When the rule of law met rule by the party: the conflicts between Baptist schools and the local Guomindang in Republican Suzhou

ABSTRACT

This study examines the relationship between the Guomindang (GMD) and the courts by focusing on the 1929 conflicts between the Suzhou Baptist schools and the local GMD party apparatus. The GMD regime supported the principle of rule by the party. At the local level, the GMD’s rise was often stymied by the independent judiciary whose judgments were based on the principle of the rule of law. The local party might not have been able to control the local court in the early years of the GMD regime, but it did steadily alter state-society relationships, as it could benefit from the local court’s commitment to the rule of law. For instance, the district court in Suzhou actively defended the principle of rule by the party in conflicts between Baptist schools and the local party because the GMD had made that principle the law of the land.

KEYWORDS:

• Suzhou
• Baptist schools
• local court
• local Guomindang
• the rule of law
• rule by the party

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Glossary

Chen Zemin	=	陈则民
Chen Zichu	=	陈子初
chuji shenpanting	=	初级审判厅
Daguangming	=	《大光明》
Dali yuan	=	大理院
difang shenpanting	=	地方审判厅
gaodeng shenpanting	=	高等审判厅
He Shisu	=	何士驌
Jiang Jieshi	=	蒋介石
Jiangsu	=	江苏
Shi Jianqiao	=	施剑翘
Suzhou	=	苏州
Suzhou mingbao	=	《苏州明报》
Taowu	=	桃坞
Tianlaibao	=	《天籁报》
Wang Mei’e	=	王梅娥
Wei Ling (Huiling)	=	慧灵
Wu Chao	=	吴超
Wuxian ribao	=	《吴县日报》
Yancheng	=	晏成
Yancheng xiaokan	=	《晏成校刊》
Yan Matai	=	晏马太
Yuan Zhongming	=	袁仲铭
Zhao Qizhen	=	赵启震
Zhejiang	=	浙江

Correction Statement

This article has been republished with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.

Notes

¹ Xu, Trial of Modernity, 1–2.

² For the reform of China’s court system, see Huang, Code, Custom, and Legal Practice in China; Xu, Trial of Modernity; Ng, Legal Transplantation; and Xu, “Judicial Independence in Republican China.”

³ Chin, “Politics of the Shanghai Courts,” 31–45; Li Zaiquan, “Party Rule in the Judiciary,” 114–118; and Xu, Trial of Modernity, 238–246.

⁴ Xu, Trial of Modernity, 243.

⁵ Ibid., 220.

⁶ Ichiko, “Political and Institutional Reform 1901–1911,” 393–395.

⁷ Zhang Congrong, Buyuan zhi zheng, 42–43.

⁸ Suzhou shi zhi, 3:241.

⁹ Wuxian ribao and Daguangming (1929) can be found in the Suzhou City Library.

¹⁰ Bryan, “The Central China Mission,” 76; Proceedings of the Southern Baptist Convention, 1896 (Atlanta, GA: Franklin Printing and Publishing, 1896), xxiii, Southern Baptist Historical Library and Archives.

¹¹ Bays, New History of Christianity in China, 49.

¹² Proceedings of the Southern Baptist Convention, 1889 (Atlanta, GA: Franklin Printing and Publishing, 1896), xxvii, Southern Baptist Historical Library and Archives.

¹³ Proceedings of the Southern Baptist Convention, 1894 (Atlanta, GA: Franklin Publishing House, 1894), xxxv, Southern Baptist Historical Library and Archives.

¹⁴ Lutz, China and Christian Colleges, 89.

¹⁵ Proceedings of the Southern Baptist Convention, 1894 (Atlanta, GA: Franklin Publishing House, 1894), xxxv, Southern Baptist Historical Library and Archives.

¹⁶ Annual of the Southern Baptist Convention, 1908 (Nashville, TN: Marshall & Bruce, 1908), 165, Southern Baptist Historical Library and Archives.

¹⁷ The Baptists planned to open Yates and Wei Ling at the same time in 1906. However, due to the lack of resources, the establishment of the girls’ academy was postponed to 1911. See Annual of the Southern Baptist Convention, 1909 (Nashville, TN: Marshall & Bruce, 1909), 171, Southern Baptist Historical Library and Archives; and Annual of the Southern Baptist Convention, 1912 (Nashville, TN: Marshall & Bruce, 1912), 204, Southern Baptist Historical Library and Archives.

¹⁸ Annual of the Southern Baptist Convention, 1910 (Nashville, TN: Marshall & Bruce, 1910), 189, Southern Baptist Historical Library and Archives.

¹⁹ Annual of the Southern Baptist Convention, 1917 (Nashville, TN: Marshall & Bruce, 1917), 194, Southern Baptist Historical Library and Archives.

²⁰ Li, Mission in Suzhou, 21.

