Beyond the Body-Mind Dichotomy: Labor and Intellect in Twentieth-Century China
Surveying the Nation
CHUS #11. Surveying the Nation: Rediscovering the “People” in China’s Republican Era, 1912–49
Monday, January 6, 2025: 11:00 AM-12:30 PM
New York Hilton, East Room
Session Organizer: Xiaoyan Ren (University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign)
Chair(s):
Yue Du, Cornell University
Papers:
“Obstructed Embrace”: The ID Card Institution in Shanghai, 1945–49
Xiaoyan Ren, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
Competing Colonialities: Nation-State Building and Nation-Empire Construction of Chinese and Japanese Migration Projects in Manchuria, 1914–45
Luming Xu, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
The Problem of Chinese Population: Discourses of Chinese Population and Population Science, 1918–39
Zhelun Zhou, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Comment: Yue Du, Cornell University
Panel Description
Recent scholarship on the history of Republican China represented by works such as Di Luo’s Beyond Citizenship (2022), Tong Lam’s A Passion for Facts (2011), Peter Zarrow’s After Empire (2012), Janet Y. Chen’s Guilty of Indigence (2012), and Zwia Lipkin’s Useless to the State (2006) reflects both a continuing exploration of issues of modernity and a new interest in state-building processes from the perspectives of knowledge-production and state efforts of social engineering and classification. This panel builds upon and extends this new scholarship on nation-state building efforts in the Republican era. Centering around the issues of population, identification card systems, and migration, this panel aims to highlight the efforts by the state and the elites to rediscover and re-define the “people” and the population in relation to state sovereignty, the collection and management of information about the “people,” and the agency of the “people” in these processes.
Using academic treatises, articles in newspapers and popular journals, and government documents from the 1920s and 1930s, Zhou examines the problematization of the population and the initiation of a population science in China; Xu investigates the state-led settler colonialism in the respective migration projects in Manchuria promoted by both China and Japan to claim sovereignty over this land; and Ren explores the contested ID card policy in Shanghai after 1945 as part of the state-building project and the multifarious obstacles that impeded its implementation.
Paper Abstracts
“Obstructed Embrace:” the ID Card Institution in Shanghai, 1945-1949
Xiaoyan Ren, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
This paper examines the Chinese Nationalist government’s modern state building efforts through the lens of identification card policy in post-war Shanghai (1945-1949). In the aftermath of the Second Sino-Japanese War (1937-1945), the Nationalist government issued identification cards to render the population more “legible” to the state, albeit faced with considerable challenges and resistance. Focusing on Shanghai, one of the cities that piloted the ID card policy, this paper examines the multifarious obstacles to the policy’s implementation, in terms of technology (photos, seal stamps, standardization of names), administrative systems, and the impact of Japanese occupation. My research sheds fresh light on the state-society relations during this period, centering on the following questions: How did society appropriate and resist newly introduced technology of state surveillance? How was the class of “state brokers” transformed in Republican China and what new roles did they play? What legacy did the Second Sino-Japanese War leave for China that might linger even until today?
The use of photos, seal stamps, and standardized names for individual identification encountered considerable resistance and appropriation in Republican China. The role of baojia chiefs (local community leaders) as administrators illustrates how they appropriated the ID card policies for personal advantage. The collective memory of “citizen’s cards” issued during Japanese rule in Shanghai led to an enduring perception of identification documents as stigmatized symbols of foreign invasion and illegitimate rule. All this challenged the implementation of the identification card policy in post-1945 Shanghai.
Competing Colonialities: Nation-State Building and Nation-Empire Construction of Chinese and Japanese Migration Projects in Manchuria, 1914-1945
Luming Xu, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
This study focuses on the migration projects launched respectively by China and Japan in Manchuria from the 1910s to the 1940s to claim sovereignty over this land. It employs the term “competing colonialities” to characterize this particular piece of migration history, for both the Republican Chinese governments, intellectuals, and Japanese colonial authorities have used the phrase “colonize” (Ch. zhibian; Jp. Takushoku) to define their respective migration projects. These two parallel colonial enterprises clashed in 1931, when the Manchurian Incident broke out, as the Japanese army took over the whole of Manchuria by force, and the state of Manchukuo was established the next year. Although the Republican state lost its control over Manchuria until 1945, the ROC government transformed its coloniality into a rhetoric about “national humiliation” (guochi) by producing anti-Japanese propaganda at the national scale. At the same time, the Japanese promoted the independence of the state of Manchukuo from China, transforming Japanese coloniality into the ideology of “Harmony of the Five Races” (Gozoku Kyōwa). This study argues that underneath the myths of nation and empire, migrants were the central pillars to the macro-level nation- and state-building, while migrants in Manchuria themselves have also taken advantage of Chinese and Japanese colonialities at the micro-level to create myths of their own, such as the myth of chuang guandong among Han Chinese migrants, and literary genre of bazoku in Japanese settlers’ communities.
