Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-dzt6s Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-29T06:36:44.026Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

How Chinese Turkestan Became Chinese: Visualizing Zhang Zhizhong's Tianshan Pictorial and Xinjiang Youth Song and Dance Troupe

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 May 2008

Get access

Abstract

In 1944, a rebellion in China's northwestern Xinjiang Province prompted Chiang Kai-shek to send his most trusted lieutenant, Zhang Zhizhong, to negotiate with the rebels and to attempt to consolidate Nationalist China's hold over the perennially restive frontier province. Zhang's innovative adaptation of tested Soviet models of minority representation tapped into and reinterpreted a long tradition of established cultural paradigms for digesting and representing the internal “other” within China. The most visible and widely disseminated projects that Zhang sponsored in the waning days of Nationalist China represent a determined eleventh-hour propaganda attempt to integrate the seldom-seen Central Asian frontier into the greater conception of a unified Chinese republic. This effort also marks one of the earliest instances of the Chinese state attempting to employ mass propaganda media to disseminate—among a large and diverse audience—a modified version of established modes of ethnic representation previously in currency only among a limited subsection of elite and official society.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © The Association for Asian Studies, Inc. 2008

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

List of References

Abdulla, Abduraxman. 2006. Taşkäntçilär [Tashkent sojourners]. Ürümçi: Şinjañ uniwersiteti näşriyati.Google Scholar
Bao-er-han, 包爾漢 [Burhan Shahidi]. 1953. Wei Han E cidian 維漢俄辭典 [Uighur–Chinese–Russian dictionary]. Beijing: Minzu chubanshe.Google Scholar
Bao-er-han, 包爾漢 [Burhan Shahidi]. 1984. Xinjiang wushi nian 新疆五十年 [Xinjiang: Fifty years]. Beijing: Wenshi ziliao chubanshe.Google Scholar
Baranovitch, Nimrod. 2003. “From the Margins to the Centre: The Uyghur Challenge in Beijing.” China Quarterly 175:726–50.Google Scholar
Benson, Linda. 1990. The Ili Rebellion: The Moslem Challenge to Chinese Authority in Xinjiang, 1944–1949. Armonk, N.Y.: M. E. Sharpe.Google Scholar
Benson, Linda. 1991. “Uyghur Politicians of the 1940s: Mehmet Emin Bugra, Isa Yusuf Alptekin and Mesut Sabri.” Central Asian Survey 10 (4): 87113.Google Scholar
Benson, Linda. 1992. “Ahmetjan Kasimi: A Chinese Paradigm for a Uygur Cultural Hero.” Central Asian Survey 11 (3): 2349.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Benson, Linda. 1993. “A Much-Married Woman: Marriage and Divorce in Xinjiang, 1850–1950.” Muslim World 83 (3–4): 227–45.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Boorman, Howard L., ed. 1971. Biographical Dictionary of Republican China. New York: Columbia University Press.Google Scholar
Bovingdon, Gardner. 2001. “The History of the History of Xinjiang.” Twentieth-Century China 26 (2): 95139.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cesaro, M. Cristina. 2000. “Consuming Identities: Food and Resistance among the Uyghur in Contemporary Xinjiang.” Inner Asia 2:225–38.Google Scholar
Kai-shek, Chiang. 1947. China's Destiny and Chinese Economic Theory. Notes and commentary by Philip Jaffe. New York: Roy.Google Scholar
Duara, Prasenjit. 1995. Rescuing History from the Nation: Questioning Narratives of Modern China. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Eliyowa, Päridä. 1988. “Şinjañ sänätçiliriniñ tunji qetim içki ölkilarni sayahät qilişi” [The first time that performers from Xinjiang traveled to the inner provinces]. In Şinjañ tarix materiyalliri [Xinjiang historical materials], vol. 24, ed. Juñgo xälq siyasiy mäslihät keñişi and Şinjañ Uyğur aptonom rayon komiteti tarix materiyalliri tätqiqat häyiti, 239–49. Ürümçi: Şinjañ hälq näşriyati.Google Scholar
Fan, Changjiang 范長江. 1937. Zhongguo de xibeijiao; Sai shang xing 中國的西北角; 塞上行 [The northwest corner of China; Frontier travels]. Vol. 70. Minguo congshu [Collected works of Republican China]. Shanghai: Shanghai shudian, 1991.Google Scholar
