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Urban Mass Movement: The May Thirtieth Movement in Shanghai

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 November 2008

Hung-Ting Ku
Hung-Ting Ku
Affiliation:
Nanyang University
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Extract

The May Thirtieth Incident which occurred in Shanghai during 1925 has been regarded by the Chinese as one of the most important events in modern Chinese history, and the incident has been called ‘Wu-san Ch'an-an’ (the May 30th Tragedy) ever since 1925. Yet only a few studies in the Western languages deal with such an important event. Among those few studies, two of them concentrate on the role of labor in the movement, and the other after collecting a lot of source materials decides to add a subtitle, ‘an outline’, to recognize the vastness and complexity of the subject without making much effort to analyze or discuss the movement.

Type
Articles
Information
Modern Asian Studies , Volume 13 , Issue 2 , April 1979 , pp. 197 - 216
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1979

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References

This is a revised version of the paper presented to the Seventh Conference, International Association of Historians of Asia in Bangkok, Thailand in 1977.

The author wishes to thank Professors Hao Chang and Samuel Chu of the Ohio State University, Dr Chen-tung Chang of the University of Singapore, Professor Victor Funnell of Hull University, and Dr Wen-hsiung Hsu of the Northwestern University for their comments on the preliminary version of this paper.

1 Ayers, William, ‘Shanghai Labor and the May 30th Movement’, Harvard Papers on China, Vol. 5, 1951;Google ScholarChesneaux, Jean, The Chinese Labor Movement, 1919–1927 (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1968).Google Scholar

2 Rigby, Richard W., ‘The May 30 Movement: An Outline,’ Ph.D. Dissertation (Australian National University, 1975), p. v.Google Scholar

3 Chung-hsia, Teng, Chung-kuo chih-kung yun-tung chien-shih (A brief history of Chinese labor movement), (Peking: Jen-min Ch'u-pan-she); Jean Chesneaux in his The Chinese Labor Movement also admitted the important role of the students in the May 30th Movement.Google Scholar

4 For the details on the reorganization of the KMT see Chia-lun, Lo (ed.), Ko-ming wen-hsien (Documents on revolution) (Taipei: KMT Editorial Committee on Koming wen-hsien), Vol. VIII.Google Scholar

5 Ibid., Vol. VIII, pp. 128–40.

6 Lu, Tsou, Chung-kuo-kuo-min-tang shih-kao (The draft history of the Nationalist Party) (Taipei: Cheng-chang, 1953), pp. 401–2.Google Scholar

7 Ibid., pp. 408–9.

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9 Ibid., pp. 8–10.

10 Lu, Tsou, Chung-kuo-kuo-min-tang shih-kao, p. 95;Google ScholarChih-p'in, T'ing, Chung-kuo chiu ch'i-shih-nien lai chiao-yu chi-shih (Records of the Chinese education in the recent seventy years) (Taipei: Commercial Press, 1960), p. 110.Google Scholar

11 Lu, Tsou , Chung-kuo-kuo-min-tang shih-kao, p. 458;Google Scholar Shanghai University soon became an important place for training young revolutionaries. See Kuo-t'ao, Chang, The Rise of the Chinese Communist Party, 1919–1927 (Lawrence: University of Kansas Press, 1971), p. 29.Google Scholar

12 Chia-min, Yang, Min-kuo shih-wu-nien hsueh-sheng yun-tung k'ai-kuan (A brief description of the student movement in the year of 1926) (Shanghai: Kuan-hua, 1927), pp. 3, 11, 70, 73 and 90.Google Scholar

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15 Ibid., p. 336.

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17 Ibid., pp. 119–20; Ma Chao-chun, Chung-kuo lao-kung yun-tung-shih, pp. 259–62.

