The controversy over the retention of the abbreviation of the new China name, Situ Meitang sharply objected: "I have no good impression of these four words." In the magnificent historical process, a seemingly insignificant issue of the abbreviation of the country name has sparked fierce controversy and heated debate. At the 1949 Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, delegates from all sides fell into a whirlpool of disputes in the process of determining the name of the new China. As a participant in the Xinhai Revolution, why did Situ Meitang oppose the words "Republic of China" so strongly? What are the historical origins and considerations behind this? How will this debate on national dignity and national pride end? Let's trace the historical details of that period and solve the mystery.
The historical background of the establishment of the new Chinese national name
In the spring of 1948, the Liberation War entered its final stage, and the People's Liberation Army under the leadership of the Communist Party of China completely reversed the war the following year, liberating large areas of China's territory such as the Central Plains, Northeast China, and North China one after another. With the continuous expansion of the territory of the People's Liberation Army, the Chinese people have fundamentally grasped the initiative and established absolute political, economic, and military superiority over the reactionary rule of the Kuomintang throughout the country.
During this critical period, the Communist Party of China (CPC) took great care and began to prepare for the establishment of the new Central People's Government. In order to win the trust of the people of the whole country and unite all forces that can be united, the CPC Central Committee, on the occasion of celebrating May Day, openly called on all democratic parties, people's organizations, and social elites to convene a political consultative conference to discuss and realize the convening of a people's congress and the establishment of a democratic coalition government.
During this period, the democratic parties and the people without party affiliation no longer supported Chiang Kai-shek's reactionary rule of the Kuomintang, and they successively responded to the call of the CPC Central Committee and launched the "New CPPCC Movement" in Hong Kong and Shanghai to prepare to participate in the New CPPCC Session.
In January 1949, when the peaceful liberation of Beiping was imminent, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China decided to convene a meeting of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) at the same time in the summer and autumn of that year to formally establish the Central People's Government and establish the ruling body of New China. From spring to summer, with the liberation of Tianjin, Beiping, Nanjing, Shanghai, and other large cities, the Communist Party of China gradually took control of the situation in the whole country and made careful arrangements for determining the policy of nation-building.
In order to ensure the breadth and representativeness of the meeting, the CPC set about organizing democratic parties and democratic personages without party affiliation to participate in the CPPCC. At that time, the Kuomintang had suppressed and purged many democrats for a long time, and in order to ensure the smooth convening of the conference, Zhou Enlai immediately ordered Hong Kong to first pick up local democrats to enter the liberated areas to participate in the preparatory work.
In the following months, the CPC Central Committee repeatedly summoned democratic parties and personages without party affiliation to visit and study the CPC's line, principles, and policies, thus creating a good atmosphere for preparing for the new CPPCC session. With the continuous gathering of people from all walks of life, representatives from different strata and different groups finally gathered in Zhongnanhai, Beiping in June 1949.
The beginning of the controversy over the abbreviation of the country
In order to bring the painstaking preparatory work to a successful conclusion, the preparatory meeting of the new CPPCC held its first plenary meeting on 15 June. The participants clarified the guiding principles and overall agenda of the meeting, and decided to set up six working groups to be responsible for different aspects of the preparatory work.
Among them, the first group is responsible for determining the list of units participating in the new CPPCC and the number of representatives; the second group drafted the organizational regulations of the new CPPCC; The third group is responsible for the preparation of the draft Common Programme; The fourth group proceeded to draw up the organizational plan of the new central government; The fifth panel was responsible for drafting the declaration of the General Assembly; The sixth group undertook the arduous task of drawing up important national symbols such as the national flag, national emblem, and national anthem.
While the various groups were in full swing in their preparations, a controversy over the name of the new China and its abbreviation was also secretly heating up. Although the majority of delegates had accepted the name "People's Republic of China", some were divided as to whether the abbreviation "Republic of China" needed to be retained.
The first to question this was Zhang Xiruo, a famous professor at Tsinghua University. On June 17, at the fourth group meeting, when everyone was discussing the name of the "People's Democratic Republic of China", Zhang Xiruo suddenly said that some old gentlemen thought that the name was too lengthy and suggested that the word "democracy" be removed. Personally, he is also inclined to the term "People's Republic of China", arguing that "democracy" and "people" overlap in meaning.
