Chasing the Dragon in Shanghai Canada's Early Relations With
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John D. Meehan, S.J. Chasing the Dragon in Shanghai Canada’s Early Relations with China, 1858-1952 Sample Material © 2011 UBC Press Contents List of Illustrations / ix Acknowledgments / xi Note on Names / xiii Select Street Names in Shanghai / xiv Abbreviations / xv Prologue: The Gateway to China / 3 1 Imperial Overtures / 12 2 Establishing a Presence / 35 3 The Tide of Nationalism / 60 4 A False Security / 84 5 Forged in Fire / 128 6 Preparing for the End / 154 Conclusion: From Asymmetry to Opportunity / 179 Appendix: List of Canadians Interned in Shanghai (1943-45) / 186 Notes / 192 Select Bibliography / 219 Index / 224 Sample Material © 2011 UBC Press Sample Material © 2011 UBC Press Illustrations Map Map of Shanghai / xvi Figures 1 The Bund, as seen from the NYK wharves in Hongkou / 110 2 Lord James Bruce / 111 3 Zikawei / 111 4 Donald MacGillivray and his wife, Elizabeth, with staff of the Christian Literature Society, c. 1924 / 112 5 W.L. Mackenzie King as part of the British delegation at the International Opium Conference, Shanghai, 1909 / 112-13 6 Rev. Alexander (“Aleck”) Trivett / 113 7 Jesuit priest Francis (“Shanghai Mac”) McDonald / 114 8 Canadian Pacific office on the Bund / 114 9 The Empress of Canada docking at Shanghai / 115 10 Nanjing Road, Shanghai’s main commercial thoroughfare / 116 11 Lieutenant Colonel L. Moore Cosgrave, Canadian trade commissioner in Shanghai (1925-34) / 117 12 The Bund Garden / 117 13 Canada’s trade office in Shanghai / 118 14 Shanghai’s Bund during its heyday in the 1930s / 119 15 Broadway Mansions in downtown Shanghai during the mid-1930s / 119 16 Traffic on Nanjing Road / 120 17 Adrien Sansoucy surrounded by fellow Jesuits from Zikawei / 120 Sample Material © 2011 UBC Press x Chasing the Dragon in Shanghai 18 Members of the Canadian Club, Shanghai, c. 1936 / 121 19 Damage to shipping in Shanghai during Sino-Japanese hostilities / 121 20 Members of the Shanghai Volunteer Corps helped protect the International Settlement from being overwhelmed by refugees / 122 21 View from the International Settlement showing destruction at Pudong / 122 22 Maurice Belhumeur, Canadian Jesuit, helping refugees in the safety zone / 123 23 Canadian Jesuits in the so-called Jacquinot safety zone / 123 24 Chinese refugees fled to Shanghai’s foreign concessions during Sino-Japanese hostilities / 124 25 Trucks used to collect refugees on rescue missions in war zones / 124 26 Canadian missionary James Endicott addressing Chinese recruits in early 1939 / 125 27 Major General Victor Odlum with Chiang Kai-shek and other Chinese officials, March 1944 / 125 28 Lieutenant Colonel L. Moore Cosgrave at the Japanese surrender ceremony aboard the USS Missouri on 2 September 1945 / 126 29 James Endicott, Madame Sun Yat-sen, and the editor of China Reconstructs, Shanghai, 1952 / 126 30 James Endicott preaching at the Community Church of Shanghai / 127 Tables 1.1 Chinese immigration to Canada, 1886-1926 / 25 4.1 Canadian trade with China, 1905-36 / 103 5.1 Canadian metals exports to China and Japan, 1930-39 / 134 5.2 Occupations of Canadian civilians interned in Shanghai, 1943-45 / 147 5.3 Canadian shipments of military assistance to China under the Mutual Aid Act, 1943-46 / 152 Sample Material © 2011 UBC Press Acknowledgments In 2010, Canada and the People’s Republic of China (PRC) marked the fortieth anniversary of diplomatic relations, honouring a relationship that has been important to both partners. Yet, Canada’s ties with the world’s most populous country began well before the official recognition of the PRC in 1970 by the government of Pierre Elliott Trudeau. A little more than a century ago, Ottawa appointed its first trade commissioner to Shanghai, and William Lyon Mackenzie King, then deputy minister of labour, visited the city as a delegate to the International Opium Con- ference. Since then, the fortunes of China’s largest city and economic centre have waxed and waned, as has its place in Sino-Canadian relations. Over the century, Canada maintained a strong presence in Shanghai – officially, through a trade commission and later consulate general, and unofficially, through the activities of hundreds of traders, missionaries, and others. This book was inspired by my first visit to Shanghai almost fifteen years ago and took shape thanks to many people along the way. The project developed during a course that I taught with Philip Charrier at the University of Regina on the comparative histories of Tokyo and Shanghai. The course was a fruitful exercise in collaboration, and I learned much from Philip and our students, whose questions deepened my interest in these cities. I thank Patricia Roy, Robert Bothwell, Greg Donaghy, John Hilliker, and Francine McKenzie for their helpful advice. David Webster provided useful feedback, sharing a desire to advance scholarship on the history of Canada’s Pacific relations. Thanks also to the many