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Mahatma Gandhi in Mainland China: Early 21st Century |
Dr Shang Quanyu*AbstractThe early interest in Mahatma Gandhi in mainland China began in early 1920s when Gandhi launched the first all India non-violent non-cooperation movement in 1920-1922. Since then up to present day Chinese interest in Gandhi has undergone several stages. This paper focuses on the third sub-period of the third stage, i.e. early 21st century, from both a synchronical and diachronical perspective to uncover its courses, contexts, themes and features. I. IntroductionGANDHI STUDIES WORLDWIDE has been growing in both quantity and quality with the passage of time. The impressive body of works on Mahatma Gandhi produced so far include over 800 books, covering nearly all aspects of his life, deciphering every dimension of his mind, whether his religious views, his non violence, 'Satyagraha' strategy, his asceticism, or even his "fads" and foibles. The early interest in Gandhi in mainland China began in early 1920s. Since then, Gandhi studies in China has undergone almost a century-long course of development with several ups and downs. However, a systematic overview of the development and achievement of Gandhi studies in China is yet to be written. The wanting in such an overview is not only detrimental to the future development of Gandhi studies inside China but also leads to information gaps among foreign scholars in the same field about the works of their Chines colleagues. A comprehensive and systematic overview of the development of Gandhi studies in China is therefore necessary for both its further development inside China and its knowledge outside of China. Shaped by both domestic and international politics, in the course of nearly a century the development of Gandhi studies in mainland China has gone through three major stages: the first stage is from early 1920s to mid 1950s, the second from late 1950s to late 1970s, and the third from early 1980s till the present day. In turn, the three stages witness three waves of flourishment of Gandhi studies; while the first two waves both ended with a decline in interest and output, the third wave is gaining momentum and growing in strength. This paper will focus on the third sub-period of the third stage, i.e. early 21st century, aiming to make an overview of Gandhi studies in Mainland China during this sub-period to uncover its courses, contexts, themes and features. GANDHI STUDIES WORLDWIDE has been growing in both quantity and quality with the passage of time. The impressive body of works on Mahatma Gandhi produced so far include over 800 books, covering nearly all aspects of his life, deciphering every dimension of his mind, whether his religious views, his nonviolence, ‘Satyagraha’ strategy, his asceticism, or even his “fads" and foibles. The early interest in Gandhi in mainland China began in early 1920s. Since then, Gandhi studies in mainland China has undergone almost a century-long course of development with several ups and downs. However, a systematic overview of the development and achievement of Gandhi studies in mainland China is yet to be written. The wanting in such an overview is not only detrimental to the future development of Gandhi studies inside China but also leads to information gaps among foreign scholars in the same field about the works of their Chines colleagues. A comprehensive and systematic overview of the development of Gandhi studies in China is therefore necessary for both its further development inside China and its knowledge outside of China. Shaped by both domestic and international politics, in the course of nearly a century the development of Gandhi studies in mainland China has gone through three major stages: the first stage is from early 1920s to mid-1950s, the second from late 1950s to late 1970s, and the third from early 1980s till the present day. In turn, the three stages witness three waves of flourishment of Gandhi studies; while the first two waves both ended with a decline in interest and output, the third wave is gaining momentum and growing in strength. This paper will focus on the third sub-period of the third stage, i.e. early 21st century, aiming to make an overview of Gandhi studies in Mainland China during this sub-period to uncover its courses, contexts, themes and features. Generally speaking, in this sub-period, i.e. the 21st century, Gandhi studies in China entered into a new stage of development, further expanding on the numerous outputs in the preceding periods. In terms of academic research, from 2000 up to date, the number of books published in the field of Gandhi studies reached to 38, exceeding the number of books published in the 1980s and the 1990s. These books were not confined to biographies of Gandhi. Some were monographs or edited volumes of academic research on Gandhi. The 21st century also witnessed growth in both quantity and quality of journal articles on Gandhi studies. Publications related to Gandhi in the non-academic field surged exponentially. Over hundreds of non-academic articles were published in