V The Republican Revolution and the Republic

1
V The Republican Revolution and the Republic

• 1911-1927
• Republican Revolution
• Warlord Era
• Chinese Enlightenment

2
Republican Revolution 1901-1916

• Gentry-elite acting instead of the Qing
  government
• Qing reform efforts came into nothing ? Qing
  government had been superficial, passive and
  parasitic for too long
• Revolution 1911

3
The Republic Born 1911/1912

• Revolution 1911 double ten revolt at Wuhan ?
  provinces declare independence from Qing
• 1.1.1912 a republic born in Nanjing Sun Yatsen
  president, Yuan Shikai head of government,
  parliament and provincial assemblies
• Yuan Shikai as president ? reassertion of
  autocracy

4
The Republic of China 1912-1927

• Yuan Shikai Trust only central power
• Conservatism thwarted social revolution
• Chinese tradition inimical to the parliamentary
  experiment

5
The Republic of China 1912-1927

• Military governors (dujun)? warlords
  conservative gentry? lineages preserving local
  dominance
• 1. Cultural focus influx of foreign goods,
  ideas, ways
• 2. Socio-political focus charasterics of an
  interregnum between dynasties

6
The Republic of China Economy

• Rate of industrial growth in coastal China as
  high as Japanese "miracle"
• Average real income of Chinese peasants actually
  rising
• 1912-1933 China's per capita gdp grew from Ch113
  to Ch123
• Economic growth geographically limited

7
Decade of Warlords 1916-1927

• New republic born, then fallen into pieces
• A political history of China as a united country
  virtually ceases
• 1913-1928 constant civil war led by warlords
• A low point of state power, paradoxically
  considerable achievement in cultural, social and
  economic lines

8
Created by the US Military Academy (West Point)
retrieved from http//www.dean.usma.edu/history/we
b03/atlases/chinese20civil20war/chinese20civil
20war20index.htm
9
Origins of Warlordism

• Government throughout the provinces militarized
• Disappearance of traditional forms of social
  control ? total breakdown of law and order that
  the emergence of war-lords partially reintegrated
• Bankruptcy of the central government provinces
  used the collected revenue to keep their own
  forces

10
Origins of Warlordism

• ? Feudalization of government Authority based on
  the allocation of territory and its revenues to
  subordinates in return for military service
• Rapid rise of modern armies careers with simple
  talent education not a necessity given the
  simplicity of warfare in China then building of
  new armies through military schools? entry to the
  officer corps possible also for very poorest? now
  ruled China

11
On Warlords

• Wide range of backgrounds and different ways of
  maintaining power
• Beiyang/ units of national army/ provincial
  armies and local militia/ local thugs, bandits
• From whole provinces to a handful of towns
• Finances from taxing locals (own bureaucracy or
  at gunpoint)
• A whole range of ideals presented for the
  republic/ GMD/ modified Confucianism/
  Christianity/ working with foreigners...

12
Source Fenby, Jonathan (2003). Generalissimo.
13
Effects of Warlordism

• Some controlled subordinates, enforced order,
  attempted reforms
• Others showed less interest in good government
  and reform savage brutes
• Destructive warfare, supplementary taxation,
  opium growing gt burden on people throuhout most
  of China
• Wars labour-intensive armies living off the
  country arbitrary conscription defences against
  floods neglected

14
Effects of Warlordism

• Period culminated in the famines of 1929 in which
  consequences of war played major role
• Militarization of the countryside overturned
  normal social relationships and inflicted
  irreversible damage on the structure of
  traditional society

15
Chinese Enlightenment

• New Culture Movement
• Western thought through Japan by Chinese scholars
  residing in Japan
• Literary revolution to use everyday speech in
  written form (wenhua ? baihua)
• Expose common tendencies toward self-submission
• A new generation May 4th Movement of 1919

16
May 4th Movement of 1919

• Origin in Chinas disappointment in the aftermath
  of the First World War
• Attempt to redefine China's culture as a valid
  part of the modern world
• Attack agains "old ways" of Confucianism,
  patriarchal family, arranged marriages,
  traditional education

17
May 4th Movement

• Reform of the Chinese writing style
• Deep interest in Western art and culture
• Problem-solving approach to analyze China's
  problems and address them
• Inspiration from socialist, marxist and feminist
  critiques, change through radical activism

18
May 4th Movement

• Central patriotic ground unified China coping
  with warlordism, exploitative landlord system and
  foreign imperialism
• Country-wide phenomenon but thinking behind it
  mostly from Beida
• Yan Fu, Cai Yuanpei, Chen Duxiu, Hu Shi, Lu Xun

19
May 4th Movement

• Prominent figures of first generation believed in
  the domain of words
• Next generation saw the true meanin of the
  Movement in recognition that the time had come
  for action

20
Reading and Questions for Tutorials

• Reading Lu Xun's novel The True Story of Ah Q
• Discuss the metaphors found in the novel in
  relation to the political history of the times in
  question