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Building the Nation, Serving the Frontier: Mobilizing and Reconstructing China's Borderlands during the War of Resistance (1937–1945)*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 March 2011

ANDRES RODRIGUEZ
ANDRES RODRIGUEZ*
Affiliation:
History, School of Humanities, Avenue Campus, University of Southampton, Southampton SO17 1BJ, UK Email: [email protected]
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Abstract

The wartime period between 1937 and 1945 provided an exceptional opportunity for the Guomindang state to experiment with a wide array of schemes that sought to further its nation-state project in the borderland regions of China. Under the rubric of ‘frontier reconstruction’ (bianjiang jianshe) it devised a series of plans that encompassed both the economic and cultural transformations of these regions. This paper discusses a particular scheme devised by Chinese anthropologist, Li Anzhai (1900–1985), during his stay at the Tibetan Buddhist monastery of Labrang where he sought to transform borderland societies into a modern Chinese citizenry. A key aspect to his strategy was the mobilization of youth where trained cadres and students performed what became known as ‘frontier service’ (bianjiang fuwu) establishing a dialogue with the community's own particular demands by means of building schools, hospitals and agricultural projects. This paper argues that the notion of ‘frontier service’ and the ‘cultural reconstruction’ project propounded by Li not only sought to modernize and unify China around a distinct multicultural identity, it was also an important mobilizing force amongst sectors of wartime youth which arguably introduced young Han Chinese to a region which they had hitherto only imagined in the pre-war period.

Type
Part I: Experiencing China's War with Japan: World War II, 1937–1945
Information
Modern Asian Studies , Volume 45 , Issue 2: China in World War II, 1937–1945: Experience, Memory, and Legacy , March 2011 , pp. 345 - 376
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2011

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References

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52 ‘Bianjiang wenwu mingri kaishi’ (Frontier relics begin tomorrow) in Zhongyang Ribao [Central Government Daily], (13 January, 1944), p. 3. According to this source, Chiang Kai-shek's call to youth is taken from his 1943 political testament, China's Destiny. The article also points out that the exhibit was held at the Sino-Soviet Cultural Association building and was fitting, in light of the Borderland Education conference taking place at the same time.

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72 Ibid., p. 4.

73 Ibid.

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75 Ibid.

76 Jiang, Huaxi Qingnian Buxing dao Bianjiang, p. 1.

77 ‘Zhonghua Jidujiaohui Xuesheng Shuqi fuwutuan choubei jingguo gaikuang [General survey of the Preparations and Process of the Chinese Christian Church Summer Service Corps],’ p. 32.

78 ‘The 1943 Summer Missionary Work of the Border Mission’ (circa 1943) in Folder 1–2, BSDCCC, RG 17, p. 3. Special Collections, Yale University Divinity School Library.

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80 ‘Jinxun yishu [Recent News]’, p. 25. Research carried out by these students according to this article was published as a book entitled Chuanxi Songlifanwen Lunwenji [Collection of Essays and Thesis on West Sichuan's Songpan, Lifan, and Wenyuan counties].

81 Hu, S.Y. n.d., ‘Ethnobotany of the Gia-rung Tribe’, Manuscript found in Folder 3–51, BSDCCC, RG 17, p. 1. Special Collections, Yale University Divinity School Library.

82 For a reference of some of these works see ‘Memorandum on the War Service Projects in the Border Region of China. [Under the Auspices of the Border Service Department of the Church of Christ in China]’ (1945), Folder 1–5, BSDCCC, RG 17. Special Collections, Yale University Divinity School Library. Also see ‘The 1943 Summer Missionary Work of the Border Mission’, which mentions the elaboration of social surveys for the history and social environment of nine villages and later was published in BJFW.

83 Sichuan sheng Zhengfu Jiaoyu Ting [Sichuan Provincial Government Education Department] to Sichuan Minzheng Ting (Provincial Department of Civil Affairs), (30 April, 1940), SPA Min 54 [Republican era files section 54], Folder 2, p. 23. The document itself was a petition of the provincial educational department requesting an escort for the SSSC to be provided by the Sichuan Provincial Civil Affairs Department.

84 (1944). Xichang Xuesheng Shuqi Fuwutuan Gongzuo Jingguo [Summer Term Service Corp Work carried out by Xichang Students], BJFW 5 (February), 19.

85 ‘Memorandum on the War Service Projects in the Border Region of China [Under the Auspices of the Border Service Department of the Church of Christ in China]’, n.p.

86 Israel, Lianda: A Chinese University in War and Revolution, pp. 56–60.

87 Ibid., p. 30.

88 Zhang, ‘An Oasis in a Vast Human Desert. The Story of the Border Mission of the Church of Christ in China’, p. 12.

89 Ginling [Jinling] College, ‘Ginling in Chengtu—Dancing around the fire. A farewell ceremony given by the Chiang people to the College group (Border Service, Summer, 1942)’, Box 397, Number 1176. UBCHEA Collection, Yale University Divinity School Library.

90 Jacobs, J. ‘How Chinese Turkestan Became Chinese: Visualizing Zhang Zhizhong's Tianshan Pictorial and Xinjiang Youth Song and Dance Troupe’, p. 571.

91 Jacobs produces good evidence to suggest that Zhang Zhizhong was very much inspired by Soviet ‘soft line’ approaches to ethnic minorities. However the point in question here is to suggest that such practices were not only diverse in their origin but also not necessarily borne out of official state-sanctioned enterprises.

92 ‘Minutes of a special meeting of the General Committee of the Border Mission of the Church of Christ in China (The Nanking Section),’ (10 June, 1948), Folder 1–8, BSDCCC, RG 17, p. 6.

93 In one of the letters written by the BJFWB's English Secretary, Archie Crouch, he remarks the fact that SSSCs enjoyed financial aid from United China Relief, British Aid to China and the Chinese government only up to 1945. In many ways it is an irony that the end of war brought a higher brunt of financial strain as foreign aid began to dry up. See Crouch to Elizabeth Pollock (16 March, 1948), Folder 1–19, BSDCCC, RG 17, Special Collections, Yale University Divinity School Library.

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96 Li Anzhai is a fascinating character in this respect. Despite his links with the GMD during the war, official CCP narratives identify him as having been a communist in his youth. After 1949 Li played an important role in advising the People's Liberation Army with regard to policies for Tibet. See Zhang, Q. (1991). Xiahe xian Dang Shi Ziliao [Chinese Communist Party Historical Materials for Xiahe county], Lanzhou, pp. 15–16Google Scholar. I am grateful to Paul Nietupski for providing me with this valuable source.

97 ‘Xikang Jiaoyu’ [Xikang Education] (1948), in SPA Min 228 [Republican era Files Section 228], Folder 51.