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Abstract
In the wake of the 1955 Asian-African Conference in Bandung, Indonesia, China’s Communist government developed close relations with Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser. China’s conciliatory diplomacy toward Egypt and other non-communist countries in the Arab world has long intrigued historians, who have interpreted this campaign as a way to break out of diplomatic isolation and gain political influence in the Middle East. Such an interpretation neglects the relevance of Sino-Egyptian relations to Chinese domestic politics, especially the Communist Party’s interest in incorporating Muslims into its vision of the Chinese nation. By using relations with Egypt to present China as a staunch supporter of global Islam, the government encouraged all its citizens—and Muslims in particular—to reaffirm their allegiance to Chinese nationalism and the Communist government that championed it.
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Notes
1 Li Zhenzhong, “Niluo hepan (The Nile River),” Yisilan wenhua yanjiu (Islam Culture Study), Henan Province Social Science Academy Center for Islamic Cultural Studies (2006), 12–14.
2 For a description of how Zhou and Nasser spent at least some of their leisure time together in Bandung, as observed by an American attendee of the Conference, see Diary of Homer Jack, April 24, 1955, Papers of Homer A. Jack, Series VI, Box 16, Swarthmore College Peace Collection, Swarthmore, PA.
3 According to the official Chinese plan for the Bandung Conference, Zhou was to avoid mentioning communism at all, except in the context of explaining how China had achieved domestic economic and social reforms since 1949. See “Canjia yafei huiyi de fang’an (Plan for participating in the Asian-African Conference),” April 5, 1955, in Zhonghua renmin gongheguo waijiao dang’an xuanbian, Zhongguo daibiaotuan chuxi 1955 nian yafei huiyi (The Chinese delegation attends the 1955 Asian-African Conference) (Beijing: Shijie zhishi chubanshe, 2006), 41–44.
4 In May 1955, immediately following the Bandung Conference, the Chinese government invited the Egyptian Minister of Pious Endowments, Ahmad Hasan al-Baquri, to tour China. The Chinese Foreign Ministry understood that al-Baquri intended to investigate the plight of China’s Muslims and report back to Nasser. See the Foreign Ministry’s report on al-Baquri and Mustafa Kamil’s visit to Guangzhou, May 24, 1955, 107-00007-04, Zhongguo Waijiaobu Dang’anguan (Chinese Foreign Ministry Archives; hereafter CFMA).
5 Most of the Muslims who were directly involved in China’s diplomatic efforts in the Middle East were members of the Hui minzu. Nevertheless, while the Chinese government always distinguished between its ten Muslim minzus, it also formulated consistent policies toward Muslims as a whole and strove to involve all Muslims in the China Islamic Association. Consequently, this article refers to Chinese Muslims as a group rather than distinguishing between the various Muslim minzus.
6 Chung-tai Hung, “The Anti-Unity Sect Campaign and Mass Mobilization in the Early People’s Republic of China,” The China Quarterly, vol. 202 (2010); Julia C. Strauss, “Paternalist Terror: The Campaign to Suppress Counterrevolutionaries and Regime Consolidation in the People’s Republic of China, 1950–1953,” Comparative Studies in Society and History, vol. 44 (2002); Jeremy Brown, “From Resisting Communists to Resisting America: Civil War and Korean War in Southwest China, 1950–51,” in Dilemmas of Victory, ed. Jeremy Brown and Paul G. Pickowicz (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 2007), 125; Chen Jian, Mao’s China and the Cold War (Chapel Hill, NC: University of North Carolina Press, 2001), 169–73.
7 Chen Jian, “Bridging Revolution and Decolonization: The ‘Bandung Discourse’ in China’s Early Cold War Experience,” The Chinese Historical Review, vol. 15 (2008), 208–09. Chen specifically took issue with Shu Guang Zhang’s “Constructing ‘Peaceful Coexistence’: China’s Diplomacy toward the Geneva and Bandung Conferences, 1954–55,” Cold War History, vol. 7, no. 4 (November 2007): 509–28.
8 Eren Murat Tasar, “Soviet and Muslim: The Institutionalization of Islam in Central Asia, 1943–1991” (PhD dissertation, Harvard University, 2010), ch. 5.
9 Yufeng Mao, “Sino-Muslims in Chinese Nation-building, 1906–1956” (PhD dissertation, George Washington University, 2007).
