White Ash and Black Coal the Perception of Race In
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WHITE ASH AND BLACK COAL • • THE PERCEPTION OF RACE IN MODERN CHINA (1793-1949) Frank Dikotter PhD in Modern Chinese History iOftDiN. V UNIV. School of Oriental and African Studies University of London 1990 ProQuest Number: 11015908 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 11015908 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 ABSTRACT Race relations have often been considered a major problem of modern societies. In history, however, research on race relations and racial theories has been almost exclusively centred upon the Western-related facets of the problem: it is assumed that racism can only be a white phenomenon under which other people, lumped together under the heading "coloured", had to suffer. The narrow focus of such historical research, which can be explained by the vivid sense of guilt of modern Western society and by a still dominant feeling of eurocentrism, has distorted our comprehension of racial matters in non- Western countries. In China, the notion of "race" appeared at the end of the nineteenth century and was considered a vital problem by most intellectuals. Though the importance of such concern has been recognized by several historians, it has been hastily ascribed to either Chinese "xenophobia", a concept rarely defined, or to the effects of "social Darwinism", an equally vague term. The first chapter of this thesis presents the historical background of Chinese racial theories. It introduces a broad spectrum of material pertaining to the traditional attitudes toward skin colour, the social perception of physical differences, the concept of the "barbarians", environmental determinism, and geographical notions. It also reviews the main ethnocentric theories, including anti-Buddhism of the fourth and fifth centuries, Song loyal ism and anti-Manchu thought. The second chapter covers the period ranging from 1793 to the Sino-Japanese War of 1895. It briefly analyzes the formation and composition of racial stereotypes, which arose as a result of ethnic contacts in the ports open to foreigners. The next chapter discusses the reformers' perception of race (1895-1902). It focuses mainly on the works of Liang Qichao, Tang Caichang and Kang Youwei, but also considers other writers who were preoccupied with the idea of race. Chapter four is constructed around the idea of race as nation, which appeared in China around 1902. It studies the conceptual link between racial theories and the emergence of the nation-state concept. Chapter five is centred on the perception of race as species: how did the Chinese explain the origin of their own "race"; how was the idea of racial evolution handled; how were foreign races treated in anthropological works; how were racial differences explained? The last chapter covers the same period as chapter five (1915-1949), but is devoted exclusively to eugenics, the pseudo-science of race improvement. The popularity of eugenics in the 1930s reflected anxiety about the nation's racial health: intellectuals were tormented by the idea of racial degeneration in the face of foreign aggression. An epilogue briefly discusses the perception of race after 1949. 4 CONTENTS Abstract 3 Acknowledgements 9 Introduction 12 PART ONE 33 1. Race as Culture: Historical Background 34 SECTION ONE 34 Introduction 34 The barbarian in the classics 34 The barbarian in mythology 41 Environmental determinism 43 "Raw" and "cooked" barbarians 45 The skin colour of the barbarian 47 The black slave 55 SECTION TWO 61 Anti-Buddhist arguments during the Six Dynasties 62 The Song loyalists 64 Anti-Manchu thought 70 5 Conclusion 76 2. Race as Type (1793-1895) 77 Introduction 77 Foreign devils 80 Barbarian colours 82 Hairy barbarians 86 The anatomy of the foreign devil 89 The geography of the barbarian 94 First encounters 98 Miscegenation 107 Conclusion 109 PART TWO 112 3. Race as Lineage (1895-1902) 113 Introduction 113 Interracial struggles 115 Interlineage struggles 119 Racial classifications 122 The darker races 126 Extinction of the lineage 133 Western influence 138 The white race 143 The yellow race 146 Intermarriage 150 6 Conclus ion 154 4. Race as Nation (1902-1915) 156 Introduction 156 Evolution and group cohesion 157 Radical students and the preservation of the race 170 The descendants of the Yellow Emperor 181 The National Essence Group and the idea of race 186 Sun Yatsen and the principle of nationalism 192 Conclusion 196 PART THREE 198 5. Race as Species (1915-1949) 199 Introduction 199 The evolution of barbarian species 200 In search of origins 203 Skin colour and physical anthropology 209 Hair and physical anthropology 211 Race and odour 217 Craniology 218 The darker races 223 Racial taxonomy 229 Translations 232 Interracial struggle 235 Race in textbooks 239 7 The superiority-inferiority complex 242 Conclus ion 249 6. Race as Genes (1915-1949) 251 Introduction 251 Taijiao or prenatal education 252 Yuan Huang and blood purity 255 Theories on population quality 257 The incipient stage of modern eugenics 260 The flourishing of eugenics 263 Pan Guangdan and the popularization of eugenics 271 Nature versus nurture 277 Eugenic enthusiasm 284 Conclusion 295 7. Epilogue: Race as Class (1949-?) 