Forbes, Andrew D. W. 1986. Warlords and Muslims in Chinese Central Asia: A Political History of Republican Sinkiang 19111949. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Gao, James Z. 2007. “The Call of the Oases: The ‘Peaceful Liberation’ of Xinjiang, 1949–53.” In Dilemmas of Victory: The Early Years of the People's Republic of China, ed. Brown, Jeremy and Pickowicz, Paul G., 184204. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gladney, Dru C. 1994. “Representing Nationality in China: Refiguring Majority/Minority Identities.” Journal of Asian Studies 53 (1): 92123.Google Scholar
Gladney, Dru C. 2003. Dislocating China: Muslims, Minorities, and Other Subaltern Subjects. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Goldstein, Joshua. 1999. “Mei Lanfang and the Nationalization of the Peking Opera, 1912–1930.” Positions: East Asia Cultures Critique 7 (2): 377420.Google Scholar
Grieder, Jerome B. 1970. Hu Shih and the Chinese Renaissance: Liberalism in the Chinese Revolution, 1917–1937. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Harris, Rachel. 2005. “Wang Luobin: Folk Song King of the Northwest or Song Thief? Copyright, Representation, and Chinese Folk Songs.” Modern China 31 (3): 381408.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hostetler, Laura. 2001. Qing Colonial Enterprise: Ethnography and Cartography in Early Modern China. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Hostetler, Laura. 2006. “Introduction: Early Modern Ethnography in Comparative Historical Perspective.” In The Art of Ethnography: A Chinese “Miao Album,” trans. Deal, David M. and Hostetler, Laura, xviilxvii. Seattle: University of Washington Press.Google Scholar
Kai, Lei 開壘. 1947. “Xinjiang gewutuan canguan ben baoji” 新彊歌舞團參觀本報記 [Xinjiang dance troupe visits Central Daily's editorial room]. Zhongyang ribao, December 18, 4.Google Scholar
Kang-ba-er-han, 康巴尔汉 [Qambarkhan]. 1985. “Wo de wudao yishu shengya” 我的舞 蹈艺术生涯 [My life in dance and art]. In Wenshi ziliao xuanji 文史资料选集 [Selections of historical materials], vol. 100, ed. Zhongguo renmin zhengzhi xieshang huiyi quanguo weiyuanhui and Wenshi ziliao yanjiu weiyuanhui, 205–41. Beijing: Wenshi ziliao chubanshe.Google Scholar
Kim, Hodong. 2004. Holy War in China: The Muslim Rebellion and State in Chinese Central Asia, 1864 1877. Stanford, Calif.: Stanford University Press.Google Scholar
Leibold, James. 2006. “Competing Narratives of Racial Unity in Republican China: From the Yellow Emperor to Peking Man.” Modern China 32 (2): 181220.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lutz, Catherine A., and Collins, Jane L.. 1993. Reading National Geographic. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Junxiang, Ma 馬軍驤. 1993. “Minzu zhuyi suo suzao de xiandai zhongguo dianying” 民 族主義所塑造的現代中國電影 [Nationalism in the creation of modern Chinese cinema]. Ershiyi shiji, no. 15:112–19.Google Scholar
Martin, Terry. 2001. The Affirmative Action Empire: Nations and Nationalism in the Soviet Union, 1923–1939. Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell University Press.Google Scholar
Millward, James A. 1994. “A Uyghur Muslim in Qianlong's Court: The Meaning of the Fragrant Concubine.” Journal of Asian Studies 53 (2): 427–58.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Millward, James A. 1998. Beyond the Pass: Economy, Ethnicity, and Empire in Qing Central Asia, 1759–1864. Stanford, Calif.: Stanford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Millward, James A. 2007. Eurasian Crossroads: A History of Xinjiang. New York: Columbia University Press.Google Scholar
Newby, L. J. 1999. “The Chinese Literary Conquest of Xinjiang.” Modern China 25 (4): 451–74.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Perdue, Peter C. 2005. China Marches West: The Qing Conquest of Central Eurasia. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Qing, Hui 清輝. 1947. “Jiang Yalun zaisong jiabin: Xinjiang gewutuan you Pujiang” 江 亞輪載送佳賓, 新彊歌舞團遊浦江 [Jiang Yalun escorts distinguished guests, Xinjiang dance troupe visits the Pu River]. Zhongyang ribao, December 15, 8.Google Scholar
Qing, Yuan 青原. 1947. “Jie wenhua yishu de jiaoliu cu minzu ganqing de ronghe: Ji Xinjiang qingnian gewu fangwentuan” 藉文化藝術的交流促民族感情的融和: 記新彊青年歌舞訪問團 [Promoting harmonious ethnic feelings through cultural and artistic exchanges: A visit by the Xinjiang Youth Song and Dance Troupe]. Xibei tongxun 9:1416.Google Scholar
Rouland, Michael. 2005. “Creating a Cultural Nation: Aleksandr Zataevich in Kazakhstan.” Comparative Studies of South Asia, Africa and the Middle East 25 (3): 533–53.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schein, Louisa. 2000. Minority Rules: The Miao and the Feminine in China's Cultural Politics. Durham, N.C.: Duke University Press.Google Scholar
