined the nature of the impoverished coolies who must
migrate to other places to make a living as mine workers. This semi-agrarian
and semi-industrial nature lays the foundation for the batou system. The
“semi-agrarian” coolies will not stay in the industry throughout their lives;
hence the management in modern companies becomes uneasy and unbear-
able. In addition, their backwardness obstructs the full realization of mech-
anization, as it is difficult for them to adapt themselves to the application of
machines. The insufficiency of mechanization furthermore entails the
maintaining of the batou system as a remnant of the old society. There are
two conditions pivotal to the existence of the batou system, namely, coolies
bearing the semi-agrarian and semi-industrial character, and the company
lacking a planned production system. These two conditions do not have
equal weight in each industry; rather, each element is present to a certain
degree. The degree of presence for each element is also in constant flux.
A gross generalization of the semi-agrarian and semi-industrial nature
of coolies is far from enough. Its combination with premodern heterogeneous
390 Zhang Yuanfang

social elements, and the structural change of this combination, must be

taken into consideration for further analysis. In the case of the Ryūen mine,
coolies are divided into different groups. First, professional mining workers
only constitute a small part of the whole coolie group. Second, most workers
are long-term migrant workers; sojourners who are mainly engaged in min-
ing but return to agrarian production during the farming seasons; migrant
peasants who come to mine industries during the winter fallow; and part-
time workers who only commute to the mine. These five types of workers
are differentiated according to the degree of their “semi-agrarian” nature.
The category that a coolie belongs to is determined largely by their social
stratum in the rural society. Most peasants who can afford the means of
subsistence and can raise their families by engaging in agrarian work become
migrant workers during the winter fallow. Regarding seasonal workers who
make a living mainly by mining during the fallow time, most of them come
from the class in which they can barely make their ends meet through agrar-
ian production. In the case of long-term migrant workers, many of them are
landless peasants or coolies who are even less engaged in agrarian work. As
for the professional mining workers, due to their low real wage and their
inability to support their families, most of them are homeless and lead a
precarious life before they settle down in the mining industries.
At mines, migrant workers who engaged in sporadic agrarian activities
in their rural origins build relationships with others coming from the same
village. The origin of batou must be traced back to the reproduction of rela-
tions shaped by the spatial linkages in the working sites of an enterprise.
At the very beginning, batou are mainly from the stratum of farmers who
own land in their hometown. The notion of hometown mediates the rela-
tionship between the shared rural locality and personal networking at in-
dustrial working sites. As the communal life at the company proceeds, a
new interpersonal relationship is developed centring on the worksite, leading
to dilution of the meaning of batou, whose importance emanates from the
relationship of shared locale. However, the interdependent relationship
between batou and their underling coolies from the same village continued
in the company’s worksites.
The above-mentioned reform is also negatively influenced by mining
workers’ poverty. Rising prices caused by inflation have a great impact on
peasants in the rural society, including coolies at worksites. The increasing
price of the necessities of life, namely, the price for the means of subsistence,
plunges workers’ lives into bankruptcy, forces them to migrate in search of
a better life, and loosens their ties to the company. Batou receive more and
 Tapping into the Premodern Work-Contracting System 391

more pressures coming from the contracted production, and finally those
pressures are shifted toward their role in supervising workers’ everyday lives.
Coolies’ consciousness of criticism of the batou will be nurtured against the
essence of the batou system (insofar as the transformation of the role of the
batou system unfolds in this way).

Restraints of the Indigenous Feudal Production System

In order to achieve the prior goal of the expansion of production during the
war, the company must take control of production plans and apply partially
mechanical means in the mining industry. I have already argued that the
effect of work contracting is partly restricted due to the direct control of the
means of production by the company. However, this effect should not be
underrated.
It is only because the company has not fully established the planned
production system that it has to rely to a greater or lesser degree on the in-
digenous feudal production system. There are two conditions for establishing
the modern production system, namely, the complete development of modern
labourers and reform of the production mechanism, based on the introduc-
tion of machinery. In reality, however, before the introduction of machinery,
it is imperative for the company to take control of the production mechanism
in order to install central plans for production. In view of this fact, it is very
important to assess the function of the batou system.
The fundamental question is that, when the batou system is paradoxically
incorporated into the production mechanism, it will be inevitably restruc-
tured as the coolie-organizing system bearing dualistic ambiguities. As the
leader in charge of his working team, batou must secure interests at each
working team, as the stake he has in the process of work contracting, rather
than his working experience at mining industries, constitutes the condition
for the presence of this system. To squeeze profits from the process of pro-
duction, a group leader will require the team leader under his command to
supervise production. On the company’s side, from the points of view of
the production planning and profitability, the company convenes its techni-
cians and gives its orders through these technicians to the team leader, who
takes charge of the supervision of production on the shop floor. Hence, the
team leader epitomizes the double-faced character of the batou. This has
brought about many difficulties.
In order to carry out production plans, it is necessary to establish a
consistent system for supervising coolies working on the shop floor via a
team leader. This system encompasses different positions that range from
392 Zhang Yuanfang

technicians to workers. In the first place, for this reason, it becomes very
important to nurture the team leader as a skilled leader. Second, team leaders
must be fully trained as pre-eminent leaders in terms of technical ability and
physical endurance. Chinese technicians are especially needed for this pur-
pose. Third, it is imperative to train the backbone workers who play a pion-
eering role among the workers by following guidance from the team leader.
Finally, it is necessary to give Chinese technicians, team leaders, and
backbone workers, all of whom are involved in the production mechanism,
a wage generous enough for them to devote everything they can to mining
production. These are the conditions for pushing for the establishment of
planned production in place of the batou system.
Reform of the production mechanism through the installation of a planned
production system is now unfolding faster than the partial mechanization
carried out in early years. Moreover, it is not accurate to say that reform
cannot be realized without the full achievement of mechanization. In fact,
in the case of most developed mines, reform is based upon the reconstitution
of the batou system. In Kailuan coal mine, a British-run mine in Hebei,
foremen coming from training schools are organized into the supervision
sys­tem. Placed under the direction of specialists and made to follow produc-
tion plans in the coal mine, these foremen play a key role in changing the
nature of the batou system. In Fushun mine, a Japanese-run mine in Fengtian
province in Manchukuo, Japanese technicians are appointed as leaders of
working teams at production sites. This measure creates the basic condition
for putting one part of the batou system under the direct control of the min-
ing company. As I have discussed, the lack of Japanese technicians and the
low quality of available technicians have made resuscitation of the batou
sys­tem inevitable after the Incident. Hence, in contrast to general under-
standings, the reason for the reliance on the batou system does not include
difficulty in recruitment. At Fushun coal mine, the partial progression of
mechanization adds difficulty to simply reviving the old batou system. The
nurturing of technicians coming from Manchuria has already been accepted
as an option for providing a positive solution to this problem. Regarding
reforms that took place in the two areas, while it is interesting to note the
continuing difference between Japanese-run and British-run mines, it is
necessary to fully assess reform of the production mechanism as the basic
condition for the resuscitation of the batou system, despite the specific run-
ning conditions shown in each case and the unfolding of mechanization as
one way to reform the production mechanism. (The pace of the reform does
not have to be directly proportional to the rate of mechanization, though.)
 Tapping into the Premodern Work-Contracting System 393

Alongside the unfolding of reform, on the other hand, the batou system
must be situated into the frame of the work-contracting system, and further-
more, batou must be temporarily converted into the employees of the com-
pany. While reform of the production mechanism creates the basic condition
for facilitating reform of the batou system toward the mechanism of work
contracting, at the same time, reform of the batou system will also in turn
enable the reform of production mechanism.

The Role of the Team Leader in the Determination

and Payment of Wages for Coolies
The determination and payment of wages for a coolie not only becomes the
material basis for sustaining the management of a working team, but also
determines the basic life of miners. Moreover, how is the wage determined
and paid? What relation does the team leader have to the determination and
payment of wages? Although the team leader has a stake in the formation of
such relations, I have not seen a satisfactory published survey on these people.
For the time being, I will put together data concerning one survey taken from
team leaders on the wage of a certain group. First, let me talk about the
determination of wages. Wages distributed from the company are passed to
the team leader, who determines the paid amount as the subcontracting fee
for the whole working team, rather than determining the individual wage
for each coolie. In this regard, what standards does the team leader follow
to assess the output and skill of each coolie before distributing wages? In
most cases it is the team leader who determines the wage. There is also an
instance in which, besides the team leader, the senior coolie is also involved
in making decisions. In some cases, the team leader makes a decision based
on the discussion he has with the senior coolie. It is impossible to learn
details just from a survey on team leaders. From the data that has already
been disclosed to me, in Group One, the team leader, surnamed Ma, decides
all wages for twelve out of twenty-eight workers. These workers also get paid
directly by the leader. For the rest of the coolies, Ma’s relative, surnamed Li,
takes charge of them, rents a house for them in the village, and is responsible
for the preparation of food for their communal life. Li determines the amount
of wages for these coolies and distributes wages once he has received the
total amount from Ma. Similar to the instance in which the dormitory is not
distinguished from the dining place, just like the one managed by Li, in other
circumstances in which coolies from the same group are divided according
to their working locations, there are very few instances in which the senior
coolie still does not have a decisive say in the determination of wages. The
394 Zhang Yuanfang

dependence on senior coolies is not limited to the formation of relationships

at worksites as they also provide crucial introductions to new coolies during
the recruitment process. In two or three instances, the team leader distributes
wages to these coolies, including the senior coolie. However, the range of
personal relationships that this determination fits is still unclear. Does it
imply that the percentage of wage distribution by the team leader via the
senior coolies is high?
Another question is what standard the determination of wage follows. In
a working team, coolies are divided into first-class workers and second-class
workers. However, how do leaders distinguish between the first class and the
second class? Among the factors enumerated by different team leaders,
physical strength is the factor that most leaders mentioned. Here is a chart
[see Table]:

Criteria for the determination

of experienced/inexperienced workers
Criteria Cases
Stamina and spiritual power Physical strength 21
Passion 7
Attendance 5
Technical ability 20

We can divide all the criteria that leaders have listed into three categor-
ies: the inherent physical strength and spiritual endurance of the body,
technical capability, and a certain degree of leadership. As is shown in the
chart, physical strength is the most required condition. The degree of physical
strength is not determined by scientific standards but merely depends on
the team leader’s judgment. Technical capability centres on coolies’ profi-
ciency in craft skills, such as the use of rock-drilling machines, the designa-
tion of spots for drilling, and the speed of drilling. The first and second classes
are determined in this way.
Once the division is made, does it remain unchanged, or keep changing
all the time? It is hard to come to a universal conclusion that applies in every
work team. In most cases, the division is made two weeks or one month after
the first payment, and it becomes fixed upon the implementation; but there
are quite a few cases in which the first-class workers have been relegated to
the lower class due to their slacking in work. This supports the fact that
 Tapping into the Premodern Work-Contracting System 395

enthusiasm will also be considered as an important factor in addition to

physical strength for assessing unskilled coolies. Re­garding the standard for
deciding wages for workers, the role of the leader is an important factor, and
the determination should always be dependent on his judgment.
The categorization of workers varies from group to group, and its signifi-
cance for each group also differs. We can catch a glimpse of this variation
from the numbers of each type of worker in every group. Take the data for
one work group as an example. In the first work team, the team leader Pan
has two first-class workers and seventeen second-class workers; while in the
second work team, the leader Ma has two first-class workers and twelve
second-class workers. The categorization of workers in these two teams cor-
responds to the criteria that I have discussed. In the third work team, under
the leadership of Wang, however, there are forty first-class workers and six
second-class workers. The ratio between the two types is inverted. The work-
ing obligation of this team is drilling, and unlike other drilling teams that
assess coolies by their skill of choosing preferred spots and by the direction
they take during the drilling process, in this team, it is the cooperation of
two or three coolies in the process of operation that determines the condi-
tion for ranking the workers. As a result, most coolies can participate in the
working process. Therefore, only child and old coolies are considered to
be second-class workers. Even within one group, the distinction between
the two classes and the significance deriving from this distinction cannot
be normalized. With respect to the allocation of real wages corresponding
to working days, there is a difference of 10 to 30 qian per day per group. This
difference even varies between teams in one group. Regarding this point, we
now understand that the determination of wages is dependent on the team
leader’s own preference rather than his respect for fixed rules or standards.
With respect to the wage difference between the two classes of workers, we
still do not have enough details on whether the difference is kept as constant
as 20 qian or if it varies among different groups. With respect to the absolute
value of the wage, if the wage of the second-class workers in one team is
higher than the wage of the first-class workers in another team, in case of
other values kept unchanged, as a cumulative effect, workers will move to
advantageous positions. The criteria for categorizing workers vary from one
team to another. At the same time, because the complexity of workload
differs, the internal mobility of workers driven by differences in the abso-
lute value of nominal wage does not take place easily. In most cases in which
the team leader decides the amount of wage, even if the leader an arbitrary
396 Zhang Yuanfang

decision, he always figures it out based on some basic facts, and he makes
decisions in such a context that his calculations will not be isolated from
other factors.
One thing that must be noted is that the wage is not represented as a fixed
amount paid to each worker; rather, it is represented as the daily wage at an
average level calculated as the ratio of the everyday output of each team to
the attendance of every worker. Each worker’s attendance record is usually
approved by the team leader as well, and in some instances by the first-class
worker. The team leader reports his record to the accountant, based on which
the accountant makes his own record. There is a slight difference between
the two records.
With respect to payment, as I have mentioned, the group leader receives
the total amount from the company, deducts food costs, and passes the re-
maining amount to each team leader, who is responsible for the payment
of wages to coolie workers. Sometimes the team leader relies on the senior
coolie, as the person in direct charge of work, for the distribution of wages.
There is another instance in which the team leader deducts food costs for
his workers himself. In this case, the fees docked for paying means of sub­
sistence become an important source for the team leader’s income.
How do those agents, such as group leaders, team leaders, and senior
coolies, charge the fees from coolies? Due to its subtlety, this matter is an
issue on which we cannot get details. Very few team leaders respond by
answering that their boss, the group leader, has never docked an amount
from them. In one group, according to the leader of the working team re-
sponsible for transporting ore from the mine, the group leader charges 1 qian
per mining car. In one team at another group, the team leader docks 10 qian
per coolie per day. One tendency shown is that the amount skimmed off
varies from team to team, even within the same group. Coolies under the
organization of the team leader will be charged more by the group leader
than coolies under the direct organization of the group leader.

Conclusion
The batou system is a work-contracting mechanism in China under the
con­dition in which the modern industrial system has not yet established a
planned production mechanism, though it has already controlled the means
of production.
The two conditions for maintaining the batou system are the not-
yet-established condition of planned production based on the absence of
 Tapping into the Premodern Work-Contracting System 397

mechanization, and the presence of backward half-agrarian coolies. The

nature of the batou system has also been altered as the two conditions
changed.
The effect of the batou system is represented as project contracting
(sakugyō ukeoi) based on the supremacy of planned production. However,
as the system is gradually limited by social conditions, it undergoes a transi-
tion to the effect of work contracting (rōdō ukeoi).
In this regard, it is highly possible that the batou system would undertake
the guidance of everyday life for coolies. For this reason, the education of
batou, the preparation for life guidance, and the establishment of recruiting
mechanisms based on coolies’ regional connections must be assured as
prerequisite conditions.
The establishment of the modern planned production system is premised
on the adoption of mechanization. However, before this takes place, produc-
tion must rely on an operation command system that is founded on a struc-
ture consisting of technicians, team leaders, and coolies.
For this purpose, it is necessary to coordinate team leaders as the under-
lings of Chinese contractors to recruit coolies. In addition, these leaders
must be trained to acquire technical skills and leadership qualities.
It is also necessary to select and train coolies who have the potential to
be disciplined, modern workers. In order to achieve this goal, conditions
must be created to facilitate discipline through bringing into full play every-
day training and creativity. There is a long way to go in reforming the batou
system.
(Tōkyō: Rōdō Kagaku Kenkyūjo, 1944)

Notes
1 From the founding of Manchukuo, the government imposed labour control to restrict
coolie immigration from north China to Manchukuo. This ban was removed in 1938
after the passing of the National Mobilization Law, which allowed enterprises to mobilize
workers in a more extensive way. See David Tucker, “Labour Policy and the Construction
Industry in Manchukuo: Systems of Recruitment, Management and Control,” in Asian
Labour in the Wartime Japanese Empire: Unknown Histories, ed. Paul Kratoska (London:
Routledge, 2002), 25–60.
2 The fact that the wartime expansion of production in heavy industries in imperial Japan
reached its zenith around 1942 and 1943 can be inferred from existing data and histori-
ography. After attacking Pearl Harbor in 1941, Japan declared war on the United States,
which spurred Japan to gear up production in wartime industries. Take the production
of steel as an example. According to the Outline of Resource Mobilization in the Japanese
Empire between 1941 and 1945, the amount of steel required peaked in 1943. The high
consumption of steel appeared in the period between 1941 and 1942. The supply of steel
398 Zhang Yuanfang

relied heavily on colonies within the Sphere of Co-Prosperity; the import of steel from
Manchuria reached its apex in 1942.
3 See Sugiyama Mitsunobu, “Civil Society Theory and Wartime Mobilization: On the
Intellectual Development of Uchida Yoshihiko,” in Total War and Modernization, ed.
Yasushi Yamanouchi, Victor Koschmann, and Ryuichi Narita (Ithaca, NY: East Asia
Program, Cornell University, 1998), 117–36.
4 Descriptions and connotations of “coolies” come from my summary of many studies of
their social background in documents and published articles in Manchukuo journals
from between 1932 and 1945, such as Mantetsu Chōsa Getsuhō (Monthly reports of the
South Manchuria Railway Company) and Manshū Hyōron (Manchuria forum).
5 E.H. Norman, Japan’s Emergence as a Modern State: Political and Economic Problems of
the Meiji Period, 60th anniversary ed. (1940; Vancouver: UBC Press, 2000), 157.
6 See Wendy Matsumura, The Limits of Okinawa: Japanese Capitalism, Living Labor, and
Theorizations of Community (Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 2015), ch. 4.
7 See Ken Kawashima, The Proletarian Gamble: Korean Workers in Interwar Japan (Durham,
NC: Duke University Press, 2009).
8 Nakamura Takatoshi, Hatō seido no kenkyū [A study of the batou system] (Tōkyō:
Bunkyūdō Shoten, 1944).
9 The Marco Polo Bridge Incident on 7 July 1937 marked the beginning of the Anti-Japanese
War of Resistance (1937–45).
10 Petit commodity production is based on the private ownership of means of production.
Political economists contrast it with capitalist commodity production in order to em-
phasize a teleological and lineal development of social economy in human history.
11 According to Ken Kawashima’s research, hamba was a basic unit of labour organization
in the mining and construction industries. Built like a camp to provide transitory respite,
protection, and subsistence, a hamba was the site where day workers worked and lived.
They paid a fee for using the hamba from their wages, which constituted the main source
of income for the labour bosses who managed the hamba. See Kawashima, Proletarian
Gamble, 75–76.
12 Johan Gunnar Andersson, a Swedish archaeologist and geologist, served as mining adviser
to China’s government in the late 1910s.
13 Established in 1935 in Japanese-occupied north China as one of the important conglom-
erates under the direct control of Japanese government, the Kōchū company developed
heavy industries and carried out economic goals for sustaining the control economy
under the supervision of Japan.
27 An Anarchist Popular Resistance
The Awakening and China’s Resistance
War at Home and Abroad
MORGAN ROCKS

Founded in 1937, the Chengdu-based journal Jingzhe (The Awakening)

sought to link China’s Anti-Japanese War of Resistance to global an­
archist antifascist struggle. Founded by long-time anarchists Lu Jianbo
(1904–91), his wife, Deng Tianyu (n.d.), and their colleague, Zhang
Lüqian (n.d.), the journal represents a final attempt to push anarchism,
which had been overshadowed by the rise of the Kuomintang (KMT)
and the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) in the 1920s, as a tool by
which to save China.1 Attempting to address wartime and anarchist
agendas, Lu’s group filled its pages with articles that joined anarchist
revolution to anti-Japanese resistance, offered an anarchist perspective
as to why and how the Japanese should be resisted, and linked China’s
struggles to antifascist resistance in Spain and the rest of the world.
The Awakening stopped publishing in 1940, but, for a brief moment,
it provided an anarchist voice in the war.
The article translated here, “Wuzhengfuzhuyi yu Zhongguo kang­
zhan” (Anarchism and China’s War of Resistance), by Li Min, was pub­
lished in the Awakening in January 1939. 2 In it, Li outlines anarchism’s
use in China’s Anti-Japanese War of Resistance as a means for social
revolution, mass participation, and international solidarity. To Li and
the Awakening group, the war against Japan was not just a conflict be­
tween states; it was a chance at a revolution to end state power alto­
gether. In order to do so, anarchists needed to aid and educate the
masses so they could resist Japanese imperialists, and afterwards,
whoever of the KMT or CCP tried to take charge of the country. 3
In making this case, Li called for an anarchist-inspired “war of popu­
lar resistance” against Japan. Li’s arguments for mass participation in a
war of popular resistance were not unique. Discussions on “war of
400 Morgan Rocks

popular resistance” and “war of total resistance” had been ongoing in

CCP-affiliated journals and newspapers, and the party itself had issued
its Ten Guiding Principles (Shi da gangling) on the war in August 1937. 4
The Awakening group acknowledged this, however, they remained
skeptical of the ability of the CCP’s Ten Guiding Principles, or even the
KMT’s Three Principles of the People, to fully mobilize and organize the
masses. 5 For Li and the Awakening group, the masses ultimately had to
lead themselves. They may have shared in the vocabularies of com­
munist and other leftist discourses, but his vision for a war of popular
resistance remained true to their anarchist principles.
Furthermore, the extraordinary violence of the Japanese invasion
would only be replaced by the everyday violence of the state, so the
people needed to arm themselves to ensure their rights in postwar
society. While Li recognized that, philosophically, anarchist thought
opposed war, given the alternative of Japanese conquest, exceptions
had to be made. 6 Li and the Awakening group drew their support for
an anarchist war of popular resistance from the thought of Errico
Malatesta (1853–1932), an influential Italian anarchist who recognized
the place of violence in achieving revolution.7 Li’s use of Malatesta’s
argument, of course, went beyond Malatesta’s original intent. Malatesta
had famously denounced anarchist participation in the First World War
and had characterized war as nothing more than a tool of capitalism
and the state. 8 However, for Li and the others at the Awakening, Japan’s
invasion of China was not just an affair between states. It pitted the
forces of capitalism against the labouring peoples of China and Japan,
threatening any hope for social revolution in China. In this sense, Li’s
use of Malatesta, though made to fit China’s current wartime situation,
kept its meaning. For the Awakening group, an anarchist war of popular
resistance was as much a tool of wartime mobilization as it was a tool
to prevent any future Chinese “demon king from ascending the throne
and demanding supplication and tribute from the masses.”9
Resistance in China lay at the forefront of the Awakening’s agenda,
but anarchist internationalism also influenced its message. From the
first appearance of Chinese anarchist groups, engaging in international
solidarity and revolution claimed equal importance with fomenting
revolution within China. This solidarity went beyond translating the
writings of European and American anarchists. It included forming per­
sonal and working relationships with international anarchists and, in
some cases, even participating in international movements or inviting
 An Anarchist Popular Resistance 401

international anarchists to China.10 By the time of the Awakening’s

founding, a new international cause came to occupy Chinese anarchist
attention: the Spanish Civil War. The prominence and early victories of
anarchists in the Spanish Civil War encouraged the remaining anarchists
in China. They saw their own country’s plight in the Spanish anarchists’
struggle against Franco’s fascist Falangist party. International antifascist
solidarity became a rallying point for Chinese anarchists, and the
Awakening was an important outpost for this.
For Li Min and the Awakening group, Spain provided both aspira­
tional and operative examples for China’s own resistance. “Anarchism
and China’s War of Resistance” explicitly links Chinese anarchist efforts
to Spain as well as to the Abyssinian wars against fascist Italy.11 Lu
Jianbo, in an April 1938 article entitled “Kang faxisizhuyi zhi dong xi
zhan” (Antifascist wars of resistance, East and West), outlines the similar­
ities in Spanish anarchists’ fight against Franco and China’s war against
Japan. Demanding his comrades’ solidarity with the Spanish anarchists,
he declares: “We and our Spanish comrades are thoroughly antifascist.
As we fight against fascism, we will follow in their successes and learn
from their failures.”12 These calls were not just rhetorical. Lu Jianbo and
his colleagues attempted to establish a Chengdu-based branch of the
Solidaridad Internacional Antifascista. The SIA was an anarchist organ­
ization founded in May 1937 in Valencia, Spain, which sought to garner
support for the Spanish anarchist cause and to provide aid to global
antifascist movements. Soon after, it opened branches across the world,
including China. The April 1938 issue of the Awakening contained the
bylaws and statutes of the organization, contact information, and so­
licited members and inquiries for the Chinese branch.13 The importance
the Awakening placed on the internationalism of China’s antifascist
struggle served both as a marker of just how connected China’s polit­
ical and social plight was to other parts of the world and as a reminder
of the acute conditions China faced against Japan.
The Awakening folded in 1940, after four volumes and twenty-two
issues. Its readership and effect on any practical anarchist organizing
remains unknown and understudied. But, in the group’s writings, other
sides of the anti-Japanese struggle may be seen. As a whole, the journal
sought to revitalize Chinese anarchist practice for a collaborative war
effort that included China’s various factions and for social revolution. In
so doing, it synthesized existing threads of anarchist thought and con­
temporary discourse and vocabulary used by Chinese leftist intellectuals
402 Morgan Rocks

27.1 Morgan — “Qian jin, xiongdi!,” Ba Jin, “Xibanya de shuguang.” Source: Sina
Collection, http://collection.sina.com.cn.

so as to create a Chinese anarchist plan for a war of popular resistance.

At the same time, it continued to connect China’s problems to the
world’s, letting its audience know that China’s Anti-Japanese War was
both a domestic and international affair.

—•  TRANSLATION  •—

Excerpts from “Anarchism and China’s War of Resistance”14

Li Min15

Introduction
Wishing to see the advent of an emancipatory communist society, anarchists
cannot separate themselves from the struggles of the workers and peasants
oppressed, exploited, and enslaved by capitalist society, and they cannot
shirk the real battles against authoritarian control in society.
China’s present War of Resistance is against the power of Japan’s imperial-
ists and capitalists. This war is to destroy the threats to the world and to
human peace and freedom that Japanese imperialist and capitalist powers
 An Anarchist Popular Resistance 403

represent. In other words, the Chinese masses, in continuing and safeguard-

ing the strength and successes of Abyssinian and Spanish antifascist efforts,
are shedding their former slave status and becoming liberated individuals
who oppose Japanese fascist conquest – who oppose Japanese fascist
violence!
[The author here cites antifascist struggles in Abyssinia and Spain as
bellwethers for Chinese anarchist efforts, with Spain being a prominent
example throughout the journal.]

