Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-mkpzs Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-25T16:48:55.514Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Mapping Conservatism of the Republican Era: Genesis and Typologies

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  22 November 2019

Aymeric Xu Open the ORCID record for Aymeric Xu [Opens in a new window]
Aymeric Xu*
Affiliation:
Ecole normale superieure de Lyon
*
*Corresponding author. Email: diogoztz@gmail.com
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Chinese conservatism is often reduced to a cultural movement the main concern of which is the preservation of traditional culture. This article proposes a new framework with which to analyze modern Chinese conservatism. It identifies late Qing culturalist nationalism, which incorporates traditional culture into concrete political reforms inspired by modern Western politics, as the origin of conservatism in the Republican era. Conservatism in this period was a reaction against New Culture activists’ denial of the political utility of this culturalist nationalism and constituted a response to World War I, leading some to question the merits of Western civilization. As a result, tradition no longer unitarily evoked the cultural elements corresponding to modern Western politics. Adopting a typological approach in order to distinguish different types of conservatism by differentiating various political implications of traditional culture, it divides the Chinese conservatism of the Republican era into four typologies: liberal conservatism, antimodern conservatism, philosophical conservatism, and authoritarian conservatism.

Keywords

culturalist nationalismChinese conservatismlate QingRepublican ChinaNew Culture Movement
Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Chinese History 中國歷史學刊 , Volume 4 , Issue 1 , January 2020 , pp. 135 - 159
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2019

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

1 Clinton, Maggie, Revolutionary Nativism: Fascism and Culture in China, 1925–1937 (Durham: Duke University Press, 2017)CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Tsui, Brian, China's Conservative Revolution: The Quest for a New Order, 1927–1949 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2018)CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

2 Chunmei, Du, Gu Hongming's Eccentric Chinese Odyssey (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2019)Google Scholar.

3 Frohnen, Bruce, Virtue and the Promise of Conservatism: The Legacy of Burke and Tocqueville (Lawrence: University Press of Kansas, 1993), 38Google Scholar.

4 Disraeli, Benjamin, Coningsby, or The New Generation (Leipzig: Bernh. Tauchnitz Jun., 1844), 91Google Scholar.

5 Schwartz, Benjamin, “Notes on Conservatism in General and in China in Particular,” in The Limits of Change: Essays on Conservative Alternatives in Republican China, edited by Furth, Charlotte (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1976), 9Google Scholar.

6 Schneider, Laurence, “National Essence and the New Intelligentsia,” in The Limits of Change: Essays on Conservative Alternatives in Republican China, edited by Furth, Charlotte (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1976), 58Google Scholar.

7 Furth, Charlotte, “Culture and Politics in Modern Chinese Conservatism,” in The Limits of Change: Essays on Conservative Alternatives in Republican China, edited by Furth, Charlotte (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1976), 23–26CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

8 Chih-hung, Lin 林志宏, Minguo nai diguo ye: zhengzhi wenhua zhuanxing xia de Qing yimin 民國乃敵國也：政治文化轉型下的清遺民 (Taipei: Linking, 2009), 215–16Google Scholar.

9 Huters, Theodore, Bringing Home the World: Appropriating the West in Late Qing and Early Republican China (Honolulu: University of Hawai‘i Press, 2005), 62CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

10 Tze-ki, Hon, Revolution as Restoration (Leiden: Brill, 2013), 47–112Google Scholar.

11 Zarrow, Peter, China in War and Revolution, 1895–1949 (London: Routledge, 2005), 70Google Scholar.

12 Chevrier, Yves, “Antitradition et démocratie dans la Chine du premier XXe siècle: la culture modern et la crise d’État-nation,” in La démocratie et la Chine, edited by Delmas-Marty, Mireille and Will, Pierre-Étienne (Paris: Fayard, 2007), 392Google Scholar. Unless otherwise indicated, translations are those of the author.

