Chinese Historians

CHUS #1  Book Reviews in the Age of the Internet (Roundtable)
Friday, January 3, 2025: 3:30 PM-5:00 PM
New York Hilton, East Room

Session Organizer: Qin Shao, College of New Jersey

Chair(s):
Qin Shao, College of New Jersey

Panel:

• Nicholas Popper, College of William & Mary and the Omohundro Institute of Early American History and Culture
• Yuanchong Wang, University of Delaware
• Gina Anne Tam, Trinity University
• Gillian Frank, Trinity College Dublin
• Qin Shao, College of New Jersey

Session Description:

In the fall of 2023, a 20-page, critical review of a book on the Qing dynasty caused a small shock wave in and beyond the China field. By December, this review had more than 70, 000 full text views, a record for an academic book review. This phenomenon illustrates at least two issues relevant to academic book-reviewing: the conventional book-reviewing practice is outdated, and the learned societies, scholars and the educated public alike, are hungry for a change.

This roundtable aims to critically assess the state of book-reviewing and explore if a paradigm shift is finally on the horizon, considering the impact of the internet and social media. The advent of the internet in the past half century has reshaped every aspect of society, including scholarly research, but mainstream academic book-reviewing has largely remained unchanged. The roundtable examines the nature of book-reviewing and, with that, its functions and purposes in the age of internet.

Book-reviewing is conventionally considered a “service” to the profession. It introduces a new book, often chapter by chapter, with a light touch on the book’s merits and flaws. Such book reviews follow a predictable format without much impact. But the internet has taken over much of the function of such book-reviewing. Publishers’ webpages, commercial book sites, e-publishing, and authors’ own social media can instantly make available of a book’s main contents. All this constitutes a challenge to the standard book reviews.

This challenge requires nothing less than a redefinition of book-reviewing practice. Instead of being an afterthought of academic publishing, academic book-reviewing itself can be a scholarly activity, and a book review essay can be a piece of scholarship, if it critically and creatively analyzes the book from the large issues to the source material. Indeed, analysis should be the main function of book-reviewing. Book-reviewing must also serve as a gatekeeper and standard-bearer for academic integrity and quality. In other words, book-reviewing should be an integral part in the creation and production of new knowledge.

The problems with the standard book reviewing are well-known. Some editors have abandoned book reviews; others have called for journals’ book review section to become a “change agent”; and still others have questioned the dominance of book reviewers from the U.S and U.K. There have also been changes. Some platforms feature more substantive book reviews, provide panel reviews, and engage in a dialogue with authors. But they are in the minority.

The five speakers on the roundtable come from diverse backgrounds in the fields of European, American, and Chinese history. Some of them are current and former book review editors and book and blog editors. Together they will explore issues such as the evolution of book-reviewing, the importance of source-checking, the impact of social media, and the possibility to utilize long-form reviews and digital humanities platforms to improve the quality of book reviews.

Speakers’ Abstracts

Nicholas Popper, College of William & Mary/Omohundro Institute Book reviews themselves have a long and somewhat surprising history. While most surveys of the genre have focused on literary book reviews from the nineteenth century to the present, the form was developed and pioneered in the European republic of letters in the late seventeenth century. This book-obsessed, trans-imperial community corresponded relentlessly about books, sharing knowledge of new or rare publications whose acquisition would often entail considerable expense and energy. The initial form of book reviews, published in the periodicals flourishing across Europe, responded to this environment by balancing a variety of purposes. Not only did such reviews announce the publication of new books, but they often included significant extracts from them – providing a sample to allow readers to judge whether it was worth the effort to try to acquire them. This publicity function was at least as important in these early book reviews as the critical assessment and contextualization that historians today associate with the form.

As this suggests, book reviews respond to their broader communications environment, and in my contribution to this roundtable, I will use a brief survey their history — along with my experience as Book Review Editor of the William and Mary Quarterly, the flagship journal in early American History, and as Editor of Books at the Omohundro Institute for Early American History and Culture – to reflect on the possible directions for book reviews in our current media climate. Above all, I will argue that their role as post-publication peer review is more important than ever, and that re-thinking the structure and distribution of book reviews to emphasize this aspect may point toward broader changes in terms of venue, authorship, timing, length, and editorial practice.

