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ABSTRACT
This article explores the multilayered dimensions of food politics in wartime Chongqing. A substantial number of wartime Chongqing dwellers were migrants who flocked to the city, having evacuated from coastal China to follow the Nationalists after the outbreak of the Sino-Japanese War. They could not simply be called refugees. Rather, they were sophisticated urbanites known by Chongqing natives as “downriver folks” who brought their political awareness and cultural tastes to the new wartime capital. Some introduced their sumptuous dining culture to Chongqing, thereby provoking a public sense of deprivation, while others brought organizational skills with which to turn public discontent into a political issue. This article argues that an increasing sense of deprivation stemming from the deterioration of the food situation in the city, if seemingly less significant than massive rural famine, became more consequential in the long run than any other political issue in the subsequent Civil War years.
Acknowledgments
An earlier version of this article was presented at the 2017 Cambridge-Berkeley Summer Institute, “China in a Global World War Two.” I am grateful to Hans van de Ven and Wen-hsin Yeh for organizing and to all participants for their valuable comments and encouragement. At the NUS, I learned a lot from discussions in my graduate seminars. I wish to express my gratitude to all seminar participants.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.
Glossary
| babaofan | = | 八寶飯 |
| benshi gongren | = | 本市工人 |
| caomi | = | 糙米 |
| chadian | = | 茶點 |
| Cheng Daosheng | = | 程道生 |
| Chongqingshi yishi gonghui | = | 重慶市醫師公會 |
| Da houfang | = | 大後方 |
| Da houfang de teshu jieji | = | 大後方的特殊階級 |
| dacanguan | = | 大餐館 |
| Damenkou | = | 大門口 |
| Douyoujie | = | 都郵街 |
| Fan ji’e fan neizhan yundong | = | 反飢餓反內戰運動 |
| fushe yinshibu | = | 附設飲食部 |
| gongyan | = | 公宴 |
| Guanshengyuan | = | 冠生園 |
| guohuo | = | 國貨 |
| guoji wenhua tuanti | = | 國際文化團體 |
| Guomin canzenghui | = | 國民參政會 |
| guomin shenti jiankang | = | 國民身體健康 |
| hanjian | = | 漢奸 |
| Hu Nanqi | = | 胡南祺 |
| Hu Ziying | = | 胡子嬰 |
| Hualongqiao | = | 華龍橋 |
| huaqiao | = | 華僑 |
| huoxia yu e’fan | = | 活蝦與餓飯 |
| Jiang’an | = | 江安 |
| jiefangbei | = | 解放碑 |
| liangcai yitang | = | 兩菜一湯 |
| Lin Sen | = | 林森 |
| Li Zisheng | = | 李子生 |
| liucai yitang | = | 六菜一湯 |
| maibudao | = | 買不到 |
| mangchangyan | = | 盲腸炎 |
| meimi | = | 霉米 |
| menting ruoshi | = | 門庭若市 |
| Mengjun zhi you | = | 盟軍之友 |
| minzu gongye | = | 民族工業 |
| Minzu jiankang | = | 民族健康 |
| neiqian | = | 內遷 |
| shangjiang ren | = | 上江人 |
| shechi | = | 奢侈 |
| Shenghuo daobao | = | 生活導報 |
| shengli yanhui | = | 勝利宴會 |
| shengli yiqi le women | = | 勝利遺棄了我們 |
| shipin gongye jiuguo | = | 食品工業救國 |
| sicai yitang | = | 四菜一湯 |
| sida jingang | = | 四大金剛 |
| siqiang zhi yi | = | 四強之一 |
| Tan Zishao | = | 譚子韶 |
| Tang Yi | = | 唐毅 |
| Taipingmen | = | 太平門 |
| waibin | = | 外賓 |
| Wang Ziqiang | = | 王自強 |
| wenhua canting | = | 文化餐廳 |
| xiajiang ren | = | 下江人 |
| xicanbu | = | 西餐部 |
| Xian Guansheng | = | 冼冠生 |
| Xinshenghuo julebu | = | 新生活俱樂部 |
| Xinxiang | = | 信箱 |
| Xiaoshitang | = | 小食堂 |
| Xu Wancheng | = | 許晚成 |
| yanhui zhengzhi | = | 宴會政治 |
