Imperium in Imperio : Robert Hart, the Chinese Maritime Customs Service, and Its (Self-)Representations

Vynckier, Henk; Chang, Chihyun

doi:10.1353/bio.2014.0000

Cited by 1 publication

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References 15 publications

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“…For example, in the 1960s, Little approached historians and librarians in London and at Harvard to deposit Sir Robert Hart's official correspondence, which was a landmark in the historiography of the CMCS. 27 In his diary Little expressed admiration, without reservation, for Robert Hart and Francis Aglen, second and third British inspectors-general-for example, 'Hart alone stands head and shoulder above any foreigner who came to China'. 28 Influenced by these good examples, in 1943 Little felt obligated to save the Customs Service from collapsing, albeit in a different context from that of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

‘Winning the Peace’: The Chinese Maritime Customs Service, foreign technocrats, and planning the rehabilitation of post-war China, 1943–1945

Tao

2021

Mod. Asian Stud.

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Through the lens of the multinational staff of the Chinese Maritime Customs Service (CMCS), this article argues that a technocratic programme of reconstruction evolved in the Nationalist government's wartime efforts on post-war planning, which refashioned a cadre of foreign (semi-)colonial-era experts into technocrats serving a sovereign state. This episode, in which the weakened Customs Service reclaimed its significance for the Chinese state, occurred in China's wartime capital, Chongqing. After the abrogation of the so-called ‘unequal treaties’ with foreign powers in January 1943, China entered a post-treaty era, and the question of retaining long-serving foreign Customs Service employees perplexed Nationalist leaders. Eventually, China's huge post-war need for foreign expertise, networks, and imports led to a moderate staff reorganization of the CMCS, with foreign technocrats being kept on and other bureaucrats either shifted to advisory positions or being forced to retire. Technical expertise provided a new guise for the European and American presence in post-imperialist China. Taking the rehabilitation of coastal lighthouses as an example, this article demonstrates the significance of foreign technocrats to the Chinese state during the last phase of the Sino-Japanese War and in its immediate aftermath. In showing the ambition and preparations of the Nationalist government for a post-war era, this article corrects a narrative of an all-out collapse of the Nationalist government from the mid-1940s. The wartime evolution of the Customs Service further highlights the growing importance of technocrats in the decolonizing world.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

‘Winning the Peace’: The Chinese Maritime Customs Service, foreign technocrats, and planning the rehabilitation of post-war China, 1943–1945

Tao

2021

Mod. Asian Stud.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

Imperium in Imperio : Robert Hart, the Chinese Maritime Customs Service, and Its (Self-)Representations

Cited by 1 publication

References 15 publications

‘Winning the Peace’: The Chinese Maritime Customs Service, foreign technocrats, and planning the rehabilitation of post-war China, 1943–1945

‘Winning the Peace’: The Chinese Maritime Customs Service, foreign technocrats, and planning the rehabilitation of post-war China, 1943–1945

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