13 Elias, Norbert, La civilisation des mœurs (Paris: Pocket, 2015), 107–8Google Scholar.

14 Doak, Kevin, A History of Nationalism in Modern Japan: Placing the People (Leiden: Brill, 2007), 170CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

15 Doak, A History of Nationalism in Modern Japan, 170.

16 Doak, A History of Nationalism in Modern Japan, 176.

17 Doak, A History of Nationalism in Modern Japan, 194.

18 Shigetaka, Shiga 志賀重昂, “Nihonjin ga kaihōsuru tokoro no shigi wo kokuhakusu” 日本人が懐抱する處の旨意を告白す, Nihonjin 2 (1888), 1Google Scholar.

19 Ke, Wang 王柯, “Minzu: yige laizi Riben de wuhui” 「民族」：一個來自日本的誤會, Twenty-First Century 77 (2003), 73–83Google Scholar.

20 Wuwei 無畏 (Shipei, Liu 劉師培), “Huangdi jinian lun” 黃帝紀年論 (1903), in Xinhai geming qianshinianjian shilun xuanji 辛亥革命前十年間時論選集, edited by Zhang Zhan 張枬 and Wang Renzhi 王忍之 (Beijing: Sanlian shudian, 1960), vol. 1, 721Google Scholar.

21 Huang Chunxi 黃純熙 (Huang Jie 黃節), “Guocui baocunzhuyi” 國粹保存主義 (1902), in Zhengyi congshu 政藝叢書, edited by Shen Yunlong 沈雲龍 (Taipei: Wenhai, 1976), 181.

22 Zhiheng, Xu 許之衡, “Du Guocui xuebao ganyan” 讀國粹學報感言, Guocui xuebao 6 (1905)Google Scholar.

23 Xiaoqing, Lin, “Historicizing Subjective Reality: Rewriting History in Early Republican China,” Modern China 1 (1999), 30–31Google Scholar.

24 Shi, Deng 鄧實, “Guxue fuxing lun” 古學復興論, Guocui xuebao 9 (1905)Google Scholar.

25 Jingwei, Wang 汪精衛, “Minzu de guomin” 民族的國民, Minbao 1 (1905)Google Scholar.

26 zhuren, Yinbingshi 飲冰室主人 (Liang Qichao 梁啟超), “Meiguo zhengzhi lueping” 美國政治略評, Xinmin congbao 46–48 (1904)Google Scholar, in Xinhai geming qianshinianjian shilun xuanji, vol. 2, 793.

27 Zhidong, Zhang 張之洞, Quanxue pian 勸學篇 (Zhengzhou: Zhongzhou guji, 1998), 86Google Scholar. It should be noted that Zhang Zhidong was an active proponent of late-Qing reforms and initiated a series of sociopolitical, military, and educational modernizations. However, these reforms were not implemented only to strengthen the country, but also for the purpose of maintaining the Manchu Court. For a more detailed study of Zhang Zhidong, see Xizhu, Li 李細珠, Zhang Zhidong yu Qingmo xinzheng yanjiu 張之洞與清末新政研究 (Shanghai: Shanghai shudian, 2003)Google Scholar.

28 Sihuang 思黃 (Tianhua, Chen 陳天華), “Zhongguo gemingshi lun” 中國革命史論, Minbao 1 (1905)Google Scholar.

29 Juefo 覺佛 (Xu, Gao 高旭), “Mo Di zhi xueshuo” 墨翟之學說, Juemin 7 (1903)Google Scholar.

30 Tianshi, Yang 楊天石 and Xuezhuang, Wang 王學莊, Nansheshi changbian 南社史長編 (Beijing: Zhongguo renmin daxue, 1995), 301Google Scholar

31 Zhimei, Sun 孫之梅, Nanshe yanjiu 南社研究 (Beijing: Renmin wenxue, 2003), 266Google Scholar

32 Jingwei, Wang, “Bo Xinmin congbao zuijin zhi fei geminglun” 駁新民叢報最近之非革命論, Minbao 4 (1906)Google Scholar.

33 Guanghan, Liu 劉光漢 (Liu Shipei), “Lianghan zhengzhixue faweilun diyi” 兩漢政治學發微論第一, Guocui xuebao 10 (1905)Google Scholar.

