Red or Expert: Reforming Geographers in Communist China, 1949–1953

Abstract

This article investigates the Sovietization of Chinese geographers during the early People’s Republic of China (PRC) using primary sources and published biographies to examine three career paths: red, expert, and red and expert. The red geographers, led by the veteran Communist Sun Jingzhi, who monopolized the field of economic geography, shifted the orientation of geography from the Western model to the model followed in the Soviet Union. The pre-Communist geographers, under the leadership of Harvard-trained Zhu Kezhen, controlled the field of physical geography, relying on their professional training and technical expertise. These two cliques competed for control of the Chinese Geographical Society, its journal, and the Institute of Geography, whereas the Liverpool-trained Hou Renzhi used both redness and expertise to gain prominence in the field of historical geography. This article contends that the reformation of geographers in Communist China continued beyond the political purge of 1949. The twists and turns in career paths derive from the contested nature of the discipline, the changing contours of the science, and connections with institutional structures, all of which illuminate the imbrication of political allegiance, professional expertise, and personal relationships as the geographical tradition persisted in new forms after reformation. In this sense, this article diversifies a history of geography that is too often centered on Anglo-American experiences, and it furthers our understanding of the professionalization of geography as one that has taken a nonlinear course. Key Words: Cold War, Communist China, geographer, history of geography, Sovietization.

根据第一手资料和传记出版物, 本文研究了中华人民共和国初期的地理学家的苏联化, 审视了三条职业道路: 红色、专家、红色专家。以在经济地理学领域具有垄断地位的资深共产党员孙敬之为首的红色地理学家, 将地理学的定位从西方模式转向苏联模式。在哈佛培养的竺可桢的领导下, 共产主义以前就存在的地理学家依靠其专业培训和技术专长, 掌控了自然地理学领域。这两个派系, 对中国地理学会及其期刊、地理研究所的控制权进行了争夺。利物浦培养的侯仁之利用红色和专业知识, 在历史地理学领域崭露头角。本文认为, 在1949年政治清洗之后, 仍然延续了对共产主义中国的地理学家的改造。职业道路的曲折和转向, 源于学科的竞争本质、科学领域的变化及其与体制结构的联系。这表明, 政治忠诚、专业知识和个人关系的相互作用, 是被改造后的地理传统的新形式。本文丰富了英美主导的地理学史, 加深了我们对地理学专业化的曲折道路的理解。

En este artículo se investiga la sovietización de los geógrafos chinos durante el comienzo de la República Popular China (RPC), usando fuentes primarias y biografías publicadas para examinar tres trayectorias de carreras profesionales: la roja, la de experto, y la roja y de experto. Los geógrafos rojos, dirigidos por el veterano comunista Sun Jingzhi, quien monopolizó el campo de la geografía económica, cambiaron la orientación de la geografía basada en el modelo occidental hacia el modelo que se seguía en la Unión Soviética. Los geógrafos precomunistas, bajo el liderazgo de Zhu Kezhen, formado en Harvard, controlaron el campo de la geografía física, fundamentados en su entrenamiento profesional y experticia técnica. Estas dos camarillas compitieron por el control de la Sociedad Geográfica China, su revista y el Instituto de Geografía, en tanto que Hou Renzhi, formado en Liverpool, utilizaría su afinidad con los rojos y su experticia para ganar prominencia en el campo de la geografía histórica. En este artículo se sostiene que el reentrenamiento de los geógrafos en la China comunista continuó después de las purgas políticas de 1949. Los cambios y giros en las trayectorias profesionales se derivan de la naturaleza controversial de la disciplina, los cambiantes contornos de la ciencia y las conexiones con las estructuras institucionales, todo lo cual ilumina la imbricación de las suscripciones políticas, la experticia profesional y las relaciones personales, en cuanto que la tradición geográfica persistió en nuevas formas después de la reforma. En tal sentido, este artículo diversifica una historia de la geografía a menudo centrada en las experiencias angloamericanas, y avanza en nuestra comprensión de la profesionalización de la geografía como aquella que ha transitado por un curso no lineal.

关键词:

• 冷战
• 共产主义中国
• 地理学家
• 地理学史
• 苏联化。

Palabras clave:

• China comunista
• geógrafo
• historia de la geografía
• sovietización
• Guerra Fría

Acknowledgments

I am grateful to Geraldine Forbes and two anonymous reviewers of this journal for their insightful feedback.

Notes

1 To name but a few, see Barnes and Farish (2006), Barnes (2008, 2015, 2016), Harris (1997), and Clout and Gosme (2003).

2 Scholars have gradually started to examine the Sovietization of geography in Eastern Europe; see, for example, Győri and Gyuris (2013).

