42 THE DIPLOMACY OF IMPERIAL RETREAT BRITISH TROUBLES IN SOUTH CHINA 43 two of them were enthusiastic,namely,the Hong Kong Federation of peaceful and proper'means of pursuing the goal of treaty abolition. Labour-which consisted of over 70 unions,the largest and most In a separate proclamation addressed to 'compatriots'the KMT ex- influential of them being the Chinese Seamen's Union-and the General pressed no wish to rid the country of all foreigners because it opposed Union of Chinese Labourers,which claimed 30 unions,including the only those imperialists who had 'massacred and oppressed'the Chinese Tramway Workers'Union.When,on 11 June,the agitators from Canton people;again,emphasis was laid on treaty abolition as the fundamental called a meeting of labour officials at the office of the Chinese Seamen's solution to the shooting incidents.Subsequently,all soldiers were or- Union,the response was generally unfavourable.Subsequently,union dered to keep away from the vicinity of the Bund and all police stations leaders travelled back and forth between Hong Kong and Canton,holding instructed to protect foreign life and property.Local residents were a series of secret meetings.Eventually,the seamen were the first to go warned not to approach Shameen or to loiter in that area so as to avoid on strike on 18 June,followed by tram drivers,typesetters and printers, danger and misunderstandings.38 A possible reason for the restraint transport workers,dockers,shipyard workers,foreigners'servants,and and moderation of the KMT leaders at this time was that they were so on.Some right-wing unions known as the 'yellow unions'also having difficulties with the warlord forces of Tang Jiyao and Chen participated.ss Jiongming. From the outset the Hong Kong strike was controlled by the com- However,there was agitation for strong action in some quarters.The munist-dominated All-China General Labour Union.Six demands were Whampoa military cadets demanded,among other things,that Shameen put forward to the Hong Kong government-political freedom,equality be taken by force.They enjoyed the backing of the principal of the before the law,right of election to the Legislative Council,enactment military school,Chiang Kai-shek,who further proposed that Kowloon of a labour law,reduction of housing rents,and freedom of residence. (by which he probably meant the New Territories)be taken also,that This was followed by a declaration emphasizing the patriotic and anti- 23 June be declared a Shaji Massacre Memorial Day,and that before imperialist nature of the strike.These demands were more political than the unequal treaties were abolished,any party members found to have economic,as the prime objective of the strike was to fight British social contacts or dealings with the British should be punished.In a imperialism in China.56 letter,dated 26 June,to the Russian military adviser,General Vasily In just 15 days the number of strikers rose to 250,000,of whom over K.Blucher(Galen),Chiang claimed that even before the Shaji incident 200,000 and their families had left for Canton,some voluntarily,others he had drafted plans for fighting the British.He went on to say: under threat,intimidation,and/or strong pressure from union leaders and political agitators.37 Arriving in Canton,the strikers joined the local British influence in the Far East has indeed reached a climax!I believe that, workers,soldiers,the Whampoa military cadets,merchants,and peas- besides employing peaceful means of struggle (such as boycott of British goods), ants in staging a massive protest march through Shameen island on 23 our Party should start military preparations to be completed within half a year June.As they approached the west bridge on Shaji Road along the for a long period of struggle against the British(which may last for three to Bund,a confrontation with the Anglo-French concession forces became five years).It is therefore necessary to establish within the Military Council a special affairs department or a national defence committee,to which a large unavoidable.What followed was a tragedy:a volley of pistol fire from number of Russian advisers should be appointed. one side and a barrage of rifle bullets from the other,leaving scores of Chinese and one Frenchman dead and many others,including eight Chiang's biographer claimed that Chiang had written in his diary for Europeans and one Japanese,injured.It hardly mattered from which months on end numerous anti-British slogans.5!But his professed desire side the first shots were fired;the result was the same:a fresh outburst to make war on Britain need not be taken at face value.His real motive, of anti-imperialist and anti-British sentiments which reached fever pitch. it would appear,was to strengthen his position in preparation for the The KMT's immediate reaction was restrained.In a statement issued Northern Expedition on which his political future would hinge. in the evening,the Central Executive Committee expressed its desire At any rate,the KMT leaders tried to maximize the propaganda for a peaceful settlement and announced the setting up of a commission value of the Shaji incident.As well as protesting to Britain and France of inquiry into the shooting.It further declared that the government with demands for reparations,apology,and punishment of the culprits, would not resort to force or 'vengeful methods',but would adopt they urged the Peking government to issue a declaration abolishing all
