THE CONUNDRUM OF COLLABORATION: JAPANESE INVOLVEMENT WITH MUSLIMS IN NORTH CHINA, 1931-1945 A Dissertation submitted to the Faculty of the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences of Georgetown University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in History By Kelly Anne Hammond, M.A. Washington, DC June 16, 2015 Copyright 2015 by Kelly Anne Hammond All Rights Reserved ii THE CONUNDRUM OF COLLABORATION: JAPANESE INVOLVEMENT WITH MUSLIMS IN NORTH CHINA, 1931-1945 Kelly Anne Hammond, M.A. Thesis Advisor: James A. Millward, Ph.D. ABSTRACT This dissertation argues that Chinese Muslims living under occupation who collaborated with the Japanese were actively involved in creating an on-going dialogue between the Japanese Empire and the Chinese Nationalists about strategies for managing minority populations on the mainland. The dissertation describes some of the ways which the Japanese transformed the social and political milieu in which Islam operated in North China and argues that the Japanese approach ultimately shaped the minority policies of both Nationalist and later Communist governments in China. More broadly, the dissertation demonstrates that twentieth-century projects of nation and state building in China have shaped (and reshaped) people’s understanding of the place of Islam in Chinese society and the place of Muslims from China in the Islamic world. The dissertation contributes to the scholarship on Modern East Asia in three ways. While the idea of wartime collaboration of Chinese with the Japanese continues to be an important area of research, I draw attention to a historically important minority group in China who made the choice to work with their Japanese occupiers. By showcasing the experience of Muslims living under occupation, my work refutes claims that there was anything resembling a cohesive Muslim resistance during the war. Secondly, the dissertation contributes to the on-going demystification of war in twentieth-century China by bringing to light some of the everyday experiences of Muslims living under occupation. Thirdly, by focusing on Japanese policies, Nationalist responses and Chinese Muslims themselves, the dissertation examines hitherto unconsidered political and social outcomes of WWII for minority populations in China. Taken as a whole, the project adds to both the understanding of the experiences of war in East Asia and to re-thinking the place of Muslims from China in the broader nexus of global Islam in the twentieth-century. KEYWORDS: China; Islam; Ethnicity; Nationalism; Japan; Imperialism; China War; Pacific War; WWII; Pan-Islamism; Pan-Asianism. iii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Although my name alone appears on the title page of this dissertation, its completion would never have been possible without the continued support of many incredible people. Thank you to all the members of my dissertation committee. Special thanks especially to my supportive mentors, Carol Benedict and James Millward. They are both exemplary scholars and teachers, and I have learned a great deal from them over the past seven years. Jonathan Lipman also deserves special recognition: in the first year of my Ph.D., Professor Lipman mailed me a number of Japanese articles published in the 1930s that he found in a box while cleaning out his basement. These articles sent me on a journey to find out more about Islamic studies in Japan during WWII. Thank you also to the Georgetown University Department of History for providing me with research and teaching opportunities throughout my Ph.D.. A warm thank you also goes to the Canadian Social Science and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC). Their generous grant funded a number of summer research trips to Asia and made my life as a graduate student in Washington DC much more pleasant. I respect and admire the work of many scholars and friends that I have met over the years at Georgetown and at Simon Fraser, and throughout my travels abroad. I owe every one of them a great deal of gratitude. My work is enriched and more thoughtful because of engaging discussions—often over beers or baijiu—with colleagues over the years. I offer a heartfelt thanks to two of my dearest friends for their continued support on this journey. Abhishek Kaicker and Rebecca Manley Doucette are also both recent Ph.D.s, although one is a South Asian historian and the other is a Veterinary Radiologist. They have helped me in very different ways usually involving long conversations about maintaining work-life balance over gimlets (Abhishek) or a bottle of wine and fish tacos (Rebecca). And finally, a massive thank you to my family for everything they do for me. My sister Brittany is by far the funniest person I know and I love her dearly. I thank her for keeping me honest and grounded, and for being able to make me laugh in any situation. Sherry, Terry, Don and Margaret have all played an important role in my success. Their unabashed and unwavering support should be the envy of children everywhere. Many thanks, KELLY A. HAMMOND iv TABLE OF CONTENTS INTRODUCTION—MINORITY REPORT: WHY THE HISTORY OF MUSLIMS LIVING UNDER JAPANESE OCCUPATION MATTERS………………………………………………...1 COLLABORATION AND RESISTANCE IN WWII—LESSONS FROM VICHY………….