REFORM AND REACTION REFORM AND REACTION 4的 moved instead to set up the nominally independent Manchukuo."9 College walked out in protest at the uncqual treaties.4 Nonetheless,it Nonetheless,from roos onward,the SMR was inextricably associated should be noted that,as the experience of Qian Gonglai,Yan Baohang, with the military privileges that allowed the Kwantung Army to be sta- and others showed,nationalism in Igzos Manchuria was always more tioned nearby to protect its interests. successful among the urban,educated elites,who were relatively few in The moment in r93r when the Kwantung Army began occupation of number,than among the population at large.Resentment against the Manchuria can be seen as part of a process that had started at the begin- Japanese even among the elites did not necessarily last.One should also ning of the century.This process was not,as the Chinese government note that a decade later,when the occupation was complete,not only would maintain at the time (and sometimes even today),a carefully co- did the proportion of Chinese students from Manchuria studying in ordinated plan for invasion by degrees;the actual act of occupation pre- Japan between 1934 and 1937 increase "considerably,but so did the cipitated by Kwantung Army officers Ishiwara Kanji and Itagaki Seishiro number of students from the rest of China.5 On occasion,there were was not approved by the General Command in Tokyo or the liberal mass anti-Japanese demonstrations,such as the protest in September Wakatsuki cabinet.However,Japanese military,cultural,and cconomic 1927 in Shenyang against the building of a new Japanese consulate in the bodies in the region had created an atmosphere that promoted acquies- Linjiang area,which drew 60,ooo people.%6 However,even here the in- cence for the occupation,both in terms of increasing the Japanese con- terpretation is not simple.From August 1927,Zhang Zuolin began or- viction that Japan had special rights and responsibilities in the region, chestrating supposedly spontancous demonstrations against further Jap- and in transmitting some elements of that conviction to certain sectors in anese development in the region.His reasoning was that he could then Manchurian Chinese society,allowing collaboration to emerge.In the claim that although he himself did not wish to stop any Japanese pro- next section I will examine two institutions that contributed to develop- jects,the popular will would not permit them.97 One contemporary au- ing that atmosphere,the South Manchurian Railway and the influential thor(one biased against the Chinese,it should be noted)sniffed that the Shenyang daily newspaper Shengjing shibao. Linjiang event was "plainly engineered by the Chinese authorities.98 Chong-sik Lee notes,"The living conditions among the Chinese pop- ulation in the Kwantung Leased Territory were much better than those in THE SOUTH MANCHURIAN RAILWAY China proper,and this was true throughout the region":a combination Between its foundation in r9o7 and the Manchurian Inci- of better conditions than in intramural China and the lure of Japanese- dent of 1931,the SMR developed rapidly and became increasingly prof sponsored industrial and mining employment,he suggests,led to the itable.It ran 7oo miles of track in total,divided between five lines.In large influx of immigrants to the region.The Japanese made use of the addition,it had rights over land "attached"to the lines,which encom- newly available labor force,deliberately operating a development strategy passed Ios cities and towns of various sizes.90 The SMR's control over that required the hiring of large amounts of unskilled Chinese labor,de- these zones meant that they provided not just railway services but also spite the modern equipment used.100 This was in large part because of a administration and social services.By autumn 1924,"the company had reluctance to create large-scale unemployment,since the employees were expanded its workforce to 37,685...nearly three-quarters of this work- simultancously consumers of Japanese goods.101 Also,while the working force were local Chinese.9 It also provided expensive facilities such as conditions of manual laborers in Japanese employment were poor by "the well-equipped hospitals in such centers as Mukden,Tieling, contemporary standards,they were not necessarily worse and were possi- Ch'ang-ch'un and Dairen:"92 It was also remarked upon that the railway bly better than those endured by factory workers in Japan itself,such as in was free of the rake-offs and likin(tariff)payments that characterized the example of women aged twelve to thirty-five who worked in the silk the areas under Chinese administration.93 factories of Nagano,where the mortality rate,exacerbated by lung dis- However,the growth of nationalism in the rozos caused the SMR ease,was 23 per I,ooo (as opposed to the normal 7 per I,ooo for this age problems.In April 1924,Chinese intellectuals in Shenyang demanded group).102 that Japanese-managed educational institutions in the SMR zone be The tactics pursued by the SMR were part of a strategy to secure handed over to China,and in August 192s students at the SMR Medical Japan's position in the region;they were often managed by leftist
