“自由中国”的来龙去脉

“Free China”in Three Tones

1949年胡适等人在台北创办《自由中国》之前,1938年的武汉和1945年的上海已经出现了两份同样以《自由中国》为名的刊物。三份杂志呈现出"自由中国"不同阶段的演变。前者得到左翼文化人和中国共产党的大力支持,主张牺牲个人的自由以争取中国的自由,抗击日寇,保卫国家民族的独立。该刊后在桂林复刊,但左翼色彩有所减褪。太平洋战争前后,"自由中国"逐渐成为国际反法西斯同盟对坚持抗战的中国的尊号。这也使得恢复公开活动的上海国民党组织1945年创办的《自由中国》,在重光声中欢迎自由中国的领袖和将士,却很快就从重庆来人异样的目光中感受到不自由的气息。这与冷战思维下以反共为基调、唯美国主导的自由世界马首是瞻的"自由中国"追求迥异。

Before Hu Shi and others started the periodical Free China in Taipei in 1949,there had been two periodicals with the same title,starting respectively in Wuhan in 1938 and Shanghai in 1945.These three periodicals represented the evolution of“Free China”in different stages.The former,sponsored by leftist intellectuals and the Communist Party of China,advocated sacrificing personal freedom to obtain the national freedom of China,to fight against the Japanese invaders and defend the independence of the nation.When this periodical was resumed in Guilin later,its leftist hue faded slightly.Around the outbreak of the Pacific War,“Free China”gradually became the honorable title granted by the international anti-Fascist Allies to China,which still stuck to the resistance.Thus,when the Shanghai branch of the Nationalist Party resumed public activities in 1945,they started a new periodical titled“Free China”to welcome the leaders and troops of the Chongqing government to return Shanghai.However,it soon turned out that what was brought from Chongqing to Shanghai was not freedom at all.These two periodicals were totally different from the Free China later started in Taipei,which was influenced by the anti-Communist tone of the Cold War and following the“free”world led by the United States.