various types of media, covering a much wider range of topics. Some activities were also organized to further boost the growth of Gandhi studies in China. II. Academic researchFirst, introductions and studies of Gandhi’s life. Among 38 books (17 translated ones, 20 authored ones, 1 original one), 32 are biographical introductions and studies of Gandhi’s life. The 32 works can be divided into two categories. The first category is the autobiography of Gandhi, consisting of 6 different full translation versions.1 The second category is the biography of Gandhi, consisting of a total 26 works, including 17 authored ones2, 7 translated ones3, 1 bilingual one4, and 1 original one5. Compared with the similar books of the previous sub-periods, not only the number of the relative works in this sub-period increases greatly, mainly as one of a variety of different types of series, but also a few new features appear. The first feature is that the categories of the series expand and they take the vast group of the primary and secondary middle school students as well as the teenagers as their major target readers, such as One Hundred Biographies of Political and Military Giants in the 20th Century, Ten Biographies, World Leaders Past and Present, Translated Series of Psycho-Biography, Pictorial Biography Series of World Celebrities, My favorite Celebrity Stories-Bilingual, An English Series of Illustrated Biographies of the Celebrities, Series of Biographies of the World Celebrities-The Youth Inspirational Edition, The Historical Memorial Series-Readings for Juveniles, Series of the Chinese and Foreign Celebrities’ Teen-Age, Inspirational Readings for the Growing Juveniles, Series of the Celebrity Stories with Phonetic Notations for Juvenile, The Great Biographies of the World Celebrities- Juvenile Edition, Biographies of the World Celebrities-Must Readings for Teenagers, Biographies of the World Celebrities-Student Edition, Biographies of the World Celebrities-The Children’s Edition, Must Readings for Primary and Secondary School Students, Biographies of the World Celebrities in the Textbooks of Primary and Secondary Schools, etc. The second feature is that more books are written in different languages and the edition of minorities’ language comes out. Besides the Chinese (Mandarin) edition, Bilingual (Chinese and English) edition, and the English edition, there is also the version translated into Uigur from Chinese (Mandarin). Second, studies on Gandhi’s non-violence. It can be broken down into two aspects. 1) The overall research on Gandhi’s non-violence ideas and practice. It mainly involves the philosophical basis of Gandhi’s non-violence (i.e. the divine is omnipresent; human nature is one and the same; and it is benevolent), core elements of Gandhi’s non-violence (i.e. love and conversion), practical application of Gandhi’s non-violence (i.e. non-violent non-cooperation, civil disobedience, and hunger strike), historical functions of Gandhi’s non-violence (positively speaking, it helps mobilize the general public to join the national struggle, provide a struggle weapon for the Indian National Congress and transform INC into a mass-based political party, exert great political pressure on British colonial rule so as to promote the process of national independence; negatively speaking, it suspends the movement with an excuse of violating the “non-violence" principle which discourages the mass’s enthusiasm for the struggle, and to some extent, limits the development of the mass movement; but in comparison with the negative roles, the positive roles are primary), the theoretical basis and underlying causes of the non-violence resistance and noncooperation (spiritual force is the theoretical basis of non-violence resistance and noncooperation; at political level, it originates from and reflects the deep struggle between the colonizers and the colonized; at religious level, it originates from and reflects the deep consonance of Buddhist spirit and Christian spirit; at human conscience level, it originates from and reflects the ultimate truth beyond politics and religion.6 (2) The research on Gandhi’s non-violence as a political change model and conflict resolving method. In his doctoral dissertation entitled The Politics of Conversion: A Unique Model of Political Change-A Case Study on Mahatma Gandhi’s Satyagraha Fasting, the author takes the theory and practice of Gandhi’s Satyagraha fasting as example to investigate Gandhi’s political change model displayed by his non-violent conversion. The author argues that revolution (violent change with blood and tears) and reform (repetitive progressive change) are the dilemma of the modern political change. The politics of conversion is a unique model of political change, whose meaning of change lies in evading revolution and promoting reform.7 Some scholars investigate the political ethics of Gandhi’s non-violence from the perspective of conflict resolving method. They maintain that Gandhi, as a pacifist, provides a possible solution to conflict through his continuous struggle for almost 50 years, i.e. non-violence. The