Yuanchong Wang, University of Delaware

There has been a glaring gap in the expectations and practices of reviewing academic historical books. On the one hand, the AHA emphasizes the importance of evaluating “the honesty and reliability with which the historian uses primary and secondary source materials” as a standard professional conduct. On the other hand, most book reviews do not check such source materials. Filling in this gap is an assumption, or a trust, that the author has both the necessary training and integrity to use and interpret the sources correctly and the book is an honest piece of scholarship. Academic book reviews in the history field have largely been run on this assumption. Indeed, the challenge for source-checking is daunting. The limited length that academic journals offer to book reviews makes it impossible for any meaningful engagement with either primary or secondary sources. The increasing popularity of a multilingual approach to historical studies makes the examination of primary courses even more challenging. But the pitfall of skipping source-checking is also obvious. Given that the internet age has made a large number of digitized historical materials available online, this presentation proposes a new type of cooperation between academic journals and book reviewers in which the former requires the latter to write a more substantiative piece that includes a close examination of the source material.

Gina Anne Tam, Trinity University,

Social media has sharply transformed the world of academic book reviews. From #twitterstorians to Facebook groups, Goodreads to booktok, social media has created new forums in which we, as scholars, can publicize the books we write as well as offer our own endorsements, critiques, and opinions about the books of others. Social media as a medium also promotes unprecedented reach and urgency; it allows for fast, real-time discussion of books and reviews of them that include audiences formerly omitted from academic discourses. Together, these realities have created new opportunities and risks for academics in discussing the afterlives of books, opportunities and risks that are often unique to different platforms, different subjects, and different audiences.

My goal in this presentation is to address a series of ways in which social media has affected academic book reviews. I contend that social media has created a double-edged sword for both authors and reviewers. On the one hand, it has allowed for both reviewers and authors to reach new audiences, gain new feedback, and engage in more robust, diverse, and sustained conversations about academic work than ever before. For junior scholars in particular, this can be a particularly rewarding part of the review-writing and book-writing experience. On the other hand, the immediacy of social media, and the fact that nearly all social media platforms purposefully bolster content that is controversial and emotionally laden, creates new risks. From the possibility of “going viral” for writing or receiving a negative review in a way that is unprecedently public, to the possibility that emotionally-charged fast responses can create a “pile-on” effect that spirals and causes long-lasting misunderstandings, social media can also create a chilling effect for both authors and reviewers that can hinder innovative scholarship and rigorous critique.

Gillian Frank, Trinity College Dublin

At their best, academic book reviews help scholars learn about new scholarship, contextualize this scholarship within broader disciplinary conversations, and think through the limits and possibilities of each work’s interventions, methodologies and evidence. But too often, journals have difficulty finding volunteers to perform this important and time-consuming task. It is an open secret that the readership for such reviews is limited and that many reviews–whether out of politeness or deference–follow a stultifying form: chapter summary, contextualization, tepid critique, and (bold) praise. 

This presentation maps the structural and formal limits and possibilities of the written book review genre. It then makes a case for supplementing written book reviews–especially by using digital humanities platforms–with other types of public conversation and exchange that might spur critical engagement among scholars and between authors and readers.