10 Ma Hanbing, “Aiji shibing de shengyin (An Egyptian soldier’s voice),” in Ma hanbing wenji (The collected works of Ma Hanbing) (Urumqi: Xinjiang renmin chubanshe, 1989), 29; originally published at the height of the Suez Crisis along with several other poems as Ma Hanbing, “Fang ai shi chao (Transcripts of poems written on a visit to Egypt),” Renmin Ribao, November 8, 1956, 8.
11 Ma Hanbing, “Niluo hepan (The Nile River),” in Ma hanbing wenji, 99–110; originally published as Ma Hanbing, “Niluo hepan,” Jiefangjun Bao (People’s Liberation Army Daily), November 13, 1956.
12 Ibid.
13 Ma Hanbing, “Aiji renmin de chuntian (The spring of the Egyptian people),” in Ma hanbing wenji, 24–25.
14 Ma Hanbing, “Women huijianle nasai’er (We met Nasser),” in Ma hanbing wenji, 26.
15 Bao’erhan, “Zhongjindong geguo renmin dui woguo renmin de youyi (The friendship of the people of each country in the Near and Middle East toward our country’s people),” in Bao’erhan xuanji (Selected writings of Bao’erhan) (Beijing: Minzu chubanshe, 1989), 59–63; originally published as Bao’erhan, “Zhongjindong renmin dui woguo renmin you zhe shenhou de youyi (The people of the Near and Middle East have toward our country a deep friendship),” Renmin Ribao, March 16, 1957, 2.
16 Ibid., 61.
17 Bao’erhan, “Yafei wuguo fangwen ji (Recollections from visits to five Asian and African countries),” in Bao’erhan xuanji, 51.
18 Ma Hanbing, “Aiji shibing de shengyin.”
19 Ma Hanbing, “Niluo hepan.”
20 Bao’erhan, “Zhongjindong geguo renmin dui woguo renmin de youyi” and “Yafei wuguo fangwen ji.”
21 Bao’erhan, “Yafei wuguo fangwen ji,” 61.
22 For a concise description of the treatment of the Chinese hajj delegation in the Middle East, see Bao’erhan’s “Zhongjindong geguo renmin dui woguo renmin de youyi,” especially page 61. Renmin Ribao printed dozens of articles throughout summer and autumn 1956 about the delegation; one representative article is “Bao’erhan zai kailuo qunzhong dahui shang xuanbu: quan zhongguo musilin zhichi aiji renmin de douzheng (Bao’erhan declares at a mass meeting in Cairo: all Chinese Muslims support the struggle of the Egyptian people),” Renmin Ribao, August 14, 1956, 1.
23 Ma Jian, “Zhongguo yu alabo youjiu de chuantong youyi guanxi (Established traditional friendly relations between China and the Arabs),” Renmin Ribao, August 15, 1956, 7.
24 Bao’erhan, “Yafei wuguo fangwen ji,” 61.
25 Bao’erhan, “Fa kan ci (Publisher’s note for the first issue),” Zhongguo Musilin (Chinese Muslims), October 1957, 2.
26 Ibid.
27 Ma Jian, “Zhongguo yu alabo geguo zhijian you gulao you nianqing de youyi (Both old and young friendships between China and each Arab country),” Zhongguo Musilin, January 1958, 23–26.
28 See for example Wang Shu, “Jianjue baowei minzu duli de xuliya (Resolutely protect the national independence of Syria),” Zhongguo Musilin, December 1957, 23–25; Pei Min, “Zhongjindong guojia de minzu jiefang yundong (The national liberation movements of the countries in the Near and Middle East),” Zhongguo Musilin, October 1957, 26–28; Wang Shiqing, “Zhuha quwen (An anecdote about Juha),” Zhongguo Musilin, October 1957, 16–17.
29 Wang Keqin, “Zhong’ai liangguo shenhou de youhao guanxi (Deep friendly relations between China and Egypt),” Zhongguo Musilin, November 1957, 25–27. In typical fashion, Wang reinforced Chinese nationalism by noting that Bao’erhan’s delegation was received in Cairo by crowds chanting “long live people’s China.”
30 Ma Jian, “Zhongguo yu alabo geguo zhijian you gulao you nianqing de youyi,” Zhongguo Musilin, January 1958, 26.
31 See Bao’erhan, “Fa kan ci,” Zhongguo Musilin, October 1957, as well as the monthly articles that introduced each Muslim minzu in turn. The China Islamic Association’s Qianjin zhong de zhongguo musilin (Chinese Muslims in progress) (Beijing: Minzu chubanshe, 1957) also declared that China’s Muslim minzus were distinct, but that they could be grouped together by virtue of their shared religion.
