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The Chinese Communist Party and International Affairs: A Field Report on New Historical Sources and Old Research Problems*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  12 February 2009

Michael H. Hunt  and
Odd Arne Westad
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Extract

Conditions for research on the foreign relations of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) have changed dramatically over the past decade in ways that deserve underscoring as well as applauding. Those changes now make possible a more wide-ranging research strategy one that includes inner-Party documents, memoirs from abroad range of prominent Party personalities, and articles and books based on privileged access to archives and interviews with individual leaders. These kinds of materials can today be set alongside those long-time staples of research, the contemporary Party press and the selected works of Party leaders.

Thus armed with greater evidence than ever before, the students of the CCP can now advance towards a broader and deeper understanding of the Party's foreign relations. Certainly, there is nothing equivalent in fullness or ease of access to the U.S. Department of State's documentary series, and the likelihood of being able to walk into the Central Party Archives in Beijing to ask for documents 30 years old or even older as one can do at the Public Records Office in London is still but a hopeful glimmer in the scholar's eye. But compared to the extremely limited opportunities of the past, a new era is here. This survey is intended to draw attention to new sources and old problems in the study of the CCP's international relations, and to serve as a guide for those interested in moving into that field of research.

This report is based on impressions and materials collected in China during the spring and summer of 1989.

Type
Research Article
Information
The China Quarterly , Volume 122 , June 1990 , pp. 258 - 272
Copyright
Copyright © The China Quarterly 1990

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References

1. The details that follow come from informants, and are consistent with the limited information in Lamb, Malcolm, Directory of Officials and Organizations in China, 1968–1983 (Armonk, NY: M.E. Sharpe, 1984), pp. 34, 47–48;Google ScholarChina Directory 1989 (Tokyo: Shotaro Takahashi, 1988), pp. 21, 24–25; and Yang Zhong, “Recent publications of Mao works in China and Japan,”CCP Research Newsletter, No. 3 (Summer 1989), pp. 23–24.

2. By way of example, the Shandong provincial historical archives in Jinan holds the documents of the Shandong Party committee and most of the pre-1949 papers of regional military commands and base area administrations relating to the province. Some of this material has been published in Shandong geming lishi dang'an ziliao xuanbian (A Selection of Archival Materials on the History of the Revolution in Shandong) (23 vols. plus index; Jinan: Shandong renmin, 1984–87;neibu). The Party history committee of the Shandong CCP provincial committee publishes Shandong dangshi ziliao (Shandong Party History Materials) (from 1982; neibu). Most provinces and larger cities have a similar array of archives and publications.

3. For a topically arranged listing, see Zhongguo, Banben Tushuguan (comp.), 1949–1986 quanguo neibu faxing tushu zongmu (National Catalogue of Internal Circulation Books, 1949–1986) (Beijing: Zhonghua, 1988).Google Scholar This 982-page volume is itself, as might be imagined, neibu. A copy is available at the Library of Congress.

4. Beijing: Zhonggong dangshi ziliao, 1987. An English translation is now being prepared for Chinese Studies in History and Chinese Studies in Sociology and Anthropology. A draft version of this work, published in the periodical Dangshi ziliao zhengji tongxun (Bulletin on the Compilation of Party History Materials), Nos. 7–12 (1985), includes more neibu materials.

5. See especially Zhonggong zhongyang dangshi yanjiushi, Zhonggong dangshi dashi nianbiao shuoming (Elucidation of “A Chronology of Major Events in CCP History”) (Beijing: Zhonggong zhongyang dangxiao, 1983;neibu).

6. See Jianying, Wang, Zhongguo gongchandang zuzhishi ziliao huibian (A Collection of Materials on the Organizational History of the CCP) (Beijing: Hongqi, 1983;Google Scholarneibu); Shenghui, Zhao, Zhongguo gongchandang zuzhishi gangyao (An Outline of the Organizational History of the CCP) (Hefei: Anhui renmin, 1987);Google ScholarZhongguo, Geming Bowuguan, Zhongguo gongchandang dangzhang huibian (A Collection of CCP Party Statutes) (Beijing: Renmin, 1979;Google Scholarneibu); Fan, Ping (ed.), Zhongguo gongchandang dangzhang yanjiu (Studies on CCP Party Statutes) (Beijing: Zhonggong zhongyang dangxiao, 1987).Google Scholar

7. The most extensive is Zhongguo gongchandang lici zhongyao huiyiji (A Record of Successive Important Meetings of the CCP) (2 vols.; Shanghai: Shanghai renmin, 1982; Vol. 1 guonei, Vol. 2 neibu).

