The Chinese Anarchist Movement Robert Scalapino and George T. Yu 1961 Contents Editor’sNote 3 Preface 4 TheOriginsofChineseAnarchism 5 ChineseStudentsSentAbroad . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 InfluencesUpontheParisGroup . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 TheNewCenturyanditsMessage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 SunandtheParisAnarchists . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18 TheMountingStruggleAgainsttheGovernment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22 TheChineseAnarchistMovementinTokyo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23 Shih-fuandHisMovement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28 LiuShi-fu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28 TheSocietytoAdvanceMoralityanditsImpact . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29 Anarchist-CommunistThemes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31 TheWork-StudyMovement 36 ANewProject . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36 “FrugalStudy”inFrance. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36 The“DiligentWork-FrugalStudy”Movement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38 TheDeclineoftheWork-StudyMovement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39 TheAnarchistConflictwithMarxism 42 OuSheng-paivs.Ch’enTu-hsiu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42 Editor’sFootnote 45 2 Editor’s Note Chinese Anarchists were inspired by the ideas of Pierre Proudhon, Michael Bakunin, Peter Kropotkin and Elisée Reclus. Many were exposed to Anarchist ideas while they were students inEuropeandAnarchistbooksweresoontranslatedintoChineseandEsperanto,apopularlan- guage among Chinese students. They used the term “Anarchist Communist” interchangeable with the word “Anarchist.” The Chinese words for Anarchist-Communist (Wu-Zheng-Fu Gong- Chan) literally meant “Without Government Common Production” and in no way implied Bol- shevismorMaoism.Onthecontrary,theirsweretheLibertarianSocialistideasoftheFirstInter- nationalwhichreflectedthetraditionalChineseAnarchisticteachingsofLaoTzuwhileMaoism reflectedtheauthoritarianbureaucracyofConfucianism. Like the word “communism”, the word “collectivism” also has a different literal meaning in ChinesethanwhenitiscommonlyusedinEnglish.InChinese,thewordfora“collectiveenter- prise”(Ji-tiQi-ye)literallymeansanassemblyofpeopleinabureaucracy(a“treeofpeople”)— verydifferentfromourunderstandingofMichaelBakunin’sCollectivismoraworkers’collective —morelikeBolshevismorFabianSocialism—TheChineseAnarchistShihFusubstantiatedthis translationbyidentifyingKarlMarxasthefatherof“collectivism”inhiswritings1. Historically,MarxismwasunabletomakeinroadsintoChinauntilaftertheRussianRevolution of1917whenLenin’sfollowers,bankrolledbytheBolshevikgovernment,begantheirattackson AnarchistsinRussiaandneighboringcountries.Thisbookdescribessomeoftheearlyhistoryof ChineseAnarchismuptotheperiodaftertheBolshevikcounter-revolutionwhenRussiabegan tosendMarxist-LeninistmissionarieslikeChouEn-laitotrytotrytoinfiltrateandtakeoverthe studentmovementsinEurope.Itincludessomeoftheideologicaldebateswhichensuedbetween ChineseAnarchistsandtheirMarxist-Leninistadversaries. 