“Read the following passages from Chen
Duxiu’s “Call To Youth” written in 1915. Who are the “slaves” that the author
is referring to? What is Chen Duxiu’s criticism of China in the 1910s?”
| Chen Duxiu 陈独秀 陳獨秀 | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Chen in the First Nanjing Prison in the spring of the 26th year of the Republic [1937] | |
| Secretary of the Central Bureau of the Communist Party of China | |
| In office July 1921 – July 1922 | |
| Chairman of the Central Executive Committee | |
| In office July 1922 – January 1925 | |
| General Secretary of the Central Committee | |
| In office January 1925 – July 1928 | |
| Succeeded by | Xiang Zhongfa |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 8 October 1879 Anqing, Anhui, Qing Dynasty |
| Died | 27 May 1942 (aged 62) Sichuan, Republic of China |
| Nationality | Chinese |
| Political party | Communist Party of China |
| Alma mater | Waseda University |
| Chen Duxiu | |||
| Simplified Chinese | 陈独秀 | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Traditional Chinese | 陳獨秀 | ||
| |||
| Original name: Qingtong | |||
| Simplified Chinese | 庆同 | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Traditional Chinese | 慶同 | ||
| |||
| Courtesy name: Zhongfu | |
| Chinese | 仲甫 |
|---|---|
Document C: “Call to Youth”
(Original)
The Chinese compliment others by saying, “He
acts like an old man although still young.” Englishmen and Americans encourage
one another by saying, “Keep young while growing old.” Such is one respect in
which the different ways of thought of the East and West are manifested. Youth
is like early spring, like the rising sun, like trees and grass in bud, like a
newly sharpened blade. It is the most valuable period of life. …
Alas! Do these words really fit the youth of
our country? I have seen that, out of every ten youths who are young in age,
five are old in physique; and out of every ten who are young in both age and
physique, nine are old in mentality. … I carefully propose the following six
principles, and hope you will give them your calm consideration.
1. Be independent, not servile. … The history
of modern Europe is commonly referred to as a “history of emancipation”: the
destruction of monarchical power aimed at political emancipation; the denial of
Church authority aimed at religious emancipation; the rise of the theory of
equal property aimed at economic emancipation; and the suffragist movement
aimed at emancipation from male authority. …
2. Be progressive, not conservative. … it is
plain that those races that cling to antiquated ways are declining, or
disappearing, day by day, and the peoples who seek progress and advancement are
just beginning to ascend in power and strength. … All our traditional ethics,
law, scholarship, rites and customs are survivals of feudalism. When compared
with the achievement of the white race, there is a difference of a thousand
years in thought, although we live in the same period.
3. Be aggressive, not retiring. … Stated in
kindly terms, retirement is an action of the superior man in order to get away
from the vulgar world. Stated in hostile terms, it is a phenomenon of the weak
who are unable to struggle for survival. … Alas! The war steeds of Europe are
intruding into your house. Where can you quietly repose under a white cloud?
4. Be cosmopolitan, not isolationist. … When a
nation is thrown into the currents of the world, traditionalists will certainly
hasten the day of its fall, but those capable of change will take this
opportunity to compete and progress. … When its citizens lack knowledge of the
world, how can a nation expect to survive in it?
5. Be utilitarian, not formalistic. … That
which brings no benefit to the practical life of an individual or of society is
all empty formalism and the stuff of cheats. And even though it were bequeathed
to us by our ancestors, taught by the sages, advocated by the government and
worshiped by society, the stuff of cheats is still not worth one cent.
6. Be scientific, not imaginative. … The
contribution of the growth of science to the supremacy of modern Europe over
other races is not less than that of the theory of the rights of man. … Our
scholars do not know science, therefore they borrow the yin-yang school’s notions of auspicious signs and of the five
elements to confuse the world and cheat the people, and the idea of feng shui to beg for miracles from dry
skeletons (spirits).
Source: Chen Duxiu, founder and editor of New Youth
magazine, faculty member of Beijing University, and a founder of the Chinese
Communist Party. Originally published in New Youth magazine in 1915.