Schneider, Laurence A. 1971. Ku Chieh-kang and China's New History: Nationalism and the Quest for Alternative Traditions. Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press.Google Scholar
Schwarz, Henry G. 1992. An Uyghur–English Dictionary. Bellingham: Western Washington University.Google Scholar
Nian, Shi 士年. 1947. “Kan Xinjiang gewutuan biaoyan” 看新彊歌舞團表演 [Viewing a Xinjiang dance troupe performance]. Zhongyang ribao, November 11, 3.Google Scholar
Shi, Wei 史偉. 1947. “Ying Xinjiang gewutuan” 迎新彊歌舞團 [Welcoming the Xinjiang dance troupe]. Zhongyang ribao, November 9, 8.Google Scholar
näşriyati, Şinjañ hälq ed. 1988. Bizniñ ussulçilirimiz [Our dancers]. Ürümçi: Şinjañ hälq näşriyati.Google Scholar
Spence, Jonathan D. 1999. The Search for Modern China. 2nd ed.New York: W. W. Norton.Google Scholar
Strassberg, Richard E., ed. 2002. A Chinese Bestiary: Strange Creatures from the Guideways through Mountains and Seas. Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Teng, Emma Jinhua. 2004. Taiwan's Imagined Geography: Chinese Colonial Travel Writing and Pictures, 1683–1895. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Tianshan huabao 天山画報 [Tianshan Pictorial]. 1947. Nos. 13. Shanghai: Xibei wenhua jianshe xiehui chubanshe.Google Scholar
Townsend, James. 1992. “Chinese Nationalism.” Australian Journal of Chinese Affairs 27:97130.Google Scholar
Wang, David D. 1999a. Clouds over Tianshan: Essays on Social Disturbance in Xinjiang in the 1940s. Copenhagen: Nordic Institute of Asian Studies.Google Scholar
Wang, David D. 1999b. Under the Soviet Shadow: The Yining Incident: Ethnic Conflicts and International Rivalry in Xinjiang, 1944–1949. Hong Kong: Chinese University Press.Google Scholar
Wang, Meitang. 1998. “‘Tianshan yuekan’ yu Tianshan xuehui kaoshu” 天山月刊与天 山学会考述 [A study on the Tianshan Monthly and the Tianshan Educational Society]. Xinjiang daxue xuebao 26 (1): 102–4.Google Scholar
Whiting, Allen S., and Shih-ts'ai, Sheng 1958. Sinkiang: Pawn or Pivot? East Lansing: Michigan State University Press.Google Scholar
Xiao, Yun 小芸. 1947a. “Shoudu wenhuajie relie zhaodai Xinjiang qingnian gewu fangwentuan” 首都文化界熱烈招待新彊青年歌舞訪問團 [Beijing's cultural community enthusiastically entertains the Xinjiang Youth Song and Dance Troupe]. Zhongyang ribao, November 2, 8.Google Scholar
Xiao, Yun. 1947b. “Xinjiang gewutuan zai Nanjing” 新彊哥舞團在南京 [Xinjiang dance troupe in Nanjing]. Zhongyang ribao, October 31, 8.Google Scholar
She, Xin 辛涉. 1999. “Wei-wu-er wudaojia Kang-ba-er-han” 维吾尔舞蹈家康巴尔汗 [The Uighur dancer Qambarkhan]. In 20 shiji Xinjiang tupian jishi: wangshi huimou 20 世纪新疆图片纪实: 往事回眸 [A pictorial record of twentieth-century Xinjiang: Looking back to the past], vol. 4, ed. Tianzhong, Tang 唐天中, 4550. Wulumuqi: Xinjiang meishu sheying chubanshe.Google Scholar
Yang, Cunbin 扬村彬. 1982. Qinggong waishi 清宫外史 [An informal history of the Qing court]. Vol. 1. Beijing: Zhongguo xiju chubanshe.Google Scholar
Zhanbang, Yu 余湛邦. 1991. Zhang Zhizhong yu Zhongguo gongchandang: Zhang Zhizhong jiyao mishu huiyilu 张治中与中国共产党: 张治中机要秘书回忆录 [Zhang Zhizhong and the Chinese Communist Party: Memoirs of Zhang Zhizhong's confidential secretary]. Beijing: Zhonggong zhongyang dangxiao chubanshe.Google Scholar
Yunus, Tursunay. 2004. Ussul Peşwasi Qämbärxanim [Qambarkhan: Trailblazer of dance]. Ürümçi: Şinjañ hälq näşriyati.Google Scholar
Zhang, Zhizhong 张治中. 1947. “Dilemma in Sinkiang.” Pacific Affairs 20 (4): 422–29.Google Scholar
Zhang, Zhizhong 张治中. 1985. Zhang Zhizhong huiyi lu 张治中回忆录 [Memoirs of Zhang Zhizhong]. 2 vols. Beijing: Wenshi ziliao chubanshe.Google Scholar
Zhongyang ribao 中央日報 (上海版) [Central Daily, Shanghai edition]. 1947a. “Huanying Xinjiang gewutuan” 歡迎新彊歌舞團 [Welcoming the Xinjiang dance troupe], December 6, 4.Google Scholar
Zhongyang ribao 中央日報 (上海版) [Central Daily, Shanghai edition]. 1947b. “Sanshi wei tuanyuan da hechang, wudao jiqi zhangsheng relie” 三十位 團員大合唱, 舞蹈繼起掌聲熱烈 [Thirty troupe members sing ensemble, dance brings enthusiastic applause], November 11, 3.Google Scholar
Zhongyang ribao 中央日報 (上海版) [Central Daily, Shanghai edition]. 1947c. “Xinjiang geyongtuan shoupi zuo di jing” 新彊歌詠團首批昨抵京 [First batch of Xinjiang dance troupe members arrive in capital yesterday], October 26, 2.Google Scholar