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摘 要

本文以对二十世纪初国内外政治社会环境为背景：国内一战后中国作为战胜国在巴黎和会上外交失败，引起国内爱国主义人士不满，随后青年学生发起了五四爱国运动，期间民主与科学思潮在传统封建思想以及列强打压中艰难传播与发展。与此同时，美国针对华人颁布一系列《排华法案》，包括中国人在内的有色人种在美国社会遭到歧视，深受其害。面对美国内部的种族主义，以及国内思想革命的爆发，海外中国留学生做出了一系列反应，其中，留学生们的民族意识大多体现在文化活动中。本文选择了梁实秋和闻一多在美国留学期间所进行的部分文化活动进行分析，从而得知中国留学生在留美期间，面对种族歧视是如何应对的， 也由此揭示五四前后现代中国形成的关键时期中美两国在思想文化上的复杂纠葛及其对中国社会的深远影响，并且探讨了早期中国留学生在美国留学经历的历史意义。

关键词：留学生，美国，种族歧视，民族主义，文化

Table of Content

Acknowledgment ............................................................................................i

English Abstract ..................................................................................................ii

Chinese Abstract ...............................................................................................iii

Table of Contents ............................................................................................iv

Introduction .................................................................................................................1

1. Background of the Study ....................................................................................1

2. Literature Review ............................................................................................2

3. Thesis Arrangement ...........................................................................................3

Chapter One Overview of Historical Background at the Beginning of the Twentieth Centure..............................................................................................4

1.1 The Nationalism in the May Forth New Culture Movement ..................4

1.2 Passage of the Exclusion Act and the Prevalence of Racism in the United States ....................................................................................................................5

Chapter Two: Wen Yiduo and Liang Shiqiu’s Experience in the United States....6

2.1 Overview of Wen Yiduo and Liang Shiqiu’s Overseas Experiences................6

2.2 Their Cultural Activities and Intellectual Features during That Period.........9

2.2.1 Participation in the Student Union....................................................9

2.2.2 Literary Production...........................................................................11

Chapter Three: The Historical Significance of Early Chinese Overseas Students’ experience in the United States.........................................................................16

3.1 Significance to the Self-Development of Overseas Students.....................16

3.1.1 Horizon Expanding........................................................................... 16

3.1.2 Changes of Lifestyle............................................................................17

3.1.3 Rising Awareness of Nationalism........................................................17

3.2 The Significance to the Development of China Society................................17

3.3 The Significance to Cultural Exchange ....................................................18

Introduction

1. Background of the Study

Ever since the Self-strengthening Movement in the middle of the nineteen century, the Chinese government continuously sent students to Western countries to learn science and technology. Then, cultural collision and integration occurred among overseas Chinese students. On the other hand, from 1915 when China and Japan signed the treaty of Twenty-One Demands to the Northern Expedition in 1926, Chinese intellectuals and students began to attack traditional Chinese culture in terms of democracy and science. After the First World War, foreign invaders continued to encroach on Chinese territory, transferring Germany’s possession in Shandong to the hands of Japan. Weak and incompetent, Beiyang Government disappointed Chinese citizens due to this diplomatic failure. Hence the May Fourth Movement, in which foreign invasions elicited a sweeping social ethos of patriotism among Chinese youths. At the same time, racism prevailed in the United States. In the 1890s, American congress passed the Exclusive Act against Chinese immigrants, which didn’t end up until the 1940s. This policy brought painful disasters to American Chinese and their descendants, and Chinese overseas students were also subject to and suffered from it. Facing both American racism and the cultural revolution at home, Chinese overseas students reacted in terms of various cultural activities to promote national consciousness. Among other people, Liang Shiqiu and Wen Yiduo stood out. In August, 1923, Liang Shiqhiu went to America and studied at Colorado College and then entered Harvard University. During this period, he joined a series of cultural organizations dedicated to Chinese nationalism. In July, 1922, Wen Yiduo began to study at the Art Institute of Chicago and then transferred to Colorado College as Liang Shiqiu’s schoolmate. Even though he specialized in art, he showed great interest in literature, especially in poems. His literary enterprise during that period also reflected the development of his nationalist ideas. Therefore, this thesis chose Wen Yiduo and Liang Shiqiu as the research subject to probe into the May Fourth Movement, a benchmark of the formation of modern China, and how the cultural exchange between China and America influenced Chinese society.