²¹ Annual of the Southern Baptist Convention, 1914 (Nashville, TN: Marshall & Bruce, 1914), 209, Southern Baptist Historical Library and Archives.

²² “Yancheng,” 11.

²³ Annual of the Southern Baptist Convention, 1921 (Nashville, TN: Marshall & Bruce, 1921), 252, Southern Baptist Historical Library and Archives; and Xu Jingxing, “Yancheng zhongxue de pianduan huigu,” 55.

²⁴ Li, Mission in Suzhou, 45.

²⁵ “Shanghai fei Jidujiao xuesheng tongmeng,” 533–534.

²⁶ Bays, New History of Christianity, 110.

²⁷ Annual of the Southern Baptist Convention, 1923 (Nashville, TN: Marshall & Bruce, 1923), 61, Southern Baptist Historical Library and Archives; and Li, Mission in Suzhou, 61.

²⁸ Wilbur, “The Nationalist Revolution,” 617; and Bays, New History of Christianity, 112.

²⁹ Bays, New History of Christianity, 112.

³⁰ Annual of the Southern Baptist Convention, 1929 (N.p.), 193, Southern Baptist Historical Library and Archives.

³¹ Annual of the Southern Baptist Convention, 1928 (N.p.), 178, Southern Baptist Historical Library and Archives.

³² Goossaert and Palmer, Religious Question in Modern China, 61–62.

³³ Fenn, Christian Higher Education, 116–117.

³⁴ Li, Mission in Suzhou, 65–66.

³⁵ “Xiaocheng,” 1; and Li, Mission in Suzhou, 65.

³⁶ Chen Yunqian, Chongbai yu jiyi, 209.

³⁷ “Suzhou Yancheng zhongxue Huiling nüzhong,” 118–119.

³⁸ Li, Mission in Suzhou, 65.

³⁹ “Suzhou Yancheng zhongxue Huiling nüzhong,” 118.

⁴⁰ Ibid.; and “Biye dianli da saoxing,” 3.

⁴¹ Suzhou shi zhi, 1:114.

⁴² Ibid., 1:115.

⁴³ “Biye dianli da saoxing,” 3.

⁴⁴ “Suzhou Yancheng zhongxue Huiling nüzhong,” 119.

⁴⁵ “Wei Wuxian zhixing weiyuanhui han qing,” 173.

⁴⁶ Ibid., 174.

⁴⁷ “Suzhou Yancheng zhongxue Huiling nüzhong,” 119.

⁴⁸ Zhang Yongguang, “Danghua yu Jiduhua,” 163.

⁴⁹ “Suzhou Yancheng zhongxue Huiling nüzhong,” 118–119.

⁵⁰ Annual of the Southern Baptist Convention, 1918, (Nashville, TN: Marshall & Bruce, 1918), 249, Southern Baptist Historical Library and Archives.

⁵¹ “Suzhou Yancheng zhongxue Huiling nüzhong,” 119.

⁵² Ibid., 118.

⁵³ Ibid., 118–119.

⁵⁴ Ibid., 119–120.

⁵⁵ “Liangxiao bu xuan dangqi zhi qubu jueyi an,” 10.

⁵⁶ “Shanghai xiaobao suo zai zhi Yancheng Huiling jinkuang,” 89–90.

⁵⁷ “Suzhou Yancheng zhongxue Huiling nüzhong,” 119–120.

⁵⁸ Eastman, “Nationalist China during the Nanking Decade,” 134.

⁵⁹ Ibid., 135–137.

⁶⁰ “Dangbu gaofa xingshi anjian reng yi tongchang chengxu banli,” 3.

⁶¹ “Wei Wuxian zhixing weiyuanhui han qing,” 173–174.

⁶² “Suzhou Yancheng zhongxue Huiling nüzhong,” 120.

⁶³ Ibid.

⁶⁴ Ibid.

⁶⁵ “Waijiaobu tepai jiaosheyuan fuwu tiaoli,” 9.

⁶⁶ “Suzhou Yancheng zhongxue Huiling nüzhong,” 120; and “Wenti kuoda zhi chafeng Yancheng Huiling liangxiao,” 3.

⁶⁷ “Yancheng Huiling xuexiao buzun dangyi an kuoda,” 4.

⁶⁸ Ibid.

⁶⁹ “Yancheng buzun dangyi an,” 3.

⁷⁰ “Xian dangbu zhiwei huiyi,” Suzhou mingbao, Aug. 2, 1929, 3.

⁷¹ “Yiqu dangbu zhaoji tanhua hui,” 3.

⁷² “Yancheng zhongxue jiaozhiyuan zhengzhong shengming,” 3.

⁷³ “He Shisu diao sheng Wuxian tuishi,” 16.

⁷⁴ “He Shisu zhixing lü wu,” 10.

