Abstract
With chief editor Huang Pingsun , founded in October 1935 at No. B-1, Renhe Road in Hangzhou (now near the Eastern & Gold Building, No. 131, Jiefang Road, Hangzhou), having ceased in April 1937 (Issue 4, Vol. 2), Yue Feng (the first volume was fortnightly, and it was changed to monthly after Vol. 2; it ceased many times during its publication. In this book, they are collectively referred to as Yue Feng) is of great significance in research on the modern literary and ideological history in the primary stage of the War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression. Although it was published in Hangzhou, Zhejiang, it had a brief national effect.
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Notes
- 1.
In the “60th Collection of Modern Chinese Historical Periodicals Continuation”, edited by Shen Yunlong and published by Taiwan Wenhai Publishing House, Vol. 1 of Yue Feng was photocopied, but Vol. 2 was not photocopied, which was composed of 4 issues. The material studied here contains all issues of Vol. 2 of Yue Feng, excluding its supplement West Lake.
- 2.
There is a description of Huang Pingsun in The Complete Works of Lu Xun in the 1981 Edition: “(Huang) was born in 1902 in Hangzhou, Zhejiang. In 1933, he asked Luxun for an inscription through Yu Dafu , and Lu Xun wrote him a Wujue poem. In 1935, he published the poem on the cover of the journal when he edited Yue Feng to swindle through false pretenses. In 1936, he repeatedly wrote to Lu Xun to solicit contributions, but Lu Xun denied him.” This, in turn, is based on Xu Guangping ’s rebuke to Huang Pingsun: “I told him that the guy (Huang Pingsun) claimed to be young and asked Lu Xun to write on his behalf. Where a youth was in need, Lu Xun would make all possible efforts to help. But shortly after the piece was sent, Lu Xun's words were published on a magazine cover, and this magazine was for Chiang Kai-shek . When Lu Xun recognized that such a nasty person used his words to deceive readers, he was very resentful, and his feeling of resentment is still etched in my mind” [2]. In fact, when the manuscript was published, Lu Xun had died of an illness, so he would not have been “resentful” when seeing the journal. There is no doubt that Xu Guangping here framed Huang Pingsun.
- 3.
“Postscript”. Yue Feng, 1935.10.16, 1(1).
- 4.
Before 1949, there were few disputes on whether Yue Fei , Wen Tianxiang and others were “patriotic heroes” or “national heroes”. Although Sun Yat-sen put forth a grand national view of “republicanism of five nationalities”, the stories of Yue Fei and Wen Tianxiang were rewarmed due to the need to fight the Japanese. Here, I consider only the appraisal of Yue Fei For example, in 1928, the National Government issued temples reserving or abolishing standards; among 12 officially conferred historical figures, there was only one military officer, Yue Fei, who fought against the invasion. During the War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression, there were numerous dramas, operas and biographies about Yue Fei. Mao Zedong also praised Yue Fei for his contribution in On the Protracted War. Yue Fei was widely disputed in 1951, shortly after 1949, when the P.R.C was founded. With establishment of the new regime and implementation of the new national policies, whether Yue Fei was a national hero was hotly debated in many articles. Representative papers include Xing ’s [7, 8], Qin ’s [9], Yuan ’s [10], Chen ’s [11], and Ai ’s [12]. Participants included some famous scholars such as Xing Hanlan , Qin Wenxi, Chen Tianqi, and Ai Siqi. Extensive discussions at a high level on “whether Yue Fei was a ‘national hero/patriot’ were never seen before, so we can see the influence and force of the national policies of the new regime. In these articles, criticisms against Yue Fei focused mostly on his attitude of “fool loyalty” and acts to defend the decline of the feudal dynasty. The identity of Yue Fei and Wen Tianxiang as “national heroes” was in doubt in 2002 after 50 years. Beijing Youth Daily published an article “Yue Fei Was not a National Hero”, saying the identity of Yue Fei and Wen Tianxiang as a national hero would be removed from history teaching outlines for elementary and secondary schools. The article triggered a public outcry after it was published and all sectors of society criticized the move. Under great pressure, the Ministry of Education modified it in the officially issued Learning Guidance, saying “some scholars said that considering Yue Fei as a national hero would affect some nations”. However, the incident subsequently disappeared into obscurity.
- 5.