298 Afterthought 304 Bibliography 306 primary sources 306 secondary sources 325 Chinese characters appearing in the bibliography 345 Glossary 353 8 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I am very fortunate to have written my thesis under the supervision of Professor T.H. Barrett, School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London. I would like to express my profound gratitude for his enthusiasm, guidance and support. I wish to thank R.G. Tiedemann, of the same institution, who was also most generous with his time and knowledge. To my teacher Professor Ladislas Mysyrowicz, University of Geneva, I am deeply grateful for intellectual guidance and encouragement. Without his unfailing support, this thesis would not have been possible. I acknowledge with gratitude a two year's scholarship of the Fonds National Suisse de la Recherche Scientifique, generously granted by the Commission de Recherche of the University of Geneva. A grant from the British Council Central Research Fund and an Additional Award for Fieldwork of the School of Oriental and African Studies enabled fieldwork in Hong Kong and Taiwan during the summer of 1988. I wish to express my gratitude to Professor Jerome C h ’en, York University, Professor Frederic Wakeman, University of California, Professor Erik Ziircher, University of Leiden, and Erik Maeder for their encouraging and helpful responses to an early research 9 plan. Professor Ch'en, whose China and the West greatly contributed to stimulate my interest in modern Chinese history, kindly commented on subsequent research outlines. I would also like to convey my appreciation to Professor Jean-Claude Favez, University of Geneva, Dr. A.H.Y. Lin, University of Hong Kong, Professor Herman Mast III, University of Connecticut, and Charles d ’Orban, Librarian at the School of Oriental and African Studies. Many thanks to Dr. P.M. Thompson and to Lillian Chia, SOAS, for having assisted me so kindly with the Chinese character processing. I owe a particular debt of gratitude to my friends. Gillian Macrae and Lars Laamann not only read the whole of the thesis and made many corrections and pertinent comments, but also gave me the benefit of many hours of discussion. For suggestions, inspiration and drinks, I am indebted to many other friends whose influence is reflected in these pages. 1 particularly wish to thank Fethi Ayache, Claude Bouguet, Martin Jelenic, Patrick McGinn and Xiong Mei. As a matter of fact, the responsibility for the views expressed in this thesis, as for errors and omissions, is mine alone. 10 "Do you know the story about the origin of the world’s human races? This is a version unique to us Hakka people. Before, when there was no trace of man bn earth, Tai Baixian decided to create mankind. He used clay, just like we make pottery or porcelain, and after having molded it into a human figure, he entered it into the kiln to bake. The first one baked for too long, and was badly burnt: he was all black! This was not so good, and Tai Baixian threw him away, putting forth all his strength, throwing him really far. He threw him to Africa, hence afterwards all the people in Africa were black. As a result of the first failure, the second one was baked more carefully. He was allowed to bake only for a little while and taken out of the kiln. Look: too white! This wasn't too good either, and Tai Baixian again threw him away. This time, he threw him a little closer. He threw him to Europe, hence afterwards all the people in Europe were white. Experience now allowed the third one to be baked to perfection: not too long, not too short. Pretty good! Neither black nor white, but all yellow. Tai Baixian was very satisfied, and put him on the ground. Hence afterwards all the people in Asia were yellow." Taiwan Kejia suwenxue (Folk literature of the Hakka in Taiwan), retold by Zhou Qinghua, Taipei: Dongfang wenhua shuju, 1971, pp. 149-150. 11 INTRODUCTION "We are shamefully humiliated by the four [Western] nations, not because our climate, soil, or products are inferior, but actually because our people are inferior (...) Our inferiority is not due to nature, it is inferiority due to ourselves.