Self-determination, for whom? A conceptual analysis of Chen Jiongming's Federal Manifesto (1927)

In 1927, the former governor of Guangdong, Chen Jiongming 陳炯明 (1878–1933), completed his Modest Proposal for the Unification of China ( Zhongguo tongyi chuyi 中國統一芻議), outlining a federalist structure for China. This agenda stood in contrast with the Guomindang’s efforts to “save” China from warlordism: after breaking with Sun Yat-sen and being defeated by his former comrades, Chen fled Hong Kong and eventually led his own federalist movement, the Zhigongdang 致公黨. As Thomas Curran (2001 , 103) noted, “Most historians pay little attention to Chen’s Zhigongdang on the grounds that without an army or a territorial base Chen and his political allies were marginalized to the point of irrelevance.” Yet, while the party was politically irrelevant, Chen’s (failed) federalist agenda provides an interesting intellectual response to the Chinese imperial crisis. This paper will approach Chen’s Proposal through the framework of Begriffsgeschichte , analyzing its contribution to the circulation, translation, and adaptation of “federalist” ideas in China. Special attention will be placed on how Chen conceptualized “self-determination” differently for the Han majority and for the so-called ethnic minorities, reflecting many of the tensions of the post-imperial debate on “nation,” “democracy,” and “territorial cohesion.”