irresistible force of non-violence is also a conflict solving method, which makes violence lose its existential space. Possessing inner power which emphasizes tolerance of self-suffering, observation of principle of love and devotion to just activities, non-violence enables violent conflict to be transformed. Gandhi takes non-violence both as a form of struggle and as a form of life style. Non-violence functions as an effective substitute of traditional violence and supplies political ethics resource for modern peace movement.8 Some scholar conducts comparative studies on Gandhi’s non-violence and international terrorism from the perspectives of public virtue and human morality. The author considers that both non-violence of Gandhi and contemporary international terrorism bear the stamp of nationalism and religion but contrast sharply in the sense of morality and ethics, respectively representing love and hatred, good and evil, justice and injustice. To be exactly, Gandhi’s non-violence and international terrorism demonstrate a difference between love and hatred in terms of historical origin, a balance between good and evil in terms of applied method and a battle between justice and injustice in terms of pursuing aim.9 Third, studies on Gandhi’s ideas. Relative researches can be summarized as the following five aspects. (1) Gandhism. The relations among Gandhism, Marxism and post-colonialism, as well as the relationship between Gandhism and Indian local literature are mainly explored. The author deems that both Maxisim and post-colonialism discuss the social change of India, especially the fate of Indian village communities, from the angles of western culture and development of social history, while Gandhism highlights Indian autonomy and Indian village communities in the light of assimilation function of Indian culture, which serves as the reason why Gandhi and Gandhism have been kept in the state of ignorance in post-colonial culture studies.10 Gandhism is not cultural theory but political theory that is in accordance with Indian social reality and sets village and city in opposition as village stands for Indian truth and dignity while city is the product of colonialism and destroys the foundation of Indian society. Nevertheless, Indian local literature writers refuse to blindly follow Gandhism. Their works primarily manifest farmers’ realistic life, plight and fate, laying stress on the change of rural world under the background of urban civilization invasion.11 (2) Gandhi’s religious thought. The scholars mainly discuss about Gandhi’s philosophy of religion, especially his religious thought of harmony. The origins of Gandhi’s philosophy of region are influenced by both Oriental sources and Western sources. The eastern sources include the teachings of great religions like Hinduism, Jainism, Buddhism, Islam, Zoroastrianism, and the lives and teachings of great personalities of India. The western sources include the teachings of Christianity, Theosophy, Atheism as well as the great personalities of the West, ancient as well as modern. These diverse sources are the basis of Gandhi’s religious thought of harmony, whose core is reflected in its concept of God (Truth-Nonviolence-Love, Reality-Knowledge-Bliss, Creator-Universal Law-Law Maker, Supreme Spirit- Benevolence-Savior, Universal Self-the Inner Voice-the True Friend) and its approaches to realize God (Nonviolence and Love, Faith and Intuition, Silence and Prayer, Purity and Humility, Service of Humanity). Mahatma Gandhi’s concept of God and his approaches to realize God have manifested obviously the inclusiveness. The features of Gandhi’s philosophy of religion can be summarized as two main points: one is the emphasis on religious harmony and religious pluralism, including religious unity, religious equality and religious tolerance; another is the emphasis on human value and human liberation, including religious practice and religious humanism. Gandhi’s philosophy of religion is significant for it is not only the cornerstone of Gandhi’s ideology and action, but also the theoretical source of Gandhi’s non-violent resistance movement. Gandhi’s thought of religious harmony is the immortal contributions he has made to the world religion.12 In addition, there are some theses discussing about Gandhi’s religious thought, its impacts on national liberation movement in India, as well as the relationship between Gandhi’s religious thought and politics.13 (3) Gandhi’s concept of education, his concept of women, his idea of rural economy, the origins of his concept of self-government, and the complexity of his thought. Gandhi’s concept of education is mainly manifested in his thoughts in the non-violent resistance movement (it advocates nonviolent resistance against the negative aspects of British colonial education, especially the use of English as the language of instruction) and basic education (it advocates a comprehensive physical, mental, and spiritual training; promotes education equality and self-reliance in school economy; expands basic education to four stages, namely pre- basic education, basic education, post