Author: Yang Zhouzidi (Jinan University, China)

The Chinese Industrial Cooperatives (CIC) played an important role in international cooperation and Chinese economic reconstruction during the Second World War. For this reason, scholars worldwide have paid it sustained attention. Existing research on the movement falls into five categories: general studies, studies of its nature and evaluation, studies of major events, studies of key figures, and regional studies.

In terms of general studies, American scholars began researching the CIC in the 1940s. They examined the foundations of the cooperative movement in China before the rise of the CIC and analyzed Chinese economic conditions at the time. They also outlined its organizational structure, such as the regional headquarters, the International Committee, and the overseas Promotion Committees.[1] In his dissertation, Reynolds analyzes internal conflicts within the Nationalist Government concerning the CIC and discusses postwar relief and reconstruction issues.[2] Mainland Chinese scholar Hou Dechu studies the origins and examples of the cooperative movement in China. He examines the relationships among the Chinese Communist Party, the Nationalist Government, international aid, and the CIC movement. He argues that the movement’s failure was due to its reformist and capitalist nature.[3] Zhu Jian focuses on the rise and development of the movement, especially in the anti-Japanese base areas behind enemy lines. He also discusses the revival of CIC organizations after China’s Reform and Opening in the 1980s. However, he does not provide a systematic study of the CIC movement in Northwest China beyond Yan’an.[4] Kikuchi Kazutaka offers qualitative analysis of different areas where the CIC activities were prevalent. He uses archival materials from Taiwan and makes preliminary use of oral history methods. His work is so far the most detailed and comprehensive study that reveals regional differences within the CIC. However, although he utilizes relatively abundant archival materials, his main sources are still newspapers and magazines.[5]

Scholars hold two main views on the nature and evaluation of the CIC. The first emphasizes its economic function. For example, Hou Dechu defines it as an “economic salvation movement during the War of Resistance against Japan” and as “an important link in the united anti-Japanese front at home and abroad.” At the same time, he criticizes it as a form of “reformist democratic system.”[6] The second view emphasizes its educational character. Scholars in this group argue that the CIC was not merely an economic effort, but also a broader movement for economic democracy, political reform, and mass education.^[7]

Current scholarship on major events in the CIC mainly covers several aspects. First, scholars have examined the movement’s origins, an issue already discussed in some general studies. Reynolds uses the Helen Snow papers at the Hoover Institution and argues that Helen Snow was the first to conceive the idea, and later received support from her husband, Edgar Snow. The plan was then drafted and promoted by Rewi Alley and others.[8] Second, scholars have examined disputes over overseas funding. Drawing on Indusco archives at Columbia University, Marjorie King and Xiao Xiaofei study the struggle over foreign aid funds.[9] They analyze the conflict between the “Rewi–Ida Axis,” which represented the practical reform group within the CIC, and the bureaucratic group led by Finance Minister H. H. Kung. This debate centered on the control and allocation of overseas donations. In addition, several studies address the relationship between the CIC and the Chinese Communist Party and the Kuomintang, as well as the Bailie School and related institutions.[10]

Studies of key figures in the CIC cover many groups. These include Chinese intellectuals with democratic leanings, members of the Chinese Communist Party and the Kuomintang, and international individuals. Marjorie King examines the life of Ida Pruitt, the founder of the American Committee for the Chinese Industrial Cooperatives. King was among the first scholars to use Ida Pruitt’s archives preserved in the United States.[11] Wu Qing focuses on Bishop Ronald Hall. After outlining the establishment of the International Committee for CIC, she discusses in detail the pressures he faced and the contributions he made as chairman. She also reveals his support for and publicity efforts on behalf of the Chinese Communist Party. Her study makes extensive use of English sources and offers careful textual analysis. It provides an important reference for research on related figures.[12] In addition, other studies examine Maud Muriel Russell,[13] Helen Foster Snow,[14] Chen Hansheng,[15] and overseas Chinese communities.