8. Yifan, Yanget al, Tantan Zhongguo gongchandang de zheng zhengfeng (On Political Rectifications in the Chinese Communist Party) (Fuzhou: Fujian, 1984; neibu);Google ScholarYutang, Chen, Zhonggong dangshi renwu bieming lu (A List of Alternative Names for Important Personalities in CCP History) (Beijing: Hongqi, 1985;neibu);Google ScholarMa, Hongwuet al. (eds.), Zhongguo gemingshi cidian (Dictionary of Chinese Revolutionary History) (Beijing: Dang'an, 1988);Google ScholarLiao, Gailong (chief ed.), Zhongguo gongchandang lishi da cidian (Comprehensive Dictionary of CCP History) (Beijing: Zhonggong zhongyang dangxiao, 1988;Google Scholar one volume of a projected eight has appeared to date).

9. Compiled by Zhongyang dang'anguan (14 vols.; Beijing: Zhonggong zhongyang dangxiao, 1982–87;dangnei). This work covers the period down to 1950. The first three volumes are reviewed by Van De Ven In, HansCCP Research Newsletter, No. 1 (autumn 1988), p. 21–27.Google Scholar An open version of this collection will be published soon.

10. This collection was printed in only 50 copies, all of which are reportedly still under lock and key.

11. Zhongguo renmin jiefangjun zhengzhi xueyuan dangshi jiaoyanshi (comp.), Zhonggong dangshi cankao ziliao (Reference Materials on CCP History) (11 vols.; n.p. [Beijing?]: n.p., n.d. [preface in Vol. 1 dated 1979]). Volumes 12–32, with the same compiler, are being published under the slightly different title Zhonggong dangshi jiaoxue cankao ziliao (Reference Materials for the Teaching of CCP History) (n.p. [Beijing?]: n.p., n.d. [preface in Vol. 12 dated 1985]).

12. Compiled by Zhonggong zhongyang shujichu (reprint of 1941 ed.; Beijing: Renmin, 1980).

13. Compiled by Zhonggong zhongyang shujichu (reprint in 2 vols. of 1941 ed.; Beijing: Renmin, 1980;neibu). These volumes were also reprinted in Tokyo by Gendai shiryo kenkyujo in 1988.

14. Compiled by Fudan daxue lishixi Zhongguo Jindaishi jiaoyanzu (Shanghai: Shanghai renmin, 1977), particularly Vol. 2 covering 1919–49 in two parts.

15. Compiled by Zhongyang tongzhanbu and Zhongyang dang'anguan (3 vols.; Beijing: Dang'an, 1984–86;neibu).

16. Compiled by Zhongyang Tongzhanbu and Zhongyang Dang'anguan, (Beijing: Dang'an, 1988;neibu).

17. Compiled by Zhongguo Shehui Kexueyuan Xinwen Yanjiusuo (3 vols.; Beijing: Xinhua, 1980;neibu).

18. An example is Zhonggong Ji-Lu- Yu bianqu dangshi ziliao congshu (A Collection of CCP Party History Materials from the Hebei-Shandong-Henan Border Area) (Jinan: Shandong daxue, from 1985;neibu). The base- and border-area series edited in the People's Republic should be supplemented by the materials now available on Taiwan. Zhang Houde's 1949 nian yiqian Zhonggong jiqi waiwei kanwu yanjiu (Studies on the pre-1949 Publications of the CCP and Affiliated Organizations) (Taibei: Guoli zhongyang tushuguan, 1986; No. 10 in the series “Gongdang wenti yanjiu”) introduces some of these materials. Yung-Fa's, Chen study Making Revolution: The Communist Movement in Eastern and Central China, 1937–1945 (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1986)Google Scholar shows how important the archives on Taiwan may be for research on CCP history.