Section 2: Eliminating War through War

In the aftermath of the First World War, there were some 9,879,000 deaths,
6,259,512 heavy casualties, and 14,002,039 minor casualties. Total military
costs of the war were $190 billion. Property losses totalled roughly $310
billion. Production losses totalled $47 billion. Relief costs came to around
$1.1 billion, with other miscellaneous costs totalling some $160 billion.16
These numbers were reached through the flesh and blood of humans.
They reminded humanity of the high cost of war, yet in paying such a terrible
price, what was achieved? Pay heed to this,17 as an even more brutal, violent,
and bitter Second World War is set to begin.
From the First World War, we can observe the utter failure of disarma-
ment conferences as military spending and expansion has reached epic
proportions across the globe. All those contracts for peace have been ripped
asunder by fascist nations, and the weak and small peoples18 are being
trampled underfoot by fascists’ iron boots.
In such an age pervaded by the scent of sulphur and gunpowder, where
the hands of imperialists are stained crimson through their sacrifice of weak
and small peoples, and war is a constant possibility, the prospect of peace
has reached a nadir.
In such an age, hope for peace can only be guaranteed through war.
As such, every individual should recognize that in this age of fascist and
imperialist fanaticism, war is unavoidable. To shout “peace,” “justice,” and
“humanity” at these fascist butchers is simply to demand laohu kouzhong
tao sui gu chi (broken bones to eat inside a tiger’s mouth).19
Hence, we must realize that we cannot oppose fascist imperialism through
“pacifistic propaganda or movements,” and that we must answer war with
war. Simply put, as enemies bomb us from the skies, killing us, we must
defend ourselves from such bombings, sending a warning to our enemies.
From such a stance it is only natural that we reach this conclusion: we
must end war through war.
404 Morgan Rocks

Errico Malatesta, in Anarchism’s Guiding Principles, wrote: “It is quite

clear that the masses’ only hope of liberation lies in resisting violence with
violence.”20
In Toward Anarchism, Malatesta has also written:

There is in every country a government which, with brutal force, imposes

its laws on all; it compels all to be subjected to exploitation and to maintain,
whether they like it or not, the existing institutions. It forbids the minority
groups to actuate their ideas, and prevents the social organizations in general
from modifying themselves according to, and with, the modifications of
public opinion. The normal peaceful course of evolution is arrested by
violence, and thus with violence it is necessary to reopen that course. It is
for this reason that we want a violent revolution today; and we shall want
it always – so long as man is subject to the imposition of things contrary to
his natural desires. Take away the governmental violence and ours would
have no reason to exist.21

Japanese fascist imperialists have not stopped at using violence to both

hinder the advance of peace in Japanese society and oppress the masses of
workers and peasants. They have spread their violence to China so as to
oppress its society. For us to liberate the Chinese people and aid the Japan­
ese workers and peasants in emancipating themselves, we must engage a
two­­fold path in resisting the Japanese fascist imperialists’ war. We must both
actively and aggressively engage in war and revolution and utilize war as a
tool of self-defence.
To clarify, we have not forgotten the savagery of war and its potential to
extinguish human civilization. We have not overlooked war’s tragic, in-
humane, blood-besotted history of brutality and crime in some sort of rever-
ence. In reality, for the safety, happiness, peace, and freedom of people across
the world, it is necessary for us to be armed in self-defence and to “wash
blood away with blood.”22
Everyone knows that animals, in order to protect their own lives, naturally
adopt strategies of defence and attack.
Among reptiles, tortoises are known as strict vegetarians. They do not
invade or torment other animals, yet they have numerous enemies. In order
to protect themselves from the dangers these enemies – buzzards, wild dogs,
and others – present, they will hide their entire bodies, from their heads to
their tails, inside their shells.
 An Anarchist Popular Resistance 405

Now, swans are the most inspiring of birds. They are like poems, paint-
ings, or musical notes in harmony, and they are absolute vegetarians. Yet, in
order to deal with their shared enemies, they will, with a courage fiercer than
that of an eagle snatching away a hatchling, set out to kill a wild dog or break
the ribs of a human.
In another example, J.A. Thompson has described how in Florida, an
Englishwoman23 kept a grey parrot. One day, a guest gave the bird some
matches. It pecked at the match heads, setting them alight. The parrot never
forgot this incident, and never forgave that guest. After a few months, that
same guest returned, and the bird ruthlessly bit him.
Learning from the punitive actions taken by tortoises, swans, and par-
rots in preserving their freedom of existence, we respond to the Japanese
fascist imperialists’ invasion with war. We attack the attackers and punish
the invaders. Moreover, we must enter into a war of resistance if we are to
defend ourselves and have revolution.
In truth, we know that should we discuss peace and humanity with the
Japanese fascist imperialists, we will only be answered with bombs. A very
clear example of this is how a peaceful assembly against the bombing of
defenceless cities, held in Paris on 20 July 1938, did not prevent the Japanese
from viciously bombing defenceless Chinese cities.24
Therefore, we anarchists, in following the principle of returning violence
upon the violent, must engage in armed self-defence and a war for peace in
answering the Japanese fascist imperialist invasion. We agree that we will
end war through war!

Section 3: Strengthening the Organization of Workers

and Peasants
Even though the banner of the Republic of China has been hanging for
twenty-seven years, none of the individuals involved in its government came
to their post through merit. Instead, they are the leftover dregs of feudalism.
Not one of these individuals can be called a true representative of the Chinese
citizenry.
The constitution outlines civilized regulations on gender equality, people’s
right to publicly assemble and form associations, and freedom of speech.
However, in reality, women are still kept in the kitchen tied to men, with no
freedom to have public lives, and all business, scholarly, and artistic organ-
izations discriminate against women, refusing their participation. In terms
of freedoms of assembly, association, and speech, they are not only restricted
406 Morgan Rocks

under security laws, they are also thoroughly squeezed in Communist-

controlled and special administrative regions. Such permissive freedom is
as worthless as KMT-issued money!25
This situation leads some to remark that the Chinese republic is, in fact,
really the Chinese Republic of Officials. After China’s ordinary citizens over­
threw the Manchu Qing [dynasty] in revolution, their social status has not
risen.26 In turn, they have become a throng of “Adou”-type characters.27
What people in China have felt, body and soul, over the past twenty-
seven years is not [just]28 famine, death, and homelessness brought about by
civil war, but is the loss of home and livelihood, and the proliferation of
banditry and thievery, and begging caused by foreign pressure.
China’s struggling and helpless masses, in this way, daily grow in number,
while any sense of independence and autonomy slip away. Of its four hundred
million people, only 5 percent can afford to live in luxury apartments, wear
fine clothes, and eat fancy foods. The other 95 percent wear tattered rags,
starve, and take shelter in shacks, struggling through the elements. Living
through such extremes of suffering, nothing remains of their will to live.
Chinese society is either mired in mirth or buried in tragedy. It truly is
either heaven or hell.
As the present social situation is so horrible, it only further immiserates,
numbs, and weakens the people, transforming them into perfect, tame
little lambs.
However, during the May Fourth and May Thirtieth Movements, the
Chinese masses began to wake up to life’s oppressions, long for freedom,
understand society’s gradations, and to know life is struggle, and that to
give in is death.29 They have gone from being meek little lambs to violently
fierce tigers, determinedly seeking to beat away those enemies who enslaved,
oppressed, and exploited them.
Further, within China, they oppose feudal warlords and the false flags
of international capitalists. They are forming numerous and different revo-
lutionary groups and holding demonstrations and strikes.
Yet, as the conditions the people have endured are so terrible, and the
suppression they’ve felt under the guns of the military, police, and laws of
the feudal warlords, their organizing is incomplete, and their arming for
self-defence is not enough. Under the guns and cannons of cooperating
imperialists and feudal warlords, swords and knives invariably give way.
The May Fourth and May Thirtieth Movements’ opposition to imperialists
and feudal warlords has failed. But failure is the mother of success!
 An Anarchist Popular Resistance 407

The Chinese masses, especially the proletarian workers and peasants,

have twice experienced the bloody lessons of failed revolution. This and their
previous hardships have only made the need for revolution more urgent.
They recognize that feudal warlords and imperialists are of the same ilk, and
they fervently desire the quick outbreak of social revolution in China.
Living under China’s present man-eating political and economic condi-
tions, though, has limited their political and economic freedoms. Working to
feed themselves, they work days, nights, months, and years with no time to
train themselves, organize themselves, or form revolutionary groups. The
strong among them, those who cannot stand life’s oppressions, rush into
danger and head to Mount Liang to begin a life of looting.30 As for the weak,
they float around begging and end their lives dying in ditches and along the
roads. As such, China’s masses can only wait for the times to change and the
chance for China’s social transformation to present itself.
The chance inherent in 9/18, 1/28, 7/7, and 8/13 has arrived.31 China’s
masses have all gathered under the banner of opposition to Japanese fascist
imperialist invasion. They demand a war of resistance! Unanimously, they
prepare their weapons to exact long-held blood debts from their enemies,
and are truly prepared to fight on the front lines of the war of resistance.
At the same time, we must not be afraid to recognize that the abilities
of the Chinese masses to engage in a resistance war are not yet fully formed
or solidified. Any talk of their abilities right now is optimistic. There has
been no real or solid organization or arming of the masses for a war of
resistance.
We anarchists believe that any revolutionary work that departs from
the masses, especially the proletarian worker and peasant masses, will not
be successful. Conversely, should workers, peasants, and the rest of the masses
not be adequately organized for revolution – here we mean being armed
for self-defence and determined to carry out their revolutionary tasks –
revolution will not be successful.
Hence, we anarchists down to the last individual must throw our physical
efforts into going to the worker and peasant masses, and with our comrades
there, help strengthen their revolutionary groups and solidify their organiza-
tions. This is our primary task.
We know that relying only on propaganda to establish an anarcho-
communist society is not enough. We must rely both on anarcho-communists
from all kinds of movements and on the struggles of the broader worker
and peasant masses if we want to transform society.
408 Morgan Rocks

Malatesta, in Anarchism’s Guiding Principles, states:

As we oppose all forms of government, and demand integral liberty, we

should aid any struggle for partial liberation. I believe that it is through
struggle that we learn of struggle [ ... ]. We must stand with the masses, and
we must be able to guide them to demand their complete freedom. Then,
from the sidelines, we will help them in planning to achieve their goals. We
must demonstrate our most sincere strength to earn their trust. Whatever
their goal may be, should they truly desire it, they must obtain it through
their own means. Once they believe, then they will have power, and having
power, they will stand up to their detested and despised enemies.32

In the short piece “Our Principles,” Malatesta again stated:

For this, we must spread our propaganda among the masses and make sure
that they hear our voice. In every worker’s struggle, in every movement held
by the masses, we should propagate our actions. No matter the time or place,
we must help all those who have suffered become conscious of their sacri-
fices, inequities, and ignorance, and from there appeal to their interests so
that they may place faith in their own strength and rise up with their fellow
sufferers and comrades to take action themselves.33

In Towards Anarchism, Malatesta adds this: “From this we can see that,
to arrive at Anarchism, material force is not the only thing to make a revolu-
tion; it is essential that the workers, grouped according to the various
branches of production, place themselves in a position that will ensure the
proper functioning of their social life – without the aid or need of capitalists
or governments.”34
China’s current War of Resistance has already entered its fourth phase.
During this time, our greatest lesson has been “mobilizing the masses,” which
until now has been more slogan than actuality. China’s past failures in this
war have come from the lack of solid organizing by the masses behind the
battle lines. Yet news from occupied areas tells us that the masses currently
under the iron boot of the Japanese fascist imperialists have already organ-
ized themselves to oppose the Japanese fascist imperialist war of conquest.
Moreover, in those areas not yet occupied, people across all levels of society
are taking up arms and organizing themselves so as to militarily resist the
Japanese fascist imperialists’ thievery and cruelty!
 An Anarchist Popular Resistance 409

We anarcho-communists, in order to help the masses rationalize their

actions so as to reach a true free and liberated existence, must join them in
the War of Resistance. We must never separate ourselves from the masses.
Our task in this war is to not merely resist the Japanese fascist imperialists’
invasion, but also to guarantee that the political and economic liberties
gained through the masses’ sacrifices do not accrue to some “privileged class”
or are stolen away by bandits. So, from the masses’ own struggles, we shall
solidify and strengthen their organization so that they may resist all power
and brutality!
To strengthen the organization of the people’s power so that they may
undertake the arduous work of revolution, this is the great task we anarcho-
communists set for ourselves in this war of resistance!

Notes
1 Jiang Jun, “Lu Jianbo xiansheng zaonian de wuzhengfuzhuyi xuanchuan huodong jishi”
[An account of Mr. Lu Jianbo’s early anarchist propaganda activities], in Wuzhengfuzhuyi
sixiang ziliao xuan [A selection of materials on anarchist thought], ed. Ge Mouchun,
Jiang Jun, and Li Xingyi (Beijing: Beijing daxue chubanshe, 1984), 1019–20.
2 Li Min, “Wuzhengfuzhuyi yu Zhongguo kangzhan” [Anarchism and China’s War of Re­
sistance], in ibid., 889–96. This article originally appeared in Jingzhe [The awakening] 3,
5 (1939). Li Min could possibly be one of Lu Jianbo’s pen names. In the journal, he used
at least three: Wu Yun, Tian Shenyu, and Da Ji (see n15 for further discussion). Until this
question is resolved, I will treat Lu Jianbo and Li Min as separate individuals. Jingzhe was
also the name of a Guangzhou-based journal in the 1930s. The earlier journal was printed
in Chengdu and operated by Lu Jianbo and Zhang Lüqian; see Ge Mouchun, Jiang Jun,
and Li Xingyi, Wuzhengfuzhuyi, 1020–21, for further details.
3 Ibid., 896.
4 The Ten Guiding Principles came from the 22–25 August 1937 Luochuan Conference,
and would serve as a blueprint for how the CCP believed total war of resistance against
the Japanese should be fought. The document advocated the total mobilization of China’s
military resources and its populace for the war effort. In addition, it called for political
reform, directing economic production to produce materiel for the war, eliminating
traitors, implementing anti-Japanese propaganda in school curricula, and improving the
daily lives of the people.
5 Wu Yun, “Kangzhan zhu fangmian” [Aspects of the Resistance War], in Ge Mouchun,
Jiang Jun, and Li Xingyi, Wuzhengfuzhuyi, 880. This article originally appeared in Jingzhe
2, 4 (1938), 2–7.
6 Li Min, “Wuzhengfuzhuyi yu Zhongguo kangzhan,” 891.
7 Ibid.
8 Errico Malatesta, “Anarchists Have Forgotten Their Principles,” Anarchist Library,
https://theanarchistlibrary.org/library/errico-malatesta-anarchists-the-war-and-their
-principles. Originally published 1914.
9 Yin Lizhi, “Yi zhanzhang qu fandui zhanzheng” [Opposing war through war], in Ge
Mouchun, Jiang Jun, and Li Xingyi, Wuzhengfuzhuyi, 878. This article originally appeared
in Jingzhe 2, 1 (1937), 1–2.
410 Morgan Rocks

10 Lu Jianbo, for example, wrote to Emma Goldman in France and collaborated with Ray
Jones, an immigrant Chinese anarchist living in San Francisco. After the KMT White
Terror in 1927, Jacques Reclus, a French anarchist who taught at Labour University, helped
Lu to safety after it became apparent KMT forces were targeting him. In late 1926, an-
archists in China even floated the idea of forming an East Asian Anarchist League. The
proposed organization would join together anarchists from China, Korea, Japan, and
other Asian countries with the aim of fighting colonialism and nationalism. See Liu Xu,
“Zhuzhang zuzhi dongYa wuzhengfuzhuyizhe dalianmeng” [On organizing an East Asian
Anarchist League], in Ge Mouchun, Jiang Jun, and Li Xingyi, Wuzheng fuzhuyi,
716–19.
11 Li Min, “Wuzhengfuzhuyi yu Zhongguo kangzhan,” 889.
12 Wu Yun, “Kang faxisizhuyi zhi dong xi zhan” [Antifascist wars of resistance, East and
West], Jingzhe 2, 5 (1938): 8.
13 Tian Shen, “Guoji kang faxisi huzhu hui” [International antifascist solidarity], Jingzhe 2,
5 (1938): 20–23. Tian Shen seems to be an abbreviation of one of Lu Jianbo’s pen names,
Tian Shenyu.
14 Jingzhe 3, 5 (January 1939). The text used in this translation comes from the transcribed
version collected in Ge Mouchun, Jiang Jun, and Li Xingyi, Wuzhengfuzhuyi.
15 Li Min could be a pseudonym, possibly of Lu Jianbo or others involved in the magazine.
In the third and fourth volumes of Jingzhe, four articles under this name appeared. Three
of these articles, including the one translated here, argue for an anarchist line on the war
against Japan. The other is on the duplicity of the Soviet Union’s 1939 Non-Aggression
Pact with Germany. In terms of tone, rhetoric, and the prominent place of Malatesta’s
thought, these articles share similarities with those written under Lu Jianbo’s more
established pen names. However, there is, as of yet, no clear evidence linking the two.
Further, the byline Li Min appeared frequently in the journal Shi yu chao (Time and tide)
on translations of Japanese articles on the war. Around twenty-one articles under the
name Li Min appeared in Shi yu chao in 1938–39, but after 1940, articles under this name
are scarce.
16 The author does not provide a source for these statistics, but the total deaths and casual-
ties are in line with current estimates.
17 Here the phrase zhuyi (ideology) is used, instead of its homonym “to pay heed.”
18 Ruoxiao minzu, here translated as “weak and small peoples,” was a common term during
this period. It was used to denote nationalities and peoples labelled “backwards” and
oppressed by Western and Japanese-led imperialism.
19 This phrase seems to be a play on a riddle, most likely the phrase laoshu zuili taosui gu
moxiang, which is used to describe an impossible situation.
20 Errico Malatesta was an Italian anarchist. He spent much of life outside Italy, travelling
in Europe and the United States, where he interacted with immigrant anarchist move-
ments. He edited a number of radical journals and had quite a following whenever he
gave public speeches. As an anarchist, Malatesta supported the use of violence only in
response to state oppression, or to end state repression. He was adamant about the need
for the lower classes to organize and lead themselves to revolution, and he believed that
revolution was a gradual process, with numerous revolutions coming before anything
resembling anarchist society came to pass. The quotation here is taken from a series of
speeches he made in July 1920 during a conference in Bologna that established the Italian
Anarchist Union. The Awakening group obtained a transcript of the speeches, which
were translated and published in English in Man! 2, 8 (1934). Man! was a San Francisco–
based anarchist journal edited by Marcus Graham (1893–1985) that had close ties to the
Bay Area Italian anarchist community. This quotation appears on p. 25 of the Chinese
 An Anarchist Popular Resistance 411

translation, “Wuzhengfu gongchan zhuyi gangling” [Principles of anarcho-communism],

Jingzhe 2, 4 (1938): 21–34.
21 This quotation can be found on pp. 17–18 of the translation by Chun Fei, “Zouxiang
an’naqi” [Towards anarchism], Jingzhe 2, 5 (1938): 16–20. This Chinese translation, along
with a companion piece on Fascism and a translator’s introduction, were taken from
French versions published in Le Reveil 978 (24 July 1937). Le Reveil and its Italian sister
paper, Il Risveglio, were edited by Luigi Bertoni (1872–1947) and disseminated from
Geneva, Switzerland. The English translation used here follows Malatesta, Towards
Anarchism, https://theanarchistlibrary.org/library/errico-malatesta-towards-anarchism,
which is taken from a translation that first appeared in Man!
22 This phrase comes from the Jiu Tangshu (Old book of Tang), Yuan Xiu zhuan [Yuan Xiu
chapter], vol. 127, Biographies 77. The original text is ru guo yi sha tu dong deng, wu you
sha ru, you yi xue xi xue, wu sheng shen er. (Your state has already killed Tu Dong and
others. Were I to kill you, it would be to wash blood away with blood. It would merely
pollute matters a great deal further.)
23 It is not entirely clear to whom the author is referring.
24 Existing records of this rally appear to be sparse. Since the author does not mention how
he learned of it, it is to be assumed that the rally was reported either in the overseas
Chinese language press or through foreign wire services.
25 The then-current legal tender issued by the KMT. The KMT government took China off
the silver standard in 1934 and thereafter printed money by fiat. During the Anti-Japanese
Resistance War and 1946–49 Civil War, the KMT printed extraordinary amounts of
paper money to cover wartime costs, leading to severe hyperinflation.
26 Such critiques of developments since the 1911 Revolution were common across the pol-
itical spectrum.
27 “Adou” refers to the Three Kingdoms ruler Liu Shan. Used as a term of disparagement,
“Adou” means an incompetent, incapable individual.
28 There seem to be some missing characters in the transcription.
29 The metaphor of China awakening from slumber was widespread in intellectual discourse
at the time. An authoritative account of this metaphor can be found in John Fitzgerald,
Awakening China: Politics, Culture, and Class in the Nationalist Revolution (Stanford,
CA: Stanford University Press, 1996).
30 Mount Liang is the protagonists’ stronghold in the well-known classical novel The Water
Margin.
31 These dates refer to important events in the Sino-Japanese War: 9/18, of course, refers to
the Mukden Incident of 1931; 1/28 refers to the Japanese attack on Shanghai in 1932; 7/7
refers to the 7 July 1937 Marco Polo Bridge Incident, largely seen as the point when full-
scale war erupted; 8/13 is the Japanese invasion of Shanghai in 1937.
32 Malatesta, “Wuzhengfu gongchan zhuyi gangling,” 32. The order of the text differs be-
tween the Jingzhe translation and the quotation here.
33 The Chinese title used here is “Women de gangling” (Our principles), and this piece seems
to be a separate text from the previously cited two. It should also be noted that the July
1938 edition of Jingzhe included advertisements for the group’s translations of Malatesta’s
writings. The article cited here could be in the advertised collection, or it could have
come from other existing Chinese translations of Malatesta’s work.
34 Malatesta, “Zouxiang an’naqi,” 19. See n21.
28 Resolutions on Preventing Hanjian
Activities and Espionage
YUN XIA

The Chinese Nationalist government issued the “Resolutions on Pre­

venting Hanjian Activities and Espionage” (hereafter, the Resolutions) in
1939, during the stalemate stage of China’s War of Resistance against
Japan (1937–45). The Resolutions reveal important features of law­
making in wartime China that in an overly broad fashion penalized
transgressions against political morality upheld by the resistance state
and patriotic groups. This document shows how the criminal categor­
ies of Hanjian – traitors to the Han (Chinese) – and “spy” could be easily
applied to various groups of social misfits, who were then left to the
judgment of local communities. The Resolutions also demonstrate a
populist dimension of the War of Resistance, as the Nationalist state
utilized existing local networks and turned civilians into proxies for
law enforcement and counterespionage agents.
Understanding the term Hanjian is vital for gauging the political and
legal significance of this document. Often translated as “collaborator”
or “traitor,” Hanjian is a powerful epithet with connotations that neither
translation fully conveys. The character Han in Hanjian refers to people
of Han ethnicity, the earliest members and the majority of the Chinese
population. The term thus connotes a Han ethnocentrism in the Chi­
nese national identity, which gained much of its vitality in the struggles
against the Manchu rulers and foreign imperialism. Jian in the traditional
Chinese lexicon means “illicit sex” as a criminal category, “treacherous”
or “cunning” as an adjective, and “to trespass” as a verb.1 The modern
character inherits all these pejorative connotations, and refers to a
range of illicit sexual conduct and criminal activities including espio­
nage. 2 Implied in Hanjian, therefore, is a deep contempt toward Han
 Resolutions on Preventing Hanjian Activities and Espionage 413

Chinese who betray the collective well-being of the national/ethnic

community through working with an external enemy for personal gain.
The term Hanjian gained its full dynamism during China’s War of
Resistance, as a catchword in popular patriotic discourse and in law.
Japan had been encroaching on Chinese territory for decades before
1931, and by 1937 had established several local collaborationist regimes.
Condemnation of, and pre-emptive attacks on, “Hanjian behaviours”
thus became one of the most vocal parts of the national salvation
movement. 3 In August 1937, one month after the war broke out in full
scale, the Nationalist government stipulated “Regulations on Punishing
Hanjian.” These regulations, together with their multiple revisions and
amendments made during wartime, including the Resolutions, defined
the crime of Hanjian through an extensive list of activities and provided
guidelines for their punishment. Considering the exigency of the war­
time situation and its lack of full judicial capacity, the Nationalist gov­
ernment allowed extralegal arrests and execution of Hanjian by its
military and intelligence, and by grassroots patriotic groups. 4
The anti-Hanjian laws were so widely circulated and celebrated by
the media that they functioned as law and propaganda in one. Jurists
annotated such laws and regulations for clarification and for their easy
dissemination. 5 Complementing these legal texts was a genre of litera­
ture that championed the eradication of Hanjian: chujian wenxue (lit­
erally, “weeding-out traitors literature”). Some publications of this
category instructed the common people step by step on how to identify
Hanjian among themselves and what actions to take against them. Others
cheered on the arrests and execution of Hanjian in various war zones. 6
In general, such literature condemned Hanjian both as individuals and
figuratively as rotten parts of Chinese culture and society that needed
to be exorcized.
The Resolutions, in particular, addressed both the necessity and
methods of catching Hanjian during the stalemate stage. By 1939, the
Nationalist government had lost its capital and key cities along with the
most developed areas in China to the Japanese Imperial Army. Chiang
Kai-shek (1887–1975), head of the Nationalist government and party,
was commanding China’s resistance efforts from the remote inland city
of Chongqing. Meanwhile, for the Japanese, a quick conquest of China
as originally planned seemed impossible, so they resorted to a strategy
of “using the Chinese to rule Chinese.” At the national and local levels,
414 Yun Xia

the Japanese enticed or coerced numerous members of the Chinese

elite into collaborationist regimes, which were all labelled Hanjian by
the Nationalist state. Espionage was a type of Hanjian behaviour that
was deemed most detrimental to national security. Indeed, the
Japanese Imperial Army recruited Chinese from all social strata to
spy on or sabotage the resistance forces. Those executed as Hanjian
spies ranged from top officials in the Nationalist government to the
unemployed who ran small errands for the Japanese on a temporary
basis for survival.7
Mindful of Japan’s wartime strategy and the plight of ordinary people
in occupied regions, the Nationalist government took pre-emptive
measures against those who were likely to become Hanjian. The
Resolutions targeted social groups that the state had always treated
with suspicion because of their particular employment profiles, appear­
ances, behaviours, familial structure, or social interactions. The vague
description of some of these groups, such as “those who are generally
ill-behaved,” “those who are unemployed yet often appear busy,” “those
who frequently interact with foreigners,” and “all other individuals who
do not appear normal,” rendered a significant portion of the population
“potential Hanjian” in the eyes of the state. 8
The Resolutions reflected long-held stereotypes and prejudices in
Chinese society. Among the places deemed at risk of penetration by
Hanjian and spies were main transportation routes, docks, temples,
stations, theatres, hotels, and “suspicious news agencies.” Many such
places were gathering places and temporary homes for unsettled mem­
bers of the population: travellers, itinerant monks, boatmen, performers,
and so forth, who had always been outside the effective reach of “mu­
tual surveillance units” (baojia). This floating population kept increasing
due to natural and manmade disasters that had plagued China since
the late nineteenth century, including war-induced poverty and dis­
location. Consequently, to sift out the traitorous elements among the
socially marginalized groups became a daunting task.
Chiang Kai-shek, the national leader, considered the people and local
militia key to catching enemies from within and defending the nation.9
The Resolutions elaborated on Chiang’s call with specific instructions.
Local police, volunteer groups, village heads, and common villagers
were required to identify individuals and activities that appeared suspi­
cious and to patrol “high-risk locations.” Once spotted, such individuals
 Resolutions on Preventing Hanjian Activities and Espionage 415

would be followed, questioned, and possibly reported to the local

authorities.
To gauge the implementation of the Resolutions at the national level
is impossible, but wartime journalism and case studies do show an ex­
pansive web for catching Hanjian. Resistance news agencies reported
on numerous incidents of Hanjian spies caught by local militia and
patriotic citizens.10 In many localities, the baojia system that the
Nationalist government had constructed for eliminating “Communist
bandits” was fortified for catching Hanjian and spies. In August 1939,
for instance, the Jiangxi provincial government mobilized local people
into squads with various functions, among which was a “self-defence
squad” (ziweidui) with the mission of destroying Hanjian and spy net­
works.11 Wanzai county, in particular, followed the Resolutions dili­
gently. The county government updated household registration and
maps of its towns to reinforce the baojia system and boost local de­
fence. Heads of the baojia system were to take charge of the Hanjian-
elimination work at the village level. The county government also paid
special attention to those who lived on boats, in temples, and in other
“high-risk locations.”12
The Resolutions issued by the Nationalist government had national
significance despite the government’s curtailed jurisdiction. As Chiang
Kai-shek’s wartime ally against the Japanese, the Chinese Communist
Party (CCP) carried out campaigns against Hanjian in areas under its
control following the Nationalist guidelines. The Shanxi-Hebei-Shandong-
Henan base area, for instance, reprinted the Nationalist army’s Fangdie
jiaoling (Instructions on preventing spy activities) to prevent the infil­
tration of Hanjian.13
The Resolutions reflect what the Nationalist government and its
allies sought to achieve through the War of Resistance and what they
considered key to their victory. The Resolutions were issued by the
Nationalist Ministry of Internal Affairs, rather than by a legislative or
judicial branch. Similarly, the CCP’s Central Office of Social Affairs
(Gongchandang zhongyang shehuibu) was in charge of campaigns
against Hanjian and spies.14 For both parties, campaigns against Hanjian
also served to purify their own organizations and the nation’s people.
An inherent paradox of the Resolutions, however, was that the suspicion
of Hanjian being ubiquitous contradicted the myth that the Chinese
majority was on the resistance side.
416 Yun Xia

