1931년 ‘長江 大水災’ 救濟와 國際協力: 國民政府 救濟水災委員會의 外國人 人力과 海外 財源

Abstract

In this paper, the elements of “international cooperation” involved in relief work for ‘the Great Flood Disaster in 1931’ of ‘the National Flood Relief Commission(NFRC)’ were examined in terms of staffing and funding. In terms of personnel organization, a large number of foreign experts participated in the NFRC. Not only quantitatively but also qualitatively, it played a very important role at every strategic point. “International cooperation” in the composition of human resources has become a foundation for the NFRC to promote modern changes in the relief system and methods of relief. Regarding the financial resources, there was no other way in China to find the necessary resources for the relief of flood damage, so it was more and more desperate to find a breakthrough in international cooperation. Finally, the main financial resources consisted of “American Wheat Loan” (58.9%), “Special Surtax of Customs” (25.2%), and “Relief Fund for Flood Victims” (13.3%). “American Wheat Loan” is a in-kind foreign debt, which was negotiated by the Chinese government and the US government for about a month or so. It is a matter of course that the source of financial resources is abroad. “Special Surtax of Customs” is also taxed on foreign imported goods, and in reality, it can be collected only with the implicit consent (cooperation) of the foreign powers, and the source is also deeply related to the abroad. “Fund raising” was obtained from overseas through “international cooperation”, as donations from Overseas Chinese made up 21.9%, and support from foreign governments and private sectors accounted for 18.3%. Therefore, the total amount of financial resources procured from abroad through “international cooperation” exceeds 90% of the total. Without “international cooperation,” the NFRC could not have financed it, and the response of the Chinese government would have been extremely limited, and it would not have been able to find a new relief system or methods. The reason why “international cooperation” was able to become active was also due to the high international interest in the “Great Flood in 1931.” The appeals of the Chinese government and private organizations contributed to this, as well as detailed reports from foreign media. In addition, the ‘international cooperation network’, which was normally operated, also helped. Of course, it wasn''t the first time that international aid was made to save China''s disaster. There has been ‘international cooperation’ since quite early on, and we can see the ‘international cooperation’ of 1931 as the Nanjing Nationalist Government has aggregated and maximized the existing flow. Also, this ‘international cooperation’ was not one-sided. In another aspect, however, the fact that the above-mentioned concentration of overseas financing well shows the weakness of China''s finances at the time. In other words, it shows one aspect of ‘structured external dependence.’