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    Week 1 Readings From The Reader

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    Week 1 Readings From The Reader

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    Week 1 Readings From the Reader

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    Week 1 Readings From the Reader

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    16 views25 pages

    Week 1 Readings From The Reader

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    Weiyu Tong
    Week 1 Readings From the Reader

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    i BVUEBUUEL IS! Ethnicity and modernity in the 1911 Revolution ‘The Wuchang Uprising that began the 1911 Revolution had its origins in the late Qing reforms. New ideas of loyalty to nation and race provided a rationale for overthrowing the dynasty, and this brought the students ‘together with an older generation of modernisers who had become cevol tionaries after failing to influence the government. Many of the studen who shared these new ideas were driven by their poor career prospects to ‘ake jobs in the modern army that was being built up during the 1900s, and ‘it was these men who were members of revolutionary groups which began the revolution. Once the revolution had begun it became necessary to decide hhow the new state would be structured. The nature of the state that people jmagined was tied to their ideas of what they thoughe they were rebelling against, which took two very different forms: some people thought of them selves as participating in a revolution against the Manchu dynasty, while others saw the events as a revolution against foreign interference and westerising reforms. Each of these views of the revolution implied a different image of the new state The Han nation ‘Most revolutionary activists saw the revolution in racial terms as a contest between Han and Manchu. The Han Chinese were a nation and should have (heir own nation state. The new state that would be established alter the evolution was imagined through opposition tothe existing Manchu-domi- nated state. Since the Manchus were primarily involved in the centeal Bovernment in Beijing and were few in absolute numbers, this view implied that the goal of the revolution was a celatively limited restructuring of the highest levels of che government. Both the Western-inspired nationalism and VUUBUBUEGEUUUUEVODOUEEDUEEEUBGUB EEUU UU eation of modera natiomaisny we the emphasis on the upper echelons of the government limited serious inerest in these kinds of views 10 educated elites. These elites were, however, a the heart of the original Wackang Uprising, and continued to play an impoctant role in revolutionary thought. ‘A few days after the Wuchang Uprising the new revolutionary govern: ‘ment in Wuchang decided to arrange a sacrifice to the spirits of Heaven, Earth and the Yellow Emperor. The sacrifice was suggested and organised ‘by mombers of the revolutionary parties who had initiated the uprising, The chief actor was Li Yuashong, the popular officer who had been compelled to lead the revolution. The ceremony was a strange mixture of ancicat and ‘moder, using the ancient form of sacrifice in which incense, wine and a yellow cow were offered, but with the participants dressed in military ‘uniform, removing their caps to perform the kowtow. During the cere: ‘monies a military anthem was played which was subsequently printed in a pro-revolutionary paper: «Raise the Han, Raise the Han, Raise our great Han. ‘The Han people love the mountains and rivers, How can they ler thieves oxcupy chen? ‘Compacriots, work hard, Battle diligently forward, Kill all the barbarians, Raise the great Han, Raise the Han, Raise the Han, ise our great Han. Destroy the Manchu, Destroy the Manchu, Destroy the thieving Manchu, ‘The spirit ofthe Yellow Emperor ‘Helps us to kill the thieves, ‘Compatriots, work hard, ‘March diligently forward, ‘March fo the north, Destroy the Manchu, Destroy the Manchu, Destroy the thieving Manchu." “The song describes the revolution entirely in tems of conflict berween Han and Manchu. The Yellow Emperor is invoked as the ancestor of the Han, and hence a provider of divine support for the Han, who are described as the right- ful owners of the mountains and rivers, a conventional symbol of China as 4 ‘geographic unit. The Manchvss on the other hand are described as barbarians, ‘who have stolen that which rightly belongs to the Han, The goal ofthe revo- Tution isto march north against the Manchu court in Beijing and destroy “The same ideas were expressed in the prayer Li Yvanhong intoned to the ‘Yellow Emperor during the sacrifice: ne Ching On the 26th day of the 8th month of the 460%th year of the Yellow. Emperor, 1, Li Yuankong, military govemor of the Hubei Army, accompanied by all my troops, reverently honour the soul of the Yellow Emperor with an animal sacrifice and wine. China, which the Yellow Emperor bequeathed tus, and the sacrifices to ancestors and {ods that he performed, have