Huskey, James L., «Americans in Shanghai : community formation and response to revolution, 1919-1928» (1985)

Title : «Americans in Shanghai : community formation and response to revolution, 1919-1928»

Author(s) : Huskey, James L.

Year : 1985

Type : Dissertation

Subject : History

Keywords : foreigners;diplomacy;

University : University of North Carolina

Language:Name : English

Support : Print

Abstract : This chronicle of the American community in Shanghai is a case study of international relations at the private, informal level. It first describes the formation of the community after World War I and traces the relationships which emerged between Shanghai Americans and the Chinese bourgeoisie, particularly American-trained Chinese. Americans tended to respond in very different ways to the foreign and Chinese cultures of Shanghai. The majority of Americans, who can be termed 'parochial' Americans, adapted and conformed to the colonial pattern of living prevalent among Shanghai foreigners. A minority of the more 'cosmopolitan' Americans, however, were more culturally tolerant and open, and they tended to reject the colonial lifestyle and developed friendships with the local Chinese commercial and intellectual elite, especially with American-trained Chinese. This study then examines the impact of the Chinese national revolution of 1925-1928 on the Shanghai American community and on its relations with Shanghai Chinese. The very different responses of the two types of Americans to the challenge of Chinese nationalism exacerbated the division within the community. In the crucible of revolutionary crisis, the parochial majority increasingly identified with the diehard attitude of Shanghai foreigners and virtually 'joined' the foreign community in order to present a united front against Chinese nationalism. The cosmopolitan minority, however, responded with greater sympathy and understanding to Chinese nationalism. By early 1927 a bitter, full-scale split divided the two groups. As the revolutionary crisis passed, cosmopolitans reasserted themselves and sought to lead the community from confrontation and exclusion to cooperation and accommodation with local Chinese. From late 1927, they worked to build contacts and a community of understanding with the Chinese commercial elite of the city through the American-trained Chinese connection. Over the following year the ties between Americans and Chinese in Shanghai were transformed, and by 1929 the relationship between them was far more open and egalitarian and fundamentally different from the old culture of colonialism. The thesis of this study is that the cosmopolitan Americans took the lead in building this new pattern of relations between foreigners and Chinese in Shanghai.