Chen Duxiu, the New Youth, and The New
Culture Movement:
The New Culture Movement in China started
around 1915, with the publication of the journal New Youth in Shanghai. Chen
Duxiu (October 8, 1879 – May 27, 1942), the Chinese revolutionary
socialist, educator, philosopher and author, who co-founded the Chinese Communist Party (with Li Dazhao) in 1921, was the founding
editor of the New Youth (Xin Qingnian) magazine (which he
subtitled La Jeunesse in French), and
later in 1920, the founder also of the New
Youth Society. He was stumped and angry against then-President Yuan Shi-kai’s
capitulation and appeasement in signing major portions of Japan’s 21 Demands.
Japan’s 21 Demands:
Japan, under Prime Minister Ōkuma Shigenobu and Foreign Minister Katō Takaaki, drafted the initial list of Twenty-One Demands, which were reviewed by the genrō and Emperor Taishō, and approved by the Diet. This list was presented to Yuan Shikai on January 18, 1915, with warnings of dire consequences if China were to reject them.
The Twenty One Demands were grouped into five groups:[2]
- Group 1 confirmed Japan's recent seizure of German ports and operations in Shandong Province, and expanded Japan's sphere of influence over the railways, coasts and major cities of the province.
- Group 2 pertained to Japan's South Manchuria Railway Zone, extending the leasehold over the territory for 99 years, and expanding Japan's sphere of influence in southern Manchuria and eastern Inner Mongolia, to include rights of settlement and extraterritoriality, appointment of financial and administrative officials to the government and priority for Japanese investments in those areas. Japan demanded access to Inner Mongolia for raw materials, as a manufacturing site, and as a strategic buffer against Russian encroachment in Korea.[3]
- Group 3 gave Japan control of the Hanyeping mining and metallurgical complex in central China; it was deep in debt to Japan.
- Group 4 barred China from giving any further coastal or island concessions to foreign powers except for Japan.
- Group 5 was the most aggressive. China was to hire Japanese advisors who could take effective control of China's finance and police. Japan would be empowered to build three major railways, and also Buddhist temples and schools. Japan would gain effective control of Fujian, opposite the island of Formosa (modern Taiwan).
 | Wikisource has original text related to this article: |
Knowing the negative reaction "Group 5" would cause, Japan initially tried to keep its contents secret. The Chinese government attempted to stall for as long as possible and leaked the full contents of the Twenty-One Demands to the European powers in the hope that due to a perceived threat to their own political and economic spheres of interest, they would help contain Japan.
Japanese ultimatum
After China rejected Japan's revised proposal on April 26, 1915, the genrō intervened and deleted ‘Group 5’ from the document, as these had proved to be the most objectionable to the Chinese government. A reduced set of "Thirteen Demands" was transmitted on May 7 in the form of an ultimatum, with a two-day deadline for response. Yuan Shikai, competing with other local warlords to become the ruler of all China, was not in a position to risk war with Japan, and accepted appeasement, a tactic followed by his successors. The final form of the treaty was signed by both parties on May 25, 1915.
Katō Takaaki publicly admitted that the ultimatum was invited by Yuan to save face with the Chinese people in conceding to the Demands. American Minister Paul Reinsch reported to the US State Department that the Chinese were surprised at the leniency of the ultimatum, as it demanded much less than they had already committed themselves to concede.
On
January 18, 1915, Japan presented to President Yuan Shi-kai its 21 Demands with requests that would have
turned China into a de facto Japanese protectorate.
- Yuan Shikai was a Chinese general, politician and "emperor", famous for his influence during the late Qing Dynasty, his role in the events leading up to the abdication of the last Qing Emperor, his ...Wikipedia
- Born: September 16, 1859, Xiangcheng County, Henan
- Died: June 6, 1916, Beijing, China
- Presidential term: March 10, 1912 – December 22, 1915
The
Japanese requests included five groups of secret demands that became known as
the 21 Demands, and these were:
· Groups
One and Two were designed to confirm Japan’s dominant position in Shandong,
southern Manchuria, and eastern Inner Mongolia.
· Group Three
would acknowledge Japan’s special interests in an industrial complex in central
China. Group Four forbade China from giving any further coastal or island
concessions to foreign powers except for Japan.
· Group
Five – the most outrageous – required China to install Japanese advisers who
could take effective control of the Chinese government, economy, and military!