2. Literature Review

After reviewing a great number of monographs and academic essays, I found that there is hardly any exclusive study of oversea Chinese students’ cultural activities. However, some of them focus on a certain part of my research, such as nationalism, overseas students, modern Chinese poetry, and so on, and thus could be put into three categories: studies on nationalism and overseas students, studies on modern Chinese poetry, and biographical studies on Wen Yiduo and Liang Shiqiu.

Studies on Nationalism and overseas students: 1) Overseas Students in Modern Society and Chinese Culture《近代留学生与中国文化》 by Li Xisuo (李喜所)： This book examines the experience of overseas students in modern Chinese history and its influence on Chinese culture. It mainly involves three countries, namely Japan, the United States, and France to discuss the influence of foreign experience on nationalism. Also, it took some outstanding overseas students as an example to show how overseas students devoted themselves to the enterprise of nation building and the modernization of Chinese culture. The materials concerning the United States somehow overlap with the subject matter of this thesis. 2) Analysis on Nationalism and National Country Founding《民族主义与民族国家构建析论》by Wang Wenqi (王文奇): This essay analyzes the relationship between nationalism and nation building. Nationalism fosters a nation, and the nation in turn serves as the hotbed of nationalist ethos. In this essay, the writer reveals the importance of nationalism in the process of building a modernized state.

Studies on Poems: There are two papers highlighting the influence of Wen Yiduo on modern Chinese poetry and the readers’ understanding of vernacular poems. 1) Sylvia Chan, “The Red Azalea: Chinese Poetry Since the Cultural Revolution.” In this article, Wen Yiduo’s statement that writing poetry resembles dancing in fetters is emphatically reiterated. 2) Edward L. Shaughnessy. “Love Songs of Early China.” It is argued in this thesis that modern readers, influenced by the bold explanation of Wen Yiduo, would take images in Chinese poetry as cultural symbols. It also implies that Wen Yiduo has a great influence on American readers in reading Chinese poems.

Biographical Studies：Biography of Wen Yiduo《闻一多传》by Liu Zhiquan（刘志权） and Biography of Liang Shiqiu 《梁实秋转》 by Song Yiqiao (宋益乔) ：These two books review the life experience of Wen Yiduo and Liang Shiqiu in a chronological order. Their activities in America are also briefly recorded. These records provide me with valuable historical materials to draw a conclusion on their common features.

3. Thesis Arrangement

This thesis consists of four parts:

Introduction gives a brief background of the study and literature review. At the end, it offers the arrangement of the whole thesis.

Chapter One illustrates the historical background in more details. It mainly discusses the nationalism in the May Forth New Culture Movement and the prevalence of Chinese Exclusion Act and Racialism in the United States.

Chapter Two presents Wen Yiduo’s and Liang Shiqiu’s Experiences in the United States. Also, Liang Shiqiu’s and Wen Yiduo’s experience in student unions are presented as well as their literary production so that their thought features are illustrated in the thesis.

Chapter Three focuses on the historical significance of the experience of early Chinese overseas students as represented by Wen Yiduo and Liang Shiqiu in the United States. It is examined in three aspects: facilitating the self-development of Chinese intellectuals, promoting the awareness of national identity, and enhancing the cultural exchange between China and the U.S. 

Chapter One Overview of Historical Background at the Beginning of the Twentieth Century

