Chen Gongbo (1892-1946) and Chinese national salvation

Chen Gongbo was a fascinating figure in modern Chinese history. He started as a young, naive anti-Manchu rebel and ended up as a “national traitor.” In 1946, the Jiang Jieshi government executed him for his wartime collaboration with the Japanese. Ever since, both Taibei and Beijing have denounced him as a bad guy. This dissertation puts Chen's life within the context of modern Chinese history, centering on him as a nationalist in search of various solutions to achieve national salvation.; Although born into a family of a high-ranking Qing officer in 1892, Chen began to develop a sense of anti-Manchu nationalism as a teenager. In the early twenties, he participated in the budding Communist Movement, but soon broke with the Communist Party. From 1923 to 1925, he studied economics at Columbia University, where he also realized Marxist flaws through a careful reading of Karl Marx's works.; Chen's educational background and his close relations with two senior Guomindang leaders—Wang Jingwei and Hu Hanmin—explained his quick rise within the Guomindang and its government, which he joined soon after his return from America in early 1925. Before and during the early stages of the Northern Expedition, he supported mass movements as a tool to facilitate the national revolution.; In early 1927, the Guomindang leadership split over which way the National Revolution should move. Having tried in vain to mediate the relations between Wang and Jiang, heads of two rival factions, Chen supported Wang, his political mentor.; The wars, in turn, caused great sufferings among the Chinese people and crippled China's national defense against Japan's invasion of Manchuria. The Manchurian Incident of 1931 caused China to lose a huge piece of its most fertile territory, but also led many Guomindang leaders including Chen Gongbo to realize the consequences of China's political disunity. When a coalition government was formed in December 1931, Chen served it as Minister of Industry. During the next four years he led China's industrialization.; When the Sino-Japanese War broke out in July 1937, Chen, a cabinet member, supported his government's policy of “resistance on the one hand and negotiations on the other.” At first, he opposed Wang Jingwei's secret efforts at peace with the Japanese, afraid that a separate peace would break the party. What did Chen as a leading collaborator do? What is the nature of Chinese wartime collaborationism? These are some of the questions this dissertation attempts to answer. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)...