Qin Shao,  College Of New Jersey

Conventional book-reviewing has largely functioned as a news release—in about 600-1,000 words, the review announces the publication of a new book and introduces its main contents. But the internet has rendered such a function unnecessary, as numerous websites and social media accounts, by the publishers, the booksellers, and the authors, are doing exactly the same job. Academic book-reviewing must redefine itself to justify its relevance.  How can the mainstream book reviews evolve from a much-diminished service role to an invigorating force for scholarly and intellectual pursuit in the academic community? The long-form review essays, often more than 5,000 words, published by The New York Review of Books (NYRB) and other such literary platforms, may serve as an inspiration. Those review essays are often themselves an expansive study of the subject matters. For instance, a review of two books on privacy in NYRB (March 9, 2023) starts with a story about a robotic vacuum cleaner taking photographs of a woman using the toilet and goes on to a detailed study of the evolution of privacy law in the U.S. While the essay engages with larger historical and legal issues, it also offers critical insights about the values and shortcomings of the two books. Such a review contributes to the depth and breadth of the subject matter and becomes an indispensable reading itself on privacy rights. Academic book-reviewing can also become an integral part of scholarship if it redefines its functions and purposes and invests in the necessary time, energy, and other resources.

Beyond the Body-Mind Dichotomy: Labor and Intellect in Twentieth-Century China

CHUS #11. Surveying the Nation: Rediscovering the “People” in China’s Republican Era, 1912–49
Monday, January 6, 2025: 11:00 AM-12:30 PM
New York Hilton, East Room

Session Organizer: Xiaoyan Ren (University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign)

Chair(s):
Yue Du, Cornell University

Papers:
“Obstructed Embrace”: The ID Card Institution in Shanghai, 1945–49
Xiaoyan Ren, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

Competing Colonialities: Nation-State Building and Nation-Empire Construction of Chinese and Japanese Migration Projects in Manchuria, 1914–45
Luming Xu, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

The Problem of Chinese Population: Discourses of Chinese Population and Population Science, 1918–39
Zhelun Zhou, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Comment: Yue Du, Cornell University

Panel Description

Recent scholarship on the history of Republican China represented by works such as Di Luo’s Beyond Citizenship (2022), Tong Lam’s A Passion for Facts (2011), Peter Zarrow’s After Empire (2012), Janet Y. Chen’s Guilty of Indigence (2012), and Zwia Lipkin’s Useless to the State (2006) reflects both a continuing exploration of issues of modernity and a new interest  in state-building processes from the perspectives of knowledge-production and state efforts of social engineering and classification. This panel builds upon and extends this new scholarship on nation-state building efforts in the Republican era. Centering around the issues of population, identification card systems, and migration, this panel aims to highlight the efforts by the state and the elites to rediscover and re-define the “people” and the population in relation to state sovereignty, the collection and management of information about the “people,” and the agency of the “people” in these processes.

Using academic treatises, articles in newspapers and popular journals, and government documents from the 1920s and 1930s, Zhou examines the problematization of the population and the initiation of a population science in China; Xu investigates the state-led settler colonialism in the respective migration projects in Manchuria promoted by both China and Japan to claim sovereignty over this land; and Ren explores the contested ID card policy in Shanghai after 1945 as part of the state-building project and the multifarious obstacles that impeded its implementation.

Paper Abstracts

 “Obstructed Embrace:” the ID Card Institution in Shanghai, 1945-1949

Xiaoyan Ren, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

This paper examines the Chinese Nationalist government’s modern state building efforts through the lens of identification card policy in post-war Shanghai (1945-1949). In the aftermath of the Second Sino-Japanese War (1937-1945), the Nationalist government issued identification cards to render the population more “legible” to the state, albeit faced with considerable challenges and resistance. Focusing on Shanghai, one of the cities that piloted the ID card policy, this paper examines the multifarious obstacles to the policy’s implementation, in terms of technology (photos, seal stamps, standardization of names), administrative systems, and the impact of Japanese occupation. My research sheds fresh light on the state-society relations during this period, centering on the following questions: How did society appropriate and resist newly introduced technology of state surveillance? How was the class of “state brokers” transformed in Republican China and what new roles did they play? What legacy did the Second Sino-Japanese War leave for China that might linger even until today? 

The use of photos, seal stamps, and standardized names for individual identification encountered considerable resistance and appropriation in Republican China. The role of baojia chiefs (local community leaders) as administrators illustrates how they appropriated the ID card policies for personal advantage. The collective memory of “citizen’s cards” issued during Japanese rule in Shanghai led to an enduring perception of identification documents as stigmatized symbols of foreign invasion and illegitimate rule. All this challenged the implementation of the identification card policy in post-1945 Shanghai.

