An Extraordinary Monarch and the Social Contract: A Late Qing Chinese Translation’s Recreation of Rousseau’s Theory

Abstract: Yang Tingdong (1879-1950) published the first complete Chinese version of Rousseau’s Of the Social Contract in 1902. Yang is most radical in the first book. He argues that revolution is just and necessary to rejuvenate a corrupt state. Yet, since Book II, he seldom mentions revolution in a positive way and instead emphasizes more the indispensable role of a strong government in creating conditions for a genuine free and equal society, launching a constitutional reform and saving the state from declining and perishing. To make the topic more controversial, Yang repeatedly points out that such a strong government should be created and led by an extraordinary monarch. What he describes is neither a traditional king nor constitutional monarch, but a new prince of Machiavelli as interpreted by Rousseau and Gramsci, who serves as a revolutionary force and prepares for the critical legislation that leads to the rule of law. Indeed, Yang’s powerful monarch may not mean a conservative turn, but symbolize a revolutionary party and the state it creates.