Chen Duxiu, the Chinese Trotskyists, and the War of Resistance

2015 ◽  
pp. 532-556
Keyword(s):  
War Of Resistance ◽  
Chen Duxiu

The Introduction of Minbenzhuyi and the Return of Its Traditional Chinese Meaning

Cultura ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 16 (2) ◽  
pp. 67-88
Author(s):  
Xiaobo LV
Keyword(s):  
Systematic Analysis ◽  
Intellectual Community ◽  
Chinese Context ◽  
Liang Qichao ◽  
Confucian Values ◽  
Chinese Intellectual ◽  
Ancient Literature ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
Chen Duxiu

The concepts of Minben , Minbensixiang , and Minbenzhuyi are rather popular in current Chinese discourse. However, “Minben” was hardly found in Chinese ancient literature as a noun. Around the year of 1916, “Minbenzhuyi” became widely accepted in Japanese intellectual circles, interpreted as one of the Japanese versions of democracy. In 1917, “Minbenzhuyi” was transferred to China as a loanword by Li Dazhao and developed into one of the Chinese definitions of democracy. Nevertheless, Chen Duxiu questioned the meaning of the term in 1919. It was not until 1922 did Liang Qichao bring Minbenzhuyi back into Chinese context and conduct a systematic analysis, which had a lasting impact on Chinese intellectual community. In the following 20 years, Minbenzhuyi was largely accepted in two different senses: 1) interpreted as Chinese definition of democracy; 2) specifically refers to the Confucian idea of “Minshiminting and Minguijunqing (;, ) Gradually, it became evident that Minbenzhuyi in China had grown distant from the meaning of democracy and returned to its traditional Confucian values.

scholarly journals Remembering forgotten heroes and the idealisation of true love: Veteran memorial activism in contemporary China

2021 ◽  
pp. 175069802110179
Author(s):  
Jacqueline Zhenru Lin
Keyword(s):  
Second World War ◽  
Chinese History ◽  
World War ◽  
Republic Of China ◽  
War Of Resistance ◽  
Redress Movement ◽  
Intellectual Elites ◽  
War Commemoration ◽  
Second World ◽  
Veteran Memorial

Recent research on collective memory and war commemoration highlights the ‘conspicuous silence’ of war veterans in Chinese history. Studies of the War of Resistance against Japan (1937–1945) typically reflect either a state-centred approach, which emphasises the official history constructed by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), or the alternative narratives constructed by intellectual elites in post-socialist China. In response to these top-down narratives, this essay focuses instead on a historical redress movement led by ex-servicemen of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) in the People’s Republic of China (PRC). The former PLA members, the participant volunteers of this movement, devote themselves into seeking and supporting a group of forgotten Kuomintang (KMT) veterans who fought against the Japanese invaders in the Second World War but now struggle with impoverished living conditions. Drawing on ethnographic fieldwork from 2013 to 2015, I will show how the daily interactions between these two groups of veterans embody a more private and internalised sense of commemorative yearning for a lost past, highlighting in the process the value of ethnographic research in breaking through the wall of silence constructed by hegemonic histories around veteran communities and their role in making war history.

scholarly journals Drawing Sexual Violence in Wartime China: Anti-Japanese Propaganda Cartoons

2013 ◽  
Vol 72 (3) ◽  
pp. 563-586 ◽  
Author(s):  
Louise Edwards
Keyword(s):  
Sexual Violence ◽  
Chinese Women ◽  
Women's Bodies ◽  
Professional Journals ◽  
Japanese Male ◽  
Japanese Military ◽  
War Effort ◽  
National Salvation ◽  
War Of Resistance ◽  
Female Soldiers

During the War of Resistance against Japan (1937–45), China's leading cartoon artists formed patriotic associations aimed at repelling the Japanese military. Their stated propaganda goals were to boost morale among the troops and the civilian population by circulating artwork that would ignite the spirit of resistance among Chinese audiences. In keeping with the genre, racialized and sexualized imagery abounded. The artists created myriad disturbing visions of how militarized violence impacted men's and women's bodies differently. By analyzing the two major professional journals, National Salvation Cartoons and War of Resistance Cartoons, this article shows that depictions of sexual violence inflicted on Chinese women were integral to the artists' attempts to arouse the spirit of resistance. By comparing their depictions of different types of bodies (Chinese and Japanese, male and female, soldiers' and civilians') the article argues that the cartoonists believed that the depiction of sexually mutilated Chinese women would build resistance and spur patriotism while equivalent depictions of mutilated male soldiers would sap morale and hamper the war effort. The article concludes with a discussion about the dubious efficacy of propaganda that invokes a hypersexualized, masculine enemy other.

Chen Duxiu and Leon Trotsky: New Light on their Relationship

1985 ◽  
Vol 102 ◽  
pp. 253-276
Author(s):  
Peter Kuhfus
Keyword(s):  
Soviet Union ◽  
Complex Relationship ◽  
The West ◽  
The Soviet Union ◽  
Communist Movement ◽  
Leon Trotsky ◽  
Far Eastern ◽  
Chen Duxiu ◽  
The Relationship

After the 1927/28 upheaval in the communist movement, a complex relationship evolved between Chen Duxiu (1879–1942) and Leon Trotsky (1879–1940). To date little has been written about this relationship in the west. The relationship between Chen and Trotsky, however, deserves treatment in its own right for various reasons. First, an elucidation of the contacts between them should close a significant gap in the respective biographies of the two Opposition leaders. The intention is not only to define Trotsky's role as seen from Chen's perspective, but also to emphasize the Far Eastern component hitherto underestimated in biographies of Trotsky. Secondly, the reconstruction of the relationship between Chen and Trotsky constitutes an important, correcting supplement to our knowledge of the developments ( = Wirkungsgeschichte) of “Trotskyism” in China, as it has been described as a concrete phenomenon as well as an ideological-political undercurrent. Thirdly, a study of the relationship between Chen and Trotsky should provide a better understanding of relations between the Communists of China and of the Soviet Union.

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