Competing Colonialities: Nation-State Building and Nation-Empire Construction of Chinese and Japanese Migration Projects in Manchuria, 1914-1945

Luming Xu, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

This study focuses on the migration projects launched respectively by China and Japan in Manchuria from the 1910s to the 1940s to claim sovereignty over this land. It employs the term “competing colonialities” to characterize this particular piece of migration history, for both the Republican Chinese governments, intellectuals, and Japanese colonial authorities have used the phrase “colonize” (Ch. zhibian; Jp. Takushoku) to define their respective migration projects. These two parallel colonial enterprises clashed in 1931, when the Manchurian Incident broke out, as the Japanese army took over the whole of Manchuria by force, and the state of Manchukuo was established the next year. Although the Republican state lost its control over Manchuria until 1945, the ROC government transformed its coloniality into a rhetoric about “national humiliation” (guochi) by producing anti-Japanese propaganda at the national scale. At the same time, the Japanese promoted the independence of the state of Manchukuo from China, transforming Japanese coloniality into the ideology of “Harmony of the Five Races” (Gozoku Kyōwa).  This study argues that underneath the myths of nation and empire, migrants were the central pillars to the macro-level nation- and state-building, while migrants in Manchuria themselves have also taken advantage of Chinese and Japanese colonialities at the micro-level to create myths of their own, such as the myth of chuang guandong among Han Chinese migrants, and literary genre of bazoku in Japanese settlers’ communities.

 “The Problem of Chinese Population”: Discourses of Chinese Population and Population Science, 1918-1939

Zhelun Zhou, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Starting from the May Fourth era (1915 to 1922) to the 1930s, Chinese intellectuals and elites had voiced their concerns of China’s large population. Prior to and after Margaret Sanger’s visit in 1922, Chinese intellectuals, such as Chen Changheng, Sun Benwen, and Tao Menghe, not only suggested birth control to limit population growth, but also introduced approaches to measure and survey both the quantity and quality of population. In the 1930s, sociologist Chen Da proposed to formulate the discipline of population science to further manage the population and eventually to compel the KMT government to legislate laws for population control. Though the KMT state never formally legislated and practiced its eugenic-oriented population policy, this attention to population management and control remained consistent through the Republican period until 1949. The concerns with population coincided with the growing intellectual emphasis on social surveys and the social sciences during that era. Using intellectual treatises, newspaper articles, and governmental records, this paper explores how population came to be perceived as a problem in the 1920s and how the problematization of this issue served to stimulate the rising discussion of population science among Chinese intellectuals in the 1930s. Overall, the intense discussion on the Chinese population reflected intellectuals’ pursuit of modernization, as they attempted to concretize the population in measurable terms.  

CHUS #10. US–China Engagement: A Historical Assessment
Monday, January 6, 2025: 9:00 AM-10:30 AM
New York Hilton, East Room

Session Organizer: Mao Lin, Georgia Southern University

Chair(s):
Dan Du, University of North Carolina at Charlotte

Papers:
Chinese Propaganda through American Eyes, 1949 to the Present
Yi Ren, University of Arkansas at Little Rock

Language and Empire: Chinese Language Programs in the US from the Late 19th Century to the Present
Shuhua Fan, University of Scranton

US–China Engagement in the Long 1970s
Mao Lin, Georgia Southern University

From Engagement to Decoupling: US–China Relations since the End of the Cold War
Tao Wang, Iowa State University

Comment: Dan Du, University of North Carolina at Charlotte

Session Abstract:

