Historical Dictionary of Modern China (1800-1949) (Historical Dictionaries of Ancient Civilizations and Historical Eras)

583 Pages·2009·2.15 MB·English

by  James Z. Gao

modern china
(1800–1949)
JAMES Z. GAO
HISTORICAL DICTIONARIES OF ANCIENT
CIVILIZATIONS AND HISTORICAL ERAS
SeriesEditor: Jon Woronoff
1. Ancient Egypt, Morris L. Bierbrier, 1999. Out of print. See No. 22.
2. Ancient Mesoamerica,Joel W. Palka, 2000.
3. Pre-Colonial Africa, Robert O. Collins, 2001.
4. Byzantium, John H. Rosser, 2001.
5. Medieval Russia,Lawrence N. Langer, 2001.
6. Napoleonic Era, George F. Nafziger, 2001.
7. Ottoman Empire,Selcuk Aksin Somel, 2003.
8. Mongol World Empire,Paul D. Buell, 2003.
9. Mesopotamia,Gwendolyn Leick, 2003.
10. Ancient and Medieval Nubia,Richard A. Lobban Jr., 2003.
11. The Vikings, Katherine Holman, 2003.
12. The Renaissance, Charles G. Nauert, 2004.
13. Ancient Israel, Niels Peter Lemche, 2004.
14. The Hittites, Charles Burney, 2004.
15. Early North America, Cameron B. Wesson, 2005.
16. The Enlightenment,by Harvey Chisick, 2005.
17. Cultural Revolution,by Guo Jian, Yongyi Song, and Yuan Zhou,
2006.
18. Ancient Southeast Asia,by John N. Miksic, 2007.
19. Medieval China,by Victor Cunrui Xiong, 2009.
20. Medieval India,by Iqtidar Alam Khan, 2008.
21. Ancient South America, by Martin Giesso, 2008.
22. Egypt,2nd ed.,Morris L. Bierbrier, 2008.
23. India,by Kumkum Roy, 2009.
24. The Etruscans,by Simon K. F. Stoddart, 2009.
25. Modern China (1800–1949), by James Z. Gao, 2009.

Historical Dictionary
of Modern China
(1800–1949)
James Z. Gao
Historical Dictionaries of Ancient
Civilizations and Historical Eras, No. 25
The Scarecrow Press, Inc.
Lanham, Maryland • Toronto • Plymouth, UK
2009
SCARECROW PRESS, INC.
Published in the United States of America
by Scarecrow Press, Inc.
A wholly owned subsidiary of
The Rowman & Littlefield Publishing Group, Inc.
4501 Forbes Boulevard, Suite 200, Lanham, Maryland 20706
www.scarecrowpress.com
Estover Road
Plymouth PL6 7PY
United Kingdom
Copyright © 2009 by James Z. Gao
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in
a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic,
mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of
the publisher.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Information Available
library of congress cataloging-in-Publication Data
Gao, James Zheng
Historical dictionary of modern China (1800–1949) / James Z. Gao.
p. cm. — (Historical dictionaries of Ancient Civilizations and Historical
Eras ; no. 25)
Includes bibliographical references.
ISBN 978-0-8108-4930-3 (hardback : alk. paper)
ISBN 978-0-8108-6308-8 (e-book)
1. China—History—19th century—Dictionaries. 2. China—History—20th
century—Dictionaries. I. Title. DS755.G368 2009
951’.0303—dc22 2008053695
∞ ™
The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of
American National Standard for Information Sciences—Permanence of Paper for
Printed Library Materials, ANSI/NISO Z39.48-1992. Manufactured in the United
States of America.
In memory of my parents

Contents
Editor’s Foreword ix
Preface xi
Reader’s Notes xiii
Acronyms and Abbreviations xv
Maps xvii
Chronology xix
Introduction xxxv
THE DICTIONARY 1
Appendixes 453
Glossary 467
Bibliography 471
About the Author 531
vii

Editor’s Foreword
Over its very long history, China has usually been a calm and predict-
able place. But one period stands out for its radical, dramatic, and often
bloody change—with different forces pulling in different directions, so
evenly balanced that until the very end no one could foresee the out-
come. What occurred during the century-and-a-half “modern China”
period is not only unprecedented; it was also largely unexpected and is
still not fully understood. At the beginning of this period, the long and
heavy Manchu rule finally collapsed—mostly under its own weight,
but it was also undermined by new political, social, and cultural forces.
The country also fell apart, with provinces breaking away from central
control and within them cities and districts pulling in different direc-
tions, while some came under the control of warlords fighting against
one another. Meanwhile, all the certainties of Confucianism were ques-
tioned by countless other philosophies and learning, both indigenous
and Western. And all of this occurred in the midst of foreign imperialist
conquest and encroachment as well as World War II. It was during this
period that China, the largest, most populous country in the world, fi-
nally awoke from a long slumber and flexed its increasing strength.
This Historical Dictionary of Modern China (1800–1949) presents a
chronology that charts events from year to year. The introduction then
establishes the background and describes major trends and prominent
forces. But the core is the dictionary, with nearly 700 entries on assorted
political parties and organizations that emerged and contended, crucial
events, major issues, essential places, and above all the incredible cast
of characters—including emperors and warlords, generals and rebels,
party politicians and businessmen, intellectuals and teachers, and writ-
ers and artists. The bibliography then provides resources for further
investigation.
This compendium was written by James Z. Gao, who was born and
grew up in China and studied at Peking University, where he received
ix