34 Shipei, Liu, Liu Shipei shixue lunzhu xuanji 劉師培史學論著選集 (Shanghai: Shanghai guji, 2006), 112–13Google Scholar.

35 Pye, Lucian, “Zhongguo minzuzhuyi yu xiandaihua” 中國民族主義與現代化, Twenty-First Century 9 (1991), 23Google Scholar.

36 Cheng, Anne, “Nationalism, Citizenship, and the Old Text / New Text Controversy in Late Nineteenth Century China,” in Imagining the People, Chinese Intellectuals and the Concept of Citizenship, 1890–1920, edited by Fogel, Joshua A. and Zarrow, Peter G. (Armonk: M.E. Sharpe, 1997), 61–81Google Scholar.

37 Veg, Sebastian, “Lu Xun and Zhang Binglin: New Culture, Conservatism and Local Tradition,” Sixiangshi 6 (2016), 153Google Scholar.

38 Lin, Minguo nai diguo ye.

39 Yihan, Gao 高一涵, “Fei junshi zhuyi” 非君師主義, Xinqingnian 6 (1918)Google Scholar.

40 Yü-sheng, Lin, The Crisis of Chinese Consciousness: Radical Antitraditionalism in the May Fourth Era (Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 1979), 29Google Scholar.

41 Si, Tang 唐俟 (Lu Xun 魯迅), “Suigan lu” 隨感錄, Xinqingnian 5 (1918)Google Scholar.

42 Duxiu, Chen 陳獨秀, “Ouxiang pohuai lun” 偶像破壞論, Xinqingnian 2 (1918)Google Scholar.

43 Duxiu, Chen, “Aiguoxin yu zijuexin” 愛國心與自覺心, Jiayin 4 (1914)Google Scholar.

44 See for example Duxiu, Chen, “Jiu sixiang yu guoti wenti” 舊思想與國體問題, Xinqingnian 3 (1917)Google Scholar.

45 He Fangyu 何方昱, Kexue shidai de renwen zhuyi: Sixiang yu shidai yuekan (1941–1948) yanjiu 科學時代的人文主義：思想與時代月刊（1941–1948）研究 (Shanghai: Shanghai shudian, 2008), 35.

46 Vincent, Jean-Philippe, Qu'est-ce que le conservatisme: histoire intellectuelle d'une idée politique (Paris: Les Belles Lettres, 2016), 20Google Scholar.

47 Fung, Edmund S.K., “The Idea of Freedom in Modern China Revisited: Plural Conceptions and Dual Responsibilities,” Modern China 4 (2006), 476Google Scholar.

48 Jilin, Xu 許紀霖, “Geren zhuyi de qiyuan—‘Wusi’ shiqi de ziwoguan yanjiu” 個人主義的起源——「五四」時期的自我觀研究, Tianjin shehui kexue 6 (2008), 113–24Google Scholar.

49 See for example Yu, Wu 吳虞, “Chiren yu lijiao” 吃人與禮教, Xinqingnian 6 (1919)Google Scholar.

50 Cangfu 傖父 (Yaquan, Du 杜亞泉), “Da Xinqingnian zazhi jizhe zhi zhiwen” 答新青年雜誌記者之質問, Dongfang zazhi 12 (1918), 14–15Google Scholar.

51 Ai 哀, “Luanshi zhi minde” 亂世之民德, Minguo ribao, Jan. 26, 1916.

52 Changhai, Guo 郭長海 and Juzhen, Jin 金菊貞, eds, Gao Xu ji 高旭集 (Beijing: Shehui kexue wenxian, 2003), 523Google Scholar.

53 Guo and Jin, Gao Xu ji, 524.

54 Cohen, G.A., Finding Oneself in the Other (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2013), 153Google Scholar.