| yinshibu | = | 飲食部 |
| youshi xingdong | = | 遊食行動 |
| zaliang | = | 雜粮 |
| Zhang Cunwu | = | 張存武 |
| Zhao Shijiang | = | 趙石疆 |
| Zhu Shujun | = | 朱淑君 |
| zuowu xuxi | = | 座無虛席 |
Notes
1 Wang Ziqiang, Hu Nanqi, Li Zisheng, and Zhao Shijiang, “Huoxia yu e’fan.”
2 Xinhua ribao (New China Daily News) was the Communist daily that was legitimately published in the Nationalist-controlled area during the United Front. Though no accurate statistics are available, it claimed a daily circulation of 20,000 copies in early 1939. Its press’s four-page-per-day printing capacity equaled that of other popular peers such as Dagongbao (L’impartial). However, the Press Department of the Nationalist government confirmed that the Xinhua capacity could not rival the Guomindang-controlled Zhongyang ribao (Central Daily News), which printed six pages per day. Han Xinru, Xinhua ribao shi, 1938–1947, 142; and Chinese Ministry of Information, China Handbook, 1937–1945, 507.
3 Wang Ziqiang, Hu Nanqi, Li Zisheng, and Zhao Shijiang, “Huoxia yu e’fan.”
4 Belden, China Shakes the World, 83–84.
5 The unusual spike in the price of rice can be attributed to a few factors. First, the previous years’ harvests were not as good as expected. Second, the Nationalist military lost several key rice-supplying regions to the Japanese in 1940. Finally, the wartime authorities decided to collect land tax in kind, rather than in cash, in the summer of 1941. See Eastman, Seeds of Destruction, 51; and Shen, “Food Production and Distribution,” 186.
6 For example, Zhe Shi, Nongmin lei.
7 Eastman, Seeds of Destruction; and Keating, Two Revolutions.
8 Lary, The Chinese People at War, 124.
9 In his seminal work on the significant role of teahouses in the daily lives of the urban population of wartime Chengdu, Wang Di argues that one of the most direct consequences of the practice of frequenting teahouses was the “heightened politicization of everything that they [customers] said and did” there. Wang Di, “Urban Life in China’s Wars,” 100.
10 Wakeman and Yeh, Introduction, 2–3.
11 For more on the tensions between these two groups of people, see Howard, Workers at War, 85; and McIsaac, “The City as Nation.”
12 See Eastman, Seeds of Destruction, 47–46; and Collingham, The Taste of War, 251.
13 Payne, Chunking Diary, 267.
14 Zhongyang ribao, Mar. 2, 1942.
15 No air raids occurred at all in 1942; only one air raid was carried out in 1943. See Tow, “The Great Bombing of Chongqing,” 263.
16 Peck, Two Kinds of Time, 385, xiii.
17 Mitter, Forgotten Ally, 251.
18 Graham Peck noted: “Every week new ones appeared on the streets, dressed in unfamiliar uniforms or civilian clothes of kinds unknown in Ch[ongqing] shops.” Peck, Two Kinds of Time, 388.
19 Peck, Two Kinds of Time, 385.
20 “Zhongguo chusi zhi wang,” 73.
21 White, In Search of History, 71–72.
22 White and Jacoby, Thunder Out of China, 8.
23 McIsaac, “The Limits of Chinese Nationalism,” 98.
24 Lary, The Chinese People at War, 113.
25 Wu Jisheng, Xindu jianwen lu, 178–79.
26 For safety reasons, the authorities decreed that all restaurants had to wait one and one-half hours after the all-clear signal before resuming their business. Xinhua ribao, Jul. 14, 1940; and Zhongyang ribao, Dec. 19, 1940.
