The re-examination of Chiang Kai-shek's returning virtue for malice policy towards Japan after the victory of the Anti-Japanese War

After victory in the Anti-Japanese War, Chiang Kai-shek issued the famous radio speech “Letter to Soldiers and Civilians of the Whole Nation as well as the Peoples of the World after the Victory of the Anti-Japanese War.” The main idea of this speech was long interpreted as “returning virtue for malice” (or “good for evil”), a basic principle of the Kuomintang's policy towards Japan. Many scholars who have considered the returning virtue for malice policy in the postwar period include the following major issues: first, China repatriated Japanese prisoners of war and the Japanese diaspora with mercy; second, China allowed the Tenno, or imperial, system to be preserved in Japan; third, China did not participate in the occupation of Japan; and fourth, China gave up the right to ask for war reparations from Japan. This article examines the above four issues to reevaluate the returning virtue for malice policy. The first issue seems to reflect the Chinese national character of being lenient with others. However, it was in fact due to Chiang's anti-Communist strategy and the declared policy of the United States of eradicating Japan's influence in China. With regard to the second issue, Chiang's attitude was merely to let the Japanese people make their own choice, while the fate of the Japanese Tenno system was entirely determined by the US occupation authority, on which Chiang had little influence. The third issue was mainly the outcome of Chiang's focus on domestic political struggle in the postwar era in China. As for war reparations, China actually made efforts to obtain them in the beginning, but had to give up its right eventually. The decision-making process in the Kuomintang government was restrained by American policy and subordinated to Japanese pressure. Thus, it is not persuasive to summarize the basic principle of Kuomintang postwar policy towards Japan as returning virtue for malice.     

Soviet–Japanese relations and the strategic interests of the Guomindang and the CCP – Chiang Kai‐shek's planning of sanctions against the CCP in 1943

When in 1943 the Guomindang launched its third wave of anti‐communist campaigns, Mao Zedong considered that Chiang Kai‐shek had acted in the belief that Japan would soon invade the Soviet Union. Hitherto, Chinese historians have either ignored Mao's judgment or failed to provide convincing explanations for it. There are two reasons for this attitude: first, historians have failed to appreciate the strategic implications of the relationship between the Soviet Union and Japan for relations between the Guomindang and the Chinese Communist Party (CCP); and second, relevant evidence regarding the events has not been available in document on Chiang. This essay answers questions raised by both points. Most commentators have claimed that this third anti‐Communist push ended by the middle or late July of 1943. However, Chiang in fact continued to make plans to mop up Shaanbei (the Communist‐controlled northern Shaanxi area) and impose sanctions on the Communists. The formulation, revision and eventual abandonment of Chiang's plans are also addressed in this essay.     

差异何其大——台湾时代蒋介石与胡适对彼此间交往的记录

蒋介石与胡适的关系为学术界所乐道,甚至被赋予诸多象征意义.1949年国民党政权逃台后的蒋胡关系,既是大陆时代的延续,也有在台湾时空环境下新的特点.蒋介石在台湾时期日记的开放,为研究二人关系提供了全新的资料.蒋介石与胡适均记载了他们交往的经过与彼此观感,但相异甚大,往往是"一个事件,各自表述".蒋介石在日记中痛骂胡适与在公开场合下对胡的"礼遇"形成鲜明的对比,背后的玄机,令人深思.     

Chiang Kai-shek’s faith in Christianity: the trial of the Stilwell Incident

Chiang Kai-shek’s faith in Christianity has long been a controversial issue. Some have held that his faith was genuine while others have claimed that it was merely a posture to curry favor with the Americans. Now that the Hoover Institution has released Chiang Kai-shek’s diaries, historians are in a better position to explore this long-ignored part of Chiang’s life. This paper will examine Chiang’s faith as it developed during the Stilwell Incident, the most serious crisis of US–China military cooperation during World War II. While facing American pressure to grant military command to General Joseph W. Stilwell, Chiang reveals in his diaries how he relied on his faith in the Bible, how he interpreted the Bible, and how he applied his understanding of the Bible to his political decision making. An examination of Chiang’s diary during this crisis will help us understand his practical relationship with Christianity, which in turn will provide insight into Chiang’s attitudes and methods in dealing with the Stilwell Incident.     

