P. C. Chang and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights

317 Pages·2018·14.812 MB·English

by  Hans Ingvar Roth

P. C. Chang
and the
Universal Declaration
of H uman Rights
PENNSYLVANIA STUDIES IN HUMAN RIGHTS
Bert B. Lockwood, Series Editor
A complete list of books in the series
is available from the publisher
P. C. Chang

and the
Universal Declaration
of H uman Rights
Hans Ingvar Roth
UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA PRESS
PHILADELPHIA
Copyright © 2016 Hans Ingvar Roth and Dialogos förlag.
Published originally in Swedish under the title:
När Konfucius kom till FN: Peng Chun Chang och FN:s
förklaring om de mänskliga rättigheterna.
En glish translation copyright © 2018
University of Pennsylvania Press
All rights reserved. Except for brief quotations used
for purposes of review or scholarly citation, none of this
book may be reproduced in any form by any means without
written permission from the publisher.
Published by
University of Pennsylvania Press
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19104 - 4112
www . upenn . edu / pennpress
Printed in the United States of Amer i ca
on acid- free paper
1 3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2
Library of Congress Cataloging- in- Publication Data
Names: Roth, Hans Ingvar, author.
Title: P. C. Chang and the Universal Declaration of H uman Rights /
Hans Ingvar Roth.
Other titles: När Konfucius kom till FN. Eng lish. | Pennsylvania
studies in h uman rights.
Description: 1st edition. | Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania
Press, [2018] | Series: Pennsylvania studies in h uman rights |
Published originally in Swedish under the title: När Konfucius
kom till FN: Peng Chun Chang och FN:s förklaring om de
mänskliga rättigheterna. Stockholm: Dialogos, 2016. | Includes
bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2018007661 | ISBN 9780812250565
(hardcover: alk. paper)
Subjects: LCSH: Chang, Peng Chun, 1892–1957. | Chang, Peng
Chun, 1892–1957— Ethics. | United Nations. General Assembly.
Universal Declaration of H uman Rights. | Human rights—
History—20th  century.
Classification: LCC PN2878.C487 N3713 2018 |
DDC 323.092— dc23
LC rec ord available at https:// lccn . loc . gov / 2018007661
For my children, Julia and William
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CONTENTS
Preface ix
Introduction 1
PART I. LIFE AND TIMES
Chapter 1. Peng Chun Chang’s Early Life in China
and Studies in the United States 9
Chapter 2. Raising a Family, Theatrical Activities,
University and Diplomatic Careers 45
Chapter 3. New York and the United Nations 82
Chapter 4. Chang’s Multifaceted and Intense Life 100
PART II. THE IDEAS BEHIND THE UN DECLARATION
Chapter 5. Peng Chun Chang and
the UN Declaration on Human Rights 115
Chapter 6. Chang’s Ideas About Ethics and Human Rights 141
Chapter 7. Chang, Malik, and Cassin 174
viii Contents
Chapter 8. Chang’s Intercultural Ethics and the UN Declaration 188
Chapter 9. Chang’s Triumphs, Defeats, and “Blind Spots” 225
Conclusion 239
Appendix 253
Notes 257
Bibliography 275
Index 285
Gallery follows page 144
PREFACE
A very special artwork adorns the platform walls of the subway station at
Stockholm University. Look carefully and you will find in it all thirty ar­
ticles of the United Nations Declaration of H uman Rights. Strikingly, all are
reproduced in uniform capitals and without spaces between words or peri­
ods at the end of the sentences. They include the right to life, liberty, and
security of person; the right not to be held in slavery or subjected to torture;
the right to freedom of thought, conscience, and religion; as well as the right
to an adequate standard of living (Articles 3, 4, 5, 18, 25). The artwork also
illustrates the central idea behind this impor tant statement of rights. It
is, above all, a matter of a whole, or an assembly, of human rights, none of
which can be separated from each other. Each of its articles plays an impor­
tant role in contributing to that unity which might be described as the dec­
laration’s overarching function: to promote re spect for the inviolable dignity
of e very human being.
The artwork has its origins in an art proj ect by the French­Belgian art­
ist Françoise Schein titled To Write the H uman Rights, or, alternatively, TO
INSCRIBE the Human Rights. There is an equivalent mural in the Paris
Metro station of Concorde. Realized by the organ ization INSCRIRE, this global
art proj ect is just one of many instances that illustrate the fact that the UN
Declaration is one of the most widely disseminated and best­k nown docu­
ments in the world today. (I will use the expressions the UN Declaration, the
Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the UDHR as equivalent in the
following text.)
As a student, I used occasionally to stop and look at the articles, wonder­
ing about their meaning. Later on, I was fortunate enough to be able to work
as a researcher and teacher with a specialist interest in h uman rights. Initially,
I did not think about the individuals involved in drafting the declaration,
with the exception of Eleanor Roo se velt, the distinguished chair of the Com­
mission on Human Rights. My interest in this aspect has deepened over the