1“TheSocialismofSunYat-senandChiangK’ang-hu,”MinSheng,No.6,April18,1914,pp.1–7 3 Preface In their memorable 1936 conversations, Mao Tse-tung remarked to Edgar Snow that he had once been strongly influenced by Anarchism.1 Mao was referring to the period at the close of World War I, when he had come to Peking [Beijing] from Hunan province as a part of a stu- dentgroupwhohopedtostudyinFrance.Whilesomeofhiscolleaguesrealizedthisgoal,Mao remained in Peking and worked as a librarian in Peking University. But in Peking as in Paris, Anarchism was much in vogue with the intellectual avant garde of this era. Thus Mao had the opportunity to read Kropotkin in translation, Anarchist pamphlets derived from a variety of Westernsources,andthecontributionsoftheChineseAnarchiststhemselves.Manydiscussions withstudent-friendsflowedfromthetheoriesandthemescontainedinthesematerials. Mao’s interest in Anarchism was by no means unique. On the contrary, it marked him as a partofthecentralradicalstreamofthosetimes.AnarchismprecededMarxisminnortheastAsia as the predominant radical expression of the Westernized intellectual. Between 1905 and 1920, AnarchistthoughtwasavitalpartoftheintellectualprotestmovementinbothJapanandChina. Indeed,inmanyrespects,itpossessedthecovetedsymbolamongintellectualsofbeingthemost scientific,most“progressive,”mostfuturisticofallpoliticalcreeds. 1EdgarSnow,RedStarOverChina,London,1937,p.149. 4 The Origins of Chinese Anarchism Chinese Students Sent Abroad OurstorybeginsinParisandinTokyoduringtheperiodthatimmediatelyfollowedtheill-fated BoxerRebellion.EventhedecadentManchuCourthadatlonglastbeenforcedtoacknowledge the need for reform, albeit too late. Both the central and the provincial governments of China hadbeguntosendsizeablenumbersofstudentsabroad.By1906,therewereover10,000Chinese students in Japan and about 500–600 in Europe.1 Japan was the most logical training area for themajorityofstudentsforobviousreasons.Itwasclosertohomeandthecostswereconsider- ablylessthanelsewhere.Theproblemofculturaladjustmentwasmuchmoresimple.Inaddition, Japanrepresentedthetypeofsynthesisbetweentraditionandmodernitythatcouldhavemean- ing to China, particularly since it was a synthesis generally favorable to the values of political conservatism. PerhapsthemotivesofChineseauthoritiesinsendingstudentsabroadwerenotentirely“pure.” ChuHo-chung,himselfsenttoGermanyduringthisperiod,haswrittenthatlocalauthoritiesin the Wuhan area sent student “activists” abroad to get rid of them, with the more radical being dispatched to Europe and the less radical to Japan!2 He also reported that students interested in engineering and mining generally went to Brussels in this period, whereas those studying law,politicalscience,andeconomicswentmainlytoParis.ThusParisbecamethenaturallocus of student radicalism. The Paris Group Whatever the factual basis of these remarks, Paris did indeed become the center of the early Chinese Anarchist Movement. When Sun Pao-ch’i went to France in 1902 as Chinese Minister, over twenty government and private students traveled withhim.3 IncludedinthisgroupwereLiShih-tsengandChangChing-chiang,bothyoungmen from prominent families. Li was the son of Li Hung-tsao who for some twenty-five years prior to his death in 1897, had been a powerful figure in the national administration.4 Young Li had cometoFranceasanattachéintheChineselegation,butsoonhegaveupthispositiontostudy biologyandpromoteAnarchism.Changcamefromawealthybusinessfamilyandthuswasable tocontributesubstantialfundstotherevolutionarycause.5 1ArecentstudyofChinesestudentsinJapanisentitledChukokujinNihonryugakushi(AnHistoryofChinese StudentsStudyinginJapan)bySanetoKeishu,Tokyo,1960.Thisisanessentiallyfactualaccount. 2Chu Ho-chung, “The Record of the European T’ung Meng Hui, in Lo Chia-lun, (ed.), Ke-ming wen- hsien(DocumentsoftheRevolution),Vol.II,Taipei,1953,pp.251–270.SeealsoFengTzu-yu,“ChineseStudentsin EuropeandtheT‘ungMengHui—HoChih-ts’ai’sAccountoftheBeginningandEndoftheEuropeanT’ungMeng Hui,”inKe-mingi-shih(AnInformalHistoryoftheRevolution),Vol.II,Taipei,1953,pp.132–141. 3Shih-chieh-she(LeMonde),ed.,L-Ouchiao-yyn-tung(TheEducationalMovementinEurope),Tours,France, 1916,p.49.ThisisanextremelyvaluablesourceforthestudyoftheChinesestudentmovementinFrance,particularly theAnarchist-sponsoredwork-studymovement. 