Research On Zhang Taiyan's National Thought In His Late Years (1920-1936

Zhang taiyang is a thinker who is known as a nationalist in modern Chinese history.Zhang taiyang’s nationalistic thought was a parts of his thoughts which had gotten much more attention of academic circles.From 1900 to 1911,the main aspect of Zhang taiyan’s national thought was that he advocated "anti the Manchus and recover the state of the Han".However,after 1920,due to the influence of the thought of "the Chinese Republic of five ethnic groups" during the 1911 Revolution,Zhang’s national thought had changed anymore subtly.During the 16 years from 1920 to 1936,Zhang’s national thought had an aspect that accepted the thought of nation-building of "the Chinese Nation".For example,he emphasized the vassal relationship between the Jianzhou Jurchens(the predecessor of the Qing Dynasty)and the dynasties of the Central Plains in his writing which was named The another kind of Record of the Establishing A State of the Qing Dynasty(1924),and recognized the legitimacy of the Liao Dynasry,the Jin Dynasty,the Yuan Dynasty and the Qing Dynasty which were established by the nomads(meaning in the wide sense)in the Inner Asia in his book named Chong Ding San Zi Jing(1928).Besides,in the related narratives of Sino Foreign Relations in the Late Qing period(mainly about the imperialist invasion of China)and the anti-Qing movement of ethnic minorities in Southwest China,Zhang admitted that the Qing Dynasty was a Chinese dynasty,and he recognized the southwest minority areas as part of China’s territory.What’s more,Zhang aslo had some statements and actions of safeguarding the republic of five ethnic groups in his old age,such as taking the five-color flag as the national flag of the Republic of China.But at the same time,Zhang’s early thought of anti the Manchus hasn’t been changing fundamentally.He still defined the 1911 Revolution as the liberation movement of the Han ethnic group which against another ethnic group’s rule,and expressed his adherence to the historical rationality of "anti the Manchus and recover the state of the Han" by commemorating the relevant figures of the 1911 Revolution.In particular,he criticized the rulers of the Qing Dynasty’s policies of ethnic oppression and condemned the members of the Han ethnic group who joined to the Qing government during the Qing Dynasty.Those exposed his standpoint of ethnicism what anti the Manchus.The contradictory statement of Zhang’s national thought in his old age should not be simply regarded as the contradiction of Zhang’s personal thought,which reflects the perplexity shown by the revolutionaries who advocated objecting the Qing Dynasty in the period of the 1911 Revolution in the face of the new historical situation in the period of the Republic of China(There are pratical needs of national integrating of the Chinese Nation).The Han ethnicity thoughts which advocated by Zhang taiyan in the whole of his life was a kind of ethnicism,but the historical task of nation-building in the period of the Republic of China required to reinterpret the ethnicism as the nationalism.Because of his philosophical thought of "complying with the nature but not crossing the border",Zhang admitted the historical rationality of the nationalism under the new historical conditions,but he hadn’t been willing to give up the position of ethnicism that he insisted on in his early age.In addition,the rapidly changing of the domestic and foreign situation in this period also brought much fluctuation and contradiction of his national thought.However,in the process of changing,Zhang taiyan’s national thought still had soo many unchanging connotations.For example,he always adhered to anti-imperialist and patriotic,he always had the ideological appearance of ethnic equality,he always pursued to make his national thought more "rationalization" rather than "perfect",especially he had loved the Han ethnic group and the Han’s culture in the whole of his life.Zhang taiyan’s national thought in his old age,samed as his ethnicism which advocated objecting the Manchu before the 1911 Revolution(There’s the most active period of his national thought),inevitably had lots of various defects,but also had unique value.When we research the nationalism and national identification in the Republic of China period,we should not ignore Zhang taiyan’s national thought in his old age.My master’s thesis attempts to research Zhang taiyan’s national thought in his old age in order to show the contradiction between ethnicism and nationalism in the national thoughts of the members of the Revolutionary Party in the Republic of China period.In addition to the introduction and the conclusion,My master’s thesis is divided into five chapters:The first chapter:I will review the evolution process of Zhang taiyan’s national thought before 1913.It includes Zhang’s thought about "Ke Di" during the Reform Movement of 1898(1897-1900),Zhang’s ethnic revolutionary thought of "anti the Manchus and recover the state of the Han"in 1900-1911,and the contradiction of national thought because of his accept the thought of"the Chinese Republic of five ethnic groups"in 1911-1913.The second chapter:I’m going to show the two kinds of contradictions of Zhang’s national thought in his old age.The specific performance is as mentioned above.The third chapter:I want to explore that what cause Zhang’s national ideological contradictions in his old age.In my opinion,those reasons include the outbreak of the contradiction of his early national thought in his old age,the contradiction of his two contradictory views of territory(On the one hand,he believed that the territory of China should adapt to the main region of the Han ethnic group’s region.On the other hand,he also hoped the Republic of China to inherit the territory of the Qing Dynasty as much as possible)which brought the contradiction of cognition of ethnic problems,his experience that be commissioned as "the Envoy of the northeast frontier" in the ChangChun in 1913 which made he thought about the northeast frontier issues deeply,and his philosophical thought of "complying with the nature but not crossing the border"and "unifying things on the basis of equality and nature”made him unwilling to give up the historical rationality of the ethnicism while he has admitting the relative rationality of the nationalism.In addition,the rapidly changing of the domestic and foreign situation during this period from 1920 to 1936(such as Soviet Russia and Japan invaded China constantly and the theories of "the right of national self-determination" was introduced into China)has affected the changes of Zhang taiyan’s national thought in his old age,too.The forth chapter:I want to elaborate some unchanging connotations in the process of changing of Zhang taiyan’s national thoughts in his old age.It includes his patriotism and ethnic equality throughts,his pursuit of "rationalization"instead of "perfect",his nationalist orientation in his academic research and education about Chinese culture in his old age,and his efforts to build the historiography system which emphasized nationalist.The fifth chapter:I’m going to expound the evolution process of Sun zhongshan’s and Cai yuanpei’s national thoughts,and compare them with Zhang taiyan’s national thought,in order to investigate Zhang taiyan’s national thought in his old age under the historical background of the Republic of China period and give him a proper situation.