The Chinese “War and Peace”

October 5, 2023

Taiwan’s story is the effort to bring an age-old civilization into modern democracy.  Thus, it’s also an existential question for the democratic ideal itself.  One has only to remember that China under the last emperor was a feudal monarchy to drive home the point about how far Taiwan has come.  The unique history of bringing democracy to East Asia indicates that what is at stake and happening is also enlightenment itself.  There is an ancient system of philosophy that is being brought into accord with modern democratic norms.  

Chinese philosophy is an ancient system of thought whose development you can trace through the story of the modernization of China and the political situation faced by partisans of democracy throughout their long journey to Taiwan.  You can see this in the way that the last emperor was dethroned.  It was through a network of political societies which had as one of their aims to “oppose the Qing and restore the Ming,” referring to the Ming Dynasty in China that was formed through an uprising of local peasants of Chinese descent organized into secret societies like the White Lotus.  The early movements to abolish the monarchy were characterized as a return to a Golden Age of the early Ming Dynasty and its concomitant associations with authentic Chinese philosophies of life and governance.  Although even this inspiration changed its form as democracy’s adoption progressed, it has remained an important touchstone for the philosophy undergirding the democratic development of Taiwan.  

Several Republic of China generals under house arrest on Taiwan, including Peter Chang Hsueh-liang, studied Ming Dynasty literature and thinking during their imprisonment.  It was taken to be a sign of their continued fidelity to the cause.  One example of the continuing influence of the Ming Dynasty literature on ideas of politics and statecraft is the long novelWater Margin, which is the ancient Chinese equivalent to War and Peace.  Water Margin was studied during the settlement on Taiwan for its lessons on building what would come to be a modern Chinese state.  Its parallels to the story of War and Peace are uncanny.  The title is also translated as “Outlaws of the Marsh” or “All Men are Brothers”.  Like Tolstoy’s classic, it shows different ways of seeing and understanding the world, through a large cast of characters and a historical backdrop.  

There is a strong hint in the book, from all accounts, at the existence of a fundamentally democratic nature to Chinese culture and society.  Although Mao Zedong was known to be a reader of this book, it is clear that he got wrong this lesson from it:  Chinese people are generally open to the very same democracy that the People’s Republic of China is now so intent on avoiding.  The reception to All Men are Brothers on Taiwan, which was more spiritual, had a greater effect on society.  Spiritual pluralism is a fundamental cornerstone of War and Peace, and Taiwan chose that interpretation. 

The story of both All Men are Brothers and War and Peace contains remarkably similar characters and storylines.  It is a testament to some fundamental unity in the human spirit that such remarkably similar works were produced in such different places and times, and I believe it is one of the reasons Taiwan seems so familiar to Western eyes and ears, like a half-remembered song.