archivists who helped me in my research, as well as Melissa Pitts and Megan Brand at UBC Press, who adroitly guided me through the publication process. I particularly appreciate the assistance of the “Old China” hands, mentioned in the Notes, who in person and in Sample Material © 2011 UBC Press xii Chasing the Dragon in Shanghai correspondence shared their fascinating stories of Shanghai. I am in- debted to my family and friends, especially Jacques Monet, for their support and encouragement over the years. Finally, I thank Campion College (University of Regina), the Asian Institute at the Munk School of Global Affairs (University of Toronto), and the Jesuit Historical Insti- tute (Rome) for financial and other assistance that enabled completion of this work. If this account provides a helpful background and useful insights to those seeking to promote Canada’s relations with China, it will have fulfilled its purpose. Sample Material © 2011 UBC Press Note on Names The transcription for Chinese names is in Pinyin, except for a very few names that are better known through transliteration in the traditional manner. Thus, Sun Yat-sen and Chiang Kai-shek are used, for instance, instead of Sun Yixian and Jiang Jieshi. In some cases, for the sake of clarity, I have included alternate readings in parentheses when a name is cited the first time. As with Japanese names in the text, family names are placed before given names. Sample Material © 2011 UBC Press Select Street Names in Shanghai Former Name Current Name Alcock Road Anguo Road Avenue Edward VII East Yan’an Road Avenue Foch Yan’an Zhang Road and West Jinling Road Avenue Joffre Huaihai Zhong Road Bubbling Well Road West Nanjing Road Bund Zhongshan Dongyi Road Foochow Road Fuzhou Road Great Western Road West Yan’an Road Kiukiang Road Jiujiang Road Museum Road Huqiu Road Nanking Road Nanjing Road North Szechuen Road North Sichuan Road Peking Road Beijing Road rue Bourgeat Changle Road rue Cardinal Mercier South Maoming Road rue Corneille Gaolan Road rue Lafayette Fuxing Zhong Road Seward Road East Changzhi Road Yangtzepoo Road Yangshupu Road Yu Yuen Road Yu Yuan Road Source: Marcia R. Ristaino, Port of Last Resort: Diaspora Communities of Shanghai (Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 2001), 285-86. Sample Material © 2011 UBC Press Abbreviations CIM China Inland Mission CLS Christian Literature Society CPR Canadian Pacific Railway CWCC Catholic Welfare Committee of China DTC Department of Trade and Commerce GMD Guomindang (National People’s Party) IPR Institute of Pacific Relations PLA People’s Liberation Army PRC People’s Republic of China SMC Shanghai Municipal Council UCC United Church of Canada UNRRA United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration Sample Material © 2011 UBC Press Map of Shanghai Sample Material © 2011 UBC Press Sample Material © 2011 UBC Press Sample Material © 2011 UBC Press Prologue: The Gateway to China On a muggy day in July 1669, René-Robert Cavelier de La Salle embarked from Ville-Marie, now Montreal, with a hastily assembled flotilla of nine canoes. His self-declared objective was to be the first to reach the Ohio River, “the way to the Southern Sea, and thereby the route to China,” a mission that suited his wayfaring nature. Only two years earlier, he had arrived in New France with neither profession nor money, his restless and independent spirit having caused him to leave the Jesuit order in France. Thanks to his brother, a priest in the rival Sulpician congrega- tion, he had obtained a seigneury at Côte Saint-Sulpice on the island of Montreal, an estate he soon neglected. On selling the property, La Salle felt sufficiently funded and unattached to satisfy his inveterate wander- lust, soon attracting a band of equally avid adventurers.1 La Salle’s expedition, however, proved a dismal failure. As many had feared, he and his companions lacked the stamina and expertise required for such an enterprise. Without a guide, the group ventured blindly into the North American interior, unfamiliar with its unforgiving geography and the ways of its indigenous inhabitants. Contrary to his claim of fluency in the Iroquois language, La Salle shocked his fellow travellers by being unable to speak it at all, relying solely on a Dutch interpreter who was poorly versed in French. After much hardship and illness, La Salle returned to Quebec within the year and was once again penniless. Although his exact itinerary was later disputed, he most likely had not discovered the Ohio or Mississippi Rivers on this journey. His hopes dashed, he certainly had not found the way to China. According to some accounts, his hapless companions were soon mocked as “les chinois” and his former seigneury became known as “la petite Chine” (or simply “Lachine”) in derision for his ambitious but alas unsuccessful quest.2 Sample Material © 2011 UBC Press 4 Chasing the Dragon in Shanghai La Salle’s dream of a shorter route to Asia, albeit unfulfilled in his lifetime, continued to captivate many.