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Instability and Redefinition in the Wake of the 1911 Revolution

Timothy B. Weston

in The Power of Position: Beijing University, Intellectuals, and Chinese Political Culture, 1898-1929

The collapse of the Qing dynasty in the fall of 1911 might reasonably have been expected to lead to the demise of the Jingshi daxuetang, given how closely the university was linked to the old regime. ... More

The collapse of the Qing dynasty in the fall of 1911 might reasonably have been expected to lead to the demise of the Jingshi daxuetang, given how closely the university was linked to the old regime. As before the revolution, following the collapse of the Qing dynasty, intellectuals were caught between shifting value systems. Officials within the Ministry of Education had been irritated with Yan Fu for some time and had even gone so far as to suggest that Cai Yuanpei be named chancellor in his place. He Jushi announced that preparatory-college graduates would no longer be entitled to advance automatically into the undergraduate college. Instead, they would now have to pass an entrance examination. Zhang Taiyan's disciples possessed a strong sense of group identity, which they developed while studying with their master in Tokyo in 1908 and 1909. Beijing University managed to keep its distance from Yuan Shikai.Less

Poppies, Patriotism, and the Public Sphere: Nationalism and State Leadership in the Anti-Opium Crusade in Fujian, 1906–1916

Joyce A. Madancy

in Opium Regimes: China, Britain, and Japan, 1839-1952

This chapter is concerned with the impact of the anti-opium campaign in Fujian. It discusses how provincial officials worked to win the cooperation of elites and co-opt them into their power ... More

This chapter is concerned with the impact of the anti-opium campaign in Fujian. It discusses how provincial officials worked to win the cooperation of elites and co-opt them into their power structure, employing opium policy to create new relations between the state and local elites. In order to understand the dynamics of state involvement, the chapter explores the anti-opium campaign in Fuzhou from its inception in 1906 until the onset of warlordism sometime after 1915, and examines each of its bureaucratic components. It evaluates the role of the national opium administration in Beijing, and the corresponding civil and military bureaucracies in the province of Fujian. The chapter analyzes the influence of international agreements on the pace and direction of Qing anti-opium policy, and, lastly, discusses the impact of the 1911 Revolution and the policies of the new Republican state.Less

Joint Actions in the Constitutional and Revolutionary Movements

in Modern China's Network Revolution: Chambers of Commerce and Sociopolitical Change in the Early Twentieth Century

This chapter analyzes the political activism of the Lower Yangzi chambers of commerce. In alliance with other constitutional organizations, these chambers repeatedly pressed the Qing government for ... More

This chapter analyzes the political activism of the Lower Yangzi chambers of commerce. In alliance with other constitutional organizations, these chambers repeatedly pressed the Qing government for more radical reforms, and significantly changed the power structures ranging from commercial legislation to local administration. Many chamber leaders in the Lower Yangzi region eventually endorsed the 1911 Revolution by joining revolutionary parties in military uprisings or by pushing the Qing officials to seek peaceful independence from the Qing court. While these elite merchants helped lead the revolutionary movement to success, their chamber networks also provided various types of support, especially social legitimization, for the newly formed political powers.Less

Between Empire and Nation: The 1911 Revolution, Manchus, and Manchuria

Dan Shao

in Remote Homeland, Recovered Borderland: Manchus, Manchoukuo, and Manchuria, 1907-1985

This chapter begins with a study of the differences in the experiences of banner people in Manchuria and in China Proper with the 1911 Revolution. During the 1911 Revolution, the lack of ... More

This chapter begins with a study of the differences in the experiences of banner people in Manchuria and in China Proper with the 1911 Revolution. During the 1911 Revolution, the lack of anti-Manchuism in Manchuria was part of the legacy of Qing territoriality in the region, yet it influenced the complicated identity reconfigurations of the whole banner community during the Qing-Republic of China (ROC) transition. A new self-identification label—“qizu” (banner ethnie)—was used by banner people with increasing frequency. The former institutional identity of “qiren” (banner people) was thus transformed into the quasiethnic identity of “qizu.” The chapter then studies how changes in the late-Qing and post-empire territoriality of Manchuria interacted with state population recategorization and the consequent identity confusion to which the Manchus and other banner people were subjected during the years of state succession.Less

Portrait of the Master as a Young Anarchist

Justin R. Ritzinger

in Anarchy in the Pure Land: Reinventing the Cult of Maitreya in Modern Chinese Buddhism

This chapter examines Taixu’s youthful career as an anarchist, arguing that this was a more extended and important period of his life than has been commonly recognized. Framing him within the context ... More

This chapter examines Taixu’s youthful career as an anarchist, arguing that this was a more extended and important period of his life than has been commonly recognized. Framing him within the context of earlier reformist and radical thought, it traces his development from an associate of revolutionaries prior to the 1911 Wuchang Uprising to a leader of the anarchist Socialist Party in the early Republic. It closes with a consideration of the reasons for his retirement from radicalism in the wake of the failure of the Second Revolution. Although Taixu ultimately left anarchism, anarchism never entirely left him and this engagement with radical movements would prove formative.Less