19. Published jointly by Zhongyang Wenxian Yanjiushi and Zhongyang Dang'anguan as the successor to Wenxian he yanjiu (Documents and Studies) and Zhongyang dang'anguan congkan (Central Party Archives Series). The two last-mentioned ceased publication in 1987. The congkan in the second title should not be taken to mean that it contains only archival documents.

20. From 1981 to 1987 this journal was called Dangshi ziliao zhengji tongxun. It is published by Zhongyang Dangshi Ziliao Zhengji Weiyuanhui.

21. The first is published by Zhongguo geming bowuguan dangshi yanjiushi from 1979; the second by Zhongyang dangshi yanjiushi and was formed by the merging in 1988 of Dangshi tongxun (Party History Bulletin), published from 1981, and Dangshi yanjiu (Party History Studies), published from 1980. Articles from a number of journals also appear in comprehensive annuals, each bearing the same name as the journal in which the articles originally appeared.

22. Published from 1988. See also Liao, Gailong (ed.), Zhonggong dangshi wenzhai niankan (Yearbook of CCP History Abstracts), covering 1982–.Google Scholar This annual is published by Zhonggong dangshi ziliao; the volumes 1982 and 1983 were guonei.

23. Published by Zhongyang dangshi ziliao zhengji weiyuanhui and Zhongyang dangshi yanjiushi from 1982;neibu. As of April 1989, 30 volumes had appeared.

24. The first is compiled by Shanghai renmin chubanshe dangshi ziliao congkan bianjibu (Shanghai: Shanghai renmin, 1979–; neibu to 1985). The second is compiled by Zhongguo renmin zhengji xieshang huiyi, quanguo weiyuanhui, wenshi ziliao weiyuanhui (Beijing: Wenshi ziliao, 1980–).

25. Compiled by Zhonguo renmin zhengji xieshang huiyi, quanguo weiyuanhui, wenshi ziliao yanjiu weiyuanhui (Beijing: Wenshi ziliao, I960–). Until 1985 this serial was called Wenshi ziliao xuanji. There is now a new reprint of the first 100 issues, which includes a very helpful index. Fudan daxue lishixi ziliaoshi and more recently Shanghai shehui kexueyuan jingji yanjiushi have published major indexes to the national, provincial and local editions of Wenshi ziliao.

26. Center for Chinese Research Materials Newsletter, No. 7 (1989) has a useful list of local and provincial wenshi ziliao series available for purchase.

27. One exception seems to be the Guangdong and Guangzhou serials, which are “open” publications.

28. See Dangshi zongheng (All About Party History), a journal published by Zhongguo Liaoning shengwei dangshi ziliao zhengweihui;Haerbin dangshi ziliao (Haerbin Party History Materials), a serial published by Haerbin shiwei dangshi ziliao zhengweihui.

29. A serial published by Chongqing shiwei dangshi ziliao zhengweihui.

30. See Gemingshi ziliao (Shanghai), noted above, and Shanghai dangshi ziliao tongxun (Bulletin on Shanghai Party History Materials), a journal published by Shanghai shiwei Zhonggong dangshi zhengji weiyuanhui.

31. Compiled by Zhongguo renmin jiefangjun junshi kexueyuan (Beijing: Zhonguo renmin jiefangjun zhanshi, 1981;neibu), and reprinted in Tokyo by Sososha in 1985. A number of commentaries on these and other Mao works on military affairs appeared in the mid 1980s. Mao Zedong junshi sixiang yanjiu (A Study of Mao Zedong Thought on Military Affairs), compiled by Jiefangjun baoshe junshi gongzuo xuanchuanchu (Beijing: Jiefangjun, 1984;neibu), is the most valuable of these volumes.

32. Compiled by Zhonggong zhongyang wenxian yanjiushi (Beijing: Zhongyang wenxian, 1987-;neibu). Three volumes have appeared to date covering late 1949–51 For other post-Liberation works, see Timothy Cheek, ”The ‘genius’ Mao: a treasure trove of 23 newly available volumes of post-1949 Mao Zedong texts,”Australian Journal of Chinese Studies, No. 19/20 (January/July 1988), pp. 311–44.

