My readings into Early-Mid 20th century China continue, this time with “‘Self-Serving Collaboration’: The Political Legacy of ‘Madame Wang’ in Guangdong Province 1940-1945″ by Joseph Yick
This article discusses the political actions and legacy of Madame Wang, maiden name Chen Bijun, the wife of Nationalist and collaborationist leader Wang Jingwei.
Madame Wang, as the wife of the head of the new collaborationist regime, carried significant authority in parts of the government, namely in the region of occupied Guangdong and the city of Guangzhou. And in no small part thanks to her aggressive, almost arrogant strength-of-will, her hunger for power, and her sharp wit. The book notes that she seemed to have carved out her own petty kingdom in the region, dominating political and economic interests and apparently at times managing even to strong-arm her way against the japanese occupation authorities.
Some choice selections from the text which illustrate these points:
>”Wang Furen[Madame Wang] also dared to ride roughshod over the Japanese occu- pying authorities. For example, she refused to grant Japanese reporters’ re- quests for an interview, nor did she permit Japanese to accompany her on train. The Japanese authorities in Nanjing and Guangzhou generally tried to avoid contact with Wang Furen. Chinese officials shared the same cautious attitude toward her.”
>”When she was put in prison after the Japanese surrender, Nationalist jailers refrained from referring to her by her maiden name; instead, they addressed her as either Wang Furen or ‘Mr. Chen…’
>Chen accepted the word ‘Mr.’ perhaps because it satisfied her belief that she could be and in fact was as strong as any man in political power. This may be the reason why some scholars compare Chen Bijun to Empress Dowager Cixi and even condemn her as a “supra-emperor”; that is, Chen controlled Wang Jingwei and collaborationist Guangdong to a great extent.
>In January 1943, Zhou [Fohai] himself grumbled that “I feel Wang Jingwei is dominated by his wife, surrounded by his followers, and gradually losing all of his status as a leader.”
>”Chinese accounts stress that Chen Bijun was intelligent, strong-willed, opinionated, power-hungry, and arrogant”
>”Yazaki laughed and opined that:’It was a silly charge. . . because. . . every time we [Japanese] visited her to discuss matters, she looked angry. She either criticized or condemned us for this or that. All of us were afraid of her and we lost courage to do defense. We politely retreated. So, even we Japanese found it very difficult to believe that she had traitorously collaborated with the enemy country'”
In the end, Madame Wang was tried by the Nationalist government and sentenced to life in prison. Despite an offer from the Communist authorities in 1950 for her release in exchange for a written admittance of being a *hanjian*, a traitor to the chinese people, she refused. And so she would die in a Shanghai prison in 1959
The biggest question then is the nature of her collaboration with the Japanese authorities.
The Nationalist government accused her of four charges:
1. Having authority of political and military affairs in Guangdong, and using that to restrict foreign assistance to the Chongqing government that arrived by way of Hong Kong and Macau
2. Maintained her power in Guangdong through political maneuvering and close cooperation with her husband for personal gain
3. Directing secret police activity in southern China
4. Collaborating with the enemy by way of governing with explicit Japanese approval and oversight
The book does little to refute these claims, except for charge 3 which was dropped by the prosecution, and charge 1 which couldn’t really be proven. But in her defense, Chen Bijun insisted she did everything in her power to help and shelter those under her authority as much as possible from Japanese exploitation, including successfully petitioning the Japanese to divert grain shipments and independently securing Thai rice to the area to prevent famine, aiding refugees around Guangdong and from Hong Kong, and contributing large sums to charities and hospitals.
The legacy of Chen Bijun, Madame Wang, is a complex one and shrouded in no great deal of the unknown. It is impossible to sum up her work with a verdict of good or evil, and the book makes clear that our assessment of her life should avoid either aggrandizement on the one hand, or the conventional nationalist moralizing on the other
1 Comment
My readings into Early-Mid 20th century China continue, this time with “‘Self-Serving Collaboration’: The Political Legacy of ‘Madame Wang’ in Guangdong Province 1940-1945″ by Joseph Yick
This article discusses the political actions and legacy of Madame Wang, maiden name Chen Bijun, the wife of Nationalist and collaborationist leader Wang Jingwei.
Madame Wang, as the wife of the head of the new collaborationist regime, carried significant authority in parts of the government, namely in the region of occupied Guangdong and the city of Guangzhou. And in no small part thanks to her aggressive, almost arrogant strength-of-will, her hunger for power, and her sharp wit. The book notes that she seemed to have carved out her own petty kingdom in the region, dominating political and economic interests and apparently at times managing even to strong-arm her way against the japanese occupation authorities.
Some choice selections from the text which illustrate these points:
>”Wang Furen[Madame Wang] also dared to ride roughshod over the Japanese occu- pying authorities. For example, she refused to grant Japanese reporters’ re- quests for an interview, nor did she permit Japanese to accompany her on train. The Japanese authorities in Nanjing and Guangzhou generally tried to avoid contact with Wang Furen. Chinese officials shared the same cautious attitude toward her.”
>”When she was put in prison after the Japanese surrender, Nationalist jailers refrained from referring to her by her maiden name; instead, they addressed her as either Wang Furen or ‘Mr. Chen…’
>Chen accepted the word ‘Mr.’ perhaps because it satisfied her belief that she could be and in fact was as strong as any man in political power. This may be the reason why some scholars compare Chen Bijun to Empress Dowager Cixi and even condemn her as a “supra-emperor”; that is, Chen controlled Wang Jingwei and collaborationist Guangdong to a great extent.
>In January 1943, Zhou [Fohai] himself grumbled that “I feel Wang Jingwei is dominated by his wife, surrounded by his followers, and gradually losing all of his status as a leader.”
>”Chinese accounts stress that Chen Bijun was intelligent, strong-willed, opinionated, power-hungry, and arrogant”
>”Yazaki laughed and opined that:’It was a silly charge. . . because. . . every time we [Japanese] visited her to discuss matters, she looked angry. She either criticized or condemned us for this or that. All of us were afraid of her and we lost courage to do defense. We politely retreated. So, even we Japanese found it very difficult to believe that she had traitorously collaborated with the enemy country'”
In the end, Madame Wang was tried by the Nationalist government and sentenced to life in prison. Despite an offer from the Communist authorities in 1950 for her release in exchange for a written admittance of being a *hanjian*, a traitor to the chinese people, she refused. And so she would die in a Shanghai prison in 1959
The biggest question then is the nature of her collaboration with the Japanese authorities.
The Nationalist government accused her of four charges:
1. Having authority of political and military affairs in Guangdong, and using that to restrict foreign assistance to the Chongqing government that arrived by way of Hong Kong and Macau
2. Maintained her power in Guangdong through political maneuvering and close cooperation with her husband for personal gain
3. Directing secret police activity in southern China
4. Collaborating with the enemy by way of governing with explicit Japanese approval and oversight
The book does little to refute these claims, except for charge 3 which was dropped by the prosecution, and charge 1 which couldn’t really be proven. But in her defense, Chen Bijun insisted she did everything in her power to help and shelter those under her authority as much as possible from Japanese exploitation, including successfully petitioning the Japanese to divert grain shipments and independently securing Thai rice to the area to prevent famine, aiding refugees around Guangdong and from Hong Kong, and contributing large sums to charities and hospitals.
The legacy of Chen Bijun, Madame Wang, is a complex one and shrouded in no great deal of the unknown. It is impossible to sum up her work with a verdict of good or evil, and the book makes clear that our assessment of her life should avoid either aggrandizement on the one hand, or the conventional nationalist moralizing on the other