popular literature in Chinese. In particular, what I include are data that has resonated with me, and my search for histories, and also shocked and surprised me in my time of researching these histories over the course of researching and writing for this thesis.
In the next section, I begin with a historical overview of some significant events in 20th century history across Mainland China, Hong Kong, and Taiwan that
performs several purposes. First, it situates the memoirs and testimonies of elder generations that follow afterwards. Second, it also offers a very brief introductory context and summary to the remembered narratives discussed in Chapter 3. Third, it performs the paradoxical problematic of providing a type of ‘encyclopedic’
historical summary that I would find myself ‘looking’ to as a fragment of my montage of some of the key histories (non exhaustively) that may not necessarily be known by the post generation Chinese-‐Canadian.121 Nonetheless, available memories offered through even English-‐translated archives do offer an invaluable means to crystallizing a vision of a past we could otherwise never know, even as we must reflexively pose the questions I have raised. I also perform an experiment that explores the unconscious links between the remembered narratives of my subject peers and memoirs from the elder generation.
4.3 Historical Overview: Scars of Survival
In this century, the scars of war were relentless throughout Mainland China, Hong Kong, and Taiwan. Even for those who were fortunate to be on the outskirts of the most violent uprisings, the compounding sociopolitical strife, economic chaos, and fiercely unstable politics through the majority of the century often meant a life of
121 Certainly, within my upbringing within the Canadian education system, these histories were not taught (since they have to do with Chinese, and not Canadian histories). However, these histories do become accessible in university within ‘Asian Studies’ electives, or those pursuing a specialty of such studies. Thus, the lack of knowledge of these Chinese histories for the postgeneration in the West is a striking contrast to the same generation within Asia. While this may not, at first seem surprising, I felt both surprised and ashamed upon realizing that other peers raised in Hong Kong or Taiwan had quite an in-‐depth knowledge about Chinese histories (or a particular production of them) that I knew nothing about. This raises questions that require further research outside of this thesis (e.g. critically exploring memory production in diasporas born in so-‐called ‘Western’ and ‘Eastern’ countries). However, what I do discuss here, are these questions of memory production at the intersection of history and fantasy.
loss, poverty, and escape for the majority of civilians affecting even the wealthy, ruling classes.
Importantly, the authors assert that some of the ultimate scars and traumatic psychic lesions that have plagued generations of 20th century Chinese are characterized by a fear of chaos (luan). It is a fear of chaos that has pervaded the consciousness of the Chinese, and was exploited by governments through state-‐sanctioned violence and attempts for political/economic reforms. As a result of the scars from this fear, mentalities of survival were further ingrained in civilian life and further compounded by conditions similar to survivor's guilt. Soon, a production of mindsets such as the importance of family and close, trusted connections (guanxi) therefore became an issue of survival compared to being betrayed by unreliable, untrustworthy, and unstable institutions and friends (Lary and MacKinnon 2001: 13). Thus, these scars arise from some deep wounds that have relentlessly haunted in the personal, familial, and national spheres.
if looked at cumulatively as a cycle of officially sanctioned violence that began in the mid-‐nineteenth century, Chinese experience with the arbitrary violence and destruction of war has no European parallel...[leaving] the Chinese population numb by the mid-‐twentieth century. Living with war or state-‐sponsored violence became internalized as a fact of life for the ordinary Chinese family—rich or poor—by the mid-‐twentieth century. (Lary and MacKinnon 2001: pp. 6-‐7).
Within the annals of recorded historical memory and narrative, Lary and McKinnon (2001) argue that a collective and national memory haunted by the ghosts of war and violence preluded under Qing dynasty rule with the arrival of the British, leading to the onset of the First Opium War in 1839. With Chinese officials attempting to cease and ban opium trade due to its increasingly
debilitating narcotic effects on its people and economy, British warships ravaged coastal towns (Worden, Savada, & Dolan 1988).122 In 1842, 'unequal' treaties between China and the West were signed, resulting in the British colonialization of Hong Kong and a significant number of concessions benefiting the West and deeply disadvantaging China to such an extent that the Chinese would call these ‘national
122 The references to Worden, Savada, & Dolan (1988) refer to their edited ‘online’ book published under the United States Library of Congress. Unfortunately, their pages do not contain page numbers. For the record, many parts of this overview owe the wealth of historical information offered from their book.
humiliations’. The significance of these preludes of foreign aggression would play a catalyzing role in some of the further chaos and war that ravaged China and British-‐colonial Hong Kong for the next century, which I will expand upon shortly. Unfortunately, foreign aggression was not the only cause of strife within China. Lary and MacKinnon (2001: 6) argue that ‘war became a dominant fact of Chinese life’ from the onset of the devastating Taiping wars (1850's and 1860's) onwards, a civil war that deepened the scar within Modern China with estimates of over 30 million lives lost in the aftermath. During this period of time, a Second Opium War would compound the chaos that extended within and beyond civil, national, political, and economic factors. Furthermore, droughts, famines, and floods added natural calamities to a country unprepared for such widescale devastation from all sides.
