Ep. 302 | Chinese Anarchists of the Late Qing

Thanks to Leigh for the inspiration to cover this sidebar to all the history happening during the end of the Qing and early Republic. This episode examines the lives of these late-Qing intellectuals who went to Paris, Tokyo, and other places to study alternative political systems that might be a good fit for China.

Though anarchism works great only in theory, it was still an ideal these intellectuals aspired to. They sought to create a harmonious society where the people weren't persecuted or exploited by an oppressive government. The CCP ended up cherry-picking a few of these ideas that these anarchists wrote about in their journals and publications. These anarchists were the OG's of socialism and communism.

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Terms in Episode

Pinyin/Term	Chinese	English/Meaning
Liú Shīfù	刘师复	1884-1915, Also known as Liú Sīfù 刘思复, a major figure in the Chinese Anarchist movement
Qīng Dynasty	清朝	China's final imperial dynasty that lasted 1633-1912.
Cài Yuánpéi	蔡元培	1868-1940, Chinese philosopher, politician and educator. Also served as president of Peking University at a key time in history and founded the Academia Sinica
Lǐ Hóngzhāng	李鸿章	1823-1901, a giant in late Qing history. Li was a politician, diplomat military leader and Viceroy of Zhili, Huguang and Liangguang
Treaty of Shimonoseki	下关条约	The treaty that ended the First Sino-Japanese War, signed in 1895. It was a major defeat for China and a clear victory for Japan
Zhou Dynasty	周朝	Ancient Chinese dyansty that lasted 1046 to 256 BC. The Western Zhou ended 771 BC and the Eastern Zhou, till 256 BC. The Eastern Zhou was divided up into the Spring and Autumn and Warring States Periods.
Huáxià	华夏	Huaxia was a historical concept representing the Chinese nation united with a common cultural ancestry
Mèngzǐ	孟子	372-289 BC, Chinese Confucian philospher, known as The Second Sage
Wú zhèngfǔ zhǔyì	无政府主义	Anarchism
Xīnhài Revolution	辛亥革命	Also called the 1911 Revolution. It began in Wuchang, Hubei and spread throughout the country and brought an end to the Qing Dyansty
Hēi Wǔ lèi	黑五类	The Five "Black Categories" Landlords, Rich Peasants, Counter-revolutionaries, Bad influencers and Right wingers.
Zhāng Jì	张继	1882-1947, Chinese anarchist and revolutionary who became a leading member of the right-wing faction of the Kuomintang.
Kōtoku Shūsui	幸徳 秋水	1871-1911, Japanese socialist and anarchist who played a leading role in introducing anarchism to Japan in the early 20th century.
Zhāng Bǐnglín	章炳麟	1869-1936, Qing era scholar, philospoher, etymologist and revolutionary
Liú Shīpéi	刘师培	1884-1919, Chinese anarchist, philologist and major figure in the Japan Group of anarchistrs. He was married to He Zhen
Hé Zhèn	何震	1884-1920, also known as Hé Yīn Zhèn 何殷震, another major figure in the Tokyo Group of anarchists and especially in the early feminist movement
Tóngménghuì	同盟会	The Revolutionary Alliance, a secret society and underground resistance movement founded by Sun Yat-sen, Song Jiaoren, and others in Tokyo, Japan, on 20 August 1905.[1][2] It was formed from the merger of multiple Chinese revolutionary groups in the late Qing dynasty. It later became known as The Kuomintang
Liáng Qǐchāo	梁启超	1873-1929, Chinese politician, social and political activist, journalist and leading intellectuyal of his time. He was also an important protege of Kang Youwei
Tiānyì Bào	天义报	Natural Justice, the journal produced by the Tokyo Group, led by He Zhen and Liu Shipei
Huáng Liáng Měi Mèng	黄粱美梦	A Chinese Sayings referring to anything that is a pipe dream or lost cause
Lǎozǐ	老子	Also known as Lao Tzu, an ancient philospher who is called the author of the Tao te Ching (Daodejing). Also called the founder of Daoism
Zhuāngzǐ	庄子	Also known by his name Zhuang Zhou, and for his book "The Zhuangzi". He lived sometime around the 4th century BC
Dào	道	Difficult to translate this term. Also known as The Tao. The Way.
Wú Wéi	无为	Doing by not doing, accomplishing objectives by using the Dao and achieving your aims byt allowing them to happen naturally, without doing
Tiān Gāo Huángdì yuán	天高皇帝远	The old saying "Heaven is high and the emperor is far away", meaning, what went on far away in the capital didn't affect them
