SUN YAT-SENS: CONTESTED IMAGES of a POLITICAL ICON By
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SUN YAT-SENS: CONTESTED IMAGES OF A POLITICAL ICON by THOMAS EVAN FISCHER A THESIS Presented to the Asian Studies Program and the Graduate School of the University of Oregon in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts September 2020 THESIS APPROVAL PAGE Student: Thomas Evan Fischer Title: Sun Yat-sens: Contested Images of a Political Icon This thesis has been accepted and approved in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Master of Arts degree in the Asian Studies Program by: Bryna Goodman Chairperson Ina Asim Member Daniel Buck Member and Kate Mondloch Interim Vice Provost and Dean of the Graduate School Original approval signatures are on file with the University of Oregon Graduate School. Degree awarded September 2020 ii © 2020 Thomas Evan Fischer iii THESIS ABSTRACT Thomas Evan Fischer Master of Arts Asian Studies Program September 2020 Title: Sun Yat-sens: Contested Images of a Political Icon This thesis explores the afterlives of the Chinese revolutionary icon Sun Yat- sen and their relevant contexts, arguing that these contexts have given rise to different images of the same figure. It serves as a gallery in which these different images are put into conversation with one another, revealing new insights into each. Key to the discussion, Sun is first introduced in a short biography. Then, the thesis moves to his different afterlives: Sun and the fight for his posthumous approval in the Republic of China before 1949; Sun and his usage in Chinese Communist political rhetoric from 1956 through 2016; Sun and his changing image in the ROC-Taiwan, a change that reflects the contentious political environment of an increasingly bentu Taiwan; Sun and two of his images among the overseas Chinese of Hawaii and Penang. Through this exploration, the thesis shows that there is no one Sun Yat-sen. 4 CURRICULUM VITAE NAME OF AUTHOR: Thomas Evan Fischer GRADUATE AND UNDERGRADUATE SCHOOLS ATTENDED: University of Oregon, Eugene, OR Wesleyan University, Middletown, CT DEGREES AWARDED: Master of Arts, Asian Studies, 2020, University of Oregon Bachelor of Arts, East Asian Studies, 2018, Wesleyan University AREAS OF SPECIAL INTEREST: Modern Chinese History Political Narrative PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE: Mellon Graduate Employee, University of Oregon, 2018-2020 Theater Technician, Wesleyan University Center for the Arts, 2014-2018 GRANTS, AWARDS, AND HONORS: General University Scholarship, University of Oregon, 2019-2020 CAPS Small Professional Grants for Graduate Students, University of Oregon, Spring 2019 and Fall 2020 Representative to the Ninth Flying University of the Transnational Humanities, University of Oregon, Summer 2019 Departmental Honors, Wesleyan University College of East Asian Studies, Spring 2018 PUBLICATIONS: Fischer, Thomas E. “Red Sun, White Sun: Wang Jingwei’s Chinese Pan- Asianism and the Contestation of Memory.” The Holocaust Meets the Post-Colonial in the Global Memory Space: Conference Proceedings of the Ninth Flying University of the Transnational Humanities (Seoul: Critical Studies Institute at Sogang University, 2019). v ACKNOWLEDGMENTS My time in Eugene and, in particular, my time working on this thesis has involved many ups and downs, but none of it could have happened without the help of many. I would like to begin by thanking my advisor, Professor Bryna Goodman, for her guidance throughout this process, as well as the many professors at the University of Oregon I’ve had the privilege of studying under. I owe special thanks to Professors Tuong Vu and Ina Asim for recommending me for the General University Scholarship, to CAPS for enabling me to attend the 2019 ASPAC Conference at St. Mary’s College and the 2020 HICCS at the University of Hawaii-Manoa, and to the Graduate School for sending me to Seoul for the 2019 FUTH at Sogang University. I’d also like to recognize my former teachers elsewhere for providing me with the foundation upon which this thesis stands. I would also like to thank Xiaotong Wang and the staff at the UO Libraries for help with procuring and maintaining source material, as well as Hope Marston and other Graduate School staff for their help along the way. Next, I would like to thank everyone at the JSMA and the UO Libraries for giving me the opportunity to work on the Mellon Initiative projects, an opportunity that enabled me to come to Eugene and taught me many things. I’d also like to thank my classmates for challenging me to think in new ways and consider different angles. Finally, I’d like to thank my family and friends for their constant support. vi “Grandson!” she says magnanimously. “Come home! You’re lost if you don’t. I know you don’t want to; I know you’re scared of all the flies, of the clouds of mosquitoes, of snakes slithering across the damp sorghum soil. You revere heroes and loathe bastards, but who among us is not the ‘most heroic and most bastardly’?” —Mo Yan, Red Sorghum vii TABLE OF CONTENTS Chapter Page PREFACE ......................................................................................................................1 INTRODUCTION: THE RIPPLES OF SUN YAT-SEN ..............................................8 i. Introduction ...........................................................................................................8 ii. The Life of Sun Yat-sen.....................................................................................12 iii. Four Biographies of Sun Yat-sen .....................................................................25 iv. The Structure of the Thesis ...............................................................................59 I. FOR CHINA, FOR ASIA!: DUELING GMD NARRATIVES OF SUN YAT-SEN ....................................................................................................66 i. Introduction .........................................................................................................66 ii. Historical Overview, 1925-1949........................................................................67 iii. Chiang Kai-shek’s Superhuman Sun Yat-sen ...................................................80 iv. Wang Jingwei’s Transcendent Nationalist Sun Yat-sen ...................................92 v. Conclusion .......................................................................................................105 II. RED SUN OVER CHINA: SUN YAT-SEN & THE CHINESE COMMUNISTS .........................................................................................................108 i. Introduction .......................................................................................................108 viii Chapter Page ii. A Brief Overview of the CCP and the PRC.....................................................110 iii. Glory to Sun, the Democratic Revolutionary!—Commemorating Sun Yat-sen’s 90th Birthday in the People’s Daily ....................................................116 iv. Down with US Imperialism and the Reactionary Elements!— Commemorating Sun’s Centennial Birthday in 1966 ..........................................127 v. The Father of Modern China!—Commemorating Sun’s 120th Birthday ........143 vi. Commemorating Sun’s 150th Birthday—Live from Beijing! ........................152 vii. Conclusion .....................................................................................................159 III. SHADES OF BLUE, SHADES OF GREEN: SUN YAT-SEN & THE BEAUTIFUL ISLE .......................................................................................161 i. Introduction .......................................................................................................161 ii. Taiwan, China, Japan, and China ....................................................................161 iii. Sun, Chiang, and Changing Taiwanese Politics .............................................172 iv. Sun Yat-sen and Chiang Wei-shui, the Anti-Japanese Martyr .......................190 v. Conclusion .......................................................................................................213 IV. SANDALWOOD & BETEL NUTS: SUN YAT-SEN IN HAWAII & PENANG ...............................................................................................................216 i. Introduction .......................................................................................................216 ix Chapter Page ii. A Brief History of Hawaii and the Hawaiian Chinese .....................................219 iii. Sun Yat-sen in Hawaii ....................................................................................227 iv. The Nanyang Chinese and the Isle of Penang ................................................244 v. Sun Yat-sen Revolutes in Penang ....................................................................253 vi. Conclusion ......................................................................................................265 CONCLUSION: A GALLERY OF SUN YAT-SENS ..............................................267 i. Introduction .......................................................................................................267 ii. Sun Yat-sen the Confucian Humanist ..............................................................268 iii. Conclusion ......................................................................................................276 APPENDIX ................................................................................................................286 REFERENCES CITED ..............................................................................................287