For the Nations or Against the Nations: Wang Jingwei’s and Kawashima Yoshiko’s Rationales for Collaborating with Japan

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Abstract/Contents

Abstract: Traditional mainland Chinese historiography emphasizes Japan’s brutality during World War II and utilizes the “myth of resistance” to attribute political legitimacy to the Chinese Communist government for defeating the Japanese invading forces during the Second Sino-Japanese War (1931–1945). As indicated by the terminology used in China to refer to the conflict, the “War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression,” the prevailing narrative insists that the only acceptable response to Japan was resistance. Collaboration with Japan, viewed as an act of moral failure, is condemned, as collaborators witnessed Japanese atrocities yet chose to assist Japan in exploiting their compatriots. In China, collaborators are labeled as hanjian (traitors to the Han nation) or maiguozei (thieves who sell out their country), implying that they supported Japan in exchange for personal gain at the expense of the Chinese nation’s existence. Through the examination of two case studies of Chinese collaborators—Wang Jingwei (1883–1944) and Kawashima Yoshiko (1906?–1948)—this thesis argues that collaboration and nationalism were not necessarily mutually exclusive. Contrary to being traitors to their nation, they espoused nationalism and even cited it as their rationale to collaborate with Japan.

Author	Hu, Yiqing
Degree granting institution	Stanford University, Stanford Global Studies, Center for East Asian Studies
Thesis advisor	Wang, Ban

DOI	https://doi.org/10.25740/mf819kf2425
Location	https://purl.stanford.edu/mf819kf2425

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Preferred citation: Hu, Y. (2024). For the Nations or Against the Nations: Wang Jingwei’s and Kawashima Yoshiko’s Rationales for Collaborating with Japan. Stanford Digital Repository. Available at https://purl.stanford.edu/mf819kf2425. https://doi.org/10.25740/mf819kf2425.

Stanford Center for East Asian Studies Thesis Collection

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