“Obstructed embrace”: The ID card institution in Shanghai, 1945-1949

Following the victory in the Second Sino-Japanese War in 1945, the Nationalist government in China implemented ID cards in some of its controlled regions as an integral part of the modern-state building project, albeit faced with considerable difficulties and resistance. Focusing on Shanghai, one of the cities that piloted the ID card policy, this thesis examines the various obstacles encountered. It approaches the obstacles from three aspects: the technology used in the ID cards to differentiate individuals and to authenticate documents; the administrative structure and the corrupted personnel responsible for distributing the ID cards; and the trauma of Japanese occupation that stigmatized ID cards as symbols of foreign invasion and excessive surveillance. The obstructed use of ID cards in post-1945 Shanghai provides a fresh perspective on the state-society relations during Nationalist government’s final attempts to build a modern state on mainland China.

Name thesis:degree_name

M.A.

Level thesis:degree_level

Thesis

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

E Asian Languages & Cultures

Grantor

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Year dc:date

2024

Author dc:creator

• Ren, Xiaoyan

Contributors dc:contributor

• Chow, Kai-wing
• Martin, Jeffery T
• Wilson, Roderick Ike

• Modern-state Building
• Individual Identification
• Japanese Occupation
• Republican China
• Shanghai

Statement dc:rights

• Copyright 2024 Xiaoyan Ren

Language dc:language

en, eng

Handle dc:identifier

https://hdl.handle.net/2142/125589

OAI record oai:identifier

https://www.ideals.illinois.edu/oai-pmh?verb=GetRecord&metadataPrefix=etdms&identifier=oai%3Awww.ideals.illinois.edu%3A2142%2F125589