27 White and Jacoby, Thunder Out of China, 8.
28 “Chongqing shipinye hengduanmian,” 37–38.
29 Qing Fan, “Xian Guansheng xiansheng xiaoshi,” 1.
30 For more information on the restaurant business and food culture in Shanghai, see Swislocki.
31 Cheng Daosheng and Yu Shaoan, “Xian Guansheng yu Guanshengyuan,” 102–130.
32 In early 1929, the Guansheng Garden registered with the Nationalists’ Ministry of Commerce and Industry as a shareholding company encompassing all aspects of the food business (shipin gongsi), not just as a restaurant. See Guansheng yuan shipin gongsi [The Guansheng Garden Food Company], Jan.–Feb. 1929, Zhongyang yanjiu yuan Jindaishi yanjiusuo dang’an guan [Institute of Modern History Archives], file no. 17-23-01-72-04-044.
33 Yi Guansheng, “Guansheng Yuan shipin gongsi shilue,” 256–257.
34 Yu Shaoan and Xiao Yuzhu, “Neiqian Chongqing de Guanshengyuan,” 350–351.
35 Xian even argued that canned food could be supplied to starving peasants facing the annual period when “green and yellow cannot meet”: the season of scarcity during which the crops harvested the previous year were used up while new crops had yet to replace them. Xian Guansheng, “Guantou shipin shengchan hezuo zhi jingying,” 66.
36 Fu Runhua and Tang Yuesheng, Peidu gongshang nianjian, 190; Sun Guoda. Minzu gongye da, 82; and Chongqing shi dang’anguan and Chongqing shifan daxue, Zhongguo zhanshi shoudu dang’an wenxian, 636.
37 Cao Liming, “Chongqing Guanshengyuan shipin gongsi fazhan shi,” 12; and Zhang Gong and Mou Zhinian, Guomin zhengfu Chongqing peidu shi, 195.
38 Xian Guansheng, “Shipin gongye jiuguo,” 22.
39 Cheng Daosheng and Yu Shaoan, “Xian Guansheng yu Guanshengyuan,” 111.
40 The term sida jingang literally means “four guardians defending a Buddhist temple,” but when used as a nickname for the four most popular places, it had nothing to do with Buddhism. Wu Jisheng, Xindu jianwen lu, 173–174.
41 Zhang Gong and Mou Zhinian, Guomin zhengfu Chongqing peidu shi, 195.
42 Cheng Daosheng and Yu Shaoan, “Xian Guansheng yu Guanshengyuan,” 108.
43 Huang Yanpei, Huang Yanpei riji, 8: 26–27.
44 See Chen Kewen, Chen Kewen riji, 4: 350.
45 Cheng Daosheng and Yu Shaoan, “Xian Guansheng yu Guanshengyuan,” 108–109; Cao Liming, “Chongqing Guanshengyuan shipin gongsi fazhan shi,” 13. For the opening of the Yunnan branch, see Guanshengyuan gongsi [The Guansheng Garden Food Company], Dec. 1939-Jan. 1940, Zhongyang yanjiu yuan Jindaishi yanjiusuo dang’an guan, file no. 18-23-01-25-04-007.
46 For further discussion of the Nationalists’ wartime food saving campaigns, see Lee, “The Patriot’s Scientific Diet.”
47 For more on the Nationalists’ efforts to regulate social behavior and their antipathetic stance toward consumerist prosperity, see Wakeman, “Licensing Leisure”; and Zanasi, “Frugal Modernity,” 391–409.
48 Xiuzheng qudi dang zheng jun jiguan renyuan yanhui banfa,10; and Zhongyang ribao, Jun. 13, 1942.
49 Feichang shiqi Sichuan sheng geshixian qidi yanhui ji xianzhi jiushi zanxing banfa [A Measure to prohibit banquets and control parties where alcohol is consumed during the emergency period], Sep. 1942, Guomindang dangshiguan [Guomindang Party Archives], Guofang dang’an [National Defense Archives], Fang 003/2094.
