George Bernard Shaw (1856–1950) on Japan, 19341

Total Page:16

File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb

George Bernard Shaw (1856–1950) on Japan, 19341 Writers 19 George Bernard Shaw (1856–1950) on Japan, 19341 BERNARD F. DUKORE2 George Bernard Shaw On 16 December 1932, George Bernard Shaw and his wife Charlotte began a round-the-world cruise on the Empress of Britain. Their itin- erary included China and Japan. The Shaws did not return to England until April 1933. In 1934, they embarked on another long sea voyage, destination New Zealand. On the return trip, GBS wrote an article about Japan. Until now, it has remained unpublished. A brief chro- nology might help to place Shaw’s article in perspective. On 6 February 1933, the Irish-born dramatist began to compose a play, On the Rocks, which concerns the Great Depression and the political-economic measures that might save England, his adop- tive country, as well as those that were continuing to ruin it. By 11 February, when he visited Hong Kong, seventeen months had passed since forces of the Japanese Empire had invaded Manchuria. On the 13th, The South China Morning Post reported his prediction that Japan would take Manchuria and that the League of Nations would be unable to prevent the seizure.3 The following day, the same paper carried a story of his address at Hong Kong University, advising students to become Communists4 - an 250 GEORGE BERNARD SHAW (1856–1950) admonition given while the Kuomintang, under Chiang Kai-shek, was trying to destroy the Chinese Communists. Among GBS’s exhortations, as quoted by Lu Xun in Shen Bao, 17 February 1933, was: ‘If you don’t become a red revolutionary at the age of twenty, you will become a hopeless fossil when you’re fi fty. If you try to become a red revolutionary when you’re twenty, then you may have the chance of not falling behind the times when you get to forty.’5 On 15 February, the Shaws left Hong Kong for Shanghai, into which refugees were fl eeing from invading Japanese soldiers. In Shanghai, he met the widow of Sun Yat-sen. Next, he went to other cities, including Beijing (then pronounced and anglicized Peking, which he pronounced by its then other anglicized name, Peiping). While there, GBS and Charlotte decided to view the Great Wall. The best way to see it, he insisted, was from an airplane, which would provide a more expansive vista than any from the ground. As the aircraft available to them, a biplane with open-air seats, fl ew over the destination, the Shaws saw not only the Great Wall but also a battle between Chinese and Japanese armies. According to one report, GBS was horrifi ed at the sight and ordered the pilot to turn back, which he did; according to another, he was struck dumb until the fl ight ended, whereupon he thanked heaven for their safe return.6 In Beijing, Shaw received a visit from Kimura Ki, a Japanese journalist who followed him from Shanghai, where he met Shaw at Madame Sun’s home. Kimura, who had lived in Europe and under- stood English literature, had written a background article on Shaw for the Yomiuri Shimbun in advance of GBS’s forthcoming visit: he hoped to become the interpreter of Shaw’s ideas for his country- men. Since GBS’s chief concern when he met Kimura again was the latter’s safety, he advised Kimura to leave Beijing, which was unsafe for a Japanese.7 On the night of 28 February the Empress of Britain, carrying the Shaws, anchored at Beppu. The next day, it went to Kobe. To report- ers, GBS denounced the ten to twelve-hour working day, urged the adoption of Communism, and warned Japan against another world war.8 He visited other cities, including Osaka and Yokohama. Since Charlotte was ill, GBS went to Tokyo without her. Among the people he met there were the War Minister, General Araki, with whom, on 7 March, he discussed slums, warfare and militarism, and the Prime Minister, Saito¯ Makoto, with whom, on 8 March, he talked privately for fi fteen minutes.9 The following day, the Empress of Britain left Japan. On 4 July 1933, GBS completed the play he had begun fi ve days before he arrived in Hong Kong, On the Rocks. It contains a few scattered references to Japan, such as the English Prime Minister’s comment, in Act 1 on the large number of battle- ships Japan demanded. More pertinent to GBS’s travels, however, are 251.