44 THE DIPLOMACY OF IMPERIAL RETREAT BRITISH TROUBLES IN SOUTH CHINA 45 the unequal treaties.Anti-imperialism was whipped up in military,edu- hinterland,as well as a distributing point for foreign goods imported cational,labour,and commercial circles.62 through the British colony.Not an important industrial city in China, The Shaji incident,comments Earl Motz,had a profound impact on Canton's great trade was in raw materials,silk,ginger,fish,and other the labouring classes in Hong Kong.Many Chinese who had earlier products of the land.Owing to its geographical proximity to Hong refused to join the general strike changed their minds and pledged support Kong,its abundant labour,and its citizens'acquaintance with Western for the struggle against the British colonial authorities.By the end of ways,Canton had become China's sole outlet in the south to the June more workers had laid down their tools and left for Canton.The mercantile West.But as a trading port it was handicapped by the lack strike,followed by a boycott of all foreigners except Germans and of a deep-water harbour and an international commercial network,and Russians,was originally planned for one or two months,but owing to it had to depend on the British colony for a range of services.The the obstinacy of Hong Kong and the firm attitude of the strike leaders, working relationship between the two cities was helped by the free it continued for longers and eventually turned into a complete boycott movement of Chinese in both directions and the fact that Hong Kong of Hong Kong. was the centre of an incessant flow of Chinese emigration and im- migration from Guangdong province.However,as Hong Kong's role The Canton-Hong Kong General Strike-Boycott in the south China trade expanded,it had established itself in a dominating position vis-a-vis Canton.For example,the banking insti- The boycott,lasting from early July 1925 to 9 October 1926,was the tutions in the colony-notably the Hongkong and Shanghai Banking longest and the most effective that had ever taken place in China. Corporation-had secured such control of Canton's economy that Compared with it,the anti-Japanese boycott of 1919-21 paled into throughout Guangdong the most preferred currency was the Hong Kong insignificance.5 From the Cantonese point of view a boycott of Hong dollar.Furthermore,Hong Kong merchants assumed control of the Kong was practically the same as a boycott of the British,as most of distribution of the Western goods transhipped aboard British steamers the imports into Canton normally came through Hong Kong.36 For to the Chinese market by acquiring interests in the coastal shipping decades,Hong Kong and Canton had a rather special commercial trade. relationship.Hong Kong,having a wide international trading network It was this dependence on Hong Kong that the Cantonese particularly supported by a whole range of services,including shipping,insurance, resented.'To achieve our aim,'said Liao Zhongkai,the Nationalist and banking,was the entrepot,clearing house,and middleman for the finance minister and head of the KMT's Labour Department,'it is products of south China and for the world's manufactured goods passing imperative that Guangdong should be emancipated,politically and into south China.Hong Kong was a free port possessed of a deep-water economically,from the oppression of Hong Kong.Therefore in our harbour,and much of its voluminous trade with neighouring countries fight against imperialism,especially British imperialism,Hong Kong comprised purely Chinese commodities and was carried on by Chinese is our first line of attack."67 The struggle was likened to a war,with firms in the colony with branches elsewhere.Trade with Europe,the the objective of ridding China of foreign political and economic Americas,and Australasia,however,was principally in the hands of domination. British and foreign import and export firms which did business with Yet the dispute was more political than economic.The Nationalists the Chinese mercantile community established in Hong Kong,purchasing accused the Hong Kong government of harbouring the enemies of the from them Chinese products from the interior and selling manufactured late Sun Yat-sen and supporting Chen Jiongming whose power had goods which passed on from wholesalers to retail dealers and so to the been destroyed by the revolutionary army which captured Swatow early small shopkeepers in the interior.The substantial British and foreign in November 1925.They also alleged that some Chinese merchants in firms in Hong Kong,with their branches in the treaty ports of China, Hong Kong had financed and supported Sun's chief opponents.s8 Further, served a definitely useful purpose in acting as intermediaries between there was a sense of irridentism that the British colony,including Chinese and overseas traders. Kowloon and the New Territories,must one day revert to Chinese Canton,on the other hand,was a domestic transfer point and market sovereignty.59 Thus the strike leader,Deng Zhongxia,insisted:"The centre for goods coming into the delta of the Pearl river from the rich Canton-Hong Kong strike is not an economic struggle for wage in-