33. Compiled by Zhonggong zhongyang wenxian yanjiushi and Xinhua tongxunshe (Beijing: Xinhua, 1983).

34. A good example is Xu Quanxing et al, Yan'an shiqideMao Zedongzhexuesixiang (Mao Zedong Philosophical Thought in the Yan ‘an Period) (Xian: Shaanxi renmin, 1988), particularly pp. 338–74 for international relations.

35. These are reportedly Zhonggong zhongyang wenxian yanjiushi (comp.), Mao Zedong zaoqi zhuzuo (Early works of Mao Zedong), and Jiandang he dageming shiqi Mao Zedong zhuzuo, 1920–1927 (Works of Mao Zedong from the Period of the Founding of the Party and the Great Revolution, 1920–1927).

36. Compiled by Zhonggong zhongyang wenxian yanjiushi under the direction of Jin Chongji (Beijing: Renmin and Zhongyang wenxian, 1989).

37. Compiled by Zhonggong zhongyang wenxian yanjiushi (Beijing: Zhongyang wenxian, 1988).

38. Compiled by Zhonggong zhongyang tongyi zhanxian gongzuobu and Zhonggong zhongyang wenxian yanjiushi (Beijing: Renmin, 1984).

39. Beijing: Zhongyang wenxian, 1988. This collection draws from papers delivered at a March 1988 conference organized by Zhongyang wenxian yanjiushi. Some papers from a conference held at Nankai University in October 1988 are collected in a volume which is to be published in 1990. Some of the papers from a March 1989 conference held by the Foreign Ministry were expected to appear in the journal Dangshi ziliao tongxun in late 1989/early 1990.

40. See, e.g., Renmin, Chubanshe Bianjibu (comp.), Wang Ming yanlun xuanji (A Selection of Wang Ming Speeches) (Beijing: Renmin, 1982;Google Scholarneibu).

41. Compiled by Zhonggong dangshi renwu yanjiuhui (Xian: Shaanxi renmin, 1979–). Around 39 volumes have been published to date.

42. We have found these books particularly useful: Xiuquan, Wu, Zai waijiaobu banian dejingli (Eight Years in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs) (Beijing: Shijie zhishi, 1983)Google Scholar and Wode licheng (1908–1949) (My Experiences (1908–1949)) (Beijing: Jiefangjun, 1984); Bingnan, Wang, ZhongMei huitan jiunian huigu (Looking Back on Nine Years of Sino-American Talks) (Beijing: Shijie zhishi, 1985);Google ScholarXiao, Liu, Chushi Sulian banian (Eight Years as Ambassador to the Soviet Union) (Beijing: Zhonggong dangshi ziliao, 1986);Google ScholarShengzhi, Li, YaFei huiyi riji (A Diary of the Asian-African Conference) (Beijing: n.p., 1986);Google ScholarRongzhen, Nie, Nie Rongzhen huiyilu (The Memoirs of Nie Rongzhen) (3 vols.; Beijing: Jiefangjun, 1984);Google Scholar and Shoudao, Wang, WangShoudao huiyilu (The Memoirs of Wang Shoudao) (Beijing: Jiefangjun, 1987).Google Scholar The magazine Renwu (Important Personalities) has carried several interesting excerpts from unpublished autobiographies, among them Shi Zhe's account of his accompanying Mao Zedong to Moscow in 1950, in No. 5 (September 1988), pp. 5–21.

43. See, e.g., Shehuizhuyi sixiang zai Zhongguo de chuanbo (The Propagation of Socialist Thought in China) (3 vols.; Beijing: Zhonggong zhongyang dangxiao keyan bangongshi, 1985;dangxiao yongshu).

44. See his Gongchan guoji he Zhongguo geming guanxi shigao (A Draft History of the Relations Between the Comintern and the Chinese Revolution) (Beijing: Beijing daxue, 1988).