—•  TRANSLATION  •—

The Resolutions on Preventing

Hanjian Activities and Espionage (1939)15

Article I With the purpose of preventing Hanjian activities and

espionage, these resolutions are drafted and implemented
for safeguarding our nation.
Article II Local law enforcement is responsible for preventing
Hanjian and spies from sabotaging resistance efforts. In
counties and villages without a standing police force,
heads of villages and mutual surveillance units (baojia)
will take charge.
Article III All people of the Chinese nation, regardless of age and
gender, are responsible for investigating and exposing
Hanjian and spies.
Article IV Localities are allowed to organize voluntary groups and
police to supervise, command, and facilitate the surveil-
lance against Hanjian and spies. The structure of such
groups, as well as the training and management of their
members, shall be approved by local governments at
different levels and reported to the Ministry of Internal
Affairs.
Article V All those who are engaged in the prevention of Hanjian
and spy activities shall, under all circumstances, obey the
offices in charge and follow orders strictly.
Article VI To prevent Hanjian activity and espionage, special atten-
tion will be paid to the following groups and activities:

A. Suspicious groups and individuals:

1 Those who are generally ill-behaved
2 Those who have no regular job and frequently take
part in social gatherings
3 Those who are unemployed yet are often quite
occupied
4 Those who are without jobs or property yet are
living comfortable lives
5 Those who are employed yet are more engaged in
activities that few know about
 Resolutions on Preventing Hanjian Activities and Espionage 417

6 Those who have been poor yet suddenly make a

fortune
7 Those whose household profiles are unclear
8 Those who have suspicious visitors
9 Those who interact with individuals with compli-
cated backgrounds
10 Those who have an inconsistent style of dressing
or carry particular marks
11 Those who overdress for their activities and
overspend for their social status
12 Those who seem anxious or disturbed in their
expressions and speech
13 Travellers or visitors with suspicious backgrounds
14 Travellers with abnormal luggage
15 Those who come out in dark night or early mor-
ning to meet with others in public places
16 Pedestrians with faces covered by hats or
sunglasses
17 Pedestrians who often look back to see if they are
followed
18 Pedestrians who appear to be in a panic
19 Monks, beggars, rickshaw pullers, and peddlers
who do not fit into their respective groups
20 Those who suddenly have an increasing quantity
of telegraphs or correspondence
21 Those whose words are unpatriotic or sympathetic
to the enemy
22 Those who suddenly bequeath gifts or money to
people who are not their close acquaintances
23 Those who are dressed in the Chinese way but do
not seem Chinese in their speech, habits, or
behaviours
24 Those who frequently interact with foreigners
25 Nationals of the enemy state
26 All other individuals who do not appear normal.

B. Suspicious activities:
1 Holding gatherings without approval by the
government or without state surveillance
418 Yun Xia

2 Hosting weddings, funerals, or birthday banquets

that are of an unusual format
3 Intentionally leaking confidential information of
political or military importance
4 Spying on national defence mechanisms or plans
for the enemy
5 Colluding with the enemy
6 Being used by the enemy
7 Disturbing the social order and provoking panic
8 Sabotaging the financial order
9 Stirring up student protests
10 Stirring up strikes
11 Damaging important transportation lines or
infrastructure of other types
12 Taking photos or making drawings of government
or military headquarters, strategic regions, roads,
bridges, and other strategic points without
permission
13 Other suspicious activities.

C. High-risk locations:
1 Train stations, bus stations, and airports
2 Docks, ports, and places along the coasts or river­
banks where people can easily get on or get off
3 Entrances and exits of cities and artery roads
4 Parks and libraries
5 Theatres and other public entertainment centres
6 Hotels, clubs, dormitories, youth associations,
hospitals, and factories
7 Places where poor people and refugees gather
8 Suspicious residences, stores, and houses
9 Suspicious news agencies, post offices, and other
social organizations
10 Offices and schools with members of mixed
backgrounds
11 Temples and monasteries
12 Places where nationals of the enemy nation cohabit
or associate
13 Other places with suspicious visitors or layouts.
 Resolutions on Preventing Hanjian Activities and Espionage 419

Article VII Constant attention and caution should be exercised toward

individuals, activities, and places listed in Article VI.
Article VIII Suspicious individuals shall be followed and questioned.
Those who seem particularly dangerous must be arrested
and taken to offices in charge of local security.
Article IX Local residents who are informed of Hanjian activities and
espionage should immediately report to the offices in charge.
Article X Responsible authorities should immediately and secretly
carry out investigations and interrogations when a Hanjian
or spy case is brought in. Those who are innocent should
be set free. Those who are guilty should be taken to the
local garrison headquarters.
Article XI Local governments should keep clear household records
at a time of emergency. Changes to household numbers
should be reported to the local police in a timely manner.
Withholding such information is not allowed.
Article XII Local stores, schools, office buildings, hotels, clubs, public
residences, youth clubs, hospitals, factories, social organ-
izations, theatres, teahouses, restaurants, brothels, temples,
stations, docks, and other places are not allowed to
accommodate suspicious-looking strangers. Those who
break this rule will be punished severely. If those sheltered
turn out to be Hanjian or spies after investigation, the
hosts will be charged with the same offence.
Article XIII Local law enforcement should pay close attention to suspi-
cious households and be ready to investigate at any time.
Article XIV Local law enforcement should work with village heads to
identify unemployed wanderers, keep a registry, and help
them get settled and get employed, so that they will not be
used by the enemy. Wanderers who do not comply or do
not behave should be monitored or detained for penal
labour, depending on how potentially dangerous they are.
Article XV Offices in charge should reward those who help discover
or investigate Hanjian or spy cases.
Article XVI Hoaxing and extortion in the name of preventing Hanjian
and spy activities are strictly forbidden. Those who frame
others will be punished according to the laws.
Article XVII Anyone who clandestinely colludes with the enemy,
Hanjian, spies, or bandits will be severely punished.
420 Yun Xia

Article XVIII Local governments and offices in charge shall draft

specific policies regarding the prevention of Hanjian and
spy activities, and rewarding informants. Such policies
shall be kept on file by the Ministry of Internal Affairs.
Article XIX Hanjian and spy cases processed by the local governments
and garrison headquarters shall be reported to their
superiors in a timely manner, so that these cases will reach
the Military Council and the Ministry of Internal Affairs
for approval.

Notes
Acknowledgment | The translation of “Resolutions on Preventing Hanjian Activities and
Espionage” in this chapter originally appeared in Yun Xia, Down with Traitors: Justice
and Nationalism in Wartime China (Seattle: University of Washington Press, 2017).
Reprinted with permission from the University of Washington Press.
1 See Zhang Yushu, Kangxi zidian [Kangxi dictionary] (reprint; Beijing: Zhonghua shuju,
1958), 255, 260.
2 For discussion of the evolution of the term Hanjian, see Yun Xia, Down with Traitors:
Justice and Nationalism in Wartime China (Seattle: University of Washington Press,
2017), 14–22.
3 Trading Japanese products, for instance, was considered “Hanjian behaviour.” Following
the Shanghai Incident in 1932, the Shanghai Coal Association received a letter from
patriotic citizens that warned against continuing to deal in Japanese coal. Ibid., 57–58.
4 Ibid., ch. 2.
5 See, for instance, Qian Qinglian, Chengzhi Hanjian fa [Laws and regulations targeting
Hanjian] (Nanjing: Zhengzhong shuju, 1941).
6 See, for instance, Yi Zhenhua, Zenyang qingchu Hanjian [How to eradicate Hanjian]
(Shanghai: Shenghuo shudian, n.d.); Bing Ying, Hanjian xianxingji [Exposure and elim-
ination of Hanjian] (Xi’an: Zhanshi chubanshe, n.d.).
7 See, for instance, the case of Huang Jun, secretary of the Confidential Affairs Office in
the Nationalist government. Xia, Down with Traitors, 25–26.
8 The Resolutions, Article VI.
9 Yang Ji’an, Minguo shiqi Wanzai xian jiceng zhengquan jianshe [A study of local state-
building in Wanzai, Jiangxi, during the republic] (Beijing: Zhongguo shehui kexue
chubanshe, 2014), 83.
10 See Bing Ying, Hanjian xianxingji.
11 See, for instance, Yang Ji’an, “Minguo shiqi xianggan bianjie baojia zhidu de shishi jiqi
xiaoneng: Yi Jiangxi Wanzai xian wei ge’an” [A case study of the baojia system in Wanzai,
Jiangxian during the Republican era], Jinggangshan daxue xuebao [Jinggangshan
University journal] 9 (2012): 11–15.
12 Ibid.
13 Ouyang Hua, Kangzhan shiqi Shaan-Gan-Ning bianqu chujian fante fazhi yanjiu [A study
of the laws against Hanjian spies in the Shaan-Gan-Ning base area] (Beijing: Zhonghua
zhengfa daxue chubanshe, 2013), 214.
14 Ibid.
15 Qian, Chengzhi Hanjian fa, 74–79.
29 Kishida Kunio and
the Problems of Culture
TIMOTHY ILES

It is a superficial truism that the Meiji era brought sweeping changes to

all aspects of Japanese life, but it nonetheless remains true. One of the
most significant of these changes was war: for the first time in over 250
years, Japan was embroiled in violent conflict not only internally but
internationally as well, as it embarked on a program of imperial expan­
sion. This expansion stretched over four decades and came to an abrupt
end in 1945 with Japan’s surrender following the atomic bombings of
Hiroshima and Nagasaki, but the effects of that period of imperialism
still exist in Japan today. Indeed, Japanese imperialism has not ended
but rather shifted away from the “hard power” imperialism of invasion
and colonialism to the “soft power” imperialism of cultural exportation.
This shift points to an enduring question from the first half of the twen­
tieth century that continues to resonate around the problem of culture
and its exportation. In the relationship between citizenry and nation,
which is to serve the other? This question was addressed by Kishida Kunio
(1890–1954) in a series of articles and lectures during the Shōwa period.
His primary answer is that the citizenry exists to uphold and fulfill the
aims of the nation, through focused and coordinated cultural activity.
Kishida Kunio was a product of Japan’s modernization. Born in 1890
to a military family, he entered the Tokyo Imperial University at the age
of twenty-six to study French literature. Soon attracted to the theatre,
he became a playwright and theatre critic and was influential in the
Shingeki (New Theatre) movement that brought Western-styled drama to
Japan. Shingeki focused on issues of daily life and the tensions therein
between the demands of social responsibility on the one hand, and
individual choice and liberty on the other. This central issue of respon­
sibility also runs through the social commentaries that Kishida wrote in
422 Timothy Iles

the late 1930s and 1940s, while he was associated with the Taisei
Yokusankai (Imperial Rule Assistance Association, 1940–45). This organ­
ization had as its man­d ate the mobilization of the citizenry to support
the colonial aspirations of the Japanese government. Part of its oper­
ations, under the supervision of the Cultural Division, included the co­
ordination of citizens’ movements, about which Kishida often wrote.
Although Kishida was writing primarily for a Japanese audience, ex­
pressing an official view towards policy on the home islands to encour­
age and support the imperial project abroad, by 1942 the conception
of what constituted “Japan” had grown to include significant territory
overseas. Indeed, the Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere may be
considered nothing more than a euphemism for “Japan-beyond-Japan,”
that is, for a Japan whose territory stretched from the home islands to
South­east Asia, and whose culture, despite the existence of diverse eth­
nicities, languages, histories, and cultural practices among the peoples
living in those territories, was essentially “Japanese.”
The Japanese state of Manchukuo serves as a good model for this
way of thinking about “Japan beyond Japan,” with a citizenry that was
to be “Japanese,” even while ethnically diverse. International observers
during the 1930s and early 1940s noted the extensive investments in
infrastructure (especially in rail lines to facilitate the transportation of
goods) made by Japanese concerns, while simultaneously acknowledg­
ing the extensive control the Japanese government exercised over
Manchukuo. Indeed, a contemporary assessment is blunt: “Manchukuo’s
vaunted independence exists only in the imagination of Japanese
propagandists. As at present constituted, the Manchukuo ‘government’
amounts to little more than a polite fiction invented to obscure the fact
that Japan has gone in for imperialism in a big way.”1
This imperialism involved not only the acquisition of territory and
natural resources but also the spread of Japanese colonists of a variety
of types. “Between 1932 and 1935 only a few thousand colonists came,
but from 1935 on their numbers grew every year so that by 1945 at least
270,000 Japanese colonists were living in Manchuria,” as Ronald Suleski
notes. 2 The Japanese colonial project brought Japanese farmers, indus­
trialists, and army members from Japan, but also young people – boys
often below the age of eighteen – as part of the Youth Corps:

All of the publicity surrounding the Youth Corps emphasised the

positive role it was to play in regard to the Chinese who lived in
 Kishida Kunio and the Problems of Culture 423

Manchukuo. Based on the slogan, “Harmony between the Japanese

and Chinese Peoples” (minzoku kyōwa), the boys were supposed to
cooperate with the Chinese peasants to increase agricultural output,
implement better methods of sanitation, and generally improve the
living standards of the region. At the end of their three years of
service in the Youth Corps it was expected that they would settle
down in Manchukuo, raise families, work the land, and become a sort
of cadre for the other colonists who would come from Japan. 3

This expectation of emigration to Manchukuo highlights the function

of cultural transformation or “development” within the imperial project.
Japan’s goal was to change the ways of living of the peoples in the ter­
ritories it acquired, to create greater similarity between their lifestyles
and those of the Japanese (colonists and “home islanders” alike). Norman
Smith points out the example of cultural policies around gender:

The reconstitution of gender ideals was an essential element of the

Japanese cultural agenda in Manchukuo. In officially sanctioned
media, conservative constructs of womanhood were promoted.
Without exception, “model” women were portrayed as submissive,
meek, and, most of all, obedient. Any perceived deviation was
denounced. New women were criticised for lewd, selfish, and self-
centred behaviour.4

Chinese women were to “embrace the ‘beautiful customs’ of Japanese

women.”5
Although the population goals of the colonial project – bringing
Japanese people into Manchukuo – would prove problematic, the
cultural goals at least held out the promise of success. Japanese news
media in the early 1940s were optimistic about the maintenance of
Japan’s overseas territories and the “harmony” possible between Japan­
ese and non-Japanese there: “The basic purpose of the colonisation of
the continent should be to assist Manchukuo in her endeavour to build
up a land where the ideal of concord among all races is realized.”6
All aspects of culture had a role to play in the transformation of the
peoples of the various colonies. The Japanese language itself had a
fundamental power to help change people’s behaviour and ideals. As
Andrew Hall writes, policy makers in Manchukuo believed in the late
1930s that
424 Timothy Iles

Japanese language instruction was the most effective tool for culti­
vating loyalty among a subjected people, and could overcome even
the lack of blood ties. Many expressed their belief that the Japanese
language was infused with a living spirit that could be experienced by
anyone who became immersed in the language. They were convinced
that if the colonised peoples could be made to speak Japanese and
learn Japanese customs, their characters would naturally become
more refined, and they would appreciate and become allies in Japan’s
mission to lead a unified East Asia.7

Kishida’s involvement in the Imperial Rule Assistance Association

made direct contributions to this project of harmonious coexistence
under the umbrella of a “Japanese culture” covering the home islands
and colonial territories. Significantly, Kishida himself writes directly that
his own project is to help change Japanese people as well, to create a
proud, culturally aware population able to transmit the benefits of
Japanese culture both from generation to generation, and from ethnic
group (the Japanese) to ethnic group (the non-Japanese peoples living
in greater Japanese “territory”). This goal of transformation was vital
to guarantee the ongoing legitimacy of Japan’s position as a vanguard
Asian nation; for Japan to rule, it must “deserve” to do so by virtue of
its cultural leadership.
In Kishida’s view, it was important to inculcate in the youth of Japan
a “correct” view of and appreciation for the particular aspects of Japan­
ese culture that would permit them to assume a position of leadership
in future development, both at home and abroad as an internationally
leading nation. For Kishida, culture served as the foundation on which
politics and economics stood, not as separate or superior enterprises,
but as manifestations of a cultural identity that had to be, first and fore­
most, “wholesome” rather than “high.” Culture was that which existed
within every activity of every Japanese person but was also the “respon­
sibility” that the Japanese people had for supporting and advancing
their nation. Cultural movements and citizens’ activities were part of the
nation’s war preparations, alongside expansion of production capacity
and the rationing of consumption.
One of Kishida’s longest works, Chikara toshite no bunka (Culture
as strength) consists of a series of lectures that together argue for a
particular reawakening of the value of traditional Japanese values,
hand in hand with an adaptation of modern political ideals. Kishida
 Kishida Kunio and the Problems of Culture 425

writes that the “subject’s path” (shindou) has to be practical in order

to achieve results. He criticizes the government for having lost sight
of the value of culture as a foundation for national mobilization and
cooperative effort, and urges the youth of Japan to demonstrate to
their elders their pure ambitions for creating a new world of
accomplishments.
Throughout his work, Kishida remained a firm advocate for the
unique abilities and potential of Japan, stemming from its culture, trad­
itions, and history. This made him both a product and an exemplar of
his times. He used his position as an intellectual and artist to promote
a particular view of Japanese culture and Japan’s role in the world, and
while that view may be especially germane to the imperial period, it
is not without value even today. The problem of culture – of what is
particular in an increasingly globalized world – remains significant.
While Japan has lost its militarism, it remains a model for the amal­
gamation of history and modernity, as well as a soft-power force. For
Kishida, culture is what made this possible.

—•  TRANSLATION  •—

Foreword to Culture as Strength:

Five Lectures during a Time of War8
Kishida Kunio

For the past two years, I have undertaken work for the Culture Division of
the Imperial Rule Assistance Association; I have conducted considerable
research on cultural mechanisms, which we should establish as national
organizations and, further, on the various types of cultural matters that we
should adopt as national movements. After inviting opinions from every
field, I have come to realize that this matter is limitlessly broad, and that
each particular issue stands on extremely deep roots. I have often been at a
loss as to which point we should take in hand first.
In accordance with current needs, and first of all keeping separate those
concrete problems that we must dispose of quickly, I believe that the most
important matter, in order to establish the foundation for the nation’s next
one-hundred-year plan, is, after all discussion, the resurrection of the trad-
itions of what we know to be Japanese culture in the hearts and minds of
every single citizen of the nation.
426 Timothy Iles

In particular, for the benefit of our youth, who carry responsibility for
future generations and who burn with ambition, we absolutely must clearly
explain the significance of culture and create a correct perception concern-
ing the culture of our own country. It is extremely important for us to depend
on the abilities of our educators in this.
The word “culture” already appears in the upper-primary textbooks of
our National Schools, and I, at least, keenly hope that educators will pay
special attention to this matter and will themselves wish to fulfill their roles
as cultural leaders in an age such as today’s, in which the word is abused in
every field.
However, on the one hand, educators may be hesitant to limit the meaning
of this raw unprocessed word in Japanese in their own ways. They should
probably fully study the explanations of specialists or philosophers. I believe,
however, that even my own attempts at stating a profoundly realized, unified
“view of culture” that runs through the whole range of citizens’ movements,
growing from the practical work that I have encountered in my responsibil-
ities in the Culture Division of the Imperial Rule Assistance Association,
may serve, to some extent, and if I may restate my own hopes, certainly and
directly as a reference for educators and for our youth.
The custom of considering whether a country has a high or a low culture
has existed till today. However, whether that culture is wholesome or not
has not been especially problematic. Here, we find the shape of change and
development in culture till today.
If we ask where the crisis in culture in countries that have boasted of so-
called high cultures lies, it is not in a separate strength that jeopardizes that
culture, but rather it has now become clear that something exists within the
culture itself that can infiltrate those high aspects. That is, within the stan-
dard of value of those high aspects, the fact has been revealed that the condi-
tion of “health” has been completely lacking.
In that regard, it seems that some people have come to believe the paradox
that high culture is consequent upon unhealthiness. In fact, that isn’t really
the case, but that opinion alone seems to circulate with substantial force
among the public. Indeed, we meet scholars and thinkers in particular who
have concluded, from the general state of contemporary Western culture,
that even there, too, the advance of culture comes together with pursuing the
paths of decadence; this is based on the trends and propensities of contem-
porary Western thought that have not yet realized the complete relationship
between culture and the people or the nation.
 Kishida Kunio and the Problems of Culture 427

Moreover, the special qualities of Japanese culture, despite the superficial

confusion of modern times, even now preserve a lively vitality, based on the
shining history of its people and the rich traditions of its realms. Responding
to the times, this vitality has become the “do or die!” spirit of the people,
displaying their efforts to pulverize formidable enemies. However, in regard
to one aspect, we cannot say that there are no weak points among the Japan­
ese people. Further, we cannot give assurances that our enemies are not in
fact plotting a counter-offensive against this very aspect. As to what that
weak point may be, it is, in a word, nothing other than the delays we face in
those areas that have cultural ability. I believe that so long as we do not take
corrective measures in these areas, we will not be able to boast of perfect
preparations for a long-term war of attrition.
These measures, together with considerations for the construction of a
new culture, growing from the singular perspective of “culture as strength,”
must be precisely the central aims of practical movements worthy of the
great efforts to raise up the country.
I cover this in the main text, but what we mean by “culture” is not every-
thing that exists under the crowning name of “culture,” and is not only the
features and customs of Japan, ranging over every aspect of national life, or
permeating every action, both public and private, connected with everyone;
it is also the amount of responsibility that everyone must bear in this regard.
A single young person, in a sense, in every respective position demon-
strates Japanese culture through himself, but this is not only a matter of past
and present. In fact, his is a young existence that is entrusted with the state
of tomorrow’s Japan, together with its great dreams.
In September of Shōwa 16 [1941], I published the following. I hereby reprint
it, expressing my tremendous hopes and expectations for our youth:

Japan now stands at a crossroads that will determine its vicissitudes. We

must before all else have this reality clearly in mind. Do not conclude that
the pride of our people will be built through such philosophical questions
as “What shall we do?”
The people, similarly, imagine in their hearts where tomorrow’s Japan
must go. However, the contemporary government is still full of contra-
dictions and confusion, and its leaders cannot in the least predict the ap-
pearance of our shining future.
Of course when we speak of new systems and the establishment of the
national polity and national defence, vast ideals are undoubtedly included
428 Timothy Iles

in these words, but our job, from now on, will surely be to call up images
that will stir the breasts of every single citizen.
It is my personal consideration that the voices of our youth, who carry
many dreams and responsibilities for future generations, will be the driving
force of this new government. Because they are young, these voices are loud,
but because they are pure, no one can obstruct them.
What the young seek is neither power nor greed. They seek nothing more
than truth, goodness, and beauty – in other words, the highest expression
of human life.
For a long time, the Japanese government has lost sight of these aims.
The instincts of the people are finally about to realize this. The commence-
ment of the new Japan is the hope itself of the youth.
However, the character of government is not something that can change
overnight. Youth must wait patiently. Waiting is not standing with folded
arms, doing nothing. Those who seek must seek greatly; they must prepare
for the day that must come; and what we are able to accomplish, we must
accomplish together.
The slogan of the Imperial [Rule] Assistance Movement is “The subject’s
path leads to results.” One may say that the paths of our youth, as citizens
of the nation, are for those who have work to be zealous in their respective
jobs, or for those who are at school to be dedicated to their schoolwork; but
if that was all they were to be, there would be no need to restate this now.
Under the current conditions, what I particularly hope for our youth is that,
for the sake of our Japan, they will not insist on the “ways of living” which
they crave in their hearts. We can find therein a particular spirit that sug-
gests that, as Japanese, we must live in that way; but it is precisely that
disposition, which longs to live thusly, that will move the youths’ elders, and
will for the first time put the new government of Japan on the right track.
If one were to say that it is still too early to discuss the issue of govern-
ment, my friends, you need not hesitate in the least. It is best to speak frankly
and boldly about “life.” You, more than anyone else, must keenly feel that
for Japan to be strong, for Japan to be right, the present-day Japanese cannot
carry on this way. If you look around you, you will see what is preventing us
from displaying our inherent, practical abilities. What thing worthy of the
name of wholesome culture has been started at the hands of modern Japan?
We have cluttered up daily life under the pretense of cheering you all up.

