Hanjian
| Hanjian | |||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Traditional Chinese | 漢奸 | ||||||||||||||||
| Simplified Chinese | 汉奸 | ||||||||||||||||
| Literal meaning | Chinese traitor | ||||||||||||||||
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In Chinese culture, a Hanjian is a derogatory and pejorative term for a race traitor to the Han Chinese nation or state, and to a lesser extent, Han ethnicity. The word Hanjian is distinct from the general word for traitor, which could be used for any race or country. As a Chinese term, it is a digraph of the Chinese character for "Han" and "traitor".
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[edit] History
During the Qing Dynasty, the Han Chinese were the majority of the population but the Qing Dynasty was founded by the Manchus. Initially, the Qing government used the term to name Han Chinese who rebelled against Manchu rule. During the late Qing period, anti-Manchu nationalists used the term for Hans who collaborated with the Qing government and thus were traitors of the Han people.[1] The word was often used retroactively for historical Han traitors, such as Wu Sangui, who opened the gates of Shanhai Pass because of mistreatment of his family and his concubine Chen Yuanyuan at the hands of the peasant rebels led by Li Zicheng (the peasant rebels were Han Chinese, but Wu decided to ally with the Manchus).
During the Second Sino-Japanese War, the National Revolutionary Army was defeated in various battles by the Imperial Japanese Army. Chiang Kai-shek explained that Hanjian espionage helped the Japanese and ordered CC Clique commander Chen Lifu to arrest the Hanjians.[2] 4,000 were arrested in Shanghai[3] and 2,000 in Nanjing.[4] Because martial law was enforced, formal trials were not necessary, and the condemned were executed swiftly, while thousands of men, women and children watched with evident approval.[5]
The pro-Japan collaborationist government in Nanjing led by Wang Jingwei during the war is considered to be Hanjian by the Chinese, as are individuals from Taiwan who fought in the Imperial Japanese Army against China and the Allies. The word also came to be used in the Chinese legal system: the Republic of China (ROC) enacted Regulations Regarding Punishment of Hanjian (1938) and Regulations [on] Dealing with Hanjian (1945). The People's Republic of China (PRC) ratified a Direction for the Confiscation of Properties of War Criminals, Hanjian, Bureaucratic Capitalists and Anti-Revolutionaries.[citation needed]
After the Sook Ching Massacre in Singapore and Malaya during World War II, prominent Chinese Singaporean industrialist and philanthropist Tan Kah Kee proposed to the provisional ROC government to treat all Chinese who attempted to negotiate with the Japanese as Hanjian. His proposal was adopted by the Second Legislative Yuan and was lauded as "the best proposal in the world"[citation needed] by the Chinese resistance who fought against the Japanese.
During the Cold War, the People's Republic of China classified Chinese citizens who collaborated with a hostile foreign power as Hanjian.
[edit] Notable people labelled Hanjian
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- Qin Hui: premier of the Southern Song Dynasty who preached appeasement towards aggressions from the Jurchens of the Jin Dynasty; played an important role in the death of general Yue Fei, who is seen as a patriotic hero by the Chinese
- Wu Sangui: Ming Dynasty general who guarded Shanhai Pass. He guided the armies of the Manchus into China after the rebel leader Li Zicheng ended the Ming Dynasty and abducted his concubine Chen Yuanyuan. He later commanded the Manchu invasion and personally executed the Yongli Emperor of the exiled Southern Ming Dynasty in a display of loyalty to the Manchus.
- Wang Kemin: collaborated with the Japanese during World War II; established by the Japanese as the puppet Provisional Government of the Republic of China or North China Autonomous Government; classified and arrested by the Nationalist Government as a national traitor; committed suicide.
- Demchugdongrub (De Wang): Collaborated with the Japanese; established by the Japanese Army as the head of state of government of Inner Mongolia. Classified by the Nationalist Government as a national traitor.[citation needed] However, since Dewang was not a Chinese but a Mongol, naming him a Hanjian is problematic.
- Wang Jingwei: advocated peace negotiation during the Second Sino-Japanese War. Set up the Nanjing "Nationalist Government" puppet state with the assistance of the Japanese.
- Zhou Fohai: second-in-charge of the Wang Jingwei government Executive Yuan.
- Chen Gongbo: head of the Legislative Yuan of the Wang Jingwei government.
- Kawashima Yoshiko: Also known as "the Eastern Jewel", she was born a Manchu princess, given to and raised by Japanese and executed as a Japanese spy and Chinese traitor by the Kuomintang after the Second Sino-Japanese War. She has been featured in numerous Chinese and Japanese novels, films, television programs, and video games, with Chinese frequently portraying her as a wanton villainess and seductress and Japanese portraying her as a tragic heroine. It is debatable whether or not she is Chinese and hence qualify as a Hanjian.
- Koo Hsien-jung: Betrayed the pro-Qing Republic of Formosa (Taiwan) and led the Imperial Japanese Army to capture Taipei in 1895. The Koo family became wealthy and influential during the Japanese colonization and continues to be one of the most powerful business and political families in Taiwan, with members living and operating in both Taiwan and Japan.[6]
[edit] Modern usage
Because of the dominance of Han culture in China, Han and Chinese are virtually equivalent to each other. Therefore, in the modern context of this word, a Hanjian is one who is a traitor to Chinese, whether the political, geographical or cultural concept, and is not necessarily limited to Han Chinese.
A Hanjian is more specific than simply any traitor in that since a Hanjian would need to collaborate with an external power that is not Han or Chinese to be considered one. Theoretically, in civil wars there would not be any Hanjian, but in reality both sides of the Chinese Civil War accused each other of being Hanjian, for the Americans and for the Soviets. As such, an accusation that someone is a Hanjian is much stronger than an accusation of being simply a traitor.[citation needed]
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
[edit] Footnotes
- ^ Pamela Kyle Crossley, A Translucent Mirror: History and Identity in Qing Imperial Ideology (Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 1999), 337.
- ^ Yomiuri Shimbun, September 14, 1937 page 7
- ^ Yomiuri Shimbun, September 15, 1937 second evening issue, page 1
- ^ Gahō Yakushin no Nippon, December 1, 1937
- ^ The New York Times August 30, 1937 page 3
- ^ Lindy Yeh. The Koo family: a century in Taiwan. Taipei Times, April 15, 2002.
