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The limits of benevolence: Wang Shiduo (1802–1889) and population control

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 February 2009

Frank Dikötter
Frank Dikötter
Affiliation:
School of Oriental and African Studies, London
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Extract

Heaven has its material for slaughter. Among animals, they are the sheep, the pigs, the chickens and the ducks; among men, they are the short and slight, ugly, mean-eyed, short-stepped, garrulous, effeminate, stupid people.

Type
Notes and Communications
Information
Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies , Volume 55 , Issue 1 , February 1992 , pp. 110 - 115
Copyright
Copyright © School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London 1992

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References

1 Shiduo, Wang, Wang Huiweng yibing riji (Diary of Wang Shiduo), (Taipei: Wenhai chubanshe, 1967), 145Google Scholar.

2 For details on the life of Wang Shiduo, see Zongfu, Zhao, Wang Meicun nianpu gao (Draft chronological biography of Wang Shiduo), (Taipei: Wenhai chubanshe, 1967), originally published in Shixue nianbao 2, no. 3 (December 1936), 155–80Google Scholar. Wang was eminent enough to be entered in Hummel, A. W. (ed.), Eminent Chinese of the Ch'ing period (1644–1912), (Washington: United States Government Printing Office, 1944), 834–5Google Scholar.

3 See Xianwen, Chen, ‘Wang Huiweng yibing riji’, Shixue xiaoxi 1, no. 7 (July 1937), 36–7Google Scholar. A debate concerning the correct appraisal of Wang Shiduo's thought arose in Communist China during the 1980s. In a controversial article published in 1979, Xie Zhongliang conceded that there was some ‘reactionary dross’ in Wang's population thought, but considered that there was also a ‘progressive essence’ which was generally valuable; see Zhongliang, Xie, ‘Wang Shiduo renkou sixiang jinghua chutan’ (Initial investigation into the essence of Wang Shiduo's population thought), Nanjing daxue xueban, no. 4, 1979, 77, 83–5Google Scholar. In a scathing reply first drafted in 1980 but only published six years later, Wu Xiuyi accused Xie of having deliberately covered up the real ‘essence’ of Wang's theory, namely, the slaughter of entire categories of people; see Xiuyi, Wu, ‘Wang Shiduo renkou sixiang pouxi’ (Dissection of Wang Shiduo's population thought), Renkou yanjiu, no. 4, 1986, 45–9Google Scholar. See also Shan Fuliang, ‘Wang Shiduo de renkou lilun’ (The population theory of Wang Shiduo), Lishi zhishi, no. 2, 1984, 14Google Scholar.

4 It has been used, for instance, by Jen, Yu-wen, The Taiping revolutionary movement (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1973);Google ScholarShih, V. Y. C., The Taisping ideology: its sources, interpretations, and influences (Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1967);Google ScholarHsiao, Kung-chuan, Rural China: imperial control in the nineteenth century (Seattle: University of Washington Press 1960);Google Scholar and Chungli, Chang, The Chinese gentry: studies on their role in nineteenth century Chinese society (Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1955)Google Scholar.

5 Shiduo, Wang, Riji, 88Google Scholar.

6 Ergang, Luo, ‘Taiping tianguo geming qian de renkou yapo’ (Population pressure before the Taiping Revolution), Zhongguo shehuijingji shi jikan, 8, no. I (January 1949), 20–80Google Scholar.

7 Shiduo, Wang, Riji, 152Google Scholar.

8 ibid., 151.

9 ibid., 148.

10 ibid., 149–50.

11 Shiduo, Wang, Huiweng shichao (Poems of Wang Shiduo), Wang Meicun xiansheng ji (Collected works of Wang Shiduo), (Taipei: Wenhai chubanshe, 1967), vol. 2, p. 857Google Scholar.

12 Shengduo, Wang, ‘Maersaisi renkoulun zai Zhongguo de liuchuan he lunzheng’ (The spread and debate on the population theory of Malthus in China), Shehui kexue yanjiu 6 (November 1986), 17Google Scholar.

13 Guangqi, Xu, Nongzheng quanshu jiaozhu (Complete book on agricultural management with annotations), (Shanghai: Guji chubanshe, 1979), 90Google Scholar.