continued unbroken for more then fect Past. In the pas we imiated the early martyrs ane gal for yeats. But this time as soon as we raised the fag of gh, cous rebellion we conquered Hubs in a morning, neighbouting coy tesponded and we took the southeast in ten days, The people woah together to exterminate the alien tribe and revive China { bumble request the support ofthe frst emperor. Relying on our comrades ‘vigorous advance we will achieve our goals and announce a contin tion, which will enable us to keep up with every county inthe worl, and cause our ancient country, which has already been civilised foe five thousand years, o become outstandingly glorious, so thas ooe ons and grandsons wil prescrve their prosperity forever: Only she first emperor can se this? vty much a symbol of the Han as defined by race and inheritance, is sr the vision of the Manchus as an ‘alien tribe’. The modern idea of nationkoed ic then linked to new ideas about China as being in competition with exh Gpunatics inthe world and the call for constiutional government as 4 past ‘of that competition. These early symbols mark the racial nature ofthe teact lution, The alternative: a revolution against modernity One of the fist actions of the new revolutionary government was to @anounce a ban on the wearing of the queue and the binding of women's feet. The ban on foot binding had ltl immediate effec though it became Patt of the rhetoric of the revolution. Queue cutting, however, Was central to the revolution, and was the frst way in which the revolution affected People in areas where there was no fighting. For the revolutionaries the Speue was a symbol of Manchu dominance, and thus of the subordination ‘oftive Han by the Manchus. When Li Yuanhong ordered that quenes should Creation of modern nationalism bs be cu, he explained that he did so in order to revive the Han nation, root fou the Manchas, build a republic and equalse human rights. Equaling human rights here refers to giving Han equal access to government post, tions, which had been blocked by the Manchus, In Wuehang soldiers were seatoned 2¢ the city gates and on the major sttets to forcibly cut the queues of passers by. In Fujian the mew provincial governor ordered men to ese their queues, and, when he found that few did, ordeted all governmens offices to hang notices forbidding anyone wearing a queue to enter. le then ‘emt notice 0 the officers ofthe provincial chamber of commerce, areal, tural association and student association ordering them to cut ther gavues and to ensure that the leaders of thei local branches did so too. Oficels were told to see toi that they, thei families and servants eut tt queves (pain of dismissal, For supporters of the revolution cutting off their queues was a demon steation of thei support for the new ordee. In Wazhou in Guangdong was feported that 2,000 men cut their queues on the night that the. town declared independence. However, military forces sill ghting on behalf of the Qing continued to behead anyone found without a queve, For those who had cut their quedes or had them forcibly cu, it was in thelr owa interest to increase the numbers of those with shore hait. Quese cuting oreed rapidly through south and central China, Foreign observers oo Hainan Island noticed that by the spring of 1912 there were aeons no «queues lft In many places this was achieved by soldiers and other rowdy Young men taking to the stcets and forcibly cutting queves. This led co frequent brawls and caused problems for the new local governments. For many men this violent change of their personal appearances thar they looked like the Westerners was highly problematic. A itle boy whose queag ‘was cut by his revolutionary father at this time remembered crying and refusing to go out for days. For those whose queues were cut in the street with crowds of mocking onlookers the experience was humiliating, One countryman who had his quewe cut on a trip tothe city was 50 mocked by his wife on his eturn that he commited suicide. ‘The countryman’s atackment to his queue brings us tothe alternative conception of the revolution as a Han Chinese movement not so much against the Manchos as againse the westrnising reforms that the Manchas had implemented. For many people the quewe was 2 symbol not of Han subservience to the Manchus, but of thei own identiy as Chinese. When 2 man came back to Shanxi from Japan in the 1900s without his queue, a local schookeacher commented, ‘He has not only switched to weasing foreign clothes, but has aiso cut off his queue; although he isa Chinese he has almost become a barbarian.” Ie was nearly 300 years since the Manchus had forcibly imposed the wearing ofthe queue and many people simply did nat know about its Manchu origins. This is sugested by the fat that the writers of announcements ordering of encouraging the cutting of queues frequent fele iv necessary to explain that the queue was ot in fact a bs China ‘Chinese custom. One from a counry government in Shandong encouraged people to think of the chacacters in local operas: Be it known that from the Three Dynasties to the Former Ming was all time when men tied up their hair and wore caps. When you see this in an opera performance you will imimeditely realise that plating the baie dates only from the time when the Qing emperor entered the passes and enforced the change.