basic education, adult education; Curriculum is set with manual labor as the center) and it plays an important role in Indian education history.14 Gandhi’s concept of women is rich and complex. It on the one hand criticizes traditional religious practices relentlessly and assumes a strong modern flavor, but on the other hand it fuses the traditional religious ideas, thus constitutes a unique combination of the old and the new and shows stark contradictions. It is this concept of women combining traditional elements with modern flavor that can be accepted much easier by the majority Indian women who are greatly influenced by traditional practices but meanwhile desire strongly for new life. His concept of women is influential and charismatic and leads to great social impact.15 Criticism of western material civilization is the starting point of Gandhi’s rural economic thought. The emphasis on rural small-scale peasant economy, especially the hand-weaving and spinning, is a main feature of his rural economic thought. The future vision of India is a typical presentation of the Gandhi’s rural economic thought. The uptopian nature of Gandhi’s rural economic thought reveals the complexity of his whole ideology.16 Gandhi’s thought on India’s self-government is reflected in his thinking and writing of Hind Swaraj and later Ramaraj. His thought, whether the critique of Western civilization or the vision of future society, borrows ideas and expressions from Indian traditional religions. His thought not only helps lift INC’s ability to mobilize ordinary people and promote the development of Indian national movement, but also helps promote the modem transformation of Indian traditional religions. As to evaluate Gandhi’s self-government thought, we should take into account the context of the Indian cultural heritage and historical conditions, rather than simply denying its value according to the standpoint of Western modernization.17 The complexity of Gandhi’s thought is reflected in the following three aspects: the political strategy of his non-violent non-cooperation, his religious and ethical ideas in politics, and the value orientation of Hind Swaraj. The significance of the complexity of his thought lies in its inclusiveness, which helps a lot in social mobilization during the period of national independence movement.18 4) Gandhi’s press idea and socialist idea. Gandhi is not only a great political figure, but also an experienced newspaper man. He created six kinds of newspapers and periodicals, acted as both editor-in-chief and author for column. His articles and speeches published in the newspapers and periodicals amount to 100 volumes of books. During those days, he formed his own thoughts about the press. He advocated freedom of the press, against the control of the press from the government, against commercial advertisements. He held that the articles on the press should be written simply and objectively and precisely, and editors should offer services for their readers. Gandhi's thoughts of the press derived from his thoughts of religion and politics and produced tremendous influence on the press system in independent India.19 Other scholar explores the historical background of Gandhi’s socialist idea, the “socialism" Gandhi envisaged and the strategies Gandhi employed to make his “socialism" come true. The author holds that Gandhi devoted all his life to protesting against economic exploitation and political injustice, advocating socialism; he opposed to class struggle and violent revolution, and dreamed to realize socialism by employing “good faith" between the rich and the poor, ignoring the fact that it is the productivity that determines the relations of production, not “morality" or the so called “good faith". Therefore, Gandhi’s socialist thought is to some extent utopian.20 (5) The collection of Gandhi’s remarks. Two collections of Gandhi’s remarks from the books such as Selected Works from Mahatma Gandhi are available in Chinese language Mandarin. These collections contain Gandhi’s remarks about religion, ethics, culture, art, literature, science, economy, accomplishment, health, truth, world, means, aims and so on, which have provided valuable materials for the study of Gandhi’s thoughts.21 Fourth, comparative studies between Gandhi and other great figures. (1) Gandhi and Sun Yat-Sen. The researches focus on how Gandhi’s and Sun Yat-Sen’s thoughts come into being, the differences between their economic thoughts, their respective reaction to the Russian socialist revolution and so on. The forming of Gandhian’s thought (nonviolence) and Sun Yat-Sen’s thought (three principles of the People) is not only rooted in the traditional culture and specific historical condition of their country, but also influenced by the western culture and their own individual experiences. They both absorb and integrate many other great ideas, and at the same time stand out among others with their unique thoughts, flying their own colors in the contemporary Asian nationalist ideologies.22 Gandhi and Sun Yet-Sen’s economic thoughts differ a lot in their critical