Recommended publications
  • Christian Women and the Making of a Modern Chinese Family: an Exploration of Nü Duo 女鐸, 1912–1951
    Christian Women and the Making of a Modern Chinese Family: an Exploration of Nü duo 女鐸, 1912–1951 Zhou Yun A thesis submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy of The Australian National University February 2019 © Copyright by Zhou Yun 2019 All Rights Reserved Except where otherwise acknowledged, this thesis is my own original work. Acknowledgements I would like to express my deep gratitude to my supervisor Dr. Benjamin Penny for his valuable suggestions and constant patience throughout my five years at The Australian National University (ANU). His invitation to study for a Doctorate at Australian Centre on China in the World (CIW) not only made this project possible but also kindled my academic pursuit of the history of Christianity. Coming from a research background of contemporary Christian movements among diaspora Chinese, I realise that an appreciation of the present cannot be fully achieved without a thorough study of the past. I was very grateful to be given the opportunity to research the Republican era and in particular the development of Christianity among Chinese women. I wish to thank my two co-advisers—Dr. Wei Shuge and Dr. Zhu Yujie—for their time and guidance. Shuge’s advice has been especially helpful in the development of my thesis. Her honest critiques and insightful suggestions demonstrated how to conduct conscientious scholarship. I would also like to extend my thanks to friends and colleagues who helped me with my research in various ways. Special thanks to Dr. Caroline Stevenson for her great proof reading skills and Dr. Paul Farrelly for his time in checking the revised parts of my thesis.
    [Show full text]
  • Asian Product Catalog
    EAST VIEW Asian Product Catalog Uncommon Information Extraordinary Places Table of Contents CHINA, TAIWAN, HONG KONG eBook Collections and Services Academic Journals and Reference – PRC CNKI Academic eBooks 13 Apabi eBooks 13 China Academic Journals 4 eBook Approval Plans 13 Century Journals Project 4 Chinese Cultural Journals 4 Historical and Classic Texts AcademicFocus 4 The Journal Translation Project 4 China Comprehensive Gazetteers 14 AcademicImage Library 5 Siku Quanshu Online 14 China Doctoral Dissertations/Master’s Theses 5 Taiwan Wenxian Congkan 14 China Proceedings of Conferences 5 Taiwan Wenxian Congkan Continuation 14 China Reference Works Online 5 Biaodian Gujin Tushu Jicheng 15 China Monographic Series 5 ChinaArt Digital Library 15 Apabi Chinese Fine Arts 15 Academic Journals and Reference – Taiwan JAPAN Sinica Sinoweb from Academia Sinica 6 Taiwan Journals Search 6 Japanese Studies Japanese Colonial Periodicals of Taiwan 6 The Japan News 16 The Japan Times 16 Digital Archive Journals The Japan Times of the 1860s 16 The Eastern Miscellany 7 The Japan Advertiser 16 LionArt 7 The Japan Times Currents 16 Modern China 7 Japan Census Collections 16 Zhuanji Wenxue 7 Mainichi Shimbun “Maisaku” 17 The Rafu Shimpo 17 Government Documents, Reports CROSS-ASIA RESOURCES and Analysis Cambridge Archive Editions Online 18 China Government Gazettes 8 eol AsiaOne 19 China Patents 8 MapVault 19 CNKI National Standards 8 LandScan 19 China Economy, Public Policy and Security 8 World News Connection 19 Chinese Social Science Library 8 Zhang Letian
    [Show full text]
  • Modernism in Practice: Shi Zhecun's Psychoanalytic Fiction Writing
    Modernism in Practice: Shi Zhecun's Psychoanalytic Fiction Writing Item Type text; Electronic Thesis Authors Zhu, Yingyue Publisher The University of Arizona. Rights Copyright © is held by the author. Digital access to this material is made possible by the University Libraries, University of Arizona. Further transmission, reproduction, presentation (such as public display or performance) of protected items is prohibited except with permission of the author. Download date 26/09/2021 14:07:54 Link to Item http://hdl.handle.net/10150/642043 MODERNISM IN PRACTICE: SHI ZHECUN’S PSYCHOANALYTIC FICTION WRITING by Yingyue Zhu ____________________________ Copyright © Yingyue Zhu 2020 A Thesis Submitted to the Faculty of the DEPARTMENT OF EAST ASIAN STUDIES In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements For the Degree of MASTER OF ARTS In the Graduate College THE UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA 2020 THE UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA GRADUATE COLLEGE As members of the Master’s Committee, we certify that we have read the thesis prepared by Yingyue Zhu, titled MODERNISM IN PRACTICE: SHI ZHECUN’S PSYCHOANALYTIC FICTION WRITING and recommend that it be accepted as fulfilling the dissertation requirement for the Master’s Degree. Jun 29, 2020 _________________________________________________________________ Date: ____________ Dian Li Fabio Lanza Jul 2, 2020 _________________________________________________________________ Date: ____________ Fabio Lanza Jul 2, 2020 _________________________________________________________________ Date: ____________ Scott Gregory Final approval and acceptance of this thesis is contingent upon the candidate’s submission of the final copies of the thesis to the Graduate College. I hereby certify that I have read this thesis prepared under my direction and recommend that it be accepted as fulfilling the Master’s requirement.
