What Does World War I Mean to China?
Interest conflicts between the European powers in their scramble for more colonies, oversea markets and raw material in turn had impact on the European political scenario. In spite of their different development bases, they had the same imperialist nature. In 1914 when WWI broke out, the European powers had control of 84 percent of world territory. On June 28, 1914, Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria and his wife were shot in Sarajevo, Bosnia, which directly triggered WWI. The deep underlying reason for the war was the escalating tension among the European powers entailed by their swelling nationalism and imperialist expansion. In 1918, when the war ended, Li Dazhao, one of China’s first Marxists, analyzed the origin of WWI in his book The Victory of the Plebeian, “While reviewing the origin of the world war, we can attribute it to conflicts of various nationalisms, like Germanic, Slavic and Japanese chauvinism.” Its origin decided its nature. Lenin explained that the world war (1914-1918) was between imperialists aiming to divide the world, triggered by their conflicts in grabbing colonial land, capital and resources. Therefore, it was an aggressive and predatory war.
With clear understanding of WWI’s origin, it’s easy to pinpoint the absurdity of Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in his brazen slander of China while attending the World Economic Forum on January 22, 2014. Abe compared current China-Japan relations with German-British relations before WWI, claiming that despite their closely-bound economic relationship, the two European countries nevertheless clashed. Comparing peaceful China to militarist Germany is a sinister rhetorical trick. It obscures fundamental political differences with incidental economic data.
Chinese Laborers in WWI
After the outbreak of WWI, fierce contentions occurred among various political forces in China over the question of whether or not to participate in the conflict. Finally Duan Qirui, China’s head of state, gained the upperhand and declared war against Germany and Austro-Hungary. China was supported by Japan, which coveted German rights and interests in China’s Shandong Province.
However, China’s participation in the war was limited to sending laborers to help the allies. During WWI, at least 150,000 Chinese laborers were recruited to allied countries like Britain and France to provide civilian war service. They were mostly from Shandong. In British eyes Shandong people were hard-working and well adapted to the European climate. Starting in 1916, special agencies of Britain and France began massive recruitment of Chinese workers in North China. They excavated trenches at the front, engaged in industrial production or worked as porters. Around 5,000 Chinese workers died in Europe. Despite their huge contributions and sacrifices to the European allies, those Chinese workers never obtained recognition. Although some documents from the British Parliament recorded that Chinese workers had risked more than other colored workers, they did not receive a single medal. After the war, they were all repatriated to China.
For China, the presence of Chinese workers in Europe to support the allies evoked the Chinese people’s labor consciousness. Famous Chinese educator Cai Yuanpei proposed the slogan “Sacred Laborers” after the war and emphasized the valuable contribution of 150,000 Chinese laborers in France and pointed out that the future world would belong to the workers.
The Paris Peace Conference’s Impact on China
WWI ended with the victory of the Entente Powers. To address post-war problems, the Paris Peace Conference was held in January 1919, manipulated by five powers (the U.K., the U.S.,France, Italy and Japan). Prior to the conference, American President Wilson proposed Fourteen Points, with one item stating that colonial disputes would be resolved with full consideration of national self-determination and territorial integrity. Therefore, Chinese intellectuals expected Western statesmen to stand by principles of humanity, justice, self-determination and peace. Under popular pressure, China’s warlord government committed to retaking Germany’s concessions in Shandong. In addition, the warlord government nullified Yuan Shikai government’s acceptance of Japan’s 21 requirements in 1915, and abrogated consular jurisdiction held by Western powers in China.
However, China’s efforts in the conference failed. The Western powers intensified their aggression towards China. On behalf of the five Western powers, French Prime Minister Georges Clemenceau argued that Chinese complaints didn’t fall into the category for discussion at the conference. Only when discussing German colonies was China’s Jiaozhou Bay touched on. When Japan proposed taking over all German interests in Shandong. Chinese diplomat Wellington Koo (Gu Weijun) passionately argued that Shandong couldn’t be divided from China, calling it a door to China in the north and significant for national defense. Further, that Shandong is the birthplace of Chinese luminaries like Confucius and Mencius. However, Koo’s diplomatic thought was still confined to the framework of “resisting one foreign power with another,” a typical tactic of semi-feudal and semi-colonial China. He even promised China would maintain its open policy to benefit other countries. At that time, China was too weak to master its own destiny. Finally, the conference decided in Japan’s favor.
The terrible verdict awoke Chinese intellectuals to reality. Tao Lügong, a progressive youth, wrote an article in New Youth magazine calling on young people to take their responsibilities for China’s urgent political, economic and social issues by uniting.
Beijing students first rose up to protest against the Paris Peace Conference, venting their indignation on imperialists, as well as the Beijing government dominated by Japanophiles. In the afternoon of May 4, 1919, over 3,000 students rallied in front of the Tian’anmen Rostrum, crying out the slogan “Strive for sovereignty, punish traitors” and “refuse to sign the peace agreement.” To confront the violent crackdown by military force, students across Beijing began to boycott classes. The students’ move was like a rumbling spring thunder, rolling across the whole country. Soon afterwards, workers in major cities of the country put on the first political strike in China’s history.