understanding towards the capitalist machine production. While Gandhi advocates evading the capitalist machine production and returning to the archaic and simple economic form, Sun Yet-Sen insists on promoting capitalist machine production and developing capitalism. The causes of their differences could be attributed to their early life, learning and revolutionary experiences as well as their understanding of the social reality of their countries.23 Both Gandhi and Sun Yet-Sen have sympathy and admiration for socialist ideals, however their opinions different on the method of political revolution like the Russian Revolution of 1917. Gandhi rejects any political violence, while Dr. Sun follows the Russian experience without any hesitation, which results in the different approaches of social and political reformation in the two countries, namely non-violent resistance (or Satyagraha ) and political revolution. As a consequence, the different approaches lead to the different results, a fully communist system in China, and a democracy with a planned economy in India.24 (2) Gandhi and Kemal. The relevant research mainly makes a comparative study between Gandhi and Kemal’s political thoughts. The two figures show great differences in three points, i. e. their understanding of the meaning of independence, their ways of attaining political goals and the practical effects of their political thoughts. Their differences are mainly related to the specific situation of their country as well as the specific environment of their experiences, which is a good reflection of the diversity of oriental nationalist ideology. On the other hand, the political thoughts of both Gandhi and Kemal share in common for obtaining their country’s independence and freedom, which further reflects the unity of oriental nationalist ideology. In a word, oriental nationalist ideology is a combination of diversity and unity.25 (3) Gandhi and Jinnah. The relevant research mainly discusses about the differences and similarities between them. They differ a lot in personalities, thoughts and means of struggle. While Gandhi advocates non-violent resistance, Jinnah prefers the constitutional parliamentary road. But they both rely on religion to mobilize masses. The close integration of religion and politics leads to the independence of India. However, the day India gained independence is also the day of the partition of India and Pakistan.26 (4) Gandhi and Tilak. The research mainly studies Gandhi and Tilak’s “religious nationalism". It points out that, Gandhi and Tilak, as the representatives of religious nationalists, resort to the spiritual power of religious tradition of India, in order to arouse the Indian self-esteem and pride and muster the people’s cohesion and courage of actions, and further put forward the unique non-violent strategy which has played an important and irreplaceable role in national struggle for the independence of India.27 (5) Gandhi and Rizal. The research mainly discusses about the differences and similarities between Gandhi and Rizal’s non-violent resistance approach. Both are known for their non-violent principles in their national movements against imperialism and colonialism. However, Gandhi’s non-violent principle is based on religious and moral nationalism, while Rizal’s non-violent principle is based on reformist nationalism. But both have great impact on their country’s national independence movements.28 (6) Gandhi and Nkrumah. The research mainly explores the reasons of the success or failure of non-violent peaceful struggle led by Gandhi and Nkrumah. It deems that both Gandhi and Nkrumah advocate obtaining self-rule by applying non-violent means but the results are entirely different. Gandhi leads the nonviolent noncooperation movements which shock the whole India, while Nkrumah leads Ghana to establish the first republic of Black Africa via every approach that conforms to constitution. The reasons are as follows: firstly Nkrumah’s political objectives are more radical than those of Gandhi’s; secondly, there exist wide differences between Gandhi’s nationalist thought and Nkrumah’s; thirdly, Nkrumah is more flexible than Gandhi in terms of strategy; most importantly, the era and international background they face are different.29 (7) Gandhi and Martin Luther King. The researches mainly probe into the contemporary significance of Gandhi’s and Martin Luther King’s non-violent method, as well as the political influence that Thoreau exerts on them. The authors consider that these two sincere fighters resolutely pursue non-violence at the cost of their lives and this struggle method of non-violence will strike a deep chord in the hearts of people with each passing day and finally obtain a general consensus among the human societies in the new age of the 21st century.30 Thoreau’s idea of civil disobedience exerts an important impact on Gandhi and Martin Luther King.31 (8) Gandhi and Liang Shuming. The article studies Gandhi’s and Liang Shuming’s thoughts of modernization. Anti-modernization trends emerged in the first half of the 20th century in oriental countries with