American Boycott

>-FOUR-< The Merchants and the Origins of the Anti~ American Boycott In the early rgoos, China witnessed numerous mass actions. During such tumultuous times, an event, a new policy, or a treaty could trigger a chain re action among the populace. One such event was the arrival in Beijing in May 1905 of the U.S. plenipotentiary William W. Rockhill for Sino-American treaty negotiations. The ensuing boycott, however, unlike earlier move ments, had its origins overseas. Delber L. McKee (rg86) argues unequivo cally and convincingly that the boycott was initiated by the Chinese overseas. The passage of harsher exclusion laws, he claims, had driven the Chinese in the United States to desperation, and the forthcoming treaty negotiations in Beijing only intensified their sense of urgency. They feared that, as in earlier cases, the Qing government would yield to U.S. pressure and sign a treaty legitimizing exclusion in international law. Having lost the protection of the American courts, the Chinese in the United States looked to their homeland for help. Chinese merchants in the United States sent wires to various de partments of the Qing government urging it not to sign such a treaty, while members ofBaohuang hui in San Francisco and Hawaii sent telegrams.1 McKee's argument is generally sound, but several points require clari fication, in particular, the exact nature of the relationship between the Chi nese overseas, who were carrying out anti-exclusion activities, and the Shanghai merchants, who decided to call for a boycott. At this time, the Chinese immigrants in the United States fell into several distinct groups. 82 The Merchants and the Anti-American Boycott Wealthy merchants remained powerful, but secret societies were challenging their predominance in urban Chinatowns. These merchants further weakened their position by competing with each other for resources and business along native-place lines: lesser businessmen from Siyi began to take over some busi nesses controlled by wealthy merchants from Sanyi.2 At the same time, re formers and revolutionaries in exile were also soliciting social and financial support from the Chinese overseas, which further complicated the power struggle within U.S. Chinese communities (H. Lai 1992: chap. 3; Liu 1976: chap. rr). McKee's study, like many others, does not clearly establish the ways in which various groups in China and overseas may have been related or how they interacted. In retrospect, the critical moment was the Shanghai Chamber of Commerce board meeting on ro May 1905, at which the boycott decision was made. Immediately after the meeting, the chamber sent telegrams urging joint action to the merchant guilds in twenty-one cities throughout China, setting off a series of reactions (C. Zhang 1966: 45).3 Without the Shanghai merchants, who initiated and organized it, there would have been no anti American boycott. Were they in fact urged on by Chinese merchants or other Chinese groups in the United States? In answering thiS question, this chapter considers the actions and events that led up to the boycott, the political con sciousness of the Shanghai merchants, and the context ofSino- American trade. Liang Cheng and Zhonghua Zong Huiguan The Qing government was sympathetic to the merchants' call for a boycott of American products. Although at the time, many Americans believed that Wu Tingfang, the former Chinese minister to the United States, was behind the boycott agitation,4 Zhang Cunwu (1966: 29-35) shows that Liang Cheng, the incumbent minister (1902-7), was in fact more directly responsi ble. Liang Cheng (1864-1917) was a native of Panyu, Guangdong. In 1875, when he was eleven, Liang went to the United States as a student, returning to China in r88r. He later served as a counselor ( canzan) in the Chinese lega tion in Washington under Zhang Yinhuan, Chinese minister to the United 5 States (1885-89). Both Zhang and Liang came from communities in China where emigration was common, but Liang was more competent, and also more concerned about his countrymen in the United States, than his arro gant and extravagant predecessor. In 1904, Liang wrote John (Milton) Hay, .

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