China and The Nations – Wang Jingwei (1927) (1st ed)

S$220.00

China and The Nations – Wang Jingwei (1927) (1st ed)

S$220.00

The official Kuomintang account of foreign imperialism, written in 1925. By Sun Yat-sen’s close associate, who almost became KMT Commander instead of Chiang Kai-shek. Scarce.

Title: China and The Nations, being the Draft of the Report on International Problems prepared for the International Problems Committee of the People’s Conference of Delegates at Peking in April, 1925.

Author: Wong Ching-Wai (Wang Jingwei), I-Sen Teng (trans.), John Nind Smith (trans.)

Publisher: Martin Hopkinson, London, 1927. First English edition.

Condition: Hardcover, very good. Slight foxing and slight sunning to spine. Inscription to ffep. No other defects. With a foldout map. 141pp.

 

About the book (from the Introduction):

‘China and The Nations’ was composed as the official statement of China’s international history in modern times and of her future policy, on the occasion of the People’s Conference at Peking in April 1925..These words are the final declaration of the Chinese Nationalist Party [Kuomintang]. They express the spirit of China, the appeal of that great people to humanity, in humanity’s caused. Mr. Wong’s treatise, true to his people and to his master, Dr. Sun Yat-sen, is so much more than a declaration of state policy. It is a record inscribed with agony, addressed to the moral consciousness of mankind.

About Wang Jingwei (Wong Ching-Wai) (from Wikipedia):

Wang Jingwei (Wang Ching-wei; 4 May 1883 – 10 November 1944); born as Wang Zhaoming (Wang Chao-ming), but widely known by his pen name “Jingwei”, was a Chinese politician. He was initially a member of the left wing of the Kuomintang (KMT), leading a government in Wuhan in opposition to the right wing government, but later became increasingly anti-communist after his efforts to collaborate with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) ended in political failure. His political orientation veered sharply to the right later in his career after he joined the Japanese.

Wang was a close associate of Sun Yat-sen for the last twenty years of Sun’s life. After Sun’s death Wang engaged in a political struggle with Chiang Kai-shek for control over the Kuomintang, but lost. Wang remained inside the Kuomintang, but continued to have disagreements with Chiang until the outbreak of the Second Sino-Japanese War in 1937, after which he accepted an invitation from the Japanese Empire to form a Japanese-supported collaborationist government in Nanjing. Wang served as the head of state for this Japanese puppet government until he died, shortly before the end of World War II. Although he is still regarded as an important contributor in the Xinhai Revolution, his collaboration with Imperial Japan is a subject of academic debate, and the typical narratives often regard him as a traitor in the War of Resistance.