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Han gian

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Not to be confused withHan Jian,the paleographic dictionary by Guo Zhongshu (d. 977)

Nanking residents with armbands of the Japanese flag
Chinese civilians assisting Japanese soldiers

In China, the wordhan gian(traditional Chinese:Hán gian;simplified Chinese:Hán gian;pinyin:Hànjiān;Wade–Giles:han-chien) is a pejorative term for those seen as traitors to the Chinese state and, to a lesser extent,Han Chineseethnicity. The wordhan gianis distinct from the general word for traitor, which could be used for any country or ethnicity. As a Chinese term, it is a digraph of theChinese charactersfor "Han" and "traitor".Hanis the majority ethnic group in China; andJian,in Chinese legal language, primarily referred to illicit sex. Implied by this term was a Han Chinese carrying on an illicit relationship with the enemy.[1]Han gianis often worded as "collaborator" in the West.

Han gian
Traditional ChineseHánGian
Simplified ChineseHánGian
Literal meaningHantraitor
Transcriptions
Standard Mandarin
Hanyu PinyinHànjiān
Wade–GilesHan4-chien1
Yue: Cantonese
JyutpingHon3 Gaan1
Southern Min
HokkienPOJHàn-kan

History

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AChinese propaganda postertitled "Fate of Han gian s", published by the Capital City Resistance War Supporters Association of All Citizens, was posted throughoutNanjingsoon after theBattle of Nanking.Clockwise from top right: a han gian being beaten by a mob; a han gian who sends a signal to enemy aircraft will die in an air raid; the severed head of a han gian put on display as a warning to others; a han gian will be arrested and shot.

The termhan gianis one that emerged from a “conflation of political and ethnic identities, which was often blurred in the expression of Chinese nationalism.”[1]It was/is applied to individuals who are designated collaborators and by which were not all ethnically Han. The modern usage of the term stems from the Second Sino-Japanese War in which circumstances forced political figures in China to choose between resistance and collaboration.[1]Nuance in understanding not just why some Chinese chose to cooperate with Japanese but as well as inquiring why cooperation made sense to people at that time has opened uphan gianinto being an ambiguous term in modern history rather than the black and white one that it is so often used as.[2]

There tend to be two types ofhan gian,or collaborationists, when observing the era of the Sino-Japanese War: “the educated and intellectuals, who simply wanted to get power and wealth for themselves, and the poor and uneducated, whose poverty drove them to collaborate and whose ignorance saved them from even thinking they had to justify what they were doing.”[3]Due to this notion and the modern ambiguity of the term, each of these two categories had various motives with the majority being different but some overlapping.

Educated and intellectuals

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Wang Jingwei

Educatedhan gianis often reserved for those who were either scholars or within government. The most infamoushan giangovernment in mainland China isReorganized National Government of the Republic of China,often referred to as theWang Jingweiregime after its president. TheWang Jingwei regimesought to be the dominant governmental force in China and believed it could do so by collaborating and being submissive to Japan in what they deemed their “Peace Movement.”[4]Wang found resistance to his government when he visited cities, such as Shanghai, and “intellectuals who showed sympathy for Wang risked ostracism, if not death.”

During theSecond Sino-Japanese War,theNational Revolutionary Armywas defeated in various battles by theImperial Japanese Army.Chiang Kai-shekexplained thathan gianespionage helped the Japanese and orderedCC CliquecommanderChen Lifuto arrest thehan gian s.[5]4,000 were arrested inShanghai[6]and 2,000 inNanjing.[7]Because martial law was enforced, formal trials were not necessary, and the condemned were executed swiftly, while thousands of men, women and children watched with evident approval.[8]

Uneducated

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Taiwanese soldiers who fought in the Japanese militaryagainst Chinese forces and theAlliesare also considered to be han gian.[citation needed]TheRepublic of Chinaissued an important law in 1937:

The centerpiece of anti han gian laws, “Regulations on Handling Han gian Cases (chuli han gian an gian tiaoli),” promulgated in August 1937, identified collaborators based on their wartime conduct and stipulated punishments regardless of their age, gender, or ethnicity. Popular anti-han gian discourse, however, paid particular attention to “female collaborators” and deployed a highly gendered vocabulary to attack han gian suspects of both sexes. Complementing the legal purge of collaborators, such literature brought extreme pressure on individuals targeted as han gian and influenced how political crimes should be exposed and transposed onto other aspects of social life.[9]

Several Taiwanese were prosecuted by theNationalist governmentashan gian,despite aJudicial Yuaninterpretation issued in January 1946 that advised against such action.[10]

After theSook Ching(Chinese:Quét sạch;pinyin:Sùqīng) orethnic cleansingby mass murder of ethnic Chinese opposed to theJapanese occupation of SingaporeandMalayain February–March 1942,Tan Kah Kee,a prominent Chinese industrialist and philanthropist in Southeast Asia, proposed to the provisional Republic of China government to treat all Chinese who attempted to negotiate with the Japanese ashan gian s.[citation needed]His proposal was adopted by the SecondLegislative Yuan,[citation needed]and was praised by Chinese resistance fighters.