Regional studies of the CIC mainly focus on three areas: the Northwest, the Southeast, and the Southwest. Among these, research on the Northwest is the most extensive. Li Zongzhi’s study of the CIC in Northwest China is the most representative one.[16] Parley Reynolds takes the CIC in Shandan County as a case study. He carefully examines the conceptual history of the term “cooperative” and explores the practice of workplace democracy within the movement. His approach is innovative and offers important insights.[17] You Haihua reviews the development, characteristics, and functions of the CIC Movement in Southeast China. He uses multiple statistical tables for quantitative analysis, compares the situation of cooperatives across different southeastern provinces, and analyzes their rise and decline. He also points out that the origin of the Bailie School can be traced to the Southeast region.[18]

In conclusion, research on the CIC Movement is quite rich and has clarified several basic issues. There are clear regional differences in existing studies. Mainland Chinese scholars pay more attention to the Northwest region and to the role of the Chinese Communist Party, and they have produced the largest number of research results in the world. Their research methods often focus on case studies, while comparative studies are relatively few. Research in Hong Kong, Macao, and Taiwan is less common, although some collections of historical materials have been published. In contrast, studies in Japan and North America are based on more abundant archival sources than those in mainland China. These studies place greater emphasis on comparative research and long-term analysis. They not only focus on the wartime CIC Movement but also examine its continuation and transformation in the People’s Republic of China.

At the same time, there is still considerable room for further research. As for research subjects, the Chinese Communist Party and the U.S. government remain insufficiently studied due to source limitations. In terms of perspective, most research is rooted in economic history, while fewer studies adopt approaches from political history or Christian history. Geographically, most studies focus on the Northwest and the Sichuan–Xikang region; research on the Southwest and guerrilla areas is relatively limited, and studies on the CIC promotion committees in the United States and Britain are almost absent. As for methodology, most existing research relies on textual analysis of printed documents, while oral history and quantitative methods are rarely used, and there is little truly interdisciplinary research. Taken together, these gaps suggest that the study of the CIC Movement clearly warrants further development.

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[1] Shui-man Wong, The Co-operative Movement in China (University of Southern California, 1941); Kyi-ung Dzung, The Chinese Industrial Cooperative Movement (Princeton University, 1944).

[2] Douglas R. Reynolds, “The Chinese Industrial Cooperative Movement and the Political Polarization of Wartime China, 1938–1945” (PhD diss., Columbia University, 1975).

[3] Dechu Hou, 中国工合运动研究 [Research on the Chinese Cooperative Movement] (Sichuan University Press, 1996).

[4] Jian Zhu, 工合历程 [The History of the CIC Movement] (Jincheng Press, 1997).

[5] Kazutaka Kikuchi, 中国工业合作运动史 [The History of the Chinese Industrial Cooperative Movement], trans. Yuan Guangquan et al. (Xiuwei Zixun Press, 2024).

[6] Dechu Hou, “论抗日战争时期的’工合’运动” [Research on the CIC Movement during the War of Resistance against Japan], Journal of Sichuan Normal University, no. 4 (1983): 35–45.

[7] Aiqun Bao, “析工合运动在抗战中的作用与影响” [Analysis of the Role and Influence of the CIC Movement during the War of Resistance against Japan], Journal of Shandong Normal University, no. 2 (2000): 71–73.

[8] Reynolds, “The Chinese Industrial Cooperative Movement and the Political Polarization of Wartime China, 1938–1945.”

[9] Marjorie King, “‘The Rewi-Ida Axis’ and the Politics of American Aid to the Chinese Industrial Cooperatives and the Shandan Bailie School,” in Collected Papers on Rewi Alley’s Internationalist Spirit, ed. Dave Bromwich and Kang Qing (Gansu Renmin Chubanshe, 2017), 153–71; Xiaofei Xiao, “全面抗战时期’工合’运动海外经费之争与中外博弈” [Disputes over Overseas Funding and Sino-Foreign Gaming in the CIC Movement during the Total War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression], Studies of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, no. 2 (2023): 112–27.

