The China of Chiang K'ai-Shek: A Political StudyLinebarger, Paul Myron Anthony
History
The China of Chiang K'ai-Shek: A Political Study
Linebarger, Paul Myron Anthony
Chiang, Kai-shek, 1887-1975; China -- Politics and government -- 1912-1949
Primarily, Wang has been an in-and-out schismatic in Kuomintang ranks.
It is quite possible that in terms of a head count, he may have had the
immediate support of a greater portion of the membership than did Chiang
in the first break in 1927, but his proportion has fairly steadily
declined ever since. There have been a large number of men who accepted
him as leader, just as in the preceding decade there were men _Wu mi_
("infatuated with Wu [Pei-fu]"). In 1930-31 his organization paralleled
the Government-supported Kuomintang in all parts of the world. Today he
has some followers who follow even to Nanking. These men are bound to
him by ties of long, habitual obedience, by blood kinship, and by
generously offered loyalty: the distinguished and vigorous Ch'en
Kung-po, now Mayor of Shanghai; by Chou Fu-hai, who--before his
proscription--was the most popular commentator on the _San Min Chu I_;
Lin Pai-sheng, who had served Wang well as spokesman; and the
entertaining T'ang Leang-li, a Javanese-Chinese writer of international
fame, who has probably written more books on China in English than any
other Chinese.
On the other hand, he has lost office-holding followers by the scores,
many of whom hold positions ranging up to Vice-Ministerships in
Chungking, and he seems to have lost almost all of his rank and file
followers. The chief defection was that of Messrs. Tao Hsi-shêng and Kao
Tsung-wu, who fled from Chungking to Shanghai and Nanking, and then fled
back again, bringing with them sensational copies of Wang's secret
preliminary agreements with the Japanese. Dr. Tao, a historian, served
Wang temporarily as Party-Minister of Publicity; Dr. Kao had been in the
foreign office while Wang still collaborated with Chiang.[7] His
following consisted almost entirely of politicians, ranging from the
rank of scholar-bureaucrat down to hooligans. The masses which he led
in 1927 have dwindled to hundreds, and the replacements are of distinct
unworthiness--persons, already cooperating with the Japanese, whom he
must lead for lack of better. He has lost followers with almost every
move he has made, whether rebelling, going into exile, accepting
government post under Chiang, or working with Japan. The Wang clique may
be represented by a consistently declining curve.
[Footnote 7: _The Japan-Wang Ch'ing-wei Secret Agreements,
1938-1939-1940_, Shanghai, 1910; these also appeared in the _China
Weekly Review_, January 27, 1940, p. 318; February 3, 1940, p. 341.]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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