Turkey as a Role Model in Chinese Newspapers of 1920-1930s

Turkey as a Role Model in Chinese Newspapers of 1920-1930s Wang Sanyi (Ed.). (2021). The Road of Turkey: Research and Review of Chinese Scholars. Tianjin: Tianjin People’s Publishing House.

YE Zhangxu* Department of History, College of Liberal Arts, Shanghai University

BY THE 1920S, TURKEY SUCCESSFULLY of Chinese Scholars (2021), edited by Professor

transitioned from an empire to a republic, be- Wang Sanyi from the Center for Turkish Studies

coming a model of national independence and at Shanghai University, is a new contribution to

modernisation. This transformation inspired the limited work on this topic. The book con-

Chinese scholars in the late Qing Dynasty and tains 46 articles published in newspapers and

the Republic of China to publish articles in periodicals of 1920-1930s, including political

newspapers, translate foreign news, and compi- commentaries, translations, reports, and more.

le books on the Turkish revolution and reform. It focuses primarily on the four important stages

They introduced Turkey and Mustafa Kemal of Turkey’s national independence and national

Ataturk’s historical achievements to the Chinese rejuvenation: the Turkish Revolution of 1908,

public. This not only reflected the Chinese pub- the Collapse of the Ottoman Empire, the Turkish

lic’s desire to have a deeper understanding of the National Liberation Movement, and the Modern

world but also laid the foundations for Chinese Reform of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk. These articles

academia to pay persistent attention to Turkey. demonstrate that Chinese scholars praised Tur-

The Road of Turkey: Research and Review keys road of rejuvenation highly at that time.

* Ye Zhangxu is a master candidate majoring in World History in College of Liberal Arts and a research assistant of the Center for

Turkish Studies at Shanghai University. His research fields includes Turkey’s foreign policy in contemporary era and China-Turkey relations in the late Qing Dynasty and the Republic of China. E-mail: yezx207@163.com

How to cite: Ye, Z. (2021). Turkey as a role model in Chinese newspapers of 1920-1930s. [Review of the book The road of 71

Turkey: Research and review of Chinese scholars by Wang, S.] Belt & Road Initiative Quarterly, 2(3), 73-77.

The first topic addresses the origin, process, result, and influence of the Turkish Revolution Some compared the Turkish people’s of 1908 through seven articles. There are two ingeneral reaction to the constitutional

terpretations about the cause of the 1908 Revolu- regime to that of the Chinese in the

tion. One attributes it to the serious, widespread Preparatory Constitutionalism: “most

dissatisfaction with the authoritarian rule of Sul- people who have the right to vote

tan Abdulhamid II. For example, “All public ral- do not know what a constitutional

lies, whether in the metropolis or in the provin- government is.”

ces, are suspended as a strict ban” (p3); “Sultan regarding the development and impact of the implemented the secret detective system, which Young Turks Revolution. In the article, On the is extended to the army, causing dissatisfaction Difficulties of the Young Turks (p.29), the autamong officers” (p.5). Meaning, before the revohor’s comments were as follows: firstly, the power lution broke out, “Turkish politics is completely held by Young Turks after the revolution was still controlled by Abdul Hamid II; the people of Turweak and unstable; secondly, the religious and etkey succumb to autocracy every day” (p.3). hnic policies of the Young Turks were unpopular; The second interpretation explains how patrithirdly, the European Powers continued to invade otism and a new ideology emerged in reaction to Turkey, as Italy occupied Tripoli. Other scholars the stimulating concept of nation-states forming believed that “the constitutional regime implein the West. For the Turks who studied abroad or mented after the revolution is nothing more than fled to Europe, “They accepted the advanced ideoto preserve the Sultan’s own rule”, “because the logy and culture of western countries and became

more and more dissatisfied with the situation of remnants of feudal despotism are still not gone”

their motherland. Therefore, they contacted each (p.17). Some compared the Turkish people’s ge-

other and plotted to overthrow the autocratic sys- neral reaction to the constitutional regime to that

tem, hoping to restore the constitutional system” of the Chinese in the Preparatory Constitutiona-

