| ID | 187743 |
| Title Proper | Winning the Peace |
| Other Title Information | the Chinese Maritime Customs Service, foreign technocrats, and planning the rehabilitation of post-war China, 1943–1945 |
| Language | ENG |
| Author | Tao, Jiayi |
| Summary / Abstract (Note) | Through the lens of the multinational staff of the Chinese Maritime Customs Service (CMCS), this article argues that a technocratic programme of reconstruction evolved in the Nationalist government's wartime efforts on post-war planning, which refashioned a cadre of foreign (semi-)colonial-era experts into technocrats serving a sovereign state. This episode, in which the weakened Customs Service reclaimed its significance for the Chinese state, occurred in China's wartime capital, Chongqing. After the abrogation of the so-called ‘unequal treaties’ with foreign powers in January 1943, China entered a post-treaty era, and the question of retaining long-serving foreign Customs Service employees perplexed Nationalist leaders. Eventually, China's huge post-war need for foreign expertise, networks, and imports led to a moderate staff reorganization of the CMCS, with foreign technocrats being kept on and other bureaucrats either shifted to advisory positions or being forced to retire. Technical expertise provided a new guise for the European and American presence in post-imperialist China. Taking the rehabilitation of coastal lighthouses as an example, this article demonstrates the significance of foreign technocrats to the Chinese state during the last phase of the Sino-Japanese War and in its immediate aftermath. In showing the ambition and preparations of the Nationalist government for a post-war era, this article corrects a narrative of an all-out collapse of the Nationalist government from the mid-1940s. The wartime evolution of the Customs Service further highlights the growing importance of technocrats in the decolonizing world. |
| `In' analytical Note | Modern Asian Studies Vol. 56, No.6; Nov 2022: p.1930 - 1950 |
| Journal Source | Modern Asian Studies 2022-12 56, 6 |
| Key Words | China ; Expert ; Post-war planning ; the Chinese Maritime Customs Service ; the Second World War |