50 Yun, “Cong qudi yanhui shuodao pingzhe wujia,” 33.
51 Chang, Inflationary Spiral; and Young, China’s Wartime Finance and Inflation.
52 Lary, The Chinese People at War, 122–123.
53 Yun, “Cong qudi yanhui shuodao pingzhe wujia,” 33.
54 Liu Rong, “Guonan shiqi ying tingzhi yanhui,” 15.
55 Feichang shiqi Sichuan sheng geshixian qudi yanhui ji xianzhi jiushi zanxing banfa, Guomindang dangshiguan, Guofang dang’an, Fang 003/2094.
56 Zou Yinqiao, “Tang Yi qiren,” 68.
57 Ibid., 57.
58 Dagongbao, May 18, 1942.
59 Xu Wancheng, Kangzhan ba nian Chongqing huaxu, 15.
60 Zhongyang ribao, Sep. 7, 1941; and Guanyu guiding ge daxiao canting yingye [Regarding the Regulation of Restaurant Business in all scales], Mar. 10, 1943, Chongqing shi dang’anguan [Chongqing Municipal Archives], file no. 0061-0015-01590-0000.
61 Cheng Daosheng and Yu Shaoan, “Xian Guansheng yu Guanshengyuan,” 110–111.
62 Mitter, Forgotten Ally, 276 and 351.
63 Peck, Two Kinds of Time, 610.
64 Cheng Daosheng and Yu Shaoan, “Xian Guansheng yu Guanshengyuan,” 111.
65 Guanyu guoji jihui canting ji yinshibu canshi xiaofei xianzhi banfa [Measures on Controlling Food in Restaurants and Auxiliary Eatery Departments in the Case of International Gatherings], Aug. 31, 1943, Chongqing shi dang’anguan, file no. 0053-0004-00304-0000.
66 Guanyu hecha Zhong-Han wenhua xiehui sheli yinshibu qingxing de xunling [Regarding the Investigation of the Auxiliary Eatery Department of the China-Korea Cultural Association], Nov. 27, 1943, Chongqing shi dang’anguan, file no. 0060-0009-00041-0100.
67 Dagongbao, Mar. 11, 1943; and Cheng Daosheng and Yu Shaoan, “Xian Guansheng yu Guanshengyuan,” 111.
68 Peck, Two Kinds of Time, 481.
69 Guanyu guiding Guansheng Yuan jieyong wenhua tuanti mingyi [Regarding the Guansheng Garden’s Use of the Title of “Cultural Association”], Jan. 11, 1944, Chongqing shi dang’anguan, file no. 0060-0009-00041-0100.
70 Guanyu Mengjun zhi you she shitang [Regarding the Opening of a Restaurant by the Allied Troop Friendship Association], Jun. 16, 1944, Chongqing shi dang’anguan, file no. 0064-0008-02529-0000.
71 Guanyu zengshe wuting, canting, jiuba deng [Regarding More Construction of Dance Halls, Restaurants, and Bars], Jun. 8, 1945, Chongqing shi dang’anguan, file no. 0053-0010-00052-0000; Guanyu Xinshenghuo julebu zengshe chayuan wuting deng [Regarding the Construction of the New Life Movement Club Café and Dance Hall], Apr. 4, 1946, Chongqing shi dang’anguan, file no. 053-0010-00052-0200.
72 Jiang Jingyuan, Zhongguo minzhu dangpai renwu lu, 184.
73 Hu Ziying, “Pingjiami famei de gushi.”
74 Ibid.
75 “Pingjiami zhong de gubai shui.”
76 Ibid.
77 Dagongbao, Jun. 2, 1942; Guanyu bugao yanjin nongmin zai miliang nei chanza baizi de xunling [Regarding the Strict Ban on Peasant Adulteration of Their Rice and Grain], Jul. 10, 1942, Chongqing shi dang’anguan, file no. 0070-0002-00187-0000.