55 Fung, Edmund S.K., The Intellectual Foundations of Chinese Modernity, Cultural and Political Thought in the Republican Era (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2010), 22–25CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

56 Mitchell, Timothy, “The Stage of Modernity,” in Questions of Modernity, edited by Mitchell, T. (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2000), 16Google Scholar.

57 Murthy, Viren, “The Politics of Fengjian in Late-Qing and Early Republican China,” in Beyond the May Fourth Paradigm: In Search of Chinese Modernity, edited by Chow, Kai-Wing et al. (Lanham: Lexington Books, 2008), 171Google Scholar.

58 Murthy, “The Politics of Fengjian in Late-Qing and Early Republican China,” 172–75.

59 Taiyan, Zhang 章太炎, “Jufen jinhualun” 俱分進化論, Minbao 7 (1906)Google Scholar.

60 Taiyan, Zhang, “Sihuolun” 四惑論, Minbao 22 (1908)Google Scholar.

61 Taiyan, Zhang, “Guojialun” 國家論, Minbao 17 (1907)Google Scholar.

62 Taiyan, Zhang, “Xianzonghe houtongyi lun” 先綜核後統一論 (1912), in Zhang Taiyan zhenglunji 章太炎政論集, edited by Zhijun, Tang 湯志鈞 (Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 1977), 552Google Scholar.

63 Zhang Taiyan, “Fanzhen lun” 藩鎮論 (1899), in Zhang Taiyan zhenglunji, 102.

64 Fan-sen, Wang 王汎森, Zhang Taiyan de sixiang (1868–1919) jiqi dui ruxuechuantong de chongji 章太炎的思想 (1868–1919) 及其對儒學傳統的衝擊 (Taipei: Shibao, 1985), 133–35Google Scholar.

65 Wang, Zhang Taiyan de sixiang (1868–1919) jiqi dui ruxuechuantong de chongji, 137.

66 Taiyan, Zhang, “Yu Zhang Xingyan lun gaige guohui shu” 與章行嚴論改革國會書, Huaguo yuekan 5 (1924)Google Scholar, in Zhang Taiyan zhenglunji, 789–90.

67 Mouloughney, Brian, “Nation, Narrative and China's New History,” in Asian Nationalism in an Age of Globalization, edited by Starrs, Roy (New York: Routledge, 2013), 216Google Scholar.

68 Yizheng, Liu 柳詒徵, Zhongguo wenhua shi 中國文化史 (Shanghai: Shanghai guji, 2001), 99Google Scholar.

69 Liu, Zhongguo wenhua shi, 90–93.

70 Relations between sovereign and officials, father and son, husband and wife, brothers and friends.

71 Yizheng, Liu, “Lun Zhongguo jinshi zhi bingyuan” 論中國近世之病源, Critical Review 3 (1922)Google Scholar.

72 Yizheng, Liu, “Huahua jianbeishi” 華化漸被史, Critical Review 16 (1923)Google Scholar.

73 Liu, Zhongguo wenhua shi, 910.

74 Liu, “Huahua jianbeishi.”

75 Yizheng, Liu, “Zhongguo xiangzhi zhi shangdezhuyi” 中國鄉治之尚德主義, Critical Review 17 (1923)Google Scholar.

76 Shizhao, Zhang 章士釗, “Zai Shanghai Jinan daxue shangke yanjiang ouyou zhi ganxiang” 在上海暨南大學商科演講歐遊之感想 (Jan. 23, 1923), in Zhang Shizhao quanji 章士釗全集, vol. 4 (Shanghai: Wenhui, 2000), 159–60Google Scholar; “Wenhua yundong yu nongcun gailiang” 文化運動與農村改良 (Oct. 8,1922), in Zhang Shizhao quanji, 144–46; “Nongcun zizhi” 農村自治 (Oct. 13, 1922), Zhang Shizhao quanji, 147–50; “Zhuzhong nongcun shenghuo” 注重農村生活 (Oct. 14, 1922), in Zhang Shizhao quanji, 151–52; “Yezhi yu nong” 業治與農 (and Aug. 12 and 13, 1923), in Zhang Shizhao quanji, 201–6.