“The Problem of Chinese Population”: Discourses of Chinese Population and Population Science, 1918-1939
Zhelun Zhou, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Starting from the May Fourth era (1915 to 1922) to the 1930s, Chinese intellectuals and elites had voiced their concerns of China’s large population. Prior to and after Margaret Sanger’s visit in 1922, Chinese intellectuals, such as Chen Changheng, Sun Benwen, and Tao Menghe, not only suggested birth control to limit population growth, but also introduced approaches to measure and survey both the quantity and quality of population. In the 1930s, sociologist Chen Da proposed to formulate the discipline of population science to further manage the population and eventually to compel the KMT government to legislate laws for population control. Though the KMT state never formally legislated and practiced its eugenic-oriented population policy, this attention to population management and control remained consistent through the Republican period until 1949. The concerns with population coincided with the growing intellectual emphasis on social surveys and the social sciences during that era. Using intellectual treatises, newspaper articles, and governmental records, this paper explores how population came to be perceived as a problem in the 1920s and how the problematization of this issue served to stimulate the rising discussion of population science among Chinese intellectuals in the 1930s. Overall, the intense discussion on the Chinese population reflected intellectuals’ pursuit of modernization, as they attempted to concretize the population in measurable terms.
US-China Engagement
CHUS #10. US–China Engagement: A Historical Assessment
Monday, January 6, 2025: 9:00 AM-10:30 AM
New York Hilton, East Room
Session Organizer: Mao Lin, Georgia Southern University
Chair(s):
Dan Du, University of North Carolina at Charlotte
Papers:
Chinese Propaganda through American Eyes, 1949 to the Present
Yi Ren, University of Arkansas at Little Rock
Language and Empire: Chinese Language Programs in the US from the Late 19th Century to the Present
Shuhua Fan, University of Scranton
US–China Engagement in the Long 1970s
Mao Lin, Georgia Southern University
From Engagement to Decoupling: US–China Relations since the End of the Cold War
Tao Wang, Iowa State University
Comment: Dan Du, University of North Carolina at Charlotte
Session Abstract:
In recent years, the U.S.-China relationship has experienced its most daunting challenges since the normalization of relations between the two nations in the 1970s. While both Beijing and Washington publicly deny the coming of a second Cold War, strategic competition is now the frame through which the U.S. government views its relationship with China. As a result, the so-called US-China engagement is now widely regarded as a failed history. However, the history of US-China engagement should be assessed in a more nuanced and balanced manner despite the current political situation. Dr. Yi Ren’s paper examines how Americans—intellectuals, politicians, and the general public—have understood and interpreted Chinese propaganda directed at its own people since 1949. Dr. Shuhua Fan’s paper discusses how the Chinese language programs have developed in the US since the late 19th century and their impact on US-China engagement. Dr. Mao Lin’s paper analyzes how the US-China engagement was developed from the late 1960 to the late 1970s and how it served America’s strategic interests. Dr. Tao Wang’s paper examines the post-Cold War US-China relations by focusing on structural changes and the role of personalities. The panel endeavors to present some timely yet historicized assessments of the US-China engagement. (202 words)
Paper Abstracts:
Chinese Propaganda through American Eyes, 1949 to the Present
Yi Ren, University of Arkansas at Little Rock
The significance of propaganda to the Communist China cannot be overstated. It is a critical tool for the Chinese Communist Party to realize its organization and governance. It permeates the daily lives of the Chinese people. This paper studies how Americans—intellectuals, politicians, and the general public—have understood and interpreted Chinese propaganda directed at its own people.