14 Wang was familiar with the work of Hong Liangji, and wrote a postscript to his study on the waterways of Guizhou; see ‘Shu Hong Beijiang Guizhou shuidao kao hou’ (Postscript to Hong Liangji's study on the waterways of Guizhou), Shiduo, Wang, Wang Meicun xiansheng ji, vol. 1, pp. 379–81Google Scholar.

15 Hong, Liangji's theory was discovered by Yinlin, Zhang, ‘Hong Liangji ji qi renkoulun’ (Hong Liangji and his population theory), Dongfang zazhi 23, no. 2 (January 1926), 69–73Google Scholar. See also Jones, S. M., ‘Hung Liang-chi (1746–1809): the perception and articulation of political problems in late eighteenth century China’, doctoral dissertation, Stanford University, 1972Google Scholar.

16 ‘Zhi ping plan’ (On peace) in Hong Beijiang shiwen ji (Poems and writings of Hong Liangji) (Taipei: Shijie shuju, 1964), vol. 1, pp. 33–4Google Scholar.

17 Jones, S. M., ‘Scholasticism and politics in late eighteenth century China’, Ch'ing-shih wen-t'i 3, no. 4 (December 1975), 28–50Google Scholar.

18 Peng, Tang, ‘Yi pin’ (To cure poverty), in Fu Qiuzi (Works of Tang Peng), (Changsha: Yuelu shushe, 1987), 313–19Google Scholar. Tang, like many of his contemporaries, considered over-population to be one of the causes of the empire's decline; see ‘Bian you’ (Distinguishing bad people), in Fu Qiuzi, 355. A significant proportion of conservative scholars, however, continued to equate population numbers with national wealth. Xu Zi (1801–62), for instance, blamed the pauperization of the country on the circulation of silver money and on the extension of the market economy, explicitly denying the existence of a population problem; Xu Zi, Weihuizhai wenji (Collected writings of Xu Zi), (Taipei: Wenhai chubanshe, 1970), 28Google Scholar. The latest formulation of such theory is to be found in the thought of Mao Zedong, who proudly discerned the wealth of the country in its vast and ever-increasing population.

19 Qi, Sihe (ed.), Huang Juezi zoushu — Xu Naiji zouyi: hekan (Combined publication of the memorials of Huang Juezi and Xu Naiji), (Peking: Zhonghua shuju, 1959), 216–19Google Scholar.

20 Shenyuan, Wu, ‘“Ren man zhi huan”: jindai Zhongguo renkou sixiang de “redian”’ (The peril of over-population: a ‘hot point’ in modern Chinese demographic thought), Renkouxue, no. 3, 1987, 92–3Google Scholar.

21 Shiduo, Wang, Riji, 90–7Google Scholar.

22 ibid., 97.

23 ibid., 153.

24 ibid., 90, 146, 154.

25 ibid., 156.

26 ibid., 91, 154.

27 ibid., 91, 153, 156.

28 ibid., 117.

29 See Shiduo, Wang, Wang Meicun xiansheng ji, vol. 1, p. 341;Google Scholarsee also Zhicheng, Deng, ‘Wang Huiweng yibing riji xu’ (preface to Wang Shiduo's diary), Riji, 4Google Scholar.

30 On Wang's critical appraisal of the classics, see also Zhicheng, Deng, ‘Huiweng zizhuang’ (Wang Shiduo's self-description), in Gudong suoji (Collected notebooks of Deng Zhicheng), (Peking: Sanlian shudian, 1955), 131Google Scholar.

31 Shiduo, Wang, Riji, 115, 118, 132, 137, 140Google Scholar.

32 ibid., 76.

33 ibid., 162.

34 ibid., 162.

35 ibid., 162.

36 Frank, Dikötter, ‘Eugenics in Republican China’, Republican China 15, no. 1 (November 1989), 1–17;Google Scholarsee also Frank, Dikötter, The discourse of race in modern China (London: C. Hurst, and Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press), 1992Google Scholar.

37 See Mosher, S. W., Broken earth: the rural Chinese (London: Robert Hale, 1984), 224 ffGoogle Scholar.