NATIONALIZING SCIENCE IN REPUBLICAN CHINA: ACADEMIA SINICA’S POLICY ON INTERNATIONAL BIOLOGICAL EXPEDITIONS by Aijie Shi Bachelor of Arts, Nanjing University, 2012 Master of Science, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 2015 Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of The Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts University of Pittsburgh 2017 i UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH DIETRICH SCHOOL OF ARTS AND SCIENCES This thesis was presented by Aijie Shi It was defended on December 5, 2017 and approved by Dr. Raja Adal, Assistant Professor, Department of History Dr. Katherine Carlitz, Adjunct Assistant Professor, Department of East Asian Languages and Literatures Dr. James Cook, Research Associate Professor, Department of East Asian Languages and Literatures Thesis Director: Dr. James Cook, Research Associate Professor, Department of East Asian Languages and Literatures ii Copyright © by Aijie Shi 2017 iii NATIONALIZING SCIENCE IN REPUBLICAN CHINA: ACADEMIA SINICA’S POLICY ON INTERNATIONAL BIOLOGICAL EXPEDITIONS Aijie Shi, M.A. University of Pittsburgh, 2017 My study addresses the nationalization of science in the nation-building era of China through the establishment of Academia Sinica (Zhongyang yanjiuyuan), China’s national academy of sciences. In 1929, through its engagement with a Sino-Japanese biological expedition along the Yangzi River, Academia Sinica, as a governmental department, for the first time implemented regulations on foreign biological expeditions in China. The engagement thus paved the way for China’s first policy on the matter. By terminating international researchers’ unlimited access to Chinese natural resources, this policy established national control over all the scientific activities in China. With such institutional protection, Academia Sinica essentially established biological resources as China’s national property, and scientific research as a national enterprise. Through the process, Academia Sinica not only became the place where science and nationalistic politics could mutually empower each other, but also established itself as a monopolist in the Chinese science community. This paper examines the driving forces behind Academia Sinica’s nationalizing efforts—namely, China’s political instability and its troubled relations with Japan in the late 1920s, the necessity of the Nationalist government to assert its legitimacy and authority in its founding years, and the utility of Academia Sinica in connecting science and nationalistic politics. Based on this examination, the thesis explores the application of science as a nationalistic tool and its effect on China's scientific community, when science became a collectivist interest of Nationalist China. iv TABLE OF CONTENTS LIST OF TABLES ................................................................................................................ VII LIST OF FIGURES ............................................................................................................ VIII ACKNOWLEDGEMENT ..................................................................................................... IX 1. INTRODUCTION .................................................................................................................1 2. SETTING THE STAGE FOR THE NATIONALIZATION OF SCIENCE: THE TRANSITION FROM THE BEIYANG GOVERNMENT TO THE NATIONALIST GOVERNMENT ..................................................................................................................... 35 2.1. RISING NATIONALISM IN 1920S CHINA .......................................................... 36 2.2. THE ISSUE OF UNEQUAL TREATIES................................................................ 40 2.3. THE AMERICAN BOXER INDEMNITY AND THE JAPANESE ORIENTAL CULTURAL WORK ...................................................................................................... 44 2.4. FOREIGNERS, FOREIGN INSTITUTIONS, AND FOREIGN LANGUAGES .. 58 2.5. NATIONALIZING SCIENCE THROUGH ACADEMIA SINICA ...................... 63 2.6. CONCLUSION ......................................................................................................... 69 3. THE BIRTH OF CHINA’S POLICY ON FOREIGN BIOLOGICAL EXPEDITIONS . 71 v 3.1. ACADEMIA SINICA’S ENGAGEMENT WITH DR. KISHINOUYE’S BIOLOGICAL EXPEDITION ....................................................................................... 71 3.1.1. Dr. Kishinouye’s Third Biological Expedition Along the Yangzi River ...... 71 3.1.2. A Restraining Order from Academia Sinica ................................................ 79 3.1.3. The Aftermath ............................................................................................... 