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Title: Wu Zhihui (1865–1953) Date: 2011 Source: *The International Encyclopedia of Revolution and Protest*, Edited by Immanuel Ness. DOI: 10.1002/9781405198073.wbierp1809 Authors: Daniel Cairns Topics: China, Biography, Chinese anarchism, Anarchist biography Published: 2020-05-10 06:32:49Z
Wu Zhihui was a leading Chinese anarchist,
educator, and Guomindang (GMD) member.
While in his most radical phase Wu Zhihui
advocated on behalf of labor and the poor,
he ardently opposed the Chinese Communist
Revolution of 1949 and the coming to power
of the Chinese Communist Party.
Born into a poverty-stricken family in
Jiangsu, China, Wu Zhihui was a bright and
gifted student, passing the highly demanding
ranks of the Chinese imperial education
system, which enabled him to travel widely
and live in Scotland and France. His turn
toward political engagement began in 1903,
before which his political outlook was fairly
conservative and rooted in Confucianism, in
the manner of his education. Continuing his
radicalization, he joined the Tongmenghui,
the precursor to the GMD, in 1905, declaring
himself an anarchist the next year.
He later founded influential revolutionary
organizations like the Society to Advance
Morality and supervised radical journals like
magazine. He promoted science, rationalism, language reform, and the abolition of
marriage. His ideas were revolutionary, but
he estimated that it would take 3,000 years
to achieve his vision of a utopian society.
Wu was instrumental in the Work-Study
Movement in France. Among his students
were a large group of anarchists – and future
communist leaders like Zhou Enlai and Deng
Xiaoping. In the GMD in the early 1920s,
he was not opposed to cooperation with the
recently founded Chinese Communist Party.
By 1927, Wu Zhihui sought to distance
himself from the two competing parties. He
became an advisor to Jiang Jieshi (Chiang
Kai-shek) and, in the wake of the Chinese
Revolution of 1949, fled to Taiwan, where he
stayed until his death four years later.
<biblio>
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Wu Zhihui. (2000) A New Concept of the Universe
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</biblio>