45. Beijing: Zhongguo shehui kexue, 1983; guonei.

46. Shanghai: Shanghai renmin, 1988.

47. Xinyang: Henan renmin, 1988.

48. Gongchan guoji yu Zhongguo geming yanjiu shuping (A Critical Review of Studies on the Comintern and the Chinese Revolution) (Chengdu: Sichuansheng shehui kexueyuan, 1988).

49. The appearance of new materials in the early 1980s has already contributed significantly to English-language scholarship on the interplay between the Comintern and the CCP in the 1920s and 1930s. Good examples are Yang's, Benjamin “Complexity and reasonability: reassessment of the Li Lisan adventure,” Australian Journal of Chinese Studies, No. 21 (January 1989), pp. 111–49)Google Scholar; and Garver, John W., “The origins of the Second United Front: the Comintern and the Chinese Communist Party,” The China Quarterly, No. 113 (March 1988), pp. 29–59.CrossRefGoogle ScholarGarver's, JohnChinese-Soviet Relations, 1937–1945: the Diplomacy of Chinese Nationalism (New York: Oxford University Press, 1988)Google Scholar also uses new source materials in its treatment of the CCP's relations with Moscow.

50. Compiled by Nanfangju dangshi ziliao zhengji xiaozu (Chongqing: Chongqing, 1986).

51. Compiled by Xiaochun, Dinget al. (Beijing: Zhonggong dangshi ziliao, 1987).Google Scholar

52. See, e.g., Guanhua, Qiao, Cong Munihei dao Dunke'erke (From Munich to Dunkirk) (Beijing: Shijie zhishi, 1984)Google Scholar, and his Guoji shupingji (A Collection of International Commentary) (Chongqing: Chongqing, 1983).

53. Fuzhou: Fujian renmin, 1988.

54. Compiled by Junshi kexueyuan junshi lishi yanjiubu (Beijing: Junshi kexue, 1988;neibu).

55. Beijing: Zhongyang wenxian, 1988.

56. Edited by Chai Chengwen and Zhao Yongtian (Beijing: Zhonggong dangshi ziliao, 1987;neibu).

57. Han Nianlong (chief comp.) (Beijing: Zhongguo shehui kexueyuan, 1987).

58. An older body of post-1949 materials compiled by Shijie Zhishi, ZhongMei guanxi ziliao huibian (A Collection of Material on Sino-American Relations) (2 collections; Beijing: Shijie zhishi, 1957–60; neibu), still deserves attention. Volume 1 is a translation of the 1949 U.S. State Department's “China White Paper.”

59. Susanne Weigelin-Schwiedrzik, in “Party historiography in the People's Republic of China,” Australian Journal of Chinese Studies, No. 17 (January 1987), pp. 78–113Google Scholar, underlines the highly political nature of the Party history establishment.

60. For an indication of what might be available in provincial and local archives, see the presentations by the Hebei provincial archives in Lishi dang'an (HistoricalArchives), No. 1 (1988), p. 120, and by the historical archives of Shuangcheng county in Heilongjiang province, ibid. No. 4 (1988), pp. 126–27.

61. In addition to holdings in the People's Republic, two archives on Taiwan are of great interest to those researching the history of CCP foreign relations: the Bureau of Investigation (under the ROC Ministry of Justice) and the Historical Archives of the Ministry of National Defence. Both have recently opened more materials for research, including intelligence reports and captured CCP documents.

62. Like other scholars, Party historians have to work in ill-stocked libraries where holdings of foreign-language documentary collections, monographs and journals are particularly weak.

63. For a description of how Chinese libraries function, see Prentice, Susan, “The National Library of China – a view from within,” Australian Journal of Chinese Studies, No. 15 (January 1986), pp. 103–111.Google Scholar

64. Libraries in East Asia outside the People's Republic have good collections of CCP Party history materials. We have found the holdings of the Fung Ping Shan Library at the University of Hong Kong, the Universities Service Centre at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, and the Library of the Institute of Modern History at the Academia Sinica in Taibei particularly valuable.

65. One need only think of those recently active in the study of CCP foreign relations-A. Doak Barnett, John Garver, Steven Goldstein, Samuel Kim, Steven Levine, Jonathan Pollack, Robert Ross, Gilbert Rozman, David Shambaugh, and Allen Whiting-to recognize how little historians have contributed.