* Debate abour the queue in Chinese commaunitis in Southeast Asia in the 1900s also suggested that the queue was consklered tobe a sign of ethnic identity, with older generations complaining that among the young the queue was already the lst sign of Chineseness i a group that had alcady been deeply influenced by non-Chinese customs. ‘There was also considerable popular opposition to shott aie cut in Western styles. In Sichuan popular feeling against Western influence had overflowed into violence several months before the Wuchang, Uprising ‘The origins ofthis violence lay inthe reforms, which were seen as easing high taxes and being the result of foreign influence. ‘The particular target of protesters was the new railway, which had been paid for by huge new taxes and was now to be taken over by the central government, which had raised the money through a lage foreign loan. Posters sold in the streets of Chengdu included a cartoon of the sufferings of che Indians under” British rule, Another showed figures cepresenting. Germany, England, the United States and France (the four powers behind the rai, ay loan) seated at a table pled high with silver, Germany was saying, ‘Let's open our mouths and gulp it down quickly. tf we delay they may change theie minds.’ In front of the table were kneeling figues of four officials who had supported railway nationalisation, and ween beneath them in large letters: “Men of honour stand upon their feet. See these Chinese slaves abjectly prostrate worshipping the foreigner.* Rumours suggested thatthe foreign powers had held a secret meeting in Paris to decide on the division of China. ‘The posters and cumours in Sichuan reflected a widely shared feat of the foreign powers. This fear was tied #0 dislike of the Qing reforms, but was not necessarily anti-dynastice Many People noticed that the streets of Sichuan at this time were pasted with slips of paper in front of which candles or incense were burning, The slips were printed to cesemble an ancestral tablet dedicated to the late Guangxu emperor with a couple of sentences recalling his edits in sup. port of the provincial railway. People who honoured the Guangxu emperor with candles and incense showed that thet grievances related to government policy rather than to the dynasty a5 such, ‘When the revolution broke out the form i took in Sichuan was explicitly anti-Western, The British consul described some of the leaders ofthe secret societies and other local groups who had theonged into the city after the declaration of independence from the Qing: Creation of modert nationalism ‘The picturesque appearance of these fantastically dressed braves and bandits, who crowded the principal choroughfares, was heightened by ‘the new style of dressing the hair in a top-knot adorned with silver ‘ornaments; this coiffure was adopted in opposition ro the queue cutting movement, the underlying idea being that while che wearers are no longer slaves of the Manchus, they have no desire co ape the foreigner by cutting off thie har.” The new revolutionary governor promoted queue cutting and the unbinding of women’s feet as well a other Westers-influenced symbols such as the use of the solar calendar. This led to rumours that he had converted to Christianity and would ban people from worshipping at their houschold shrines. The governor was forced to issue an announcement claiming that ‘queue cutting had nothing to do with the foreigners and he would not abolish sacrifices and incense, Again he explained that queues were a ‘Manchu not a Chinese custom, but then called on people to wear their hait shor rather than in the fashions of the Ming because short hair was now worn in the rest of the world. Less than a year later a Red Lantern sect Uprising in Sichuan second city, Chongqing, aimed to restore the Manchus and kill ll foreigners and queveless Chinese, Objections to short hair asa foreign custom were not limited to Sichuan, In Guilin in Guangxi province the revolutionaries who cut their haie were called “monk heads’. There too many men adopted hairstyles drawn from local operatic depictions of the Ming dynasty and scveral men without ‘queues were killed. Although for the revolutionarics the queue was seen as, a symbol of racial subservience, for many people around the country cutting, the queue and wearing short hair was a symbol of capitulation to the foreigners. These people resisted the Qing because of the unpopularity of the reforms. Their voices have been almost entirely lost to historians, most cof whose sources were written by the cevolutionaries. However, the popu- larity of hairstyles drawn from operatic depictions of the Ming suggests an alternative perception of the new state that was to replace the Qing as a revival