44 REFORM AND REACTION REFORM AND REACTION 45 employees,who mixed uncasily with the Kwantung Army officers who paper was very far from being a crude propaganda organ for the Japa- reflected a side of the imperial presence many of the progressive-minded nese presence in the region,yet it offered analysis that resonated with its Japanese preferred to forget.The SMR was to "manage a wide range of readers'desire for stability while undermining Zhang Xueliang's govern- cultural and administrative activities of a nonthreatening nature,which ment and its association with continuing militarism.Naturally,sympa- would serve "to gain a foothold in southern Manchuria that appeared thy with a newspaper's editorial stance is very far from being the only neither to threaten imperial China nor to alarm the foreign powers,yet reason why a reader might favor it,but there does tend to be a correla- gave Japan the capability to strengthen its security103 While the Chi- tion (although by no means a direct equivalence)between the views of a nese population of Manchuria had doubled between 19o8 and 1928,the publication and those of its readership,particularly when,as in the population of the SMR zone had increased sixteen times.The reason of- Northeast,there was a choice of newspapers. fered by one commentator was that taxes were light and not arbitrary One editorial titled"Can we hope for peace in the current situation and social conditions were good.All this had to be paid for,and the analyzed a lull in the 193o civil war,when Chiang Kaishek was under SMR was able to use its resources to pay for services in the railway zone threat from the alliance of Yan Xishan and Feng Yuxiang,and both sides "to make up for excess expenditurc over tax revenue:104 Nor was it only hoped to draw in Zhang Xueliang: urban areas that saw growth under the Japanese administration.A sur- Northeastern leader Zhang...has repeatedly proclaimed his neutral- vey comparing agricultural growth rates in the Japanese-run Liaodong ity and urged peace,and has taken on responsibility for mediation... peninsula and Shandong-Hebei between 19o6 and 1942 concludes,"Jap- Both sides are agreed on the need for peace,but that's something in- anese administration of Liaotung,while naturally considering Japanese evitable.Even if one side adpocates peace,they do not necessarily desire influences first,still effectively preserved order,peace,and protection of peace...To talk about this in a commonsense way,in everything Chinese property and human lives...The important land survey and there is an atmosphere first,and only then we can see the reality.For example,at the beginning of this civil war,both sides transferred their land tax reform provided additional sccurity for the property holder and troops and sent forth their generals,and people knew the war clouds made land transactions more convenient and profitable"The result was were looming;but in everyday dealings,they absolutely had to deny farm production that grew at a rate far higher than the population recognition of it.The result was that the atmosphere became mother growth,as well as higher crop yields.105 of the reality.The current atmosphere suggesting peace is likewise be- cause of the awareness of both sides of the possibility that there may be peace.But in this conflict between north and south...the south THE SHENGJING SHIBAO says,"Now we are celebrating our victory in the war,and must not make peace with the north yet";and the north then says,"We arc still Another aspect of the Japanese presence in the Northeast negotiating and organizing a government,so we are not yet happy to was the Japanese-controlled press.It is noteworthy that newspaper cir- discuss peace with the south"...So where does this atmosphere culation figures among the northeastern readership suggest that nation- come from?People are taking advantage of the fact that both sides are alism may not have been all-pervasive in the Igzos.In 1926,the pro- operating with clandestine maneuvers [as opposed to open warfare] to spread this atmosphere.However,it is a long night and a slow pro- KMT newspaper in the Northeast,the Dongsansheng minbao,despite cess,and we do not know when there will be the light of peace.107 being the second most popular in the region,had only 8,ooo readers,as compared to 30,ooo for the top-placed Shengjing shibao.106 The Shibao, The desire for peace was a recurring one,and editorials used it to crit- edited by Kikuchi Teiji,was Japanese-owned,but its writers and distri- icize the governing powers,as in the article "The Masses Hope for bution staff were mostly Chinese.Why would Chinese readers favor Peace": such a paper? Only China has had a situation where there was a revolution to get rid In chapters s and 6,I suggest that the popularity of anti-Japanese of the people's distress,yet because of the revolution,the people's dis- newspapers in Beiping and Shanghai after r93r was due in part to their tress was deepened further.In seventeen years,we still have to say that understanding and responding to the feelings of their readers.The same the revolution is not yet completed...The strength of the military is would appear to be true of the Shengjing shibao.It is clear that the news- all-powerful,and they pay no attention to the terrible fate of the
