University of California Santa Cruz Maritime Manchuria
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UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA SANTA CRUZ MARITIME MANCHURIA: EMPIRE, STATE, AND LABORERS, 1905-2016 A dissertation submitted in partial satisfaction of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY in HISTORY by Xiaofei Gao June 2018 The Dissertation of Xiaofei Gao is approved: _______________________________ Professor Gail Hershatter, chair _______________________________ Professor Emily Honig _______________________________ Professor Alan Christy _______________________________ Professor Jennifer Derr ____________________________ Tyrus Miller Vice Provost and Dean of Graduate Studies Copyright © by Xiaofei Gao 2018 Table of Contents List of Figures .............................................................................................................. iv Terms ............................................................................................................................ v Abstract ........................................................................................................................ vi Acknowledgements .................................................................................................... viii Introduction ................................................................................................................... 1 Chapter One: Imperialism, Immigration and Everyday Life at the Water’s Edge, 1905-1945 ................................................................................................................... 11 Chapter Two: Farmers vs. Fishermen: Rural Dalian in the Civil War and Land Reform, 1946-1950 ..................................................................................................... 55 Chapter Three: Collision Course: The Industrial Transformation of Dalian’s Urban Fisheries, 1949-57 ....................................................................................................... 86 Chapter Four: Catch the Wave: The People’s Fisheries and Socialist Reform in the Coastal Villages, 1950-1976 ..................................................................................... 132 Chapter Five: Contesting Reforms: Nostalgia, Gender and the Environment, 1980- 2016........................................................................................................................... 195 Conclusion ................................................................................................................ 230 Bibliography ............................................................................................................. 236 iii List of Figures Table 1. Trade Ratios of China's Five Busiest Ports………………………………... 17 Table 2. Chinese vs. Japanese in Dalian’s Population, 1906-30…………………….19 Map 1. The Guandong Leased Territory and Fengtian Province……………………23 Chart 1. Migration Between North China and Manchuria…………………………..32 Table 3. Strikes in Dalian, 1916-27………………………………………………….47 Image 1. The Soviet Soldiers in Rural Dalian……………………………………….54 Map 2. The Area Where the Soviet Army was Stationed……………………………63 Image 2. The Establishment of the Sino-Soviet Shipbuilding Company…………....93 Image 3. “Chinese and Soviet Experts to Conquer Technical Difficulties Together”95 Image 4. Marine Aquaculture in Dalian…………………………………………... 160 Image 5. Women Harvesting Seaweed……………………………………………..168 Image 6. The Seedling Rearing Room…………………………………………….. 186 Map 3. Jinshitan…………………………………………………………………….201 Image 7. Women Fishery Workers at the Tiansheng Fishery Company…………...213 iv Terms Manchuria and Northeast China: I use the term "Manchuria" to refer to the area of today’s three Chinese provinces of Liaoning, Jilin and Heilongjiang with the recognition that in post-1949 China, the term “Manchuria” is often associated with China’s humiliating colonial past. Therefore, in the post-war primary sources of Chinese official and popular writings, “Manchuria” is replaced by the term “Northeast China” (dongbei 东北). To remain consistent across the wartime and postwar periods, this dissertation, nevertheless, in most cases still uses “Manchuria” throughout. Dalian/Dairen/ Lüda and Guandong/Kwantung: In wartime Japanese sources between 1905 and 1945, the city of “Dalian” was commonly referred as “Dairen.” This was also the case for Guandong (southern Manchuria) and Kwantung in Chinese and Japanese respectively. Dalian was also named as “Lüda” in the socialist period until 1981. This dissertation uses the Chinese term Dalian and Guandong throughout. v Abstract Maritime Manchuria: Empire, State, And Laborers, 1905-2016 Xiaofei Gao This dissertation undertakes a historical examination of twentieth-century maritime Manchuria (Northeast China) to explore the role of seaborne interactions