‘The Old Woman as Hare’: Structure and Meaning in an Irish Legend

This paper looks at the St Kitts and Nevis Mummies' plays as published in Folklore by Roger Abrahams (1968). It demonstrates that the texts were originally taken from a play published by the Victorian children's author Mrs J.H. Ewing. This play appeared in several editions, most notably in two series issued by the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge. Mrs Ewing's text was itself compiled from three northern English chapbook texts and a version from Silverton, Devon. The relative contribution of these texts to Mrs Ewing's play, and the way she put them together, are both explored.     

Between left and right: cooperation and the split between Yu Qiaqing and the CPC during the era of the Northern Expedition

During the Northern Expedition, the Communist Party of China (CPC) had close contact with certain businessmen; one of these was Yu Qiaqing of Shanghai, who played a role in the background of the Three Armed Uprisings of Shanghai Workers. Because of this contact, Yu Qiaqing was regarded as a leading figure of the leftist bourgeoisie. He was also considered an important collaborator with the provisional municipal government after these uprisings. However, his cooperation with the CPC did not jeopardize his alliance with the Nationalist Party. When Chiang Kai-shek, an old friend of his, arrived in Shanghai, Yu soon turned himself into one of Chiang's financial advisors. Although it is hard to argue that Yu Qiaqing's behavior was representative of most businessmen's party preferences, it does demonstrate that some businessmen had a profiteering attitude in politics and were open to taking advantage of the nexus between politics and business. Influenced by the political context and situation, the CPC was also able to flexibly apply its “class analysis” theory during that time to justify the policy of cooperating with people like Yu Qiaqing. However, the failure of cooperation with the bourgeoisie by 1927 became an excuse for opposing factions within the party to criticize this policy, and even affected the CPC's subsequent policy line afterwards.     

Chiang Kai-shek's reading: an inquiry based on Chiang's diary, 1920s–1940s

At different times of his life, Chiang Kai-shek entertained three different images of himself: saint, hero and revolutionary guru. The orientation of his reading roughly corresponded with these roles: to be a saint, he emphasized moral learning and self-improvement; to be a hero, he stressed military strategy and politics; and to be the guru for a revolution, he had an enduring interest in the histories of revolutions in other nations. He seldom took an interest in books about knowledge, leisure or entertainment, which had little connection with these three roles. Chiang was closer to a traditional Chinese intellectual than to his predecessor Dr. Sun Yat-sen in his knowledge structure, value orientation and behaviour codes. Although Mao Zedong was as devoted to old Chinese books as Chiang, Mao preferred history and classical literature while Chiang preferred Confucian classics. Mao read old books from a historical materialist point of view, whereas Chiang synthesized “Three Principles of the People” (Sanmin zhuyi) with Confucian doctrines.     

Retrospect and prospect of overseas studies on Chiang Kai-shek and related topics

Mr Chiang Kai-shek is a key historical figure of twentieth century China. The studies of his life and thought have attracted many scholars' attention during his lifetime as well as after his death in 1975. In recent years, along with the opening of the archives of Academia Historica, the Chronological Events (Shilue gaoben), and the Diary of Chiang Kai-shek, once again the topic of Chiang has become a focus among China scholars who study the Republican period. Besides numerous conferences and workshops recently held in Taipei, Beijing, Hangzhou, and other cities in both mainland China and Taiwan, academic circles in America, Europe, and Japan have also held some seminars regarding Chiang Kai-shek. The current overseas studies on Chiang Kai-shek can be divided into two groupings geographically: the Euro–American group and the Japanese group. These two groups, plus those from Taiwan and Mainland China, have formed the four most important academic traditions. In spite of their different views and ideologies, these four are able to influence each other and even to come to similar conclusions. These can be summarized as a more positive image of Chiang whose major achievements include fighting the Japanese in WWII and building a modern China in various ways. This paper, relying on overseas research results, will try to help researchers understand the current situation of studies on Chiang Kai-shek in the world so as to lay a better academic foundation for their own further studies. However, because of all kinds of limitations, this paper will rely mostly on the research achievements of English and Japanese works. Research works in other languages and from other regions will have to wait for later efforts.     