46 REFORM AND REACTION REFORM AND REACTION 47 masses...What people absolutcly hope for is peacc.But peace does story below it to find out,"however,this Ma Zhanshan is not the famous not have a long-lasting nature.What is called peace is always tempo- general,but a37-ycar-old beef traderwho had been arrested for running rary...So what the masses hope for is a more developed peace... Using the masses as its premisc,it will give no pretexts to reactionar- down some passersby with his cart and injuring them.The Kwantung ics.The government that the masses will trust is definitely not that of Army might not have taken too kindly to this sort of frivolity,but at least useless politicoes...Recently,we hear,Chiang Kaishek has become the newspaper's readers were not simply being fed propaganda. aware of this.On the battlefield,he has suggested to the KMT and the It was not only in the political sphere that the Japanese aimed to in- government that they should decide to hold a Fourth Congress,to re- fluence readers.One journal,Dongbei wenbia(Northeastern Culture), solve to establish a full or provisional constitution,and to convenc a which was Japanese-sponsored and published in Dairen,regularly wrote National People's Conference...But even if he does make peace, then it is still just a plan for a temporary cessation of hostilities,and about the commercial and cultural additions that the Japanese presence the pcople's suffering will still be endless.108 had brought to the region.Fc:example:"In the center of the city of Dairen...there is a three-storied,iron-girdered,concrete,large mod- Yet the Shibao did not simply attack Zhang and Chiang.On occasion,it ern shopping area.This is Dairen's shopping complex,occupying supported Chiang,although somewhat backhandedly,as in this en- 12,ooo square meters...with more than 2oo stores...But the [busi- dorsement of his anti-Communist campaign of May I931: nesses]are very different from an American complex.Recently [in the United States],small underfunded stores have been oppressed by the Now Chairman Chiang has gone to Jiangxi...Chairman Chiang's economically powerful capitalist department-store style of management involvement with this bandit extermination appears very extensive... ..[However,in Dairen],using the combined strength of the control- [But]...these questions are in the minds of the 4o0 million people of this country...There is a general suspicion,saying that he is... ling body,they planned that the small retailers'trade should be secure calling together the I9th Army to attack and recover Guangdong... and prosperous,...[and]each stockholder manages a store.1 Louise But ie believe that Chairman Chiang really is eliminating bandits... Young has pointed out the close relationship between modernity and To what extent can we call this climination?This question is worth re- imperialism in the Japanese political culture of the early twentieth cen- searching.In the areas where a large army has arrived,the Communist tury;this extract from Dongbeienhia reflects the fact that even a seem- bandits went deep into the mountains.Really we cannot call this paci- fication.Ifone only roots out bandit nests in one or two places,then it ingly neutral topic such as a shopping complex could be used to score seems to us that one cannot consider the matter resolved.There is no political points in the cultural sphere of the imperial project.12 one among the masses who docs not support the government.Noth- ing but Ioo percent support;therefore we hope enthusiastically to fol- low politics,and to follow the life of the party,which is working on OTHER JAPANESE COMMUNITIES exterminating the bandits.But the requirements of politics and the IN MANCHURIA lessons of history are that if a country has many troops and does not economize on its expenses,then there is no way that it can set itself on There were other groups of Japanese who lived in North- a steady path.If politics does not set itself on a steady path,then there east China in the early twentieth century.Right up until 1931,the Kwan- is no way that it can stop the bandits in their tracks.109 tung Army remained small,with only just over ro,ooo men.113 The main stream of thought in the army was that Manchuria would have to be an- The newspaper was not above a touch of humor,even after the nexed and placed under direct Japanese control.114 This ran at odds with Manchurian Incident,in situations where it might have been frowned the thoughts of many Japanese settlers in Manchuria,typified by upon.In April 1932,Ma Zhanshan,the famous resistance fighter who the Manchurian Youth League (Manshi seinen remmei),set up in 1928. had been persuaded to collaborate with the Japanese,defected again and The League aimed to deal with the threat of growing Chinese national- announced that he would relaunch his campaign of resistance,making ism by advocating a loosening of ties with Japan and support for him the most wanted man in Manchukuo,bar none.On 26 April 1932, Zhang Xueliang,encouraging the formation of a separate state in the Shengiing shibao ran the following headline in large type:MA ZHAN- Manchuria.115 Despite their disparity when it came to means,however, SHAN ARRESTED AND HELD BY JAPANESE POLICE.110 One had to read the both groups were very concerned at the prospect that their special