77 Van Den Stock, Ady, The Horizon of Modernity: Subjectivity and Social Structure in New Confucian Philosophy (Leiden: Brill, 2016), 174–75CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

78 Babbitt, Irving, Democracy and Leadership (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1934), 77Google Scholar.

79 Babbitt, Irving, Literature and American College: Essays in Defense of the Humanities (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1908), 38–39Google Scholar.

80 Ryn, Claes G., Will, Imagination and Reason: Babbitt, Croce and the Problem of Reality (New Brunswick: Transaction, 1997), 150Google Scholar.

81 Babbitt, Literature and American College, 79–81.

82 Babbitt, Irving, “Humanist Education in China and the West,” Chinese Students’ Monthly 2 (Nov. 1921), 89Google Scholar.

83 Xiansu, Hu 胡先驌, “Wenxue zhi biaozhun” 文學之標準, Critical Review 31 (1924)Google Scholar.

84 Hu, “Wenxue zhi biaozhun.”

85 Hu, “Wenxue zhi biaozhun”; Chunjin, Xiao 蕭純錦, “Zhongguo tichang shehuizhuyi zhi shangque” 中國提倡社會主義之商榷, Critical Review 1 (1922)Google Scholar; Chunjin, Xiao, “Pingdeng zhenquan” 平等真詮, Critical Review 5 (1922)Google Scholar.

86 Mi, Wu 吳宓, “Yusheng suibi” 餘生隨筆, in Wu Mi shihua 1910–1964 吳宓詩話 (Beijing: Commercial Press, 2007), 25Google Scholar.

87 Babbitt, Irving, Rousseau and Romanticism (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1919), 298Google Scholar.

88 Babbitt, Literature and the American College, 6.

89 Guangdi, Mei 梅光迪, “Ping tichang xinwenhuazhe” 評提倡新文化者, Critical Review 1 (1922)Google Scholar.

90 Xiao Chunjin, “Pingdeng zhenquan.”

91 Chi-yun, Chang 張其昀, “Bolatu lixiang guo yu Zhouguan” 柏拉圖理想國與周官, Shidi xuebao 1 (1920), 1Google Scholar.

92 Junmai, Zhang 張君勱 et al. , Kexue yu renshengguan 科學與人生觀 (Jinan: Shandong renmin, 1997)Google Scholar.

93 Babbitt, “Humanist Education in China and the West,” 86.

94 Xiansu, Hu, “Shuo jinri jiaoyu zhi weiji” 說今日教育之危機, Critical Review 4 (1922)Google Scholar.

95 Hu, “Shuo jinri jiaoyu zhi weiji.”

96 Mi, Wu, “Womu zhongguo jiaoyu tan” 沃姆中國教育談, Critical Review 22 (1923)Google Scholar.

97 Xiansu, Hu, “Lüou zaji” 旅歐雜記, Critical Review 28 (1923)Google Scholar.

98 Guangdi, Mei, “Xifang zai juexing ma?” 西方在覺醒嗎？ (1926), in Mei Guangdi wenlu 梅光迪文錄, edited by Gang, Luo 羅崗 and Chen Chunyan 陳春豔 (Shenyang: Liaoning jiaoyu, 2001), 210–13Google Scholar.

99 Eastman, Lloyd E., The Abortive Revolution: China under Nationalist Rule, 1927–1937 (Cambridge: Council on East Asian Studies, Harvard University Press, 1974), 140–80CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

100 Tsui, China's Conservative Revolution.

101 Kai-shek, Chiang 蔣介石 “Xinshenghuo yundong zhi yaoyi” 新生活運動之要義 (1934), in Xian Zongtong Jianggong sixiang yanlun zongji 先總統蔣公思想言論總集, edited by Chin Hsiao-yi 秦孝儀, vol. 12 (Taipei: Zhongyang dangshi weiyuanhui, 1984), 73–74Google Scholar.