and coastal labor activities in shaping East Asian integration as well as social and environmental crises. "Maritime Manchuria" refers to the Bohai/Yellow Sea Rim, the area that runs along Manchuria, tracing the edge of east and north China and the Korean Peninsula, and extending into the corner of the Pacific. It is composed of port cities, less urbanized coastal villages, and the sea. The rim is not just a physical space, but also a space defined by social and economic relations. Questions animating this dissertation concern the kinds of human activities required to bring this rim into existence, the types of people who lived along the rim, and how they contributed to the development of the region. The dissertation has two major goals: to highlight the transnational networks of commercial, cultural, and knowledge exchanges in the region, and to take full account of the everyday lives of local laborers, including male dock workers, women who grew seaweed and collected shellfish on shore, fishermen, students who were sent down to the coastal rural villages, and entrepreneurs. Its underlying argument is that region-making, nation-building, and environmental transformations require attention to those who made their living along the Manchurian coast. It shows the dialectic of transnationalism and modernity, which entailed the convergence of ideas, vi the circulation of commodities, and confrontations centered on labor displacement and marine environmental crises. vii Acknowledgements It is with great pleasure, and even greater relief, that I am able to acknowledge the many individuals and institutions that have helped make this dissertation complete. My gratitude goes first and foremost to my advisors Gail Hershatter and Emily Honig. They guided me at every point from the moment I arrived at Santa Cruz. Their unwavering support, genuine kindness, and adherence to the highest intellectual standards has been motivating (and occasionally intimidating). Their influence on my dissertation is evident in its perspective, its methods, and its arguments, although responsibility for any errors is mine alone. I cannot imagine better academic and intellectual mentors than Gail and Emily have been, and remain in awe of the brilliance, enthusiasm, and humanity they exemplify in their scholarship and teaching. Alan Christy read and offered insightful comments on my dissertation. He and Noriko Aso have shaped this project by opening my eyes to a range of stimulating literature and scholarship on the history of the Japanese empire, which became essential to my study on Manchuria. Lisa Rofel shared with me her rich knowledge of socialist and post-socialist China, and inspired me to formulate interesting questions on the subjects of gender, labor, and China in the world. Minghui Hu first inspired and encouraged me to look at maritime networks in China. Jennifer Derr helped improve the project's conceptual framework by sharing her knowledge of political economy and the environment. Benjamin Read provided viii important knowledge and ideas about China's social movements and grassroots politics. I also benefited greatly from inspiring seminars and helpful conversations with many other scholars at UCSC. I owe particular thanks to Grace Delgado, Marc Matera, Matt O’Hara, Maya Peterson, Juned Shaikh, and Alice Yang. During conferences, workshops, and individual meetings in field research, many scholars have been incredibly generous with comments, advice, and sources for my work. They include Asada Masafumi, Prasenjit Duara, Harriet Evans, Jacob Eyferth, Carla Freeman, Christian Hess, Andrea Janku, Brian Lander, Li Yushang, Ruth Mostern, Ogata Hiromi, Shen Zhihua, Sun Gaojie, Wang Lihua, and Zhang Si. My intellectual growth also owes much to Deng Lilan, Hou Jie, Li Shaobing, Sun Weiguo, and Zhang Si, among many other professors from Nankai University. Li Shaobing, in particular, shaped my interests in social history, showed me the joy of research, and encouraged me to pursue further study in the United States. My graduate life was greatly enriched and enlivened by fellow “red guards” and graduate students. Melissa Brzycki and Stephanie Montgomery have read almost every draft of this dissertation and provided insightful feedback during our group meetings. Ana Candela, Angelina Chin, Nellie Chu, Fang Yu Hu, Michael Jin, Mo Yajun, Benjamin Pietrenka, Jeff Sanceri, Sun Xiaoping, and Jeremy Tai have patiently answered my questions about grad school since before I came to Santa Cruz and throughout my time here, and constantly inspired me with their stellar sample works. Dustin Wright has been a caring and inspiring brother from the first day I ix landed in California. Jessica Barbata Jackson, Kiran Garcha, George Gonzales, Evan Grupsmith, Kyuhyun Han, Kai Kwiatkowski, Liu Xiangyan, Muiris Macgiollabhui, Priscilla