ABSTRACT

This dissertation examines the theory and practice of Li Zongren and the Guangxi
Clique in relation to the achievements of internal unity of the Guomindang and the Anti-
Japanese National United Front (AJNUF) during the Nanjing decade. It also analyzes and
accounts for the theory and strategies followed by the Clique to achieve political goals for
itself and the nation, and attempts to ascertain the extent to which the Clique transferred
regionalism of the Guangxi-type into mainstream nationalism in the attempt to resist Japan
and save the Chinese nation.
Some scholars have suggested of that regionalism had a negative impact on Chinese
politics in the 1930s. Contrary to this view, this dissertation argues as follows. After the
accomplishment of the Northern Expedition by the GMD, two main tasks faced China.
One was to achieve internal unity both in the party and the country; the other was national
salvation to resist Japanese aggression. To achieve these purposes, it was necessary to
awaken the political consciousness of the masses and to transfer their regional identity into
the national level. In so doing, mass mobilization of rural society was the path used to
destroy the traditional Chinese social structure and to establish a new one, and to reach
internal unity of the entire country to carry out nationwide resistance against Japanese
aggression for national independence. Under these circumstances, the Guangxi Clique
carried out a series of policies in the region in an attempt to search for a solution for China.
It was also a struggle for power with Jiang Jieshi in both central and regional structures
before the outbreak of the Sino-Japanese War in 1937.
By analyzing Li Zongren’s practice in the Nanjing era, this dissertation addresses
the following issues. First, it seeks to explore how the people in rural society were

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mobilized to serve the promotion of regionalist and nationalist political consciousness by
the efforts of Li and the Clique in Guangxi. This dissertation examines whether Guangxi’s
regionalism played a positive role in waking the political consciousness of nationalism
among the masses. Secondly, an attempt in this dissertation is made to appraise the roles of
Li and the Clique in dealing with the relations between regionalism and nationalism from
two perspectives: 1) the political and social conditions facing them and their rivals at that
time; and 2) whether their response helped the course of the War of Resistance.
Furthermore, this dissertation also demonstrates that what China really needed was a wide
political form of the united front when the national crisis was at its most desperate, a form
in which the internal political unity of the GMD was a prerequisite.
In order to pursue the discussion of the interaction between regionalism and
nationalism and the roles played by the Li Zongren and the Guangxi Clique, the first
chapter of this dissertation discusses the framework and explains the notion of the relations
between regionalism and nationalism as well as that between mass mobilization and
political integration. It also explores the role of the formation of the AJNUF in the
approach to political unity, both in the GMD and the nation. Chapter Two focuses on the
background to Guangxi and the rise of Li and the Clique, and accounts for the reasons for
the conflict between the Clique and the Jiang group in both domestic and external affairs.
Chapter Three addresses the Clique’s internal structure and issues of how regional identity
served the needs of the Clique’s struggle with Jiang and the policy-making of both the
Guangxi group and Jiang. Guangxi’s policies and achievements in both mass mobilization
and provincial reconstruction were mostly based on Li’s and the Clique’s perception of
Chinese society and the Chinese revolution. This perception had an impact not only on
Guangxi, but also on the southwest region and the nation as well. It also laid the
foundation for the Clique’s position of resistance against Japan and the promotion of the
AJNUF. All of these are the subject of the fourth chapter. Chapter Five analyzes the
relations of Li and the Clique with the southwest regional factions and the role of these
relationships in the approach to the political unity of the GMD. The following three
chapters discuss the anti-Japanese ideas and the strategy of Li and his group, as well as the
practice of carrying out their advocacy of resistance, as they pursued the national political
objectives and their own political interests during the formation of the AJNUF. The impact

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of Li’s and the Clique’s anti-Japanese position and practice on both the CCP’s policy
change and the outbreak of the “Xi’an Incident” is also examined in the three chapters. The
final chapter concludes that the Guangxi Clique was a faction capable of national ideology
and policies within the GMD during the Nanjing decade, and gave rise to ideology and
policies which transcended regionalism. While struggling with Jiang for power in regional
and central structures, the Clique readjusted its domestic and external policies in
accordance with the changing internal and external situation to meet the needs of national
salvation and to promote the eventual nationwide war to fight the Japanese invader.
In short, this dissertation affirms the Guangxi Clique as nationalist and regionalist at
the same time. It challenges Professor Diana Lary’s view that the Clique’s regionalism
undercut nationalism. The Clique’s efforts to achieve internal political unity, both in the
GMD and in the nation, should, I argue, be recognised. This dissertation also complements
the studies of Guangxi’s mass mobilization and provincial reconstruction by Chu
Hongyuan and Eugene Levich, through discussion of the Guangxi Clique’s role in the
promotion to achieve national political unity and the formation of the Anti-Japanese
National United Front during the 1930s.

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