4For an excellent, brief biography of Li Hung-tsao, see the account written by Fang Chao-ying in Hummel, Arthur,(ed.)EminentChineseoftheCh’ingPeriod,Washington,1943,pp.471–2. 5ChangwasborninChekiangprovince.HisfatherbecameasuccessfulShanghaibusinessman,andwhenthe elderChangdied,hissonreceivedasizeableinheritance.Physically,theyoungmanwasnotstrong,buthehadpas- 5 In 1902, Chang used his money to found the T’ung-yun Company as a Chinese commercial firminParis.Between1902and1906,anumberofyoungmenfromChang’svillagecametoParis with assurances of workwhile they continued their studies. Some of these, such as Ch’u Min-i, becameactiveworkersintheAnarchistranks.6 AChineserestaurant-teahousewasestablished undertheauspicesofChang’s“Company”asanadditionaloutletforprivatestudentsfromChina. The entrepreneurial activities of the young Chinese in Paris underwent further expansion in 1906–7.Aprintingplant(ImprimerieChinoise)wasorganizedinParisin1906byChang,Li,Ch’u, andWuChihhui.Thefollowingyear,aChinesepictorialShih-chieh(TheWorld),waspublished, withtenthousandcopiesbeingwidelydistributedinmanycountriesDuetohighprintingcosts and a low income from sales, Shih-chieh did not last long; only two issues and one supplement were printed. Meanwhile, in the same year (1907), Li, Hsia Chien-chung, and several others or- ganized the Far Eastern Biological Study Association, with a laboratory alongside the printing plant.Twoyearslater,aftervariouschemicalexperimentswithbeans,Liestablishedabean-curd factorywhichproducedassortedbeanproductsinadditiontothetraditionalChinesebean-curds. Theideaofwork-studywasprominentlyinvolvedinthisexperiment.7Intheeveningsandwhen not on duty, the workers were to practice Chinese and French, as well as studying such sub- jects as general science.Smoking, drinking, and gambling were strictly forbidden. Initially,five Chinesewereemployed,butthenumbereventuallyreachedthirty. These ventures had their very practical aspect; they represented attempts to finance the edu- cationofasmanyfellowcountrymenaspossible.Butunderlyingthemalsoranastrongcurrent ofidealism,andtheideologicalbaseofthisidealismlayinAnarchismasitwascurrentlybeing propagatedinEurope.AlloftheyoungChineseassociatedwiththeenterprisesnotedabovebe- cameardentconvertstotheAnarchistcreed.Andtoespousethiscreed,Li,Chang,Ch’uandWu began the publication of a weekly known as the Hsin Shih chi (The New Century), on June 22, 1907.8 For three years, this journal was to champion the causes of Anarchism and revolution, reachingChinesestudentsandintellectualsinallpartsoftheworld.Veryfewcopiespenetrated Chinaproper,ofcourse,butatalaterpoint,asweshallnote,theHsinShih-chimessagewasto reachthehomelandthroughvariouschannels. sionatepoliticalconvictions.AccordingtoFengTzu-yu,hesecuredthepositionofcommercialattacheintheChinese LegationinFrancebybribery.WhileChangsoonbecameacquaintedwithWesternAnarchismandsecretlycalled himselfaChineseAnarchist,somestudentsfearedthathemightbeaspybecauseofhisgovernmentconnections.This wasuntrue,however.FortheseandotherdetailsofChang’slife,seeFengTzu-yu,“TheMasteroftheHsinShih-chi, ChangChing-chiang,”Ke-mingi-shih,op.cit.,pp.227-230. 6Chu,alsoanativeofChekiang,wenttoJapanin1903,studyingpoliticalscienceandeconomics.Hetravelledto Europein1908,withChang,andshortlythereafter,becameinvolvedintheAnarchistMovement.Chuwastoremain inFranceuntilshortlyaftertheoutbreakofWorldWarI,whenhereturnedtoChina.Butafewyearslater,hewent backtoParistostudymedicineandpharmacy.Inthisperiod,heparticipatedintheestablishmentofthe“University ofLyons”whichwillbediscussedlater.Chu’slifeendedintragedy.AftermanyyearsofservicetotheKuomintang, in1939hethrewinhislotwithhisoldfriend,WangChing-wei,andacceptedthepostofMinisterofForeignAffairs inWang’sNankinggovernment.Afterthealliedvictoryin1945,Chuwasarrestedandputtodeath. 