Makers of modern Asia PDF
Preview Makers of modern Asia
MAKERS OF MODERN ASIA MAKERS OF MODERN ASIA EDITED BY RAMACHANDRA GUHA The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press Cambridge, Massachusetts London, England 2014 Introduction and compilation Copyright © 2014 Ramachandra Guha Additional copyright notices appear on page 361, which constitutes an extension of the copyright page First Printing All rights reserved Cover art: Bridgeman Art Library Cover design: Graciela Galup The Library of Congress has cataloged the printed edition as follows: Makers of modern Asia / edited by Ramachandra Guha. pages cm Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-0-674-36541-4 (alk. paper) 1. Asia—Politics and government—1945– 2. Politicians—Asia—Biography. 3. Asia—Foreign relations—1945– I. Guha, Ramachandra. DS35.2.M36 2014 950.4'20922—dc23 2014006043 CONTENTS Introduction The Politics behind the Economics of Asia’s Rise RAMACHANDRA GUHA 1 Gandhi, India, and the World RAMACHANDRA GUHA 2 Chiang Kai-shek and Chinese Modernization JAY TAYLOR 3 Ho Chi Minh: Nationalist Icon SOPHIE QUINN-JUDGE 4 Mao Zedong and Charismatic Maoism RANA MITTER 5 Jawaharlal Nehru: A Romantic in Politics RAMACHANDRA GUHA 6 Zhou Enlai and China’s “Prolonged Rise” CHEN JIAN 7 Sukarno: Anticipating an Asian Century JAMES R. RUSH 8 Deng Xiaoping and the China He Made ODD ARNE WESTAD 9 Indira Gandhi: India and the World in Transition SRINATH RAGHAVAN 10 Singapore’s Lee Kuan Yew: Traveling Light, Traveling Fast MICHAEL D. BARR 11 Zulfikar Ali Bhutto: In Pursuit of an Asian Pakistan FARZANA SHAIKH Notes Acknowledgments Notes on Contributors Credits Index INTRODUCTION The Politics behind the Economics of Asia’s Rise RAMACHANDRA GUHA I IN JULY 1920, the philosopher Bertrand Russell moved to Beijing with his wife, Dora Black. Russell was that rare animal—an English internationalist. He had already traveled through the Soviet Union and was curious to know more about countries and civilizations farther to the east. He spent several months in China, lecturing on technical subjects—symbolic logic, idealism, the theory of relativity, etc.—while, on the side, studying the country’s history, culture, geography, and politics. He interacted extensively with students, both on philosophical matters (his Chinese admirers had begun producing a monthly journal devoted to his work) and on their hopes for the future of their country.1 Following the end of World War I, nationalist and democratic sentiments were on the rise across Asia. Russell’s own time in China coincided with the so- called “May Fourth Movement.” A great intellectual and political ferment was abroad. Long suppressed by foreigners and emperors, the Chinese people were seeking to finally take charge of their destiny. What Russell saw, studied, and heard was contained in The Problem of China, a short book that he published in 1922 on his return to England. This presented a wide-ranging survey of China past, present, and future, written in the philosopher’s crisp, economical style, and with a characteristic boldness of generalization. The first paragraph set the tone, declaring that “all the world will be vitally affected by the development of Chinese affairs, which may well prove a decisive factor, for good or evil, during the next two centuries.”2 Russell’s book began with a discussion of China’s ancient and medieval history. It then investigated China’s encounters with (and humiliation at the hands of) European powers, as well as its equally tortuous and conflict-ridden relations with Japan. The family-oriented traits of Chinese culture were elaborated, and contrasted with the individualist tendencies of the West. The book ended with chapters on education and industrialization in contemporary China. Russell was critical of state corruption and the lack of a tradition of philanthropy in China. He noted, and worried about, the political disunity and division, which needed to be overcome if China was to emerge as a self-reliant, self-confident nation in an increasingly competitive world. The main instrument of national renewal, he thought, would be Chinese intellectuals. He distinguished between two generations of modern-minded thinkers: older men who “had fought their way out of the traditional Confucian prejudices,” followed by “a vigorous movement of young reformers, who, if they are allowed a little time, will revivify China and produce something immeasurably better than the worn- out grinding mechanism that we call civilization.”3 In his final chapter, “The Outlook for China,” this sympathetic Englishman sought to put himself in the shoes of “a progressive and public-spirited Chinese and consider what reforms, in what order, I should advocate in that case.” He outlined three main aims: “(1) The establishment of an orderly Government; (2) industrial development under Chinese control; (3) the spread of education.” These aims had of course “to be pursued concurrently, but on the whole their urgency seems to come in the above order.” The establishment of a stable government, Russell further noted, required the cultivation of a sense of cultural as well as political independence. The philosopher was clear that the great powers of the day—America, England, Russia, Japan—all had “interests which are incompatible, in the long run, with China’s welfare. Therefore the Chinese must seek salvation in their own energy, not in the benevolence of any outside Power.” “I think a spirit of patriotism is absolutely necessary to the regeneration of China,” insisted Russell. However, this did not mean a retreat to the “bigoted anti-foreign spirit of the Boxers,” but a move toward a more enlightened, open- minded, patriotism “which is willing to learn from other countries while not willing to allow them to dominate.”4
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