46 THE DIPLOMACY OF IMPERIAL RETREAT BRITISH TROUBLES IN SOUTH CHINA 47 crease,reduction of working hours,or improvement of working con- source,the Strike Committee took orders directly from Borodin,78 which ditions.It is a political struggle for national survival and dignity. is probably not entirely true.Another source states that it received at The general strike and boycott,now inseparable,were organized and least 6,000 roubles per month from the Comintern,and a third reports directed by a special body,the Canton-Hong Kong Strike Committee, the remittance of 50,000 roubles by the Central Soviet Trade Union to established on 3 July by the communist-dominated 800-man Strikers' the strikers in July.30 All this supports Jean Chesneaux's claim that the Representatives Assembly.The committee consisted of a number of boycott was the work of local communist cadres.But the support of departments and bureaux charged with a variety of duties.As the the KMT leadership was acknowledged by the CCP.Not only did the movement developed,the committee's powers were expanded,running Canton government give the Strike Committee an initial subsidy by hospitals,propaganda schools,mess halls,and dormitories,and or- levying half a month's rent from local merchants and appealing to ganizing jobs such as road repairs and construction for the men.On overseas Chinese for contributions,but it also provided a range of all matters relating to the strike and boycott,it enjoyed absolute power services,including free travel on the Chinese section of the Canton- except that of executing offenders and was fast becoming an imperiun Kowloon Railway,and,above all,followed this up with a monthly in imperio. grant of Ch$10,000.2 As the strike-boycott was treated as a patriotic There was a corps of pickets,initially 2,000-strong and divided into movement,the KMT felt obliged to back it up to the full. units varying from squads of 12 to regiments of 540.After receiving As regards the finances of the movement,by the summer of 1926 para-military training from the Whampoa cadets,they enforced a the KMT and the strike authorities had received Ch$250,000 from con- blockade of the waterways,inspected all goods coming in and going tributions around the country,not including Guangdong,Ch$1.13 million out,and were empowered to arrest smugglers and strike violators who from overseas Chinese,Ch$2.8 million from special levies in the Canton were dealt with in a special court.Seized contrabands were auctioned, area,ChS20,000 from local gentry and merchants,Ch$400,000 from the proceeds of which went to the strike fund.By the end of 1925 the auctioning confiscated and contraband goods,Ch$200,000 from fines Strike Committee had established a network of pickets along the coast of strike and boycott violators,and Ch$200,000 from miscellaneous of the province from Swatow to Pakhoi.72 In Swatow all British sources-amounting to a total of Ch$5 million.83 commerce was brought to an abrupt end,and the local food supplies Initially the boycott applied to all foreign ships and cargoes handled usually available to the British community were completely cut off.The in the ports of Guangdong.This immediately gave rise to two problems. pickets who patrolled the Bund seized British merchandise as it arrived First,it hurt the local merchants,who were buyers of imports that and imposed heavy fees on all ships attempting to enter or leave the passed through Hong Kong as well as suppliers of exports from south port.7 In Wuzhou the strike-boycott was so effective that on 20 July China and who would withdraw their support of the boycott if business the British,unable to maintain an adequate food supply in the city,had was not revived in one way or another.Secondly,there was a real to be evacuated.The foreign staff of the British Asiatic Petroleum danger that the foreign powers might take joint action to break the Company did not return to Wuzhou until arrangements had been made boycott,unless non-British vessels were exempt from it.However,the by the naval authorities in Hong Kong to dispatch a tug periodically two problems could be tackled at once.The Canton merchants'concern with needed supplies.74 could be met by opening new trade routes that bypassed Hong Kong The strike-boycott was an exercise in communist power in the Can- as well as by exempting non-British ships and goods.Following a strategy tonese labour movement.?The chairman of the Strike Committee,Su of'divide and attack',Canton's leaders had earlier informed the United Zhaozheng,had been an organizer of the Hong Kong seamen's strike States consul-general that they had decided to exempt Americans from of 1922.Three other Communists were on the 13-man executive of the the Shameen strike,and subsequently they showed general friendliness committee,along with two key figures in the KMT Left,Wang Jingwei, to them.4 The Cantonese,who had no love for the Japanese,were chairman of the newly inaugurated 'National Government',and Liao impressed by their patient and conciliatory approach towards the pick- Zhongkai.76 A fourth Communist named Deng Zhongxia,general ets.*5 To isolate the British the Strikers'Representatives Assembly thus secretary of the All-China General Labour Union,was adviser to the decided on 1 August to set up a system of special permits distinguishing committee,the most important strike organizer.7 According to one British between British and non-British ships and cargoes.Under the system