7TheEducationalMovementinEurope,op.cit.,p.50.FortheresultsofLi’sresearchonsoyabeansseeLi-Yu- Yung(delaSocieteBiologique-d’lExtreme-Orient,Chine)LeSojaEssayCulture:SesUsagesAlimentaires,Therapeu- tiques,Agricolesetindustriels,Paris,1912,p.150. 8AcompletecollectionofHsinShih-chi (TheNewCentury).togetherwithsomeofthepamphletspublished bytheParisgroup,werereprintedinfourvolumes,inShanghai,1947.AllcitationsfromHsinShih-chiarefromthis edition. 6 Senior in age and experience, Wu Chih-hui became the primary organizer of the Paris An- archist Group, although Li Shih-tseng was perhaps its driving spirit. Wu was born in 1864 in Kiangsu province.9 His early education was of the traditional Chinese type. He reached the Chih-shih examinations in Peking, but failed. (Li’s father was one of the four examiners). For some time after 1894, Wu taught at various schools in Peking, Tientsin, and Shanghai. At one point,henearlyenteredtheHupehMilitaryAcademy,notdoingsoonlybecausehelackedthe fundstogetthere. In 1901, Wu made a brief trip to Tokyo, returning to Canton in December of that year. The first revolutionary seeds seem to have been planted in his mind during this period. His stay in Cantonwasunhappy,andin1902,hereturnedtoJapan.Onthisoccasion,hebecameinvolvedin an heated controversy with the Chinese Minister over educational policy and radical activities. At one point, Wu became so angry that he jumped into the sea, intent upon a protest suicide, andhadtoberescuedbytheJapanesepolice.InMay,1902,hereturnedtoShanghai.InOctober, the Ai-kuo Hsueh — the, “Patriotic Association,” was founded. Wu joined and moved into its headquarters.By1903,thisAssociationwassecretlypromotingrevolution,usingthenewspaper Su-paoasitsorgan.InMay,1903,ChineseauthoritiesmovedagainstSu-pao;ChangPing-lin,to whom we shall later refer, was one of those arrested. But Wu escaped, first to Hong Kong and thentoLondon. ThenextseveralyearswerespentinLondon,withonebrieftriptoParis.Finally,in1906,Wu moved to Paris, living with Li and Ch’u Min-i. Li had first met Wu in Shanghai while en route toFrancein1902;ChanghadvisitedWuinLondonin1905.ItwasafterWumovedtoParisthat these young men joined Sun’s T’ung Meng Hui and organized the Shih-chich-she, “The World Association,”toundertakepublicationactivities.Inthespringof1906,Changhadreturnedhome foravisit.Enroute,hepurchasedaprintingpressinSingaporeandemployedaChineseprinter togotoParisasoperator.10 Withtheseacts,theyoungconspiratorswereinanewbusiness-that ofturningoutrevolutionarypropaganda. Influences Upon the Paris Group LiShih-tsenghasgivenussomelater recollectionsofthe variedinfluencesthat playedupon him and his colleagues during this period.11 Perhaps these can be divided into three major cat- egories: the Chinese classical philosophers; Darwin and the Social Darwinists and the radical libertarians,broughtuptodatebytheAnarchismofProudhon,Bakunin,andKropotkin.Aswe shallnote,theParisgroupwereincertainrespectsferventanti-traditionalistswhodecriedany attempt to equate Lao Tzu with the modern Anarchists, or the ancient well-field system with modern communism Yet almost without exception, these were young men who had received an excellent classical education. They had been exposed to a range of political ideas almost as broadasthatexistinginclassicalWesternphilosophyAttheveryleast,thisrobbedmostcontem- poraryWesterntheoriesoftheirstrangeness.Itpermittedanidentification,afamiliaritywhich 9AfullaccountofWu’slifeisgiveninChangWen-po,Chih-laohsien-hua(Chit-ChatAboutOldChih),Taipei, 1952.ForafewspecialdetailsthatpertaintoWu’srelationswithSunYat-sen,seeaseriesofarticlesbyYangK’ai-ling, “TheFatherofOurCountryandMr.WuChih-hui,”publishedinthemagazineSanMinChuIpan-vehk’an(Three People’sPrinciplesSemi-Monthly),Nos.1–4,May15—June15,1953. 