Understanding sovereignty through meteorology: China, Japan, and the dispute over the Qingdao Observatory, 1918–1931

ABSTRACT

Concentrating on the Qingdao Observatory, this paper will explore the role of scientific facility in asserting China’s sovereignty during the first half of the twentieth century. Although scholars have explained the efforts of China’s internationalization in diplomacy through the perspectives of politics, economics and culture, they have not paid attention to science. Therefore, this paper aims to shed some light on how scientific issues were solved via diplomacy during the Republic of China, while further asserting that the focus in negotiations was not confined to science itself, but rather to sovereignty within a scientific context. In this process, the meaning of sovereignty has also been expanded basing on the improvement of nation’s scientific capability. Besides, the participation of different actors involved in sovereignty assertion is investigated by this paper. Although the diplomatic negotiation was held at the international level, the local government and scientific community were main promoters in this case, which calls for attention on the various subjects in sovereignty issue. Consequently, this paper argues that Asian countries, such as Republic of China, could also employ science as a means to negotiate with foreign powers and claim their due rights.

KEYWORDS:

• Sino-Japanese relationship
• assertion of sovereignty
• history of modern meteorology
• the Qingdao observatory

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

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37 Letter from Undersecretary of the Qingdao Garrison to the Undersecretary of the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 19 June 1922: Japan Center for Asian Historical Records, C03025345600.

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39 Due to the availability of materials, the only document about the agreement in 1922 obtained was recorded in a subsequent government report in 1931. See ‘Guanyu Chetui Qingdao Guanxiangtai Liutai Riyuanan [On the Case of Withdrawing the Japanese Members from the Qingdao Observatory]’, Guoli Zhongyang Yanjiuyuan Yuanwu Yuebao, 2.8 (1931), 34.

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48 Letter from Qingdaoshi Zhengfu [Qingdao Municipal Government] to Waijiaobu [MFA] about taking over the Qingdao Observatory, 19 July 1929: Academia Historica, 020/010106/0002. See also Shenbao, ‘Waijiaobu Han Rishi Cusu Jiaohuan Qingdao Cehousuo [The Ministry of Foreign Affairs Urged the Japanese to Return the Qingdao Observatory]’, 29 September 1926, pp. 4.

49 Letter from Qingdaoshi Zhengfu [Qingdao Municipal Government] to Waijiaobu [MFA] about the negotiation with the Japanese on the observatory, 1 April 1930: Academia Historica, 020/010106/0002.

50 Qingdaoshi Qixiangju, ed., ‘Qingdao Jindai Qixiang Gaishu [An Overview of Modern Meteorology in Qingdao]’, in Zhongguo Jindai Qixiangshi Ziliao [Resources for Meteorological History in China], ed. by Editorial Committee of Modern Meteorological Resource in China (Beijing: Qixiang Press, 1995), pp. 135–36.

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53 Monthly Report of the Qingdao Ovservatory, Qingdao: Qingdao Observatory, 1927.

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55 As the Japanese used the name ‘the Qingdao Observatory of Japan’ in the correspondence with Euro-American countries, the Qingdao Municipal Government considered the Japanese actions as ‘cultural invasion’. See Letter from Qingdaoshi Zhengfu [Qingdao Municipal Government] to Waijiaobu [MFA], 30 October 1929: Academia Historica, 020/010106/0002.

56 Letter from Jiang Bingran to the Qingdaoshi Zhengfu [Qingdao Municipal Government], 11 December 1929: Academia Historica, 020/010106/0002.

57 Shenbao, ‘Jiangsu Sheng Jiaoyuhui Fandui Riben Wenhua Qinlue [Education Association of Jiangsu Province opposes Japanese cultural invasion]’, 10 November 1926, pp. 10. See Also Shenbao, ‘Dongbei de Riben Wenhua Qinlue [Japan’s Cultural Invasion in Northeast China]’, 10 October 1931, pp. 7.

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85 Letter from Guomin Zhengfu Junshi Weiyuanhui [Military Committee of the National Government] to Chiang Kai-Shek advising the detonation of the Qingdao Observatory, 23 December 1937: Academia Historica, 002/090105/00001/008. One of the measures adopted by the National Government to prevent Japanese attacks was to detonate important facilities, such as the destruction of the Qiantang River Bridge, blocking the march of the Japanese army. See Mao Yisheng, Qiantangjian Zaoqiao Huiyi [Memories of Qiantang River Bridge Construction] (Beijing: Literature and History Press, 1982), pp. 25–26.

86 Telegram from Chiefs of Staff of Japanese North China Area Army, to Undersecretary on Administration of the Qingdao Meteorological Observatory, 10 February 1938: Japan Center for Asian Historical Records, C04120236100.

87 Shenbao, ‘Qingdao Lunxianhou Zhuangkuang [The Situation after the Fall of Qingdao]’, 9 December 1938, pp. 7.

88 Qingdaoshi Qixiangju, ed., ‘Qingdao Jindai Qixiang Gaishu’, pp. 138.

89 The Qingdao Observatory to the Qingdaoshi Riwei Jizhong Guanliju [Qingdao Municipal Administration of Japanese], 7 February 1946: Qingdao Municipal Archives, B0035/001/00095/0057. Regarding the Japanese who served in China in the post-war years, see Koji Hirata, ‘From the Ashes of Empire: The Reconstruction of Manchukuo’s Enterprises and the Making of China’s Northeastern Industrial Base, 1948-1952’, in Overcoming Empire: Repatriation, Redress and Rebuilding in Post-Imperial East Asia, ed. by Barak Kushner and Sherzod Muminov (London; New York: Bloomsbury Academic, 2019), pp. 147–62.