[10] Pauline Keating, “Cooperative Visions versus Wartime Realities: Indusco and the Chinese Communists, 1938–1944,” New Zealand Journal of East Asian Studies 5, no. 1 (1997): 3–17; Jenny Clegg, “Mass and Elite-Based Strategies for Cooperative Development in Wartime Nationalist China: Western Views on the ‘Gung Ho’ Industrial Cooperative Experience,” European Journal of East Asian Studies 11 (2012): 305–27; Jun Li, and Meiling Ren, “中共与工合在延安的经济共建与价值认同” [Recreating the Cooperatives: The Economic Cooperation and Value Identification of the CPC and the International Committee for the Promotion of Chinese Industrial Cooperatives (Gung Ho) in Yan’an], CPC History Studies, no. 4 (2018): 64–76; Xiaofei Xiao, “抗战时期国民党与’工合’运动关系探析” [Research on the Relationship between the Kuomintang and the Chinese Industrial Cooperative Movement during the War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression], Republican Archives, no. 4 (2024): 81–94.

[11] Marjorie King, China’s American Daughter: Ida Pruitt (1888–1985) (The Chinese University Press, 2006).

[12] Qing Wu, “何明华与抗战时期中国工合运动述论” [Bishop Hall and the Chinese Industrial Co-operative Movement during the Second Sino-Japanese War], Republican Archives, no. 1 (2012): 108–14.

[13] K. K. Garner, “Challenging the Consensus: Maud Muriel Russell’s Life and Political Activism” (PhD diss., University of Texas at Austin, 1995).

[14] Kelly Ann Long, “To the Yen-an Station: The Life and Writing of Helen Foster Snow (a.k.a. Nym Wales)” (University of Colorado, 1998).

[15] Stephen R. MacKinnon, Chen Hansheng: China’s Last Romantic Revolutionary (Chinese University of Hong Kong Press, 2023).

[16] Zongzhi Li, “西北工合运动述略” [A Brief Account of the Industrial Cooperative Movement in Northwest China], Journal of Northwest University, no. 3 (1983): 28–35.

[17] Parley Reynolds, “Democratic Member Control in Chinese Cooperatives: A Study of the Gung Ho Movement” (Victoria University of Wellington, 2016).

[18] Haihua You, “抗战时期中国东南地区的工业合作” [The Industrial Cooperatives in Southeast China during the War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression], Studies of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, no. 1 (2015): 110–23.

Our Seven–Their Five: A Fragment from the Story of Gung Ho is a fictional work by Rewi Alley, the technical director of the Chinese Industrial Cooperatives during the Second Sino-Japanese War. Alley wrote this story in 1943, while living in a village in the Qinling Mountains of Shaanxi Province. He had recently returned from Hunan, where he observed famine conditions and the devastating effects of the Japanese advance. Drawing on these experiences, he produced a vivid portrait of ordinary life in wartime China. However, the book was not published until 1963, well after the Communist victory, at a time when Chiang Kai-shek was portrayed as a central antagonist of the people’s struggle. Reflecting that political context, Alley depicts the Nationalist regime as obstructing the cooperative movement, a view consistent with 1960s ideological narratives.

Our Seven–Their Five is not centered on one protagonist. Instead, the story follows a group of refugees from Hunan Province who flee famine and war to settle in a small town. There, they meet Fu, a cooperative organizer educated in Beijing, who helps them form a cooperative enterprise. According to the cooperative rules, at least seven people were needed to register a group, but the refugees were only five. They therefore joined forces with seven weavers to reach the required number—hence the title, “Our Seven–Their Five.” With support from the Cooperative Federation, providing loans and organizational guidance, they managed to launch a small but successful operation. Through teamwork and persistence, the refugees began to rebuild their lives.

The story stands out because it offers a rare ground-level view of wartime China. Rather than focusing on generals, political leaders, or major battles, Alley documents the daily realities of refugees, laborers, and peasants whose survival depended on cooperation. In his depiction, life and death coexist with unsettling normalcy: people die, yet work continues; tragedy is woven into the fabric of everyday endurance.

There is even humor. In one memorable scene, a foreign inspector visits a cooperative (clearly Alley himself), and local children gossip about how strange the foreigner looks, especially his long nose, which they imagine could dip right into his teacup. Moments like this humanize the story and reflect Alley’s lighthearted way of addressing cultural encounters.