Ensuing wars from foreign aggression led to the first Anti-‐Japanese war (1894-‐1895), then the Boxer Rebellion, and the Russo-‐Japanese War (1904-‐1905) that destroyed and ravaged the coastal provinces in China (Lary & MacKinnon 2001: 6). The Anti-‐Japanese War saw China concede territories to the Japanese, including Taiwan, which began its 50 year occupation under Japanese rule.
Meanwhile, in China, civil wars continued to deepen the scars of war upon Chinese society, including the violence that ensued leading to the pivotal Republican Revolution in 1911 (and dethroning of the Qing dynasty). 1912 began the rule of the KMT (Kuomingtang), commencing the era of the 'Republic of China'123 thanks to the efforts of Sun Yat-‐Sen, Yuan Shikai and Song Jiaren.124 Significantly, civil regional wars involving warlord armies between warlords and feuds over land through the late 1910's and 1920's ravaged the Chinese countryside, leaving many dead. Unmistakeably, the May Fourth Movement in 1919, an anti-‐imperialist, anti-‐ tradition, anti-‐elitism protest by students and intellectuals that also protested
123 The ‘Republic of China’ governed Mainland China between 1912-‐1949. Its governance continued on Taiwan after the KMT was exiled. Though the titles are similar, it is not to be confused with the ‘People's Republic of China’ that is ruled by the Chinese Communist Party. 124 Yuan Shikai was the strongest regional military leader of the imperial army in Beijing, and after the abdication of the last emperor, Yuan took over as the president of the Republic of China (Worden et al. 1997). Though revolutionist Sun Yat-‐Sen was inaugurated as the first provisional president for the transformation of China into a republic, there was risk of civil war due to Yuan’s military power in Beijing (ibid.). The possibility of war convinced Sun Yat-‐Sen to concede his presidency to Yuan and allow him to unify China from Beijing. Yuan, however was ambitious and dictatorial. Though Song Jianren, one of Sun’s associates, founded the KMT (Nationalist People’s party), Song’s popularity led to his eventual assassination by Yuan (ibid.).
against further concessions to foreign powers served as another pivotal moment in history. This movement transformed Chinese thought and led to the growth of Chinese nationalism. Some scholars suggest that the ideologies of the May Fourth Movement inspired the rise of the Communist party, and later would lead to a period of civil war and countless deaths (Worden et al. 1988). Soon, these civil wars (often described as the warlord wars) began between the KMT and CCP in the 1920's. Politically motivated violence between the KMT (and new leader, Chiang Kai Shek) and the Communist Party created more scars in a society faced with unending violence and a need to survive. Temporary ceasefire between the KMT and CCP only arrived at the reality of a new militaristic imperial Japanese threat in the 1930’s. The ferocity of the Japanese invasion required much more unified Chinese attack and defense as opposed to continual civil war (Worden et al. 1988). The Japanese bombing of Shanghai in 1932 and the occupation of
Manchuria in 1931 would pre-‐empt what are perhaps the most brutal moments of death and destruction through modern China, reaching new heights of atrocity during the Second Anti-‐Japanese War of 1937-‐1945. The Japanese imperial army became dominant during this time. They were vastly overpowering and
destructive, occupying major Chinese locales such as Nanjing, Guangdong, and Shanghai. This was the period when the infamous Nanjing atrocities and massacres took place, also resulting in countless murders, raping, pillaging and destruction (Worden et al. 1988). Conservative estimates cite 20 million lives lost during this short period of time across these towns and cities, with 100 million civilians forced to flee (Lary and McKinnon 2001: 6).