These
demands, if accepted, would have had a similar impact to that of what the
Japan-Korea annexation Treaty had on Korea in 1910. These notorious demands
were issued at a time of shifting balance of power in East Asia. With the Qing
dynasty’s humiliating defeat in the First Sino-Japanese War (1894-1895),
regional dominance for the first time, had now moved from China to Japan.
Japan’s ambitions were further emboldened by its decisive victory in the
Russo-Japanese War (1904-1905), which affirmed the Japanese presence in south
Manchuria and Korea.
The
1911 Revolution in China brought an end to the Qing dynasty and ushered in the
Republican era of Dr Sun Yat-sen in China, but China remained a pushover from
Western powers. Furthermore, Yuan’s ruling status itself was shaky, due to
constant threats from competing local warlords.
- Sun Yat-sen was a Chinese revolutionary, first president and founding father of the Republic of China, and medical practitioner. Wikipedia
- Died: March 12, 1925, Beijing, China
- Spouse: Soong Ching-ling (m. 1915–1925), Kaoru Otsuki (m. 1903–1906), Lu Muzhen (m. 1885–1915)
World
War I granted Japan a perfect opportunity to push the envelope even more with China.
As the war was underway in Europe, the Japanese hoped that other major powers
would show little interest in countering Japanese expansion in China. For these
reasons, Japanese Foreign Minister Kato Takaaki was convinced that the filing
of this 21 Demands ultimatum,
buttressed by its war threats, would force China to accept all its demands.
Not
surprising, Yuan, who had no intention of risking war with Japan, accepted the
ultimatum on May 9, 1915. The final form of the treaty was signed on May 25, 1915.
Even with the removal of the most odious provision, however, the new treaty
gave Japan no more than what it already had in China. Yuan, whose credibility
and popularity as a leader was further weakened as a result of his appeasement
policy, viewed accepting the treaty as a “terrible shame” (qichi daru), and made May 9 as China’s National Humiliation Day.
The 21 Demands gave rise to a
considerable amount of public ill-will towards Japan, and the upsurge in
nationalism is still deeply felt today in China’s handling of Sino-Japanese
relations.
The 1919 Paris Peace Conference and The
Treaty of Versailles:
The Paris Peace Conference (January 18 to
June 28, 1919) triggered off in China a nationwide call for an injection of new
culture into old China. China had then dreamt of ridding themselves of all
symbols of their semi-colonial status, and they thought and were particularly
interested to regain control of Qingdao and Shandong province - then ceded to
Germany.
However,
at The Treaty of Versailles signed in
Paris on June 28, 1919 with the Allied Powers, signifying the end of World War
I, Germany was forced to give up Shandong Province, but the Chinese delegates
were asked to sign this Treaty and cede the Shandong Province instead to Japan!
Over 6,000 Chinese college and professional school students marched in Beijing
to protest the possible signing of this Treaty, and Chinese students besieged
the Chinese embassy in Paris to persuade the Western signatories not to sign –
but to no avail! President Wilson of the U.S., at this Conference, acquiesced
to the Japanese position, as, to him, Japan was much stronger, and more
important than China, and his appeasement policy did not go down well in China
and even in his United States. Chinese nationalism proved to be too heavy a
pressure to the U.S., France and Britain, and Shandong province was eventually
returned to China – in 1922!
| Treaty of Peace between the Allied and Associated Powers and Germany[1] | |
|---|---|
Cover of the English version
| |
| Signed | 28 June 1919[2] |
| Location | Hall of Mirrors in the Palace of Versailles, Paris, France[3] |
| Effective | 10 January 1920[4] |
| Condition | Ratification by Germany and four Principal Allied Powers.[1] |
| Signatories |
Central Powers
 Germany[1] |
| Depositary | French Government[5] |
| Languages | French and English[5] |
Administered by the League of Nations
Annexed or transferred to neighboring countries by the treaty, or later via plebiscite and League of Nation action
Map of Shandong province showing the areas annexed by Germany and Britain prior to the signing of the Treaty of Versailles 1919.
Images of Shandong Province:
What is Chen Duxiu’s criticism of China in
the 1910s?