In fact, Chinese intellectuals were more foresighted on the issue of “national salvation” than officials. The continuous debates about “foresight” and “hindsight” constituted countless controversies between “reform” and “conservativeness” in the modern history of China. During the period from the Opium War to 1949, almost after every war resisting foreign aggression, a group of elite intellectuals were acutely aware of the national crises brought by the war, but they were deliberately ignored by officials. For example, after the First Opium War, Lin Zexu and Wei Yuan proposed a strategy of “trade war to save the nation” when the Treaty of Nanking was signed, but it was not adopted by the official; after the Second Opium War (The Arrow War) that led to the signing of the Treaty of Tientsin, Feng Guifen , Hua Hengfang , Xu Shou , and a group of intellectuals who had studied overseas proposed to train talent and introduce the Western political system. However, these ideas were only partially accepted by the central Government and Westernization Group officials, but the rest were not accepted and were just subjects of idle talk with these intellectuals. After the First Sino-Japanese War, the Treaty of Shimonoseki was signed, which directly led to the “1898 Reform” and “Hundred Days of Reform” launched by reformist intellectuals, but they were suppressed by officials because they violated the vested interests of the bureaucratic system; after the “Boxer Upheaval” in 1901, China signed the Peking Protocol, known as the Boxer Protocol, with 11 powers. Some intellectuals aiming to pursue reforms such as Sun Yat-sen , Zhang Taiyan and Chen Tianhua had seen through the essence of the Government of the Qing dynasty and abandoned their fantasy, so they advocated political revolution on their own.
- 6.
In the “Fourth National Conference”, the KMT Central Implementation Committee passed a resolution to set up a “Special Committee on Japanese Issue”, recognized the “September 18th Incident” as a date of national calamity, ordered Chiang Kai-shek to go north and regain lost ground immediately, established the “National Calamity Conference” to discuss strategies to save the nation, confirmed Ma Zhanshan’s resistance moves against Japanese aggression as due defense, and approved statements including the Resolution of Japanese Aggression Atrocities and Declaration to the World about the Time of Japanese Aggression of the Three Northeast Provinces of China. Due to the struggle between Hu Hanmin , Chen Jitang and Wang Ching-wei for power within the KMT, the policies developed in the conference became “oral resistance”, and Chiang Kai-shek was forced to relinquish power in the following month under pressure.
- 7.
In March 1934, the KMT Central Committee initiated the “Chinese Culture Movement” and established the Association for Chinese Cultural Construction with Chen Lifu serving as Chairman. In October, the monthly Cultural Construction was published and “Theory on Cultural Construction of China” by Chen Lifu was released in the first issue, which proposed to promote the inherent culture and absorb Western culture to build a new cultural system. The China-based culture construction supporters called for “developing nationality with culture” and building “self-confidence”. On this basis, in 1935, ten professors, including Wang Xinming , launched the construction of China-based culture. In the Declaration of China-based Cultural Construction, they declared to have China gain ground in the field of culture and to have politics, society and ideology bear the characteristics of China, saying that the country must be engaged in China-based Cultural construction. The “China-based Cultural Movement” is the spiritual continuation of the “Nationalist Literature and Art Movement”.
- 8.
“Reve” in “reve-nationalism” refers to “reversion”, which means “regression or retrogression”. For the term and concept involved, there are no precise definitions or related research in academic circles. This issue especially stands out in a country or region experiencing evolution of modernity from a “city-state” to a “nation-state”. In these countries or regions, regardless of social strata, there will always be relapses or temporary setbacks in using the concept of “nationalism” when expressing public opinions and practicing political ideas, that is, to seek spiritual support of “salvation” and “self-reliance” from previously narrow nationalist historical narrative unconsciously to realize reconstruction of their own history. This political phenomenon is particularly apparent in China and other countries or regions in West Asia and the Middle East.
- 9.
In the life of Sun Yat-sen , his “nationalism view” experienced three stages of evolution. In the first stage, it was in the most primitive form: it was led by the “exclusion of dissidents”, stating that “those who are not my race are aliens”, taking all benefits for his own nation while leveling an exclusion doctrine on other nations. When Sun Yat-sen served as the leader of the Revolution Party while planning to overthrow the Qing dynasty Government, the core of his nationalism was to exclude the Manchu. In August 1905, the United League of China was set up to “dispel the Manchus, restoring China, founding the Republic of China, averaging the landownership”. Among these works, half concern anti-Manchu nationalism; the second stage was a transition in the evolution of Sun Yat-sen’s nationalist ideas led by the people’ rights, i.e., nationalism with the goal of establishing the modern nation-state. After the founding of the United League, Sun Yat-sen’s nationalism began to resemble modern nationalism but for a long time had failed to completely be rid of narrow anti-Manchu nationalism. The time from the founding of the United League to the 1911 Revolution can be seen as a period of transition in the evolution of Sun Yat-sen’s nationalist ideas; the third stage showed the maturity of his “nationalism view”, namely, the period of the “Three Principles of the People”, which advocated establishing a new world with equality for all nations, which is the highest form of nationalism in history. Sun Yat-sen said in his manifesto when he took the oath as provisional president of the republic that “the foundation of a country lies in people. Regions of Han, Manchu, Mongolia, Hui and Tibet contribute to one country; namely, Han, Manchu, Mongolia, Hui and Tibetan people are all Chinese. It is called the unity of the nation.” As for the meaning of national unity, according to Sun Yat-sen, it refers to a unified nation made up of Han, Manchu, Mongolia, Hui and Tibetan people, regardless of territory boundaries. He addressed this issue on different occasions. In January 1924, Sun Yat-sen released Manifesto on the Establishment of the Anti-imperialist United Front, saying “we all belong to a weak nation, so we should work together to fight the exploitation and aggression of imperialist powers” [18].