Specifically, this paper traces the evolution of American perceptions of Chinese propaganda across three periods: from the establishment of the People’s Republic of China to the Sino-American rapprochement, from the rapprochement to 1989, and from 1989 to the present. During the Mao era, American interpretation of Chinese propaganda mainly viewed it as a mechanism for communist indoctrination, which mirrored the intense Cold War animosities. The thawing of Sino-American relations introduced a more complex interpretation. American politicians and intellectuals adopted a cautiously optimistic stance towards engagement, perceiving Chinese propaganda as a fusion of ideological zeal and a pragmatic modernization agenda. The period after the Tiananmen Square Protests has been characterized by a profound transformation in Chinese propaganda techniques. The Party leveraged advanced technology and global narratives to conduct its propaganda work. This shift has challenged American perceptions, necessitating a critical reassessment of the role and impact of propaganda in sustaining communist governance in China. This paper argues that the understanding of Americans’ perceptions of Chinese propaganda in different historical periods is crucial for grasping the intricacies of Sino-American relations and the global implications of China’s strategic propaganda approach.
Language and Empire: Chinese Language Programs in the U.S. from the Late 19th Century to the Present
Shuhua Fan, University of Scranton
This paper offers a macro-study of Chinese language programs in the U.S. from the late 19th century to today. Efforts to promote Chinese language started in the 1870s with the inauguration of Chinese class at Yale and Harvard and the establishment of an endowed professorship at the University of California-Berkeley. These pioneering programs greatly expanded in parallel with the U.S. rise as a global power with vital interests in Asia and an important relationship with China in the succeeding century and a half. In the second stage (the 1920s-early 1930s), Chinese language programs expanded with the rise/reorientation of private foundations toward fostering Asian/China studies following WWI. Examples include the Harvard-Yenching Institute, the China Institute in America, and the Institute of Pacific Relations. Subsequently, the Pacific War and the Cold War brought further momentum to Chinese language programs through direct involvement/funding from the U.S. government and the formation of the national security-industrial-academic complex, in addition to funding from private foundations. The decades since the early 1990s have witnessed more impressive expansion of Chinese language programs because of U.S. governmental funding for foreign languages critical to national interests, sponsorship from private sources, and the rise of Confucius Institutes (CI) funded by China to project soft power, an effort encountering strong resistance and failure in America.
Using primary and secondary sources, my paper uses case studies from each of the four historical periods to shed light on this macro history by showing the particular mix of motives/broader context (domestic and international), sponsorship, personalities, operation, and legacies. The paper argues that language serves imperial/national interests. Chinese language programs have interacted with the changing domestic and international context, which has enabled the U.S. to engage China via language programs in some of the early eras and to decouple China through the recent forced CI closure.
US-China Engagement in the Long 1970s
Mao Lin, Georgia Southern University
With the deterioration of US-China relations in recent years, America’s engagement policy toward China has been heavily criticized for failing to change China into a liberal democracy and turning Beijing into a peer competitor of Washington instead. However, a more balanced history of engagement shows that engagement has served American interests quite well. During the 1970s, American officials and the broader foreign policy public forged a new perception of China as a “frustrated modernizer.” The priority of China was not to spread communism abroad but to turn the country into a first-class industrial power. However, China failed to modernize under communism, with the Sino-Soviet split further threatening China’s national security. America’s engagement policy was conceived as a realistic response to those changes. Engagement successfully turned China into America’s tacit partner against the Soviet Union, helped Washington to end its war in Vietnam, moderated China’s radical foreign policy, and contributed to the end of the Cold War. While the desire to change China into a liberal democracy loomed large in the background, that desire was only pursued as a long-term goal and no American administration ever set a firm timetable to turn it into reality. A balanced assessment of engagement can help us to forge a realistic strategy by aligning means with ends. America must realize many of the factors that will shape China’s future are beyond American control. A more realistic goal for US China policy is to shape China’s choices so that it will abide by the rules-based international order with or without political reforms. Washington should consistently convince Beijing that America does not seek to contain China’s rise if China can truly become a responsible stakeholder.