48 THE DIPLOMACY OF IMPERIAL RETREAT BRITISH TROUBLES IN SOUTH CHINA 49 announced on 14 August to take immediate effect,all foreign steamers least 17 Chinese steamers were plying on the China coast,between other than British vessels were allowed to ply between various ports Canton and Shanghai even up to Dairen,and between Canton,Saigon, provided they did not call at Hong Kong or Macao.On entering ports, and Siam.92 A journalist of the North China Daily News,arriving in all vessels were subject to inspection by the pickets,and exports of Canton in April 1926,saw 27 ocean-going liners between Whampoa foodstuffs and raw materials were prohibited.6 Special permits were and Canton,most of them being Chinese,Japanese,Norwegian,Dutch, issued to local merchants by the Strike Committee after counter-signa- and German.These shipping companies had conformed to the rules tures by the Department of Commerce,the Security Bureau,and the laid down by the Strike Committee and had undertaken neither to trade Department of Foreign Affairs had been obtained and upon payment with Hong Kong nor to handle British goods.34 That the British could of a fee,usually about 10 per cent of the total value of the goods count on no foreign support to solve their problem could not be clearer. concerned.However,the system was unsatisfactory to the Canton In Hong Kong,Governor Stubbs,whose term of office was due to merchants.The Canton General Chamber of Commerce,the Guangdong expire in June,was granted permission to stay on to deal with the crisis. Federation of Chambers of Commerce,the Canton Municipal Chamber On 21 June he declared a state of emergency in the colony and took of Commerce,and the Guangdong Mercantile Association jointly various measures to maintain peace,order,and the essential services. criticized it as cumbersome and the fees as exorbitant.7 Facing strong Subsequently,the Volunteer Defence Corps,organized during the pressure from the business community,the Strike Committee announced seamen's strike in 1922,was mobilized,and guards were posted at the on 3 September the abolition of the system,calling for a patriotic Electric Light Works,Water Works,reservoirs,and other important alliance'of labour and commerce and replacing the system with one points.The Ambulance Corps,the Volunteer Fire Brigade,St John's of entry and exit permits for ships only.The new permits were to be Ambulance Association,and the boy scouts were called up,as were issued at a reduced fee by the committee without requiring counter- others for volunteers as tramway drivers,crews for the Kowloon ferries, signatures by the other authorities.On 12 September a new set of and so on.Food,transport,and labour controls were established.The regulations governing the shipping to Canton and other Guangdong export of rice,flour,tinned and preserved foodstuffs,Hong Kong ports of Japanese,American,and French vessels carrying non-British banknotes,gold and silver coins,and bullion was prohibited.Restrictions goods was promulgated.In this way,local business interests were were imposed on Chinese entering the colony,and a strict system of accommodated while averting the danger of great power intervention.s search was used to keep out agitators,idlers,and smugglers of arms. The other powers had no compunctions about taking over the British Special police were enrolled,making frequent raids on suspicious share of the south China trade.As soon as the new shipping regulations premises and offering rewards for the arrest of agitators.Censorship were put into effect,many foreign firms originally located in Shameen, was instituted,screening Chinese letters,telegrams,and newspapers,as where the strike remained in force,moved their operations to the city, well as tapping telephones.The emergency regulations authorized the and non-British companies based in Hong Kong quickly opened branch arrest and deportation of any person having no proper employment,and offices in Canton.It was estimated that between September and No- by July some hundred undesirables had been rounded up and removed vember 1925 eighty such firms had opened business there.39 In Feb- from the colony.Severe punishments were threatened to labour in- ruary 1926 Butterfield and Swire reported from Canton that there were timidators and those guilty of violence and sedition.These included 13 Norwegian,five French,and five Russian steamers trading regularly flogging,which the Chinese found ost distasteful.It was never carried there,in addition to which a regular service was maintained by Japanese out,but the threat alone succeeded in putting an end to intimidation, liners to Shanghai,while a large number of Japanese ships arrived resulting in the restoration to a certain extent of the confidence of those under charter.30 Another source also lists 17 German,five Russian,four who had chosen to return to work.?5 American,and two Dutch vessels(during the entire strike period),and Meanwhile,a government bureau was set up to counter Canton's it was believed that Japanese ships,though their numbers were not propaganda among the Hong Kong Chinese,and later a new verna:ular established,had taken over a large percentage of the Canton trade since newspaper-Gongshang ribao(The Industrial and Commercial Fuily October 1925.1 The Chinese,too,took advantage of the anti-British News)-was created largely through the instrumentality of a local movement to organize new shipping companies with native capital.At Chinese solicitor.This paper was devoted to anti-Bolshevism,which