Now that the matter has come this far, I must say a few brief remarks
about the form of the new youth that contemporary Japan is seeking.
 Kishida Kunio and the Problems of Culture 429

In fact, this problem is an extremely significant one, and even though I

myself hope to refrain from dealing with this issue according to my own
predilections, as someone has said, this topic has already become a subject
of public conversation. Further, it is a fact that in every region young men
and women whom we must regard as this “new type” have already started
to appear.
Certainly, the era creates types of people, and so these are the types who
will be met by the new era and who will offer the spectacle of fashion to
their times. Accordingly, people who are opposed to these types have also
appeared.
But what value is there in the type of person who merely reflects the
atmosphere of the times? What we are looking for is the archetype of Japan­
ese people who will truly live their times, who will guide their times. For me,
nothing is more pleasant than imagining the appearance of the singular,
youthful spirit of the young men and women who forecast the growth towards
this archetype, though incomplete, still vital and vigorous and possessing
rich connections with our ancestors, and who fully exhibit the potentialities
stretching to the still-unknown future world.
Nonetheless, the “appearance of this spirit” is not something easily
depicted in literary expressions or if one has limited powers of imagina-
tion. Perhaps we can allow one particular, concrete type to come to the
common imagination, some sort of “ideal this or that,” some type who has
accomplished some particular growth within a set of limited conditions
– for example, the “ideal teacher” or the “ideal farming village youth.” In
these cases, though, I often see the word “ideal” being pulled down by a
categorical, vulgar tone. Even if we grant that, at a glance, this indicates
an im­peccable, exemplary kind of youth in each of their respective stand-
points, therein is always an emphasis on something utilitarian and results-
oriented, and it’s rare to problematize the quality or “intentions” of Japanese
youth. In particular, from time to time under the rubric of the “exemplary
youth” we find extreme cases of types stinking of a discrimination or flat-
tery that is unbecoming to the young; these can even reach intolerable
degrees.
In short, anyone can be fooled by people who do nothing more than
superficially put on the airs of their times as merely a temporary guise.
However, that type will at once reveal its frivolous aspects as soon as any­
one looks, and we cannot say that there will not be the phenomena of cyni-
cism and self-deprecation, which exist as reactions against the pretentions
that are rampant as the outrageous manners of the age.
430 Timothy Iles

Today, even though we intend to call up the country, burning with the
conviction of certain victory, and with every citizen living day by day in readi-
ness to serve on the battlefields, even so, if we tend towards the impression
that the enemy is still distant, or the front is still remote, a momentary
slackness will be born in our hearts. People already underestimate the situa-
tion, saying, “Victory is assured,” or else, “So long as we win the battle, all
will be well.” Even though that may well be, I have the feeling that a simplistic
mood has raised its head somewhere in our minds, and we no longer pay
heed to what may lie ahead after this moment.
As a result of the issue of Japanese culture – which should be at the foun-
dation of every rallying cry of every significant movement, such as those to
enhance national morale, expand production capacity, increase the popula-
tion, or encourage savings – not always coming to the forefront, I believe we
do not give enough consideration, even in those functions that aim at the
training of the people, to comprehensively elevating the nature of the Japanese
people and their abilities, in which they should feel pride in their authority
as the vanguard nation.
My deliberate intention of dedicating this book to “Young People,” even
while myself feeling ashamed of its inadequacies, did not at all come from
the arrogance of believing today’s youth to be unsatisfactory. Rather, I
have tried to state, as frankly as possible and mainly through self-reflection,
the one idea that the numerous projects that our generation has not been
able to achieve must all be accomplished by the next; I have tried to express
the spirit that must become the basis upon which we will aim for the forma-
tion of tomorrow’s Japanese people, after first creating a new type of youth.
From the outset, such an attempt must be undertaken by many people. If
my own inexperienced and hurried considerations were at least to hasten
even a little such an opportunity, then it would not only be fortunate, but if
it could become the foundation for training and self-reflection of young men
and women themselves, I would have achieved one of my longed-for life goals;
there would be nothing to surpass such joy for this author.
(11 February, Shōwa 18 [1943])

Notes
1 H.J. Timperley, “Japan in Manchukuo,” Foreign Affairs 12, 2 (January 1934): 295.
2 Ronald Suleski, “Northeast China under Japanese Control: The Role of the Manchurian
Youth Corps, 1934–1945,” Modern China 7, 3 (July 1981): 352.
3 Ibid., 354.
4 Norman Smith, “Disrupting Narratives: Chinese Women Writers and the Japanese
Cultural Agenda in Manchuria, 1936–1945,” Modern China 30, 3 (July 2004): 301–2.
5 Ibid., 302.
 Kishida Kunio and the Problems of Culture 431

6 Tokyo Gazette 4, 10 (April 1941): 396–401, quoted in “Japanese Population Policy,”

Population Index 7, 4 (October 1941): 266.
7 Andrew Hall, “The Word Is Mightier Than the Throne: Bucking Colonial Education
Trends in Manchukuo,” Journal of Asian Studies 68, 3 (August 2009): 897.
8 Kishida Kunio, Chikara toshite no bunka [Culture as strength] (Tōkyō: Kawade shobō),
1943.
Contributors

Timothy Cheek is a professor and the Louis Cha Chair in Chinese Research
at the Institute of Asian Research and Department of History at the University
of British Columbia. His most recent books include The Intellectual in Modern
Chinese History and Voices from the Chinese Century.

Timothy Cronin is the program manager of the China Economy Program

and a research officer at the East Asian Bureau of Economic Research at the
Crawford School of Public Policy, Australian National University. A graduate
of ANU College of Asia and the Pacific majoring in Chinese language and
history, he was awarded first-class honours for his unpublished thesis, “Zhou
Zuoren and the Consolations of Bitterness.”

Annika A. Culver is an associate professor of East Asian History at Florida

State University and a scholar in the US-Japan Network for the Future. She
is also the author of Glorify the Empire: Japanese Avant-Garde Propaganda
in Manchukuo and the coeditor of Manchukuo Perspectives: Transnational
Approaches to Literary Production. Her current work examines how consumer
capitalism developed in modern Japan, while another project on Japan­ese
science delves deeply into questions of empire and the continuity of transwar
elites.

Matthew Galway is a lecturer at the Australian National University. He has

published peer-reviewed articles in scholarly journals Cross-Currents: East
Asian History and Culture Review, China Information, Review of Religion
and Chinese Society, and Asian Ethnicity. His current manuscript, entitled
“Global Maoism: China’s Red Evangelism and the Cambodian Communist
Movement, 1949–1979,” is under review with Cornell University Press.

Weiting Guo is a postdoctoral scholar in history at Aix-Marseille Université.

He was previously an assistant professor of history and director of Taiwan
 Contributors 433

Studies Group at Simon Fraser University (2015–19). He has published peer-

reviewed articles in Cross-Currents: East Asian History and Culture Review,
Journal of the Canadian Historical Association, and several edited volumes.
He is currently revising his first monograph, “Justice for the Empire:
Summary Execution and Legal Culture in Qing China.”

Jonathan Henshaw is a research associate at the Institute of Asian Research

at the University of British Columbia. He recently completed a doctorate in
modern Chinese history at UBC with funding from the Chiang Ching-kuo
Foundation and the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of
Canada. He has previously written on the internment of Allied civilians in
China and Chinese commemorations of the Second World War, and is now
writing a biography of Kiang Kang-hu.

Hua Rui is a PhD candidate of History and East Asian Languages at Harvard
University, and an incoming postdoctoral associate with the Program in
Agrarian Studies at Yale University. His dissertation, entitled “The Legal
Topography of Empires: Transnational Civil Justice in Manchuria, 1900–
1950,” examines how vernacular legal cultures shaped the game of great
powers in the Northeast Asian borderland.

Timothy Iles is an associate professor of Japanese Studies at the University

of Victoria. He is the author of Crisis of Identity in Contemporary Japanese
Film: Personal, Cultural, National and Abe Kōbō: An Exploration of His Prose,
Drama, and Theatre.

Naoko Kato is an instructor at St. Mark’s College and a senior intern at the
North American Coordinating Council on Japanese Library Resources. While
at the University of British Columbia as the Japanese language librarian,
she co-curated and edited the Meiji at 150 Digital Teaching Resource, which
was published as Digital Meijis: Revisualizing Modern Japanese History at
150. Her doctoral dissertation was titled “Through the Kaleidoscope: Uchi­
yama Bookstore and Sino-Japanese Visionaries in War and Peace.” A book
on Uchiyama Bookstore is forthcoming with Earnshaw Books.

Jennifer Junwa Lau is a sessional lecturer at the University of Toronto and

the associate editor of Chinese Canadian cultural platform, Fête Chinoise.
Her doctoral dissertation explored discursive connections between Canada
and China from 1868 to 1938 with the support of the Social Sciences and
434 Contributors

Humanities Research Council of Canada and the W. Garfield Weston

Foundation Doctoral Fellowship Program. Her interests include issues of
translation, revisionist histories, and Chinese diasporic studies.

Jonghyun Lee is an associate professor at Bridgewater State University who

has published on Korean history and social work, including the book chapter
“Unfaithful Angels: Social Work in Colonial Korea,” and articles in journals
including Community Mental Health Journal, Fudan Journal of the Human­
ities and Social Sciences, Social Work in Mental Health, and Affilia.

David Luesink is a historian of modern China with particular interests in

the history of medicine and science. He completed his PhD at the University
of British Columbia in 2012. He is currently completing a book manuscript
on the history of anatomy in China. Publications related to this research
have appeared in the Journal of Asian Studies and elsewhere. He coedited
China and the Globalization of Biomedicine and is developing a new research
project on early laboratory science in China.

Brian G. Martin is a visiting fellow at the Australian Centre on China in the

World, Australian National University. He has published widely on wartime
collaboration and Chinese organized crime, including The Shanghai Green
Gang: Politics and Organized Crime, 1919–1937.

Janice Matsumura is an associate professor in the Department of History

at Simon Fraser University. Her more recent research focuses on the relation-
ship between state ideology and medical knowledge, and she has published
in journals such as Modern Asian Studies, Gender & History, War in History,
and the Bulletin of the History of Medicine.

Norio Ota is an associate professor in the Department of Languages, Liter­

atures and Linguistics at York University. He is the co-translator of Reginald
Bibby’s Mosaic Madness: The Poverty and Potential of Life in Canada, pub-
lished in Japanese as Mozaiku no Kyōki.

Christopher Rea is a professor of Asian Studies and former director of the

Centre for Chinese Research at the University of British Columbia. His book
The Age of Irreverence: A New History of Laughter in China won the 2017
Association for Asian Studies Joseph Levenson Book Prize (post-1900 China).
 Contributors 435

His recent books include The Book of Swindles: Selections from a Late Ming
Collection, Imperfect Understanding: Intimate Portraits of Modern Chinese
Celebrities, and China’s Chaplin: Comic Stories and Farces by Xu Zhuodai.

Morgan Rocks is a PhD candidate in Chinese history at the University of

British Columbia. He is currently researching Chinese participation in
transnational anarchist networks from the 1920s to the 1950s and is involved
in projects to translate key writings by contemporary Chinese public
intellectuals.

Bill Sewell is a professor of history at Saint Mary’s University. He is the

author of Constructing Empire: The Japanese in Changchun, 1905–45. Other
publications include “Missions to Manchuria,” Canadian Journal of History,
and his coedited volume with John Lee, Seven Crucial Centuries: Changes
in Premodern Chinese Society and Economy, 499 BCE–1800 CE.

Craig A. Smith is a lecturer at the University of Melbourne. His articles have

appeared in Modern Chinese Literature and Culture, Twentieth-Century China,
and Modern Asian Studies. His monograph Chinese Asianism is forth­coming
from the Harvard University Asia Center.

Norman Smith is the author of two monographs, Resisting Manchukuo

(awarded the 2008 Canadian Women’s Studies Association Book Prize) and
Intoxicating Manchuria (awarded the 2013 Gourmand Wine Books Award
– Best Drink History Book, Canada [English]). He has edited one collection
of essays, Empire and Environment in the Making of Manchuria, and coedited
seven books (six in Chinese). His work has been generously funded by the
Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada.

Son Yoo Di holds a PhD in Asian Diaspora Studies and Literature from
Korea University, where she is now a lecturer at the Institute for General
Education. Her dissertation and previous publications concerned Lin Yutang
and his writings.

Ronald Suleski is a professor of history and also director of the Rosenberg

Institute for East Asian Studies at Suffolk University Boston. Prior to joining
Suffolk he was assistant director of the Fairbank Center for Chinese Studies
at Harvard University. He worked in Japan for twenty years in the field of
436 Contributors

international publishing. His most recent book is Daily Life for the Common
People of China, 1850 to 1950: Understanding Chaoben Culture.

Wang Yu received his PhD in history from the University of Toronto. He is

currently a post-doctoral fellow at the University of Macau. He has a wide
range of research interests, ranging from the circulation of knowledge in the
late Qing to the technologies of sound and propaganda in twentieth-century
China. Currently he is working on a book manuscript, tentatively entitled
“Rethinking Propaganda: Radio and Technopolitics of Sound in Mao’s China.”

Torsten Weber is a historian of modern East Asia and Principal Research­er

at the German Institute for Japanese Studies (DIJ Tokyo). He holds an MA
in Chinese Studies from the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS,
University of London) and a PhD in Japanese Studies from Heidelberg Uni­
versity. His research focuses on the history of Japanese-Chinese relations and
interactions from the modern to the contemporary era, including the politics
of history and memory. His current project “Testifying and Contesting War
Experiences–John Rabe’s Nanjing Diaries” (rabediaries.hypotheses.org)
studies wartime diaries and other witness accounts of the Japanese invasion
of China. He is the author of Embracing ‘Asia’ in China and Japan. Asianism
Discourse and the Contest for Hegemony, 1912–1933.

Yun Xia is a professor of history at Shanghai University, China. Previously,

she taught at Seattle University and obtained tenure at Valparaiso University,
IN. She is the author of Down with Traitors: Justice and Nationalism in
Wartime China and is currently working on an edited volume and a mono-
graph on the history of law and crime in Taiwan.

Xie Miya Qiong is an assistant professor of Chinese literature and culture

in the Asian Societies, Cultures, and Languages Program at Dartmouth
College. She is currently working on her first book manuscript, “Borderland
Matters: Manchuria and the Making and Unmaking of National Literatures
in East Asia (1920–1950),” and her second book project on ethnic Korean
literature in China.

Xue Bingjie graduated from the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences in

2018. Her PhD dissertation focused on the composition of classical poetry
under the occupation, with a particular focus on works written in Beijing,
 Contributors 437

from 1937 to 1945. She is currently working for China’s National Ethnic
Affairs Commission.

Zhang Yuanfang is a PhD candidate in the Department of East Asian Studies

at the University of Toronto. His dissertation examines the discursive pro-
duction of the agrarian question in Manchukuo between 1932 and 1941.
Index

Note: “(f)” following a page number indicates a figure

A Lei 阿累, “Yimian” (An Encounter), and, 399; and elimination of war
199–200, 203–5 through war, 403; and emancipatory
Abyssinia, 401, 403 communist society, 402; international
Academia Sinica, Institute of History and solidarity, 400–1; KMT and, 399; op-
Philology 中央研究院歷史語言學研究所, position to war, 400; and propaganda,
319, 321 407, 408; and resistance to occupation,
Adou 阿斗 (disparaging reference to Liu 315; and revolution, 408; and SIA, 315,
Shan), 406, 411n27 401; and Spanish civil war, 315, 401;
agricultural colonists (nōmin kaitakusha and violence, 400, 404; and war of
農民開拓者), 19, 422–23; about, 23; as popular resistance, 399–400; and War
armed colonists (busō yimin), 20, 22, 24– of Resistance, 399–400, 401, 409
25; bandits and, 20–21, 22, 24–25, 28– “Anarchism and China’s War of Resist­
32, 33; cigarettes and, 22; flooding and, ance” (Wuzhengfuzhuyi yu Zhongguo
20, 26; living conditions compared to kangzhan) (Li Min), 401, 402–9
Chinese neighbours, 21; and Longshan Anarchism’s Guiding Principles
Incident, 22; and mercury drinking, 27– (Malatesta), 404, 408
28; and migrant labour, 23, 34–37; and Andersson, Johan Gunnar, 387, 398n12
orchards, 23, 34–37; personal accounts, Anhui 安徽, 154, 191–97
24–37; and propaganda, 20; and Puss Anping 安平, 377, 379
Moth aircraft visit, 22, 32–34; selectiv- antifascism, 403; anarchism and, 401;
ity of reminiscences, 19–20; seminar and Anti-Japanese War of Resistance,
to celebrate accomplishments, 19–20; 399. See also fascism
survey group, 20, 24–27; Tonkondan “Anti-Manchukuo, Resist Japan”
(Camp Building Unit), 28 ( fanMan kangRi), 17, 98, 99
ai 愛 (love), 65, 71–75, 82, 116, 120, 136, Anti-Rightist Movement, 226
138–47 argumentation, 369
Alliance with Japan, Treaty of, 151 armed colonists (busō yimin 武裝移民),
alliances (tongmeng 同盟): Asian nations 14–15, 20, 22, 24–25
in, 226; Sino-Japanese, 217, 218, 220, 230. Arnold, Edwin, The Light of Asia, 41
See also Sino-Japanese cooperation Art News (Wenyi xinwen), 289
ama no tsuribune 天の釣船 (ancient heav- Asahi (newspaper, The Light of Asia/Ajia
enly fishing boat), 46–47 no hikari), 42
Amaterasu Ōmikami 天照大御神, 47, Asia Development Board, 354
49n36 Asian Revival Society, 355
An Xi 安犀, 93, 101n11 Atwill, David/Yurong, Sources in Chinese
anarchism: and Abyssinian wars against History, 6–7
Italy, 401; and antifascism, 401; CCP The Awakening (Jingzhe), 315, 399, 401
 Index 439

Ba bu 八不 (Eight Abstentions), 115–16, 329; as subordinate to Nanjing govern-

118 ment, 312
Ba Kunduan 巴堃斷, 71 Beijing University: Tang Erhe and, 319–
Badao 霸道 (Despotic Way/Rule of Might/ 20; Zhou Zuoren at, 352–53
Way of the Hegemon), 222n19, 228; Beiliushu hezi 北柳樹河子, 26
Wangdao vs., 235n19, 236n28 Beiping 北平: liberation of, 342, 347;
Bai Lang 白朗, 116 North China Writers Association in,
bandits, 14, 20–21, 22, 24–25, 28–32, 117; renaming as Beijing, 311, 312;
33 women’s open letters published in, 115
baojia 保甲 (mutual surveillance system/ Beiping University: student movement at,
system of communal self-defence), 311, 314, 366, 370–72; Zhou Zuoren at,
188n42, 239, 414, 415 352–53
baomi 苞米 (corn), 36 benevolence (ren 仁), 332–34, 336, 356
Baotansi 寶坦寺 (Baotan Temple), 178 Binjiang sheng 濱江省 (Binjiang province),
Barlow, Tani, 65 24
Barmé, Geremie, 273 Bo Yibo 薄一波, 375, 376–77, 379, 380,
Barrett, David, 239 380n1
batou zhidu 把頭制度 (work contracting bōi ボ－イ (Chinese steward/servant), 27
system), 382; about, 314–15; assessment Book to Burn, A (Fenshu) (Li Zhi), 349
of function of, 391–93; and capitalism, Book of Rites, The (Li ji), 334
386; coolies in, 382–83, 389, 397; defin- bookstores, 154; and censors in Xinjian,
ition, 385–87; duizhang (team leader) 95; Changcheng Bookstore, 95;
in, 382, 391–92, 393–96, 397; as em- Nihondō, 206; in Shanghai, 154, 199;
ployees, 393; evolution of, 386–87; Shiseidō, 206, 207; Uchiyama Book­
and hamba (daily hiring system), 386, store, 199–207; Yizhi shudian, 102n16
398n11; local relationships and, 390; Boyi 伯夷, 272, 274, 276, 277n11
mechanization and, 389, 397; Nakamura Bronin, Yakov, 290
Kōjirō on, 385–97; planned production Brook, Timothy, 6, 9, 87n17, 154; Docu­
vs., 392, 396, 397; and production ments on the Rape of Nanking, 6
mechanism reform, 393; reconstitution Brown, Julie V., 79
in mining industries, 392; reform of, Buddhism, 333; Buddhist love, 66; Chan
389; and rōdō ukeoi (work-contracting), Buddhism, 350; and Japan as “light of
386, 388, 393, 397; in Ryūen Iron Mine, Asia,” 40–41; Sakyamuni Buddha, 120,
387–89; and sakugyō ukeoi (project- 121, 122, 125
contracting), 386, 388, 397; and semi- bundan 文壇 (literary establishment),
agrarian/semi-industrial nature of 103
coolies, 386–87, 389–91, 397; superior, Bungei shunjū (Age of art and literature),
387–88; and workers’ everyday lives, 87n16
390–91; worksite interpersonal relation­ Bunker, Gerald, 4
ships, 390; zuzhang (group leader) in, Burdick, Charles, War in Asia and the
382–83, 391, 396 Pacific, 6
Bebel, August, 349, 360n29; Woman Burlingame Treaty, 227
under Socialism, 360n29 būso yimin 武裝移民 (armed colonists),
Beijing: East Asian League associations 14–15, 20, 22, 24–25
in, 212; educational institutions in, 319, Bynner, Witter, 271
320–25; foundation of People’s Republic
in, 311; Japanese occupation of North Cai Dejin 蔡德金, 253, 254
China and, 312, 313; National Medical Cai Pingzhou 蔡平周, 176
School, 317; North China Army in, 318, Cai Yuanchu 蔡遠初, 176, 177, 178
319; renaming of Beiping to, 311, 312; Cai Yuanpei 蔡元培, 364
rhetorical strategies of intellectuals in, Cao Xuqing 曹序卿, 175
440 Index

Capital Police Bureau, 89; “Documents Cheng Pei-kai, The Search for Modern
Regarding the Investigation on China: A Documentary Collection, 7–8
Ideological Movements through Cheng Yi 程頤, 272, 333, 340n26
Literature, Art, and Theatre,” 89–92; Chengzi 城子 (Chengzi [river]), 26
“Inspection Report on Ideological chianbu daijin 治安部大臣 (minister of
Movements in Literature and Arts security), 25; Chiang Kai-shek 蔣介石:
Activities,” 93–100 and Association for the Promotion of
capitalism: about, 284–85; batou system Constitutionalism, 305; in Chongqing,
and, 386; and Chinese economy, 294; 1939, 413; and Gao Zongwu, 255;
Euro-American, 215, 292–93; Japanese Konoe’s statements and, 255, 258, 262;
invasion and, 400–1; new women and, Lin Baisheng and, 212; and Manchurian
278; peasants and, 384; and war, 400; Incident, 318; New Life Movement, 239;
War of Resistance and, 402; women opening of Yellow River dykes, 191; and
and, 284, 285 propaganda, 260; and “Resolutions on
Cardinal Principles of the National Preventing Hanjian Activities and
Entity (Kokutai no hongi), 40 Espionage,” 414–15; and Second United
Carpenter, Edward, 347, 349, 360n26 Front, 374; Wang Jingwei’s telegram to,
CC Clique, 252, 256 222n18; wartime resistance led by, 190;
Cenqishan jingbeidui 岑岐山警備隊 Yuan Shu and, 295, 304; Zhou Fohai
(Cenqi Mountain Guard Reserve Unit), and, 155, 260
178 Chikara toshite no bunka (Culture as
censorship: in Japan, 16; in Manchukuo, Strength) (Kishida Kunio), 424–30
13, 16 “The China Incident from the Perspective
Central Daily (Zhongyang Ribao), 257 of Psychiatry” (Seishinbyōgaku kara
Central Investigation Group 中央專案組, mita Nisshi jihon) (Kaneko), 16, 80,
254, 291 81–86
central thought (Chinese): Confucian China Learning Society ([Zhonghua
thought (Ruxue sixiang) and, 331; xueyishe 中華學藝社]), 211
Confucianism and, 328, 335; East Asian Chinese Communist Party (CCP): agents
League and, 216–18; Zhou Zuoren’s within RNG, 156, 157n3; and anarchism,
“The Problem of Chinese Thought” and, 399; Central Office of Social Affairs
355–56 (Gong­chandang zhongyang shehuibu),
Chang Malian 昌痲臉, 177 415; and Changchun siege, 14; and col-
Changcheng Bookstore 長城書店, 95 laboration, 374, 375, 376; and constitu-
Cheek, Timothy, 314 tionalism, 304–5; and democracy,
Chen Apu 陳阿浦, 174 303–4, 305; and equal status with
Chen Bijun 陳璧君, 253 KMT, 303; and foreign assistance, 297;
Chen Bosheng 陳博生, 258 Guan Lu and, 156, 278, 279, 280, 281;
Chen Bulei 陳布雷, 252, 256, 257, 259, and Hanjian, 415; and history of Sino-
261, 265, 267 Japanese War, 5; and Jiefang ribao
Chen Changjie 陳長捷 , 378, 381n11 (Liberation daily), 374; Lin Yutang and,
Chen Cheng 陳誠 , 256 365, 366; Nation­a list Party and, 320;
Chen Chunpu 陳春圃, 253, 265, 266 and New Democ­racy, 304, 347; as one-
Chen Gongbo 陳公博, 151, 212, 253, 257, party dictatorship, 304; operatives for,
262, 264, 268, 276n3 155; organization among students, 320;
Chen Guofu 陳果夫, 252, 256 propaganda against peace movements,
Chen Hongliu 陳鴻六, 181 300; and revolution, 304; as revolution-
Chen Lifu 陳立夫, 252, 256 ary army of China, 375; scholarship
Chen Zhipu 陳止浦, 175 regarding, 4; and Second United Front,
Cheng Cangbo 程滄波, 257 374; and Soviet Union, 303, 375; and
Cheng Hao 程顥, 333, 340n26 Tamura (Satō), 280; Ten Guiding
 Index 441

