Liberalism of the Third Force in Republican China: Carsun Chang and Zhang Dongsun By Lifang Peng (彭丽芳) A Thesis submitted to Victoria University of Wellington in fulfilment of the requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy School of History, Philosophy, Political Science & International Relations Victoria University of Wellington 2019 Table of Contents Abstract ...................................................................................................................................... i Acknowledgements .................................................................................................................. ii List of Abbreviations .............................................................................................................. iv Chapter I: The Last Stand of Liberalism in Modern China ................................................ 1 Introduction: Liberalism as an Intellectual Current in China ................................................. 1 1.1 Liberalism in Modern China ............................................................................................ 3 1.1.1 Liberalism of the Third Force .................................................................................... 4 1.1.2 Modern Chinese Liberalism and Its Failure .............................................................. 6 1.2 Scholarship and Basic Arguments.................................................................................... 9 1.2.1 Existing Interpretations of Modern Chinese Liberalism ........................................... 9 1.2.2 Major Arguments ..................................................................................................... 11 1.3 Methodology and Conceptual Framework ..................................................................... 14 1.3.1 Ideological Morphology .......................................................................................... 15 1.3.2 Morphology of Liberalism....................................................................................... 17 1.4 Thesis Structure .............................................................................................................. 19 Chapter II: Charting Liberalism in the Age of Ideologies ................................................. 23 2.1 Conflicts and Interactions between Liberalism and Socialism ...................................... 23 2.2 New Liberalism .............................................................................................................. 25 2.2.1 Social Liberty .......................................................................................................... 25 2.2.2 Harmony between the Individual and Society ......................................................... 26 2.2.3 Enlarged Role of the State ....................................................................................... 27 2.3 Socialism and Its Varieties ............................................................................................. 28 2.3.1 Morphology of Socialism ........................................................................................ 28 2.3.2 Marxism, Social Democracy, and Marxism-Leninism ............................................ 30 2.3.3 Socialism in Republican China................................................................................ 34 2.4 New Liberalism in Europe, America, and China ........................................................... 40 2.4.1 The British Case ...................................................................................................... 42 2.4.2 The Chinese Case .................................................................................................... 42 Chapter Summary ................................................................................................................. 43 Chapter III: The New Liberalism of L. T. Hobhouse and Carsun Chang ....................... 45 3.1 Two Paths to New Liberalism ........................................................................................ 45 3.2 Hobhouse’s View of the State ........................................................................................ 47 3.2.1 The State as a Compulsory Form of Social Union .................................................. 47 3.2.2 Re-evaluation of the Minimal State Theory ............................................................ 47 3.2.3 Limits and Functions of the State ............................................................................ 48 3.3 Carsun Chang’s Theory of the State .............................................................................. 51 3.3.1 The State as the Major Theme of Political Philosophy ........................................... 51 3.3.2 Western Theories of the State .................................................................................. 53 3.3.3 Limits and Functions of the State ............................................................................ 59 3.4 Liberty Compatible with the Common Good ................................................................. 62 3.4.1 Hobhouse: Liberty, Restraint, and Harmony ........................................................... 63 3.4.2 Chang: Individual Liberty and Collective Interests ................................................. 66 3.5 Sources of the Development of New Liberalism ........................................................... 76 3.5.1 Theoretical Sources: Liberalism of Mill and German Idealism .............................. 77 3.5.2 Contextual Problems: Capitalism and State-Building ............................................. 79 Chapter Summary ................................................................................................................. 81 Chapter IV: Hobhouse and Chang on Socialism ................................................................ 83 4.1 Socialism and New Liberalism ...................................................................................... 83 4.2 Hobhouse’s Discourse on Socialism .............................................................................. 84 4.2.1 Mechanical Socialism and Official Socialism ......................................................... 86 4.2.2 Liberal Socialism ..................................................................................................... 87 4.3 Chang’s Discourse on Socialism .................................................................................... 89 4.3.1 Marxian Socialism and Social Democracy .............................................................. 90 4.3.2 Democratic Socialism .............................................................................................. 91 4.4 Organic Society: Individualism and Collectivism ......................................................... 95 4.4.1 Hobhouse: An Organic Conception of Society ....................................................... 95 4.4.2 Chang: A Functional Theory of Society .................................................................. 96 4.4.3 Similarities and Differences .................................................................................... 99 Chapter Summary ............................................................................................................... 100 Chapter V: Carsun Chang and Constitution-Making ...................................................... 103 5.1 Institutional Design: Constitutional Democracy .......................................................... 103 5.2 The 1920s: Draft Constitution of 1922 ........................................................................ 104 5.2.1 A Republic of Federated Provinces ....................................................................... 106 5.2.2 The Legislature, the Executive, and the Judiciary ................................................. 108 5.2.3 Basic Rights of Citizens ........................................................................................ 111 5.2.4 The Weimar Constitution and the Constitution of 1922 ....................................... 111 5.3 The 1940s: Constitutional Movements ........................................................................ 114 5.3.1 Principles of Revision ............................................................................................ 115 5.3.2 Revision of the Draft Constitution of 1936 ........................................................... 119 5.4 Development of Chang’s Constitutional Thinking ...................................................... 123 5.4.1 Consistency ............................................................................................................ 123 5.4.2 Change ................................................................................................................... 125 Chapter Summary ............................................................................................................... 125 Chapter VI: Zhang Dongsun on Democracy in the 1940s................................................ 129 6.1 Zhang Dongsun as a Philosopher and Political Figure ................................................ 130 6.2 Perception of Democracy before the 1940s ................................................................. 131 6.3 Democracy as a Cultural Conception and a Political System ...................................... 133 6.3.1 The Conceptual System of Democracy ................................................................. 134 6.3.2 Interaction between