Pacific Affairs: An International Review of Asia and the Pacific

Volume 76, No. 3

 

The Discourse of Unequal Treaties in Modern China
By Dong Wang

 

Abstract

This paper examines a symbol, bupingdeng tiaoyue (Unequal Treaties), that has received no attention in the current literature on the role of political ceremonies and symbols in China's national awakening and the formation of Chinese nationalism. This paper aims to repair this omission by tracing how the term acquired a strongly symbolic role and by analyzing the form, content, function and impact of the bupingdeng tiaoyue rhetoric.

First, this paper examins Chinese nationalism by looking at the discourse on the Unequal Treaties as employed by various forces in Chinese history. Second, the shared experience of the Guomindang (GMD)-Communists (CCP) with the Unequal Treaties reveals further details about a highly strained and precarious relationship in the United Front from 1924 to 1927. Part of the vocabulary, style, rhetoric and argumentation of the Unequal Treaties discourse became integrated as a perpetual element in the common inheritance of Chinese-ness. Third, the discourse on the Unequal Treaties alerts us to the continuing relevance of the subtle distinction between the political state and national culture, a distinction that both the GMD and the CCP have attempted to obliterate. Fourth, China's experience with the Unequal Treaties suggests that the spread and interpretation of international law can only take place on a particular nation's own terms. Fifth, this paper seeks to focus attention on China's positive role in the development and crystallization of international law against imposed treaties.