Zhang Xiruo's suggestion was echoed by Zhou Enlai, who explained that "democracy" and "republic" are essentially the same and do not need to be repeated in the name of the country. In the end, under the joint discussion of the delegates, the name of the new China was determined to be the "People's Republic of China".
However, this did not completely resolve the controversy over the naming of the country. An even more difficult question soon surfaced: should the old abbreviation of "Republic of China" be retained after the country name?
During the discussion of the draft Common Programme in the third panel, some delegates suggested that the abbreviation of the country name should be included in the programme. Other deputies, however, strongly objected to this, arguing that these four words should not appear in the great programme document of the new vitality.
At a time when it was difficult to reconcile the contradictions in this controversy, at the second plenary meeting of the preparatory committee for the new CPPCC on 17 September, people found that the name of the "People's Republic of China" in the submitted document was abbreviated with "Republic of China" in parentheses. This undoubtedly pushed this controversy to a new climax.
Szeto Meitang's resolute opposition
At the meeting venue, when it was discovered that the document was suddenly labeled with "Republic of China" as the abbreviation of the country name, an uproar immediately set off waves among the delegates. As a veteran of the Xinhai Revolution, Situ Meitang was the first to stand up and expressed his dissatisfaction and opposition in a rare fierce tone.
Situ Meitang was a close comrade-in-arms of Dr. Sun Yat-sen and held important positions in the government of the Republic of China on many occasions. However, in the course of the long revolution, he developed a strong dissatisfaction and antipathy with the words "Republic of China." In his view, although the Republic of China was a great achievement of the Xinhai Revolution, the subsequent corrupt rule of the Beiyang government and the warlord scuffle had completely desecrated and destroyed its original intention.
More importantly, in Situ Meitang's mind, the regime of the Republic of China was destined to be unable to truly realize a democratic republic, and its ruling base was narrow, representing only the interests of a small number of bourgeoisie and landlord classes. In contrast, after 28 years of bloody fighting, the People's Army led by the Communist Party of China has overthrown the old regime and achieved a nationwide victory. The birth of New China marked the complete realization of democracy and independence by the Chinese people, which was a brand-new beginning.
It is for this reason that Situ Meitang believes that the new people's republic should not inherit the old title, but should use the new name openly. He appealed to the deputies present: "We have absolutely no good impression of the four words of the Republic of China, and it no longer deserves to appear as the abbreviation of the national name of New China!" ＂
Situ Meitang's fierce attack won a warm applause at the venue. Many deputies also expressed their agreement, holding that the new China should thoroughly get rid of the poison of the old system and reflect a brand-new democratic atmosphere in naming the country.
Zhang Shizhao, a well-known scholar attending the meeting, pointed out in righteous words that even though the regime of the Republic of China claims to be a "republic" in name, because of its narrow ruling base and authoritarian means of rule, in fact it embodies a form of government in which "republic" runs counter to "democracy." New China should take true people's democracy as the core, so it should also be reflected in the national name.
After listening to the speeches of the representatives of all sides, the people's leaders Mao Zedong and Zhou Enlai expressed their full understanding and agreement with the views of Situ Meitang and others. They believe that the new China should show its brand-new nature in the naming of the country, and should not be trapped in the trap of entanglement with the old title like a sword.
The views and arguments of the representatives of the parties
Although the fiery rhetoric of Situ Meitang and others brought a strong atmosphere to the venue, the views of the delegates on the issue of the abbreviation of the country name were not completely unanimous. In fact, there are quite a few people who insist on retaining the abbreviation of the "Republic of China."
The first to express support for the retention of the abbreviation was Shen Junru, chairman of the Revolutionary Committee of the Chinese Kuomintang. As a veteran revolutionary, Shen Junru believes that the title of the Republic of China contains the precious spiritual heritage of all revolutionaries since the Xinhai Revolution. It bears witness to the unremitting efforts made by the Chinese people to shake off feudal autocracy and fight for democracy and freedom. Simply discarding it will not only lose the revolutionary tradition, but will also call into question the legitimacy of the ruling power of New China.
