Chapter 32 Fairbank: The Inextricable Chinese Knot

President Jiang Zemin's successful visit to the United States and President Clinton's return visit undoubtedly opened a new page for Sino-US relations.Looking back on the relationship between China and the United States for more than a century, we cannot help but say that both sides have experienced many hardships and hardships, and have changed from an emotional, violent and unruly young man to a mature and rational adult.Although sometimes the two of them will still be angry and self-willed, and do some stupid things that they regret immediately afterwards, but they are far from out of control, because they have reached a consensus in their hearts: contact and not engage in confrontation, otherwise both sides will suffer.Yes, neither side benefited from the Korean War, the Vietnam War, or the nearly 30-year Cold War.The United States wants to contain China, and China wants to break through the blockade of imperialism headed by the United States.Who took advantage of it?No.Therefore, when both sides are smart, they can proceed from the height of global strategic significance and the huge mutual benefits of trade, and resolve issues such as human rights, most-favored-nation treatment, and China's accession to the WTO through dialogue as calmly as possible.Both parties have learned the skill of seeking "big profits" with "small compromises".Due to differences in cultural backgrounds and social systems, friction between the two parties will inevitably occur in the future. This is normal, but it is almost impossible to evolve to fistfights, fighter planes, and missiles.China and the United States do not need to force each other to like each other. As long as they coexist peacefully, everything will be fine.However, on May 7, 1999, NATO headed by the United States blatantly attacked the Chinese embassy in Yugoslavia with missiles.But the wheel of history always moves forward.

Looking back at the history of Sino-US relations, there is a master who has stood at the pinnacle of American Sinology for decades and cannot be forgotten. He is a scholar who has devoted all his energy to the study of Chinese history, culture, thought, and Sino-Western relations since 1929. Fairbank.To some extent, the three words Fairbank mean American Sinology studies.His outstanding research achievements made Harvard University change the name of "East Asian Studies Center" to "Fairbank Center for Far East Studies" when he retired. On the morning of September 12, 1991, Fairbank personally delivered the last manuscript of his life, A New History of China, to Harvard University Press. In the afternoon, he suffered a heart attack and died two days later.

Fairbank is the "patriarch" or "predecessor" of the research on China in the United States. In addition to his tireless research on China's political autumn sequence, social, and economic conditions since the middle of the 19th century, which reflect the nature of traditional China, as well as the relationship between China and the West He also taught and trained thousands of college students at Harvard University, and sent doctoral students who nourished his research ideas to teach in more than 100 universities in the United States and abroad. In February 1932, Fairbank, who received formal academic training from Harvard and Oxford, arrived at Wusongkou by boat accompanied by Japanese warships and Chinese artillery on the shore.Only a week later, Japanese troops landed in Shanghai.Fairbank rushed to Beijing.Three months later, he rented a gorgeous residence at No. 21 Xizongbu Hutong, preparing for the arrival of his bride, Fei Weimei.They got married in the imperial city, and their honeymoon was full of fairytale atmosphere: "I took Fei Weimei home along the road of the palace, drove through the gate of the palace, and passed a 1/4 mile journey full of local colors , arrived at the alley where we lived at dusk. . . . We dined sweetly and intimately by candlelight, while outside the house came the sound of Chinese wedding flutes and gongs.  … The servants had no time to worry, they chanted Summon ghosts, indulge in daydreaming fantasies. We live in such languages ​​and cities.”

During their four years in China, the Fairbanks visited many places, checked archives, observed rural areas, and investigated unearthed cultural relics.They got acquainted with many first-class scholars: Jiang Yanpu, Liang Sicheng, Lin Huiyin, Jin Yuelin, Qian Duansheng, Zhang Shizhao, Tao Mengzhi, Chen Daisun, and physicist Zhou Peiyuan.Fairbank saw that a hideous oriental bandit was biting and torturing a giant who had long been disheveled and only had culture left.In fact, it was this profound, unfading culture and the group of enlightened academic elites who maintained the splendid culture that attracted Fairbank so deeply that he began to identify modern Chinese studies as a professional topic.Because through modern times, the upper level can more fully understand the ancient Chinese civilization, and the lower level can historically explain why Chinese civilization began to decline in modern times, the regime withered, the society degenerated, and the people were poor.He expressed doubts about the future of the corrupt Kuomintang, and even believed that if Japan expanded its aggression, "the peasants will silently welcome them, because the situation of the peasants will not be worse than it is now".At that time, he was not optimistic about the communist revolution led by Mao Zedong, and advocated that the United States should enter the war in Asia as soon as possible for its own interests.