In recent years, the U.S.-China relationship has experienced its most daunting challenges since the normalization of relations between the two nations in the 1970s. While both Beijing and Washington publicly deny the coming of a second Cold War, strategic competition is now the frame through which the U.S. government views its relationship with China. As a result, the so-called US-China engagement is now widely regarded as a failed history. However, the history of US-China engagement should be assessed in a more nuanced and balanced manner despite the current political situation. Dr. Yi Ren’s paper examines how Americans—intellectuals, politicians, and the general public—have understood and interpreted Chinese propaganda directed at its own people since 1949. Dr. Shuhua Fan’s paper discusses how the Chinese language programs have developed in the US since the late 19^th century and their impact on US-China engagement. Dr. Mao Lin’s paper analyzes how the US-China engagement was developed from the late 1960 to the late 1970s and how it served America’s strategic interests. Dr. Tao Wang’s paper examines the post-Cold War US-China relations by focusing on structural changes and the role of personalities. The panel endeavors to present some timely yet historicized assessments of the US-China engagement. (202 words)

Paper Abstracts:

Chinese Propaganda through American Eyes, 1949 to the Present

Yi Ren, University of Arkansas at Little Rock

The significance of propaganda to the Communist China cannot be overstated. It is a critical tool for the Chinese Communist Party to realize its organization and governance. It permeates the daily lives of the Chinese people. This paper studies how Americans—intellectuals, politicians, and the general public—have understood and interpreted Chinese propaganda directed at its own people.

Specifically, this paper traces the evolution of American perceptions of Chinese propaganda across three periods: from the establishment of the People’s Republic of China to the Sino-American rapprochement, from the rapprochement to 1989, and from 1989 to the present. During the Mao era, American interpretation of Chinese propaganda mainly viewed it as a mechanism for communist indoctrination, which mirrored the intense Cold War animosities. The thawing of Sino-American relations introduced a more complex interpretation. American politicians and intellectuals adopted a cautiously optimistic stance towards engagement, perceiving Chinese propaganda as a fusion of ideological zeal and a pragmatic modernization agenda. The period after the Tiananmen Square Protests has been characterized by a profound transformation in Chinese propaganda techniques. The Party leveraged advanced technology and global narratives to conduct its propaganda work. This shift has challenged American perceptions, necessitating a critical reassessment of the role and impact of propaganda in sustaining communist governance in China. This paper argues that the understanding of Americans’ perceptions of Chinese propaganda in different historical periods is crucial for grasping the intricacies of Sino-American relations and the global implications of China’s strategic propaganda approach.

Language and Empire: Chinese Language Programs in the U.S. from the Late 19^th Century to the Present

Shuhua Fan, University of Scranton

This paper offers a macro-study of Chinese language programs in the U.S. from the late 19^th century to today. Efforts to promote Chinese language started in the 1870s with the inauguration of Chinese class at Yale and Harvard and the establishment of an endowed professorship at the University of California-Berkeley. These pioneering programs greatly expanded in parallel with the U.S. rise as a global power with vital interests in Asia and an important relationship with China in the succeeding century and a half. In the second stage (the 1920s-early 1930s), Chinese language programs expanded with the rise/reorientation of private foundations toward fostering Asian/China studies following WWI. Examples include the Harvard-Yenching Institute, the China Institute in America, and the Institute of Pacific Relations. Subsequently, the Pacific War and the Cold War brought further momentum to Chinese language programs through direct involvement/funding from the U.S. government and the formation of the national security-industrial-academic complex, in addition to funding from private foundations. The decades since the early 1990s have witnessed more impressive expansion of Chinese language programs because of U.S. governmental funding for foreign languages critical to national interests, sponsorship from private sources, and the rise of Confucius Institutes (CI) funded by China to project soft power, an effort encountering strong resistance and failure in America.  

Using primary and secondary sources, my paper uses case studies from each of the four historical periods to shed light on this macro history by showing the particular mix of motives/broader context (domestic and international), sponsorship, personalities, operation, and legacies. The paper argues that language serves imperial/national interests. Chinese language programs have interacted with the changing domestic and international context, which has enabled the U.S. to engage China via language programs in some of the early eras and to decouple China through the recent forced CI closure.