32 Ma Jian, “Zhongguo yu alabo geguo zhijian you gulao you nianqing de youyi,” Zhongguo Musilin, January 1958 made the most specific call for support for “Arab” causes, although this same logic permeated the many articles in 1957 and 1958 that focused on specific Arab countries such as Egypt or Syria.
33 Wang Shu, “Jianjue baowei minzu duli de xuliya,” Zhongguo Musilin, December 1957; Ma Jian, “Zhongguo yu alabo geguo zhijian you gulao you nianqing de youyi,” Zhongguo Musilin, January 1958; Wang Keqin, “Zhong’ai liangguo shenhou de youhao guanxi,” Zhongguo Musilin, November 1957. The Chinese government’s attitude to pan-Arab nationalism was somewhat inconsistent; by the time of the Iraqi Revolution of July 1958, the Chinese Foreign Ministry was generally willing to accept the idea that Arab countries aspired to some sort of unity and to voice its support for the Arab nationalist cause. See “Zhongdong xingshi ji kanfa (The situation in the Middle East and our view of it),” July 18, 1958, 107-00295-01, CFMA.
34 In particular, Jacob M. Landau, The Politics of Pan-Islam (Oxford: Clarendon, 1994) has emphasized the importance of central leadership (generally in the form of a Caliph) in pan-Islamist movements; obviously, any centralized authority over global Islam was anathema to the Chinese Communists.
35 Greg MacGregor, “Red China Warns London and Paris,” New York Times, November 4, 1956, 19; B.J. Cutler, “Egyptian Envoy Says 50,000 Russians Have ‘Volunteered,’” Washington Post, November 13, 1956, A3. Jung Chang and Jon Halliday, Mao, the Unknown Story (London: Jonathan Cape, 2005), 407 reported based on a conversation with Nasser’s confidant Muhammad Hasanayn Haykal that Nasser received Mao’s offer but did not seriously consider it. A wide array of newspaper articles and secondary sources related to the question of volunteers was analyzed in Daniel Galinko’s “Campaigning for Regional Leadership: The People’s Republic of China and the Middle East” (AM thesis, Harvard University, 2008), 20.
36 Telegram from Zhou Enlai to Gamal Abdel Nasser via the Egyptian embassy in Beijing, November 10, 1956, 107-00028-04, CFMA. Twenty million Swiss francs were worth approximately $4·6 million in 1956; adjusted for inflation, the Chinese financial support for Egypt works out to approximately $39 million in today’s currency.
37 Mahmoud Fawzi, Suez 1956: An Egyptian Perspective (London: Shorouk International, 1987), 13–17. Fawzi claimed that Zhou and Nasser spent a large amount of time together at the Bandung Conference. Fawzi called Zhou “soothing, though intensely interesting” and singled out the Chinese premier as one of the key figures in Bandung. According to Fawzi, “Bandung opened new vistas for Abdul Nasser” and gave him “a new injection of self-confidence and whetted his appetite for bold policies and for adventure”—clearly a reference to the risky decision to nationalize the Suez Canal the following year.
38 For example, one comprehensive recent analysis, Keith Kyle, Suez: Britain’s End of Empire in the Middle East (New York: I.B. Tauris Publishers, 2003), did not mention China at all. David Carlton, Britain and the Suez Crisis (Oxford: Basil Blackwell, 1988), 32 surmised only that the Egyptian recognition of Communist China was one of the factors that induced Dulles to block funding for the Aswan Dam. Similarly, a recent edited volume purporting to analyze the Suez Crisis from a “broad perspective” made no mention of China in any article. See David Tal, ed., The 1956 War: Collusion and Rivalry in the Middle East (London: Frank Cass, 2001), 11–12.
39 Chen Jiakang’s report on his meeting with Mahmoud Fawzi, August 2, 1956, 107-00057-04, CFMA.
40 Chen Jiakang’s report on his meeting with Abdel Hakim Amer, August 8, 1956, 107-00057-04, CFMA.
41 Response to a request for instructions regarding Egypt, August 11, 1956, 107-00028-04, CFMA.
42 Mao Zedong’s reply to Gamal Abdel Nasser, October 1956, 107-00021-02, CFMA.
43 Telegram from Zhou Enlai to Gamal Abdel Nasser via the Egyptian embassy in Beijing, November 10, 1956, 107-00028-04, CFMA.