好 REFORM AND REACTION REFORM AND REACTION 49 position in the Northeast would fall victim to growing antiforeign feel- In 1927,a compromise agreement was reached,but it was an uneasy ing.This nationalist sentiment on the Chinese side was articulated by the truce rather than a comprehensive settlement.119 In 1929,the authorities likes of Yan Baohang and other activists and groups surrounding Zhang in the Northeast tried to remove Soviet influence from the CER and Xueliang.Although,as noted above,this phenomenon was primarily ur- seize all rights to the railway themselves.These actions provoked the ban and Liaoning-centered,it was precisely in these places that the Japa- USSR into military retaliation.Although this caused the Sovicts some nese expatriates were most likely to be found;the SMR zone was,as its political embarrassment,as they were widely perceived as behaving like name suggested,in the southern part of the region where the urban,ed- the imperialist powers they had always denounced,in military terms ucated sections of the Manchurian Chinese population most likely to be they won a convincing victory.120 receptive to emerging modern ideas of nationalism were located. CCP-influenced accounts of why the CER Incident of 1929 took Both the army and the settlers aspired to set up a Japanese-controlled place downplay the role of Zhang Xucliang (treated as a hero for his Manchuria that would make use of the existing Chinese local govern- later abduction of Chiang Kaishek during the 1936 Xi'an Incident)and ment structures.The catalyst to their hopes came after 1929,with the ar- stress the provocative actions of Zhang Jinghui,the governor of the rival of two junior Japanese officers in the Kwantung Army,Ishiwara Special Zone (who later collaborated with the Japanese).Zhang Jinghui Kanji and Itagaki Seishiro.Inspired by Nichiren Buddhism and pan- had shared Zhang Zuolin's fierce anti-Communism in the latter's final Asianism,they rejected the orthodoxy of the General Headquarters in days;furthermore,Harbin had a large international trading community Tokyo and planned a coup that would sever the Northeast's association and a large White Russian population,so that its newspapers were al- with Nanjing.Ishiwara also advocated that Japan should take over ways filled with stories about the Soviet menace.Therefore he may well northern Manchuria,even though it had not had any historical presence have intended to goad the Soviets. there.116 The two officers engineered the Manchurian Incident on 18 But Zhang Xueliang and Chiang Kaishek were also worried at the September 1931,which gave them the chance to put their ideas into Communist propaganda activities carried on by local Sovict consulates practice. under the cover of diplomatic activity.121(All Soviet consulates in South China had already been closed by Chiang after the Canton uprising of THB USSR AND THE CER INCIDENT 1927.)122 Therefore,the first moves against the Soviets employed by the CER came with Zhang Xueliang's approval.On 9 January 1929,re- The Chinese Eastern Railway (CER)was the main trunk ported George Hanson,the U.S.consul in Harbin,"the Soviet officials route for northern Manchuria,the cquivalent of the SMR in the south, reccived a shock when the local Chinese authorities,acting on instruc- although without the latter's extensive social and political role.Origi- tions from Mukden,took over by force and without compensation the nally built as a joint venture between the Qing and the Russians,shared city's telephone system which had been installed at an expense of over responsibility for it was taken on by the successor governments of the local SI,ooo,ooo and managed by the Chinese Eastern Railway."123 Over Chinese Republic and the Soviet Union.The CER's hub was in Harbin, the next two months,Zhang Xueliang replied aggressively to the Soviet with routes running east to Suifenhe,west to Manzhouli,and south to protests.When Melnikov,the Soviet consul in Harbin,accused the Changchun.To ease the railway administration's task,Harbin was made Harbin authorities of having violated Chinese-Soviet treaties by the an autonomous Special Zone,separate from the other provinces.Begin- seizure,Zhang replied that"the agreements only related to the railway ning in 1914,a treaty agreement operated that gave the Russians as- and not to telephones,"and that "the Chinese only resorted to this ac- signed places on Harbin's municipal council.117 A treaty signed in 1924 tion to prevent impairment of its [sic]sovereignty.12 M.S.Myers,the formalized the sharing of railway rights and responsibilities between the U.S.consul in Shenyang,had no doubt that the northeastern authorities USSR and China,a matter that would come to have significance in the had the aim of taking over the railway. wake of the Japanese occupation eight years later.118 At the end of May 1929,Zhang Jinghui,using as a pretext the fact that Between 192s and 1927,however,Zhang Zuolin engaged in a string of the Soviet consul in Harbin was holding a propaganda conference,sur- provocations intended to remove all Soviet influence from the railway. rounded the consulate and arrested thirty-nine ofits employees,including
