X-Rotary (3): Rotarians’ nationality
This is the third episode in my series devoted to the Rotary Club of China. In this particular episode, I will analyze the nationality of Shanghai Rotarians over the period 1930-1948.
Was the Rotary Club of Shanghai an American club? Was it open to Chinese and other foreign elites? Do we observe a trend toward sinicization or broader diversification of membership?
In general terms, first, the number of Shanghai Rotarians gradually increased until to the Sino-Japanese war. Starting with 78 members in 1930, the Club’s membership reached a peak in 1940 with 97 members, and ultimately fall to 82 members in 1948, just before the Communist takeover.
Let’s now examine more closely the nationality of members, and how they evolved over time.
The Chinese dominated the club during the entire period (87 members, 38%), followed by Americans (56, 25%), British (37, 16%), other Europeans (39, 17%), Japanese (7, 3%) and miscellaneous nationalities (Canadian, Australian) (2, 1%).
In 1930, the Chinese already represented the dominant group (19 members of a total of 78 members, i.e. 39%), followed by Americans (12 members, 25%), British (9, 18%), other Europeans (5 members, 10%: 3 Germans, 1 French and 1 Italian) and Japanese (4 members, 8%).
By 1940, the original distribution had not changed much. The leading trio (Chinese, American, British) maintained its preeminence. Although they had increased in number, their share had slightly declined in favor of emerging national groups. The Chinese still had 36 members (37%), followed by Americans (19 members, 20%), British (17 members, 17%), Europeans (22 members, 23%) and Japanese, though on the decline (only 3 members, 3%). We also observe a diversification within the European group (that totaled 11 different nationalities), with European Rotarians now coming from not only Western (still 6 French, 3 German, 2 Swiss) but also Northern (1 Dutch, 2 Danish, 2 Norwegians, 3 Swedish) and Eastern countries (1 Polish, 1 Russian, 1 Austrian). Those new European members probably came to Shanghai in the 1930s in the hope of escaping from fascist regimes and the war in Europe.
In 1948, the groups that initially dominated still prevailed and even increased their share (except for the British, who dropped to 11 members, 13%). Chinese still had 32 members (39%), followed by Americans (25 members, 31%). While European membership declined in both number (12 members, 15%) and variety (8 different national groups), the trend toward Eastern and Northern countries strengthened. While there were no French or German members any more, 3 Dutch, 2 Swiss, 2 Danish, 1 Norwegian, 1 Swedish, 1 Russian, 1 Polish and 1 Czechoslovakian has joined the club. Japanese Rotarians had also disappeared, but the Shanghai Rotary now included non-European groups (1 Australian and 1 Canadian, altogether representing 2%).
Cécile Armand
Ancienne élève de l'Ecole Normale Supérieure de Lyon (2006), agrégée d'histoire (2009), docteure en histoire (2017), mes travaux portent sur la publicité, l'histoire urbaine, les migrations intellectuelles entre la Chine et les Etats-Unis et les méthodes computationnelles appliquées à la recherche historique. Mes recherches ont reçu le soutien des fondations Chiang Ching-kuo, Coca-Cola, Andrew Mellon (Program DHAsia, Stanford), de l'Agence Nationale de la Recherche (Access ERC, ENS-Lyon) et du Conseil Européen de la Recherche (projet ENP-China, Aix-Marseille).
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Cécile Armand (22 mars 2019). X-Rotary (3): Rotarians’ nationality. ADVERTISING HISTORY. Consulté le 10 septembre 2024 à l’adresse https://doi.org/10.58079/amlb
