Anarchism in China - Chinese Student Movements

Chinese Student Movements

The first explicitly and recognizably anarchist presence originated in France and Japan with the Chinese study abroad programs for the children of wealthy families that were established after the failed Boxer Rebellion. While not accessible to the vast majority of the population, by 1906 these programs had attracted between five and six hundred students to Europe and about 10,000 to Japan. Japan, especially Tokyo, was the most popular destination because of its geographic proximity to China, its relatively affordable cost, and certain natural affinities between the two cultures (for example, the Japanese language uses Chinese characters extensively, facilitating communication and livability). In Europe, Paris was particularly popular because it was relatively cheap, the French government helped to subsidize the students, and because France was seen as the center of Western civilization.

According to some accounts, there was also a conscious effort on the part of the Chinese government officials who ran the program to use it to get radical students out of the country, with the most radical students being sent to Europe and the more moderate students going to Japan. If this is the case, then that policy was to prove remarkably short-sighted as these foreign-educated students would use the methods and ideologies of European socialism and anarchism to completely transform Chinese society. It is interesting to note that in both locations of study, anarchism quickly became the most dominant of the western ideologies adopted by the students. In 1906, within a few months of each other, two separate anarchist student groups would form, one in Tokyo and one in Paris. The different locations, and perhaps also the different inclinations of the students being sent to each location, would result in two very different kinds of anarchism.