From “Great Abominations” to “Political Offenses”: Political Crimes, International Law, and Regime Changes in Modern China

FAIN: FT-286044-22

Jenny Huangfu Day
Skidmore College (Saratoga Springs, NY 12866-1698)

Research leading to a book on the history of Chinese laws concerning politically motivated crimes, focused on the Qing (1644-1912) and Republican (1912-1949) periods.

This project examines the legal history of politically-motivated crimes at the intersections between local, national, and colonial authorities in late Qing and Republican China. It shows that political crises in China must be understood within changes in domestic and international law adjudicating crimes, asylum and refugee status, and extradition demands, and sheds new light on China’s ongoing legal disputes and amendments to its existing extradition procedures. It argues that laws and legal norms adjudicating political crimes not only affected the fate of political criminals; they also shaped the rhetoric, strategies, and mobility of revolutionaries and rebels. Conversely, the Chinese revolution had a significant impact on the history of China’s extraterritoriality and the development of the Chinese legal profession and criminal law.