EACS-2016. Book of Abstracts

Modern History 21st Biennial Conference of the European Association for Chinese Studies 132 protest movements and ideological debates, especially during the May Fourth Movement. On the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the Laoxikai incident, this paper undertakes to further clarify the nationalist implications of this event, which remains largely neglected in research studies. F. S. Lopes Helena (University of Oxford) Crisis and Opportunity: Refugees in Macau during the Second Sino-JapaneseWar (1937–1945) Key words: Macau, Second Sino-Japanese War, Second World War, refugees, Hong Kong When Japanese military forces advanced through China in 1937 millions of people fled their homes looking for a safe place, often in dramatic conditions. Many sought refuge in foreign administrated areas in China, such as the International Settlement in Shanghai and the British colony of Hong Kong. Many, too, headed for Macau, governed as a colony by Portugal. The first wave of refugees reached Macau in 1937, after the fall of Shanghai, and again in 1938, after the occupation of Guangzhou. However, the biggest test to the city’s capacity took place after the fall of neighbouring Hong Kong in December 1941, when Macau, protected by Portugal’s policy of neutrality in the Second World War, became the only unoccupied territory in South China under foreign rule. With a population swollen to around half a million people, how did the small Portuguese-ruled enclave manage the enormous refugee influx and the challenges it entailed? How did Portuguese, Chinese and, after 1941, British representatives and society mobilise for refugee relief in Macau? How did the numerous and heterogeneous refugee population in Macau condition the Portuguese authorities’ relations with the Japa- nese and collaborationist authorities in neighbouring territories? And why was the experience of refugee management in wartime Macau so significant for the post-war period? This paper will attempt to shed light on this key, albeit largely unresearched, period of the history of Macau as a case study within the recent historiography that looks at the War of Resistance against Japan as a crucial event in modern Chinese history. This paper is based on original research of primary sources previously unused and unpublished held at archives in Portugal, the United Kingdom, Macau, Hong Kong, Taiwan, and others. Henshaw Jonathan (University of British Columbia) Culture and Collaboration: Chun Minyi's Career in theWang Jingwei Regime Key words: Chu Minyi, Wang Jingwei, collaboration, nationalism, culture As an occupation state, the Reorganised National Government (RNG) led by Wang Jingwei faced the challenge of articulating a new relationship between China and Japan. Much of this work took place in the political and ideological realms, with postwar scholarship on the RNG emphasising the unequal position which Nanjing occupied vis-à-vis Japan. Indeed, it was precisely this inequality that fatally undercut the RNG’s efforts to gain legitimacy in the eyes of the Chinese public. Alongside this, however, the RNG also put forward a raft of policies in support of a new vision for China’s relationship with Japan in the realm of culture. In this paper, I turn to the efforts of Chu Minyi, the oft-ridiculed RNG foreign minister and brother- in-law to Wang Jingwei, who worked to give life to these policies through his leadership of a number of state-backed cultural organisations. Given his long role in Nationalist Party politics, it is no surprise that Chu’s efforts in the RNG were based, in part, on appropriating the shape and symbols of the Nationalist Government of Chiang Kai-shek. Beyond this, they also represented an extension of his own prewar cultural and educational projects. In particular, Chu relied heavily on Buddhism as a platform upon which China could interact with the Japanese on a more equal footing. This was evident particularly in his activities in the Sino-Japanese Cultural Association and the Executive Yuan’s Committee on Preservation of Cultural Relics. Based on published reports from these organisations, photographs and Chu’s speeches prior to and during the occupation, this paper draws attention to local efforts to assert cultural autonomy within the context of enemy occupation. In so doing, it challenges the dominant narrative of enslavement in Chinese scholarship and the received view of collaboration as the product of moral failure.