50 REFORM AND REACTION REFORM AND REACTION CER officials,trade delegates,and coal and oil dealers.The Chinese de- nese in 1931.The Soviets'willingness to fight in this instance later acted manded that the number of Soviet CER representatives be reduced and as a temporary deterrent to Japan's advance into northern Manchuria in that the Soviets stop spreading Communism in the region.The Soviets I931.It was not for some months that the Japanese realized that the ac- demanded that their prisoners be freed.Negotiations to resolve this tion against Zhang's troops had actually been an exceptional show of "CER Incident"went on throughout June and July.While the incident strength during a period when the USSR more generally felt that it was continued to occupy Zhang and the northeasterners,the American consul in a weak position internationally and should avoid becoming involved in Nanjing noted a surprising slackness of public interest at Nanking in conflict.129 While it seems unlikely that Nanjing deliberately precipi- concerning [the]Manchurian crisis.Chinese officials here appear unper- tated the Incident,officials in Nanjing may not have been unhappy that turbed.125 Even an international conflict such as the CER Incident regis- Zhang Xucliang had been shown that his power had limits;they felt the tered as only a regional problem.Three years later,during a more serious conflict"would engage his forces and bring home to him his need for "Manchurian crisis,it would be necessary for northeastern propagandists support,moral if not also practical,from Nanking130 to provoke some who shared a"surprising slackness of public interest"at the Japanese occupation into treating it as a matter of national concern. Troops built up as negotiations went on through summer and au- Zhang Xueliang's Relations tumn,and fighting finally broke out in the autumn.Once provoked, with Chiang Kaishek the Soviets were prepared to use harsh tactics to get their way,in par- ticular,air raids on strategic targets.On 9 September,the Suifenhe NEGOTIATING AN ALLIANCE WITH NANJING railway station was destroyed;"casualties estimated at from 3o to Ioo,"declared Hanson."Town in panic"On I8 November,the rail- In the spring of 1928,Zhang Xueliang and Chiang way line "between Tsagan...and Chalainor in northern Hei- Kaishek both had powerful motivations for forming an alliance.Chiang longjiang was bombed and communications cut off.And on 2o No- Kaishek,who wished to concentrate his forces against enemy warlords vember,reported Myers,"according to confidential information and the Communists in the south,was anxious to avoid conflict in the received from official source,Chinese lost 2,ooo men killed up to yes- Northeast.Zhang Xueliang had for several years indicated that he had terday on the western front.Twenty-seven Soviet aircraft are reported sympathy for the Nationalist cause.Now,in addition to being in favor to have dropped more than 3oo bombs which did much damage of reunification,he was under pressure from rivals within Manchuria as The Soviets,meanwhile,attempted to negotiate a settement of the well as from the USSR and Japan and had a host of social problems to dispute.Zhang and the northeasterners,realizing that they had taken on deal with.At this point,the economy of Manchuria was still growing, too large a proposition,were keen to end the conflict,but Nanjing de- placing Zhang in a stronger negotiating position,although the depres- layed and nitpicked at the provisions of the draft treaty proposed by the sion would later drive down the prices of the agricultural products on Sovicts.The German Foreign Ministry had been asked to mediate be- which the region depended.Nonetheless,the negotiations that led to tween the two sides,and felt that Nanjing's "evasive answer...shows Zhang's official declaration of assimilation into the Republic in Decem- that Nanking is much less concerned with an early settlement than is ber 1928 were not straightforward,because of the pressure from differ- Mukden:127 A treaty was finally agreed upon in December,one of the ent groups that was brought to bear. conditions of which was that the Sovicts would pick a new head of the In July 1928,Chiang Kaishek's representative Kong Fanwei met CER;and it was then formally signed by representatives of the USSR Zhang Xueliang in Beiping and formally proposed that the Three East- and Zhang at Khabarovsk on 22 December.128 ern Provinces come under the jurisdiction of the Nanjing government. The CER Incident had shown that relations between the USSR and In July a negotiation committee was set up,before which Zhang China were uneasy at best.Zhang Xueliang's Northeastern Army had laid down the conditions under which he would accept affiliation.The not distinguished itself in battle,as its thorough defeat showed.This ex- principal one was that branch positions in the KMT in the region be perience may have contributed to Zhang's reluctance to fight the Japa- held by northeasterners.131 While willing to support unification,Zhang