The Construction of Supra-Provincial Solidarity

Abstract

This chapter examines Qing elites’ efforts to construct regional identities in response to their growing concerns about the divisive potential of provincialism. Viewing provincialism as an obstacle to building a supra-provincial anti-imperialist or anti-Manchu coalition, some Qing elites sought to unite the Han people by constructing a southern or northern identity that could transcend provincial divisions. The chapter traces the intellectual genealogy of this effort to longstanding discourses on regional difference in Imperial China. It then shows how Japanese scholars theorized these discourses through the lens of Western geographical determinism to elevate Japan’s global status. Qing elites in Japan, in turn, repurposed Japanese theories of North-South dichotomy either to promote the independence of Guangdong or to mobilize the Han people for an anti-imperialist movement. The chapter concludes by highlighting the new anti-Manchu mission that these theories of North-South dichotomy acquired in China proper.