From Engagement to Decoupling: US-China Relations since the End of the Cold War
Tao Wang, Iowa State University
How did China and the United States, the former allies against the Soviet Union in much of the 1970s and 1980s, end up in the current tensions? Who was responsible for the deterioration? How would the world’s most important bilateral relationship evolve in the future? This paper analyzes the evolution of US-China relations from engagement in the 1990s, to cooperation in the beginning of 21st century, and the current strategic competition. It examines both the structural changes and the role of personalities to reveal the dynamics of the relationship and help understand its future trajectory.
This study adopts a bilateral approach. It argues that while structural changes weakened the foundation of US-China cooperation, confrontation was not inevitable. Policy mattered and the current tension was created by leaders—their vision and ambition made a difference. For the same reason, a Thucydides’s Trap may be avoided, although the current tendency will continue and the situation may become worse in the near future.
Multiple Shifts of Twentieth Century China
CHUS #5. Multiple Shifts of 20th-Century China
Saturday, January 4, 2025: 3:30 PM-5:00 PM
New York Hilton, East Room
Session Organizer: Patrick Fuliang Shan, Grand Valley State University
Chair(s):
Aihua Zhang, Gardner–Webb University
Papers:
Admiral Liu Huaqing: China’s Mahan and the New Cold War
Xiaobing Li, University of Central Oklahoma
Navigating Controversy: Changing Perceptions of the Sanmenxia Dam in China
Xiaojia Hou, San José State University
Mao and Law in China: The Shaping of Mao’s Early Legal Consciousness
Qiang Fang, University of Minnesota Duluth
The Chinese Pursuit of Republicanism: State-Building, Postimperial Election, and the Creation of Congress, 1911–13
Patrick Fuliang Shan, Grand Valley State University
Comment: Danke Li, Fairfield University
Panel Description
No other century, perhaps, has undergone more dramatical changes than the twentieth century. During the one hundred years, China has encountered significant shifts in social, political, military, environment, and other realms. The four presenters of this panel will explore China’s multiple shifts from empire to republic, from tradition to modernity, and from the old convention to the new culture. More importantly, the four presenters offer their unique interpretation of those changes. The organization of the first nationally elected congress after the collapse of the last dynasty and the establishment of the first republic will be explored. Mao Zedong’s judicial thought will be discussed. A Chinese admiral’s strategies for building a modernized navy will be surveyed. The Chinese building of dams, in particular, the one at Sanmenxia, will be highlighted. Overall, this panel serves as an important forum to offer the four presenters’ recent research and their scholarly investigations of those topics concerning the century we just left behind.
Paper Abstracts
Admiral Liu Huaqing: China’s Mahan and the New Cold War
Xiaobing Li, University of Central Oklahoma
After assuming the PLAN’s command in 1982, Liu emphasized China’s overseas trade, maritime interests, and a strong naval force. He was ranked an admiral in 1988 and began to serve as Deputy Secretary General and Vice Chairman of the CMC. He became one of the seven members on the Politburo’s Standing Committee and the country’s third top leader until 1998. Jiang Zemin endorsed Liu’s perception of China’s sea power, naval war readiness, and sovereignty over the disputed islands in the East and South China Seas. As a result, the PLA shifted from traditional ground war preparation to a new naval warfare in blue waters. Xi Jinping called for more efforts to promote his “red tradition” and learn more from Liu. What was his “red DNA”? Why did he become the “father of modern China navy” for the 21st century? How much do his theories, doctrines, and strategy impact the PLA Navy today? Based on Chinese sources, this research paper puts the admiral in the context of the civil war, Cold War, political struggle, and military reforms and tries to answer these questions.
Navigating Controversy: Changing Perceptions of the Sanmenxia Dam in China
Xiaojia Hou, San José State University
In the 1950s, the Chinese Communist Party launched the construction of the Sanmenxia Dam, the first modern hydroelectric infrastructure on the Yellow River. Even before its commencement, the project was filled with controversy. Prior to its completion, the dam had already become a source of trouble, necessitating continuous modifications. Over subsequent decades, perceptions of the dam varied significantly among different groups. This essay examines evolving narratives surrounding the Sanmenxia Dam, exploring how the Party adapted the dam’s intended functions to justify multiple modifications. It also investigates the portrayal of the dam in official Chinese media. Furthermore, this essay studies the perspectives of Chinese hydro specialists as documented in academic publications, and the strategies adopted by neighboring local governments to address the impacts of the dam. By utilizing the Sanmenxia Dam as a case study, this essay underscores how differing perspectives have influenced the historiography of infrastructure on the Yellow River.
