Young China Association
The Young China Association ( 少年中國學會 / 少年中国学会 , Shaonian Zhōngguó Xuehui , English Young China Association ) or Young Chinese Association was a socio-political grouping in the Republic of China , which existed from 1918 to 1925. It was historically important because it functioned as an important think tank in the young Chinese republic and because many later important Chinese politicians first became politically active in it. After many of its members joined the newly formed Communist Party after 1921 , the association was paralyzed by internal programmatic disputes. To counter the communists, other members founded the Young China Party ( 中國 青年 黨 ) in Paris in 1923 . In 1925 the Young China Association finally dissolved.
history
Foundation and principles
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The Young China Association was founded against the backdrop of the May Fourth Movement . This movement arose out of the disappointment with the outcome of the First World War, which had not brought China the hoped-for international equality with the Western powers and Japan. In protest against the increasing influence of Japan in China, the Chinese students studying at Japanese universities decided to return to their home country. As part of this movement, numerous discussion groups were formed in which intellectuals, students and scientists met to discuss the events and the consequences that could be derived from them. On June 30, 1918, the Young China Association was founded by a small group of Chinese students in Beijing. The students who returned from Japan later formed a core of the association. The association only gave itself a formal framework and statutes a year later, on July 1, 1919. It had no fixed program and only a loose form of organization. The underlying idea was to advance the socio-political development of China through the social commitment of its members on a scientific basis. The association chose four key words for the motto:
- 奮鬥 , Fèndòu - striving, fighting spirit
- 實踐 , Shíjiàn - practical sense, pragmatism
- 堅忍 , Jiānrěn - perseverance
- 儉樸 , Jiǎnpǔ - simplicity, frugality
The guidelines were of a remarkably apolitical and unideological nature. The ideological convictions of the individual members - if they were already clearly formed at all - were very different and ranged from nationalism to cosmopolitanism , socialism and anarchism . Nevertheless, there was obviously so much tolerance of other opinions that everyone came together in a common group. The association refused direct political involvement and wanted to limit itself to the goal of its founders and concentrate entirely on the "scientific" discussion. At that time, the Young China Association was one of many similar societies in China that dealt with the current situation and future of the country in the broader context of the Movement for a New Culture . It was considered by many Chinese contemporaries to be the most important and most promising such grouping.
The number of members of the association was never very large, in July 1919 about 40 and in later periods only a little over 100. The members of the association included Li Dazhao , Mao Zedong , Zhang Wentian , Yun Daiying , Deng Zhongxia and Gao Junyu , all of whom later held leadership positions in the Chinese Communist Party. On the other hand, Zeng Qi , Li Huang and Yu Jiaju , who later co-founded the nationalist-anti-communist Young China Party, were also members. In addition, many artists and intellectuals were gathered in the association, such as the philosopher Fang Dongmei and the writers Zong Baihua , Tian Han , Zuo Shunsheng and Liu Guojun .
Naming
The name of the association was borrowed from a concept that had emerged in the previous decades. The term “Young China” was coined by the Chinese reformer and intellectual Liang Qichao ( 梁啟超 ), who wrote an essay “About Young China” ( 少年 中国 . ) In the newspaper Qing Yi Bao ( 清 議 報 , English title: The China Discussion ) in 1900 说 ), in which he called for the reform of the old Qing Empire and the renewal of China. In his article, Liang argued that, despite the age of its culture, China was basically a young nation, since the Empire of China was not a nation-state, but rather the feudal private property of a ruling dynasty.
The Young China term was taken up in an article "Young China in a social perspective", which was published in February 1914 in the magazine 東方 雜誌 , Dōngfāng zázhì , English Eastern Miscellany - "Far Eastern Magazine". The author named Fang compared the Republic of China, founded about a year earlier, with the Ottoman Empire and the Young Turks . In his article, Fang placed more emphasis on social development than on the foundation of the nation.
The initiators of the Young China Association took up these pre-defined terms with the choice of name and at the same time expressed that the association they founded was largely supported by students and younger intellectuals, i.e. the Chinese youth. Young China thus stood for the departure and renewal of old China by the Chinese youth.
Further development
The association published a monthly journal ( 少年 中國 月刊 , English Journal of Young China Association (JYCA) - " Young China monthly"), which appeared between July 1919 and May 1924 and deals with current social issues such as the discussion of communism, the synthesis Western and Chinese traditions, women's rights, the role of religion, etc. were discussed.
In the years 1919–1920 (until he left for Germany) Wang Guangqi ( 王光 祈 ) was the leading figure of the association as chairman of the executive committee and de facto editor of the JYCA. Initially there was a strong country team character, as more than 60 percent of the members came from Sichuan Province . With the influx of new members, this gradually leveled out in the following years. The centers of activity were Beijing , Chengdu in Sichuan and Nanjing . A fourth center was Paris, where Chinese students had organized. The rest of the members lived in China and abroad. For example, Mao Zedong worked in Hunan Province .
Disintegration and dissolution
The heterogeneous nature of the association became increasingly apparent in the years after 1921. The event that contributed significantly to the split in the Young China Association was the establishment of the Chinese Communist Party in Shanghai in 1921 . In contrast to the loosely organized and ideologically heterogeneous Young China Association, the CCP had a clear ideological program and a tight organization. The communists tried to redesign and instrumentalize the association for their own purposes. In Beijing they were in the majority, but in Nanjing they were only a minority. At the congress in Nanjing from July 1 to 4, 1921, the split became apparent and continued at the following meetings, which were attended by only a few people, so that the association was practically incapable of making decisions or acting. The last meeting took place in Nanjing from July 17 to July 20, 1925, and ended with no results. From this point on, the association could be considered dissolved. The publication organ 'Jungchina monthly' (JYCA) had already ceased publication in May 1924.
On December 2, 1923, members of the association in Paris had already founded a new party, the Young China Party, in order to counter the increasing influence of the Communists.
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c d e f g h Lee Shun-wai: The Young China Association (1918-1925): A Case Study of Chinese Intellectuals' Search for National Regeneration and Personal Identity . Ed .: University of Hong Kong. August 1987 (English, master's thesis).
- ^ A b Chan Lau Kit-Ching: The Chinese Youth Party 1923–1945 . Ed .: Center of Asian Studies, University of Hong Kong. 1972 (English).
- ↑ 少年 中國 說 at Wikisource
- ↑ 東方 雜誌 , February 1, 1914, Vol. 10, No. 8, pp. 1-4 online