10ChangWen-po,op.cit.,p.24. 11InterviewbetweentheseniorauthorandLiShih-tseng,Taipei,July16,1959. 7 couldcontributepowerfullytowardacceptanceevenwhentheconsciousactwasthatofrejecting traditionalisminfavorofprogressandmodernity.12 ThiswastheageofDarwinism.Linowrecallshowgreatlyhewasinfluencedbythewritings of Lamarck and Darwin, how these men opened new doors for him in history and philosophy as well as in science. The influence was especially strong upon a young man studying zoology, botany and biology, but Li would have felt the Darwinian impact, no matter what his field. It was the truth — the science — of Darwinism that Socialists (and many non-Socialists) used as a point of commencement from which to analyze man in society, social and political evolution, andfundamentalvalues.OnestartedwithDarwin,irrespectiveofwhereoneended. TheParisgroupofyoungChineseendedwithPrincePeterKropotkinandEliséeRecluswhose theories in certain respects constituted a sharp challenge to Darwinism. Their doctrines were those of Anarchist Communism, as originally set forth by Bakunin and subsequently carried forward by Kropotkin and Reclus, first at Geneva and then at Paris.13 The two latter men were theforemostleadersofthelatenineteenthcenturyAnarcho-CommunistmovementTheirjournal, LeRevolté,waspublished inGenevafrom1879, andtransferred toParis in1885. In1895, anew organ,LesTempsNouveaux,editedbyJeanGrave,carriedonthemovement,publishingitsfinal issueinAugust1914.Inthisconnection,itmightbenotedthattheEsperantotitleofHsinShih- chi was La Tempoj Novaj. And certainly no single work had greater influence upon the young ChineseAnarchiststhanKropotkin’sMutualAid.Iftheirmovementhadabible,thiswasit.14 ItiseasytounderstandhowmenlikeWu,Li,andChangmightmakeapersonalidentification withsuchfiguresasBakunin,Kropotkin,andReclus.Despitetheseemingculturalchasm,there weremanycommonbonds.Thesewerearistocrats,bybirthaswellasbyintelligence.Theyrep- resentedthemostsensitiveandconcernedsegmentoftheleisureclass.15Anotherbondwasthat of science. All of these men were committed to science — either as a profession or as a way of life.Kropotkin,forexample,wasaneminentgeologist,Reclusaworld-famousgeographer,Lia buddingbiologist.Science,notEsperanto,wasthetrueinternationallanguageofthisage.Andif bothnatureandmancouldbeexplained,universallyandrationally,whatwasmorelogicalthan to apply science to politics, to seek an universal, scientific theory of man in society, one case in an evolutionary mold? There was, perhaps, an additional tie of major proportions between our young Chinese radicals and the Russian Anarchists, that of political environment, Russia and China were the two sick giants of the early twentieth century. That a bond of sympathy shouldexistbetweenthedissidentintellectualsofthesetwosocietieswasnatural.Thereceptiv- 12Tostresstheimportanceoftheclassicsupontheirthinking,LiintheinterviewrecalledthatWuhadonce paintedapicturetodepictthefollowingancientChinesetale:duringtheChoudynasty,twophilosopherswereeach askedbytheEmperortobehissuccessor.Theoneputhisearintosomewater,saying“Imustcleanmyearafter hearingsuchathing”;theothersaid,“Donotletmyoxendrinkthewaterinwhichyouhavecleanedyourear.” 13ForageneralsurveyoftheEuropeanAnarchistMovement,seeG.D.H.Cole,AHistoryofSocialistThought,3 Vol.,London1955–57;andCarlA.Landauer,EuropeanSocialism,2Vol.,Berkeley,1959. 