Equally important is his refusal to reduce Chinese society to a simple Communist vs. Nationalist binary. Instead, Alley portrays a complex human landscape shaped by hardship, survival, and moral ambiguity. He writes with empathy for the refugees and displaced people, emphasizing their struggles to adapt to rural life amid famine, disease, and Japanese occupation.

The story also captures the class tensions and corruption that persisted even within the cooperative system. In one episode, we see a local landlord sponsoring a cooperative not out of solidarity but to gain easy access to credit and manipulate grain prices during a period of hyperinflation. Such moments reveal how some cooperatives, especially in Nationalist-controlled areas, were exploited as quasi-private enterprises rather than genuine collectives.

By highlighting these abuses, Alley underscores that the cooperative movement was not uniformly idealistic or successful. Some cooperatives functioned as large factories; others resembled small capitalist ventures; and still others truly fulfilled their mission of mutual aid and community resilience. Amid this uneven landscape, Alley still finds hope in the cooperative spirit and endurance of ordinary Chinese people. 

The Early C.I.C. (Indusco) Movement originally developed in China during the late 1930s. These graphs, made from data collected from regional reports and estimates from annual conferences in Chongqing, help us visualize the scale and scope of the C.I.C. movement over the decade that followed.

The above two graphs depict the rise of Indusco cooperatives following their inception in 1938. We can observe a steady rise in both co-opted factories, as well as members working within them, which peaks at just under 30,000 workers operating nearly 1,900 co-opted factories across China. Following the Summer of 1941, we see a sharp decline in members working for C.I.C. factories and a decline in cooperative factories as well.

The third graph shows the monthly production value for all C.I.C.s from December 1938 to February 1945. This graph attempts to adjust for the unprecedented inflation China faced during WWII, which means all values are pegged to the 1937 value of China’s currency. This graph mirrors the story in the two graphs above, which detail a rise to late 1941, followed by a decline.

This is largely due to increased suspicion by the Nationalist Government that the C.I.C. movement held communist sentiment. This led to threats, arrests, and even some executions of C.I.C. workers and officials, often without evidence or formal charges levied against them. This, of course, led many more officials and workers to consider resigning, while the rest remained under increased police supervision. Adding to that were the incredible amounts of inflation, which diminished the value of loans and donations the C.I.C. received.

This table breaks down our total co-op number from June 1942 by industry and the seven regions within which they operated at the time. We can see that the most productive regions were located largely in the west, with the exception of the Southeast region, which was made up of the Kiangsi, Kwangtung, and Fukien provinces. This chart also allows us to see the specialization of some regions, such as the southeast, which held half of all chemical cooperative factories, or the northwest region, which had roughly two-thirds of all mining facilities.

*Some numbers are estimated due to the instability of the exchange rate during this time.

This Graph shows who and from where Indusco was funded. The largest percentage, over 23 million, from banks and private loans, were loans from Chinese banks, largely the Bank of China, which gave 18 million. The second largest, government appropriations, gave just over 11 million. Making up around 3% are funds from individuals, committees, and groups from places like China, the Philippines, Hawaii, Burma, Java, India, Siam, Singapore, Australia, New Zealand, England, and the US. At around 2% are “Special Funds”, from notable places such as 50 thousand from Madame Chiang Kai-shek and 6 thousand from Soong Ailing, wife of H.H. Kung, as well as 150 thousand from the American Advisory Committee for Civilian Relief in China, headed by Eleanor Roosevelt. Lastly, there is the paid-up share capital from members, which totals just under 400 thousand.

*No data available for 1945.

The United China Relief Fund was a cooperative association that provided aid to China and its people, beginning during the Second World War in 1941 and continuing until 1949. The above graph shows the receipts, or money donated, to the United China Relief Fund and disbursements, or money used by the fund. These disbursements were used for all types of aid to Chinese citizens, such as medical and public health projects, child welfare, education, reconstruction, disaster relief, and rehabilitation.