Roland Barthes's Soirées de Paris : An alternative view of Parisian night life

This article concerns Roland Barthes's posthumously published Soirées de Paris , a text comprising a series of diary entries dating from the period shortly before the author's death. The article discusses the critical reception of this work in terms of two extreme positions; the first is that the publication of this text is an immoral act of voyeurism, whilst the second is that this text reveals the 'true' homosexual Barthes who was for so long repressed. The article does not concur with either of these views, but argues instead that Barthes's Soirées de Paris does not break radically with his previously published works, but rather develops and continues many of the main themes of his earlier writings, in particular the autobiographical preoccupations to which he had recently turned.     

The basic structure of Chiang Kai-shek's diplomatic strategy

As a leader of the Republic of China, Chiang Kai-shek carried on Sun Yat-sen's legacy of using diplomacy as a force in the modern era and planned to rely on diplomacy to revise China's unequal treaties with foreign powers. Chiang elaborated on Sun's ideas and maintained that diplomacy as a war without battles worked more effectively than wars with battles. Faced with the threat of Japanese invasion, he upheld the strategy of using one foreign country to control another. He expected the outbreak of a war between Japan and the Soviet Union or between Japan and the United States so that a war between Japan and China could be avoided. Chiang engaged in active diplomacy aimed at turning these expectations into reality. His diplomatic strategy had an impact during the Anti-Japanese War.     

蒋介石与宋明理学

本文通过对《蒋介石日记》的解读与论证,从新的角度证明了“宋明理学”对蒋介石的道德取向、人格塑造及思想理念的潜在影响。     

Localizing the Reynolds case: a comparison of two American military atrocities in the Far East in Cold War 1957

ABSTRACT

This paper’s main focus is the case of the killing of Chinese citizen Liu Ziran by the American soldier Robert G. Reynolds in Taipei on March 20, 1957. Following this unfortunate event, a United States court-martial was inappropriately held in Taiwan. Reynolds’ acquittal provoked a violent response from the Chinese people. The riot on May 24, 1957, is best interpreted within a framework of nationalism rather than Cold War discourse. That same year, in the Girard case, another American soldier killed a Japanese woman in Japan. Due to the unequal positions of Taiwan and Japan in US Cold War strategy, these two killings were handled differently and led to dissimilar reactions. Washington viewed Taipei as somewhat of a troublemaker rather than a reliable ally and expressed great suspicion of Chiang Kai-shek and his eldest son, Chiang Ching-kuo. The US government had already declined to support Chiang Kai-shek’s plan for parachute raids in China. Meanwhile, Chiang’s authoritarian regime created a hotbed for the outbreak of nationalism. The people of Taiwan experienced a “pawn complex” and, in the Reynolds case, gave vent to accumulated ideological and social pressures.     

美国与1966年联合国中国代表权问题

1964年以后,国际社会支持中国恢复在联合国席位的力量日益增强。在1966年联合国关于中国代表权问题的讨论中,为阻止中国进入联合国,美国投入了极大的精力。在这一过程中,美国及其盟国和蒋介石集团发生了尖锐的矛盾,经过讨价还价,美国在盟国的压力下作了相应的让步,美蒋最终达成妥协,中国仍然被排除在联合国之外。     

Lewis Harcourt's Journal of the 1914 War Crisis

Lewis Harcourt, who was Colonial Secretary in Britain's Liberal government, from 1908 to 1915, kept a political journal for many years, some earlier parts of which have already been published. Reproduced below is the whole neat version of the journal from 26 July 1914, when Harcourt first mentions the events of the ‘July Crisis’, until 4 August, when Britain declared war on Germany. Originals of the entries are kept at the Bodleian Library, Oxford in file Ms. Eng. c. 8269 of the ‘Further Papers of Lewis Harcourt’, which only came to light in 2008. Historians can be grateful that Harcourt kept such a record of ministerial discussions during the July Crisis, because no official records were taken of Cabinet meetings before 1916, apart from short reports by the Prime Minister to the King. There are some diary entries, letters and memoranda from those involved, but the only source with comparative detail to Harcourt's is the diary kept by the education minister, Jack Pease, which has already been published.     