78 “Zuidi xiandu de kongsu.” This newspaper article is clipped in Yanjin shipin chanza yi bao guomin shenti jiankang [Regarding the Strict Ban on Adulteration in Order to Protect Public Health], Mar. 17, 1943, Guoshiguan, file no. 119000006815A.
79 This resolution was adopted at the First Plenary Session of the Third PPC Convention in October 1942. Yanjin shipin chanza yi bao guomin shenti jiankang an [Cracking Down on the Adulteration of Foodstuffs in Order to Safeguard Public Health] (Date is not identified), Guoshiguan, file no. 0140003010085.
80 Qing zhengfu yanli jinzhi miliang jiaza baizi shashi yi weichi minzu jiankang [A Petition to the Authorities to Preserve National Health by Cracking Down on Grain Adulteration with Chaff and Sand] (Date is not identified), Guoshiguan, file no.119000006815A.
81 Ibid.
82 Su Zhiliang, Qu Dahoufang, 390.
83 Li, Echoes of Chongqing, 43.
84 Wang Suzhen, Yi cun shanhe yi cun xue shiwan qingnian shiwan jun, 279.
85 As cited in Howard, “The Politicization of Women Workers,” 1914.
86 Xinhua ribao, Apr. 25, 1943.
87 Xinhua ribao, Apr. 3, 1944; and Xinhua ribao, Mar. 29, 1945.
88 Xinhua ribao, Jul. 9, 1945.
89 Guanyu qudi Yu shi ziyou shichang shanmi heishi [Regarding the Free-Market and Black-Market Trading in Mountain Rice in Chongqing], Mar. 31, 1944, Chongqing shi dang’anguan, file no.0053-0030-0165-0000; and Guanyu qudi ge mi shichang taogou mi ji heishi mi [Banning Illegal and Black-Market Transactions in Rice], Oct. 5, 1944, Chongqing shi dang’anguan, file no. 0053-0030-0167-0000.
90 Xinhua ribao, Mar. 19, 1944.
91 Ibid.
92 Su Zhiliang, Qu Dahoufang, 390.
93 Qinghe kangzhan shengli ji guoqing [Regarding the National Celebration of Victory], Aug. 1945, Guoshiguan, file no. 020000006126A.
94 Zhang Gong and Mou Zhinian, Guomin zhengfu Chongqing peidu shi, 528–529.
95 Qinghe kangzhan shengli ji guoqing, Aug. 1945, Guoshiguan, 020000006126A.
96 Pepper, Civil War in China, 36.
97 Zun Wen, “Fandui yanhui zhengzhi,” 50–51.
98 Dagongbao, Nov. 13, 1946; and Shenbao, Nov. 20, 1946.
99 Renmin ribao, Feb. 3, 1947; and Renmin ribao, Feb. 16, 1947.
100 Jin Chongji, Zhuanzhe niandai, 172–173; and Pepper, Civil War in China, 58.
101 Westad, Decisive Encounters, 151–152; and Eastman, Seeds of Destruction, 158.
102 Chang, Inflationary Spiral, 350.
103 Zhonggong Beijing shiwei dangshi yanjiu shi, Fan ji’e fan neizhan yundong ziliao huibian; and Wasserstrom, Student Protests in Twentieth-Century China, 263–266.
104 Yuan, “Da houfang de teshu jieji.”
105 Hu Ziying, “Hu Ziying de hua,” 1: 418.
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Seung-Joon LEE
Seung-joon LEE is a historian and associate professor in the Department of History at National University of Singapore. He is the author of Gourmets in the Land of Famine: The Culture and Politics of Rice in Modern Canton (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2011) and many other articles on modern Chinese history. He is currently working on a book manuscript, “Revolutions at the Canteens,” exploring labor and management, the politics of the working-class diet, and food entitlement in twentieth-century China.