Principles (Shi da gangling), 400, 7–8, 9; Sun Yat-sen and, 210; Tang Erhe
409n4; and Three Principles, 246; and and, 313, 318, 320; using Chinese to
total war of resistance, 409n4; under- rule Chinese and, 414; Wang Jingwei
cover agents, 278, 279, 280; and United and, 272; Wang Kemin and, 318; Yan
Front, 375; and War of Resistance, Xishan and, 375; Yuan Shu and, 289;
300–1, 304; Yan Xishan and, 374, 375; in Zhang Gang’s diary, 171; of Zheng
Yuan Shu and, 156, 288, 289, 290, 291– Xiaoxui, 50; Zhou Fohai and, 252, 254–
92; Zhonggong zhongyang teke (Central 55; Zhou Zuoren and, 313, 327, 328, 342,
Special Service Section), 289; Zhou 343, 346, 354–55, 357. See also Hanjian
Fohai and, 155, 252–53, 255 (traitor to the [Han] Chinese); Sino-
Chinese League for the Protection of Japanese cooperation
Civil Rights (Zhongguo minquan bao- Collection of Literary Selections by Each
zheng tongmeng), 364 Ethnicity in Manchukuo (Manshūkoku
Chinese literature writers: in Manchukuo kaku minzoku sōsaku senshū), 17;
literary collections, 105; Manchurian Statements by Selectors, 107–13
literature and, 110 colonialism. See imperialism
Chinese Medical Journal, 78 colonists, Japanese: 422–23. See also agri­
Chinese people: banned from other cultural colonists (nōmin kaitakusha
countries, 227–28 農民開拓者)
Chinese Revolutionary Alliance (Chinese Colonization Agricultural Committee
United League) (Tongmenghui 同盟會), (Takushoku yiinkai 拓植委員會), 28
213, 289 Committee for Maintaining Order
Chinese Socialist Party (Zhongguo (Weichihui 維持會), 153, 171, 176, 183
shehui dang) 中國社會黨, 155, 270 communism: Principle of People’s Liveli­
Chinese United League (Tongmenghui hood and, 246; Soviet, 215; and women’s
同盟會). See Chinese Revolutionary liberation, 349; Zhou Zuoren and, 344,
Alliance (Chinese United League) 346–48, 349
(Tongmenghui 同盟會) Communist Party. See Chinese Com­
chōbu 町步 (Japanese measurement, one munist Party (CCP)
hectare), 20, 25 Concordia Association (Kyōwakai
Chongqing, 156, 245–48, 254–56, 265– 協和會/Xiehehui), 40, 95, 105
67, 413 Confessions of an English Opium-Eater
chongzheng jiu shanhe 重整舊山河 (De Quincey), 81
(Rearranging the old mountains and Confucian developmentalism, 50
rivers), 183 Confucianism: and benevolence, 332–33;
chujian wenxue 鋤奸文學 (literature on and Chinese central thought, 328, 331,
eradicating Hanjian), 413 335; of Confucius, 331; and democracy,
Chūōkōron (Central review), 42 349–50; in education, 16; and Kingly
Chuzhou 滁州, 179, 198n18 Way, 65, 66; Li Zhi and, 350; of Mencius,
class: constitutionalism and, 52; Principle 331; neighbourly love, 66; neo-, 274;
of People’s Livelihood and, 246 New Citizens’ Movement and, 238,
Coble, Parks M., 190 239, 240, 242; in “Outline of the New
collaboration: CCP and, 374, 375, 376; Citizens’ Movement,” 240; progressive
and education, 318–19; Greater Asian­ women writers and, 115; Shangguan
ism and, 223, 242; and imperialism, 64; and, 337–38; and starvation, 274; Tang
integrity and, 272; Japanese experience Erhe and, 318; and Wang Jingwei-ism,
with, 312; moral freighting around, 8; 155; women and, 124; Zheng Xiaoxu
and moral judgment, 9; nationalism and, 15, 50, 55, 61n2; Zhou Zuoren
and, 223; and propaganda, 375; Propa­ and, 314, 327, 328, 329, 344, 349–50,
ganda Ministry and, 223; of regimes as 352, 356
Hanjian, 414; resistance dichotomy, 3, Confucius, 331, 332, 335, 336
442 Index

Constitutional monthly (Xianzheng Da Meizhouzhuyi 大美洲主義 (Greater

Yuekan), 290–91 Americanism), 226
constitutionalism: anarchism and consti- Da Yazhouzhuyi yu dongYa lianmeng
tution, 405–6; CCP and, 304–5; and (Greater Asianism and East Asian
central government, 301; and class, 52; League), 209–10. See also DaYazhou­
constitutional development, 156; Euro- zhuyi yu DongYa lianmeng (Greater
American imperialism and, 288, 303, Asianism and the East Asian League)
306; international situation and, 301– Daban Huawen meiri (Chinese Osaka
2; KMT and, 304–5; peace movement daily), 117
and, 300; and race, 52; and revolution, DadongYa wenxuezhe dahui
298–300, 306; Sun Yat-sen and, 298; 大東亞文學者大會 (Greater East Asia
Yuan Shu and, 156, 289, 290–91, 292– Writers’ Congress), 95, 117, 356–57
307; Zheng Xiaoxu and, 15, 51, 52 Dai Jitao 戴季陶, 224–25, 241, 245–46,
coolies: in batou zhidu system, 382–83; 318, 370, 372n11
as first- vs. second-class workers, 394– Dai Li 戴笠, 290
95; guidance of everyday life, 397; in dainigun 第二軍 ([Japan’s] Second Army),
industrialization, 383; Japanese labour- 237n40
ers vs., 383, 386; meaning of term, 383; DaitōA bungakusha taikai
mechanization and, 389; as migrant 大東亞文學者大會 (Greater East Asia
workers, 386, 388–89; migration from Writers’ Congress), 95, 117, 356–57
North China to Manchukuo, 397n1; in Damaijiao 大麥郊, 378
mining industries, 386, 387, 388–89; danghua 黨化 (partification), 319
recruitment of, 386, 397; reliance on Dare-to-Die Corps. See New Army
labour of, 385, 387; seasonal migration Dark Page in History, A (Lu), 6
of, 382; as semi-agrarian/semi- Daruvala, Susan, 361n30
industrial, 382, 386–87, 389–91, 397; Datong 大同 (Great Unity [era]), 67, 70
subsistence, 396; supervision of, 391– Datong bao (Great unity herald), 106,
92; wages, 392, 393–96 116; Mei Niang and, 117
corruption, 245, 250n25, 271, 289, 293, Daxia daxue 大夏大學 (Great China
294, 318 University), 211
Council on Foreign Relations, 366, DaYazhouzhuyi 大亞州主義 (Greater
368 Asianism), 223
“Criticism without words” (Wuzi de DaYazhouzhuyi yu DongYa lianmeng
piping) (Lin Yutang), 314, 366, (Greater Asianism and the East Asian
367–70 League), 223, 226. See also Da Yazhou­
Cronin, Timothy, 314 zhuyi yu dongYa lianmeng (Greater
Cui Daoxiu 崔道修 , 378 Asianism and East Asian League)
Cultural Revolution, 126n22, 254, 281, De Quincey, Thomas, Confessions of an
291–92, 314, 345–46 English Opium-Eater, 81
culture: and gender, 423; imperialism December Ninth Movement, 311, 314,
and transformation of, 423–24; mean- 366, 370–72
ing of, 427; problem of, 425, 426, 430; December Thirtieth Incident, 90, 101n6
of West, 426; as wholesome vs. “high,” democracy: CCP and, 303–4, 305; and
424, 426, 428; and youth, 424, 425, 426, Chinese revolution, 297; Confucianism
427–30 and, 349–50; Euro-American demo-
Culver, Annika A., 17, 78, 87n6 cratic decline, 297; KMT and, 305;
“The Current Stage of the Chinese Revo­ Nationalist Government and, 295
lution and the Issue of Constitutional Deng Tianyu 鄧天矞, 399
Government” (Zhongguo geming xian Deng Xiaoping 鄧小平, 190
jieduan yu xianzheng wenti) (Yuan Detwiler, Donald, War in Asia and the
Shu), 288–89, 292–97 Pacific, 6
 Index 443

Deverall, Richard, 87n11 e huanjing 惡環境 (evil environment), 124

Dianying sheyingfa 電影攝影法 (Xu East Asian Anarchist League (DongYa
Zhuodai), 160 wuzhengfuzhuyizhe dalianmeng)
Di’er dai (The second generation) (Mei 東亞無政府主義者大聯盟, 410n10
Niang), 117 East Asian Cultural Association
Ding Chao 丁超, 24 東亞文化協會, 371
Ding Ling 丁玲, 279, 281, 359n20 East Asian League (DongYa lianmeng/
Dingyuan 定遠, 194, 196 TōA renmei 東亞聯盟): about, 154,
“Disputation without Argument” (Qi wu 209, 212; central thought of, 216–18;
lun) (Zhuangzi), 367, 368, 369 characteristics, 218–19; China General
The Doctrine of the Mean, 332–33 Assembly, 212, 216, 218–19; China’s
Documents on the Rape of Nanking participation in, 212; Comrades Associ­
(Brook), 6 ation, 212; dissolution of, 212; and
“Documents Regarding the Investigation DongYa lianmeng, 212, 218; founding
on Ideological Movements through of Manchukuo and, 220n2; Greater
Literature, Art, and Theatre,” 16–17, Asianism and, 216, 218; guiding prin-
89–92 ciples, 219–20; and Jingwei-ism, 155;
Dong Fangjuan, 東方雋, 121, 126n18 Joint Declaration and, 218; League of
Dong Xianguang 董顯光 (Hollington Nations compared, 220; New Citizens’
Tong), 257, 259 Movement and, 239; practical forma-
Dong Zhenliu 董振六, 176 tion, 219–20; purpose, 239–40; Sun
Dong Zhongshu 董仲舒, 352, 362n41 Yat-sen and, 154, 212, 216, 218; Wang
Dongbei wenxue yanjiu shiliao (Histor­ Jingwei and, 212, 216
ical materials for the study of Northeast education ( jiaoyu 教育): anti-Japanese,
literature), 90 318–19; CCP and, 320; collaboration
Dongshi xian 東十縣 (Dongshi county), 25 and, 318–19; and colonial modernity,
DongYa lianmeng 東亞聯盟 (East Asian 65–67; and colonialism/imperialism,
League). See East Asian League (DongYa 64; Committee for Public Safety and,
lianmeng) 319; culture in, 426; Government
DongYa liangmeng huabao (East Asian Gazette decrees/orders, 320–25; in-
League pictorial), 209–10 novative pedagogy, 64; Kingly Way and,
DongYa wenhua xiehui 東亞文化協會 (East 66–67, 68–69; labour, 16; and love, 66;
Asian Cultural Association), 371 in Manchukuo, 16, 64–76; Mukden
DongYa xin zhixu 東亞新秩序 (New Order Incident and, 68; and nationalism, 64;
in East Asia). See New Order in East New Education Movement, 65; North
Asia (DongYa xin zhixu/TōA Shin China Army and, 319; partification of
Chitsujo) schools (danghua), 319, 322; physical
Double Seven (July 7) Incident (Qiqi participation (laozuo jiaoyu), 65;
shibian 七七事變), 312 professional emphasis in, 319–20;
Du Mu 杜牧, 340–41n40. See also Du rewriting/censorship of textbooks,
Muzhi, “Ode to E-pang palace” (E-pang 319, 323; Tang Erhe and, 319–25;
gong fu) Three Principles of the People and,
Du Muzhi 杜牧之, “Ode to E-pang palace” 319; university reform, 319
(E-pang gong fu), 338, 340–41n40 “Educational Love” (Jiaoyu ai) (Nakatani
Du Yuesheng 杜月笙, 290 Sadaharu), 65–66, 71–76
Duan Qirui 段祺瑞, 362n46 “Educational Love” (Spranger), 16
Duara, Prasenjit, 65 Eight Abstentions (Ba bu 八不), 115–16,
duizhang 隊長 (team leader), 382, 391–92, 118
393–96, 397 Eight speeches on Greater Asianism
Duyinyuan riji (Duyinyuan diary) (Zhang (Yang Honglie), 226–34
Gang), 153, 171–84, 186n14 eight-legged essay, 331, 339n14
444 Index

Ellis, Havelock, 349, 360n24, 361n30 and, 228–29; of production system,

E-pang gong fu (Ode to E-pang palace) 386–87, 391–93; and women, 284
(Du Muzhi), 340–41n40 food supplies, 271, 274, 275
e’si shi ji xiao, shijie shi ji da Franco, Francisco, 401
餓死事極小失節事極大 (To starve to French Revolution, 338
death is a minor matter, but to lose Fu Poshek, 240, 343–44; Passivity, Resist­
one’s integrity is a major matter ance, and Collaboration, 8
indeed), 272 Fu Shiyue 傅式説: about, 211; and Greater
“The Establishment of Chinese Asianism, 154, 211; “Greater Asianism
Literature” (Kataoka Teppei), 330 and the New Order in East Asia” (Da
Euro-America (Ou-mei 歐美), 211, 213– Yazhouzhuyi yu dongYa xin zhixu),
14, 216, 218, 426. See also imperialism, 213–16; and KMT, 211; and New Order
Euro-American in East Asia, 154, 211; on Nine-Power
Executive Yuan (Xingzheng yuan 行政院), Treaty, 210; in RNG, 151, 154, 211
252, 291, 373n17 Fuji shaojiu gongsi 富吉燒酒公司
(Fukuyoshi Brewery), 30
Fadeyev, Alexander, The Rout, 200, Fukagawa 深川, 34, 35
203–5 fukkō 復興 (restoring), 46
Fan Changjiang 范長江, 193 Fukuyoshi Brewery (Fuji shaojiu gongsi
Fan Shiqin 范世勤, 154, 191, 193; “Two 富吉燒酒公司), 30
Indestructible Pillars of the Great Funü shenghuo (Women’s life), 279
Wall” (Liangzuo buneng cuihui de Funü zazhi (Lady’s journal), 117
Changcheng), 191–92, 193–97 Fushun mine, 392
Fan Zhongyun 樊仲雲, 250n25, 271 Fuxingshe 復興社 (Renaissance Society),
fang 房 (family line), 173 252, 256
Fangdie jiaoling (Instructions on pre- fuxujin 撫恤金 (compensation), 173
venting spy activities) (Nationalist
army), 415 gaizu pai 改組派 (Reorganizationists), 252
fanluan 煩亂 (troubled), 123, 127n25 Galway, Matthew, 156
fascism: mass mobilization vs., 408; Gao Wenyin 高文陰, 67
Nesmelov and, 106; New Citizens’ Gao Zongwu 高宗武 , 253, 255, 256, 257–
Movement and, 239; peace vs., 403; and 58, 259, 261, 263, 264
war, 403; Yamada Seizaburō and, 106; Gekkan Nippon (Monthly Nippon), “Trail­
Zheng Xiaoxu and, 15, 52; Zhou Zuoren blazers of Japanese Civilization,” 43
and, 343. See also antifascism geming shangwei chenggong 革命尚未成功
Feng Dao 馮道, 349, 362n34 (The revolution has not yet been com-
Feng Shun 封順, 95, 101n13 pleted), 221n9
Feng Xuefeng 馮雪峰 , 344, 359n14 Goldblatt, Howard, 89
Feng Zuxun 馮祖荀, 353 Goldman, Emma, 410n10
Fengtian, 16, 65–66, 129; Mukden/ Gongchandang zhongyang shehuibu
Fengtian/Shenyang as all same city, 共產黨中央社會部 (CCP Central Office
76–77n14 of Social Affairs), 415
Fengtian Education Bureau/Committee, “Gongkai de zuizhuang” (Open indict-
64, 68; Fengtian jiaoyu (Mukden educa- ment) (Yang Xu), 118–19, 124, 125
tion review), 16, 64–65, 68 gongli 公理 (universal principles), 182
Fengyang 鳳陽, 191, 195–97 gongli qiangquan 功力强權 (self-interest
fenzuo 分胙 (dividing sacrificial meat and dominance), 228
offerings), 173 Gorky, Maxim, 96, 102n17
feudalism: batou system and, 315; Great Wall of China, 191–92
Japanese peasants and, 384; and leaders Great Way Government of Shanghai,
of Republic of China, 405; Nationalism 153
 Index 445

Greater Asianism: as base for New Order Guangzhou, 211, 212, 255, 262
in East Asia, 213; and collaboration, 223; “Guanyu Beiping xuesheng ‘yier-jiu’
defined, 226; and East Asia vs. West, yundong” (On the “December 9”
240; and East Asian League, 216, 218; students’ movement in Beiping) (Lin
and Euro-American imperialism, 226; Yutang), 314, 366, 370–72
and European peoples, 218; imperialism guge 骨骼 (skeleton), 72
vs., 228; and Kingly Way (Wangdao), Guizi laile! (Devils on the doorstep)
220, 226, 228, 240; and Nationalism, (Jiang Wen), 3
228–31, 241; and New Order in East Gunn, Edward M., 276n2
Asia, 216, 231–34; and participation Guo Huiwu 郭悔吾, 257
with Japanese empire, 242; Sun Yat-sen Guo Moruo 郭沫若, 253; “Jiashen san bai
and, 154, 209, 214–15, 216, 217–18, 228, nian ji” (In commemoration of the three-
231; Three Principles of the People and, hundredth anniversity of 1644), 273
217, 224, 228, 231; Wang Jingwei and, guomin gugan 國民骨幹 (national back-
229; and Wang Jingwei-ism, 247; Yang bone), 115
Honglie and, 155, 226–34 Guomin huabao (Citizens’ paper), 118
“Greater Asianism and the New Order in Guomin zhengfu 國民政府 (National
East Asia” (Da Yazhouzhuyi yu dongYa Government). See Kuomintang (KMT)/
xin zhixu) (Fu Shiyue), 211 Nationalists
Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere, Guzhu, sons of, 274
103, 210, 273, 302–3, 307, 422
Greater East Asia War, 89, 98, 109, 330 haikou 海寇 (dwarf pirates [derogatory
Greater East Asia Writers’ Congress term for Japanese]), 174
(DadongYa wenxuezhe dahui /DaitōA Haitian Revolution, 9
bungakusha taikai 大東亞文學者大會), Hall, Andrew Reed, 65, 76n4, 423–24
95, 117, 356–57 hamba 飯場 (daily hiring system), 386,
Gu Baoheng 顧寶衡, 271 398n11
Gu Ding 古丁, 17, 96, 102n18, 104, 105, Han Jun 韓鈞, 374; about, 380n1; on Yan
114n5, 114n16; on Collection of Literary Xishan’s account of Western Shanxi
Selections by Each Ethnicity in Man­ Incident, 376–80
chu­kuo, 112–13 Hanjian 漢奸 (traitor to the [Han]
Gu Mengyu 顧孟餘, 256–57, 268 Chinese): baojia (mutual surveillance
Gu Zhutong 顧祝同, 252, 253 system) and, 414; CCP and, 415;
guafen 瓜分 (dividing up the [Chinese] Chinese serving under Japanese occu-
melon), 221n12 pation as, 5, 9; chujian wenxue (litera-
Guan Dongyan 關東彥, 101n7. See also ture on eradicating Hanjian), 413;
Guan Monan collaborationist regimes as, 414; espio-
Guan Lu 關露, 280(f); about, 156, 278–79, nage as, 414; Fu Shiyue as, 211; gentry
280–81; and Bai Yang, 287n20; and CCP, members as, 181; Guan Lu as, 278, 281;
278, 279, 280, 281; as Hanjian, 278, 281; Kiang Kang-hu as, 272; meaning of
“How to Be a New Woman” (Zenmeyang term, 412–13; Nationalist army’s
zuo yi ge xin funü), 278, 282–86; and Fangdie jiaoling and, 415; Nationalist
Nü sheng, 279–81; in Shang­hai, 279; regulations on punishing, 413; poten-
and Tamura (Satō), 280; themes in tial (zhun Hanjian), 414; resolutions on
writing, 281; and xianqi liangmu (good prevention of activities/espionage, 311,
wife, wise mother) role, 279; Xin jiu 315, 412, 413, 416–20; variety of social
shidai (New and old eras), 279 strata of those involved as, 414; Wan
Guan Monan 關沫南, 90–92, 96, 101n7. Mengwan as female, 225; in Zhang
See also Guan Dongyan Gang’s diary, 181, 182; Zheng Xiaoxu
Guandong Army 關東軍 (Kwantung as, 15; ziweidui (self-defence squad)
Army; Kantōgun), 39 and, 415. See also collaboration
446 Index

Hanxinling 韓信岭, 379 Huangpu junxiao 黃埔軍校 (Huangpu

Harbin: floods in, 20, 26, 27(f); Japanese Military Academy) (Whampoa Military
arrival in, 19; Leftist Literature Academy), 252
Incident, 90–91, 101n7; Marxist Study Huangtu 黃土, 378
Group of Literature and Art, 101n7 Huanshou jian 環首劍 (Sword of
harmony between the Japanese and Huanshou), 180
Chinese Peoples 民族協和 (minzoku huanxing minzhong 喚醒民眾 (Awaken
kyōwa), 425 the people!), 370
Hatamen (also Hadamen) 哈達門, 325, Huaxu 華胥 (goddess), 58, 63n36
326n24 humanitarianism, 332–33
He Luofu 何犖夫, 176 Hunanying 湖南營 (Senfuru), 20–21, 32
He Yingqin 何應欽, 252, 370, 372n14 hunchi dengsi 混吃等死 (sitting around
He Zhonghan 賀衷寒, 256, 259 waiting to die), 123
Heaven Shining Garden (Tianzhaoyuan / hunger/starvation: and compromise,
Tenshōen 天照園), 23, 34–37 272–73; consequences of, 273, 274–75,
Heavenly Way (tendō 天道), 47, 49n35, 276; integrity and, 272, 274, 276; under
49n36 Japanese occupation, 270, 271; Kiang
Hebei, 3, 260, 322, 388, 392, 415 Kang-hu and, 156; under Nationalist
Hebei Autonomous Government, 311, government postwar, 271; and profi-
312 teering, 271; under RNG, 271. See also
Hebei-Chahar Political Council (Ji-Cha poverty
zhengwu weiyuanhui) 冀察政務委員會, huxiang tixie 互相提攜 (help one an-
318 other), 225
Hefei 合肥 , 195
Heilongjiang, 22 Ian no hi 慰安の日 (Comfort Day), 36
Henshaw, Jonathan, 155–56 Ienaga Saburō, 6
heping de daode 和平的道德 (peaceful Iguchi 井口, 178
morality), 229 Ikuhito Hata, 6
Higashinakano Shudo, 6 IM (analgesic), 79
Homer, 81 Imai Takeo 今井 武夫, 263
Hong Xiuquan 洪秀全, 336, 340n33 Imperial Rule Assistance Association
Hou Ji 後稷 (Lord of Millet), 356 (Taisei Yokusankai 大政翼贊會), 40,
“How to Be a New Woman” (Zenmeyang 422, 424, 428; Cultural Division, 422,
zuo yi ge xin funü) (Guan Lu), 278, 425, 426
282–86 Imperial Way (kōdō 皇道), 47, 49n35,
Hu Feng 胡風 , 359n20 49n36
Hu Hanmin 胡漢民 , 224–25, 241 imperialism: collaboration and, 64;
Hu Qiaomu 胡喬木 , 345 colonial modernity, 65–67; Greater
Hu Shi 胡適, 225, 235n10, 364 Asianism vs., 228; multiethnicity and,
Hu Shoumei 胡壽楣. See Guan Lu 105; nationalism and, 64; Nationalism
Hua Duancen 華端岑, 161 vs., 229; New Order in East Asia and,
Hua Rui, 15 224; pedagogy and, 64; red, of com-
Huabei zuojia xiehui 華北作家協會 (North munism, 241; white, of Europe, 241
China Writers Association), 117 imperialism, Anglo-American, left-wing
Huachuan xian 樺川縣 (Huachuan writers and, 98
county), 25, 26 imperialism, Euro-American: and China’s
huajie liuxiang 花街柳巷 (red-light economic backwardness/political
district), 116 corruption, 289; and Chinese economy,
Huanan xian 樺南縣 (Huanan county), 22 294; and Chinese independence, 294–
Huang, Nicole, 278, 280 95, 302; and comprador class, 297, 300,
Huang Quan 黃權, 180 303; and constitutionalism, 288, 303,
 Index 447

306; effect on China, 292–94; foreign Italy, Abyssinia’s war with, 401, 403
assistance for independence from, 297– Iwai Eiichi 岩井栄一, 289
98; Greater Asianism and, 226; and Iyasaka: jinja 彌榮神社 (Iyasaka Shrine),
“isms,” 226–27; Nationalism vs., 231; 26; -mura 彌榮村 (Prosperity Village),
and one-party rule, 296; Sino-Japanese 24; Village, 25
cooperation and, 288; Sun Yat-sen on,
298–99; and War of Resistance, 303; Jade Mountain, The, 271
as Way of Hegemon, 228; Yuan Shu jakkō 寂光 (truth and wisdom), 44
on, 156 Japan: accumulative culture (ruiseki
imperialism, Japanese: betterment of bunka), 45; ancient Greece compared
minorities under occupation and, 5; to, 45; and ancient heavenly fishing
and cultural transformation, 423–24; boat (ama no tsuribune), 46–47; as
divisive discourses regarding, 5–6; “light of Asia,” 40–47; transmission of
economy and, 384–85; “hard” vs. “soft” culture to continent, 45–46
power of, 421; and Japanese language, Japan–China Basic Relations Treaty
424; and Korean women, 18, 128; (RiHua jiben taoyue 日華基本條約), 218,
Korean workers and, 385; mass mobil- 221n16
ization vs., 408; nationalist narratives Japanese International Cultural Revival
regarding, 6; social structure and, Association (Nihon kokusai bunka
384–85 shinkōkyōkai 日本國際文化振興協會),
industrialization: coolies and, 383, 385; 355
during Meiji Restoration, 383–84; and Japanese Literature Patriotic Associ­
national labour mobilization, 383; ation (Nihon bungaku hokokukai
peasantry and, 384; planned production 日本文學報國會), 330, 331
system, 391, 392, 397; steel production, Japanese literature/writers: in China,
397–98n2; wartime expansion, 391, 202; in Manchukuo literary collections,
397–98n2 105; Manchurian literature compared,
Inspection report on ideological move- 109–10, 112; in Shanghai bookstores,
ments in literature and arts activities 206–7; Uchiyama Bookstore and, 199
(Capital Police Bureau Special Duties Japanese migrants in Manchukuo,
Section), 93–100 Koreans compared to, 129
intellectuals: anti-Japanese reading Japan-Manchukuo-China Joint
group, 90; crackdowns on organizations Declaration (Nichi-Man-Ka kyōdō
of, 90–91; Harbin Leftist Literature sengen/RiManHua gongtong xuanyan
Incident, 90–91; ideological control 日滿華共同宣言), 218, 219, 221n16
over, 89; and new order, 152; and propa- Jesus, 121, 123
ganda, 154; publication of critiques, Ji (sage 稷) see also Hou Ji, 328, 331, 332,
273; rhetorical strategies used by, 329; 339n4
sensitivity to plight of countrymen, Jia Botao 賈伯濤, 290
273; support for Sun Yat-sen, 224; Jia Ren 佳人, 17, 119, 123–25, 127n26
Tang Erhe as, 313; Zhou Zuoren as Jiamusi 佳木斯, 19–21, 22, 26, 31, 132
representative of, 328 Jiang Menglin 蔣夢麟 , 353
International Library (Guoji tushuguan) Jiang Wen, Guizi laile! (Devils on the
國際圖書館, 319, 321 doorstep), 3
intuition, 368 Jiang Yan 姜衍, 101–2n14
Iron Flood (Serafimovich), The, 200, Jiangsu Education Department, 291
204–5 Jian’guo daxue 建國大學 (Kenkoku
Ishiwara Kanji 石原 莞爾, 39, 40, 43, 212, University), 39. See also Kenkoku
239, 240 Daigaku 建國大學 (Jian’guo Daxue/
Israel, John, 372n7 National Foundation University
Itagaki Seishirō 板垣 征四郎, 232, 236n39 “Kendai”)
448 Index