US-China Engagement in the Long 1970s

Mao Lin, Georgia Southern University

With the deterioration of US-China relations in recent years, America’s engagement policy toward China has been heavily criticized for failing to change China into a liberal democracy and turning Beijing into a peer competitor of Washington instead. However, a more balanced history of engagement shows that engagement has served American interests quite well. During the 1970s, American officials and the broader foreign policy public forged a new perception of China as a “frustrated modernizer.” The priority of China was not to spread communism abroad but to turn the country into a first-class industrial power. However, China failed to modernize under communism, with the Sino-Soviet split further threatening China’s national security. America’s engagement policy was conceived as a realistic response to those changes. Engagement successfully turned China into America’s tacit partner against the Soviet Union, helped Washington to end its war in Vietnam, moderated China’s radical foreign policy, and contributed to the end of the Cold War. While the desire to change China into a liberal democracy loomed large in the background, that desire was only pursued as a long-term goal and no American administration ever set a firm timetable to turn it into reality. A balanced assessment of engagement can help us to forge a realistic strategy by aligning means with ends. America must realize many of the factors that will shape China’s future are beyond American control. A more realistic goal for US China policy is to shape China’s choices so that it will abide by the rules-based international order with or without political reforms. Washington should consistently convince Beijing that America does not seek to contain China’s rise if China can truly become a responsible stakeholder.

From Engagement to Decoupling: US-China Relations since the End of the Cold War

Tao Wang, Iowa State University

How did China and the United States, the former allies against the Soviet Union in much of the 1970s and 1980s, end up in the current tensions? Who was responsible for the deterioration? How would the world’s most important bilateral relationship evolve in the future? This paper analyzes the evolution of US-China relations from engagement in the 1990s, to cooperation in the beginning of 21^st century, and the current strategic competition. It examines both the structural changes and the role of personalities to reveal the dynamics of the relationship and help understand its future trajectory. 

This study adopts a bilateral approach. It argues that while structural changes weakened the foundation of US-China cooperation, confrontation was not inevitable. Policy mattered and the current tension was created by leaders—their vision and ambition made a difference. For the same reason, a Thucydides’s Trap may be avoided, although the current tendency will continue and the situation may become worse in the near future.

CHUS #5. Multiple Shifts of 20th-Century China 
Saturday, January 4, 2025: 3:30 PM-5:00 PM
New York Hilton, East Room

Session Organizer: Patrick Fuliang Shan, Grand Valley State University

Chair(s):
Aihua Zhang, Gardner–Webb University

Papers:
Admiral Liu Huaqing: China’s Mahan and the New Cold War
Xiaobing Li, University of Central Oklahoma

Navigating Controversy: Changing Perceptions of the Sanmenxia Dam in China
Xiaojia Hou, San José State University

Mao and Law in China: The Shaping of Mao’s Early Legal Consciousness
Qiang Fang, University of Minnesota Duluth

The Chinese Pursuit of Republicanism: State-Building, Postimperial Election, and the Creation of Congress, 1911–13
Patrick Fuliang Shan, Grand Valley State University

Comment: Danke Li, Fairfield University

Panel Description

No other century, perhaps, has undergone more dramatical changes than the twentieth century. During the one hundred years, China has encountered significant shifts in social, political, military, environment, and other realms. The four presenters of this panel will explore China’s multiple shifts from empire to republic, from tradition to modernity, and from the old convention to the new culture. More importantly, the four presenters offer their unique interpretation of those changes. The organization of the first nationally elected congress after the collapse of the last dynasty and the establishment of the first republic will be explored. Mao Zedong’s judicial thought will be discussed. A Chinese admiral’s strategies for building a modernized navy will be surveyed. The Chinese building of dams, in particular, the one at Sanmenxia, will be highlighted. Overall, this panel serves as an important forum to offer the four presenters’ recent research and their scholarly investigations of those topics concerning the century we just left behind.

