Conference Theme
1. Summary
Traditionally, academic research on the impact of World War One on China's modern history has been scarce. The existing research focuses primarily on areas such as the war decision taken by the Beiyang government, the conditions of the 150,000 Chinese workers who were involved in the war in Europe, the Peace Treaty of Versailles and the May 4th Movement, Japan's 21 demands of 1925 and Japan's occupation of Shandong and China's development during World War One.
Once the capital of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, Vienna is deeply embedded in the history of WWI. One hundred years later, scholars from all over the world will convene at the University of Vienna to retrospectively discuss the great impact of WWI on China's modern history.
2. Main themes of the conference
There are four main themes at the conference:
(1) Political impact: Due to World War One, Bolshevik Revolution broke out in Russia and the Soviet Union was established, which not only led to Sun Yat-sen's enactment of the so-called "Three Principles of the People", but also directly led to the founding China's Communist Party. The founding and development of China's Communist Party fundamentally influenced China's historical development and political system.
(2) Ideological and cultural impact: That China, as a victorious nation of World War One, was not treated fairly at the Paris Peace Conference gave rise to the May 4th Movement. Through the promotion of the vernacular Chinese, substantial Western elemens were incorporated into Chinese culture, and communist left-leaning thought was able to proliferate. Since then, Chinese culture has been in a state of flux, in accordance with which the composition and function of the intelligentsia closely related to the cultural system in China has changed; China's intellectual world and the Chinese intelligentsia started to become more diversified.
(3) The impact on international relations: Since World War One, China has adopted an active initiative-taking approach in the domain of international affairs and became a victorious country. It started to develop its capacity of negotiating with major countries in the world, of identifying its role on the international stage, and of interacting with the world in its own way, and soon became a modern sovereign country. In that sense, it is inadequate or even impossible to interpret the transformation of China's national history without considering the larger background of international relations. For instance, Japan taking the opportunity of Germany's defeat to occupy Qingdao and then the entire Shandong province laid a foundation for its all-out invasion of China in the 1930s. The influence of the Sino-Japanese war on Chinese history cannot be overstated; it provided an opportunity for China's Communist Party to develop and prevail.
(4) Economic impact: As a result of World War One, western countries neglected their economic interests in China, whereby Chinese national capital was given space for development, fundamentally changing the future course of the Chinese economy which had been dominated by western countries since the Opium War.
1. 总论
长期以来，中外学术界关于第一次世界大战对当代中国历史影响的研究成果非常有限，主要集中在北洋政府参战的决策，赴欧参战的15万中国劳工的历史地位，凡尔赛和约和五四运动，21 条和日本占领山东，一战期间的中国经济发展等领域。
维也纳，作为历史上奥匈帝国的首都，与一战有着深刻的历史渊源。 而成立于1365年的维也纳大学，是世界大战的见证者，有其不可替代的地位。 一百年后，来自世界各地的学者聚集于此举办学术论坛，深入回顾和探讨第一次世界大战对中国二十世纪前半叶及后来走向的深刻和持续影响，将是超越时空的一次学术思想聚会。
2. 研讨会主题
本次研讨会共有四个主体:
(1) 政治影响: 因为第一次世界大战，俄国发生了布尔什维克革命，建立苏维埃政权，不仅导致孙中山实行所谓新"三民主义"，而且直接参与创建中国共产党。中国共产党成立和发展，无疑改变了二十世纪的中国。
(2) 思想和文化影响: 因为中国是第一次世界大战的战胜国，却没有在巴黎和会上得到公平对待，引发了五四运动，提倡白话文，大量西方元素进入中国文化范畴，包括共产主义的左倾思潮的一传播。自此，中国文化结构始终处于变动之中，与中国文化体系紧密联系的知识分子的组成和功能，几乎是同步变动，中国思想界和知识分子发生分化。
(3) 国际关系影响: 自第一次世界大战，中国对于国际事务建立了主动反应方式，并且成为了战胜国。自第一次世界大战，中国开始形成主动调整与世界主要国家的关系，选择在世界舞台上的角色，用中国的方式与世界 "融合" 的能力，迅速成长为现代主权国家。从此，离开世界的大背景，不足以， 甚至几乎不能解释中国国内的历史演变。列入，日本利用地一次世界大战德国战败的机会，先攫取青岛，进而山东，奠定了后来1930年代全面侵华战争的基础。而中日战争在中国历史中的地位，怎样估计，都不会过高。中国共产党正式在这个时期得到了发展和壮大。
(4) 经济影响: 因为第一次世界大战，西方国家陷入战争而无疑顾及在华经济利益，中国民族资本获得较大的发展空间，改变了自鸦片战争以来西方国家导中国的经济发展的轨迹。