The Alter Ego of China
Westernized Chinese Intellectuals and the Building of Chiang’s Image in Wartime West
abstract
Since 1927 raising a positive perception of Chiang in foreign public opinion was one of the goals of the Guomindang's propaganda machine. During the war of resistance against Japan and the second world war that the plan to project Chiang's international image as that of the predestined, capable leader of a resurgent China assumed a global dimension. Westernized Chinese intellectuals engaged in diplomatic and cultural work in China and in the West were mobilized to this end. One outcome of their efforts was the publication of some biographies of the Chiang Kai-shek in foreign languages, with the aim of improving the knowledge and understanding of the Chinese leader's personality and historical role. This article puts these works in the context of Guomindang war propaganda, but also investigates how, while presenting the generalissimo as the personification of the new modern, national identity of the Chinese Republic, they also reflected a broader cultural agenda of the Guomindang, willing to shape Western discourse on China's civilization and place in world history and culture.
Keywords: International propaganda • Chiang Kai-shek • Chinese intellectuals • Biographical literature
permalink: http://doi.org/10.14277/6969-126-3/SV-4-7