102 Wakeman, Frederic Jr., “A Revisionist View of the Nanjing Decade: Confucian Fascism,” The China Quarterly 150 (1997), 395–432CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

103 Changji, Jing 景昌極, “Shuo siwei” 說思維, Guofeng 3 (1936), 62Google Scholar.

104 Changji, Jing, “Kongzi de zhenmianmu” 孔子的真面目, Guofeng 3 (1932), 62–63Google Scholar.

105 Yudao, Lu 盧于道, “Wei shuli kexue wenhua gao guoren shu” 為樹立科學文化吿國人書, Guofeng 7 (1936), 286Google Scholar.

106 Clinton, Revolutionary Nativism, 64–97.

107 Chi-yun, Chang, “Guofang jiaoyu sijiang” 國防教育四講, Guofeng 3 (1933), 9Google Scholar.

108 Jixian, Hu 胡稷咸, “Zhanzheng zhi zhexueguan” 戰爭之哲學觀, Guofeng 12 (1936), 14–18Google Scholar.

109 Tongji, Lin 林同濟, “Li !” 力！, Zhanguoce 3 (1940)Google Scholar, in Shidai zhi bo—Zhanguoce pai wenhua lunzhu jiyao 時代之波——戰國策派文化論著輯要, edited by Wen Rumin 溫儒敏 and Ding Xiaoping 丁曉萍 (Beijing: Zhongguo guangbo dianshi, 1995), 176–79.

110 Yunkui, Tao 陶雲逵, “Liren—yige rengexin de taolun” 力人——一個人格型的討論, Zhanguoce 5 (1940)Google Scholar, in Shidai zhi bo—Zhanguoce pai wenhua lunzhu jiyao, edited by Rumin, Wen and Xiaoping, Ding (Beijing: Zhongguo guangbo dianshi, 1995), 184–94Google Scholar.

111 Tongji, Lin, “Zhanguo shidai de chongyan” 戰國時代的重演, Zhanguoce 1 (1940)Google Scholar, in Shidai zhi bo—Zhanguoce pai wenhua lunzhu jiyao, edited by Rumin, Wen and Xiaoping, Ding (Beijing: Zhongguo guangbo dianshi, 1995), 60Google Scholar.

112 Tongji, Lin, “Dafushi yu shidafu—guoshi shang de liangzhong rengexing” 大夫士與士大夫——國史上的兩種人格型, Zhanguoce 17 (1941)Google Scholar, in Shidai zhi bo—Zhanguoce pai wenhua lunzhu jiyao, 65.

113 Sanmu 散木, Xiandai xueren mi'an 現代學人謎案 (Taipei: Showwe, 2011), 175Google Scholar.

114 He, Kexue shidai de renwen zhuyi, 57.

115 Chevrier, “Antitradition et démocratie dans la Chine du premier XXe siècle,” 392.

116 Weber, Eugen, “Ambiguous Victories,” Journal of Contemporary History 13 (1978), 823CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

117 Lin, Minguo nai diguo ye. It should be underlined that the differentiation between conservatism and reactionism cannot be solely made on the “philosophical” level, but also from a sociohistorical perspective. Conservative, reactionary, or even feudal, were often used interchangeably by the New Culturalists to disparage the conservatives. This issue, however significant, goes beyond the scope of this article. See, for example, Doleželová-Velingerová, Milena, Král, Oldřich, and Sanders, Graham, The Appropriation of Cultural Capital: China's May Fourth Project (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2001)CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

118 Chevrier, Yves, “La démocratie introuvable (1915–1937),” in La démocratie et la Chine, edited by Delmas-Marty, Mireille and Will, Pierre-Étienne (Paris: Fayard, 2007), 474–81Google Scholar.

119 Ying-shih, Yü 余英時, “Zhongguo zhishifenzi de bianyunhua” 中國知識分子的邊緣化, Twenty-First Century 15 (2003), 15–25Google Scholar.