Hannah Arendt's Question and Human Rights Debates in Mao's China Wenjun Yu

305 Pages·2017·2.64 MB·English

by  Wenjun Yu

Human Rights and Their Discontents:
Hannah Arendt’s Question and Human Rights
Debates in Mao’s China

Wenjun Yu

Human Rights and Their Discontents:
Hannah Arendt’s Question and Human Rights
Debates
in Mao’s China

Het onbehagen over mensenrechten:
het probleem van Hannah Arendt
en het debat over mensenrechten in het China van Mao

(met een samenvatting in het Nederlands)

Proefschrift

ter verkrijging van de graad van doctor aan de Universiteit Utrecht op
gezag van de rector magnificus, prof.dr. G.J. van der Zwaan, ingevolge
het besluit van het college voor promoties in het openbaar te verdedigen
op dinsdag 4 juli 2017 des middags te 12.45 uur

door

Wenjun Yu

geboren op 3 april 1986 te Hubei, China
Promotor: Prof.dr. I. de Haan
Acknowledgements

Writing a PhD dissertation is not a lonely work, I cannot finish this job
without the generous help and supports from my supervisor, fellow PhD
students, colleagues, friends and family. Although I take the complete
responsibility for the content of this dissertation, I would like to thank all
accompanies for their inspiration, encouragement, and generosity in the
course of my PhD research.

First and foremost, I would like to express my sincere gratitude to my
supervisor Prof. Ido de Haan for his continuous support of my PhD work
at Utrecht University, for his great concern over my life in the
Netherlands, for his generous encouragements and motivations when I
was frustrated by many research problems, and particularly when I was
stuck in the way of writing the dissertation during my pregnancy and
afterwards. I could not finish this dissertation without his help and
guidance. Thinking of my working experience over the last few years, I
feel truly lucky to have him as my supervisor.

In addition, I am deeply grateful to my fellow PhD students and
colleagues. I have received so many valuable feedbacks from, among
others, René Koekkoek, DevinVartija, Sander Karst, Ugur Ungor, Iva
Vukusic, Sarah Carmichael, Zipeng Zhang, Pepijn Corduwener. I thank
René for his comments on my chapters during the conference in Bielefeld.
Thanks to Devin for his proofreading of the early version of my chapters.
My appreciation also goes to Ugur and Iva for their active participation
in my mock defense and valuable feedback. I thank Zipeng, my Chinese
fellow, for teaching me how to use various kinds of Chinese search
engines. Furthermore, many thanks to my local Dutch friend and
colleague Sander for letting me know that exploring interesting places in
the Netherlands and enjoying the life here are as important as doing the
PhD research. I had so much fun with all of you during my PhD
adventure. Thank all of you for leaving me so beautiful memory in this
country.

I also greatly benefited from a series of PhD training programs of Utrecht
University that not only provided me opportunities to strengthen my
professional knowledge but also enabled me to expand my social
network. The Graduate Seminars organized by the National Research
School of Political History in the Netherlands also offered me chance to
present my own research, to which I am greatly indebted. My sincere
appreciation also goes to the Faculty of Humanities and the Department
of History and Art History for providing me short-period financial
support for my research trip to Hong Kong and for my extension of PhD
research. Particular thanks to José van Aelst for her continuous warm
support in the past few years. Furthermore, I am deeply grateful to the
Chinese Scholarship Council for providing me four-year scholarship for
my PhD research.

This dissertation is edited by Word’s Worth, Zutphen, to which I also owe
great thanks for their professional and effective service. I also want to
thank Roland Burke for sharing his research archives with me.
Last but not least, I would like to thank my family members for
providing me spiritual supports. Particular thanks go to my mother in law
for helping me look after my baby daughter so that I had time to focus on
my dissertation, and to my husband for his selfless dedication to the
family.

Table of Contents

INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................................. 3
1. The case of China ................................................................................................ 5
2. Three case studies .............................................................................................. 10
3. Methodology ...................................................................................................... 11
4. Primary sources ................................................................................................. 13
5. The framework of the dissertation ..................................................................... 14
CHAPTER 1. HUMAN RIGHTS AND THEIR DISCONTENTS: HANNAH ARENDT’S CRITIQUE
................................................................................................................................... 17
1. Introduction ....................................................................................................... 17
2. The right to have rights ...................................................................................... 18
3. Human rights and citizenship ............................................................................ 23
4. Human rights and state sovereignty ................................................................... 29
5. Human rights and political action ...................................................................... 34
6. An analytical framework .................................................................................... 41
CHAPTER 2. THE HISTORY OF HUMAN RIGHTS IN CHINA ............................................. 47
1. Introduction ....................................................................................................... 47
2. The historiography of human rights in China .................................................... 47
3. Human rights in Chinese history: a short overview ........................................... 50
4. Human rights in the Mao era ............................................................................. 57
CHAPTER 3. HUMAN RIGHTS AND CITIZENSHIP: THE CASE OF THE LAND REFORM
MOVEMENT (1950-1953) ............................................................................................ 67
1. Introduction ....................................................................................................... 67
2. Rural society and its inhabitants before the land reform movement .................. 71
3. Class division in the land reform movement: an attempt to create new citizens 76
4. The interaction between human rights and citizenship in the practice of land
reform .................................................................................................................... 88
5. Conclusion ....................................................................................................... 120
CHAPTER 4. HUMAN RIGHTS AND STATE SOVEREIGNTY IN CHINESE FOREIGN POLICY:
1950S- 1970S ............................................................................................................ 122
1. Introduction ..................................................................................................... 122
2. China’s human rights position as an element of foreign policy ....................... 127
3. International criticism and other responses to China’s human rights stance .... 153
4. The strategic use of human rights discourse in Chinese foreign policy ........... 166
5. Conclusion ....................................................................................................... 182
CHAPTER 5. POLITICAL ACTION IN THE HUNDRED FLOWERS PERIOD: 1955-1957 ..... 184
1. Introduction ..................................................................................................... 184
2. The new context for political action: 1955-1957 ............................................. 187
3. Political action in the Hundred Flowers Campaign ......................................... 207
4. Conclusion ....................................................................................................... 246
CONCLUSION ............................................................................................................ 250
SUMMARY IN DUTCH ................................................................................................ 260
SOURCES AND LITERATURE ...................................................................................... 265

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