    [Show full text]
  • Shanghai Before Nationalism Yexiaoqing
    East Asian History NUMBER 3 . JUNE 1992 THE CONTINUATION OF Papers on Fa r EasternHistory Institute of Advanced Studies Australian National University Editor Geremie Barme Assistant Editor Helen 1.0 Editorial Board John Clark Igor de Rachewiltz Mark Elvin (Convenor) Helen Hardacre John Fincher Colin Jeffcott W.J.F. Jenner 1.0 Hui-min Gavan McCormack David Marr Tessa Morris-Suzuki Michael Underdown Business Manager Marion Weeks Production Oahn Collins & Samson Rivers Design Maureen MacKenzie, Em Squared Typographic Design Printed by Goanna Print, Fyshwick, ACT This is the second issue of EastAsian History in the series previously entitled Papers on Far Eastern History. The journal is published twice a year. Contributions to The Editor, EastAsian History Division of Pacific and Asian History, Research School of Pacific Studies Australian National University, Canberra ACT 2600, Australia Phone +61-6-2493140 Fax +61-6-2571893 Subscription Enquiries Subscription Manager, East Asian History, at the above address Annual Subscription Rates Australia A$45 Overseas US$45 (for two issues) iii CONTENTS 1 Politics and Power in the Tokugawa Period Dani V. Botsman 33 Shanghai Before Nationalism YeXiaoqing 53 'The Luck of a Chinaman' : Images of the Chinese in Popular Australian Sayings Lachlan Strahan 77 The Interactionistic Epistemology ofChang Tung-sun Yap Key-chong 121 Deconstructing Japan' Amino Yoshthtko-translat ed by Gavan McCormack iv Cover calligraphy Yan Zhenqing ���Il/I, Tang calligrapher and statesman Cover illustration Kazai*" -a punishment
    [Show full text]
  • A RE-EVALUATION of CHIANG KAISHEK's BLUESHIRTS Chinese Fascism in the 1930S
    A RE-EVALUATION OF CHIANG KAISHEK’S BLUESHIRTS Chinese Fascism in the 1930s A Dissertation Submitted to the School of Oriental and African Studies of the University of London in Candidacy for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy DOOEUM CHUNG ProQuest Number: 11015717 All rights reserved INFORMATION TO ALL USERS The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. In the unlikely event that the author did not send a com plete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion. uest ProQuest 11015717 Published by ProQuest LLC(2018). Copyright of the Dissertation is held by the Author. All rights reserved. This work is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States C ode Microform Edition © ProQuest LLC. ProQuest LLC. 789 East Eisenhower Parkway P.O. Box 1346 Ann Arbor, Ml 48106- 1346 2 Abstract Abstract This thesis considers the Chinese Blueshirts organisation from 1932 to 1938 in the context of Chiang Kaishek's attempts to unify and modernise China. It sets out the terms of comparison between the Blueshirts and Fascist organisations in Europe and Japan, indicating where there were similarities and differences of ideology and practice, as well as establishing links between them. It then analyses the reasons for the appeal of Fascist organisations and methods to Chiang Kaishek. Following an examination of global factors, the emergence of the Blueshirts from an internal point of view is considered. As well as assuming many of the characteristics of a Fascist organisation, especially according to the Japanese model and to some extent to the European model, the Blueshirts were in many ways typical of the power-cliques which were already an integral part of Chinese politics.
    [Show full text]
  • Engaging with Socialism in China: the Political Thought and Activities of Chen Gongbo and Tan Pingshan, 1917-1928
    Engaging with Socialism in China: The Political Thought and Activities of Chen Gongbo and Tan Pingshan, 1917-1928 Xuduo Zhao PhD University of York History May 2019 1 Abstract This thesis investigates Chen Gongbo (1892-1946) and Tan Pingshan (1886-1956), two significant Cantonese Marxists who helped found the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) in 1921. I use Chen and Tan as a lens to re-examine the dissemination of Marxism in May Fourth China and the underlying tensions in 1920s Chinese revolution. My study demonstrates that it was in the changing educational system in the early 20th century that Chen and Tan gradually improved their positions in the cultural field and participated in the intellectual ferment during the May Fourth period. At Peking University they became familiarised with Marxism. Their understanding of Marxism, however, was deeply influenced by European social democracy, as opposed to many other early communist leaders who believed in Bolshevism. This divergence finally led to the open conflict within the CCP between Guangzhou and Shanghai in the summer of 1922, which also embodied the different social identities among early Chinese Marxists. After the quarrel, Chen quit while Tan remained within the party. During the Nationalist Revolution, both Tan and Chen became senior leaders in the Kuomintang, but they had to face yet another identity crisis of whether to be a revolutionary or a politician. Meanwhile, they had to rethink the relationship between socialism and nationalism in their political propositions. This study of Chen and Tan’s political thought and activities in the late 1910s and 1920s offers a different picture of Chinese radicalism and revolution in the early Republican period.