1.1 Nationalism in the May Fourth Movement

Immediately after the First World War, imperialist powers returned and continued to encroach on the territory of China. Though as a victorious state, China still failed in diplomacy. China’s diplomatic failure at the Paris Peace Conference directly led to the awakening of Chinese people and the rise of national consciousness. At this historic juncture, the May Fourth Movement broke out, which turned out to be an intensified expression of patriotic ethos with the tenets of anti-imperialism and anti-feudalism and significantly promoted the development of Chinese nationalism. An unprecedented number of individuals joined in the movement, including students, college teachers, and businessmen. Compared with previous social movements like the Hundred Days’ Reform which was led by traditional intellectual elites and the Boxer’s Rebellion led by the peasantry class, the May Fourth Movement caught the attention of ordinary people from various social classes and contributed to the establishment of a unified state ideology. During the May Fourth Movement, Chinese nationalism was mainly embodied in two aspects. This first aspect lies in a public animosity towards imperialists for their constant threat of colonizing China, while the second aspect lies in the social revolt against the so-called Chinese feudalism and the autocracy of the Beiyang government, which irritated the newly-emergent Chinese civic society. Moreover, it was widely believed that the government was assisting foreign invaders in oppressing the citizens and making the patriots depressed, who were aware of the importance of national reform and eager to launch a iconoclastic enterprise. Hence the May Fourth Movement and its anti-feudal imperatives.

Chinese nationalism permeated in various fields, such as politics, economy, culture and so on. However, the field arousing most public concern was that of economy and culture. In 1915, due to the formulation of the Twenty-One Demands and its damage to Chinese sovereignty, there emerged a large-scale boycott of Japanese goods in throughout China. As the news of Chinese diplomatic failure at the Paris Peace Conference arrived at China, which forced the Beiyang government to transfer the privilege of Germany in Shandong Province to Japan, the boycott of Japanese goods reached its climax. Frustrated by this news , the Chinese Chamber of Commerce called for a united front and successfully stopped the Chinese delegate from signing the treaty. The Shanghai Chamber of Commerce even raised money to support nationwide demonstrations. At the same time, Chinese populace began to realize that the mere clearance of all Japanese goods could not save China in a thoroughgoing way. Thus, many of them switched their focus to the field of culture.

In terms of culture, cultural nationalism refers to defining and maintaining the nation from a cultural perspective. In this process, the national culture shared commonly by citizens as a whole is identified and the its independence is guaranteed. Before the first world war, most intellectuals thought it was of great urgency to promote holistic Westernization. However, after the first world war, the unfair treatment to China at international conferences humiliated Chinese citizens and forced them cast doubt on the hegemony of Western culture. From then on, an increasing number of individuals began to pay more attention to the Chinese tradition, as manifested in the cultural activities of overseas Chinese students.

1.2 Passage of the Exclusion Act and the Prevalence of Racism in the United States

From 1848 to 1943, the United States enacted a set of anti-Chinese policies, which were coercive and influenced almost every aspect of the life of Chinese immigrants. California was the first state to take anti-Chinese actions. In the year of 1882, the so-called Chinese Exclusion Act was passed and carried out throughout the country. that banned the entry of Chinese people into the U.S. for non-official purposes. It was not 1943 that all anti-Chinese policies were abolished and the living condition of Chinese Americans started to get improved. (Li, 2008)

In the year of 1848, gold was found in California. A considerable number of Chinese people who were suffering from poverty came to California for the gold there. At the end of the 1870s, the population of Chinese living in the United States reached more than 100,000. However, from 1882 to 1943, the number of Chinese Americans did not increase at all. On the contrary, it deceased to 70,000 as a disastrous result of the enactment of the anti-Chinese act by the U.S. government. Apart from that, local governments also set up some discriminative regulations against Chinese immigrants in the aspects of taxpaying, job hunting, political participation, and so on. At that time, anti-Chinese riots frequently happened. From the 1870s to the 1880s, with the economic recession, folk Americans tended to attribute it to the competition of new immigrants and thus caused a series of bloody incidents targeting at Chinese workers.

The problem of racism was so severe that no Chinese immigrants could keep away from it, and even new European immigrants from Ireland and Russia who suffered from the very discrimination would vent their anger by assaulting Chinese Americans in order to maintain their social superiority over the abject other.

