Absolutely Support the “Hunan Monroe Doctrine”
(September 6, 1920)
Several people have put forward a Hunan Monroe Doctrine,161 saying, “If put before the people in a general referendum, it would certainly win support by a great
majority…” Nevertheless, between a “great majority” and the “whole,” there is still the
difference of that small minority. Although this small minority is only a small minority, it seems clear to me that sometimes it has a great deal of influence. According
to the interpretation of those who propose it, the Hunan Monroe Doctrine contains
three principles, “diligently minding our own business,” “absolutely not meddling in the
affairs of others,” and “absolutely not allowing others to meddle in our own affairs,” all
of which are in line with what the great majority of the people think. I expect that
this great majority of the people must include: 1) the peasants who cultivate the land;
2) the workers who work; 3) merchants engaged in trade; 4) students who are serious
about their studies; and 5) other people, young and old, who mind their own business.
These people all believe that they “should mind their own business,” that in the past
(forty years ago), the Hunan people liked to meddle in the affairs of others, doing such
things as trampling on the area south of the Yangzi River, trampling on Fujian and
Zhejiang, trampling on Hubei, Shaanxi, Gansu, and Xinjiang. This was a violation of
the principle of “absolutely not meddling in the affairs of others.” It is because of this
that all of a sudden everyone despised the Hunan people, and that Hunan has been
overrun three times within nine years, and has suffered the terrible disaster of having
“others meddle in our own affairs.” (Take a look at Zhang Jian’s162 open telegram in
161 “The ‘Hunan Monroe Doctrine’ ” was the title of an article by Long Jiangong, the editor-in-chief
of the Dagongbao, which appeared on September 5, 1920.
162 For more on Zhang Jian, see note to the text “What Kind of Talk Is This?” of July 14, 1919, p.
355.

which he says that, because the Hunan people have trampled on the area south of the
Yangzi River, on Jiangsu, Zhejiang, and other areas, they are now suffering the natural
retribution. Although there is no inevitable correlation in what he said, it is certainly
true that no one can escape the law that the bully will be bullied.) If we want to turn
disaster into a good thing, we must first abide by the second principle of “not
meddling in the affairs of the others,” for only then can the third principle of “others
not meddling in our own affairs” be realized.
Even though the peasants, workers, merchants, students, and all those, young and
old, who mind their own business, compose the great majority, and would cast their
votes in favor of the “Hunan Monroe Doctrine,” there is a small minority of people
who are neither peasants, workers, merchants, nor students, nor among those young
and old who mind their own business, who would cast their votes to “oppose the
Hunan Monroe Doctrine.” Some people may say that the votes of the minority cannot
change the decision made by the majority, so the majority wins and the minority loses.
However, I still have some doubts. I want to know to which of the two parties the
people supervising the ballot boxes belong, the majority party or the minority party?
If the former, of course, there is no problem. But if it is the latter, then the result of
the vote will inevitably be that “the original proposal is defeated” and its opposite, the
vote for “Hunan aggressionism” is passed by a large majority. Experience shows that
this assumption is true over 99 percent of the time. That is why I say that “although
it is only a small minority, sometimes it has a great deal of influence.”
The clamor to “support Guangdong”163 does not come from the peasants, workers,
merchants, or students, or from those, young and old, who mind their own business. It
does not come from the great majority of the people, but rather from a small minority of
people who have no occupation, who are neither peasants, nor workers, nor merchants,
nor students, nor those young and old who mind their own business. Seriously, if they
really want to support Guangdong, I suggest they hold a general referendum. In order
to prevent the bad practices described above from occurring, I suggest that the ballot
boxes be put into the hands of our “great majority.” I make such a proposal because I
absolutely support the Hunan Monroe Doctrine.
163 This is a reference to a telegram which was sent by Tan Yankai on September 6, 1920, on the
question of Guangdong-Guangxi relations, and the proposal that “Guangdong people rule Guangdong.”