US attitudes towards China before and after the Washington Conference based on US mainstream media reports

ABSTRACT

The problems China faced in the world order after World War I and the position and measures China took in the tussling between Western countries needs to be analyzed not only using historical records in Chinese and from the perspective of China itself; researchers should also consult foreign documents to determine the attitudes and ways of thinking of other countries, so as to reflect on the choices China needed to make and the roles that Western countries played at that time. Only in so doing can we fully understand how much space and strength China then had to strive for its rights in the international arena. This article examines the social basis of the attitude and policies of the United States (US) towards China in the period between the May Fourth Movement (1919) and the Washington Conference (1921–1922) by focusing on reports on China in the US mainstream media, including the New York Times, the Christian Science Monitor, the Washington Post, and the Los Angeles Times. The US government’s attitude towards China was determined by the interests of the United States, the Far East, and the other countries of the world. However, the US mainstream media’s reports on China also reflected the values of American society and popular sympathy for China’s destiny. When discussing how to support China, the US media distinguished between support for the Chinese government and support for the Chinese people on the way to democracy and governance by law. In this case, the media reflected different views on how to assist China.

KEYWORDS:

• Washington Conference
• US media
• US attitudes towards China
• resolution of the Shandong question

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Glossary

Anfu julebu	=	安福俱乐部
Anhui	=	安徽
Beijing (Peking)	=	北京
Duan Qirui	=	段祺瑞
Fengtian	=	奉天
Jiaoji	=	胶济
Shandong (Shantung)	=	山东
Wang Yitang	=	王揖唐
Wang Zhengting	=	王正廷
Wu Peifu	=	吴佩孚
Xu Shuzheng	=	徐树铮
Zeng Yujun	=	曾毓隽
Zhang Zuolin	=	张作霖
Zhili	=	直隶

Notes

¹ For an overview of the research on Sino-American relations in the 1920s, including the Washington Conference, see Wang Di, “Jinnian Meiguo guanyu jindai Zhong Mei guanxi de yanjiu,” 170–183. This overview mainly focuses on American scholarly research on diplomatic history. Chapter 2 of Wang Lixin’s book Chouchu de baquan reviews the Washington Conference from the perspective of American history. Despite its economic strength, the United States refused to act as a hegemonic world power, and thus collective international security was not established, which resulted in an unstable international system. Chinese issues, however, are not the focus of Wang’s discussion. The materials he uses are mainly official historical documents rather than media reports.

² Treat, “How We Can Help China,” 412–415.

³ “Friends of China Distrust Japan,” 4.

⁴ Ibid.

⁵ For more details about this, see Dower, War without Mercy.

⁶ Hunt, “Jap Grip is on China,” 11.

⁷ Ibid.

⁸ “Tokyo Statement,” 2.

⁹ Treat, “How We Can Help China,” 412–415.

¹⁰ “Consortium Loan for China Opposed,” 16.

¹¹ Ibid.

¹² Ibid.

¹³ Ibid.

¹⁴ Treat, “How We Can Help China,” 412–415.

¹⁵ “Awakening,” 1.

¹⁶ “Americans Urged to Study China,” 2.

¹⁷ Ibid.

¹⁸ “China and America,” 14.

¹⁹ “The ABC’s of Disarmament,” 11.

²⁰ Ibid.

²¹ Ibid.

²² Ibid.

²³ Ibid.

²⁴ Gu Weijun, Gu Weijun huiyilu, 227.

²⁵ “Protest China Is Being ‘Flimflammed’,” 1.

²⁶ See Gu Weijun, Gu Weijun huiyilu, 217–226.

²⁷ “China Bitter in Protests,” 112.

²⁸ Fox, “21 Demands Issue Remains,” 1, 5.

²⁹ Gu Weijun, Gu Weijun huiyilu, 223–224.

³⁰ Fox, “21 Demands Issue Remains,” 1, 5.

³¹ Fairbank, The United States and China, 402.

³² Hunt, Special Relationship, 217–225.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Di WANG

WANG Di is a Distinguished Professor at University of Macau. His representative works include The Teahouse under Socialism: The Decline and Renewal of Public Life in Chengdu, 1950–2000 (Cornell University Press, 2018. Winner of the Best Book Award for 2019 from the Urban History Association); Violence and Order on the Chengdu Plain: The Story of a Secret Brotherhood in Rural China, 1939–1949 (Stanford University Press, 2018); The Teahouse: Small Business, Everyday Culture, and Public Politics in Chengdu, 1900–1950 (Stanford University Press, 2008); Street Culture in Chengdu: Public Space, Urban Commoners, and Local Politics, 1870–1930 (Stanford University Press, 2003. Winner of the Best Book Award for 2005 from the Urban History Association).