The Integration Of "guo Min Guo Jia" And "Min Zu Guojia": On Zhang Junmai's Idea Of State Within The Context Of Chinese Thought,1919-1938

This thesis focuses on Mr. Zhang Junmai's idea of state within the context of the transformation of China from the "Tian Xia"(Under the Heaven) to a modern state and the changes of social imagination and thoughts in the Chinese intellectual history.Traditionally, the sociopolitical order of China, as assumed as "Tian Xia", was based on a cosmic order, which believed in the interrelation of Heaven and Man doctrine. Heaven's Mandate was the supreme source of legitimation for the Universal Kingship. However, due to the advancement of the globalization and the impact of the West, this kind of belief was disenchanted and the "Tian Xia" transformed into "state" or "the world".There were two kinds of way to imagine the modern state for the sake of state-building in the late Qing Dynasty. One was the familiar "nation-state"(translated as "Min Zu Guo Jia") idea, that is,"One Nation, One State". The other was the much overlooked "nation-state"(translated as "Guo Min Guo Jia") idea, which advocated the sovereignty of the people, and emphasized the direct and immediate relationship of state and citizen with the equal rights and duties of the individual. By cutting off the traditional bonds between the cosmic order of Providence and the political order, the idea of "Guo Min Guo Jia" was the very embodiment of the modern character of state. However, due to the external pressure and internal crisis, the idea of "Guo Min Guo Jia" was replaced by a narrow nationalism (racialism) of the revolutionists, and the individual was devoured by the organismic state and collective nation (Guo Min) of the reformists.The Revolution of1911ended the "Tian Xia", and founded a republic state. It was not the end but the beginning of China's state-building. There was no political order or rule of law, but chaos of power struggle in Republic Era, and finally the Republic of China deteriorated into a military-gentry coalition regime under the warlords period. It followed the party-state of Kuomintang. Meanwhile, the ideas of state in Chinese thoughts were also in chaos and confusion. There were at least four main ideas of state in conflict with each other at that time, such as the organismic theory of state, the state instrumentalism, the party-state idea and the pluralistic theory of state.In such a great era, Mr. Zhang Junmai keenly felt the pains and sufferings of the failure of the state-building both from national calamity and personal bitter experience. He devoted himself to the process of state-building practically and theoretically. In order to find a way of founding a modern state for China, he turned away from social science (which he studied in his earlier times) to philosophy, from politics to academics, and formed his own irrational idealism philosophy in1919. After the controversy of Science and Metaphysics in1923, he finally turned to rational idealism. Under the guidance of the rational idealistic philosophy, he reflected on the defects of the traditional idea of "Tian Xia", and argued that it should be replaced by modern idea of state. He also sternly criticized all kinds of political practice which deviated from the right way of state-building, such as the dictatorship, the political tutelage, the party-state, and etc. According to him, the failure of state-building of modern China was attributed to the lack of idea of nation state (Min Zu Guo Jia) and the divergence from the kernel of Guo Min Guo Jia. In addition, he reviewed the main competitive ideas of state in Chinese thoughts, and tried to make a synthesis of them to meet with the fundamental interest and needs of country. The achievement of this synthesis was what he called "the philosophy of state from the Chinese point of view".In this view, the state was a unity of Guo Min Guo Jia and Min Zu Guo Jia. On the one hand, every state had its special national culture, which was the creation of the citizens'freedom of spirit. On the other hand, modern state was also the state of the people. Not only did the sovereignty reside in the people, but each individual should be treated as a person with equal freedom, rights and duties. All of such freedom and rights should be acknowledged and protected by democracy, constitutionalism and the rule of law.The end of state was to realize public good, which was evidence of the existence of general will, as Zhang Junmai argued. Correspondingly, both the general will of the state and the free will of individuals were real and primary. Neither of them could be derived from each other. This implied a balance between the individual and the state. Furthermore, the bonds making numerous individuals into one state were morals and laws, both of which were the historical accumulation of the rational will of the citizens. In other words, the ultimate foundation of modern state was the rational will of its citizen. State was not natural, nor artificial, but historical.Zhang Junmai's idea of state clarified the ambiguity of nation-state, treated every citizen as an end and a person, not only improved the subjectivity of the individual, but also laid the state on a solid foundation of reason. As a well-grounded theory, it contributed a lot to the state-building of modern China.