In September 1942, Fairbank came to China for the second time as a liaison officer for the Cultural Relations Program of the State Council and presided over the work of the US Information Service.After that, he stayed in post-war China for another nine months from October 1945 to July 1946. "For the Chinese people and the US policy toward China, it was a period of hope and disaster."Years in China made him realize that the Kuomintang regime was losing popular support and heading towards self-destruction.In addition to the corruption of the regime and the collapse of the economy, "cultural fascism" should be a heinous murderer.Fairbank once campaigned for the persecution of famous cultural figures.He wanted to cultivate and create a spirit of cultural internationalism, which required the United States not only to provide China with military and technical assistance needed for the Hangzhou War, but also to intervene in China's education in order to establish "a common foundation between us, So that we can have a more positive common value standard."This idea is very naive, and it is no better than the missionaries who insisted on transferring the cultural essence of Christianity to Confucian China in their early years.On the contrary, he is also based on a bit of cultural chauvinism, which is more beneficial in the long run. He later advocated that the United States should wisely expand its contacts with the Communists while communicating with the dictatorial Chiang Kai-shek, and cultivate and encourage the mass movement of the representatives of the Communist Party, "according to Only by developing in our direction can we gain greater benefits”, otherwise the CCP will completely fall into the arms of the Soviet Union.

Fairbank had many suggestions and reports on the strategy of US relations with China, which were often sent to the president.But as he said, China is a battleground where American values ​​clash with other values.His values ​​have also been challenged in China. It seems that cultural values ​​determine people's beliefs and behaviors.In this sense, the conflict between China and the United States has always been a cultural conflict and a cultural confrontation in essence.Fairbank believed that whenever the Chinese really combined science and democracy and applied it to the masses living in the background of traditional Chinese culture, Chinese society would be modernized.But he probably overlooked that at that time, traditional Chinese culture seemed to be able to only accept science, and this process was sometimes quite slow. As for democracy, it was simply not acceptable.As long as there are parents who can speak freely, democracy is a superfluous uninvited guest.From this, Fairbank judged that the Kuomintang's strength was not long.

When he succeeded Xiao Qian as editor-in-chief of Ta Kung Pao Literature and Art, he came into contact with CCP members who had also received Western education, first Gong Peng and Qiao Guanhua, then Zhou Enlai and Ye Jianying, and left-wing intellectuals Guo Moruo, Mao Dun, Hu Feng, and Zhou Yang. After interacting with Mrs. Sun and Soong Ching Ling, they were moved by their integrity, enthusiasm and self-confidence in Ye Dai's career.Although he did not clarify or imply at that time that the United States should abandon the corrupt, corrupt, and degenerate KMT totalitarian regime, he felt that these democrats who could speak excellent English and understand Western thought were even like modern American liberalism. Communists who act in that way will be an irrepressible force of idealism—a leading force in the process of the Chinese revolution.He doesn't appreciate Marxism-Leninism, and he doesn't understand what's going on in Yan'an, but he admires the progressive groups and communists composed of Yanjing-Tsinghua University students who are a bit like the religious societies of the last century.In the end, it was these men who succeeded in the land and the peasantry and united the forces of nationalism and social change in the success of the communist revolution.After Fairbank returned to China, he has been paying attention to the study of Chinese issues and China's domestic political situation, thinking about those old friends who often corresponded with him: Liang Sicheng and his wife, Lao She, Zhang Xiruo, Fei Xiaotong, Qian Duansheng, etc.Through them, he learned that China's liberal intellectuals had defected to the communist cause and had completely lost confidence in the Kuomintang. On May 23, 1949, Qian Duansheng wrote to Fairbank: "...the sooner your government looks at our new regime in a realistic way and attitude, the easier it will be to adopt a feasible and mutually beneficial policies. This is the task you face.”

From then on, he really seemed to have a kind of mission, and he began to make public speeches, talking about the benefits of the relationship between the United States and the People’s Republic of China, advocating that the United States recognize the People’s Republic of China and allow it to enter the United Nations. In the autumn of 1949, he further stated frankly: "From the point of view of the common people in China, based on the performance of the current CCP regime so far and judged by the Chinese way of thinking, it is expected to become the best government in modern China." "I It believes that the promises made by the Communist regime to the Chinese people exceed what the existing Kuomintang regime has made.”

Unfortunately, historical experience and judgment are often difficult to change politics, but political mistakes and assumptions often change history.Since the beginning of the Cold War, China and the United States have each experienced this weird and wonderful reincarnation.During the McCarthy period, Fairbank failed to escape the love of modern totalitarianism and was accused of being "the braided nurse of the old Communist Party." His Chinese intellectual friends were no less fortunate than him or even worse. He argued at the hearing, and once his Chinese friends were designated as rightists, all they were waiting for was "Niu Xu" and reform through labor.