    [Show full text]
  • The Shanghai Pavilion Room (Tingzijian) in Literature, 1920-1940
    THREE FACES OF A SPACE: THE SHANGHAI PAVILION ROOM (TINGZIJIAN) IN LITERATURE, 1920-1940 by Jingyi Zhang B.A., Fudan University, 2015 A THESIS SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF ARTS in The Faculty of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies (Asian Studies) THE UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA (Vancouver) May. 2017 © Jingyi Zhang, 2017 Abstract From the 1920s to the 1940s, the pavilion room, or Tingzijian—the small room above the kitchen in an alleyway house—accommodated many Shanghai sojourners. Tingzijian functioned as lodging and as a social space for young writers and artists. For many lodger-writers, the Tingzijian was a temporary residence before they left around 1941. In the interim, Tingzijian life became a burgeoning literary subject, even a recognized literary category. This study explores what meanings people ascribed to Tingzijian, and the historical and the artistic function of the space in Chinese literature of the 1920s and 1930s. Scholars have traditionally viewed “Tingzijian literature” as the province of leftist “Tingzijian literati” (wenren) who later transformed into revolutionaries; this study reveals the involvement a much greater variety of writers. We find a cross section of the literary field, from famous writers like Ba Jin 巴金 and Ding Ling 丁玲, for whom living in a Tingzijian was an important stage in their transition from the margins to the center of the literary field, to a constellation of obscure tabloid writers concerned less with revolution than with common urbanites’
    [Show full text]
  • Download Article (PDF)
    Advances in Social Science, Education and Humanities Research, volume 356 2nd International Conference on Contemporary Education, Social Sciences and Ecological Studies (CESSES 2019) Media Presentation Before and After "The July 7 Incident of 1937" Based on the Data of the Traitor- elimination Reports* Ziyi Guang Hanping Jiang School of Journalism and Communication School of Journalism and Communication Anhui University Anhui University Hefei, China Hefei, China Abstract—Starting from the research on Shen Bao, a very same type of reports before the "The July 7 Incident of 1937 popular newspaper at that time, this paper analyzes the types (hereinafter referred to as the Incident)". More than 160 of reports before and after the July 7 Incident. Based on the traitor-elimination reports are collected from Shen Bao in the reports on it throughout the year of 1937, a multi-dimensional whole year of 1937 to make a multi-dimensional and multi- and multi-level exploration is made on the quantity, length, angle comparison. theme and standpoints of reports before and after the incident as presented on media, from the representative point of This topic angle and orientation has not been involved "traitor elimination", in order to know about the changes in yet and has a large research space. By searching the status the newspaper media, learn from past experiences, explore quo of the search, it is shown that there are many researches relatively universal laws, and promote the development of on the Incident itself but few comparative researches on the contemporary news reporting both in methods and means. By influence on certain aspect before and after the Incident.
    [Show full text]
  • The Shanghai International Settlement and Newspaper Nationalism, 1925 Ziyu
    Reading the May 30 Movement in Newspapers: The Shanghai International Settlement and Newspaper Nationalism, 1925 Ziyu (Steve) Gan HIST 400B: Senior Thesis Advised by Professors Paul Smith and Linda Gerstein May 1, 2020 Table of Contents Abstract ......................................................................................................................................................... 2 Acknowledgment .......................................................................................................................................... 4 Introduction ................................................................................................................................................... 5 A Note on Terminologies .......................................................................................................................... 6 The Shanghai International Settlement ..................................................................................................... 7 Secondary Literature Review .................................................................................................................... 7 Introducing Sources .................................................................................................................................. 9 The Question of the Public Sphere ......................................................................................................... 11 Multiple Voices of the Nation ................................................................................................................