50 THE DIPLOMACY OF IMPERIAL RETREAT BRITISH TROUBLES IN SOUTH CHINA 51 had the effect of encouraging other Chinese newspapers,which had Correspondingly,China's trade with Hong Kong showed a signifi- suspended publication earlier,to reopen.By October Gongshang ribao cant decline from 1924 to 1926 (see Table 3.1). had been turned into a permanent paper,running at a considerable loss even with a government grant as a large number of copies were sent Table 3.1 Value of China's Trade with Hong Kong,1924-6 abroad gratis.(It later became the most anti-communist paper in Hong (Unit:million Haiguan taels) Kong.)These measures may have eased the strike situation,but did nothing to break the boycott.Early in August the embargo on the export Year Net Imports Net Exports Total of foodstuffs to Canton was lifted as it had had a detrimental effect on the colony's trade without really hurting the Cantonese.In September practically all factories in the colony with the exception of the Nanyang 1924 238,355 173,163 411,500 Brothers Tobacco Company,which was working overtime,were re- 1925 172,789 114,715 287,000 ported to be working with half their pre-strike staff.97 Although peace 1926 119,976 93,802 214,000 and order were well maintained (there were no cases of street rioting or similar disturbances),and despite the absence of anti-foreign feeling Source:The Maritime Customs Statistical Series:Nos.3-5.Foreign in Hong Kong,the crisis was causing a great deal of damage to its Trade of China,1926,Part I:Report and Abstracts of Statistics economy and to Britain's south China trade. (Shanghai,1927),p.25. The Economic Impact of the General Strike-Boycott By far Hong Kong was the hardest hit,its financial fabric breaking down under the double strain of a general strike and an extensive boycott. As a result of the strike-boycott,Britain's China trade suffered consid- At the start of the strike in June there was a run on the Chinese banks, erably.Its share of China's imports dropped from 12.4 per cent in 1924 which had to be rescued by the Hongkong and Shanghai Bank and the to 9.8 per cent in 1925,or in real terms,from f28.9 million to f19.7 Chartered Bank with a loan of HK$6 million backed by government million,while imports into China from Britain dropped from 126 million guarantee.Governor Stubbs immediately took the dangerous measure Haiguan taels to 93.1 million taels in 1925(1 Hg.tl.Ch$1.5).The of a moratorium which lasted from 22 to 29 June and which saved some movement of British goods to China declined by about 30 per cent, of the Chinese registered banks and many of the native banks from the necessity of suspension in June and July.102 Nevertheless eight larger while China's total imports declined by about 7 per cent,and the total Chinese banks subsequently went bankrupt,and two others had to go export of British products from the United Kingdom declined by 3.5 into liquidation.A number of smaller banks also either went bankrupt per cent.The biggest drop was between July and November,though or had to close down.03 All this had a bad effect on the Stock Ex- there was a slight upturn in December." change,as all the banks which had hitherto financed the bulk of its This drop in trade had a disastrous effect on Hong Kong's economy, transactions suddenly withheld the support already promised.The panic evidenced by a sharp decline in trade with China in the second half among the Chinese merchants and traders of all classes forced the Stock of 1925.During the years 1922-4 one-quarter of China's imports were Exchange to close temporarily towards the end of June.0 It reopened from Hong Kong.These fell to 18.6 per cent in 1925 and to 11.1 per in late October,but not before the value of stocks and shares had cent in 1926.Chinese exports to Hong Kong also dropped from 22.4 depreciated by about 40 per cent.Financial stringency affected business per cent in 1924 to 14.8 per cent in 1925 and to 10.9 per cent in 1926. all round,the share and property markets being especially depressed. The total shipping entering and clearing at ports in the colony during Ordinary business in the colony was practically at a standstill,while 1925 amounted to 379,177 vessels,which showed a decrease of 384,315 overhead charges were running on.ios vessels compared with the figures of the previous year.In addition, As the financial situation worsened,government revenues decreased there was a 26.1 per cent fall in British ocean-going shipping.The rapidly by some HK$500,000 a month,with the result that spending decline continued into the following year as the boycott went on.0 had to be drastically cut.No new public works were undertaken;those