In the year of 1898, Hawaii became a part of the United States, anti-Chinese movements were transmitted there. At the turn of the twentieth century, Chinese people all over the United States, including businessmen and students, unanimously suffered racial discrimination and mistreatment no matter which social classes they belonged to. (Li, 2008)

Chapter Two Wen Yiduo and Liang Shiqiu’s Experience in the United States

2.1 Overview of Wen Yiduo and Liang Shiqiu’s Overseas Experiences

Wen Yiduo studied in the United States from July, 1922 to May, 1925 as a college student majoring in art, and Liang Shiqiu took literature as his major in the U.S. during his life span from August, 1923 to 1926. When Liang Shiqiu just arrived in the United States, he felt very lonely, because everything was different from that in China and almost everyone he met had different skin colors. However, in the situation of discrimination and loneliness, there were still things that warmed his heart. Liang Shiqiu once mentioned his experience of eating a meal at a restaurant. An old man wrote a message to him in Chinese, asking where he was from. According to his appearance, Liang Shiqiu soon realized this old man was a Cantonese who could not speak Mandarin and was unwilling to speak English. Liang Shiqiu replied in his message that he was a Chinese overseas student. When he footed the bill, the old man did not ask him to pay and gave him a cigar. He then heard that every Chinese student would be treated with a free meal and a free cigar in this restaurant as a reminder of love for his or her Chinese compatriots. This event deeply impressed Liang Shiqiu and reinforced his national identity.

More Luckily, Liang Shiqiu and Wen Yiduo studied in Colorado Springs where the local people were mostly hospitable and nice. Although Liang Shiqiu studied literature in Colorado Collage while Wen Yiduo studied art there, they were exposed to various academic fields there. In such a circumstance, they met two female professors, who regarded them as their best students ever. These two American professors loved Chinese culture very much. Wen Yiduo and Liang Shiqiu often introduced Chinese philosophy and art to them and made them more knowledgeable about the essence of Chinese culture. Besides their schoolwork, Liang Shiqiu and Wen Yiduo also enjoyed many extra-curricular activities like camping and hiking around forests and along rivers. The natural scenery was abundant in Colorado, and during their trips, they had their souls purified in Rousseau’s sense and became more familiar with the naturalistic side of American culture.

In the 1920s, racial discrimination reached its height in the U.S. Not one with Chinese nationality would be spared from being unfairly treated no matter what they did. As Chinese international students, Liang Shiqiu Shiqiu and Wen Yiduo also came across such discrimination from time to time. For example, at the graduation ceremony, graduates normally lined up by pairs of a male student and a female student. But no one wanted to form pairs with Chinese students. The administration office of the university tried its best to persuade female students to join them, but no one approved. Finally, the six Chinese graduates joined hands and walked together to the front, receiving their awards and graduate certificates. Another notable example was that Chen Changtong, one of the student leaders of the May Fourth Movement and their close friend, once went to the barber’s to have a haircut. He took a seat at the barber’s for a while, but the staff tried to drive him away. Later on, a barber came and told him that they did not offer service to Chinese. Chen sued the barber at the local court. He won the suit and the barber was asked to apologize to him for his rude behavior. However, after his apology, the barber told Chen not to come to their barbershop again, and if he wanted a haircut, he’d better stay at home to serve himself with the cutting kit because nobody would go to a barbershop which Chinese people had ever visited. Liang Shiqiu heard about this story. He felt deeply hurt at heart and his patriotic sense arose in a frenzy. Wen Yiduo was also irritated and he composed one of his most renowned poems The Laundry Song. During the period when they were in the United States, Liang Shiqiu and Wen Yiduo always relied upon poems to convey their feelings to communicate with others, and to express their wrath as opposed to racial discrimination.

In order to form a united front among Chinese overseas students to promote national consciousness and resist prevalent racial discrimination in the American society. Liang Shiqiu, Wen Yiduo and the other Chinese overseas students in the United States founded student unions around the U.S. At Colorado College, they adapted the The Story of Pipa, a traditional opera drama, and performed it in front of the American public. Although, at the beginning, it was criticized by some Chinese students for mislead the American audience, it soon gained much applause and caused a cultural sensation in the American society. Chinese overseas students, including Wen Yiduo and Liang Shiqiu, also founded Dajianghui (Association of the Great River) off campus. This Chicago-based association aimed at solving domestic political problems in China and won a nationwide support from the American academic circle. When the Chinese overseas students graduated and came back to China, their also brought the cultural and political resources they accumulated during their stay in the U.S. and continued their diversified activities to save China, which imposed a profound influence on the formation of modern China. (Liu, 1999 and Song, 2005)

2.2 Their Cultural Activities and Intellectual Features during the Period

2.2.1 Participation in the Student Union

Activities of the student union founded by Wen Yiduo, Liang Shiqiu, and other Chinese overseas students can be mainly divided into two categories: the activities devoted to traditional Chinese culture and the activities aiming at domestic issues in China.

