Guangdong (in red)

Cantonese nationalism is a political movement which supports the independence of Guangdong or Cantonese-majority areas (Guangdong with Guangxi and, sometimes, Hong Kong and Macau) from China. Proponents of this movement seek to establish a sovereign state or an autonomous entity that recognizes the distinct cultural and linguistic identity of the Cantonese people.

Historically, the roots of this sentiment can be traced back to reformist ideas proposed by figures such as Kang Youwei and his disciples, including Ou Jujia. Although initial followers of Kang later retracted their separatist positions, Ou Jujia, in his work "New Guangdong," articulated a vision for a self-governing "Guangdong for the Cantonese." Anthropologist and historian Melissa J. Brown states in the book Does Taiwan belong to China?, "Sinification is a basic assumption in the development of Chinese civilization. It support the concept of" "China" as a nation entity ". She mentioned that this movement can be used to raise deeper questions about Chinese nationalism’s colonial behavior, and she believed that Taiwan independence would challenge those belonging to China, including Guangdong.

After the Wuchang Uprising of Hubei in 1911, various circles in Guangdong "planned Guangdong self-independence." On November 9, Guangdong Counseling Bureau announced Guangdong's independence from Qing. The gentry class in Guangdong had tasted the taste of modern political participation in the reform of the Advisory Council in the late Qing Dynasty. For them, the Xinhai Revolution was an opportunity for them to lead the practice of Guangdong's independence.[1]

History

During a more violent period of the Xinhai Revolution, Ci Xi appointed Li Hongzhang as Viceroy of Zhili and Beiyang Minister. Li Hongzhang realized that the government of the Qing dynasty might begin to develop in a direction beneficial to the main party and decided to change his attitude.[2] Before leaving, he first arrived by boat from Guangzhou to visit Hong Kong Governor Buli, and made a statement to the Hong Kong government.[3]

During the conversation, Bu Li told Li Hongzhang: "I think that considering the current situation in North China, the moment is a good opportunity for the two Guangdong and Guangxi to separate from the Qing court. We should be ready to protect our interests" [4]

After the failure of the Guangdong-Guangzhou Independence Plan, He Qi continued to try to persuade Hong Kong and Britain about his ideas and plans for the transformation of the Chinese dynasty. On July 21, He Qi reported that Bu Li supported the establishment of a republic in South China. On August 1, He published an article based on the political platform in the English newspaper Dechen West [5]

Respondents from Guangdong and overseas Chinese in Japan, "more than 200 participants".[6] The sponsors of the organization also visited Sun Wen, who was living in Yokohama at the time to discuss ways to raise money. The cooperation between Guangdong students studying in Japan and Xingzhong Association began.[7]

In 1903, one year after the start of "New Guangdong", Hunan anti-Qing people studying in Japan Yang Yulin (Changsha people) published a page called "New Hunan". Yang Yulin's argument was deeply influenced by Ou Jujia. Qia also advocated the dissolution of Ministry of China.[8]

On May 8, 1905, the Qing Military Division sent a letter to the provincial governors to strictly ban "New Guangdong", "New Hunan", and "Xin Min Cong Bao" that promoted reform or revolution.[9]

At the onset of the Xinhai Revolution, key members of the Guangdong Alliance, including Chen Jiongming, Deng Jun, and Peng Ruihai, instigated uprisings within the civil armies across Guangdong. On November 9, under Chen Jiongming's leadership, forces reclaimed Huizhou. Concurrently, the province proclaimed its independence, leading to the establishment of the Guangdong Military Government of the nascent Republic of China. On January 1, 1912, the Republic of China was established, and Guangdong Province became a province in the Republic of China. In the early years of the Republic of China Guangdong Province drafted the "Guangdong Provincial Draft". This is inspired by the idea of autonomous provinces. The draft passed by the Guangdong Provincial Assembly on December 19, 1921. However, this proposal for the future planning of Guangdong Province did not receive sufficient support, and it was aborted as the Soviet forces intervened in the Far East and the KMT and the Communist Party went northward.[10]

In Culture

Between 1902 and 04, Ou Yujia published an improved Cantonese opera script "Huang Xiaoyang Huihui" (full name "New Bunkan Banben Huang Xiaoyang Huitou") under the pseudonym "New Guangdong Wusheng" in New Novels. The play clearly promotes the idea of Guangdong independence in "New Guangdong", and dramatizes the independent strategy proposed by Os's "New Guangdong". The protagonist Huang Chongqiang is the reincarnation of Huang Xiaoyang, the leader of the Guangdong peasant uprising in the Ming Dynasty. The title of the play has the so-called "turning back", that is, reincarnation. Ou Yujia used the folk songs of "Nine Cows Float on the Water, Xiao Yang Turns Back" and "Big Stone Sinks to the Bottom, White Goose Floats, Thirty Years Later, Xiao Yang Turns Back" to achieve the purpose of propaganda. The plot of this play is that Huang Chongqiang led everyone to lead Guangdong to independence, and Huang Chongqiang Zhong advocated that "the future independence of Guangdong depends on the Si people." Ou Yujia even echoed the Philippine War of Independence at that time, in which Aguinaldo finally decided to bury the national policy of "protecting the independence and autonomy of Guangdong, China".[11][12]

Japanese right-wing writer Masahiro Miyazaki conceived the plot of South China's division under the Sino-Japanese conflict in his 1999 military novel "China's Guangdong Army Uprising".[13]The plot follows after Deng Xiaoping's death, with the turmoil in China leading the successor Li Bingzhang's regime to decide to expand Taiwan, the South China Sea and India to divert the contradictions, and the withdrawal of US troops from Japan also led to a full-scale crisis in Japan. The protagonist of the novel is a Japanese female painter who travels to Kashmir to meet a secret organization that cooperates with the triad to support the independence of Guangdong and Tibet. China was plunged into chaos, which led to war clouds in East Asia at the end of the century.