As a historian, many of Fairbank’s judgments are accurate and predictable. He believes that “the CCP will obviously not be a puppet of Moscow” and that “the victory of the CCP in China is a matter of national self-determination, not foreign aggression.” In addition, he always believes that the United States supports the Chiang regime in exile in Taiwan, because "in the long run, maintaining peace with mainland China is more important to us than Taiwan." Although Fairbank's view of Chinese history will also be influenced by the world However, his Chinese knot of "broken ties" cannot be untied.He once acknowledged that military containment of China is inevitable, but has always sought to create a situation where engagement replaces containment.Before the end of the Vietnam War, he had already stated to the US government that he could contact China through tourism, lift the trade embargo, conduct exchanges, and restore China's legal seat in the United Nations.This requires not only the insight of a historian, but also the strategy of a military strategist.At this time, he already knew that the Americans had suffered from warlike and anti-communist policies in their China policy.So he wants Americans to know that understanding China and the history of Sino-US relations will give them a safer future.

In June 1972, Fei Zhengqing and Fei Weimei accepted Zhou Enlai's invitation and came to Beijing as the first batch of distinguished guests after Nixon's visit to China, and held talks with Zhou Enlai.At this time, it has been nearly 30 years since their first meeting in Chongqing.At the same time, he met old friends Jin Yuelin, Qian Duansheng, Zhang Xiruo and Fei Xiaotong who "came together" and apparently "restricted" at the time.But in any case, the ice in Sino-US relations is being broken.Seven years later, Sino-US relations have been normalized.Fairbank waited 30 years for this day.He played a major role in the more than 30 years of dramatic events from the beginning of World War II to the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and the United States.Paul Evans' evaluation is objective and fair.He said: "Fairbank's status in American academic circles, his experience and the breadth of his contacts put him in the position of a sage and a messenger in rebuilding academic exchanges between the United States and China." In the preface to the fourth edition of Fairbank's America and China, Reischauer said: "In the past 30 years, no one has written about China more clearly and insightfully than Fairbank. No one has contributed as much as Fairbank in making Americans understand China, its traditions, its turbulent modern history, and China's mysterious present situation." Just this "America and China" alone He said that since the first edition in 1988, it has been praised and welcomed by all walks of life.With new scholarly achievements, Fairbank added a wealth of new knowledge and insights in four revisions, "and these not only about modern events, but even all aspects of early Chinese history, going all the way back to the Paleolithic period. ...Fairbank is good at combining various perceptual knowledge and in-depth analysis with the thoroughness of the wording. This is why this book is and will be a classic in the long run." Chinese readers' academic admiration for Fairbank And admiration has a long history, in part due to his being a very humanitarian (or human) historian.When he knew that his Chinese colleagues were suffering from great spiritual persecution, emotional factors would cause his view of Chinese history to fluctuate.This, of course, refers to events that took place in recent and modern history.Ancient history has long been "history", and it is naturally difficult to deduce how living people evolve history.Who would have expected that the huge socialist camp like the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe would fall apart almost overnight?Historians are not the only ones who are dumbfounded.It is no wonder that Fairbank's view of Chinese history is often affected by the fluctuations of the Chinese revolution, the ups and downs of Sino-US relations, and the domestic pressure of the United States.Therefore, if you study Fairbank’s responses to China at different stages, you will find that it “contains different evaluation criteria and produced different hopes and worries.” However, no matter when and where, Fairbank’s remarks are extremely valuable and relevant. Must be highly valued.On the eve of Nixon's visit to China, his "America and China" was among the two or three books repeatedly read by senior leaders of China and the United States.Fairbank's works translated into Chinese and published include "America and China", "The Great Chinese Revolution", "Fairbank's Memoirs on China" and "Cambridge History of China" edited by him.The present book was published by Harvard University Press in 1988.Through his writings on China to others, this book reviews the exchanges between China and the United States and the two peoples, and records his keen observation and incisive analysis of modern Chinese history.The book contains a total of 26 articles, which are divided into five parts: (1) the role played by foreign imperialism in China, (2) the strict enforcement of Chinese revolutionary leaders, (3) the normalization of diplomatic relations between China and the United States, and (4) the Cultural Revolution (5) The perception of American visitors to China in recent years.History is culture and culture is history.Interested readers should be able to look squarely at Chinese history and Chinese culture from the unique perspective of American scholars through Fairbank. There are many valuable things in it that we often overlook.It is a pity to miss such a book. "Successors may surpass Fairbank's intellectual achievements, but no one is likely to replace him in so many academic enterprises." The position of learned authority in the field. China and the United States are two big countries with completely different cultural and historical backgrounds. After all, there are too many differences.Tolerating differences is the key to the future.Fairbank pointed out that the road to stability is not achieved through the commonality of strategic interests that Nixon and Kissinger divided when they implemented the opening to China, on the contrary, it is achieved through identifying cultural differences and recognizing them. Achieved.Finally, I would like to sincerely thank Mrs. Fei Zhengqing, Ms. Fei Weimei, for authorizing me to re-translate this book; thank my mentor, Mr. Xiao Qian, for reviewing the manuscript and writing the preface while he was ill; I am still helping our school to order the manuscript and put forward many valuable opinions; I would like to thank Ms. Wang Li, the responsible editor, for her hard work in the publication of this book.