14MutualAid:AFactorofEvolutionwaspublishedin1902,andquicklyhadaworld-wideimpact.TheParisgroup ofChineseAnarchistsundoubtedlyreaditshortlyaftertheirarrivalthere.LitranslateditseriallyfortheHsinShih-chi. KropotkinwastobetranslatedintoJapaneseandChinesemanytimesduringthenexttwodecades.Histhemethat mutualaidwasasmuchalawofnatureasmutualstruggle,andmoresignificantfortheprogressiveevolutionof mankindwascentraltotheAnarcho-Communistcreed. 15ProfessorOlgaLanghaspointedouttousthataristocratslikeBakuninandKropotkindid,however,havea powerfulappealtomennotoftheirclassaswell,namelyanimportantsegmentoftheEuropeanworkingclass. 8 ityoftheParisgrouptothevoicesofRussianradicals—indeed,thegeneralinfluenceofRussian revolutionariesupontheirAsiancounterparts—mustberelatedtothisfact.16 The New Century and its Message ThusthephilosophyofHsinShih-chi wasAnarchistCommunism,withsomespecialChinese emphases.Itcanbestbesetforthintermsof“anti’s”and“pro’s.”TheyoungChineseAnarchists were anti-religion, anti-traditionalist. anti-family, anti-libertine, anti-elitist, anti-government, anti-militarist, and anti-nationalist. They were pro-science, pro-freedom, pro-humanist, pro- violence, pro-revolution, pro-communist, and pro-universalist. To understand the Anarchist position, these numerous themes must be fitted together. It is entirely proper to start with the negative. The Anarchists conceived their immediate task to be that of destruction. Only when the existing state and other artificialities restraining man had been destroyed, could human freedomflow.Indeed,destructionwasthemostconscious,plannedactthattheAnarchistcould undertake, since freedom would come only in its aftermath, and come as a natural, inevitable consequence requiring no elitist guidance or tampering. In their anti-religious position, the youngChineseAnarchistshadsomesustenancefromtheirownculturalheritageofsecularism. They could also look upon the European scene as detached observers, without deep personal involvement. Thus one seems to sense a somewhat less frenzied tone to the anti-religious articles than that characteristic of certain Western radicals. Their position, however, was clear andunequivocal.WuChih-huiremarkedthattheblindworshipofreligionhadbeenoneofthe great historical problems of Europe, but he noted that a significant change was taking place.17 TheseparationofchurchandstateinFrancewascitedasoneindicationofthischange. Perhaps the Hsin Shih-chi position on religion was best expressed by Wu in an exchange between him and a reader from Japan.18 The reader (presumably a Chinese student) wrote that whilepro-Socialist,hefelttheattacksuponreligionweretooextreme,therebyalienatingwould- besupporters.Moreover,hequeried,arenotthemoralstandardsoftheChinesequitedeficient as their educational standards, and is there not a need for religious morality among them? Wu answeredbyposingthemoralityofSocialismagainstthatofreligion.HeassertedthatSocialist moralitycontainedallofthebasicethicalprinciplesfoundinreligion,withoutitsaccompanying superstitions. It was not sufficient for Chinese Anarchists to attack religion. Confucianism also had to be assaulted.ThisassaulttookvariousformsIntheveryfirstissueofHsinShih-chi,itwassuggested thatConfuciuslivedinanageofbarbarism,andthatinsuchanage,itwasnotdifficultfor“crafty men” to make themselves into sages and be worshiped by simple folk.19 The more basic attack uponConfucianism,however,wasimpersonal:thatlatergenerationshadattemptedtoturnhim intoasaintandinsistedthathiseverywordbetreatedaslawwithoutregardtochangingtimes and events. Thus the attack upon Confucianism was broadened to include a general criticism 16ProfessorLanghasagreedwiththispoint,buthasremindedusthatperhapsBakuninandKropotkinarenot thehappiestexamplesofRussianinfluence,sincetheirimpactuponRussianrevolutionarythoughtwasperhapsless thanthatuponWesternEurope 17WuChih-hui,“Degrees,”HsinShih-chi,No.2,June29,1907,p.1. 