Synarchy and the Chinese People

Abstract

In the wake of a major mutiny by warlord forces in 1921 that left much of the Yangzi port city of Yichang in ruins, a group of Chinese citizens appealed to the foreign diplomatic community to turn the city into a foreign concession under foreign protection. In a statement that seems shocking in the context of the burgeoning anti-imperialist sentiment that followed the May 4th incident of 1919, the petitioners concluded that if their wish was granted, “they would make no complaint, even if we become slaves without nationality.” This incident suggests that in at least some cases many Chinese did not hesitate to make common cause with the foreigners in their midst against a mutual threat. The article seeks to retrofit John King Fairbank’s concept of synarchy to explain how the Chinese people may have both perceived and negotiated the uneven and interpenetrated power relations of the central government, warlord authorities, and foreign powers in the Republican era.