Liang and Gandhi as the outstanding representatives of China and India respectively. They share the same views in many aspects including rejecting the modern industrial civilization, criticizing western culture, promoting indigenous culture and rural reconstruction. Nevertheless, certain differences also exist in that Liang Shuming doesn’t exclude industrialization as Gandhi does. Instead, Liang Shuming holds that the West is sure to be forced to accept Chinese culture. On the economic front of rural reconstruction, Liang advocates a middle way. Namely, he doesn’t exclude industrialization but opposes to over-industrialization at the same time. What he recommends is scattered, small and medium sized industrialization.32 Fifth, the relationship between Gandhi and Indian National Congress. The author explores systematically the relationship between Gandhi and India National Congress. Gandhi’s influence on the Congress reaches a peak between the years of 1920 and 1934, with all aspects of work proceeding basically at Gandhi’s will. The years from 1934 to 1942 are the period when Gandhi constantly compromises and struggles with the Congress, with the channel of struggle increasingly advancing along the assumed direction of the Congress. From the year 1942 on, Gandhi is mainly engaged in the unity of the Hindus and Muslims. After the independence of India in 1947, Gandhi retreats to the backyard of Indian National Congress that is then in the hands of his successors. The whole game playing between Gandhi and the Congress can be regarded as a miniature of the process of modernization of India.33 Sixth, the relationship between Gandhi and Indo-Pak partition. The researchers mainly probe into the responsibility that Gandhi should bear to the partition of India and Pakistan. One view holds that partition is the inevitable result of the development of India’s history, and Gandhi is unable to stop the trend. Besides, Gandhi makes unremitting efforts to prevent the partition at different phases of Indian national movement. Thus, he is free from taking the responsibility.34 Another view holds that although Gandhi makes special contribution to Indian national independence, he, like most leaders of the Muslim League and the National Congress, is responsible for the partition to some extent as he plays a key role in accelerating the development of the separatist elements (i.e. Jinnah’s change into a racialist from a nationalist, and the strengthening of the power of Muslim League). He doesn’t try to avoid the emergence of partition as far as possible by taking advantage of his prestige or influence at the crucial moment.35 Seventh, Gandhi and modern India. The relationship between Gandhi and democratic political development of modern India as well as Gandhi’s caste consciousness and the change of social structure of modern India are addressed. It is deemed that Gandhi is not the builder of modern democratic politics of India from the perspectives of his own political style and political creed. However, judging from modern theory of democratic politics, he, as the charismatic leader of the Indian national movement, functions as a safety valve during the process of institutionalization of Indian democratic politics. Furthermore, his non-violent social ideology provides the institutionalization with proper political culture. From these two angles, Gandhi can be seen as the shaper of Indian democratic politics.36 Opposing the untouchability rather than caste system is his strategy of political struggle. It is he who awakes Indians’ ethnic consciousness for the first time. Owing to the awakening and the practice of ethnic consciousness, India gets rid of colonial rule. Actually, non-violent non-cooperation and anti-untouchability are the two complementary and indispensable aspects of the national movement in India. The former aims at resisting foreign forces, while the latter aims at purifying India itself. Caste system and untouchability no longer show up as cruel and rigid hierarchical stronghold in modern Indian society, but it still takes a long time for ethnic consciousness to fade away.37 III. Non-academic ResearchIn the non-academic field in this sub-period, relevant achievements can be summarized as the following 5 aspects. First, Gandhi and middle school teaching. There are about 20 articles concerning Gandhi and middle school teaching of History, Chinese and English. In terms of middle school history teaching, the articles mainly discuss how to teach the lesson of Mahatma Gandhi in different ways. One article talks about the teaching and learning of the lesson Mahatma Gandhi in the textbook from the perspective of class activities.38 One article surveys the practical application of the classroom teaching mode -- the integration of studying, interest and knowledge, taking the lesson Mahatma Gandhi as an example.39 The teaching of "commenting Chinese and foreign historic figures" is also explored based on the design and implementation of the lesson Mahatma Gandhi.40 A discussion about the application of humanistic quality cultivation in high school history classroom