The Self-Rule of the People of Hunan (June
18, 1920) 124
Now that Zhang Jingyao has gone, I have the feeling that a situation in which “there
is no Zhang Jingyao, but there are difficulties in the way of self-rule for the people of
Hunan” will frequently be repeated in the future. Can we go along with such situations
in which there is no Zhang Jingyao, but there are difficulties in the way of self-rule
for the people of Hunan? Whether they be Hunanese or not, all those who resolve to
place obstacles in the way of the self-rule of the whole Hunanese people are naturally
the deadly enemies of Hunan.


The turmoil in China has been going on continuously for eight to nine years. The
turmoil itself is not surprising. What is most surprising is that the turmoil has been
going on for a long time without the slightest result. Society is so corrupt, and our
people is so decadent, that unless tremendous efforts are made to get at the root of the
situation, it is impossible to talk about overthrowing and sweeping away [the old order].


123 The metaphor of a rocky field (shitian), meaning a useless conquest, is taken from the Zuo zhuan,
XII, XI (Legge, Vol. V, pp. 825–26). Remonstrating with the ruler of Wu, who was bent on attacking
the neighboring state of Qi, an adviser declared, “You may get your will with Ts’e [Qi], but that is like
getting a stony field, which can be of no use.”


124 Fu Liangzuo (1873–1924), zi Qingjie, a Hunanese, graduated in 1904 from the Japanese Military
Officers’ Academy and rose in rank to general in Yuan Shikai’s Beiyang Army. When Yuan became
president of the Republic, Fu was made chief of the Military Affairs Bureau. A close follower of Duan
Qirui and supporter of his plans to unify China by military means, Fu Liangzuo was appointed governor
of Hunan in August 1917, taking up the post in September. He was an unpopular leader, being a
subordinate of Premier Duan and a prominent member of the Anfu clique, and was forced to resign
from the position and flee from Changsha on November 14, 1917.