Red Cross Society of The Republic of China - Origins and History Before 1949

Origins and History Before 1949

The Society was founded as the "Shanghai International Red Cross Committee" on March 10, 1904. It was established during the Russo-Japanese War. Its founders were a group of Chinese business and political leaders, led by Shanghai tea merchant Shen Dunhe. Shen chose to use the Red Cross aegis for his group because the neutrality provided by the Red Cross symbol allowed Chinese relief teams into the Manchurian war zones to aid Chinese civilians caught in the conflict between Japan and Russia. Shen created a Red Cross organization made up of wealthy Chinese and prominent Westerners living in China. This new Red Cross Society, supported by government officials, Chinese elites and Western medical workers provided aid to more than a quarter of a million people in China’s northeast.

After the Russo-Japanese War, it expanded exponentially, now providing peacetime relief as well. There was no shortage of natural disasters in China for the new group to work on. Floods, famine and fire were endemic in the first half of China’s 20th century, along with the constant outbreak of civil war. The Society opened Red Cross hospitals in Shanghai and in other cities, while local Red Cross chapters blossomed throughout the country, staffed and funded by Chinese eager to participate in patriotic activities, particularly as part of an organization with international connections and an aura of "modernity." By the 1920s, there were over 300 Red Cross chapters in China.

The ICRC recognized the Society in 1912 after the establishment of the Republic of China. It formally joined the International Federation in 1919 and was one of the first members. During the 1920s, it contributed to help other countries hit by natural disasters. In 1906, during the San Francisco earthquake and fire that killed 3,000 and destroyed the city, it sent 20,000 silver taels to its San Francisco counterpart to help with relief efforts. In 1923, after the great Tokyo earthquake, it sent a relief team, crates of medicines, and almost $20,000 (in 1923 Chinese dollars) to Japan. The Society's leadership from the 1920s-1940s was closely tied with the American and British Red Cross societies, the Kuomintang government and the Shanghai business community. In 1933, while the Second Sino-Japanese War was raging on, the Act of Administrative Rules and Procedures of the Red Cross Society of the Republic of China (中華民國紅十字會管理條例施行細則) was passed, and the Society was renamed Red Cross Society of the Republic of China.

The Society was naturally very active during the Second Sino-Japanese War, though its operations were mostly limited to the Kuomintang strongholds in southwest China and some areas under Japanese occupation. Invaluable medical supplies from the United States and the United Kingdom were transferred to it by their American and British counterparts, through Burma and India. Overseas Chinese also raised funds for it, and appeals by Chinese diplomats and advocates around the world convinced the American public to make significant donations to support the Chinese people.