Propagating Chinese culture is one of the most important tasks of the organizations established by Chinese overseas students. Liang Shiqiu and Wen Yiduo, at that time, were both members and founders of the Chinese Student Club at Colorado College. The Chinese Student Club provided Chinese overseas students with a chance to meet their compatriots and to help each other in the United States. It also utilized this platform to propagate Chinese culture. For example, to celebrate the thirteenth anniversary of Republic of China, Colorado College Chinese Student Club held a public meeting at the university hall. The founding of the Chinese Republic had, on the one hand, overthrown the old monarchy regime, and on the other hand, created a new era of modernization in China. Because its significance, Dr. C. C. Microw, the president of Colorado College, was invited to give a speech. There was also a speech given by one Chinese student interpreting some of the social problems inflicting China. The meeting was open to all and that was the first time of such a grand event ever organized by Chinese students in Colorado Springs. After the meeting, an Exhibition of Chinese art, including paintings drawn by well-known Chinese artist Zhao Mengfu, who lived in fourteenth century A.D. The activities were all open to the social public, including the residents of Colorado Springs, students and staff members of the college.

Besides, drama performing constituted another effective means to propagate Chinese culture. When Liang Shiqiu was studying at Harvard University, the Chinese students of Harvard decided to perform a Chinese drama for the American audience. Because Liang Shiqiu had gained rich experience in theatre, he was selected to be the director of their performance. Before long, Wen Yiduo heard of this news and was really interested in it. Even though he were not in Massachusetts, he designed the costumes for the drama and drew a series of pictures for stage setting. They tried their best to rehearse the drama that they chose, The Story of Pipa. Of course, during the period of preparation, they encountered some barriers, some of which even came from their companions. A student leader from MIT, on the day of performance, criticized them that the story they performed might bring a sense of exoticism to foreigners about Chinese culture. For instance, the protagonist of the story who abandoned his wife and married another woman was indeed a disgusting polygamist. This kind of character, in his opinion, would humiliate Chinese culture. However, Liang Shiqiu tried his best to persuade him and the drama started as planned. It attracted a large number of audiences, among whom there were some American professors and cultural celebrities. Everything ran smoothly, and the performance was deemed highly by American audiences. To tell the truth, what made the performance a real success was not the story itself, not to mention the performers’ skills, but the Chinese cultural tradition inherent in it. The Americans were all curious about Chinese culture and excited over the Chinese-styled clothes, Chinese instruments, traditional Chinese operas, and so on. At least, they had achieved their goal and enabled American people to get closer to Chinese culture through the drama.

Suffering racial discrimination in the United States and facing domestic political disorders, as a patriot, Liang Shiqiu decided to do something to relieve such a severe crisis. Concerning over domestic political issues, Liang Shiqiu and Wen Yiduo advocated to found a national organization with their fellow students in the United States. At an inn on the Drexe Street near Chicago University, the Chinese overseas students from all over the U.S. discussed current Chinese politics for over ten days. Eventually, they came up with three general principles:

Firstly, because of the serious situation in China, they should not focus on cosmopolitanism, but on nationalism.

Secondly, because warlords dominated over the vast majority of China, democracy ought to be supported.

Thirdly, because of China’s economic backwardness, they proposed to develop an industrial society out of an agricultural society. That’s why they called their organization Dajinghui.

To conclude, Chinese overseas students did not only focus on the overseas life, but also the domestic politics.

2.2.2 Literary Production

Liang Shiqiu and Wen Yiduo, in the United States, wrote a great number of essays and poems, some of which were sent back to China and published on domestic newspapers and magazines. However, the suite poems composed by them in English had long been unknown to the public until the mid 1990s, which derived from the blank verse provoking Liang Shiqiu and Wen Yiduo’s national consciousness and listed as follows:

Chinee

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