- 10.
For example, Huang Shaohong took the lead in “clearing away the Communist Party” in Guangxi after the “April 12th Incident” in 1927 as a determined right-wing KMT member; Chen Bulei , early in 1926, wrote articles to attack the CCP and was put into an important position by Chiang Kai-shek as he asserted that “China is the last country for the trial implementation of communism” and the Chinese revolution “depends on no one but the KMT”; Xu Shaodi , as a core member of the CC group of the KMT served as a committee member under the central party department and publicity minister in Zhejiang in the 1920s. These people were all in power in the KMT in the 1930s.
- 11.
Chinese traditional history studies has a long history, in short, focusing on the authentication and emendation of “distinguishing the historical data, examining the source and course” that evolved from “epigraphical studies” after the Song and Ming dynasties; that is, it simply stresses association of the newly found historical data with a specific fact and the meanings. The biggest problem in this research paradigm is that it ignores global views of the greater history and weakens the influence of politics, culture and even natural environment on the history itself, advocating pure history research. For example, Zhang Taiyan was a follower and developer of this traditional method. As Hou Wailu said “(Zhang) Taiyan inherited the way of the scholars in the Qing dynasty to study great philosophers and scholars and formed a school of his own through a comprehensive study of the subject. The most valuable part is that he could examine the source and course.” Chen Yinke following Zhang Taiyan, proposed the research paradigm of “mutual interpretation between poetry and history”, introducing literary research into historical studies, which was a step forward compared with Zhang Taiyan. Gu Jiegang brought geography into historical studies and developed a new research paradigm of history. Several scholars beginning to use more advanced research approaches to interpret history and published their works in Yue Feng, which was rare at that time.
- 12.
Liu Pansui (1896–1966), a native of Huaibin, Henan, graduated early from Tsinghua Institute and was a famous documenter and historian. In 1946, he started to teach at Beijing Normal University as a Professor of Chinese. In 1966, when the “Cultural Revolution” broke out, Kang Sheng, to claim Liu’s cultural relics and ancient books, instigated the Red Guards to beat him to death at home and put the body into a tank to disguise it as a suicide. Liu was one of the first round of the famous intellectual deaths in the “Cultural Revolution” as the victim of a false charge.
- 13.
As cited from Liu Xincheng ’s “Alltagsgeschichte: A New Field of Study”, the specific theory system of alltagsgeschichte came from combination of Juergen Habermas ’ “private/public sphere” theory, Henri Lefebvre ’s “daily life of aesthetic” theory, John Storey’s “culture consumption/everyday life” theory and the “cultural studies” theory of the Birmingham School with the influence of the Annales school in France, Microstoria in Italy and Case history school in the United Kingdom, represented by Goetz and Michel De Certeau . The theory criteria that I have cited exactly come from the theories under the framework of building the alltagsgeschichte.
- 14.
Per Terrien de Lacouperie considered that, around the 23rd century BC, highly civilized Bak tribes originally living in Babylon in west Asia, led by the tribal chief Kudur Nakhunte, conducted a massive migration to the east along the Kashgar and Tarim River from Turkistan to the Kunlun Mountains and then traveled to the present-day Gansu and Shaanxi provinces. After long-term wars, they conquered the savage indigenous tribes, whose power extended to the Yellow River basin, and they finally found the country. The tribal chief Kudur Nakhunte was Huang Di in China’s ancient legend. Huang Di was a nonstandard sound of Nakhunte; Sargon in Bataks was Shennong, Dunkit was Cang Jie, which is the so-called solid evidence of Terrien de Lacouperie in believing the China’s race came from the west. After the book was published in 1894 with the title Western Origin of Early Chinese Civilization, Japanese scholar Shirakawa Jiro and Otto Zeller rewrote it as Shina History of Civilization, published by the Tokyo Hakubun Press in 1900 in Japan. In 1903, Shina History of Civilization was translated into Chinese and published by Shanghai Jinghua Bookstore. In the same year, Jiang Zhiyou started to publish the series “Chinese Race Examination” in Xin Min Cong Bao, including one section, “The West’s Race to China”, using a large amount of space to introduce the theory of Terrien de Lacouperie. At this point, the theory of Terrien de Lacouperie was widely spread in China.
- 15.
Miu ’s [32], He ’s [33] and works of Liu Shipei published Study of Chinese Ethnography, Letter to Resist, On changes in Chinese Thoughts to the External World, Thinking of the Motherland, Original Talk on Ancient Politics, On Confucius Talking No Reconstruction, and Chinese History Textbooks were research results of the best known Chinese scholars advocating the west's race to China. For some details, see [34].
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Han, S.H. (2018). The Official Ideology and Yue Feng . In: Literature Journals in the War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression in China (1931-1938). Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-6448-7_4
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