teaching is carried out on the ground of the lesson Gandhi in the textbook published by People's Education Press.41 Some authors question the age of Gandhi mentioned in the history textbook of middle school.42 There are also articles dealing with how to appreciate the teaching fragment of Dialogue with Gandhi43, how to analyze the test questions occurring in matriculation.44 With regard to middle school teaching of Chinese and English, emphasis is laid on writing and reading, including the teaching ideas and course video of the lesson Gandhi's Assassination45, Gandhi's parables and speeches46, Gandhi's stories and messages47, and introduction to Gandhi48. In addition, the issue of how a head teacher resolves Gandhism within class and copes with conflicts with students is also dealt with.49 Second, Gandhi's anecdotes and book reviews as well as film reviews. Gandhi's anecdotes cover the topics such as Gandhi's love episode with Tagore's niece Saraladevi Chaudhuri, Gandhi's story of spinning, his unknown human life, his story of sleeping with naked women, Tao Xingzhi's visit to Gandhi.50 Book reviews include the followings, such as Comment on Historical Interaction between Nehru and Gandhi, Gandhi's Truth: On the Origin of Militant Nonviolence, Gandhi: a Memoir, The Good Boatman: A Portrait of Gandhi, Autobiography: The Story of My Experiments with Truth, Gandhi's Outstanding Leadership. The film review is mainly on Mahatma Gandhi.51 Third, Gandhi and the contemporary world. Gandhi has significant influence on the contemporary world and such influence can be found in the following two kinds of articles. (1) Articles about Gandhian figures and those greatly influenced by Gandhi in some countries in the contemporary world. For example, Gandhi of contemporary India: the famous Indian social activist Anna Hazare is spoken highly of as 'New Gandhi' of contemporary India by a lot of Chinese newspaper articles for his anti-corruption hunger strike; the giant of Indian software industry Narayana Mosi is regarded as IT Gandhi; Bank Roy who founded "Barefoot College" is regarded as new Gandhi in the contemporary India.52 Gandhi of contemporary Burma, China, Balkan and America: Aung San Suu Kyi is regarded as a Burmese Gandhian woman; Liang Shuming is honoured as China's Gandhi; Lu Jianbo is also regarded as China's Gandhi in Ba Jin's eyes; Rugova is honoured as Balkan Gandhi; Bill Drayton is regarded as an American Gandhian.53 (2) Articles about Gandhian solution to political conflict in the contemporary world. For instance, there are some articles asserting that both Palestine and Israel learn from Gandhi; some articles studying the reason why Palestine will not follow Gandhi's way to solve the conflicts; some articles reporting the former Prime Minister of Thailand Thaksin appealing to follow Gandhi's way to carry out non-violent non-cooperation movement; and some articles asserting that the Arabs want Gandhi but not Guevara.54 Fourth, news reports about Gandhi. During this sub-period, many newspapers publish reports of different kinds about Gandhi, which show wide influence of Gandhi obviously. And those reports are mainly about the following aspects. (1) Reports about auction of Gandhi's belongings, the issue of Commemorative Coins of National Independent Movement Leader Gandhi, the loss in one Indian Museum and observance of Gandhi's birthday. For example, there are reports that India wants to prevent Gandhi's possessions from going under the hammer; reports that the Nation Father of India - Mahatma Gandhi's handwritten notes would be pulled out from the Great Britain Auction; reports that auction of Mahatma Gandhi's Pocket Watch' Zenith reaches the peak of the New York Auction; reports that Mahatma Gandhi's relics is sold at Auction; reports that Commemorative Coins of National Independent Movement Leader Gandhi is issued; reports that Mahatma Gandhi's glasses in one Indian Museum are stolen; reports that children in India is role-playing Gandhi to celebrate Mahatma Gandhi's 140 years' Birthday.55 (2) Reports about enterprises, promotion strategies, design of the shopping bags, awards etc. related to Gandhi. For instance, reports about study on Indian "Gandhian Innovation" and Inclusive Growth of Chinese Enterprises; reports about Agfa Graphics Acquiring the Large Format Ink-jet Printing System Leader- Gandhi Innovations Holdings LLC; reports about promotion strategy of Airbus S.A.S. - selling with Gandhi's pictures; reports about shopping bag design of Mexican Gandhi bookshop; report about Professor Zhang Jinzhe's receiving the Gandhi Prize in Pediatrics of 2002.56 Besides, there is a report about interview with NBA star who admires Gandhi.57 Fifth, essays on Gandhi. There are more than 30 pieces of essays on everything about Gandhi. (1) Essays on Gandhi's political character and morality. There are essays about Gandhi's political wisdom characterized with compromise and balance, about his sheep leadership character with persistent nonviolent spirit, about his being an excellent social entrepreneur, about his non-cooperation spirit, about his hunger