Jiao Litang 焦理堂: Study Notes on the kanji 漢字 (Chinese characters), 23, 114n10
Book of Changes, 334. See also Jiao Xun kan/kanme 貫目 (Japanese weight equal
Jiao Xun 焦循, 340n28. See also Jiao to 3.75 kilo), 36
Litang Kantōgun 關東軍 (Kantō Army), 15, 19,
jiaoyu 教育(education). See education 20, 25, 39, 130, 318
(jiaoyu) Kantōshū 關東州, 34
“Jiashen san bai nian ji” (In commemora- Kasahara Tokushi, 6
tion of the three hundredth anniversary Kataoka Teppei 片岡 鉄兵, 331, 356–57;
of 1644) (Guo Moruo), 273 “The Establishment of Chinese
Jiefang ribao 解放日報 (Liberation daily), Literature,” 330
314, 374 Katō Hisao 加藤久男, 20, 24–28
Jifeng 季瘋 , 101n6. See also Li Jifeng Kato Naoko, 154
Jin Jianxiao 金劍嘯, 116 Kawabata Yasunari 川端康成 , 103–4, 105,
Jin zhao xi wu guo 今朝喜吾過 (This 106, 108, 110; on “Collection of Literary
morning, it was fortunate that I passed Selections by Each Ethnicity in
through here), 183 Manchukuo,” 108–10
jingshen 精神 (spirit), 238 Kawaguchi Hiroshi 川口浩, 290
jingshenli 精神力 (strength of spirit), 243 Kawashima, Ken, 398n11
Jinming 金明, 101n7. See also Wang Kawashima Yoshiko 川島芳子, 43
Guangti Ke Ju 柯炬, 116
Jipu (Jeep), 159 keigo 敬語 (honorific speech), 19
jiyū imin 自由移民 (free immigrants), 34 Kellogg-Briand Pact, 52
Jones, Ray, 410n10 Kenkoku Daigaku 建國大學 (Jian’guo
Journal of the American Medical Daxue/National Foundation University,
Association, 78 “Kendai”), 15, 39–40, 43; Kenkoku
Ju Ren Tang 居仁堂 (Ju Ren Hall), 371 (National foundation; journal), 40
Jue Qing 爵青, 114n5. See also Liu Jueqing kexue 科學 (scientific), 161
July Seventh Incident, 221n15, 377. See Kiang Kang-hu 江亢虎 (Jiang Kanghu):
also Marco Polo Bridge Incident (Qiqi about, 155–56, 270–71, 276n3, 277n15;
lu gouqiao shibian) as Hanjian, 272; and hunger, 156; in
RNG, 151, 155, 156; “Starvation Is a
Kagesa Sadaaki 影佐禎昭, 263 Serious Matter” (E’si shi da), 270, 271–
kaika keshitsu 開花結実 (blossoming and 73, 274–76
coming to fruition), 114n16 Kikuchi Hiroshi 菊池寬, 160
Kailuan coal mine, 392 Kimura Ki 木村毅, 160
kakaru shisei かかる姿勢 (associated King Hui of Liang (Mencius), 332
tendencies/residual political attitudes), King Wen 文王, 51, 55
114n10 Kingly Way (Wangdao 王道), 46; Badao
Kamata Seiichi 鎌田誠一, 201, 208n22 vs., 222n19, 235n19, 236n28; colonial
Kanazawa igaku senmon gakkō modernity and, 65; Confucianism and,
金沢醫學専門學校 (Kanazawa Medical 65, 66; and East Asia vs. West, 240; and
Vocational School), 325 East Asian League, 240; education and,
Kaneko Junji 金子準二 : about, 80; “The 16, 66–67, 68–69; Greater Asianism
China Incident from the Perspective of and, 220, 226, 228; and hierarchy of
Psychiatry” (Seishinbyōgaku kara mita love, 66; Manchukuo and, 15, 67;
Nisshi jihen), 16, 80, 81–86 Mencius and, 49n32, 60; National
Kaneko Mitsuharu 金子光晴, 202 Foundation University and, 15; Ōdō
“Kang faxisizhuyi zhi dong xi zhan” rakudo (Kingly Way paradise land),
(Antifascist wars of resistance, East and 105; Sun Yat-sen and, 65, 222n19; Tang
West) (Lu Jianbo), 401 Erhe and, 318; Zheng Xiaoxu and, 16,
kangRi 抗日 (Resist Japan), 3 51, 58–59, 60
 Index 449

Kingsberg, Miriam, 79, 87n11 Korean women: at crossroads, 133;

Kishi Yōko, 280 imperialism and, 18; income/wages,
Kishida Kunio 岸田國士, 104, 110, 114n10; 130, 132; lack of agency, 119, 132–33; in
about, 421–22; Chikara toshite no Manchukuo, 17–18, 128–47; marginal-
bunka (Culture as Strength), 424–30; ization of, 128, 130; patriarchy and, 18,
on “Collection of Literary Selections 128, 130, 132–33; personal accounts,
by Each Ethnicity in Manchukuo,” 133–47; and prostitution, 130–47
107–8; in Imperial Rule Assistance Korean writers: and Manchukuo literary
Association, 422, 424, 425, 426 collections, 106
Kita Shina hōmen gun 北支那方面軍 Koreans in Manchukuo, 17–18, 128–30
(North China Army), 318, 319 kotosara 殊更 (deliberately/intentionally/
Kitaiskaia キタイエスカヤ (Street) especially), 114n10
(Zhongyang dajie 中央大街), 26 Kōzaka 小坂, 35
Kitamura Kenjirō 北村謙二郎, 104–5; Kuomintang (KMT)/Nationalist Party
on Collection of Literary Selections 國民黨 : 1939 status, 413; agents within
by Each Ethnicity in Manchukuo, RNG, 157n3; and anarchism, 399; CCP
111–12 equal status with, 303; and Central
Kōchū company, 387, 388, 398n13 Daily (Zhongyang ribao), 257; Central
kodō 古道 (ancient civilization/ancient Propaganda Division, 212; as China’s
way), 44 revolutionary party, 375; and Com­
kōdō (Imperial Way 皇道), 47, 49n35, munists, 320; and constitutionalism,
49n36 304–5; Declaration of the First
Kodokan 講道館, 160 Congress, 296; defeat by Manchukuo
Kokumin no tomo (The people’s friend), bandits, 14; and democracy, 295, 305;
41 Fangdie jiaoling (Instructions on pre-
kokusui ronsha 國粋論者 (national venting spy activities), 415; and food
purists), 45 supplies/hunger, 271; Fu Shiyue and,
kokusui-shugi 國粋主義 (national purity 211; grain control policy, 270; and Guan
thought), 42 Lu, 278; imperialism and, 299; Japanese
Kokutai no hongi 國體の本義 (Cardinal debates about coming to terms with,
Principles of the National Entity) (Man­ 318; Juntong (Bureau of Investigation
chukuo Ministry of Education), 40 and Statistics), 254, 290; Kiang Kang-hu
Konoe Fumimaro 近衛文麿: Declaration, and, 273; Konoe Declaration and, 263;
213, 214, 219, 248, 264; Declaration, Konoe’s July 1938 statement and, 258;
as based on Greater Asianism and Lin Baisheng in, 212; Lin Yutang and,
Three Principles of the People, 248; 365, 366; loss of territory, 152; and Lu
Declaration, and East Asian League, Xun, 200, 201; Ministry of Internal
219; and Greater Asianism, 248; on Affairs, 415; negotiated settlement
Japan-China relations, 232; and New with Japanese, and survival of, 255; and
Order in East Asia, 151, 209, 211, 213, New Citizens’ Movement, 239; New
232; and relations with Chiang Kai-shek, Life Movement, 155; north China dis-
255, 258, 262; Second Address (dai niji connection from, 312; operatives for,
seimei), 232, 236n36; and Sino-Japanese 155; partification of education, 318–19,
cooperation, 214; Third Address (dai 322; persecution of woodcut artists,
sanji seimei), 232, 236n37, 267, 269n8; 201; Provisional Government vs., 318;
and Three Principles of the People, 248; “Regulations on Punishing Hanjian,”
Wang Jingwei on, 248 413; “Resolutions on Preventing
Korea: Japanese annexation/colonization Hanjian Activities and Espionage,” 311,
of, 129, 385; national autonomy vs. 412, 413, 414–15, 416–20; retreat from
racial fusion in, 76n2; New Order in northern invasion, 312; as revolution-
East Asia in, 76n2 ary army of China, 375; RNG and, 152;
450 Index

RNG propaganda drawing on, 154–55; Lenin, Vladimir Ilich, 81, 289
and Russian communism, 215; and Lestz, Michael, The Search for Modern
Second United Front, 374; and silver China: A Documentary Collection, 7–8
standard/legal tender, 411n25; Sun “A Letter for Wu Ying” (Ji Wu Ying shu)
Yat-sen as focus for propaganda, 224; (Mei Niang), 120–22
Tang Erhe and, 318; Three Principles of Lewin, Louis, 81
the People and, 295, 400; and United li 里 (Chinese measurement, equal to
Front, 375; Wang Jingwei’s expulsion 1.6 km), 29, 31
from, 256; White Terror, 410n10; youth Li Amao boshi 李阿毛博士 (Dr. Li Ah
movement, 370; Yuan Shu and, 288, Mao), 160
289, 290; Yuan Xiaolan and, 289; Zheng Li Amao waizhuan (The unofficial history
Xiaoxu’s Chinese writers as spies for, of Li Ah Mao) (Xu Zhuodai), 160–61
52–53; and Zhongyang Ribao, 191; Li Datong 李大同, 175, 178, 186n22
Zhou Fohai and, 155, 252, 255, 261 Li Dazhao 李大釗, 359n13
Kushner, Barak, 78 Li Du 李杜, 24
Kyōwakai 協和會/Xiehehui (Concordia Li Fuyu 李福禹, 101n6. See also Li Jifeng
Association), 40, 95, 105 Li Ji 李季, 345, 359n18
Li Ji (The Book of Rites), 340n29
Labour Science Institute, 383 Li Jifeng 李季風 , 90–92, 94, 95, 96, 101n6,
Ladu lu 拉都路 (Ladu Road), 235n5 101n12
Lanyishe 藍衣社 (Blue Shirts), 256 Li Min 李民 , 410n15; “Anarchism and
Lao She 老舍, 359n20 China’s War of Resistance” (Wuzheng­
laodong gaizao 勞動改造 (reform through fuzhuyi yu Zhongguo kangzhan), 399–
labour), 292 400, 401, 402–9
Lary, Diana, 6, 153 Li Shiqun 李士群, 223, 279
Lau, Jennifer, 154 Li Shiyu 李時雨, 157n3
Laughlin, Charles, 190, 192 Li Wenzhai 李文齋, 157n3
League of Left-Wing Writers, 201, 279, Li Zhengzhong 李正中, 116
290, 359n14 Li Zhi 李贄, 349, 350, 361n31, 361n34;
League of Nations: East Asian League A Book to Burn (Fenshu), 349
compared, 220; Japanese withdrawal Li Zicheng 李自成 , 273, 276, 336, 340n32
from, 13, 14, 42 Liang Hui wang 梁惠王 (King Hui of
Lee Jonghyun, 17–18 Liang), 332
left-wing literature/writers: abstraction/ “Liang ji” (Two extremes) (Wu Ying), 116
ambiguity of writing, 96, 98; and anti- Liang Peihuang 梁培璜, 378
feudalism, 96, 97; anti-state writings, Liang Qichao 梁啓超, 225, 235n10,
17, 97–99; and collaboration among all 249–50n21
writers, 99; drafting parts of Manchu­ Liang Shanding 梁山丁, 101n11, 116. See
kuo inspection reports, 90–92, 96–100; also Shan Ding
Guan Lu and, 278–79; and imperialism, Liang Yanwu 梁延武 , 379
98; literary trends, 90, 96–99; and na- “light of Asia,” Japan as, 40–41
tionalism, 94, 99; and New Romanticism, Light of Asia (Arnold), The, 41
96; and political consciousness in read- Light of Asia (Asahi newspaper), The, 42
ers, 97–98 “The Light of Asia” (Sakuta), 15, 40–47
Legislative Council of the Provisional liliang 力量 (power), 245
Government 臨時政府議政委員會, 317 “Limited Views on Japan” (Zhou Zuoren),
Lei Leisheng 磊磊生, 101n6. See also Li 354–55
Jifeng Lin Baisheng 林柏生, 291; about, 211–12;
Lei Yan 雷妍, 121, 126n17 and Chiang Kai-shek, 212; “On the East
leng qi lin 冷淇琳 (icy cream), 283 Asian League Movement” (Guanyu
lengshuang 冷霜 (cold cream), 283 dongYa lianmeng yundong), 154, 212,
 Index 451

216–20; in Hong Kong, 268; in KMT, Lu Jiuyuan 陸九淵 , Understanding of the

212; Meihō no tomo e (To our allied Way (Wu Dao), 367
friends), 212; on New Order in East Lü Lü 吕律 , 176, 179, 180, 181–82
Asia, 233–34; and Propaganda Ministry, Lu Suping, A Dark Page in History, 6
223, 238; in RNG, 151, 154, 211–12; on Lu Xun 魯迅 , 364–65; death of, 151;
Sun Yat-sen, 154; and Wang Jingwei, diary, 199, 200–1, 205–6; and Kamata
211–12, 269; Zhou Fohai and, 253, 268 Seiichi’s house, 208n22; and KMT, 200,
Lin Biao 林彪 , 14 201; Lin Yutang and, 364, 365; and
Lin Jian’an 林健庵, 181, 182–83 Russian literature, 200; and Uchiyama
Lin Liansheng 林連生, 173 Bookstore, 199, 200–1, 203–6, 208n17;
Lin Yunming 林雲銘, 341n40 and woodcut prints, 201; and Xu
Lin Yutang 林語堂: about, 314, 364, 365– Guangping, 286n10; Zhou Zuoren
66; and CCP, 365, 366; and Enlighten­ and, 313, 345, 360n24
ment, 365; “Guanyu Beiping xuesheng Lu Yan, 343–44; Re-understanding
‘yier-jiu’ yundong” (On the “December Japan, 358n7
9” students’ movement in Beiping), 314, Lu You 陸游, Laoxue’an biji, 340n36
366, 370–72; and humour (youmo), 364, Lu’an 六安, 195
365; and KMT, 365, 366; and Lu Xun, Luansheng 鑾生, 177
365; and Lun yu, 365; and political par- Luesink, David, 313
ties, 365; and Shaw, 365; in Taiwan, Lunyu (The analects), 364, 365
365–66; “Wuzi de piping” (Criticism Lunyu lunren lun (On the analects and
without words), 314, 366, 367–70; and benevolence) (Ruan Boyuan), 340n21
Yushi, 365 Luo Longji 羅隆基, 263
Lin Zizheng 林子錚, 178 Luoyingji (Collection of fallen blossoms)
Lincoln, Abraham, 362n36 (Yang Xu), 118
Linfen 臨汾, 379 Lüse de gu (Green valley) (Shan Ding),
Lishuzhen 梨樹鎮 , 31 106
Literature and Arts Broadcast Associ­
ation, 95 Ma Yuzao 馬裕藻, 353
Liu Bang 劉邦, 368 maiyou lang 賣油郎 (soy sauce seller or
Liu Jianmei, 358n9 oil-peddler), 162
Liu Jueqing 劉爵青, 105, 112, 114n5 maizai beiguanlu shang tazhe qiqu
Liu Longguang 柳龍光 , 117, 121, 126n20 邁在悲觀路上踏著崎嶇 (plodding onto
Liu Shaoqi 劉少奇, 254 the rugged road of pessimism), 118
Liu Wuming 劉武銘, 378 Malatesta, Errico, 400, 410n20; ; Toward
Liu Xiaoli, Yitai shikong de jingshen Anarchism, 404, 408; Anarchism’s
shijie: Wei Manzhouguo wenxue yanjiu Guiding Principles, 404, 408; “Our
(Spiritual world in a time of alienation: Principles,” 408
Research on bogus Manchukuo litera- Man! (journal), 410n20
ture), 89–90 Manchukuo (Manzhougo/Manshūkoku
Liucun 劉村, 377 滿洲國): as “bogus,” 14; collapse of, 14,
Long Tiyao 隴體要, 266 23; construction of self, 109; East Asian
Long Yun 龍雲, 256, 265, 267 League and, 220n2, 239–40; educa-
Longshan Incident (Ryūsan jiken tional pedagogy in, 64–76; as “harmony
龍山事件), 22, 32 of five races” (wuzu xiehe/gozoku kyōwa),
Lou Shiyi 樓適夷, 345, 359n20 39–40; and Heavenly Way (tendō), 47,
Louis XIV, 338 49n36; illiteracy in, 105, 113; and
Lu Jianbo 盧劍波, 399, 410n10; “Kang Imperial Way (kōdō), 47, 49n36; as “Japan-
faxisizhuyi zhi dong xi zhan” (Anti­ beyond-Japan,” 422; and Japan’s imper-
fascist wars of resistance, East and ial unification, 40; Japanese mourning
West), 401 of loss of, 14; Kingly Way and, 47, 67; as
452 Index

“light of East Asia”, 42; as masquerading Ribao report, 314, 374, 375, 376–80;
as independent nation, 152; as model and foundation of People’s Republic of
for greater East Asia ideals, 104, 108–9; China, 311; and New Democracy,
as model of pacificism, 52; multiethnic 360n23; and persecution of writers,
literature in, 103–13; as multiethnic 281; Zhou Zuoren’s letter to, 344, 358
society, 39–40, 422; participation in Marco Polo Bridge Incident (Qiqi
Greater East Asian War, 109; as puppet lugouqiao shibian 七七蘆溝橋事變),
state, 14; Zheng Xiaoxu as prime min­ 221n15, 311, 312, 318, 381n10, 411n31
ister, 51, 53 Martin, Brian, 155
Manchukuo literature: Gu Ding on, 113; Masuda Wataru 増田渉, 201, 208n20
Kawabata on, 109–10; Kishida on, 107– Matsumura, Janice, 16
8; Kitamura on, 111–12; Yamada on, 110– May Fourth Movement, 114n16, 349,
11. See also writers/cultural workers 366, 367, 370, 371, 406
Manchukuo Protection Army (Manshū­ May Thirtieth Movement, 366, 370,
koku gorogun 滿洲國護路軍), 25 373n15, 406
Manchuria Colonization Company Mei Niang 梅娘, 17, 117, 118(f), 126n17;
(Mantaku kōsha 滿拓公社), 26, 35 Di’er dai (The second generation), 117;
Manchuria Motion Picture Association “A Letter for Wu Ying” (Ji Wu Ying
(Manshu Eiga Kyokai, or 滿映 [Man’ei] shu), 120–22; and Manzhou wentan
滿洲映畫協會), 17, 90, 91(f), 93, 94, 95, shuang bi (double wall of Manchuria’s
101n10, 102n15 literary world/a pair of bright jewels),
Manchurian/Mukden Incident, 13, 14, 117 (see also Wu Ying 吳瑛); Wu Ying’s
24, 51, 67, 68, 317–18 reply to letter, 122–23; Xiaojie ji (Young
ManMō 滿蒙 (Manchuria and Mongolia), lady’s collected works), 117; Xie (Crabs),
46 117; Yu (Fish), 117; and ziyouzhuyi
Manshū kaitaku monogatari (Tales of (liberalism), 117
opening Manchuria), 14–15, 19–20 Mei Siping 梅思平, 253, 255, 258, 261, 262,
Manshū yijū tekichi chōsahan 263–64, 266, 268
滿洲移住調查班 (survey team for Meihō no tomo e (To our allied friends)
immigration to Manchuria), 24 (Lin Baisheng), 212
Manshūkoku gorogun 滿洲國護路軍 Meiji Restoration, 383–84, 421
(Manchukuo Protection Army), 25 Mencius, 331–32, 339n15
Mansŏnilbo 滿鮮日報 (Manchuria–Joseon Mencius 孟子, 332; on benevolent gov-
daily news), 17, 128, 132 ernment, 336; and Confucianism, 331;
Mantaku 滿拓 (Manchuria colonizing), 26 Kiang Kang-hu on, 274; King Hui of
Mantaku kōsha 滿拓公社 (Manchuria Liang, 332; and Kingly Way, 49n32,
Colonization Company), 26, 35 60; Zhou Zuoren on, 328, 334, 337,
Manying (Manchuria film), 118 349–50, 356
Manzhou baimiao shenshou 满洲白描圣手 Meng Sen 孟森, 353
(Manchuria’s miraculous writer), 116 Mengjiagang 孟家崗, 20–21, 24
Manzhou wentan shuang bi 满洲文壇雙壁 Mengjiang 蒙疆, 311, 314
(double wall of Manchuria’s literary Menglai 孟來, 101n7. See also Guan
world), 117 Monan
Manzhou wenyi (Manchuria literature Miao Bin 繆斌 , 363n47
and arts), 117 miao bu ke yan 妙不可言 (too remarkable
Manzhouguo zhi’an bu 滿洲國治安部 for words), 162
(Manchukuo Ministry of Public Secur­ migrant labour: and agricultural col-
ity), 16, 89 onists, 23, 34–37; control over, 397n1;
Mao Dun 茅盾, 359n20 coolies as, 386, 388–89; Japanese, in
Mao Zedong 毛澤東: and December Manchukuo, 15; in mining industries,
Ninth Movement, 366; editor of Jiefang 390; National Mobilization Law and,
 Index 453

397n1; peasants as, 390; poverty and, (Fengtian jiaoyu jianshe si’an), 65,
390–91 67–70
mikoshi 神舆 (Shinto palanquin/portable Movement for Asiatic Regeneration
Shinto shrine), 355, 363n48 and National Reconstruction (Xingye
“Ming” (Howl) (Wu Ying), 117 jianguo yundong), 288
minhu 民呼 (people’s cry), 371 Mudanjiang sheng 牡丹江省 (Mudanjiang
mining industries: batou reconstitution province), 24
in, 392; coolies in, 387, 388–89; Mukden, 76–77n14
Japanese- vs. British-run, 392; labour “Mukden Education Construction
shortage, 385–86; mechanization in, Project” (Fengtian jiaoyu jianshe si’an)
391, 392; migrant workers in, 390; (Morita Ryōichi), 65, 67–70
poverty of workers, 390–91 Mukden Education Review (Fengtian
Ministry of Colonization (Takumushō jiaoyu), 16, 64–65, 68
拓務省), 24 Mukden Incident. See Manchurian/
Ministry of Education, 319; decrees, Mukden Incident
321–25; Kokutai no hongi (Cardinal multiethnicity: imperialism and, 105;
Principles of the National Entity), 40; literature, 17; literature in Manchukuo,
Sakuta and, 40 103–13; Manchukuo and, 39–40, 422;
Ministry of Public Security 満洲國治安部 women writers’ open letters and, 17; of
(Manchukuo), 16, 89 writers, 119
Ministry of Public Security Mune 宗, 28–32
中華人民共和國公安部 (People’s Murayama Tōshirō 村山藤四郎, 24
Republic of China), 93 Mussolini, Benito, 52
minquanzhuyi 民權主義 (Principle of
Rule by the People), 243 Naesŏpilch’e (Japan and Korea Together),
minshengzhuyi 民生主義 (Principle of 129, 130
the People’s Livelihood), 243–44 Nakamura Kōjirō 中村孝二郎, 26, 33–34,
Minyi yuekan (The people’s will), 270 385; The Story of Manchuria Immigrants
minzhi 民治 (people’s rule), 243 (Manshū imin monogatari), 27
minzhu jiquan 民主集權 (democratic Nakamura Takatoshi 中村孝俊, 315, 382–
centralism), 250 83; on batou system, 385–97
minzoku kyōwa 民族協和 (racial/ethnic Nakatani Sadaharu 中谷定治, 16;
harmony – harmony between the “Educational Love” (Jiaoyu ai), 65–
Japanese and Chinese peoples), 105, 425 66, 71–76
Mishima Shibaka 三岛芝鹿, 183 Nanhua Ribao (South China daily news),
miso 味噌 (miso [soup]), 36 223
mitang 米湯 (rice soup), 36 Nanjing: Decade, 152; international
Mitsubishi Tenshōen 三菱天照園, 35 civilian safety zones, 153; liberation of,
Mitter, Rana, 64 342; Massacre, 6, 151, 152; as national
Miyazaki Masayoshi 宮崎正義 , 239 capital, 152; RNG and, 152
modeng funü 摩登婦女 (modern woman), National Bureau of Investigation and
282 Statistics 首都警察廳 , 254, 290
modeng nülang 摩登女郎 (modern girl), National Central University (Guoli
283 zhongyang daxue) 國立中央大學, 225
modeng nüxing 摩登女性 (modern female), national character, opium smoking and,
283 83–86
momme 匁 (Japanese measurement equal National Chinese Literature Report
to 75 g [2.65 oz.]), 36 Meeting (Zhongguo wenxue bao guo
Monroe Doctrine, 217, 226, 230 hui), 121
Morita Ryōichi 森田良一, 66–67; “Mukden National Congress movement (Guomin
Education Construction Project” huiyi yundong) 國民會議運動, 55
454 Index

National Foundation University 建國大學 New Order in East Asia (DongYa xin
See Kenkoku Daigaku (Jian’guo Daxue/ zhixu/TōA Shin Chitsujo 東亞新秩序):
National Foundation University based on Asianism of Sun Yat-sen,
“Kendai”) 211; China at heart of, 154; destruction
National Institute of Spiritual Culture of old order and, 215–16; doubts re-
國立精神文化研究所, 15 garding, 232; Fu Shiyue on, 154, 213–
National Medical School in Beijing 16; Greater Asianism and, 213, 216,
國立北京大學醫學院 , 317 231–34; and imperialism, 224; Konoe
National Mobilization Law, 397n1 and, 209, 232, 269n8; in Korea, 76n2;
national purists (kokusai ronsha 國粋論者), Lin Baisheng on, 233–34; Manchurian
45 literature and, 110; “New Order in
national purity thought (kokusui-shugi East Asia” (Konoe), 151; origin of term,
國粋主義), 42 213; and revolution, 224; Sino-Japanese
national/nationalist narratives: of cooperation for, 214–15; strengthening
Japanese occupation of China, 3, 6, 9; of China for, 214; Sun Yat-sen and,
and moral judgment, 7; regarding 216, 224; Yang Honglie and, 155,
Japanese imperialism, 6; regarding 231–34
Sino-Japanese War, 4, 5 New People’s Association (Xinmin hui
nationalism: Asianism and, 243; and col- 新民會), 327–28, 354, 355
laboration, 223; and equality, 228; and New Realism, 98
feudalism, 228–29; Greater Asianism New Romanticism, 96
and, 228–31, 241; and imperialism, 64, Nichi-Man-Ka kyōdō sengen
229, 231; left-wing writers and, 94, 99; 日滿華共同宣言 (Japan-Manchukuo-
New Citizens’ Movement and, 239; and China Joint Declaration), 218, 219,
peace vs. aggression (heping de daode), 221n16
229; pedagogy and, 64; race-based, 51; Nihondō 日本堂 (Japanese bookstore in
statism vs., 246; Sun Yat-sen’s speeches Shanghai), 206
on, 228–29; Three Principles of the Nikka kihon jōyaku 日華基本条約 (Japan-
People and, 228, 240–41; Wang Jingwei China Basic Relations Treaty), 221n16
and, 229–30, 240–41, 243, 246; Zhou Nine-Power Treaty, 210, 214, 221n10
Zuoren and, 344 Nishio Toshizō 西尾 寿造, 232, 237n40
Nationalist Government/Nationalist Party. “No. 76” social gatherings, 279
See Kuomintang (KMT)/Nationalists Nogawa Takashi 野川隆, 105; “Tonsu he
Neihe 內河, 183, 189n46 iku hitobito” (People going to the
Nesmelov, Arseny, 106 hamlet), 18n4, 106
New Army, 374, 377–78, 379–80, 381n9 nōmin kaitakusha 農民開拓者 (agricul-
New Citizens’ Movement (NCM, Xin tural colonists). See agricultural
guomin yundong 新國民運動): about, colonists (nōmin kaitakusha)
238, 242; Confucianism and, 240; and North China Writers Association (Huabei
East Asian League, 239–40; movements zuojia xiehui 華北作家協會), 121
related to, 239–40; New Life Movement Northern Expedition, 289, 295, 370
compared, 239; Three Principles of the Notes from the Old Learning Study,
People and, 238, 240–41, 243–44; 337–38
Wang Jingwei’s outline of, 242–45 Nü sheng (Women’s voice), 151, 278,
New Culture Movement (Xin wenhua 279–81
yundong 新文化運動), 243, 329 Nurhaci, 76n14
New Democracy 新民主主義 , 304, 346,
347, 360n23 “Ode to E-pang palace” (E-pang gong fu)
New Education Movement, 65 (Du Muzhi), 338, 340–41n40
New Life Movement (Xin shenghuo Ōdō rakudo 王道楽土 (Kingly Way para-
yundong) 新生活運動, 155, 239 dise land), 105
 Index 455

