汉奸三部曲——“我为其难”汪兆铭The Collaborators, Part One: Wang Jingwei, 'Doing the Hard Thing'

This session follows the thread of Wang Zhaoming's literary works to share and discuss his character at different periods and his state of mind as he made his decisions. Questions to get us thinking: What is a hanjian, a traitor to China? How is it defined? What literary works did Wang Jingwei write? What changes did Wang Jingwei's life go through? What were the distinctive features of Wang Jingwei's character? What stories about Wang Jingwei do you know? Questions for discussion: What did Wang Jingwei experience in his life? How should we view Wang Jingwei's literary works and his political actions? How should we view the struggle between the left and right wings of the Kuomintang, and the April 12 Incident? Why did Wang Jingwei choose to collaborate with the Japanese? Some literary figures' poems on Wang Jingwei: "Inscribed on a Certain Gentleman's Collection" by Qian Zhongshu Sweeping leaves and swallowing blossoms, his feeling is fine enough; rare in a great lord is talent so pure. Yet I faintly mind that, like Dongye, he has a strangely wintry air, and seem to hear the sound of death in the southern wind. Mengde, under the bright moon, grieved that his cares might end; for Yuanheng, at sunrise, trouble arose once more. Do not seek fine poems through sorrow and bitterness: for those in high places, omens have always been quick to come true. "Fuchang" by Chen Yinke The Fuchang Son of Heaven could write poems; the anthology of the Central Plains would not leave him out. Ruan Yu's many talents were no disgrace to him; Chu Yuan, dying too late, is sadder still. Reading history a thousand autumns on, the heart is hard to judge; when the game is cleared from the board, whose is the victory? Endless are the changes, till the Eastern Sea runs dry; the case of the wronged bird is still handed down in doubt. "Untitled" by Ye Jiaying Once he likened his first resolve to the firewood and the cauldron; in all the world, who can bear witness to this heart? Not choosing high ground, the mulberry was planted in vain; I pity him, a wronged bird for all time.