Paper Abstracts

Admiral Liu Huaqing: China’s Mahan and the New Cold War

Xiaobing Li, University of Central Oklahoma

After assuming the PLAN’s command in 1982, Liu emphasized China’s overseas trade, maritime interests, and a strong naval force. He was ranked an admiral in 1988 and began to serve as Deputy Secretary General and Vice Chairman of the CMC. He became one of the seven members on the Politburo’s Standing Committee and the country’s third top leader until 1998. Jiang Zemin endorsed Liu’s perception of China’s sea power, naval war readiness, and sovereignty over the disputed islands in the East and South China Seas. As a result, the PLA shifted from traditional ground war preparation to a new naval warfare in blue waters. Xi Jinping called for more efforts to promote his “red tradition” and learn more from Liu. What was his “red DNA”? Why did he become the “father of modern China navy” for the 21^st century? How much do his theories, doctrines, and strategy impact the PLA Navy today? Based on Chinese sources, this research paper puts the admiral in the context of the civil war, Cold War, political struggle, and military reforms and tries to answer these questions.

Navigating Controversy: Changing Perceptions of the Sanmenxia Dam in China

Xiaojia Hou, San José State University

In the 1950s, the Chinese Communist Party launched the construction of the Sanmenxia Dam, the first modern hydroelectric infrastructure on the Yellow River. Even before its commencement, the project was filled with controversy. Prior to its completion, the dam had already become a source of trouble, necessitating continuous modifications. Over subsequent decades, perceptions of the dam varied significantly among different groups. This essay examines evolving narratives surrounding the Sanmenxia Dam, exploring how the Party adapted the dam’s intended functions to justify multiple modifications. It also investigates the portrayal of the dam in official Chinese media. Furthermore, this essay studies the perspectives of Chinese hydro specialists as documented in academic publications, and the strategies adopted by neighboring local governments to address the impacts of the dam. By utilizing the Sanmenxia Dam as a case study, this essay underscores how differing perspectives have influenced the historiography of infrastructure on the Yellow River.

Mao and Law in China: The Shaping of Mao’s Early Legal Consciousness

Qiang Fang, University of Minnesota Duluth

Former Chinese Communist leader Mao Zedong once said that he did not care about law. Throughout his rule from the 1930s to his death in 1976, Mao had frequently ignored law in many of his political campaigns driven by “continuous revolution.” Some of the worst “lawless” periods under Mao were in the Anti-rightist Movement and the Cultural Revolution during which millions of people had been arbitrarily attacked, tortured, imprisoned, or killed without undergoing formal legal proceedings. But when he was young, Mao ostensibly demonstrated strong belief in law and order, and he supported a Hunan governor who employed stringent laws in maintaining order. How did Mao view law when he was a youth? Why and how did he make such a big change from being a law advocate to a law nihilist? To what extent was Mao’s tectonic shift in his belief in law affected by Marxism, Leninism, and Stalinism?  Many scholars around the world have authored hundreds of books and articles on Mao. But none of them has offered an objective and in-depth analysis on the dramatic shift and shaping of Mao’s attitude on law prior to the split between the CCP and the GMD in 1927. Drawing Mao’s personal writings plus archives and the memoirs of numerous Communist and Republican officials, this paper seeks to examine the political, ideological, and legal dynamics behind Mao’s shift of his views on law during a volatile, fragmented, and war-torn period.    

The Chinese Pursuit of Republicanism: State-building, Post-imperial election, and the Creation of Congress, 1911-1913

Patrick Fuliang Shan, Grand Valley State University

The 1911 Revolution resulted in the abdication of the imperial household of the Qing Dynasty. Subsequently, the millennial dynastic system ruled by the royal family was terminated. The elated Chinese endeavored to build a republic by pursuing republicanism. They held a nation-wide election in late 1912 and early 1913, which resulted in a creation of the first national assembly, historically known as the Old Congress. The organization of such an elected legislature was a stunning breakthrough in the long Chinese civilization. In this essay, the post-imperial situation will be investigated, the first nation-wide election will be scrutinized, and more importantly, the national assembly, the Old Congress, will be examined. Through this particular analysis, the complicated situation in the transition from empire to republic will be unblemished.