of the Ming dynasty and the reaffirmation of native as opposed 10 foreign-influenced practices. The linking of Han identity with modernity ‘The many ordinary people who supported the 1911 Revolution because they thought it would bring about a nativist state and an end to westernising, polices were already out of touch with the views of the revolutionary leaders. For most of the revolutionaries the state that was 0 be constructed ‘was a state that was both modern and dominated by the Han race, The great symbol of this new state was Sun Yatsen, who was appointed to be the frst president of the new republic. . be China Sun Yatsen was in America when the Wuchang Uprising broke out and travelled on to Europe to try and encourage the European govern ‘ments to support the new republic. Meanwhile in China negotiations were going on between the different revolutionary groups as to who was to lead the new state. The revolutionaries realised that much power stil {ay in the north, where severat provinces still supported the Qing. Thete was considerable dispute among the different revolutionary groups since none of the hitherto more influential revolutionary leaders had actually been involved in events at Wuchang. Eventually they agreed to appoint ‘Sun Yatsen as provisional presidenc with Huang Xing, who had been a leader of radical student groups in Japan, as his deputy. Sun Yatsen was an attractive compromise because his political weakness meant that he ‘would have little power to resist if others chose to force him out of the Presidency. Having lived abroad for many years, he licked a sufficiently influential power structure within the country. However, his, Western education and long. yeaes of campaigning against the Manchu govern, ‘ment made him the perfect symbol of the revolution as being both mod. cern and racially Han, ‘Sun's inauguration was held in Nanjing, now declared the capital of the new republic, since Beijing was stil in the hands ofthe Qing government. ft took place on 1 January 1911 and the new government announced that henceforth the solar calendar would be adopted, making this the fist day of st Year of the Republic. The adoption of the solar calendar and this new year name later had the effect of making Sun's inauguration seem to be far more important than it appeared at the time, For it was clea then that the balance of power lay in the north. Yuan Shikai, the founder of the New Armies that had started the revolution, was still a Qing official and used the Uprising to strengthen his own power aver the dynasty. He sent part of his forces against the revolutionaries and eventually forced both the revolotion- aries and the court into a compromise that was only partly acceptable to either: the emperor, still only a child, would abdicate and Sun Yatsen would fesign from the presidency. Yuan Shikai himself would then bring the ‘northern provinces and the rest of the Qing army aver to the revolution. The Price the revolutionaries were to pay was the acceptance of Yuan Shikai as the new president, Shortly before his resignation Sun Yatsen took part in a sacrifice at the ‘tomb of the frst Ming emperor just outside Nanjing. The Ming had bcen the {ast native dynasty and the newspapers reported Sun’s racial feeling with approval. A portrait of the Ming emperor was hung in the ruined halls of the tomb complex and offerings were set in front of it. As Sun Yatcen approached the portcait it was announced that the president of the Chinese republic had come to pay his respects to the great founder of the Chinese ‘dynasty. Sun then made a speech that began with the words, ‘267 years after the fall of the Ming, the Republic of China has been established.” In the Speech he fold a story of constant resistance by the Han people against the Creation of modern nationalison ‘Qing from the Taiping rebellion and the early revolutionaries (with a strong, emphasis on the uprisings in which he himself had been involved) to the successful Wuchang Uprising, After the ceremony Sun was photographed alongside che portrait of the Ming emperor. Just as he had done at his inau- guration, Sun Yarsen attempted ta place himself and his own role at the centre of a historical narrative that had yet to be writen, In doing so he placed che story of the battle between Manchu and Han races at the heart of the new republic. This view of China as a Han nation state has persisted at « popular level, despite considerable conflict with later official representa- tions of the state National identity and the non-Han peoples parts ofthe Qing empire the Han symboism ofthe evolution was sisurbing fo large sections ofthe popeaton. ln soe area, especially south China, Han identity was an iportant source of prs and poser in local polities, and the Han eflectvelyconstinted a ce ser, To non, Han people thse places the herve of 1911, with semphais nthe fac of a ractlly defined Han peosle, was very thretenng. In other acta wiolece and ighingheeween diferen omnes was already frequent “This was especially true in the northes, where