85 3.2. THE BIRTH OF ACADEMIA SINICA’S POLICY ON BIOLOGICAL EXPEDITIONS ............................................................................................................... 88 3.3. CONCLUSION ......................................................................................................... 99 4. THE EMPOWERMENT OF ACADEMIA SINICA IN A NATIONALISTIC ERA ..... 102 4.1. NATIONALISM IN A TRANSITIONAL ERA .................................................... 103 4.2. CHINA’S TROUBLED RELATIONS WITH JAPAN ......................................... 110 4.3. THE DUAL-IDENTITY OF ACADEMIA SINICA ............................................. 117 5. CONCLUSION: SCIENCE, NATION, AND MODERNITY ......................................... 124 5.1. REDEFINING NATION AND SCIENCE ............................................................ 125 5.2. SCIENCE AS A NATIONAL ENTERPRISE ....................................................... 129 APPENDIX A ........................................................................................................................ 137 BIBLIOGRAPHY ................................................................................................................. 140 vi LIST OF TABLES TABLE A.1. Remissions of the United States, Britain, and Japan (silver taels) ......................... 51 TABLE A.2. Programs in Terms of Percentage of the Total Budget for the Oriental Cultural Work ......................................................................................................................................... 52 TABLE B. 1. Measurements of Euchilogranis Kishinouyei.........................................................87 vii LIST OF FIGURES Fig. A. 1. The Structure of Academia Sinica in 1930 ................................................................ 67 Fig. B. 1. Planned Traveling Route of the Third Fishing Expedition. ......................................... 76 Fig. B. 2. A sketch of Chinese high-fin banded shark drawn by Dr. Kimura during the expedition, with its Latin name in Linnaeus system, myxocyprinus asiaticus, and its indigenous name in Chinese, Yanque yu. .................................................................................................................. 78 Fig. B. 3. A distant view of Chongqing painted by Dr. Kishinouye when he proceed towards the city in a steamship during the expedition. .................................................................................. 78 Fig. B. 4. Euchiloglanis Kishinouyei. ........................................................................................ 87 Fig. B. 5. A document issued by Academia Sinica to Dr. Harry Smith for his biological expedition to Sichuan Province in 1934. .................................................................................... 94 Fig. C. 1. A Treaty Signed by Dr. Harry Smith .for his biological expedition to Sichuan Province in 1934. ................................................................................................................................... 108 viii ACKNOWLEDGEMENT I am grateful to all my committee members, Professors Jamese Cook, Raja Adal and Katherine Carlitz. Thank you all for your patience and support. It is your advice and inspiration that encouraged me to complete my thesis. A special Thank you to Dr. Cook, who continuously helped and supported me throughout my two-year study at University of Pittsburgh. I am also grateful to my fellow master students in East Asian Studies Department: Sandi Ward and Yixin Liang, who always gave me insightful academic suggestion and moral support. I would also like to thank Dr. Emily Rook-Koepsel, Dr. William Crawford, Dr. Zhang Haihui, Oshimo Junzo sensei and all the faculty and stuff members in East Asian Studies. I enjoy being part of this department. Last but by no means least, my parents—thank you for supporting my every decisions and standing with me. Thank you all! ix 1. INTRODUCTION My study addresses the nationalization of science in Republican China through the establishment of Academia Sinica (Zhongyang yanjiuyuan), China’s first national academy of sciences. I argue that this nationalizing process was initiated by Academia Sinica’s engagement with a Japanese biological expedition along the Yangzi River in 1929. This encounter paved the way for Academia Sinica’s future policy on international biological expeditions in China in the 1930s. By terminating international researchers’ unlimited accesses to Chinese natural resources, this policy established national control over all the scientific activities in China. It accordingly incorporated biological resources as China’s national property, and science as a national enterprise. This paper examines the driving forces behind Academia Sinica’s nationalizing efforts—namely, China’s