Private Gun Ownership in Modern China, 1860-1949
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Syracuse University SURFACE Dissertations - ALL SURFACE August 2017 The Prism of Violence: Private Gun Ownership in Modern China, 1860-1949 Lei Duan Syracuse University Follow this and additional works at: https://surface.syr.edu/etd Part of the Arts and Humanities Commons Recommended Citation Duan, Lei, "The Prism of Violence: Private Gun Ownership in Modern China, 1860-1949" (2017). Dissertations - ALL. 762. https://surface.syr.edu/etd/762 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the SURFACE at SURFACE. It has been accepted for inclusion in Dissertations - ALL by an authorized administrator of SURFACE. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Abstract This dissertation examines private gun ownership and its sociocultural and political implications in modern China from 1860 to 1949, a period characterized by foreign invasion, constant military conflicts, and political decentralization. During this period, foreign guns, along with their Chinese imitations, flooded society. In response to the social disorder, many Chinese civilians turned to this new class of weaponry for self-defense. While historians have understood the gun in China in terms of military modernization, this dissertation sets the privately-owned gun in its social and political context, and studies why Chinese civilians chose to arm themselves with guns and how governments of different periods responded to their armed civilians. This study argues that growing social violence and the state’s inability to respond to it led Chinese men and women seek to obtain their own weapons. This demand was fueled by the gun’s powerful symbolism in public culture and social life, and by beliefs that guns were a source of social status and self-empowerment. Civilian ownership of guns contributed to persistent social violence, and also transformed power structures in local society and accelerated local militarization, impacting the balance between state and society. Both late Qing and Republican governments’ regulation and control over armed civilians was a dynamic and contingent process, hovering between two practices: the state’s resolute maintenance of its monopoly on the uses of guns, and its reliance on armed civilians in local defense. This study argues that the state’s dilemma over whether to control private guns or rely on them prevented the formation of an effective and consistent gun policy. In contrast, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) adopted a different policy towards private gun ownership, by making the mobilization of an armed populace part of its massline policy. The CCP’s private gun policy played an important role in strengthening the CCP’s presence and authority in wartime China. Drawing from a variety of sources such as government documents, legal cases, social survey reports, and popular writings, this study chronicles both the state efforts to deal with armed civilians and the reactions from the bottom. This dissertation engages with and complements wider research on modern Chinese history in examining violence, social life, and the dynamic state-society relationship. THE PRISM OF VIOLENCE: PRIVATE GUN OWNERSHIP IN MODERN CHINA, 1860-1949 by Lei Duan B.A., Nankai University, 2008 M.A., University of Massachusetts Amherst, 2011 M.Phil., Syracuse University, 2013 Dissertation Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in History Syracuse University August 2017 Copyright © Lei Duan 2017 All Rights Reserved Acknowledgement The research and writing for this dissertation were made possible by the support of a number of scholars and institutions. My first and foremost thanks go to my Ph.D. adviser, Norman Kutcher, who spared no effort in providing me unstinting support and encouragement over the course of my six years of graduate school at Syracuse University. His breadth of knowledge, competent and patient guidance, and thoughtful criticism made my graduate study at Syracuse fruitful and productive. I was fortunate to study Chinese history with him, who not only teaches me how to conduct historical research, but also instructs me to become an effective writer and presenter. The writing stage was sometimes difficult and boring. He more than once encouraged me not to give up. For me, he is more than an advisor, but also a mentor and confidant, showing openness and willingness to help. My other four committee members each deserve thanks for their invaluable comments on my dissertation. George Kallander and Michael Ebner provided me with their wisdom and knowledge on their research fields on Italian and Korean histories and offered directions for future research. I am also grateful to Terry Lautz who shared his insight on modern China and offered me important suggestion on my dissertation draft. Elizabeth LaCouture’s detailed comments helped me to sharpen my thinking. I would especially like to acknowledge many scholars and student colleagues in the course of my research. At Syracuse, Professors Junko Takeda, Martin Shanguhyia, Subho Basu, and many others offered me consistent support. My teachers at the Institute of Modern History (IMH), Academia Sinica, made my time in Taiwan fruitful. On my visits to Taiwan, I was able to consult many archival documents that would have been unavailable in mainland China. I want to express gratitude to Professor Chang Li, who sponsored my stay at the IMH. I also thank v Professors Chen Yung-fa, Lin Man-houng, Wu Jen-shu, Lee Yu-ping, Chang Jui-te, and Wu Zhe who shared their insights on modern China and provided critical suggestions on my project. In Tianjin, Professor Jiang Pei at Nankai University was extremely helpful, and facilitated access to archives in China. From the research to writing stage, many institutions offered the financial support that made it possible for me to complete this dissertation. At Syracuse, I received summer research grants from the Department of History, the Moynihan East Asia Center, and the graduate school, which allowed me to conduct archival research in various libraries and archives. I also received research grants from the Association for Asian Studies (AAS), and the American Historical Association (AHA). Travel grants from the Friends of the Princeton University Library, the Stanford East Asia Library, the Harvard-Yenching Library, and the Asia Library at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor allowed me to use their comprehensive collections on my project. The Harry Frank Guggenheim Foundation provided me with a one-year dissertation fellowship that allowed me to focus on research and writing. I would like to thank the following libraries and archives in mainland China for letting me use their invaluable materials: the National Library of China, the Shanghai Municipal Archives, Beijing Municipal Archives, the First Historical Archive in Beijing, and the Second Historical Archives in Nanjing. In the U.S., the kind archivists and librarians at Harvard, Yale, Princeton, and the Connecticut State Library helped me find primary sources. In Taiwan, I am also grateful to the archival staff I met at the KMT History Archive, the Modern Chinese History Library & Archives at Academia Sinica, and Academia Historica. I particularly would like to thank the excellent staffs at the interlibrary loan department at Syracuse University Library, who were supportive and efficient to provide me books and materials from afar. vi Finally, I am indebted to my wife Yuzhu. Without her encouragement and patience, I might not have the courage and energy to complete this work. The suggestions and comments from my professors and friends are critical to my future research. I am alone responsible for any possible errors or infelicities which remain. vii Table of Contents Acknowledgement ......................................................................................................................... v Table of Contents ....................................................................................................................... viii Chronology of Major Events........................................................................................................ x List of Tables ................................................................................................................................ xi List of Figures .............................................................................................................................. xii Introduction ................................................................................................................................... 1 Scope ........................................................................................................................................... 6 Terms ........................................................................................................................................... 7 The Proliferation of Private Gun Ownership: A Nationwide Overview ..................................... 9 The Issues and Historiography .................................................................................................. 15 Sources ...................................................................................................................................... 25 Chapter Overview ..................................................................................................................... 28 Chapter One: The Prism of Violence: The Social and Cultural Life of Gun in Modern China ...........................................................................................................................................