Red Scare in China: caricatures, anti-Communist propaganda, and the foreign press in the interwar Shanghai, 1924-1937
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Date
31/07/2021Item status
Restricted AccessEmbargo end date
31/07/2022Author
Strzalkowski, Piotr
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Abstract
One of the most defining processes for China during the early 20th century was the nearly two-decades-long conflict between Nationalists and Communists. To better understand this pivotal
rivalry, this thesis explores the development of the anti-Communist caricatures in Interwar
Shanghai, 1924-1937.
The research examines how the colonial foreign press in Shanghai commenced the discourse
and tried to use it to protect the interests of the foreign settlers in the city and appeal to the
Chinese bourgeoisie with whom they shared multiple interests. Subsequently, the Chinese press
in Shanghai also began to issue the anti-Communist caricatures, which followed similar tropes
and attempted to elicit emotions related to the ones appearing in cartoons printed in the foreign
press.
By comparing these two sides of the Red Scare in China, the thesis demonstrates that Shanghai
experienced the formation of a transcultural imagined anti-Communist community. In this
context, the caricatures explained a need for ongoing measures against the radicals and helped
to solidify cooperation against the common enemy that emerged between the two groups in
1927. This similarity visible in Chinese and foreign discourse could have strengthened bonds
between the two groups. This aspect appears relevant in the light of a substantial amount of
evidence on the growing transnational cooperation in the interwar Shanghai.
The visual anti-Communist discourse and its tropes evolved in close relation to multiple events
and were often related to that in the overseas discourse. The anti-Communist caricatures started
by advocating stances such as avoidance, isolation and then propagated resistance, and in the
end, the images began endorsing eradication of the radicals. These stances were inherently
related to the emotions that the propaganda tried to evoke. At first, it focused on eliciting anxiety
and dislike, then turned towards contempt, and in the end, it focused on blatant dehumanisation
and hatred. The propaganda experienced a progression from advising the avoidance of
Communists towards blatant endorsement of their eradication.
Except for the intensification of negative emotions, the anti-Communist propaganda in China
experienced changes in the prevalence of tropes used to describe Communists and the ongoing
situation. The thesis shows that these elements were inherently related to relevant historical
processes and served as conceptualisations and frameworks upon which the relevant
caricaturists constructed negative emotions towards the ideology and its followers.