GOVERNMENT IN REPUBLICAN CHINA
GOVERNMENT
IN
REPUBLICAN CHINA
BY
PAUL MYRON ANTHONY LINEBARGER
_The Department of Political Science_
_Duke University_
FOREWORD BY
FRITZ MORSTEIN MARX
FIRST EDITION
[Illustration]
HYPERION PRESS, INC.
WESTPORT, CONNECTICUT
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
Linebarger, Paul Myron Anthony, 1913-1966.
Government in republican China.
Reprint of the 1st ed. published by McGraw-Hill,
New York, in series: McGraw-Hill studies in political science.
Includes bibliographical references.
1. China--Politics and government--1912-1949.
I. Title.
DS775.L48 1973 320.9'51'04 73-888
ISBN 0-88355-081-4
Published in 1938
by The McGraw-Hill Book Company, Inc., New York
Copyright 1938 by The McGraw-Hill Book Company, Inc.
First Hyperion reprint edition 1973
Library of Congress Catalogue Number 73-888
ISBN 0-88355-081-4
Printed in the United States of America
_Dedicated with filial affection_
_to_
PAUL MYRON WENTWORTH LINEBARGER
United States Judge in the Philippines,
Counselor to and Biographer of President
Sun Yat-sen, Formerly Legal Adviser to
the National Government of China
FOREWORD
To the cynic, two nations clasped in murderous embrace yet nominally
living in peace with each other might well be one of the miracles of our
century. No less miraculous has been for many the tenacity of Chinese
resistance to Japan's invasion ever since the first bullets whizzed
through the night near the Marco Polo Bridge southwest of Peking early
in July, 1937. The undeclared war has spread disaster through an area
larger than that immediately affected in Europe's battles from 1914 to
1918; hundreds of thousands have died in action; for months China's
capital has been in the hands of the enemy. But China is not on her
knees.
The explanation is simple. For the first time in her history, China
fights as a nation. More is involved than can be attributed to
Generalissimo Chiang K'ai-shek's personal leadership or the strategic
and organizational services rendered, until his recent recall to
Germany, by Alexander von Falkenhausen, chief of staff of the Turkish
armies during the World War. A people without allegiance to its
government and without faith in itself would have been incapable of
braving the ordeal of retreat, massacre, and occupation as successfully
as have the Chinese. That China fights today as a nation is no small
tribute to the National Government of the Kuomintang established at
Nanking in 1927. How long she will be able to fight as a nation is a
question to be answered only by reference to the national mentality and
political institutions which have emerged since the collapse of the
Manchu Empire in 1911-1912. It is the purpose of this volume to appraise
the record of China's republican era.
The author was compelled to beat his own path. Only a few books on
modern government in China are available in English, and these, written
by Chinese, are modeled in their presentation on Western prototypes to
an extent of obscuring, though unintentionally, the very substance of
Chinese politics. In Dr. Linebarger's pioneer venture the dynamics of
internal instability, typical of the earlier phases of the Republic, and
the gradual consolidation under the Nanking regime are analyzed with
extraordinary penetration. Instead of being confronted with meaningless
form and empty legality, the reader is placed in a position to view step
by step the evolution of conflicting and merging forces: political
movements and their contest for the loyalty of the masses, the rough and
ready rule of military might, and the official hierarchies representing
organized governments. Throughout this work, as in Dr. Linebarger's
earlier _Political Doctrines of Sun Yat-sen_, the broad stream of
Confucian thought fertilizing age after age of China's social existence
and Sun's purposeful ideological adaptations combined in his _San Min
Chu I_ are shown in fundamental harmony. One distinction, however,
stands out clearly. The Confucian tradition applied itself to a vaguely
conceived but essentially unified world order. In the _San Min Chu
I_ we encounter the elements of a national credo, self-assertive and
militant.
The role of ideology in modern government has suffered curious neglect
among students of politics for a considerable time. In periods of
relative ideational saturation or stagnation, the mechanics of
constitutional law or the give and take of legislative barter may
distract from the basic framework of values and objectives giving shape
to the political order. The rise of totalitarian systems relying heavily
on ideological appeal and propaganda techniques has laid new stress upon
those factors which predetermine political behavior. In China's vast
experience we have the supreme example of ideological guidance so firmly
established as to reduce to a minimum direct governmental intervention
in the affairs of the individual. It is perhaps Sun Yat-sen's tragedy
that for years he placed his faith in the magic of democratic verbiage
imported from the West; a new orientation came to prevail after 1923,
when at Sun's instance tested practitioners of mass organization from
the Soviet Union began to overhaul and streamline the Kuomintang
apparatus.
Government in China has become migratory as a result of Japan's advance.
A mere description of its previous structure and functions would today
have little relevance. But Dr. Linebarger has probed deeply enough into
the foundations of Chinese political life to distinguish with uncommon
discernment between the ephemeral and the durable. His long-range
exposition transcends the exigencies of the hour and delineates the
issues of China's future.
FRITZ MORSTEIN MARX.
ADAMS HOUSE,
HARVARD UNIVERSITY.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
I am deeply indebted to the five gentlemen who have read the entire
manuscript in some one of its stages. My father, Judge Paul Myron
Wentworth Linebarger, has given me tireless help in this as in all my
projects, for which I shall never be able to tender sufficient thanks.
My teacher, Professor Harley Farnsworth MacNair of the University of
Chicago, supplied numerous addenda and corrigenda of great value from
his knowledge of modern Chinese history. Professor Arthur N. Holcombe of
Harvard University suggested changes which have made the work more
realistic. Assistance offered me by the Sinologue and philosopher,
Professor H. H. Dubs of Duke University, was of the utmost value.
Professor Paul H. Clyde, Duke University, provided many useful and
significant hints, especially in the field of Sino-foreign relations.
I am also under obligation to Mr. J. C. Yang, Library of Congress, and
Professor James R. Ware, Harvard University, for further suggestions; to
Professor Charles Sidney Gardner and Dr. John Fairbank, Harvard
University, and Professor George Kennedy, Yale University, for aid in
the general course of my Chinese studies; to Professor Maria Magdalena
Schoch, until recently of the University of Hamburg, Germany, for a
critical reading of the revised manuscript; and to Miss Hazel Foster and
Mr. M. F. Nelson for similar assistance. Mrs. W. M. Gibson, Miss Whitty
Daniel, and my wife have helped in the preparation of the manuscript.
P. M. A. L.
DURHAM, N. C.,
_August_, 1938.
CONTENTS
PAGE
FOREWORD BY FRITZ MORSTEIN MARX vii
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS xi
INTRODUCTION 1
Duality or Confluence? 1
The Peculiarities of Old China 2
The Peculiarities of Modern China 6
The World Significance of Chinese Government 7
The Main Factors in Modern Chinese Government 9
The Approach 11
FIRST PART
MOVEMENTS
CHAPTER I
CONFUCIANISM 13
The Ages before Confucius 13
The Ideology Called Confucian 15
Government in the Confucian Ideology 18
The Replacement of the Confucian Ideology 22
The Chief Movements in the Rebuilding of China 24
Confucianism in the Republic 26