{"id":1601,"date":"2025-10-21T10:21:37","date_gmt":"2025-10-21T10:21:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/transnationalhistory.net\/world\/?p=1601"},"modified":"2025-10-21T10:21:47","modified_gmt":"2025-10-21T10:21:47","slug":"shifu-can-we-consider-the-views-of-chinas-famous-anarchist-true-anarchy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/transnationalhistory.net\/world\/2025\/10\/shifu-can-we-consider-the-views-of-chinas-famous-anarchist-true-anarchy\/","title":{"rendered":"Shifu: Can We Consider the Views of China’s Famous Anarchist ‘True’ Anarchy?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Born to an upper-class family as Liu Shaobin, Shifu (1884-1915) lived through the collapse of the Qing dynasty and converted to anarchism while studying in Japan.1<\/a><\/sup> Known for his commitment to living anarchist principles, Shifu’s purist example and devotion to promoting the common good through his educational reforms influenced subsequent generations of Chinese anarchists, attracting others to the anarchist movement which reached its peak in the early 1920s.2<\/a><\/sup> While Shifu\u2019s early career mirrors other anarchists of the time in his support of assassination and revolution-driven violence, some argue that, because his later efforts depart somewhat and are marked by a renunciation of violence, he fell away from anarchy. Furthermore, in his book, Shifu, Soul of Chinese Anarchism<\/em>, Krebs argues that Shifu\u2019s later career has a conservative moral quality, because it is inspired by traditional Chinese literature, despite the radical reforms he espoused. So, can Shifu be considered an anarchist given his departure from a violent past and tendency toward cultural conservatism? And does it matter?<\/p>\n

The current, popular view of anarchy often mistakenly reduces anarchism to terrorism and violence. According to political theorist John P. Clark, there are many ways to define anarchy and reaching a consensus on a singular definition is difficult. He argues that we should consider classical anarchist theory, history of anarchy movements, and the scholarly debate around anarchy when attempting to define \u2018anarchism\u2019.3<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n

Greek for \u2018without rule\u2019, in theory, anarchy could apply to anyone who advocates for the necessary abolishment of government.4<\/a><\/sup> For example, Shifu was familiar with Kropotkin and Bakunin\u2019s ideas of anarchy, which Kropotkin defines as \u2018a principle or theory of life and conduct in which society is conceived without government\u2019 and Bakunin as the aim of abolishing the state.5<\/a><\/sup> Other scholars define anarchism as the opposition of authority, or even society, itself\u2014which Shifu also advocated for.6<\/a><\/sup> Clark argues that to be a \u2018true anarchist\u2019 one must meet four criteria: \u2018(1) a view of an ideal, noncoercive, nonauthoritarian society; (2) a criticism of existing society and its institutions, based on this antiauthoritarian ideal; (3) a view of human nature that justifies the hope for significant progress toward the ideal; and (4) a strategy for change, involving immediate institution of noncoercive, nonauthoritarian, and decentralist alternatives\u2019.7<\/a><\/sup> This definition allows for some flexibility in classifying anarchists (i.e. people that meet some but not all four of the criteria can be considered \u2018weak\u2019 anarchists).7<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n

According to Clark, Shifu can be considered a true anarchist because he meets all four criteria, although his later views on anarchism just before his death might be better described as anarcho-communism due to their anti-capitalist rhetoric and communal nature.8<\/a><\/sup> First, Shifu advocated for a classless society in which resources were held in common without government involvement.9<\/a><\/sup> Second, Shifu criticised state socialism and Confucianism for encouraging idealogues to preach an empty \u2018fake morality\u2019 while advancing their own self-interest.10<\/a><\/sup> Third, he believed in the capacity for human beings to change, which he argued could only be achieved through educating the masses. Lastly, Shifu developed a comprehensive, twelve-point plan for moral reform across China at a societal level. ((Ibid,<\/em> 6.)) His solution for the eventual abolition of government (partly inspired by Tolstoy and Kropotkin’s philosophies) included the abstention of the following: partaking of meat, liquor, smoke, marriage, using family names, using servants, riding in rickshaws, serving in the government or military, joining political parties, and religion.11<\/a><\/sup> Another way he hoped to implement his ideal society was through communal living and Esperanto projects.<\/p>\n

Although Shifu failed to bring about his ideal society, his critiques of existing social institutions and politics were influential in shaping China\u2019s transition into a modern republic, and he inspired hope in following generations of intellectuals for a brighter future.<\/p>\n

  1. Edward S. Krebs, Shifu, Soul of Chinese Anarchism<\/em>, (Rowman & Littlefield, 1998), 1-2, https:\/\/www.vlebooks.com\/Product\/Index\/336439?page=0&startBookmarkId=-1. [↩<\/a>]<\/span><\/li>
  2. Krebs, Shifu<\/em>, 13. [↩<\/a>]<\/span><\/li>
  3. John P. Clark, \u201cWhat is Anarchism?\u201d in Nomos<\/em>, vol. 19, (1978), 3, http:\/\/www.jstor.org\/stable\/24219036. [↩<\/a>]<\/span><\/li>
  4. Clark, \u201cWhat is Anarchism?\u201d 4. [↩<\/a>]<\/span><\/li>
  5. Ibid<\/em>, 4. [↩<\/a>]<\/span><\/li>
  6. Ibid<\/em>, 5. [↩<\/a>]<\/span><\/li>
  7. Ibid<\/em>, 13. [↩<\/a>]<\/span> [↩<\/a>]<\/span><\/li>
  8. Krebs, Shifu,<\/em> 83. [↩<\/a>]<\/span><\/li>
  9. Ibid.<\/em> [↩<\/a>]<\/span><\/li>
  10. Ibid,<\/em> 102. [↩<\/a>]<\/span><\/li>
  11. Ibid<\/em>, 8, 103. [↩<\/a>]<\/span><\/li><\/ol>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Born to an upper-class family as Liu Shaobin, Shifu (1884-1915) lived through the collapse of the Qing dynasty and converted to anarchism while studying in Japan.1 Known for his commitment to living anarchist principles, Shifu’s purist example and devotion to promoting the common good through his educational reforms influenced subsequent generations of Chinese anarchists, attracting … Continue reading “Shifu: Can We Consider the Views of China’s Famous Anarchist ‘True’ Anarchy?”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":57,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[2,68,96,102],"class_list":["post-1601","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-anarchism","tag-modernity","tag-shifu","tag-twentieth-century-china"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/transnationalhistory.net\/world\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1601","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/transnationalhistory.net\/world\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/transnationalhistory.net\/world\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/transnationalhistory.net\/world\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/57"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/transnationalhistory.net\/world\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1601"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/transnationalhistory.net\/world\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1601\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1604,"href":"https:\/\/transnationalhistory.net\/world\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1601\/revisions\/1604"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/transnationalhistory.net\/world\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1601"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/transnationalhistory.net\/world\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1601"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/transnationalhistory.net\/world\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1601"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}