March 10, 2011 Alison A. Kaufman China Analyst CNA Testimony before the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission Hearing on “China‟s Narratives Regarding National Security Policy” The “Century of Humiliation” and China’s National Narratives Commissioners: Thank you for this opportunity to share my thoughts on China‟s national narratives and their implications for Chinese foreign and national security policy. I want to note that the views I express in this testimony are my own and do not necessarily reflect the views of CNA or any of its sponsors of affiliates. I have been asked to discuss the role that China‟s historical memories of subjugation at the hands of Western powers during the 19th and early 20th centuries play in PRC policy debates, particularly debates about the current state of geopolitics and about China‟s emergence as a great power. I will discuss how these experiences, and subsequent interpretations of them, have helped structure Chinese elite and popular views of China‟s past, present, and future role in the international realm. I will also note some implications of these views for China‟s current-day foreign policy, and for some of the attitudes that its influential thinkers display toward the United States. There are five main points that I wish to make.
First, the “Century of Humiliation” – a period between 1839 and 1949 when China‟s government lost control over large portions of its territory at the hands of foreigners – is a key element of modern China‟s founding narrative.
Second, the Century of Humiliation is thought by many Chinese today to provide historical lessons that are taken as indicative of how strong Western powers tend to behave toward China.
Third, the intellectual debates about the nature of international relations that took place during the Century of Humiliation underpin similar elite debates that are taking place in China today.1 Concerns with the nature of interstate competition, with the possibility for equality among nationstates, and with the question of whether the international system might evolve into something more peaceable in the future, remain salient topics of discussion and debate in China today.
Fourth, although the PRC government maintains that the Century of Humiliation ended when the CCP won the Chinese civil war and established itself as the ruling regime, there remain several vestiges of that period that, in the minds of many Chinese, must be rectified before China‟s recovery will be considered complete. The most important of these – and perhaps the only one that is non-negotiable – is the return of Taiwan to the mainland.
Fifth, there is significant lack of consensus among present-day Chinese elites about what the lessons learned from the Century of Humiliation mean for China‟s future trajectory in the global arena. The Century of Humiliation provides key frameworks through which Chinese intellectuals
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By “elites,” I refer to high-ranking members of the Chinese government, the Party, the military, and governmentaffiliated think tanks and research organizations.
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