新刊：《二十世纪中国》第46卷第3期（2021年10月刊）

Editorial

Margherita Zanasi

Articles

Capital, Empire, Letter: Romanization in Late Qing China

Uluğ Kuzuoğlu

This article explores the history of the Roman alphabet in the late Qing empire (1637–1912). Following the opening of treaty ports to Western capital in the midnineteenth century, missionaries and diplomats who entered the Qing territories began to romanize various local languages. By the end of the nineteenth century, more than 20 languages had been romanized, which had an indelible impact on the politics of language and writing in China in the following decades. This article examines the origins of romanization in nineteenth-century China by situating it within a larger history of capitalism, imperialism, and the industrial printing press. Exploring the ideological and material dimensions of alphabetization, it contends that the Roman alphabet imposed a new epistemology of writing on China, which generated novel contradictions regarding language politics––contradictions that are still extant today.

Spiritual Mother and Intellectual Sons: Emma Goldman and Young Chinese Anarchists

Rachel Hui-chi Hsu

This paper tackles contacts and interactions between Emma Goldman and Chinese anarchists in the 1920s, during her exile in Europe and Canada, illuminating littleknown transpacific anarchist networks in a period when both Goldman's career and anarchism as an international movement were in decline. The study sheds light on the ways by which and extent to which Goldman sought to kindle the young generation's interest in anarchism and on the latter's creative adaptation of her ideas in a cross-cultural context. Showcasing the interactions of Qin Baopu, Lu Jianbo, and Ba Jin with Goldman, the article reveals how young Chinese anarchists helped forge a transpacific network of anarchist advocacy that crossed gender, generational, and national divides. I argue that these young anarchist intellectuals exhibited masculine rationality, philosophical creativity, and pragmatic flexibility in adapting Goldman's ideas to the increasingly oppressive political climate in China. In sum, the article unveils the multivalent effects of Goldman's thought—including her views on Bolshevism, anarchists' place in national revolution, and free love—on her Chinese interlocutors in the 1920s.

The "Acid Test" of the Revolution: Demobilization and the Collapse of Chiang Kai-Shek's Military Coalition in 1929

Peter Worthing

In early 1929, Chiang Kai-shek initiated a demobilization movement that he saw as an essential step in breaking the cycle of destructive "warlord" conflicts and putting the new Nanjing government on a sound financial footing. Many Chinese shared this goal, with some describing demobilization as the critical issue upon which the future of the Republic of China depended: a proverbial "acid test" of the Nationalist revolution. Though unsuccessful in the end, Chiang came close to achieving his goal. He built a broad consensus among the major military commanders in support of a plan to reduce the size of China's military, to restrict military spending, and to create a centralized command structure. This article reexamines the course of events in early 1929 in order to better understand this demobilization movement and the reasons for its failure, which had such profound implications for the Nationalist regime.

The Political Pragmatism of Steamship "Teaboys": Reassessing the Chinese Labor Movement, 1927–1934

Peter Kwok-Fai Law

This article examines the emergence of a sense of opportunism among "teaboys"—a group of steamship attendants working in Chinese waters—and the transformation of solidarity between them. Beginning in 1927, the foundation of these attendants' unity based on surrogate and natural kinship was weakened. Solidarity evolved from a Green Gang–linked structure to one revolving around powerful individuals and sustained by government bureaucracies or party authorities. This article contributes to labor history by stressing that the attendants' labor activities were rooted in political pragmatism, as shown in their shifting loyalties. Moreover, the article suggests that, in addition to strikes, the attendants used violence and bribery as alternative or indirect means to shape labor politics. Finally, it outlines the new, opportunistic patron-client relationship forged in the world of steamship attendants after 1927.

Three New Works on Modern Chinese Art and Visual Culture

Mia Yinxing Liu

Artistic endeavors in the People's Republic of China (PRC) are approached via innovative perspectives and methods by the authors of three recent studies that examine diverse examples of visual culture during the PRC era. These studies shift critical attention to reveal the formative processes of ideas—such as socialist realism, national-style cinema, or secrecy—that have been previously taken for granted, treat them as discourses, and disclose contestations, interconnections, and multidirectional movements across boundaries.

Reappraising Maoism from the Bottom Up

Steven Pieragastini

Two recent books by Felix Wemheuer and Yang Kuisong constitute important pieces of a broader shift toward exploring the Maoist period at the grassroots level, from the bottom up, and contribute to ongoing debates on the nature, periodization, and legacies of Maoism.

Book Reviews

China and the Cholera Pandemic: Restructuring Society Under Mao by Xiaoping Fang (review)

Rachel Core

Unending Capitalism: How Consumerism Negated China's Communist Revolution by Karl Gerth (review)

Denise Y. Ho

The Unworthy Scholar from Pingjiang: Republican-Era Martial Arts Fiction by John Christopher Hamm (review)

Lehyla G. Heward

China's Muslims and Japan's Empire: Centering Islam in World War II by Kelly A. Hammond (review)

Tatiana Linkhoeva

Soundscapes of Uyghur Islam by Rachel Harris (review)

Eric Schluessel

The Compensations of Plunder: How China Lost Its Treasures by Justin M. Jacobs (review)

Xue Zhang

Tea War: A History of Capitalism in China and India by Andrew B. Liu (review)

Elizabeth Joy Reynolds

Revolutionary Bodies: Chinese Dance and the Socialist Legacy by Emily Wilcox (review)

Liang Luo

Photo Poetics: Chinese Lyricism and Modern Media Culture by Shengqing Wu (review)

Michel Hockx