44 Foreign Ministry circular regarding support for Egypt, November 15, 1956, 107-00057-05, CFMA.
45 Gansu sheng, lanzhou shi renmin zhiyuan aiji fankang qinlüe weiyuan hui gongzuo jihua (Working plan of the Lanzhou City, Gansu Province People’s Committee for Supporting Egypt’s Resistance of the Invasion), undated [November 1956], Gansu sheng dang’anguan (Gansu Provincial Archives; hereafter GPA).
46 “Zhiyuan aiji renmin ba qinlüezhe gan chuqu (Assist the Egyptian people in driving the invaders out),” Renmin Ribao, November 9, 1956, 1.
47 “Beijing, Shanghai, Tianjin gejie qun qing jifen (The masses from all walks of life in Beijing, Shanghai, and Tianjin are enraged),” Renmin Ribao, November 2, 1956, 4.
48 Working plan of the Lanzhou City, Gansu Province People’s Committee for Supporting Egypt’s Resistance of the Invasion, GPA.
49 Working report on the mass meeting of eighteen work units in Donggang District, Lanzhou, of the Lanzhou medical school and others in opposition to the Anglo-French invasion of Egypt, GPA.
50 “Zhiyuan aiji fankang ying fa qinlüe (Assist Egypt in resisting the Anglo-French invasion),” Renmin Ribao, November 4, 1956, 1.
51 A photograph showing the massive crowds present for that rally was distributed to Arab readers as the final page of the China Islamic Association’s Qianjin zhong de zhongguo musilin.
52 Shanghai shidi fanzhi bangongshi (Shanghai city and local area chronicle), translated and quoted at length in Daniel Galinko, “Campaigning for Regional Leadership: The People’s Republic of China and the Middle East,” 21.
53 “Shanghai People Protest Aggression against Egypt,” Survey of China Mainland Press (henceforth abbreviated SCMP), United States Consulate General, Hong Kong, 1405, November 1, 1956.
54 “Nation-wide Protests against Anglo-French Aggression,” “Peking Citizens Demonstrate in Support of Egypt,” “Support-Egypt Demonstrations in Peking Grow,” “Religious Prayers for Egypt,” “Chinese Workers Support Egyptian People,” SCMP 1406, November 2, 1956.
55 “Workers throughout China Support Egypt,” “Islamic Organizations Condemn Armed Aggression against Egypt,” “Chinese Muslims Support Egypt,” SCMP 1407, November 3, 1956.
56 “Gedi renmin jihui youxing zhiyuan aiji renmin de zhengyi douzheng (People from all places gather to march in support of the righteous struggle of the Egyptian people),” Renmin Ribao, November 4, 1956, 4.
57 “More Mass Meetings and Demonstrations in Support of Egypt,” SCMP 1407, November 5, 1956.
58 Working plan of the Lanzhou City, Gansu Province People’s Committee for Supporting Egypt’s Resistance of the Invasion, GPA.
59 Working report on the mass meeting of eighteen work units in Donggang District, Lanzhou, of the Lanzhou medical school and others in opposition to the Anglo-French invasion of Egypt, GPA.
60 “Zhiyuan aiji, fandui qinlüe, baowei heping: quanguo renmin tongsheng chize ying fa diguozhuyi zai zhongdong ran qi zhanhuo (Support Egypt, oppose the invasion, preserve peace: all of China’s people denounce with one voice the conflagration ignited by Anglo-French imperialism in the Middle East),” Renmin Ribao, November 6, 1956, 2.
61 “Gedi renmin jihui youxing zhiyuan aiji renmin de zhengyi douzheng,” Renmin Ribao, November 4, 1956.
62 Telegram sent to Nasser in support of Egypt, November 29, 1956, GPA.
63 Working report on the mass meeting of eighteen work units in Donggang District, Lanzhou, of the Lanzhou medical school and others in opposition to the Anglo-French invasion of Egypt, GPA.
64 “Mass Parade in Peking against Anglo-French Aggression on November 3,” SCMP 1407, November 3, 1956.
65 Chen Jian, Mao’s China and the Cold War, 202–03.
66 Dru C. Gladney, “Constructing a Contemporary Uighur National Identity: Transnationalism, Islamicization, and State Représentation,” Cahiers d’études sur la Méditerranée orientale et le monde turco-iranien, vol. 13 (1992), 171.