Notable people who are consideredhan gian s

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  • Wang Kemin(1879–1945), who collaborated with the Japanese during World War II and helped to establish the pro-JapanProvisional Government of the Republic of China(or North China Autonomous Government). After the war, he was arrested by the ROC government and tried for treason but committed suicide before his trial ended.
  • Demchugdongrub(1902–1966), commonly known as Prince De, a Mongol leader who collaborated with the Japanese. He was installed by the Japanese as the head of state ofMeng gian g,a Japanese puppet state inInner Mongolia.He was arrested by the PRC government in 1949 and charged with treason but was pardoned later. As he was an ethnic Mongol and not a Han Chinese, some[who?]feel that he should not be deemed as a han gian.
  • Wang Jingwei(1883–1944), a left-wingKuomintangpolitician and former close aide ofSun Yat-sen,who advocated peace negotiations during theSecond Sino-Japanese War.He set up the pro-JapanReorganized National Government of ChinainNanjingwith the help of the Japanese.
  • Zhou Fohai(1897–1948), the second-in-command of the Wang Jingwei governmentExecutive Yuan.He was convicted of treason after the war and sentenced to death, butChiang Kai-shekcommuted his sentence to life imprisonment. He died of heart and stomach problems in jail.
  • Chen Gongbo(1892–1946), who served as the head of theLegislative Yuanof the Wang Jingwei government, is seen as China's most prominenthan gian.[11]Chen held important positions within theReorganized Nationalist Government of the Republic of Chinaand succeededWang Jingweias acting chairman after Wang's death in November 1944. Chen was accused of “plotting with the enemy” and “opposing the central government.” Chen defended his work with theReorganized Nationalist Government of the Republic of Chinaby describing it as “negotiating with the Japanese in an attempt to preserve China’s resources, protect its people, and slowly erode Japan’s control over China.”[12]He fled to Japan after the war but was extradited back to China, where he was convicted of treason and executed.
  • Yoshiko Kawashima(1907–1948), also known as the "Eastern Jewel", was a Manchu princess raised in Japan, who spied for the Japanese in Manchuria. After the war, she was arrested and convicted of treason and executed. She has been featured in numerous Chinese and Japanese novels, films, television programs, and video games, with the Chinese frequently depicting her as a wanton villain and seductress while the Japanese portrayed her as a tragic heroine. Due to her Manchu ethnicity and Japanese background, some[who?]feel that she should not be considered a han gian.
  • Yoshiko Yamaguchi(1920–2014), also known as "Li Xianglan" was one of theSeven Great Singing Stars.After the war, she was arrested and sentenced to death for starring inJapanese propaganda films,but after Chinese authorities discovered her Japanese ancestry she was acquitted and deported to Japan. As she was the daughter of Japanese immigrants, some[who?]do not consider her to be a han gian.
  • Date Junnosuke(1892–1948), also known as Zhang Zongyuan, was a sworn brother ofFengtian CliquewarlordZhang Zongchang,who changed his nationality to Chinese in 1931, though he was of Japanese ethnicity. He took over Jinan and led a massacre of around 400 people in 1939. In 1945, he created the ultimately unsuccessful Zhang Zongchang Unit. After the war, he was arrested for war crimes and executed by firing squad.
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InChiang Kai-shek'sAnti-Communist and Anti-Russian Aggression Songone part of the lyrics is sát Hán gian meaning "kill traitors".

Popularly, most han gian in Chinese films and drama series, skits, Han gian are mostly the translators. Sometimes they are also called theer guizi(Chinese:Nhị quỷ tử,lit. second devils) orjia yang guizi(Chinese:Giả quỷ dương,lit. fake foreign devils). For example, Chinese actorChen Peisi's famous skitZhujue yu Peijue(Vai chính cùng vai phụ, lit. the main actor and the supportive actor), Chen is acting as the supportive actor who is in a film that the character is the translator leading the way forJapanese Imperial Army.The translator represents the Army officer to send a message to theEighth Route Armyofficer whose actor would beZhu Shimaothat if he surrenders, the Japanese officer will have a great beautiful offer for him.[13]

See also

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References

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  1. ^abcXia, Yun (2013). "Engendering Contempt for Collaborators: Anti-Han gian Discourse Following the Sino-Japanese War of 1937–1945".Journal of Women's History.25(1): 111–134.doi:10.1353/jowh.2013.0006.ISSN1527-2036.S2CID144816452.
  2. ^Brook, Timothy (2007).Collaboration: Japanese agents and local elites in wartime China.Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. p. 245.ISBN9780674023987.OCLC77012551.
  3. ^Brook, Timothy (2007).Collaboration: Japanese agents and local elites in wartime China.Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. p. 231.ISBN9780674023987.OCLC77012551.
  4. ^Fu, Poshek (1993).Passivity, resistance, and collaboration: intellectual choices in occupied Shanghai, 1937–1945.Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press. p. 112.ISBN0804721726.OCLC27814882.
  5. ^Yomiuri Shimbun,September 14, 1937 page 7
  6. ^Yomiuri Shimbun,September 15, 1937 second evening issue, page 1
  7. ^Gahō Yakushin no Nippon,December 1, 1937
  8. ^The New York TimesAugust 30, 1937 page 3
  9. ^Xia 2013,p. 111.
  10. ^Han Cheung (13 January 2019)."Taiwan in Time: The Taiwanese 'han gian ' problem".Taipei Times.Retrieved13 January2019.
  11. ^Zanasi, Margherita (June 2008)."Globalizing Han gian: The Suzhou Trials and the Post–World War II Discourse on Collaboration".The American Historical Review.113(3): 731–751.doi:10.1086/ahr.113.3.731.ISSN0002-8762.
  12. ^Zanasi, Margherita (June 2008)."GlobalizingHan gian: The Suzhou Trials and the Post–World War II Discourse on Collaboration".The American Historical Review.113(3): 731–751.doi:10.1086/ahr.113.3.731.ISSN0002-8762.
  13. ^"Trần bội tư chu khi mậu kinh điển tiểu phẩm 《 vai chính cùng vai phụ 》- ta ái tiểu Tống võng".5ixiaosong.Archived fromthe originalon 2017-10-14.
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