Duānfāng	端方	1861-1911, high ranking Qing Dynasty official
Lǐ Shízēng	李石曾	1881-1973, major anarchist in the early 20th century, also a member of The Paris Group of Anarchists. Li also helped with the "Diligent Work-Frugal Study programs that brought Chinese youth to Franbce to study and work and get exposure to the world
Sì Jiù	四旧	The Four Olds Campaign…Getting rid of Old Ideas, Culture, Customs and Habits
Zhāng Rénjié	张人杰	1877-1950, also known as Zhang Jingjiang 张静江. A major political figure and early backer of Sun Yat-sen's revolutionary movement. Zhang was also a successful entrepreneur and fiugure in the French Group of anarchists
Zhāng Jìngjiāng	张静江	See above Zhang Renjie
Wú Zhìhuī	吴稚晖	1865-1953, Chinese linguist and philosopher who was the chairman of the 1912–13 Commission on the Unification of Pronunciation that created Zhuyin (based on Zhang Binglin's work) and standardized Guoyu pronunciation. Wu became an anarchist during his stay in France in the first decade of the 20th century, along with Li Shizeng, Zhang Renjie, and Cai Yuanpei. With them, he was known as one of the strongly anti-communist "Four Elders" of the Nationalist Party in the 1920s.
Lǐ Dàzhāo	李大钊	1889-1927, Chinese intellectual and revolutionary as well as a founding member of the Chinese Communist Party. Also served as the head librarian at Peking University
Chén Dúxiù	陈独秀	1879-1942, Chinese revolutionary and co-founder of the Chinese Communist Party, servinf as 1st geberal secretary
Zhōu Ēnlái	周恩来	1898-1976, China's first premier and one of the most important political fiugures of the 20th century
Dèng Xiǎopíng	邓小平	1904-1997, one of the greatest Chinese political leaders of the 20th century. He was a revolutionary, military man, statesman who took over after Mao Zedong's death and set China on a more orderly path of world greatness
Niè Róngzhēn	聂荣臻	1989-1992, major Communist military leader and one of the Ten Marshal's of the PLA
Chén Yì	陈毅	1901-1972, a Chinese Communist military commander and later politician and foreign minister of the PRC
Lǐ Fùchūn	李富春	1900-1975, another Chinese Communist revolutionary, military man, politician and served as a Vice Premier for many years
Shìjiè Shè	世界社	World Society, formed by Cài Yuánpéi and the other members of the Paris Group. This became the main vehicle for the the group’s output of essays and articles.
Xīn Shìjì	新世纪	"New Century", the name of the journal produced by The Paris Group
Dòufu	豆腐	Tofu or "La Fromage Chinoise" as the French back then called it….Chinese cheese
Xiāngshān	香山	A town in southern Guangdoing just outside of Zhōngshān on the west side of the Pearl River Delta
Lǐ Zhǔn	李准	Qing military man who was in charge of the Qing forces that had time and again suppressed all these anti-Qing uprisings in the south of China
Zhīnà Ànshā tuán	支那暗殺團	China (or Chinese) Assassination Corps
Wǔchāng Uprising	武昌起义	An uprising that happened on October 10, 1911 that served as the beginning of the Xinhai Revolution
Huìmíng Xuéshè	晦鸣学社	The Cock Crowing Society, created by the anarchist Liu Shifu
Mínshēng	民声	"The People’s Voice", the journal produced by Liu Shifu
Yuán Shìkǎi	袁世凯	1859-1916, Chinese military and government official during the late Qing and early years of the ROC. Served as president from and attempted to become emperor in 1916
Wúzhèngfǔ-Gòngchǎnzhǔyì Tóngzhì Shè	无政府-共产主义同志社	The Society of Anarcho-Communist Comrades
Xīhú Scenic Area	杭州西湖风景名胜区	One of the many scenic spots surrounding West Lake in Hangzhou
Xúnzǐ	荀子	Full name Xun Kuang, lived sometime around 310-238 BC, known as Master Xun, a Confucian philosopher. After Confucius and Mengzi, Xunzi is considered the third great Confucian philospher
Shāng Yāng	商鞅	390-338 BC, a major figure of the Qin State as a jurist, Legalist philospher and politician
Hán Fēi	韩非	280-233, another major figure during the Warring States Period, serving as a stateman, official and Legalist philospher.
Wāng Jīngwèi	汪精卫	1883-1944, Chinese politician, head of the left wing of the KMT and vilified later on in history for his collaboration with the Japanese occupiers during the Second Sino-Japanese War
Chǔ Mínyì	褚民誼	1884-1946, major revolutionary and political figure of the early Nationalist government

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