Lesser known and spoken occupations and instances of equally brutal murder and rape occurred in Hong Kong. The Japanese occupation here began with the Battle of Hong Kong where resistance forces attempted and failed to oppose Japanese aggression. The British then surrendered Hong Kong to the Japanese on December 25, 1941—a date that became known as ‘Black Christmas’. That Christmas then marked the beginning of 3 years and 9 months of Japanese occupation and countless brutalities (Roland 2001: xv). For instance, the St.
Stephen's college incident involved the slaughter of injured Chinese recovering in a college (see also Section 4.8.2). In addition, internment camps, martial law and executions became the norm. Economic exploitation also was a reality with the
Hong Kong dollar being untradeable at a terrible rate of 4 HK dollars to 1 military yen. Furthermore, according to Roland (2001), during the month following the full occupation of the Japanese, 10,000 girls and women were raped. Despair,
starvation, and sickness also continued to kill many due to the vast war at large. After British forces finally repelled the Japanese occupation in 1945, the military yen lost all value, likely leaving many Hong Kong citizens with an excess of valueless currency, increased poverty, and little if no governmental support. However, after the end of World War 2 in 1945, and after the defeat of Japan and their retreat from China, Hong Kong returned to British rule, and the Japanese were required to return Taiwan to the Republic of China under KMT rule.
However, the KMT's poor governance resulted in poor morale around the country and a depletion of their own military power. The KMT and Communist Party continued their fight for the next 4 years from 1945-‐1949. The KMT under Chiang Kai Shek lost their battles to the Communists, who grew in strength and soon forced Chiang Kai Shek and the KMT into exile to Taiwan in 1949. In Taiwan, Chiang Kai Shek proclaimed his government as the ‘true China’. The Communists ruled most of the country in the Mainland, this inaugurating the People's Republic of China under the rule of Mao Zedong.
Here, a semblance of a brief period of political unity under Mao Zedong provided some measure of hope and some degree of readjustment and recovery, perhaps providing some time for the scars of war to breathe, for the apparitions to rest, and begin a slow healing. With intentions to provide food and improve the country, by 1953, China followed the Soviet model and instituted a ‘Five Year Plan’ to transition towards socialism in full force. However, with a reported mainland population of 582.6 million in the 1953 Chinese census, growth moved slowly (see Orleans 1957). Between 1958-‐1962, militant Communist initiatives to speed up economic progress such as The Great Leap Forward began, leading to economic failures and unnatural food shortages (in addition to natural disasters and famines that were also happening), and a continued impoverishment of the citizens, which sabotaged the scar's healing process (Xinran 2009: 365). Murphy (1996: 372) estimates that 30 million people died due to the malnutrition and starvation caused from this initiative. The Great Leap Forward was short-‐lived, and led to a growing political destabilisation after a brief glimpse of unity and stability. In
attempts to recapture his early victories and dreams of unity and to battle growing capitalistic, antisocialist tendencies, Mao would commence a militant phase of officially sanctioned violence in attempts to purify both his party and the country, which began the infamous decade of the Cultural Revolution, a time that added even more scars to a tortured nation during a time of faint hope.
4.4 ‘Reflections’
The closest visual imaginings I have of what life ‘might’ have been like for my elders are through film and imaginings.
Naively, or foolishly, I review the conflict in Syria. I see myself feel sorrow, anger and, confusion over the death, the violence, the cover-‐ups, the resistance attacks, and the government-‐sanctioned violence.
I can’t help but wonder how different or similar the lives of some of my elder
generations in the Chinese diaspora may have been from current affairs in Syria. For my closest identification with the tragedies of the past is through confronting the horrors of the present and the universal experience of death and fear.
Oh how unfortunate it is to be born in a place fated to inherit the scars of war, poverty, pain, and tears?
And so I continue my montage, for in my life fortune and degree of privilege, I am able to reflect on such things as this. Yet I know I am haunted by similar scars, even as I do not know precisely where they come from or what traumas they involve.
4.5 Haunted Fragments: Testimonies and Memory Productions
I feel compelled to speak for some of these histories, just as I have just discovered them in my own understanding. I must speak for the lost voices, however briefly I am able.
History, fantasy, memory, and memory production are entangled within the many 20th century scars that ethnic Chinese suffered throughout East Asia. On one hand, wars, death, and chaos involving foreign invaders (e.g. the Resistance War) have been the subject of academic attention as much as the scars of war incited by Chinese civil conflicts and domestic terrors. Certainly, within the private, personal sphere, horrific tales within migrant diasporas concerning histories such as the Cultural Revolution are also retold, albeit in fragments. However, popular access