…...………11 COLLABORATION STUDIES IN EAST ASIA……………………………………………………...15 COMPETING VISIONS OF THE NATION: WHOSE NATION AND WHO BELONGS?..............................23 THE COMMUNISTS, THE JAPANESE AND THE MUSLIMS ………………………………..............32 RELIGION, THE JAPANESE EMPIRE, AND THE INSTRUMENTALIZATION OF ISLAM………………37 OUTLINE OF THE CHAPTERS IN THIS DISSERTATION…………………………………………....40 CHAPTER I—MOTIVATIONS, METHODS, AND MODELS: JAPANESE INTEREST IN MUSLIMS FROM CHINA AND NATIONALIST REACTIONS AND RESPONSES……………43 INTRODUCTION………………………………………………………………………………..43 WHY WAS THE JAPANESE EMPIRE INTERESTED IN MUSLIMS IN THE FIRST PLACE? ……............49 PART I: INTERESTS IN THE MIDDLE EAST ………………………………………………...49 PART II: INTERESTS ON THE MAINLAND………………………………………………….52 MODELS FOR MANAGING MUSLIMS…………………………………………………………....55 PART I: THE GERMANS…………………………………………………………………...56 PART II: THE ITALIANS……………………………………………………………...........63 PART III—JAPANESE HOME ISLANDS: THE TATARS, THE KOREANS, AND THE BURAKUMIN ……………………………………………………………………70 METHODS FOR MANAGING MUSLIMS: LEARNING ABOUT ISLAM—KNOWLEDGE AND SUPPORT………………………………………………………………………….............78 PART I: THE DRAMATIC EXPANSION OF ISLAMIC STUDIES PROGRAMS AND ASSOCIATIONS IN JAPAN AND IN MANCHUKUO BETWEEN 1932 AND 1937………………..78 PART II: TACTICS FOR RECRUITING MUSLIMS ……………………………………………84 PART III: TRANSLATING JAPANESE INTO CHINESE WITH THE HELP OF CHINESE MUSLIMS……………………………………………………….……………….86 NATIONALIST RESPONSES TO THE JAPANESE SUCCESSES WITH MUSLIMS LIVING UNDER OCCUPATION………………………………………………………….………..88 NATIONALISTS: INCREASING DIPLOMATIC TIES WITH THE MIDDLE EAST …………………..…90 RECONNAISSANCE MISSIONS TO OCCUPIED CHINA TO OBSERVE AND REPORT ON JAPANESE POLICIES TOWARDS MUSLIMS……………………………………………………....93 CONCLUSIONS………………………………………………………………………………..101 CHAPTER II ––THE JAPANESE, THE NATIONALISTS, AND MUSLIMS: COMPETING INTERESTS AND VISIONS FOR EDUCATIONAL REFORMS TO MUSLIM SCHOOLS IN CHINA……...…103 EDUCATION AND EDUCATIONAL REFORMS IN CHINA IN THE LATE NINETEENTH AND TWENTIETH CENTURY—WHERE DO MUSLIMS FIT INTO THE PICTURE?.....................................106 v ENTER THE JAPANESE: EARLY JAPANESE INFLUENCE ON THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE EDUCATION SYSTEM IN CHINA………………………………………………….……….118 WHOSE NATION IS IT?: VISIONS FOR THE NATION AND MUSLIM SCHOOLS…………..………..122 THE CENTRALITY OF LANGUAGE—ARABIC, CHINESE, OR JAPANESE AND VISIONS OF WHAT IT MEANT TO BE CHINESE…………………………,,,,,,,,,,…………………………124 APPROACHES AND TACTICS—APPEALING TO THE NATION, THE FAMILY, AND FAITH………....131 VISIONS OF THE NATION AND ISLAMIC EDUCATION IN THE NATIONALIST IMAGINATION…………………………………………………..……………………………142 CONCLUSIONS………………………………………………………..………………………150 CHAPTER III—JAPANESE INVOLVEMENT WITH MUSLIM EDUCATION IN OCCUPIED CHINA AND CHINESE MUSLIMS RESPONSES TO THESE EFFORTS...................................152 JAPANESE INVOLVEMENT WITH EDUCATION IN NORTH CHINA…………………..…………...156 THE CENTRALITY OF LANGUAGE—ARABIC, CHINESE, OR JAPANESE?.....................................159 APPROACHES AND TACTICS—FAMILY, FAITH, AND NATION?...................................................165 METHODS, MOTIVATIONS, AND INCENTIVES FOR EDUCATING MUSLIMS…………………..….174 A VARIETY OF EXPERIENCES CONVINCING MUSLIMS IN CHINA TO LEARN JAPANESE………...178 CONCLUSIONS…………………………………………………………………………..……189 CHAPTER IV—SITUATING MUSLIMS FROM NORTH CHINA IN A GLOBAL CONTEXT: CHINESE NATIONALIST NETWORKS, THE JAPANESE EMPIRE, AND FIVE BEIJING MUSLIMS ON A JAPANESE-SPONSORED HAJJ ON THE BRINK OF THE OUTBREAK OF WWII…….............…...191 INTRODUCTION………………………………………………………………………………191 TANG YICHEN AND THE JAPANESE-SPONSORED HAJJ MISSION……………………….............194 STUCK IN THE MIDDLE?............................................................................................................198 TANG YICHEN’S HAJJ—DEPARTURE FROM BEIPING………………………………..………..203 LEAVING BEIPING—TRAVELING TO DALIAN…………………………………..…………….206 FROM DALIAN TO SHANGHAI………………………………..……………………………….207 SHANGHAI—FOREIGNERS IN THEIR OWN LAND…………………………………..…………..208 LEAVING SHANGHAI ON AN ITALIAN STEAMSHIP………………………………………….....211 HONG KONG, SINGAPORE AND MUMBAI—A VARIETY OF EXPERIENCES IN BRITISH COLONIAL PORTS……………………………………………………………...….213 ENTERING THE RED SEA—THE GULF OF ADEN AND ERITREA……………...………………..219 EN ROUTE TO JEDDAH………………………………………………………………..............222