The Memorials to Sun Yat-sen in Shanghai（1925-1949...
Xu Tao
Xu Tao，Associate Research Professor，Institute of History，SASS
E-mail: xutao@sass.org.cn
This paper in Chinese was originally published in Modern Chinese History Studies，2018 （1）.
In the course of revision，the constructive suggestions of anonymous review experts were referred to，and my gratitude also goes to my mentor Xiong Yuezhi，Cao Tianzhong of Sun Yat-sen University，Yan Quan of Shanghai University，and colleagues Wang Min，Chi Zhen，Duan Lian，He Fangyu，Jiang Baolin，etc.
Abstract: After Sun Yat-sen ’s death，the memorials to Sun in Shanghai were developed with a unique trajectory.Before the breakup of the first KMT-CPC collaboration，the scramble between the KMT left and right factions for leadership dominated the memorial activities for Sun in Shanghai.In the period between 1927 and 1937，the urban development in the project of Greater Shanghai was under the name of Sun Yat-sen but had only superficial relationship with the Sun Yat-sen worship.After the full-scale outbreak of the Anti-Japanese War，the symbol of Sun Yat-sen was destroyed，reconstructed，and scrambled repeatedly as the representation of the ruling power in Shanghai.Therefore，the case of Shanghai revealed the complex interactions between Shanghai ’s urban characteristics and the worship of Sun Yat-sen.Moreover，there are relatively few memorials to Sun Yat-sen in Shanghai due to the long-term governance by three administrations and the Nanjing Government ’s plan of the territory controlled by the Chinese administration in Shanghai.
Keywords: Sun Yat-sen；Shanghai；Memorials；Scramble for Party Leadership；Memory
Sun Yat-sen is a revered figure in modern China.There are voluminous relevant researches.However，the research conducted by taking Sun Yatsen as a symbol from the perspective of social memory emerged after the introduction of the new cultural history into China in the 1990s.The study of American Chinese scholar Wang Liping on the memorials to Sun in Nanjing has become one of the pioneering papers in this field.[1] Subsequently，scholars including Pan Guangzhe，Chen Yunqian，Li Gongzhong，Luo Fuhui，Ishikawa Yoshihiro，Tian Hailin，and Luo Guohui also began to study Sun Yat-sen ’s memory history.[2]In the first decade of the 21st century，these treatises sprang up.They discussed in-depth the aspects of Sun not elaborated and even not referred previously，including“commemoration after death”，“image change”，and “construction of the father of the nation”，which changed the previous research orientation of stressing“events before death” rather than“events after death”.
Perhaps because the revolution led by Sun Yat-sen was mainly in South China centered by Guangzhou，little attention has been paid to the study of the relationship between Shanghai and Sun Yat-sen.[3] Only a few scholars，such as Wang Gengxiong and Xiong Yuezhi，fully discussed the relationship between Shanghai and Sun Yat-sen.No in-depth study of the relationship between the worship of Sun Yat-sen and Shanghai after Sun Yat-sen ’s death has been conducted.Although the Kuomintang（KMT） government led by Chiang Kai-shek promoted the worship of Sun Yat-sen throughout the country after his death，the worship of Sun Yatsen showed great differences at the regional level.As far as Shanghai is concerned，Sun Yat-sen mainly contributed theoretically to the construction of Shanghai before his death[4]，but after his death，his role as a symbol of ruling legitimacy under the “joint” efforts of various political heritage contenders has been increasingly important，changing the original spatial pattern of Shanghai to some extent.The construction of “Greater Shanghai” is generally regarded as an important example of Chiang Kaishek ’s implementation of worship of Sun Yat-sen.However，personally，the urban development in the project of Greater Shanghai was under the name of Sun Yat-sen but had only superficial relationship with the worship of Sun Yat-sen.After the full-scale outbreak of the Anti-Japanese War，the symbol of Sun Yat-sen was destroyed，reconstructed，and scrambled repeatedly.There are few memorials to Sun in Shanghai compared with other cities due to deep historical causes.This paper attempts to reexamine Sun Yat-sen from the perspective of urban history，explore how Shanghai remembers Sun，and reveals the complex interactions between urban personality and worship of Sun.