18 Ibid., p. 356;

Chien-min, Wang, History of the Chinese Communist Party (Taipei: n.p., 1965), p. 160.Google Scholar

19 Chung-hsia, Teng, Chung-kuo chih-kung yun-tung chien-shih, p. 132; Chesneaux, Chinese Labor Movement, p. 255.Google Scholar

20 Chung-hsia, Teng, Chung-kuo chih-kung yun-tung chien shih, p. 133.Google Scholar

21 For the CCP's activities during the strike see ibid., pp. 136–8; North China Herald (NCH), February 21, 1925.

22 Kuo-t'ao, Chang, Rise of the Chinese Communist Party, p. 413;Google ScholarTi-i-tzu kuo-nei ko-ming chan-cheng shih-ch'i ti kung-jen yun-tung (The labor movement during the first revolutionary civil war) (Peking: Jen-min ch'u-pan-she, 1953), p. 67.Google Scholar

23 NCH, May 30, 1925; China Year Book, p. 919.Google Scholar

24 NCH, May 30, 1925.

25 Chao-chun, Ma, Chung-kuo lao-kung yun-tung-shih, p. 377; Ti-i-tzu kuo-nei ko-ming chan-cheng shih-ch'i ti kung-jen yun-tung (hereafter Ti-i-tzu kung-jen), p. 68.Google Scholar

26 For details see Trial of Rioters, a supplement of NCH, July 25, 1925.Google Scholar

27 Chao-chun, Ma, Chung-kuo lao-kung yun-tung-shih, p. 377.Google Scholar

28 Kuo-t'ao, Chang, Rise of the Chinese Communist Party, p. 424.Google Scholar

29 Ti-i-tzu kung-jen, p. 68.Google Scholar

30 Chesneaux, , Chinese Labor Movement, p. 263.Google Scholar

31 Yiu-shen, Hua, Chung-kuo kung-ch'au-tang lieh-shih chuan (The biographies of the Chinese communist martyrs) (Peking: Ching-nien ch'u-pan-she, 1951), pp. 94–6.Google Scholar

32 Kuo-t'ao, Chang, Rise of the Chinese Communist Party. p. 423.Google Scholar

33 Lien-ho, Shanghai hsueh-sheng hui, Wu-sa hou chih shang-hai hsueh-sheng (Shanghai students after May 30) (Shanghai: Hsueh-sheng lien-ho-hui, 1925), p. 4.Google Scholar

34 Ti-i-tzu kung-jen, p. 68.Google Scholar

35 Chung-hsia, Teng, Chung-kuo chih-kung yun-tung chien-shih, pp. 182–3.Google Scholar

36 Ibid., p. 183.

37 Some Chinese simply called it ‘Nanking Road Tragedy.’Google Scholar

38 Chao-chun, Ma, Chung-kuo lao-kung yun-tung-shih, p. 378, Teng Chung-hsia, Chang-kuo chih-kung yun-tung chien-shih, p. 182; Ti-i-tzu kung-jen, pp. 67–8.Google Scholar

39 Chao-chun, Ma, Chung-kuo lao-kung yun-tung-shih, p. 378.Google Scholar

40 For the details see Kuo-t'ao, Chang, Rise of the Chinese Communist Party, pp. 426–8.Google Scholar

41 Chang Kuo-t'ao may have mis-spelt Yün T'ai-ying as Fang T'ai-ying.Google Scholar

42 Kuo-t'ao, Chang, Rise of the Chinese Communist Party, p. 427.Google Scholar

43 Chao-chun, Ma, Chung-kuo lao-kung yun-tung-shih, p. 382;Google ScholarChung-hsia, Teng, Chung-kuo chih-kung yun-tung chien-shih, p. 185.Google Scholar

44 NCH, June 6, 1925.

45 The circular stated, ‘In view of the assassination of our brothers, we have decided to go on a general strike.’ See NCH, June 6, 1925. Meanwhile, the General Chamber made an effort to persuade the students not to adopt violent actions. See Shuntien Shih-pao, June 1, 1925.Google Scholar

46 Chung-hsia, Teng, Chung-kuo chih-kung yun-tung chien-shih, p. 185;Google ScholarMa-Chao-chun, , Chung-kuo lao-kung yun-tung-shih, p. 382.Google Scholar

47 The CCP claimed that the Federation was organized under its direction: see Kuo-t'ao, Chang, Rise of the Chinese Communist Party, p. 431;Google ScholarWilbur, Martin C. (ed.), Documents on Communism, Nationalism and Soviet Advisers in China, 1918–1927 (New York: Columbia University Press, 1956), p. 73.Google Scholar

48 Chung-hsia, Teng, Chung-kuo chih-kung yun-tung chien-shih, p. 185.Google Scholar

49 ibid.