3 See also Leszczycki (1963), Kikolski (1964), Samuels (1977), and Hausherr (2003). There are a few Chinese-language articles dealing with the reform of geography discipline in the time following 1949. See Hu (2015a, 2015b) and J. C. Zhang (2013).

4 The history of Chinese geography after 1949 is a rarely examined topic, although massive Chinese-language research has been done on geography in traditional China prior to 1949. Examples include Y. Wang (1938), R. Z. Hou (1962), C. Z. Wang (1982), Liu (1990), and Guo (2000). English-language inquiries include Tang (2000), Z. H. Chen (2008), and Wallner (2014). Also see Z. H. Chen (2016) and J. Sun et al. (2019).

5 Chen and Hong emphasized the importance of foreign imperialism, Chinese nationalism, and increasing frontier crises in the construction of modern Chinese geography. See Z. H. Chen (2008) and T. K. Hong (2016). “The Directory of Geography Department in China” (1948), see J. Sun (2020, 17–18).

6 “The Overview of Geography Department at National Central University” (1936), see J. Sun (2020, 112–29).

7 “The Directory of Geography Department in China” (1948), see J. Sun (2020, 17–18).

8 Even though Zhu Kezhen was Harvard-trained, his two foremost students Hu Huanyong and Zhang Qiyun received very limited professional overseas training, although Hu had a two-year study tour in France and Zhang had a one-year visiting professorship at Harvard University. Moreover, Hu and Zhang were classmates at Nanjing Higher Normal School (the predecessor of National Central University) in Nanjing, which had a long-standing academic tradition that emphasized Chinese indigenous culture. Accordingly, Hu and Zhang were the primary representatives of the southern division; moreover, these two geographers were Huang Guozhang’s peers and former colleagues. See L. Zhang (2019).

9 See “The Diary of Zhu Kezhen, September 24, 1949” (K. Z. Zhu 2006, 532).

10 R. S. Platt to Huang Guozhang, January 14, 1926 and February 8, 1926, R. S. Platt Papers, Special Collections Research Center, University of Chicago Archives, Box 4, Folder 14.

11 See “The Diary of Zhu Kezhen, July 14 and 17, 1949,” (K. Z. Zhu 2006, 478, 480).

12 Xu had been interested in geography since he was a teenager and started to teach geography at a middle school at Changsha in 1906 (T. L. Xu 1979, 599–600).

13 Zhang received his master’s degree from the Division of Economic Geography at People’s University in 1955 (T. Z. Zhang1956).

14 Regarding the debates on the concept of economic geography between reds and experts, see Translation and Editing Committee, Chinese Academy of Natural Sciences (1959, 60–93).

15 See “The Diary of Zhu Kezhen, July 14 and 17, 1949” (K. Z. Zhu 2006, 543).

16 Y. D. Zhen correspondence to George B. Cressey, March 14, 1940, Box 14965, Folder 8. George B. Cressey Papers, Syracuse University Archives, Syracuse, NY.

17 The denunciation rally was called and presided over by Sun Jingzhi (Huang 1952).

18 Zhu Kezhen was the only person who openly opposed this decision. See Wu (1999, 795).

19 See “The Diary of Zhu Kezhen, September 17, 1952” (K. Z. Zhu 2006, 696).

20 Xu Jinzhi correspondence to Cressey, February 10, 1951, Box 14959, Folder 16. George B. Cressey Papers, Syracuse University Archives, Syracuse, NY.

21 See “The Diary of Zhu Kezhen, March 10, 1952” (K. Z. Zhu 2006, 576).

22 Chinese scholars focus on Gu Jiegang and his Yugong society in the 1930s as the turning point in the founding of historical geography. This privileges Gu and his three students (Tan Qixiang, Shi Nianhai, and Hou Renzhi) over historical geographers who were associated with Yugong. In fact, Zhang Qiyun sought to legitimize historical geography as a specialized academic discipline as early as the 1920s, but his legacy was discontinued in mainland China after he retreated to Taiwan with the nationalist regime (Fan 2016; Hon 2016).

23 See “The Diary of Zhu Kezhen, December 30, 1951” (K. Z. Zhu 2006, 498).

24 See “The Diary of Zhu Kezhen, May 9, 1950” (K. Z. Zhu 2006, 92).

25 Hou had defined the concept of historical geography and outlined its history in China in 1959. See Translation and Editing Committee, Chinese Academy of Natural Sciences (1959, 94–101).

Additional information

Funding

I would like to acknowledge a grant from the Research Grants Council of Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, China (23603418) and the Lam Woo Research Fund (LWI20010) from Lingnan University for financial support.

Notes on contributors

Lei Zhang

LEI ZHANG is an Assistant Professor in the Department of History, Lingnan University, Hong Kong. E-mail: [email protected]. His research interests focus on historical geography and environmental history in modern China.