中美关系史上一件"谜案"的历史考察 --"罗斯福下令史迪威除掉蒋介石之说"辨析

近年来,开罗会议期间罗斯福指令史迪威清除蒋介石的说法出现于国内许多论著中.本文从罗斯福对华政策、开罗会议期间罗斯福与蒋介石关系、美在华中国通对蒋介石的态度等方面对这一说法进行了辨析,指出开罗会议期间罗斯福指令史迪威干掉蒋介石的说法纯属子虚乌有.     

《四库全书》载《图绘宝鉴》底本考原

四库全书辑入的《图绘宝鉴》是一部重要的古代画史作,其内容与本书其他重要版本多有不同,使研究颇感困惑。通过对四库本与正德本、津逮秘书本及借绿草堂本等版本的比较,发现四库本的底本孔府本并非正德本,而应是嘉靖本或其增补本毛大伦本：并同时推论出嘉靖本的底本是正德本的一个残本。     

Balance of Power and Political Equilibrium: A Response

This article analyses the international thought of the US sinologist and political advisor Owen Lattimore (1900–89). A well-known expert on China and the Far East, Lattimore was a ‘public intellectual’ and advisor to Chiang Kai-shek and Franklin D. Roosevelt. In 1950, after Senator Joseph McCarthy accused him of Soviet espionage, Lattimore's reputation was irrevocably damaged and his political thought forgotten. By assessing his visions of global democracy and geopolitics, this article claims Lattimore made insightful contributions to international thought. On the eve of the cold war, Lattimore's ideas of pluralistic democracy and tripolar world order offered an alternative vision of the post-war era, focusing on political participation and diversity. This article focuses on Lattimore's published writings in the 1940s, when, as political advisor and director of the Johns Hopkins’ Page School of International Relations, he sought to shift international attention from Europe to the Far East as the potential birthplace of a new version of post-colonial democracy. A fervent anti-imperialist, Lattimore crafted new political space for global democracy in a post-imperial age. His thoughtful discussion of participation, co-operation, democracy, knowledge, and pluralism make his vision of world order an interesting contribution to international thought in the twentieth century.     

论蒋介石与抗战期间的军事会议

在长达八年的抗日战争中,随着国际反法西斯战争形势与中国正面战场抗击日军的历次会战态势的变化,蒋介石连续召开一系列军事会议,制定并调整了对日作战方针,检讨了各次会战,策定了相应的战略战术,从中反映出蒋介石对形势的估计、对敌我双方军队的认识等,比较能够符合实情,也产生了一定的积极作用。但从总体上讲,蒋介石的话是“耳边风”,一吹就过,对国民党军队的劣根性改造无济于事。     

Beyond the carrot and stick: the political economy of US military aid to China, 1945–1951

By applying the rent-seeking assumption and sifting through both the archival materials and published historical documents, this article revisits the US–China relationship during the Chinese Civil War (1946–1949) and the early Cold War period, when the United States was caught in the conundrum of aiding the Chinese Nationalists led by Chiang Kai-shek. As military aid is usually regarded as an important representation of broader economic aid, this research mainly concentrates on the US military assistance to postwar Nationalist China. This topic is important, as it signifies a direct American involvement in the Chinese Civil War, when the influence of the United States in postwar world politics was overwhelmingly predominant. As a result, postwar Chinese history might be reevaluated in a broader global postwar context. In addition, this article also tells the story about rent-seeking behaviors in the complicated US–China military relations during the early Cold War period at both micro and macro levels. When it came to US military assistance to China, the formulation of policy was perennially in the name of one's best interest.