50 lien-ho-hui, Shanghai hsueh-sheng, Wu-sa hou chih shang-hai hsueh-sheng, p. 5.Google Scholar

51 NCH, June 13, 1925.

52 NCH, June 6, 1925.

53 lien-ho-hui, Shanghai hsueh-sheng, Wu-sa hou chih shang-hai hsueh-sheng, p. 12.Google Scholar

54 NCH, June 6, 1925.

55 The Women Department in fact was under the control of the CCP. See Tze-lieh, Yang, Chang Kuo-t'ao fu-jen hui-i-lu (The memoirs of Madam Chang Kuo-t'ao) (Hong Kong: Chi-lien ch'u-pan-she, 1970), pp. 131–4.Google Scholar

56 NCH, June 6, 1925.

57 NCH, June 6, 1925.

58 Kuo-t'ao, Chang, Rise of the Chinese Communist Party, p. 432;Google ScholarChung-hsia, Teng, Chung-kuo chih-kung yun-tung chien-shih, p. 188.Google Scholar

59 NCH, June 13, 1925.

60 NCH, June 6, 1925.

61 Ti-i-tzu kung-jen, pp. 72–9.

62 NCH, June 13, 1925.

63 ibid.

64 NCH, June 6, 1925.

65 NCH, June 13, 20, 1925: China Year Book, 1926, p. 1005.

66 NCH, June 13, 1925.

67 lien-ho-hui, Shanghai hsueh-sheng, Wu-sa hou chih shang-hai hsueh-sheng, pp. 6–7.Google Scholar

68 NCH, June 13, 1925; Ma Chao-chun, Chung-kuo lao-kung yun-tung-shih, pp. 379–81.Google Scholar

69 NCH, June 6, 1925.

70 NCH, June 6, 13, 20, 1925.

71 Chung-hsia, Teng, Chung-kuo chih-kung yun-tung chien-shih, p. 185.Google Scholar

72 NCH, June 20, 1925.

73 Chung-hsia, Teng, Chung-kuo chih-kung yun-tung chieh-shih, p. 187; NCH, June 6, 1925.Google Scholar

74 For the full text of the announcement, see NCH, June 6, 1925.

75 Trial of Rioters, p. 20.Google Scholar

76 Wu-san t'ung-shih (The painful history of May 30), compiled by Ch'en Pao (Peking Ch'en Pao Co., 1925), hereafter referred to as Wu-san t'ung-shih, pp. 10–47.Google Scholar

77 NCH, June 27, 1925.

78 Ibid., June 20, 1925; Teng Chung-hsia, Chung-kuo chih-kung yun-tung chien-shih, pp. 196–200.

79 NCH, June 27, 1925.

80 Chao-chun, Ma, Chung-kuo lao-kung yun-tung-shih, p. 384.Google Scholar

81 NCH, July 11, September 5, 1925.

82 NCH, July 11, 1925.

83 NCH, July 11, 18, 1925.

84 NCH, July 11, 1925.

85 China Year Book, 1926, p. 958;Google ScholarTeng, Chung-hsia, Chung-kuo chih-kung yun-tung chien-shih pp. 211–12.Google Scholar

86 Chung-hsia, Teng, Chung-kuo chih-kung yun-tung chien-shih, p. 212;Google ScholarChao-chun, Ma, Chung-kuo lao-kung yun-tung-shih, p. 426.Google Scholar

87 Ibid., p. 429.

88 Chung-hsia, Teng, Chang-kuo chih-kung yun-tung chien-shih, p. 216 and 218.Google Scholar

89 Yiu-shen, Hua, Chung-kuo kung-ch'au-tang lieh-shih chuan, pp. 68–9.Google Scholar

90 Out of the total of eighty-three persons, fifty-three were students.