(p.44). Alongside this, “the invasion of Turkey by lism: “most people who have the right to vote do

the European powers made Turkish revolutiona- not know what a constitutional government is”

ries feel more and more that the country was in (p.33). Moreover, some scholars hold the idea

crisis and that it was time for revolution” (p.45). that Turkey’s revival cannot be attributed enti-

Two newspapers describe in detail the process rely to Kemal and Inonu, that “the road to revival

of the revolution, The History of Turkish Revo- could not be completed in a short time, but was

lution (p.3), The Record of the Abdication of the the result of the efforts of the Young Turks over

Turkish Emperor Hamid (p.22). Professor Wang the past 20 years” (p.94).

Sanyi believes that there is a lot of speculation The second topic addresses the reasons for the

involved and that the stories about the Ottoman collapse of the Ottoman Empire. Although the

Sultan believing treacherous officials and distur- decline of the Ottoman Empire began in the 17th

bing politics are not uncommon, just like the an- century, its demise was directly related to Wor-

cient Chinese palace coups. ld War I. First of all, Turkey’s strategic geography

In addition, scholars had different opinions was an important reason for the Western powers

to plunder: “Located in the center of Europe, Asia have reached to the extreme” (p.91). Eventually,

and Africa continent, Ottoman-Turkey played an Turkey had to sign an armistice with the allies in

important role in military, religious and econo- October 1918. At the Paris Peace Conference that

mic aspects, so it was the key point for the great followed, the Ottoman Empire was dismembered

powers to seek hegemony”(p.33). Secondly, inter- as a defeated country.

nal strife among the great powers and the pursuit The third topic discusses how to evaluate the

of self-preservation were also important reasons national independence of Turkey and the reform

for Turkey to join Germany’s side: of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk. With 24 articles on

this subject, it highlights how contemporary Chinese scholars praised the Turkish Road and that

With 24 articles, the book Turkey became a model for the Chinese to follow.

highlights how contemporary In essence, worries about China’s future and fate

Chinese scholars praised the were the driving motivation for Chinese scholars

Turkish Road and that Turkey to pay attention to Turkey.

became a model for the Chinese to In the view of Western powers, Turkey and

follow. In essence, worries about China were the sick men of Europe and East Asia,

China’s future and fate were the “But in the Greak occupation of Smyrna (Izmir),

driving motivation for Chinese the Turkish nation used an unprecedented force

scholars to pay attention to Turkey. to get rid of the shackles of the European powers

for more than a hundred years; during the Confe-

The article, Carve up Turkey in Paris Peace rence of Lausanne, it took advantage of the divi-

Conference (p84), explains in detail the competi- sion of the great powers to recover the territorial

tion and cooperation among the powers of Russia, and economic rights that have always been lost by

Britain, and Germany on the issue of Turkey. Rus- the Turkish state” (p.94); “However, our country

sia wanted to occupy the Marmara Sea, Britain was still under the cruel oppression of imperia-

wanted to maintain the air route from the western lism” (p.103). China had a similar situation with

Mediterranean to the colonies in India, and Ger- Turkey, though the former had a long way to go

many planned to establish a Great Germanic em- in exploring the road of national independence at

pire in the east. More importantly, the new army that time.

of the Young Turks, the backbone of the Turkish The reforms implemented by Ataturk after the

Revolution in 1908, was educated by Germans: founding of the People’s Republic of Turkey ope-

“Therefore, Turkey helped Germany in this War ned a new era for Turkey’s development. Com-

entirely because of its long-term good relations pared with Turkey, China was still afflicted by

with Germany, and they believed that Germany warlords. Chinese scholars hoped to learn from

would win the final victory” (p.90). It is self-evi- the successful experience of Turkish national in-

dent that pinning all hopes on Germany’s victory dependence and modernisation reforms. In order

was unwise: “The weak Turkey has not only fai- to achieve independence, it first was necessary to

led militarily, but also had a shortage of domes- learn from Turkey and remove the unequal trea-

tic materials, and the people’s living difficulties ties with European powers.