    [Show full text]
  • The Introduction of <I>Minbenzhuyi</I> and the Return of Its Traditional Chinese Meaning
    Cultura. International Journal of Philosophy of Culture and Axiology 16(2)/2019: 67-88 The Introduction of Minbenzhuyi and the Return of Its Traditional Chinese Meaning Xiaobo LV School of Government Nanjing University 163 Xianlin Avenue, Nanjing, Jiangsu Province, China [email protected] Abstract: The concepts of Minben ≇ᵢ, Minbensixiang ≇ᵢᙓᜩ, and Minbenzhuyi ≇ ᵢѱѿ 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 0LQJXLMXQTLQJµ(≇㿼 ≇੢, ≇䍫ੑ䖱). Gradually, it became evident that Minbenzhuyi in China had grown distant from the meaning of democracy and returned to its traditional Confucian values. Keywords: Minbenzhuyi, SAKUZO YOSHINO, Loanword Following the first Sino-Japanese war, the influence of “Dongxue” (ђ ᆜ, Eastern Learning, refers to Japanese thought at the time) on the Chinese intellectual community grew greater and greater, especially on the use of new nouns and terms. “During the late Qing dynasty, my fellow country men’s resistance against and criticism of the new words translated from Japanese have been almost completely annihilated, leaving behind little traces of their existence.” (Huang, 2012: 96; Shen 2010) Nonetheless, “Minbenzhuyi ≇ᵢѱѿ”, as a word of Japanese origin, was a “latecomer” among Japanese loanwords.
    [Show full text]
  • Final Kubler
    Imagining China’s Children: Lower-Elementary Reading Primers and the Reconstruction of Chinese Childhood, 1945–1951 Carl Kubler, University of Chicago Abstract In the years following the Second Sino-Japanese War (1937–1945), Chinese conceptions of children and childhood underwent a massive transformation. In particular, Communist educators in Northeast China and other parts of the country placed a new labor-oriented ideal of childhood at the center of the nation’s modernizing project. This article focuses on two issues related to this “remaking” of Chinese childhood in the mid-twentieth century. First, how did lower-elementary reading primers and other textbooks help create for children the idea of a Chinese nation, of which they were part and with which they were expected to identify above and beyond the domestic spheres of their natal families? Second, how did such textbooks teach children to think of themselves as laboring contributors to national causes? Following the physical and emotional devastation of war, Communist textbooks reordered the social world of children not by resubjugating them under traditional Confucian hierarchies but by elevating them to the position of national co-subject. Moreover, productive labor—framed through agriculture, industry, and military service—became one of the primary criteria for children’s inclusion into the nation. Through narrative, linguistic, and visual means, midcentury textbooks increasingly brought children into the fold of an imagined national community and, simultaneously, extended to society’s youngest members the importance of productivity as the primary condition of their inclusion. Keywords: Modern China, children, childhood, literacy, imagined communities, Guoyu, textbooks, labor, visuality, materiality, identity formation Introduction: The Study of Mid-Twentieth-Century Chinese Children and Childhood From female infanticide and starving orphans to “little emperors” and the One-Child Policy, China’s children have long held a prominent place in the historical imagination.
    [Show full text]
  • Jeremy E. Taylor from TRAITOR TO
    Journal of Chinese History 3 (2019), 137–158 doi:10.1017/jch.2017.43 . Jeremy E. Taylor FROM TRAITOR TO MARTYR: DRAWING LESSONS FROM THE DEATH AND BURIAL OF WANG JINGWEI, https://www.cambridge.org/core/terms 1944* Abstract Based on recently reopened files and publications in Nanjing, as well as published and newsreel accounts from the 1940s, this paper represents the first scholarly analysis of the rituals surrounding the death and burial of Wang Jingwei in Japanese-occupied China. Rather than locating this anal- ysis purely in the literature on the history of the Second Sino-Japanese War (1937–45), however, this paper asks what Wang Jingwei’s Re-organized National Government might tell us about per- sonality cults in the political culture of modern China. While Wang’s burial drew heavily on the precedent of Sun Yat-sen’s funerals of the 1920s, it also presaged later spectacles of public mourn- ing and posthumous commemoration, such as Chiang Kai-shek’s funeral in 1975 in Taipei. In focusing on this one specific event in the life of a “puppet government,” this paper hopes to reignite , subject to the Cambridge Core terms of use, available at scholarly interest in the study of “dead leaders” and their posthumous lives in modern Chinese history more generally. INTRODUCTION 25 Sep 2021 at 08:40:15 Despite the flurry of commemorative events in China in the months leading up to the sev- “ ’ , on entieth anniversary of the Victory of the Chinese People s War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression and the World Anti-Fascist War,” not every major event in that con- flict was publicly remembered.
    [Show full text]