Office for the Management of Enemy, Sphere and, 307; Sun Yat-sen and, 302–
Puppet, and Traitors’ Property 3, 306–7
中央信託局逆產處 , 254 Pan-Asianism: A Documentary History
Ogawa 小河, 34 (Saaler/Szpilman), 7
Oka Ōji 岡大路 (Daiji), 42 Passivity, Resistance, and Collaboration
Okada Hideki, 89, 91–92; Zoku bungaku (Fu Poshek), 8
ni miru “Manshūkoku” no isō (The patriarchy: and Korean women, 18, 128,
topology of Manchukuo: A literary 130, 132–33; and women, 115, 350–52;
perspective), 90 and women writers, 17
Okada Takeba 岡田猛馬, 20, 34–37; as Patriotic Literature Society (Nihon
Okada riji 岡田理事 (Director Okada), 34 Bungaku hōkokukai 日本文學報國會), 356
Old Romanticism, 96 patriotic narratives, 190
On the Analects and Benevolence (Ruan), Patrol and Protection Corps (Xunhudui
332–33 巡護隊), 173
“On the East Asian League Movement” peace movement, 305–6; and constitu-
(Guanyu dongYa lianmeng yundong) tionalism, 300; Kiang Kang-hu and,
(Lin Baisheng), 212, 216–20 271; and revolution, 300–1, 306; Wang
“On reportage literature” (Baogao wenxue Jingwei and, 223–24, 225; Yang Honglie
lun) (Yuan Shu), 290 and, 155, 223–24
Ono no Takamura 小野 篁, 49n34 peace/peacemaking: CCP and, 300–1;
Open Door Policy, 221n10 Wang Jingwei-ism and, 247–48; Zheng
opium: addiction, 80; and Chinese Xiaoxu and, 52, 53, 59–61, 62n11; Zhou
national character, 16, 83–86; England Fohai and, 155
and, 82–83; history, in China, 82–83; Pearl Harbor attack, 103
history of use, 81–82; IM in treating peasantry, 383, 384, 390
addiction, 79; Japanese crusade against, Peasants’ Anti-Japanese National
79; Kaneko and, 80; Manchukuo and Salvation Association, 377
trade in, 79; missionaries and, 81; pedagogy. See education (jiaoyu)
Opium Wars, 82; prevalence of use, People’s Liberation Army, 342, 347
82; and propaganda, 80, 81 People’s Republic of China: Mao Zedong
Ota, Norio, 15 and foundation of, 311; Ministry of
Ouhai yiyuan 甌海醫院 (Ouhai hospital), Public Security, 291
174 Pingyang 平陽, 185n3
Ou-Mei 歐美 (Euro-America), 210 Pingyao 平遙, 379
“Our Principles” (Malatesta), 408 pi-pi-pa-pa 霹霹拍拍 (sound of a hand
Outline of Asianism, An (Zhou Huaren), grenade), 194
223 Pogai 泊丐, 101n7. See also Guan Monan
“Outline of the New Citizens’ Movement” Political Monthly (Zhengzhi yuekan), 291
(Xinguomin yundong gangyao) (Wang polygamy, wartime, 161, 163
Jingwei), 229–30, 238, 240, 241, 242–45 poverty: of coolies, 386; and involuntary
Outline of Resource Mobilization in the prostitution, 130; and Korean migra-
Japanese Empire, 397–98n2 tion, 128; of mining workers, 390–91;
Ouyang Feiya 歐陽吠亞, 121, 126n19 Principle of People’s Livelihood and,
Ouyang Shan 歐陽山, 279 244; Yuan Shu on, 295. See also hunger/
Ozaki Yukio 尾崎行雄, 41–42 starvation
“The Problem of Chinese Thought”
pacificism, 15, 51, 52 (Zhongguo de sixiang wenti) (Zhou
Pan Hannian 潘漢年, 281, 289, 291 Zuoren), 311, 314, 327–28, 329, 331–39,
Pan Zhimin 潘植民 , 179–81 350, 355–56, 357
Pan-Asianism, 230, 231, 289, 297–98; propaganda: agricultural colonists and,
Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity 20; anarchism and, 407, 408; avant-garde
456 Index

artists/writers and, 78; Cardinal Prin­ qiangquan 強權 (dominance), 228

ciples of the National Entity and, 40; Qianjiadian 錢家店, 35
Chinese skill at, 81, 83–86; collabora- Qihuli 七虎力, 38n8
tion and, 375; as generating propaganda, Qilin (Unicorn), 118
80; intellectuals and, 154; Japanese Qinghongbang 青紅幫 (Green and Red
farmer colonists in Manchu­kuo, and, 15; Gangs), 290
as justification for Japanese domination, Qingnian wenhua (Youth culture), 95
225; and Manchukuo independence, qingxiang yundong 清鄉運動 (Rural
422; medical profession and, 78, 79, 80; Pacification Movement), 239
minzoku kyōwa (racial/ethnic harmony), qipao 旗袍 (Chinese body-hugging dress),
105; multiethnic literature of Manchu­ 283, 287n29
kuo and, 103, 106; “national foundation” Qiqi lugouqiao shibian 七七蘆溝橋事變
and, 40; Nation­a list Party doctrine/ (Marco Polo Bridge Incident), 311,
campaigns and, 154–55; occupation 312, 318
ideological failure, and, 156; Ōdō Qiqi shibian 七七事變 (July 7 or Double
rakudo (Kingly Way paradise land) in, Seven Incident), 312
105; opium and, 80, 81; scope of, 78; Qiu Ying 秋螢, 114n5
Sun Yat-sen as focus for KMT’s, 224; qiuzhi 求知 (seek knowledge), 250n23
Three Principles of the People and, 224; Qu Duizhi 瞿兑之, 339n2
Tokyo war crimes trials and, 78; Wang Quanjiao 全椒, 195, 198n18
Jingwei-ism and, 238; of Wang Jingwei- quanli jiazhí 權力價值] (power value),
ism and NCM, 241; Zhou Fohai and, 77n16
260, 261, 263; Zhou Zuoren’s cooper- quanli jiazhí 權利價值 (rightful value),
ation with Japanese and, 343 77n16
Propaganda Ministry: Censorship Depart­ quanmin zhengzhi 全民政治 (politics of
ment, 225; and collaboration, 223; Lin all the people), 246
Baisheng and, 223, 238; Zhou Fohai quanti ziyou 全體自由 (collective liberty),
and, 256, 257 246
prostitution: Chinese women in, 131; Quanziping 泉子坪, 379
income from, 132; Japanese soldiers Question of China’s Survival, The
and, 130; Japanese women in, 131; (Zhongguo cunwang wenti) (Zhu
Korean women in, 130–47; licensing/ Zhixin), 217
management of, 130; personal accounts, “Questions about the Kingly Way” (Zheng
133–47; types of work, 130, 131 Xiaoxu), 58–59
Provisional Government of the Republic
of China (Zhonghua minguo linshi race: constitutionalism and, 52; and
zhengfu) 中華民國臨時政府 : dissolution coolies vs. Japanese labourers, 383;
of, 311; establishment of, 311, 317; hierarchy in Manchukuo, 40; relativism,
Legislative Council, 317; Nationalist 51; Zheng Xiaoxu and, 51–52, 55,
Party vs., 318; Tang Erhe and, 312, 313, 62n11. See also multiethnicity
318, 320; Wang Kemin as leader, 312; Rea, Christopher, 153
Zhou Zuoren and, 313 Reclus, Jacques, 410n10
psychiatry: and addiction, 79; attitudes Reformed Government of the Republic
toward, 79–80; Kaneko Junji on, 81– of China 中華民國維新政府, 153, 279
86; and opium, 16 “Regulations on Punishing Hanjian”
Puss Moth プスモス (de Havilland DH.80A (Nationalist government), 413
aircraft), 22, 32–34 Rehe 熱河, invasion of, 311, 318
Puyi, emperor, 13, 49n36, 51, 63n32, 63n33 “Remarkable Soy Sauce!” (Miao buke
jiangyou) (Xu Zhuodai), 151, 161–68
Qian Liqun, Zhou Zuoren zhuan, 358n9 Ren jian shi (This human world), 364
Qian Suoqiao, 364 Ren Jishan 仁記山, 178
 Index 457

Renaissance Society (Fuxingshe 復興社), 304; constitutionalism and, 298–300,

252, 256 306; democracy and, 297; mass mobil-
renyi daode 仁義道德 (benevolent virtue ization and, 408; and masses, 407; New
and morality), 228 Order in East Asia and, 224; peace
Reorganizationists (gaizu pai 改組派), movement and, 300–1, 306; political
252 system and, 296–97; social, 407; Sun
Reorganized National Government Yat-sen on, 306; Three Principles of
(RNG) 中華民國國民政府, 4; Beijing as the People and, 224; unity and, 295;
subordinate to, 312; collapse of, 281; violence in achievement of, 400, 404;
Communist Party agents within, 156, Wang Jingwei on, 216–17; war of resist-
157n3; dissolution of, 151; establish- ance and, 405; Yuan Shu on, 292–307
ment of, 151, 152, 153; factionalism in, Riben diguo zhuyi qinhua dang’an ziliao
155, 273; Foodstuffs Administration, xuanbian (Selected archival materials
271; Fu Shiyue and, 154, 211; gender on Japan’s imperialist invasion of
under, 156; and hunger, 156, 271; China), 90
Japanese propaganda and, 154; Kiang RiHua jiben taoyue 日華基本條約 (Japan–
Kang-hu in, 155, 156, 270, 271, 273; Lin China Basic Relations Treaty), 221n16
Baisheng in, 154, 211–12; and Nation­ RiManHua gongtong xuanyan
alist orthodoxy, 152; Nationalist Party 日滿華共同宣言 (Japan-Manchukuo-
and, 154–55, 157n3; prohibition of China Joint Declaration), 218, 219,
circulation of “Starvation Is a Serious 221n16
Matter,” 271; Propaganda Ministry, Rising Tide of Colour against White
223; Provisional Government members World Supremacy, The (Stoddard), 297
joining, 311; range of dissent/opinion Rocks, Morgan, 315
within, 272; revitalization of spirit rōdō ukeoi 労働請負 (work-contracting),
(jingshen) of Chinese people, 238; 386, 388, 393, 397
Sun Yat-sen as symbol for, 242; Wang Rout, The (Fadeyev), 200, 203–5
Jingwei and, 151, 311; and Wang Royal Commission on Opium, 82–83
Jingwei-ism, 238; Yuan Shu and, 156, Ruan Boyuan 阮伯元 (阮元), 333–34,
288, 290; Zhou Fohai and, 155 340n21; On the Analects and Benevo­
reportage, 154; about, 190–91; “fog of lence, 332–33; Lunyu lunren lun, 340n21
war” and, 192–93; regarding Anhui, rubii kuiin ルビーイクイーン (Ruby Queens),
191–97; travel literature compared, 22
192; Yuan Shu and, 290 ruiseki bunka 累積文化 (accumulative
“Resist Japan,” 9 culture), 45
Resisting Manchukuo (Smith), 90 Rural Pacification Movement (qingxiang
“Resolutions on Preventing Hanjian yundong 清鄉運動), 239
Activities and Espionage” (Nationalist Russian Fascist Party, 106
government), 311, 412, 413, 414–15, Russian writers/literature: in Manchukuo
416–20 literary collections, 105–6; in Uchiyama
responsibility, social, 421–22, 424, 427 Bookstore, 200, 203–5; White Russian
Re-understanding Japan (Lu Yan), 358n7 vs. Soviet, 110
“Re-understanding Japan” (Zhou Zuoren), Russo-Japanese War, 39, 45
355 Ruxue sixiang 儒學思想 (Confucian
Revolt against Civilization (Stoddard), 297 thought), 331. See also Confucianism
“Revolution Must Never Lead to the Ryūen Iron Mine, 387–89, 390
Calamity of Dividing China” (Wang Ryūsan jiken 龍山事件 (Longshan
Jingwei), 230 Incident), 22, 32
revolution(s): 1911 (Xinhai geming
辛亥革命), 51, 54, 250n24, 295, 366; Saaler, Owen, Pan-Asianism: A Documen­
anarchism and, 400–1, 408; CCP and, tary History, 7
458 Index

Sacrifice League for National Salvation Shan Ding 山丁, 91(f), 93, 95, 96, 101n11,
(Xisheng jiuguo tongmenghui) 105; Lüse de gu (Green valley), 106. See
犧牲救國同盟會, 377, 378, 380, 380n1, also Liang Shanding
381n9 Shangguan Daoren 上官道人 (Taoist
Saitō 佐藤, 26 Shangguan), 337–38
Sakai Yoshio 酒井由夫, 79, 80, 87n11 Shanghai 上海 : about, 152; Association
sakugyō ukeoi 作業請負 (project- of the Cultural Circle, 279; Battle of,
contracting), 386, 388, 397 151, 290; bookstores, 154, 199 (see also
sakuhin jissen-ka 作品実践化 (process Uchiyama shudian [Bookstore]); Chen
of realizing works), 114n14 Gongbo and, 276n4; Fu Shiyue in, 211,
Sakuta Shōichi 作田荘一 : about, 39, 40; 212; Great Way Government of, 153;
on bringing Asians together through Guan Lu in, 278–81; Incident (1932),
Japanese leadership, 42–43; and ex- 151, 420n3; international civilian safety
panded war, 42; on Japanese civilians zones, 153; invasion of, 152, 411n31;
in Manchukuo, 42–43; and Kendai investigation on Japanese books/
(National Foundation University), 39, language in, 206–7; jai alai in, 287n30;
40, 43; “The Light of Asia,” 15, 40–47; Japanese Modern Science Library, 202;
and “mass rule,” 40; and “national pur- Kiang Kang-hu in, 271; liberation of,
ity thought” (kokusui-shugi), 42; and 342; Lin Yutang in, 365; Wang Jingwei
Ryūkoku University, 43 regime in, 62n24, 254, 255; Xu Zhuodai
Sakyamuni Buddha, 120, 121, 122, 125 in, 159–62; Yang Honglie in, 224, 225;
san gang 三鋼 (Three Bonds), 361n33 Yuan Shu in, 291; Zheng Xiaoxu in, 51;
Sanjiang sheng 三江省 (Sanjiang province), Zhou Fohai and, 254; Zhou Zuoren in,
24 342
Sanminzhuyi 三民主義 (Three Principles Shanghai funü (Shanghai women), 279
of the People). See Three Principles of Shangyao 上窯, 194–95, 197n15
the People (Sanminzhuyi) Shao Lizi 邵力子, 252, 257
Sato Haruo 佐藤春夫, 208n18 Shao Xunmei 邵洵美, 364
Satō (Tamura) Toshiko 佐藤(田村)俊子, Shaw, George Bernard, 365
280, 281 Shen Gongpu 沈公璞 , 176
Search for Modern China: A Docu­ment­ Shen Gongzhe 沈公哲, 176, 181, 187n29
ary Collection, The (Cheng/Saaler/ Shen Qiwu 沈啓無, 121, 126n21
Spence), 7–8 Shen Yinmo 沈尹默, 359n13
sekihan 赤飯 (red rice), 35 Shen Zhiyuan 沈志遠, 279
self-experience, 367 Shengjing shibao (Shengjing daily), 118
sen 錢 (Japanese currency, 1/100 of a yen), shengyuan 生員 (licentiate), 171
36, 37 Shennong 神農 (Divine Farmer), 350
Senbu geppō, 87n6 Shennü (The goddess) (film), 287n29
Senfuru 千振 (Thousand Years of Pros­ Shenyang 沈陽, 129, 314, 368; Mukden/
perity), 30 Fengtian/Shenyang as all same city,
Senfuru eki 千振驛 (Senfuru train station), 76–77n14
32 Sheshengya 社省亞, 228
Senfurumachi 千振街 (Senfuru Town), Shi Jun 石軍, 105
30 Shibata Tetsuo, 240
sentaku 鮮拓 (Korean colonist), 34 Shijie ming xiaoshuo xuan (Selection of
Serafimovich, Alexander, The Iron Flood, world-famous novels) (Wu Ying/Zuo
200, 204–5 Di), 116–17
Seven Tiger (qi huli 七虎力 [river bandits]), Shikou 石口, 378
29, 30, 32 Shimaki Kensaku 島木健作, 18n4, 104,
Sewell, Bill, 15 108, 110
 Index 459

Shina 支那 (China [pejorative term]), 44 154, 193–95; and Hanjian terminology,

shindō jissen 臣道実践 (subject’s path), 423 413; mass mobilization and, 408; masses
Shingeki (New Theatre) Movement, 421 and, 407; national narratives, 4, 5;
“Shipcharoe panghwanghanŭn yŏpindŭl” negotiated settlement of, 254–55; rep-
(Women facing a crossroads), 128, ortage regarding Anhui, 190–97;
133–47 resistance/collaboration dichotomy re-
Shiratori Toshio 白鳥敏夫, 303 garding, 4; and revolution, 405; strug-
Shiseidō 至誠堂 (Japanese bookstore in gle for survival during, 153; US and, 303
Shanghai), 206, 207 “The Sino-Japanese War and Sun Yat-
shōkōsui 昇汞水 (mercury), 27–28 sen’s Greater Asianism” (Yang Honglie),
Shou xian 壽縣 (Shou county), 191, 193, 224
196, 197 sixiang 思想 (thought), 245
shou zhu dai tu 守株待兔 (waiting in the Smith, Craig, 154–55
forest for a rabbit), 197–98n16 Smith, Norman, 17, 156, 423; Resisting
Shuitou 水頭, 378 Manchukuo, 90
Shuqi 叔齊, 272, 274, 276, 277n11 Snow, Edgar, 347, 372n7
shusi 薯絲 (potato), 173 So Wai Chor, 210
shuyuan 書院 (academy), 171 socialism: Guan Lu and, 280; Principle
Sima Sangdun 司馬桑敦, 101n7 of People’s Livelihood and, 246
Sino-Japanese cooperation: and Euro- Sōgansha press, 17, 103, 105, 108, 113
American capitalism, 215; and Euro- Solidaridad Internacional Antifascista
American imperialism, 288; and (SIA), 315, 401
Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere, Son Yoo Di, 314
302–3; Kiang Kang-hu on, 270; multi- Song Meiling 宋美齡, 80
ethnic literature and, 17; and New Song Qingling 宋慶齡, 364
Order in East Asia, 214–15, 288; and Song Yi 宋毅, 95, 102n16
Soviet communism, 215; Sun Yat-sen Songhua jiang 松花江 (Songhua River),
and, 209, 210, 212, 247; and Wang 20, 26
Jingwei-ism, 247. See also collaboration soukoushui 漱口水 (mouthwash), 28
Sino-Japanese Cultural Association Sources in Chinese History (Atwill/
(ZhongRi wenhua xiehui 中日文化協會), Atwill), 6–7
211 Soviet Union: CCP and, 303; Communist
Sino-Japanese Incident. See Marco Polo Party, and China, 295; Non-Aggression
Bridge Incident (Qiqi lugouqiao Pact with Germany, 410n15; and “Red
shibian) Asia,” 300; seduction of China, 85; and
Sino-Japanese relations: and alliance, War of Resistance, 300; Yuan Shu as
217, 218, 220, 230; Chinese national spy on, 290
character and, 85, 86; opium addiction soy sauce, 153, 162–68
and, 85, 86; Sun Yat-sen and, 215–16, Spanish Civil War, 315, 401, 403
219–20; Uchiyama Bookstore and, Spence, Jonathan, The Search for Modern
199–203 China: A Documentary Collection, 7–8
Sino-Japanese War, First, 218 Spranger, Eduard, 66, 71–72, 73; “Educa­
Sino-Japanese War, Second/War of tional Love,” 16; Types of Men, 66
Resistance, 13, 421; accounts, 193–97; starvation. See hunger/starvation
anarchism and, 399–400, 401, 409; “Starvation Is a Serious Matter” (E’si shi
antifascism and, 399; and capitalism, da) (Kiang Kang-hu), 270, 271–73,
402; CCP and, 5, 304; civilian morale, 274–76
154, 195–97; Euro-American imperial- Stoddard, Lothrop: Revolt against Civil­
ism and, 303; everyday life during, 153; ization, 297; The Rising Tide of Colour
foreign aid for, 303; front line morale, against White World Supremacy, 297
460 Index

Story of Manchuria Immigrants, The Taiping Rebellion, 253

(Manshū imin monogatari) (Nakamura), Taiyuan 太原, 376, 377, 379
27 Takumushō 拓務省 (Ministry of Coloniz­
Study Notes on the Book of Changes a­tion), 24
(Yi yu yue lu) (Jiao Litang), 334 Takushoku īnkai] 拓江委員會 (Coloniza­
subject’s path 臣道実践 (shindō jissen), tion Agricultural Committee), 28
423 tanchō 團長 (group leader), 32
Subtle Notes from Daohan (Daohan Tang Chunli 唐純禮 , 25, 26
weiyan) (Zhang Taiyan), 333 Tang Erhe 唐爾和: about, 313, 317–18;
Suleski, Ronald, 14–15, 422–23 and Beijing/Beiping University, 319–
Suma Yakichiro 須磨彌吉郎, 370, 372n13 20, 353; and collaboration, 313; and
Sun Fuyuan 孫伏園, 365 Confucianism, 318; and education,
Sun Goddess (Japanese), 49n36 319–25; Government Gazette decrees
Sun Yat-sen, 302; Asianism of, 210, signed by, 320–25; and Kingly Way,
211; “Awaken the people!” (huanxing 318; in Ministry of Education, 317, 319,
minzhong), 370–71; on China’s reason 320; and Nationalist government, 318;
for existence, 293; and Chinese- and Provisional Government, 312, 317,
Japanese relations, 215–16; on civil 318, 320; relationship with Japan, 317;
rights, 296; and collaboration with Tsutsumi Kanzo on, 325; Zhou Zuoren
Japanese, 210; and constitutional gov- and, 327, 353–54, 363n47
ernment, 298; and East Asian League, Tang Jianwo 湯劍我 , 161
154, 212, 216; as focus of KMT propa- Tang Leshui 唐樂水 , 174
ganda, 224; “Greater Asianism,” 240; Tang Shengming 唐生明, 157n3
and Greater Asianism, 154, 209, 214– Tang Shoumin 唐壽民 , 268
15, 216, 217–18, 228, 231; on imperial- Tang Wenbo 唐文博, 179
ism, 293–94, 298–99; in Japan, 230–31; Tang Youren 唐有壬, 370, 372n13
and Kingly Way, 65; on Nationalism, Tang Yunting 唐云霆, 175, 187n24
228–29; New Citizens’ Movement and Tanggu xieding 塘沽協定 (Tanggu Truce),
nationalism of, 238; and New Order 247, 318, 370
in East Asia, 211, 216, 224; and Pan- Tao Te Ching, 372n10
Asianism, 230, 231, 302–3, 306–7; Tao Xisheng 陶希聖, 253, 258, 259, 261,
and qiuzhi (seek knowledge), 250n23; 262, 263, 266, 267, 268
Revolutionary Alliance, 221n14; and tebie dangyuan 特別黨員 (Special Party
Sino-Japanese cooperation, 209, 210, Member), 289, 307n5
212, 247; and Sino-Japanese relations, Ten Guiding Principles 十大綱領 (Shi da
217–18, 219–20; as symbol for RNG, gangling) (CCP), 400, 409n4
242; theory in revolutionary processes, tendō 天道 (Heavenly Way), 47, 49n35,
306; on union of East Asian nations 49n36
to strive for new political systems, Tenshōen 天照園 (Heaven Shining Garden),
297–98; and united Asia, 224–25; 23, 34–37
Wang Jingwei and, 210, 224, 241; and “The Theory and Practice of the Three
Wangdao vs. Badao, 222n19, 235n19; Principles of the People” (Wang Jingwei),
Yang Honglie and, 224; Yuan Shu and, 246
289; and zhinan xingyi (difficult to “The Theory on Preventing Wars” (Zheng
understand, easy to implement), Xiaoxu), 59–61
250n23; Zhu Zhixin and, 221n14. See Three Bonds (san gang 三鋼), 349, 350–
also Three Principles of the People 52, 361n33
(Sanminzhuyi) Three Principles of the People (Sanmin­
Sun Yirang 孫詒讓 , 185n8 zhuyi 三民主義), 8, 217, 230–31; CCP
Szpilman, Christopher, Pan-Asianism: and, 246; and education, 319; and equal
A Documentary History, 7 political, economic, and international
 Index 461

status, 296; and Greater Asianism, 217, “Tonsu he iku hitobito” (People going to
224, 228, 231; and Wang Jingwei-ism, the hamlet) (Nogawa Takashi), 18n4, 106
155; KMT/Nationalists and, 228, 295, torashimeru 取らしめる (to get rid of),
319, 400; Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address 114n10
and, 362n36; and nationalism, 240–41; torashimeru とらしめる (to grasp, capture),
and New Citizens’ Movement, 238, 114n10
240–41, 243–44; Principle of People’s Toraya 虎屋 (famous confectionery in
Livelihood, 243–44, 246; and propa- Tokyo), 33
ganda, 224; and revolution, 224; Rule Toward Anarchism (Malatesta), 404, 408
by the People, 243, 246; Sun Yat-sen “Trailblazers of Japanese Civilization”
and, 217, 230–31; Wang Jingwei and, (Gekkan Nippon), 43
224, 240–41, 243–44, 245–47; Youth Treat, John Whittier, 9
Corps, 257; Yuan Shu and, 156, 289 “A Treatise on Rectifying the Wrong”
Tianjin 天津 , 63n32, 63n33, 93–94, 318, (Zheng Xiaoxu), 54–57
342, 347 Triple-A Movement (Pergerakan Tia A),
tianxia 天下 (All Under Heaven), 58 42
Tianzhaoyuan / Tenshōen 天照園 (Heaven Trouillot, Michel-Rolph, 9
Shining Garden), 23, 34–37 Tsubouchi Takahiko, 43
tideng shenghui 提燈勝會 (lantern festival tsukemono 漬物 (pickles), 36
to celebrate victory), 181 Tsutsumi Chiyo 堤千代 , 160
tōA no hikari 東亞之光 (the light of East Tsutsumi Kanzō 堤寒三, 320, 325
Asia), 42 Tulongshan 土龍山, 22
TōA renmei 東亞聯盟 (East Asian League). Tulongshangzhen 土龍山鎮 , 22
See East Asian League (DongYa Tuoyaozi 駝腰子, 32
lianmeng/TōA renmei) “Two Indestructible Pillars of the Great
TōA Shin Chitsujo 東亞新秩序 (New Wall” (Liangzuo buneng cuihui de
Order in East Asia). See New Order Changcheng) (Fan Shiqin), 191–92,
in East Asia (DongYa xin zhixu/TōA 193–97
Shin Chitsujo) “Two Kinds of Chinese Literary Thought”
Tōjō Hideki 東條英機 , 39, 43, 212, 237n41 (Zhou Zuoren), 350
Tokutomi Sohō 徳富蘇峰 , 41, 42 Types of Men (Spranger), 66
Tokyo 東京: bombing of, 105, 106;
Fukugawa, 34, 35; Gao Zongwu in, Uchida Jun, 76n2
255, 258, 259, 261; Metropolitan Police Uchiyama Kakichi 内山嘉吉, 201, 206
Board, 16; Toraya store, 33; war crimes Uchiyama Kanzō 内山完造, 199, 200, 201,
trials, 78, 79; Yang Honglie in, 225, 202, 203–5
235n10 Uchiyama shudian 内山書店 (Uchiyama
Tokyo Medical Journal (Tōkyō iji shinshi), Bookstore), 154; about, 199–203;
80, 87n19 Chinese vs. Japanese customers, 202;
Tōmiya Kaneo 東宮鐵男, 20, 25, 26 government report on, 199, 201–2, 206–
Tōmiya-yama 東宮山 (Tōmiya Mountain), 7; Lu Xun and, 200–1, 203–6, 208n17;
29 in “Yimian” (An Encounter), 199–200,
Tong Hollington (Dong Xianguang 203–5
董顯光), 257, 259 Uezaki Kōnosuke 上崎孝之助, 202;
tongmeng 同盟 (alliance). See alliances Report on Japanese Books and Japanese
(tongmeng) Language in Shanghai, 206–7
Tongmenghui 同盟會 (Chinese United Understanding of the Way (Wu Dao) (Lu
League), 213, 289 Jiuyuan), 367
Tongpu 同蒲 (rail line), 379, 381n12 Understanding of Zen (Wu Chan), 367
Tonkondan 屯墾團 (Camp Building United Front, 246, 252, 255, 288, 374,
Unit), 28 375, 380n1
462 Index

