Barbarian China

Author: Ye Shuming
Publisher:
Publishing Date: Not available
Features: This is a history of the division of modern China. It is also a history of the struggle of Southern China against Northern China. What will the outcome of the struggle be? The book repeatedly states: "Military northern expedition, political southern conquest." Whether it is Southern autonomy or the gradual success of the military northern expedition, in the end, China remains shrouded in the vast shadow of the northern centralized authoritarian political culture represented by the Central Plains. Due to the humanistic relationships fostered by geography, Southern China is depicted by the author as the cradle of various new thoughts and figures in modern China, from Hong Xiuquan and Zeng Guofan to Sun Yat-sen and Mao Zedong, all of whom are referred to as "Southern people" by the author. From the Taiping Rebellion to the formation of a unified front across the nation during the War of Resistance Against Japan, Southern China, over more than a century, repeatedly broke free from the orthodox political framework of China and was repeatedly forced back into the old cultural paradigm. This seems to be a fate. Beyond the two major opposing geopolitical categories of South and North, the author divides China into two other regions: East and Northwest. Represented by Shanghai, East China is the fertile ground for the growth of national capitalism, while the landlords of Northwest China represent China's ignorant and backward forces. The rise and prominence of these different forces are all labeled by the author as having a "maverick" nature. The warlord landlords are self-evident. Even Sun Yat-sen's Revive China Society started as a secret society and operated with the support of the Green Gang and the Hung Society. The representative of the eastern bourgeoisie, Chiang Kai-shek, inherited the power legacy of the Kuomintang, and his rise was largely controlled by the gangster bosses like Du Yuesheng in Shanghai. The northern political establishment, which prided itself on orthodoxy, is no different from the "maverick" in the of Yuan Shikai; the so-called democratic politics that followed in the North was like a children's game of musical chairs and the play of mountain lords. After the movements in Southern and Southeastern cities were suppressed by the joint efforts of Kuomintang politicians and gangsters, they retreated to the mountains and forests, at least in form became "maverick." Especially when they withdrew to the hinterland of Northwest China, the author does not tell us what effect the advanced ideology and the backward geography produced, but it is clear that this was the entry of a peasant army into China's backward agricultural regions. After this model was established, the historical figures shaped by the mold did not seem too stereotypical. The warlord Yan Xishan of Northwest China was used by the author as a symbol of ignorance and backwardness, yet in the author's words, he appeared vivid and lovable, making it clear that even the landlord warlord had a clear cultural line of thought behind him. Born a Southern person, the author shows great appreciation for the advanced and innovative spirit of the South, while expressing an understandable sense of helplessness toward the tragic end of the new and tender forces of the South clashing with the traditional forces of the northern empire, which ultimately could not escape being reintegrated into the traditional political framework. If the saying that "all history is contemporary history" is not entirely wrong, then looking at the cultural differences between North and South China today, seeing the vast gap between the coast and Northwest China, reading this book might evoke a sense of concern? As long as you replace the word "military" with "economic" in the book, you can see the various "maverick" tendencies of the people—such as chaotic subsidies, arbitrary fees, counterfeit and shoddy products, the necessity of relying on enforcement, the lack of strict enforcement, and even the violation of the law by those in authority. We will then understand how difficult it is for the fairness of democratic rule of law and the new economic order to be established amidst the "maverick." And because of these differences, will the conflicts of interest trigger another geographical division in China? Of course, this is the worry of a. But the warning to learn from history has not yet passed its time.