Chinese scholars hoped to learn from the successful experience of Turkish national independence and modernisation reforms. (Atatürk High Institution of Culture, Language and History’s website)

“Turkey went from a semi-colony to a fully in- For independence, the next lesson comes from

dependent country through the war of national Turkey's census policy. “Kemal and his colleagues

liberation and the Conference of Lausanne, while eliminated all difficulties to carry out the census

China’s unequal treaties have not been abolished, at the beginning of the Republic because Kemal

and extraterritoriality has not been fully recove- fully understood that if you want to grasp the fu-

red” (p.103). While praising the excellent diplo- ture road of a country, you must know the size

matic work of Ismet Inonu at the Conference of of a country’s population first. While China has

Lausanne, scholars expected the Chinese gover- always ignored this important issue in history”

nment and diplomats to make a difference. “Now (p.140).

we should strive to demand the revocation of the Additionally, developing the domestic eco-

consular jurisdiction of the great powers in China nomy is of key importance. In articles such as

and, like Turkey, unilaterally declare the abolition New tax system in Turkey (p.101), Turkey’s re-

before signing a new multilateral treaty to solve form policies (p.147), Turkey’s New Economic

the problem” (p.163). Construction and its Economic Rich Source

(p.173), a series of policies from the Kemal gover- Modern Turkey and China have had similar

nment o promote the development of a capitalist national destinies. The rise of modern Turkey

economy were handled. They included rectifying was not only an earth-shaking change for Chi-

finance, rewarding industry, developing transpor- nese scholars at that time but also a successful

tation, and so on. “In particular, Turkey’s practi- modernisation movement. When we explore the

ce of introducing foreign capital to develop its views of the scholars on the image of Turkey in

economy coincided with Sun Yat-sen’s industrial the late Qing Dynasty and the Republic of China,

plan” (p.116). “Therefore, in the eyes of scholars, we cannot make comparisons without the use of

we should choose the advantages of Turkey’s re- historical materials of newspapers and periodi-

form policy to imitate” (p.167). cals. Therefore, through the collection, selection,

and arrangement of newspapers from this period, Professor Wang Sanyi has created an important Modern Turkey and China have had and comprehensive guide. similar national destinies. The rise of Overall, the selected articles in this book repmodern Turkey was not only an earthresent the achievements of Chinese scholars’ reshaking change for Chinese scholars search on Turkey in the 1920-1930s and act as

at that time but also a successful an important witness to contemporary Chinese

modernisation movement. scholars’ research on Turkish academic ideas.

These articles not only give us a more intuitive

Certainly, not all Chinese scholars entirely ap- understanding of the evolution of Chinese scho-

preciated Kemal’s reforms. The most contentious lars’ views on Turkey but also build a stronger

issue was the reform of the writing system. Some historical understanding of the development of

thought that this reform was too radical for quick modern Sino-Turkish relations.

success and immediate benefits. “More haste, less A slight deficiency of the book is that most of

speed. And it brought a lot of problems” (p.156). the included articles are taken from The Eastern

Other scholars were concerned with the issue of Miscellany. The book does not include other ar-

Turkish women’s veils and their right to participa- ticles about Turkey published by other popular

te in politics. “The reform of removing the veil of newspapers from this period, such as Shun Pao.

women by Kemal has never been a complete suc- Moreover, in addition to the newspapers and pe-

cess. First, it is not easy for the Turkish people to riodicals founded by Han people, there were also

accept the good intentions of the government at newspapers such as Yuehua and Tujue founded

this point; Second, the government is not so deter- by Hui intellectuals. These have unique insights

mined about this reform” (p.120). “For the sprout on Turkish studies, are of considerable value for

of the feminist movement, Kemal is not very ra- reference, and therefore deserve a place in this

dical either” (p.123). Generally speaking, however, history.

scholars highly praise the road of Turkey’s revival: Acknowledgement: This article is supported

“Its national liberation movement pioneered the by funding from “Key Project of Philosophy and

success of the Asian national revolution. Its reform Social Sciences of Ministry of Education of Chi-

seems to be an example for China” (p.147). na” (17JZD036).