⁷⁵ “Wu Chao lüshi tonggao,” 1.

⁷⁶ “Wu Chao jianchaguan diaoren,” 2.

⁷⁷ “Wu Chao zhixing lüshi zhiwu,” 3.

⁷⁸ “Wu Chao feng zhun gai lüshi,” 2.

⁷⁹ Xu Youchun, Minguo renwu da cidian, 1037.

⁸⁰ Xu, Chinese Professionals, 220.

⁸¹ “Xian dangbu zhiwei huiyi,” Suzhou mingbao, Aug. 9, 1929, 3.

⁸² “Yancheng weifan dangji an,” 2–3.

⁸³ “Suzhou Yancheng zhongxue Huiling nüzhong,” 120.

⁸⁴ “Jiangsu sheng tezhong xingshi difang lishi fating chengli xuanyan,” 10–11.

⁸⁵ “Xian dangbu zhiwei huiyi,” Suzhou mingbao, Aug. 9, 1929, 3.

⁸⁶ Yuan Zhongming, “Yancheng weifan dangji an,” 2–3.

⁸⁷ Lean, Public Passions; and Chin, “Politics of Trial,” 132.

⁸⁸ Yuan Zhongming, “Yancheng weifan dangji an,” 2–3; “Jianchaguan qisu shu,” 2; and “Chen Zichu biansu shu,” 2.

⁸⁹ Lean, Public Passions, 49–51, 207–213.

⁹⁰ Xu Jingxing, “Yancheng zhongxue de pianduan huigu,” 56.

⁹¹ Yates had 284 middle school students in 1926; see Annual of the Southern Baptist Convention, 1927 (Nashville, TN: Marshall & Briggs, 1927), 206, Southern Baptist Historical Library and Archives. For the soccer match with Taowu, see “Xiaocheng,” Yancheng xiaokan 2, no. 1–2 (December 1926): 6–8.

⁹² “Yancheng wei Suzhou zhengguang,” 3.

⁹³ “Jianchaguan qisu shu,” 2.

⁹⁴ “Xunzheng gangling,” 33.

⁹⁵ Zhonghua minguo xingfa 1928, 259–277.

⁹⁶ Ibid., 266.

⁹⁷ “Yancheng weifan dangji an,” 2–3.

⁹⁸ Ibid.

⁹⁹ “Zuigao fayuan jieshi,” 55–56.

¹⁰⁰ “Yancheng weifan dangji an,” 2–3.

¹⁰¹ “Jianchaguan qisu shu,” 2.

¹⁰² “Chen Zichu biansu shu,” 2.

¹⁰³ “Diyuan xin tuishi jiuzhi,” 3.

¹⁰⁴ “Wu Chao jianchaguan diaoren,” 2.

¹⁰⁵ “Yancheng weifan dangji an,” 2–3.

¹⁰⁶ Zhonghua minguo xingfa 1928, 266.

¹⁰⁷ “Du Wenlong yin fanghai gongwu an,” 34.

¹⁰⁸ “Yancheng xuexiao weifan dangji an,” 2.

¹⁰⁹ “Suzhou Yancheng zhongxue Huiling nüzhong,” 122.

¹¹⁰ “Yancheng xuexiao danan weiyi,” 3.

¹¹¹ “Yancheng Huiling liangxiao shi fangeming de dabenying,” 3.

¹¹² “Erqubu dangyuan dahui,” 3.

¹¹³ Ibid.

¹¹⁴ “Yancheng zhongxue tebie qishi,” 1.

¹¹⁵ “Xian dangbu zhiwei huiyi,” Suzhou mingbao, Aug. 20, 1929, 3.

¹¹⁶ “Suzhou jiaosheshu caiche,” 3.

¹¹⁷ “Qingzhenghui kangkaiji’ang,” 2.

¹¹⁸ “Xian dangbu zhiwei huiyi,” Suzhou mingbao, Aug. 27, 1929, 2.

¹¹⁹ “Suzhou Yancheng zhongxue Huiling nüzhong,” 123.

¹²⁰ “Sheng dangbu yi jueding chafeng Yancheng Huiling liangxiao,” 3.

¹²¹ Geisert, Radicalism and Its Demise, 4.

¹²² “Sheng dangbu yi jueding chafeng Yancheng Huiling liangxiao,” 3.

¹²³ “Shengwei piping xian dangwu,” 3.

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CHEN Bin

CHEN Bin is a lecturer in the School of Humanities and Social Science at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shenzhen. He received his BA from Xiamen University, China; his MA from the University of Macau; and his Ph.D. from Pennsylvania State University. His research focuses on understanding China’s modern transition through the lens of religion and law. His paper “The Calendar Reform in Republican China and Its Impact on Buddhism” has been published in Anhui Shixue (Historical Research in Anhui), a peer-reviewed historical journal in China.