At odds with Shen Junru is Zhang Lan of the China Democratic League. Zhang Lan bluntly pointed out that the Republic of China had been completely and wantonly ruined by the Beiyang warlords and the Kuomintang reactionaries, and that it could no longer represent a true democratic republic. As the founding fathers of the People's Republic of China, we should have the courage to get rid of the poison of the old system and demonstrate the democratic atmosphere of the new era.
In the course of the debate, the representatives of the two sides insisted on their own arguments and had sufficient reasons, and the scene was very enthusiastic for a time. Delegates who support the retention of abbreviations believe that this is not only in line with the continuity of state power, but also conducive to the recognition of the general public; Opponents insist that such an approach would leave the new China with the historical baggage of the old era at the outset.
Just when the two sides were arguing and arguing insoluble, the people's leader Zhou Enlai made a concluding speech in a timely manner. He said: "We, the new CPPCC, drafted this program with the interests of the whole nation and the establishment of a new democratic form of government. Therefore, on the issue of naming countries, we should reflect our determination to break with the old system. ＂
"But at the same time, we must not simply abandon everything in the Xinhai Revolution, but inherit and carry forward those precious revolutionary legacies. Zhou Enlai said slowly, "The revolutionary slogan of 'expelling old rituals and restoring China' advocated by the Xinhai Revolution is intrinsically consistent with what we are doing today." ＂
"So, on the issue of country names, I personally prefer to remove the abbreviation of 'Republic of China' altogether. At the same time, however, we can use the word 'Zhonghua' to highlight our historical ties with the revolutionary tradition of Xinhai, which is also in line with our policy of carrying forward the fine revolutionary tradition. ＂
At the scene, Zhou Enlai's interpretation won the approval of most of the delegates. Indeed, removing the abbreviation of the "Republic of China" while retaining the word "China" is undoubtedly a compromise approach, which avoids completely severing the ties with the revolutionary tradition, but also marks the complete victory of the new democratic revolution.
Final Resolution
Under Zhou Enlai's weighing and explanation, the delegates finally had a way out of the dispute over the issue of the abbreviation of the country name. As a matter of fact, prior to this, the views of various parties had been preliminarily summarized at some working meetings of the CPPCC preparatory committee.
According to the report of the Fifth Group on June 23, the more radical delegates advocated the complete abolition of the old title as to whether to retain the abbreviation of the "Republic of China"; Moderates advocate no major changes; Other delegates proposed the use of both the abbreviations "Republic of China" and "People's Republic of China" after the country name.
At that time, the Fifth Panel had collated these observations, but they did not make a conclusive judgement in the minutes of the meeting because the issues were too sensitive. It wasn't until the second plenary session on 14 September, when a heated debate over the country's abbreviation, really put the issue on the agenda.
After listening to the speeches of the representatives of various parties, Mao Zedong and Zhou Enlai conducted an in-depth analysis and study of this issue. They believe that this issue is not only related to the political foundation and historical origins of New China, but also to the recognition and trust of the people of the whole country in the new political regime. In view of the complex and sensitive nature of the situation at home and abroad, we must make prudent decisions.
On September 21, under the joint discussion of the CPC Central Committee, the democratic parties, and personages without party affiliation, the issue of the abbreviation of the country name was finally satisfactorily resolved. According to the provisions of the final text of the Common Program, "People's Republic of China" will be the national name of the new China, but "Zhonghua" or "China" can be used as an abbreviation in daily use.
This is undoubtedly a compromise response to the views of all parties. Fundamentally speaking, the persistence of Situ Meitang and others was respected, and New China completely abandoned the old title of "Republic of China". However, at the same time, out of consideration for historical traditions, the word "Zhonghua" is still retained, which also partially satisfies the demands of Shen Junru and others.
On the same day that the final text of the "Common Program" was adopted, the preparatory meeting of the CPPCC also issued a special explanation on the issue of the abbreviation of the country name. The explanation pointed out that the abolition of the abbreviation of the "Republic of China" was to better reflect the independent status of New China. But at the same time, the retention of the word "China" also marks our cherishing and inheritance of the precious legacy of the pioneers of the Xinhai Revolution.