strike weapon, about his maintaining peace with individual power, about his being the backbone of the national spirit, about his being the eternal symbol of opposing autocracy alone and securing civil rights & individual freedom.58 (2) Essays on Gandhi's life wisdom. Those mainly include Gandhi's spirit of giving and taking, his teachings about getting happiness from renunciation, his teachings about sweeping before one's own door, his fulfillment of searching for the link between East and West in the universal religious ethics, his seven pieces of warnings (The Seven Social Sins, or the Seven Blunders of the World).59 (3) Essays on Gandhi and sex. These mainly include Gandhi's road to abstinence, Gandhi's life of self-denial, Gandhi's sexual orientation.60 (4) Essays on the other side of Gandhi. These involve the violence lying in Gandhi's nonviolence, the limits of Gandhi's nonviolence, the unreachability of Gandhi, the unique success of Gandhi's spirit, another Gandhi we need today.61 (5) Essays on commemoration of Gandhi, such as meditation of Gandhi in front of his tomb, salute to Gandhi's statue, meeting "Gandhi" in Bombay, going to see the lonely Gandhi in Beijing.62 In terms of related activities, it can come down to the following three aspects. (1) Translation project of Gandhi's works organized by non-governmental organization. From 2004 to 2006, a volunteers' organization "Han Haisha" who concerns about environmental problem translated some of Gandhi's works under the "Han Haisha Project of Mind Environmental Protection". The related achievements are published on the websites of Environmental Ethics Center of Peking University, Friends of Nature, Bright Observation, Chinese Century, Rural Reconstruction, as well as electronic journal of Shan Shui Jian and journal Tian Ya, and two books entitled Gandhi's Sayings on Morality, Virtue and Health and Gandhi's Sayings Selection. (2) Lecture/seminar at universities. On November 12th of 2005, a literary club named Kui She of China Youth University for Political Sciences organized a lecture/seminar on "Mahatma Gandhi'. Wu Bei, Meng Dengying and Shang Quanyu were invited to join the lecture/seminar.63 (3) Residential community (residential unit or residential quarter) governance activity. Gandhi's nonviolent approach is applied to residential community governance so as to safeguard the legal rights of the residents in the community. One of the residents' leaders Bei Ye is inspired by Mahatma Gandhi and put forwards that during the process of building up harmonious community, our slogan is "seeking for social justice by nonviolence and cooperation". Bei Ye also founds a club for Gandhi fans on his website.64 IV. ConclusionTo sum up, the third sub-period of the third stage witnessed continuous growth of Gandhi studies in China shaped by both national and international contexts, which displayed promising trend for the boosting of Gandhi studies in China in the following aspects. First, the course of Gandhi studies underwent one from superficial to deep, from emotional/subjective to more rational/objective. In the first stage, Gandhi studies was marked by then political imprint, either falling into the category of news reports and commentaries or carrying strong subjective flavor. The second stage witnessed a gradual moving toward more rational and academic track, but a series of political campaigns in China in the following decades put this move on halt suddenly. However, this move resumed strongly once the political situation changed in the first two sub-periods of the third stage and continuously accelerated in the third sub-period of the third stage in post-Mao era, in which Gandhi studies emerged from the low ebb, ushered in new wave of flourishment, and entered into the track of objective and rational academic research. Second, the cope of participants of Gandhi studies enlarged. In the first stage, the participants were basically intellectuals and nationalists and revolutionaries. In the second stage, the participants were mainly experts and scholars and intellectuals, especially those in universities and research institutions. In the first two sub-periods and especially in the third sub-period of the third stage in post-Mao era, the scope of participants were unprecedentedly enlarged, showing a trend of popularization, extending to graduates, undergraduates, middle school teachers, freelance, NOGs etc. Third, the field of research interests has been deepening. In the first stage, the research interests mainly covered Gandhi's life, Gandhism and Satyagraha movements, etc. In the second stage, though the field of research was not extended, yet the debate over certain topics was more deepened. In the first two sub-periods and especially in the third sub-period of the third stage in post-Mao era, the field of research interests were unprecedentedly expanded and deepened, covering almost every aspect of Gandhi studies. Notes and References:
* SHANG QUANYU is history professor at South China Normal University's School of Foreign Studies, Guangzhou, PRC, a Gandian scholar | Email: shangquanyu@hotmail.com. |