Mao and Law in China: The Shaping of Mao’s Early Legal Consciousness
Qiang Fang, University of Minnesota Duluth
Former Chinese Communist leader Mao Zedong once said that he did not care about law. Throughout his rule from the 1930s to his death in 1976, Mao had frequently ignored law in many of his political campaigns driven by “continuous revolution.” Some of the worst “lawless” periods under Mao were in the Anti-rightist Movement and the Cultural Revolution during which millions of people had been arbitrarily attacked, tortured, imprisoned, or killed without undergoing formal legal proceedings. But when he was young, Mao ostensibly demonstrated strong belief in law and order, and he supported a Hunan governor who employed stringent laws in maintaining order. How did Mao view law when he was a youth? Why and how did he make such a big change from being a law advocate to a law nihilist? To what extent was Mao’s tectonic shift in his belief in law affected by Marxism, Leninism, and Stalinism? Many scholars around the world have authored hundreds of books and articles on Mao. But none of them has offered an objective and in-depth analysis on the dramatic shift and shaping of Mao’s attitude on law prior to the split between the CCP and the GMD in 1927. Drawing Mao’s personal writings plus archives and the memoirs of numerous Communist and Republican officials, this paper seeks to examine the political, ideological, and legal dynamics behind Mao’s shift of his views on law during a volatile, fragmented, and war-torn period.
The Chinese Pursuit of Republicanism: State-building, Post-imperial election, and the Creation of Congress, 1911-1913
Patrick Fuliang Shan, Grand Valley State University
The 1911 Revolution resulted in the abdication of the imperial household of the Qing Dynasty. Subsequently, the millennial dynastic system ruled by the royal family was terminated. The elated Chinese endeavored to build a republic by pursuing republicanism. They held a nation-wide election in late 1912 and early 1913, which resulted in a creation of the first national assembly, historically known as the Old Congress. The organization of such an elected legislature was a stunning breakthrough in the long Chinese civilization. In this essay, the post-imperial situation will be investigated, the first nation-wide election will be scrutinized, and more importantly, the national assembly, the Old Congress, will be examined. Through this particular analysis, the complicated situation in the transition from empire to republic will be unblemished.
Digital Humanities in the Classroom
Dear Colleagues,
We’re thrilled to invite you to participate in the “Digital Humanities in the Classroom” online workshop, organized by the Chinese Historians in the United States (CHUS). This event is specifically designed for professionals like you who are keen on exploring the transformative potential of digital humanities in higher education.
As technology becomes increasingly important in our daily lives, incorporating digital tools with humanities education can really make teaching and learning more engaging and interactive. This is not just a trend; it is a pathway to innovative education. Our three speakers, each at different stages in their careers, bring a wide array of experiences and perspectives to the table. Their discussion will include topics such as practical strategies for employing digital humanities in everyday teaching, the impact of these tools on student engagement and learning, and meta-level reflections on the state of digital humanities in East Asian studies.
Whether you are a student, an emerging scholar, or an experienced academic, this workshop promises valuable insights and inspiration from our speakers’ innovative experiences with digital tools in both in-person and online classroom settings.
Sincerely,
Dr. Yi Ren
Our speakers:
Dr. Lik Hang Tsui (徐力恆) is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Chinese and History at the City University of Hong Kong. Prior to joining CityU, he worked as a Departmental Lecturer at Oxford, and a Postdoctoral Fellow at Harvard University with the China Biographical Database (CBDB). He specializes in researching middle period China and digital humanities. He convenes the Digital Society research cluster in his faculty to promote interdisciplinary research.
Dr. Paula R. Curtis is a historian of medieval Japan and an active participant in digital communities in and beyond East Asian Studies. She is presently the Yanai Initiative Postdoctoral Fellow with the Department of Asian Languages & Cultures at the University of California, Los Angeles. She is Operations Leader for Japan Past & Present, a global information hub and repository that promotes research and teaching in the Japanese humanities across disciplinary, temporal, and geographic borders.
Shu Wan is a doctoral student in history at the University of Buffalo. He is a digital and disability historian who serves on the editorial teams of Digital Humanities Quarterly and Nursing Clio. He has published and presented numerous articles on the application of digital humanities in academic research and teaching.