Introduction: Republican China

David Strand

in An Unfinished Republic: Leading by Word and Deed in Modern China

Monarchy was gone for good in China once the 1911 Revolution defeated the Qing dynasty. Revolutionaries themselves complained that the Republican was little more than a “signboard” without real ... More

Monarchy was gone for good in China once the 1911 Revolution defeated the Qing dynasty. Revolutionaries themselves complained that the Republican was little more than a “signboard” without real substance. President Yuan Shikai, who inherited the revolutionary leader Sun Yat-sen's brief and rough presidency tried to make himself emperor. Although Yuan had in his possession formidable political skills and resources, he miserably failed in attempting to pick up where the child emperor Puyi left off at his forced abdication. His failure was not the effect of the early Republic's clear attainment. Republics by their nature are less than democratic. Leaders, including those in polities with deeper cultural commitments to popular sovereignty and political equality than China, spent a great deal of time attempting to fix the game of politics in favor of incumbency of person and class.Less

Nationwide Chamber Networks and the Republican Governments

in Modern China's Network Revolution: Chambers of Commerce and Sociopolitical Change in the Early Twentieth Century

This chapter discusses the nationwide network development of the Lower Yangzi chambers of commerce and their interactions with the various Republican regimes. As China shifted from the imperial into ... More

This chapter discusses the nationwide network development of the Lower Yangzi chambers of commerce and their interactions with the various Republican regimes. As China shifted from the imperial into the Republican era in the course of the 1911 Revolution, the Lower Yangzi chambers of commerce further expanded their associational network and political influence toward the national level. This trend helped integrate the nationwide merchant community and brought the latter into more intensive interactions with the various Republican governments in the early twentieth century.Less

Fruits of the Spirit

Albert Monshan Wu

in From Christ to Confucius: German Missionaries, Chinese Christians, and the Globalization of Christianity, 1860-1950

This chapter examines and compares the lives of two Chinese Christians, Ling Deyuan and Chen Yuan, who worked with the BMS and the SVD. Their stories illustrate the narrowing political options that ... More

This chapter examines and compares the lives of two Chinese Christians, Ling Deyuan and Chen Yuan, who worked with the BMS and the SVD. Their stories illustrate the narrowing political options that Chinese Christians faced between 1945 and 1950. By 1950, both Ling and Chen had to denounce their missionary allies and declare allegiance to the new Communist state. Ling and Chen’s stories attune us to the ironies of history and reveal how the missionary encounter helped lay the foundation for Christianity’s position in postwar China. Their engagement with German missionaries, the chapter contends, prepared and armed them with the anti-imperial, anti-Western rhetoric that the Chinese Communists could accept. Their stories help us understand the monumental and dangerous individual choices that Chinese Christians had to make after the Communist victory in 1949.Less

Du Yuesheng, the French Concession, and Social Networks in Shanghai

Brian G. Martin

in At the Crossroads of Empires: Middlemen, Social Networks, and State-Building in Republican Shanghai

This chapter describes how the leaders in Shanghai, particularly Du Yuesheng, sought to legitimize their activities and to integrate their gangster systems with the new political and economic ... More

This chapter describes how the leaders in Shanghai, particularly Du Yuesheng, sought to legitimize their activities and to integrate their gangster systems with the new political and economic structures developed by the Guomindang state. Du was a key broker between the French authorities in Shanghai and Chinese state authorities. The role of Green Gang bosses in Shanghai society was strengthened by political developments. The 1911 Revolution witnessed the first tentative cooperation between the Green Gang and the revolutionary parties of the new Chinese Republic. It is noted that the Perseverance Society was Du's personal organization, and was important to his system of power in Shanghai. Throughout 1949 and 1950, he attempted to protect his assets in return for not opposing the communist takeover, even considering a new role for himself in a communist-dominated Shanghai.Less

‘The Inalienable Right of the White Man’: Contact and Competition in China

Cees Heere

in Empire Ascendant: The British World, Race, and the Rise of Japan, 1894-1914

Victory over Russia established Japan as the leading power in East Asia, and inaugurated a period during which its economic and political influence in the region sharply expanded. This chapter ... More

Victory over Russia established Japan as the leading power in East Asia, and inaugurated a period during which its economic and political influence in the region sharply expanded. This chapter explores these shifts in the regional order from the perspective of both British policymakers in London, and from that of the British communities in Shanghai, Hong Kong, and the other ‘treaty ports’ scattered along the China coast. For many, Japan, came to represent a challenge to British hegemony in China that manifested itself on a racial as well as on the commercial or political fronts. The chapter goes on to analyse the efforts of the ‘Shanghailanders’ to mobilize British policy to constrain Japanese power in the region through public campaigns and political manoeuvring. In the process, it demonstrates how treaty port residents articulated their own vision on Britain’s imperial future in Asia.Less