Japanese novelist Mori mentions Guangdong independence in two of his works. In his military novel The New Japan-China War published in 1995–2003, Morinaka writes about a plot involving Deng Xiaoping's internal power struggle in China leading to regional conflict, with Cantonese independence playing a role.[14] Mori's later military novel The New Japan-China War-The Century of the Raging Waves which is written in the fictional 2020s, this movement is featured also.[15]

Chinese dissident writer Wang Lixiong's novel The Yellow Peril depicts the independence of the southeastern coastal provinces, including Guangdong, from Beijing in order to protect their own interests as a result of the internal power struggle in the People's Republic of China. This eventually led to the Chinese Civil War, which eventually spread into a global war[16]

In terms of computer games, Republic of China Warriors, a turn-based strategy game set in the Republic of China, allows players to choose from various modern powers in Greater China, including Cantonese, Tibetan, Manchukuo and the Second East Turkistan Republic. The game is set in 1925, 1935, and 1946 in East Asia, and players can choose any faction when they enter. In the 1925 script, as in history, the Nationalist Government was about to break out into war with the Cantonese system of Chen Jiongming in eastern Guangdong. The game's designers allowed Cantonese players to carry out historically altering operations, such as unifying East Asia, unifying China, inter-provincial autonomy, achieving financial monopoly, or establishing an independent "Republic of Guangdong". If the player chooses to build a country as the victory goal, the "Republic of Guangdong" will eventually join the United Nations after the war. [17] The Ministry of Culture of the People's Republic of China banned the game a month before it was released, on the grounds that it seriously affected national cultural security.

Social impact

At the working conference of the CPC Central Committee in April 1979, Xi Zhongxun, then the first secretary of the Guangdong Provincial Committee, raised hope that the central government would delegate power to Guangdong Province. Hua Guofeng, presiding over the meeting, wondered what power Xi wanted. Xi said on the spot, "For Guangdong is an 'independent country', it may take up in a few years. Under the current system, it will not be easy." This speech caused a great response at the meeting.[18]

On September 11, 2008, Southern Metropolis Daily published a full-page report titled "If Guangdong is an Independent Economy". The article stated, "Let's imagine that if Guangdong is a country. If we try to observe China in a new way from the viewpoint of outsiders, and if China's provinces are regarded as independent countries, Guangdong will become the 14th largest economy in the world."[19]

See also

References

  1. ↑ Xu Ceng En (2017). 《香港，鬱躁的家邦：本土觀點的香港源流史》 (in Chinese (China)). Left Shore Culture. p. 237.
  2. ↑ Junming (2011). Die xue nan guo : Xin hai ge ming zai Guangdong (in Afrikaans). Guangzhou Shi: Guangdong ren min chu ban she. ISBN 978-7-218-07223-4. OCLC 760054723.
  3. ↑ China, Britain and Hong Kong, 1895-1945. Chinese University Press. 1990.
  4. ↑ Chinese Business Groups in Hong Kong and Political Change in South China, 1900-25. Palgrave Macmillan. 1998.
  5. ↑ 《中华民国革命秘史》 (in Chinese (China)). 广东人民出版社. 1981.
  6. ↑ Fong Zi You. 《华侨革命开国史》 (in Chinese (China)).
  7. ↑ Fong Zi You (1939). 《革命逸史》 (in Chinese (China)). 上海: 商务印书馆.
  8. ↑ 《杨毓麟集》 (in Chinese (China)). Yao Lin Publisher. 2008. p. 26. ISBN 9787807611097.
  9. ↑ Xiao Xiao Hong. "《新广东》：从政治到文学". Xue Shu: 108–126.
  10. ↑ Liu De Hua; Liu Xueling. "辛亥前期欧榘甲革命自立主张探析——以《新广东》为中心". 南方职业教育学刊: 40–47.
  11. ↑ Sun, Bai. "《黃蕭養回頭》作者為歐榘甲考―兼論歐榘甲在前期《新小說》作者群中的重要地位". Journal of Drama and Arts (in Cantonese): 29–35.
  12. ↑ Xia, Xiaohong. "《新廣東》：從政治到文學". Academic Monthly (in Cantonese): 108–126.
  13. ↑ Masahiro Miyazaki (1995). 《中国広東軍、叛乱す!》 (in Japanese). ISBN 978-4576950846.
  14. ↑ Mori (1996). 《新・日本中国戦争〈第4部〉中国分裂》 (in Japanese). ISBN 9784054006805.
  15. ↑ Mori (2017). 《新編 日本中国戦争 怒濤の世紀 第十一部 中国崩壊》 (in Japanese). 文芸社. ISBN 9784286183930.
  16. ↑ Wang, Lixiong (2016). 《黃禍》 (in Chinese). Locus Publishing Company.
  17. ↑ "粵系-民國無雙官方網站". ChengLap (in Cantonese). Archived from the original on 2019-03-25. Retrieved 2020-01-04.
  18. ↑ "习仲勋：如果广东是个"独立国家"早就搞上去了". Forth Month Web. 2013-01-31. Archived from the original on 2017-08-31. Retrieved 2020-05-09.
  19. ↑ "假如广东是独立经济体 经济总量位列世界第14". SCMP. Retrieved 2008-09-11.
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