18WuChih-hui,“AnsweringtheWritingofaCertainGentleman,”Ibid.,No.42,April11,1908,pp.2–3. 19“ThisisKnownAsaChineseSage,”Ibid.,No.1,June22,1907,p.3.(Onlyafewauthorscanbeidentifiedin HsinShih-chi.Sometimespen-namesareused,butfrequentlynodesignationwhatsoeverisgiven). 9 oftraditionalisminallitsforms.“TheChineseseemtobethegreatestloversofthingsancient,” complained Ch’u Min-i, “so much so that their minds have been wholly bound by traditional customsandthustheyhavebecomeenslavedbytheancients.”20 Eveninrecentdecadeswhenit has finally been admitted that China must absorb Western learning, there is still the insistence that“thenationalcharacter”bepreserved.Andinthefollowingpassage,theauthorputtheanti- traditionalistargumentforcefullyandwell: “I say that the reason why China has not been able to progress with the world has been due to its emphasis upon things ancient and its treatment of modern things lightly.AndthereasonwhytheWesthadprogressedisbecauseofitsoppositeatti- tude…WeChinesealsohaveatendencytotreatallWesternthingsasthingswhich Chinahaslongexperiencedorpossessed.Forexample,wesaythatChinalongago engagedinimperialismundertheMongols…;thatChinalongagorealizednational- ism under the Yellow Emperor…; that Lao Tzu was the founder of Anarchism; that Mo Tzu was the first advocate of universal love; and finally, that China long ago practicedcommunismunderthenameofthe‘Well-FieldSystem’.Alas!Thereisrea- son behind the birth of new knowledge. It comes at the appropriate time, when it hasthepotentialofrealization.Onecannottakesomesayingfromtheancientsand state in effect that all was long ago foreseen, or that all things new must be fitted intoexistingancientteachings…Therearecountlessthingswhichevenmodernman cannotforesee.Thushowmuchcanoneexpectoftheancients?”21 This anti-traditional position was important. It symbolized the commitment to modernity, progress, and new ideas that embodied the essence of twentieth century radicalism in the Far EastTheanti-traditional,anti-ConfucianthemesenunciatedinHsinShih-chiandafewotherChi- neseradicaljournalsofthisperiodwerelatercarriedforwardbyCh’enTu-hsiuandmanyother “progressive” intellectuals. After 1915, as is well known, the Hsin Ch’ing-nien (The New Youth), editedbyCh’en,servedastheavantgardejournalfortheChineseintellectuals.Itssearchingcrit- icismsofcontemporaryChinesesocietyprovidedapowerfulstimulustothepoliticaleventsthat followed. But many of these criticisms had first been advanced a decade earlier by the Chinese overseas students, particularly by the Paris and Tokyo Anarchist groups. There was a natural connection between the anti-Confucian, anti-traditional themes and that of anti-family. In one ofitsfirstissues,HsinShih-chicalledforan“ancestorrevolution”22 Thevenerationofancestors wasdenouncedasabreachofreason,adenialofscience.ToqualifyasamemberoftheChinese Revolutionary Party, one’s position on this issue had to be clear, it was asserted. Moreover, in the broader sense, social revolution had to begin with the family, because the family was the primaryinstitutionofsubjugationandinequality.Thuswasoneoftheearliestattackslaunched ontheChinesefamilialinstitution,anattackthathasfinallyreachedaclimaxintheeventssince 1949.23 20Ch’uMin-i,“LookingatthePast,”Ibid.,No.24,Nov.30,1907,p.2. 21Ibid,p.2. 22LiShih-tseng,“AncestorRevolution,”Ibid.,No.2,June29,1907,pp.3–4.SeealsoCh’uMin-i,“OnAnarchism,” Ibid.,No.36,February29,1908,pp.3–4. 23WeareindebtedtoProfessorJosephLevensonforpointingoutthatK’angYu-weihadwrittensometracts attacking the family system as early as the 1880’s, although these remained unpublished. Hoover Library has on microfilmhisShih-likungfa,andsomewhatlater,asimilarpositionwasexpressedinTat’ungshu. 10