There was an aspect that it was an inevitable choice for modern China to introduce, imitate, and accept the West after the defeat in Opium War. China, which was incorporated into the Western-led international order through the era of international law, felt the crisis of collapse whenever it experienced the West’s ability to carry out war, and recognized that China had no choice but to accept the West. The Xinhai Revolution and the establishment of the Republic of China were the periods when the legitimacy of such Western acceptance was in its highest. The Republic of China basically started by setting the West as a role model to catch up with. However, through World War I, the perspective that China has choice in accepting the West was formed.
Focusing on Period of World War I, This paper examines perspective on the West from Chinese Intellecuals’ point of view. In particular, looking at the Western view that appeared through discussions published in relation to World War I by Liang Chichao (梁啓超), and Chen Duxiu (陳獨秀), Du Yachuan (杜亞泉), who were active in major media among Chinese intellectuals in the 1910s. The three characters are those who have learned the knowledge of the West in late Qing and actively reproduced among modern China. By analyzing their discourses on war and the West, we can ascertain characteristics of the Western view that Chinese intellectuals had at that time.
From the outbreak to the middle of the World War I , the discussions developed by the three intellectuals regarding the war contained similar arguments, and the way they perceived the West was generally similar. However, differences in views of the West began to appear after 1916, when the war was prolonged. Du Yaquan pointed out the ’Breakdown’ of Western civilization after the war prolonged. During the same period, Chen Duxiu argued that war was a way to maintain the high standard and ‘metabolism’ of Western civilization. During World War I, Liang Qichao, who mainly worked as a politician, continued to seek ways to make the most of the European war in a direction favorable to China’s domestic politics and diplomacy. This difference in perception was due to differences in approaches on ways to improve Chinese society in the 1910s. Chinese intellectuals, who emphasized the advancement of the West in the early stages of the war and the backwardness of China in contrast, sought ways to use the war to solve China’s problems after the middle of the war.
Through World War I, the perspective that China can choose to accept the West or establish a relationship with the West has been formed. Furthermore, after the end of the war, the West, which had been recognized as a congeries came to be recognized as an separative individuals. The position of a victorious country experience for the first time since contact with the Western modern world and the perspective on Western civilization diversified during the war changed the overall framework for China’s perception of the West. In the West, which had to be accepted unilaterally, the West has changed to an object that can be negotiated in the future, even if it was not immediate equal.