Chen Duxiu and his “Call to Youth”
Magazine:
It was
in these terrible and humiliating contexts that Chen Duxiu wrote his “Call To
Youth” manifesto in 1915, berating Chinese citizens for being spineless and
mere “slaves” to Japanese and Western power hegemony, and that it was time for
them to rise up and changed their way of thinking.
He was
also aware that despite Chinese political changes from empire to republic,
China still remained weak and could not protect its own sovereignty. Now that
they had no Manchu government to blame, Chen and his cohorts began to search
from within the Han culture for areas to work on, and their attention fell on
the various aspects of Confucian culture, including Confucian subordination of
women to men, children to parents, extended family where elderly male members
reigned.
Chen
was born to a wealthy family, but, like most, he received traditional Chinese
education (his own grandfather tutored him in Chinese classics, such as the
Four Books) early on, but he did not have much luck with China’s imperial
exams. So he turned to pursue a more modern education first in China, then in
Japan, where he soon embraced ideas of Western democracy, equality and science.
From
these education, what China needed to save itself, Chen Duxiu came to believe, was
not the “old and rotten” relics of Confucianism, but de xiansheng (Mr. Democracy) and sai xiansheng (Mr. Science), as he later wrote for the New Youth magazine:
“We are convinced that only those two
gentlemen can cure the dark maladies in Chinese politics, morality, learning,
and thought.”
In
1915, not long after he returned to China, Chen Duxiu issued his famous “Call To Youth” article, published in
the inaugural issue of the New Youth magazine,
which he framed in the by-now familiar evolutionary concepts of natural
selection and survival of the fittest.
Besides
this passage we are asked to comment on – where Chen talked of emancipation of
the self, and be free, and not be treated as ‘slaves” blindly following others,
and attacking the Confucian thinking of “loyalty,
filial piety, chastity and righteousness….as a slavish morality” and that
such persons with no independent thoughts were spineless and unworthy – Chen
lamented the fact that the Chinese admired the old, whereas the Westerners
admired the young, and here, in this same article, he went on to expound what
youth, as opposed to age, meant to the (Chinese) society:
Youth is like early spring, like the
rising sun, like trees and grass in bud, like a newly sharpened blade. It is
the most valuable period of life…….in the process of metabolism, the old and
rotten are incessantly eliminated to be replaced by the fresh and living……..if
metabolism functions properly in a society, it will flourish; if old and rotten
elements fill the society, then it will cease to exist.”
Chen
then went on in this same article and called on the young people in China to
be:
· “independent not servile”;
· “progressive, not conservative”;
· “aggressive not retiring”;
· cosmopolitan, not isolationist”;
· “scientific, not fanciful.”
Among
his many grand beliefs and ideals that Chen proclaimed in this manifesto for
the inaugural issue of the radically new literary journal were the necessity of
destroying the old, in order to create the new, and a utopian vision of a
future “ideal new era and a new society” which
“are to be honest, progressive, positive,
free, creative, beautiful, kind, peaceful, full of universal love and mutual
assistance………in short, happiness for the whole society.”
Chen’s manifesto here also called on the Chinese people “to give up the useless and irrelevant elements of traditional literature and ethics, because we want to create those needed for the progress of the new era and the new society.”
Chen’s manifesto here also called on the Chinese people “to give up the useless and irrelevant elements of traditional literature and ethics, because we want to create those needed for the progress of the new era and the new society.”
The New Youth magazine, which Chen Duxiu ran
in the foreign concessions in Shanghai, became one of the earliest and most
important platforms for the translation of Western literature, and it became
the leading voice of the New Culture
Movement. Traditional Chinese literature, some of Chen Duxiu’s writers
argued in their New Youth articles,
did not play any positive role in Chinese society. To them, Western literature
was about human life, whereas Chinese literature talked little about such life;
Western literature aroused human sympathy, whereas Chinese literature, they
argued, were so self-absorbing; Western literature, they claimed, nurtured the
development of human individuality, whereas Chinese literature favored breathing through the noses of the
ancestors”!
Such
unreserved adulation of Western literature at the expense of traditional
thousands-of-years Chinese literature may sound naïve and simplistic today, yet
back then, it was argued, that such unmitigated zeal was needed to push forward
the literary revolution deemed a critical and central part of the New Culture Movement.
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