United States: attitude toward China/ telegram to Chiang Kai-shek, 222n18;

Chinese people, 227–28; and Burlin­ “The Theory and Practice of the Three
game Treaty, 227; and England, 301–2; Principles of the People,” 246; and Three
Japan at war with, 103; Monroe Doc­ Principles of the People, 224, 240–41,
trine, 217, 226, 230; Ozaki and, 41 243–44, 245–47; Yang Honglie and,
utopianism: Ōdō rakudo (Kingly Way 155; Zhou Fohai and, 155, 252, 253,
paradise land) in, 105; Zheng Xiaoxu 255, 257, 260, 264, 265; Zhou Zuoren
and, 51–52, 53, 61n2 and, 342
Wang Jingwei-ism, 155, 238, 241–42,
van de Ven, Hans, 239 245–48
Vital Problem of China, The (Zhu “Wang Jingweizhuyi” (Wang Jingwei-
Zhixin), 230 ism) (Yuan Shu), 241
Wang Jingweizhuyi duben (Wang
Wan Mengwan 萬孟婉 , 225–26 Jingwei-ism reader) (Yuan Shu), 241
Wan Zhang 萬章, 60 Wang Kai 王楷, 175
Wang Anshi 王安石, 337, 340n35 Wang Kemin 王克敏, 312, 318
Wang Chaoliu 王超六, 175, 186n20 Wang Liangchou 王亮疇, 259
Wang Chong 王充, 349, 361n31 Wang Manyun 汪曼雲, 277n15
Wang Du 王度, 95, 101–2n14 Wang Qianyuan 王乾元 , 379
Wang Guangti 王光逖 , 90–92, 96 Wang Qiuying 王秋英, 91(f)
Wang Jingguo 王靖國, 378, 381n11 Wang Shaolun 汪少倫, 262
Wang Jingwei 汪精衛, 4, 8, 15; on allian- Wang Shijie 王世傑, 257
ces, 230; assassination attempt, 250n24; Wang Yitang 王揖唐, 271, 353, 362–63n46
and China’s “Asia” in Japanese Asianism, Wang Yu, 16
209; compromise with Japanese, 272; Wang Yuda 王裕大, 175, 178, 186n21
cult of personality around, 239; death Wang Ze 王則, 91(f), 93–94, 95, 101n10
of, 151, 271; departure from Chongqing, Wang Zhixin, 40
248, 256, 264, 265–66; and East Asian Wangdao 王道 (Kingly Way/Rule of
League, 212, 216; expulsion from KMT, Right). See Kingly Way (Wangdao)
256; and Greater Asianism, 229, 241, 247; War in Asia and the Pacific (Detwiler/
and Kiang Kang-hu, 271; in Kunming, Burdick), 6
256, 266–67; Lin Baisheng and, 211–12; War of Resistance against Japan. See
and Nationalism, 229–30, 243, 246; and Sino-Japanese War, Second/War of
New Citizens’ Movement, 238, 242; as Resistance
new Sun, 241; “Outline of the New warlords, 20, 295, 312, 314
Citizens’ Movement” (Xinguomin yun- Way, The (Tao Te Ching), 367–68
dong gangyao), 229–30, 238, 240, 241, Weber, Torsten, 154
242–45; Pan Hannian charged with Wei Man shiqi wenxue ziliao zhangli yu
collusion with, 291; peace discussions conshu (Bogus Manchukuo literary
with Japanese, 255–56; peace move- materials compilation and research
ment, 223–24, 225, 271; personality, 155, collection), 90
248, 264, 265; political beliefs, 240; and Wei Man xianjing tongzhi (Police rule
Political Monthly, 291; on revolution, in bogus Manchukuo), 90
216–17; “Revolution Must Never Lead Wei Zhang, 360n24
to the Calamity of Dividing China,” Weichihui 維持會 (Committee for Main­
230; and RNG, 151, 311; and Rural taining Order), 153, 171, 176, 183
Pacification Movement, 239; on Sino- Weiting Guo, 153
Japanese alliance, 230; statement on Wencong 文叢 (Collection of literature),
Konoe’s December 1938 statement, 117
267–69; and Sun Yat-sen, 210, 224; and Wenxuan 文選 (Literary selections),
Sun’s Asianism, 210; surrender, 376; 116
 Index 463

Wenzhou 溫州, 151, 170–72, 179, 184– Wu Tingfang 伍廷芳, 227

85n1, 185n3, 186n16, 186n22, 187n30, Wu Xingya 吳醒亞, 290
188n34 Wu Ying 吳瑛, 17, 105, 116–17, 118(f),
Western imperialism vs. Greater 127n24; “Liang ji” (Two extremes), 116;
Asianism, 228 and Manzhou wentan shuang bi (double
Western Shanxi Incident, 311, 376–80 wall of Manchuria’s literary world/a
Wo de riji (My diary, 1944) (Yang Xu), pair of bright jewels), 117; Mei Niang’s
116, 118–19 letter for, 120–22; “Ming” (Howl), 117;
Woman under Socialism (Bebel), 360n29 reply to Mei Niang’s letter, 122–23;
women: and capitalism, 278, 284, 285; Shijie ming xiaoshuo xuan (Selection
communism and, 349; and Confucian­ of world famous novels), 116–17;
ism, 124; conservative constructs of “Xuyuan” (Dilapidation), 117
womanhood, 423; Guan Lu’s writing Wu Yuseng 吳雨僧, 370
and, 281; as housewives, 167–68; lack of Wu Zetian 武則天, female emperor, 349,
agency, 119; Lin Yutang on, 368; mod- 361–62n34
eng funü (modern woman), 282; mod- wufang tewu 五方特務 (five-sided special
eng nülang (modern girl), 283; modeng agent), 290
nüxing (modern female), 283; new, 278, Wuhan 武漢 , 191, 255, 257, 260, 261,
282–86; Nü sheng and, 280–81; patri- 262
archal system and, 350–52; and qipao wumian jiandie 五面間諜 (five-faced spy),
(body-hugging dress), 283, 287n29; 288
roles, 115; and soy sauce, 167–68; Wuxi 無錫, 271
“Woman Question,” 156, 344, 347, 349, “Wuzhengfuzhuyi yu Zhongguo
351; xianqi liangmu (good wife/wise kangzhan” (Anarchism and China’s
mother), 17, 115; xin funü (new woman), War of Resistance) (Li Min), 399–400
282, 423; and zouhui chufang (go back
to the kitchen), 17, 115 Xi xian 隰縣 (Xi county), 378–79
“Women Facing a Crossroads,” 17–18 Xia A’dong 夏阿東, 174
women writers: censors and, 116; and Xia Yun, 315
Confucianism, 115; Manchukuo, 116– Xia Zhesheng 夏者生, 174
19; Maoist persecution of, 281; open Xiang Gengyu 項賡虞, 175
letters, 17, 115, 120–25; patriarchy and, xiang gongsuo 鄉公所 (township office),
17; persecution of, 116 175
Women’s Circle to Resist Japan and Save Xiang Weichen 項偉臣, 178, 188n36
the Nation, 279 Xiang Weifu 項偉夫, 178, 188n37
Wou, Odoric Y.K., 380n3 Xiang Yinxuan 項蔭軒, 175, 178, 186n19
writers/cultural workers: aspirational xiangtu wenxue 鄉土文學 (native soil
nature of literature, 104; avant-garde, literature), 101n11
and propaganda, 78; Eight Abstentions Xiangyang nanlu 襄陽南路 (Xiangyang
(Ba bu) and, 115–16; ideological control South Road), 235n5
over production by, 16–17; inspection xianqi liangmu 賢妻良母 (good wife, wise
of movements/works, 89–100; literature mother), 17, 115, 279
as independently formed vs. guided by xianshi 閒適 (light leisure), 364
Japan, 104; multicultural environment, Xiao Hong 蕭紅, 116
119; persecution of, 116, 281. See also Xiao Song 小松, 96
Japanese literature/writers; left-wing Xiao Tongzi 蕭同茲, 257, 259
literature/writers; Manchukuo litera- Xiao’e Akedi 囂俄 阿克第, 57
ture; Russian writers/literature Xiaohua xiao hua (Jokes with cartoons)
Wu Lang 吳浪, 126n22 (Xu Zhuodai), 160
Wu Mi 吳宓 (Wu Yuseng), 372n11 Xiaojie ji (Young lady’s collected works)
Wu Sihan, 76n4 (Mei Niang), 117
464 Index

Xiaoshidao hezi 小石道河子 (Xiaoshidao Mao, 160; Li Amao waizhuan (The un-
River), 29 official history of Li Ah Mao), 160–61;
xiaoyang 小洋 (small foreign-style money), “Remarkable Soy Sauce!” (Miao buke
173 jiangyou). 151, 161–68; “Riyu xuexiao”
Xiaoyi xian 孝義縣 (Xiaoyi county), 378 (Japanese school), 160–61; writings,
Xie (Crabs) (Mei Niang), 117 160–62; Xiaohua xiao hua (Jokes with
Xie Fangde 謝枋得, 272, 274, 277n11 cartoons), 160
Xie Miya Qiong, 16–17, 116 Xu Zhuyou 許竹友, 183
Xie Wendong 謝文東, 22, 37n3 Xu Zuzheng 徐祖正, 321, 330
Xiliao he 西遼河 (West Liao River), 35 Xue Bingjie, 314
Xin Dongfang (New Orient), 223 Xue Yinkui 薛銀奎, 173
xin funü 新婦女 (new woman), 282 Xunhudui 巡護隊 (Patrol and Protection
Xin jiu shidai (New and old eras) (Guan Corps), 173
Lu), 279 “Xuyuan” (Dilapidation) (Wu Ying), 117
Xin Manzhou (New Manchuria), 116,
117, 118 yalang 牙郎 (trade broker), 183
Xin qingnian (New youth), 117, 118, 344, Yamada Seizaburō 山田清三郎, 104, 105,
364–65 106; on Collection of Literary Selections
Xin Yaxiya (New Asia), 225 by Each Ethnicity in Manchukuo,
Xing’an nansheng 興安南省 (South 110–11
Hsing’an province), 34 Yamaguchi Tadayuki 山口忠幸 , 290
Xingji 興集 , 377 Yamamoto Sanehiko 山本実彦, 208n21
xingling 性靈 (personality), 364 yan 鹽 (salt), 162
Xingtong 醒同, 177–78 yan 言 (words), 162
xingzai 行在 (provisional imperial resi- Yan Junguang. See Yuan Shu
dence), 63n32 Yan Xishan 閻錫山, 10, 311, 314, 374, 375,
Xinhai geming 辛亥革命 (1911 376–77; on Western Shanxi Incident,
Revolution), 51, 54, 250n24, 295, 366 376–80
Xinjing: bookselling in, 51, 95; inspection Yan Xizhai 顏習齋, 362n42. See also Yan
of writings of writers/cultural workers Yuan
in, 16, 89–95; Koreans in, 129, 132, 142; Yan Yuan 顏元 , 352, 362n42
as Manchukuo’s capital, 39; university Yan’an 延安, 156, 314, 374
and 39; yandian 艷電/豔電 (December 29 Tele­
Xinmin hui 新民會 (New People’s Associ­ gram), 219
ation), 327 Yang Honglie 楊鴻烈, about, 155, 223,
Xingzheng Yuan (Executive Yuan) 行政院, 225–26; Anti-Rightist Movement and,
291 226; and East Asian new order, 155;
Xinyang 信仰 (belief), 245 Eight speeches on Greater Asianism,
Xiong Shihui 熊式輝 , 252 226–34; and Great Asianism, 155; and
Xu Changji 徐長吉, 102n18. See also Hu Shi, 235n10; and peace movement,
Gu Ding 155; in Propaganda Ministry’s Censor­
Xu Fanting 續范亭, 380 ship Department, 225; “The Sino-
Xu Fulin 徐傅霖, 159, 169n1. See also Xu Japanese War and Sun Yat-sen’s Greater
Zhuodai Asianism,” 224; and Sun Yat-sen, 224;
Xu Guangping 許廣平, 279, 286n10 and Wang Jingwei’s Peace Movement,
Xu Taihe jiudian 許泰和酒店 (Xu Taihe 223–24; on Wangdao vs. Badao, 236n28;
Hotel), 183 Zhongguo falü fada shi (History of the
Xu Xiaoyan 許孝炎, 259, 260 development of Chinese law), 225;
Xu Yangyi 許養頤, 183 Zhongguo falü sixiang shi (Intellectual
Xu Zhuodai 徐卓呆 , 153; about, 159–60; history of Chinese law), 225; Zhongguo
Dianying sheyingfa, 160; as Dr. Li Ah falü zai dongYa zhuguo zhi yingxiang
 Index 465

(The influence of Chinese law in all the Yoshizaki Senshū 吉崎千秋, 20–21, 22,
countries of East Asia), 225 28–32
Yang Kuisong, 5 you 油 (oil/soy sauce), 162
Yang Tianyun 楊天運, 260 You Bingqi 尤炳圻, 342, 358n1
Yang Xingfo 楊杏佛, 364 youmo 幽默 (humour), 364, 365
Yang Xiuqing 楊秀清, 336, 340n33 youth, 422–23, 424, 426, 427–30
Yang Xu 楊絮, 17, 117, 119(f), 126n14, Yu (Fish) (Mei Niang), 117
127n30; about, 118–19; “Gongkai de Yu Chencheng 于琛瀓 , General, 25, 26
zuizhuang” (Open indictment), 118–19, Yu Dafu 郁達夫, 359n20
124, 125; Jia Ren’s letter to, 123–25; Yu Demu 余德木 , 183
Luoyingji (Collection of fallen blossoms), Yu the Great 大禹, 328, 331, 332, 339n4,
118; and maizai beiguanlu shang tazhe 350, 356
qiqu (plodding onto the rugged road of Yu Puhe 餘普和, 321
pessimism), 118; Wo de riji (My diary, Yu si (Threads of conversation), 365
1944), 116, 118–19; and yema xing (wild Yu Youren 于右任, 371, 373n17
horse character), 118 Yu Zhengxie 俞正燮, 349, 361n31
Yang Yushu 楊玉書, 26 Yu Zhixia 余志侠, 183–84
Yanzi 顏子 (顏回) (Yan Hui, Confucian Yuan Junguang 袁軍光 , 289. See also Yuan
disciple), 332, 339n16 Shu
Yazhou wenhua (Asian culture), 225 Yuan Shikai 袁世凱 , 270, 373n16
Ye Chucang 葉楚傖, 371, 373n17 Yuan Shu 袁殊 : about, 156, 289–92; and
Ye Fuquan 葉福全 (Cai Fuquan), 171–72, CCP, 289, 290, 291–92; and constitu-
178, 185n11 tionalism, 156, 289, 290–91; “The
Yellow River, opening of dykes, 191 Current Stage of the Chinese Revolution
yema xing 野馬性 (wild horse character), and the Issue of Constitutional Govern­
118 ment” (Zhongguo geming xian jieduan
yen 円 (unit of Japanese currency), 33, yu xiangzheng wenti), 288–89, 292–97;
36 as five-faced spy (wumian jiandie), 288,
Yi Chi 疑遲 /夷馳 , 105 289–90; and KMT, 290; and Movement
Yi jiang chunshui xiang dong liu (Spring for Asiatic Regeneration and National
river flows east), 161 Reconstruction (Xingye jianguo yun-
Yi Kwang-su 李光洙, 9 dong), 288; “On reportage literature”
“Yimian” (An Encounter) (A Lei), 199– (Baogao wenxue lun), 290; and Qing­
200, 203–5 hong­bang (Green and Red Gangs), 290;
Yinxing Troupe, 95 and RNG, 290; and Soviet Union, 290;
Yiquan 義泉, 378 and Sun Yat-sen, 289; and Three
Yitai shikong de jingshen shijie: Wei Principles of the People, 289; “Wang
Manzhouguo wenxue yanjiu (Spiritual Jingweizhuyi” (Wang Jingwei-ism),
world in a time of alienation: Research 241; Wang Jingweizhuyi duben (Wang
on bogus Manchukuo literature) (Liu Jingwei-ism reader), 241
Xiaoli), 89–90 Yuan Xi 袁犀, 116
Yiwenzhi (Record of arts and literature), Yuan Xiaolan 袁曉嵐, 289
105, 114n5 Yuan Xueyi 袁學易, 289. See also Yuan Shu
Yizhi shudian 益智書店 (Beneficial Yueqing 樂清, 185n3, 211
Wisdom Bookstore), 102n16 Yu’ilski, Boris, 105–6
yōkan 羊羹 (thick, jellied dessert made of
red bean paste and sugar), 33 zadankai 座談會 (roundtable discussion),
Yokomizo Seishi 橫溝正史, 160 38n7, 42
Yonai Mitsumasa 米内 光政, 232, 237n41 Zeng Guofan 曾國藩, 253
Yongfengzhen 永豐鎮 , 20–21, 24–27 Zeng Zhongming 曾仲鳴, 253, 267
Yoshida Takashi, 6 Zhang A’he 張阿和, 175
466 Index

Zhang Baochen 張寶琛, 179, 180, 181, 182 62n11; diary excerpt, 50, 57–58; and
Zhang Chengzhi, 5 fascism, 52; hiring of Chinese writers
Zhang Daofan 張道藩, 256 to interpret, 52–53; and Kingly Way, 51,
Zhang Gang 張剛, 151; about, 172, 185n8; 58–59, 60; Manchurian Incident and,
diary (Duyinyuan riji [Duyinyuan 51; mistrust of modern nation state, 53;
diary]), 153, 171–84, 186n14 and open economic development, 52;
Zhang Jinghui 張景惠, 15 and pacificism, 15, 51, 52; and peace-
Zhang Ke 章克, 157n3 making, 52, 53, 59–61, 62n11; as prime
Zhang Kebiao 章克標, 364 minister of Manchukuo, 13, 51, 53; and
Zhang Lüqian 張履謙, 399 Puyi, 51, 63n32; “Questions about the
Zhang Min 張敏, 94 Kingly Way,” 58–59; and race, 62n11;
Zhang Mingdong 張明東, 177–78, 188n34 “The Theory on Preventing Wars,” 59–
Zhang Quan, 5 61; and total war, 53; “A Treatise on
Zhang Qun 張群, 257, 259 Rectifying the Wrong,” 54–57; utopian-
Zhang Taiyan 章太炎 (Zhang Binglin ism, 51–52, 53, 61n2
章炳麟), 340n24; Subtle Notes from zhinan xingyi 知難行易 (knowledge is
Daohan, 333 hard, action is easy), 250n23
Zhang Tianyi 張天翼, 279 zhishi 志士 (men of action who fought
Zhang Xianzhong 張獻忠, 273, 276, 336, against the Qing), 248, 251n36
340n32 Zhitang 知堂, 339n2. See also Zhou
Zhang Xueliang 張學良, 13, 317–18 Zuoren
Zhang Yi 張奕, 95, 102n15 Zhong yong (The doctrine of the mean),
Zhang Yuanfang, 314–15 340n22
Zhang Yucong 張毓聰 , 187n26 Zhonggong zhongyang teke 中共中央特科
Zhang Yufeng 張毓豐 , 186n18 (CCP Central Special Service Section),
Zhang Yutong 張毓桐, 172, 173, 186n15 289
Zhang Zailü 張載綠, 186n17 Zhongguo falü fada shi (History of the
Zhang Zaitong 張載桐, 187n23, 187n26 development of Chinese law) (Yang
Zhang Zhixin 張致信, 102n15. See also Honglie), 225
Zhang Yi Zhongguo falü sixiang shi (Intellectual
Zhang Zhizhong 張治中, 348, 360n28 history of Chinese law) (Yang Honglie),
Zhang Zucheng 張組成 , 175, 187n25 225
Zhang Zuolin 張作霖, 13, 67, 68, 317, Zhongguo falü zai dongYa zhuguo zhi
359n13 yingxiang (The influence of Chinese law
zhanju 佔據 (occupied), 123, 127n25 in all the countries of East Asia) (Yang
Zhao Chengshou 趙承綬, 379 Honglie), 225
Zhao Jinghua 趙京華, 328 Zhonghe yuekan (Zhonghe monthly), 327
Zhao Mengyuan 趙孟原, 102n18. See also Zhonghua xueyi she 中華學芸社 (China
Xiao Song Learning Society), 211
zhao Qin mu Chu 朝秦暮楚 (to serve the ZhongRi wenhua xiehui 中日文化協會
state of Qin in the morning and the (Sino-Japanese Cultural Association),
state of Chu in the evening; fickle; to 211
easily switch sides), 123 Zhongxin xiaoxue 中心小學 (Zhongxin
Zhendan hui 震旦會 (Zhendan Society), Elementary School), 176, 187n27
57 Zhou Enlai 周恩來 : and Guan Lu, 279,
Zheng Kangcheng 鄭康成 (鄭玄), 332, 281; Zhou Fohai and, 253; Zhou
340n23 Zuoren’s letter to, 311, 314, 343, 344,
Zheng Xiaoxu 鄭孝胥: about, 15, 16, 50– 346–58
51; and Confucianism, 50, 55, 61n2; Zhou Fohai 周佛海: about, 155, 252–53,
and constitutionalist movement, 51; 264, 291; and CCP, 155, 252–53; and
and developmental projects, 52, 53, 57, Chiang Kai-shek, 155; death of, 151;
 Index 467

diaries, 155, 253–54; and KMT, 252, Asia, 314; and “Woman Question,” 344,
255; and Nationalists, 155; negotiations 347, 349, 351; Yaotang zawen (Essays
with Japanese, 254–56; and peace, 155; from Yaotang), 329–30
and RNG, 151, 155; and Wang Jingwei, Zhou Zuoren zhuan (Qian), 358n9
155, 252, 253, 255; and Wang Jingwei’s Zhu Dake, 5
peace movement, 255–56 Zhu Jiahua 朱家驊 , 260, 353
Zhou Huaren 周化人, 225; An Outline of Zhu Ti 朱媞, 116
Asianism, 223 Zhu Xi 朱熹, 249n21
Zhou Longxiang 周隆庠, 259 Zhu Yuanzhang 朱元璋 , 368
Zhou Shuren 周樹人. See Lu Xun 魯迅 Zhu Zhixin 朱執信, 221n14; The Question
Zhou Yang 周揚, 344–45 of China’s Survival (Zhongguo cunwang
Zhou Zhiyou 周之友, 253 wenti), 217; The Vital Problem of China,
Zhou Zuoren 周作人: about, 276n2, 313– 230
14, 326n15, 327, 330–31, 342, 364–65; zhuangshi 狀師 (litigation master), 184
at Beijing/Beiping University, 320, 352– Zhuangzi 庄子, 333, 340n25; “Disputation
53; and CCP, 347–48; and Chinese without Argument” (Qi wu lun), 367,
culture/thought, 328–29; collaboration, 368, 369
313, 327, 328, 342, 343, 346, 354–55, zhun Hanjian 準漢奸 (potential Hanjian),
357; and communism, 344, 346–47; 414
and Confucianism, 314, 327, 328, 329, Zhuo Wenjun 卓文君, 349, 361n34
331–32, 335, 344, 349–50, 352; Cultural ziweidui 自衛隊 (self-defence squad), 415
Revolution and, 345–46; Fu’s three pat- ziyouzhuyi 自由主義 (liberalism), 117
terns of behaviour in, 343–44; Kataoka Zoku bungaku ni miru “Manshūkoku” no
on, 356–57; letter to Mao, 344, 358; isō (The topology of Manchukuo: A
letter to Zhou Enlai, 311, 314, 343, 344, literary perspective) (Okada Hideki), 90
346–58; letter to Zhou Yang, 345; Zou Taofen 鄒韜奮, 193
“Limited Views on Japan,” 354–55; and zouhui chufang 走回廚房 (go back to the
Lu Xun, 345; “The Problem of Chinese kitchen), 17, 115
Thought” (Zhongguo de sixiang wenti), zui weng zhi yi buzai jiu 醉翁之意不在酒
311, 314, 327–28, 329, 330–39, 350, 355– (the Old Tippler’s delight is not in the
56, 357; “Re-understanding Japan,” 355; wine), 379–80, 381n14
and Shen Jiwu, 126n21; Tang Erhe and, Zuo Di 左蒂, Shijie ming xiaoshuo xuan
320, 353–54, 363n47; translations, 345, (Selection of world famous novels),
360n24; on turmoil, 330, 336–37, 338; 116–17
“Two Kinds of Chinese Literary zuzhang 組長 (group leader), 382–83, 391,
Thought,” 350; and Wang Jingwei 396
regime, 342; and War for Greater East