Republican Personality Cults in Wartime China

Contradistinction and Collaboration

Bibliographic Data

ID2108922
AuthorsJeremy Taylor (0000-0002-0448-0254, Nottingham Contemporary, corresponding author), Jeremy E Taylor
Year2015
Volume57
Issue3
Pages665-693
Publication date2015-07-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueComparative Studies in Society and History (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0010-4175 • E-ISSN: 1475-2999
PublisherCambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1017/s0010417515000249
OpenAlexW2279587056
LanguageEN
Citations received4
References cited33

This paper explores the development of the Wang Jingwei personality cult during the Japanese occupation of China (1937-1945). It examines how the collaborationist Chinese state led by Wang sought to distinguish its figurehead from the person he had replaced, Nationalist leader Chiang Kai-shek. Drawing on visual, archival, and published sources, it traces the development of the Wang cult from the early years of the war, and argues that the unusual context in which the cult evolved ultimately undermined its coherence. The case of Wang Jingwei illustrates how the Chinese case more broadly can enhance our understandings of personality cults that develop under occupation. To this end, I compare the Wang regime with various European 'collaborationist' governments that sought to promote their leaders in similar ways

China · Context (archaeology · Cult · Nationalism · Personality · Political science · Sociology · State (computer science · Chinese history and philosophy · Computer Science · History · Japanese History and Culture · Law · Psychology · Social Psychology · Vietnamese History and Culture Studies