Han villages were sated aavong Muslim communities of various diflerene types adit close pox imi othe powerul ateratvecltre of Tite al Mongols ete too the perception of arse in Han powcr ran the rk of inereasing esting, tensions For the non Han peoples one of the mest obvious sigs of the Han afiivion of the revlution was the constant tse of the character Han on retoltonary flags and banners tn Wachang a¢ the tne of the uprising Processons marched round th cy headed by banner insribad with the Single word! “Han'. This was widely reported nthe newspapers. In Sichuan a fag was wid used which was white with che word “la writen on iin ed; uerunded by black ring and T8 str, In his met cis the author Ba in vemrers bis father making one of thee forte household by printing a cic ona pce of white loth sing the edge of 2. bow dipped in ik and then writing in the character “Hann Guiyang, in the autumn of 1911, in was reporced that banners Song, ‘erhtion of he ret a es fm et hae. Bath Shan 2 Guiyang were areas with lage non-an minorities In Yunnan, another Simul aes, people member sat te slim minoey were aad when they sw sh Mags. Queue cutting which was problematic for many peopl, was pacity seo son Han raat ro ner Mong who ed Special modern schol for Monge remembered ow many of his las Imac were beaten bythe elder oftheir lags when they tured home 0 China alter cutting off their queues at the school. Others wore false queues attached to theic hats for their visits home. After 1912 the police feequently reported diffculties in enforcing regulations requiring queue cutting non, Han districts. in Chengde, a city north of the great wall with large Mongol and Manchu populations it was reported in 1914 that people were wearing their ait in all kinds of styles co avoid cutting thet queues. The styles included bunches called ‘cow and sheep horns’ and plaits pinned tothe top ‘ofthe head (‘turtle shell’) but also such modern-sounding fashions as three Plaits to represent the three separate powers of the constitution or five plaits, known as ‘the five-nation republic’. In 1914 the police conducted survey in Beijing prior to a campaign to get men to cut thet queues: che found that he numbers of men sil weaving ques varied ent 99 oe in one district o 39 per cent in another. The district where 92 per cent were sil wearing ther queues was inthe area around the former inperial palace inhabited mainly by Manchus, while the lowest proportion of queues came {from an area that was predominantly Han, However, not all Manchus refused to cut their queues. In some areas ere the Manchus were in a minority and there was alveady a high degree of acculturation, many Manchus cut off their queues and asset, lated, vanishing from the record as a separate ethnic group. Given the violent anti-Manchu thetoric of 1914 and the stories of massacres of Manchu communitcs, especially in the northwest, this was not surpre ing, The extent of the fear is revealed by recorded statisties of Manchus resident in Taiyuan, the capital of Shanxi province. Before the revolution im 1944 there were between 2,500 and 3,000 registered Manchus in Taiyuan. By 1953 this had dropped to 451. Although some of these changes are duc to population movements itis also clea chat some peo. ple whose families continued to remember a sense of Manchu identity fegistered as Han in the years after 1911. The process by which this hap. ened is suggested by the story of the author Xiao Qian, who was e Mongol. Xiao Qian was born in 1910 and grew up in Beiing. From his childhood he knew that his father, who died before his birch, had been 2 Mongol, because the family had an ancestral shrine with a carved figure of a herdsman and a genealogy in Mongol script. But at schoo! Xiao Qian quickly observed that his Muslim classmates were chased and bul. lied, and even boys with southern accents were called ‘barbarian’. So he filled in his ethnicity as Han on all official forms until 1956 when he was accused of being a rightist and had to think of crimes to confess. After that he wrote “Mongo!’, but much later in his autobiogeaphy he com. tented chat he sill fle that it was truet to call him a Han, Xiao Qiat's story shows how easy it was for the highly assimilated Mancha and ‘Mongol communities living in he predominantly Han parts of China to shift to a Han identity. It also suggests some of the forces thae pulled them towards Groton of modern nationain aaa Han ethnicity and the collapse of the Qing empire: Xinjiang, Mongolia and Tibet ‘Thus within the provinces of China proper members of some highly accu turated non-Han commuritics were assimilating rapidly with the Han Chinese. However, for Manchuria, Mongolia, Xinjiang and Tibet, the non Han dependencies of the Qing empire, quite different pressures were active, Qing policy towards these areas had emphasised the separation of their communities from those of the Han, with bans on immigration, intermar- riage and even the learning of che Chinese language. In practice, the

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