Reconsidering Chinese Nationalism in Republican China: Jinan University, Chinese Migrants, and Southeast Asia, 1911-41

Studies on the history of Republican China (1912-1949) have often focused on events within mainland China. More recent scholarship has placed emphasis on extending the geographical scope beyond China’s shores by examining, for example, China’s role in the First World War and the experiences of Chinese workers in Europe during this conflict. Even so, the study of Chinese migration in the historiography on Republican China remains under-explored. My paper addresses this lacuna by focusing on Jinan University and the development of Chinese nationalism during the Republican period. Founded in Nanjing during 1906 shortly before the collapse of the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911), Jinan was the first school in China for ethnic Chinese migrants (often misnamed as “overseas Chinese”) and their offspring in the Nanyang (literally “Southern Ocean”; now Southeast Asia) who wished to return to the mainland for their studies. This famous school subsequently formed the cornerstone of successive mainland Chinese governments’ policies on Chinese migration, particularly in relation to the Nanyang for the first half of the twentieth century when most Chinese who emigrated from China chose the region as their destination. Through examining the organizational history of Jinan as well as the experiences of Jinan students and alumni, my paper provides new perspectives on three key events in the history of Republican China. First, I reconsider the contributions of Chinese migrants to the nationalistic revolutionary cause which resulted in the 1911 Revolution and the founding of the Republic of China. I also explore Chinese migrant activities in relation to a foundational event in the development of Chinese nationalism, the May Fourth Movement of 1919, and to another crucial event, the Second Sino-Japanese War of 1937-1945. In so doing, my paper aims to shed new light on Republican China through drawing connections between China, Chinese migration, and Southeast Asia.