Citation

Chao A. History Compass 2007; 5(5): 1677-1693.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2007, John Wiley and Sons)

DOI

10.1111/j.1478-0542.2007.00458.x

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

The meetings of the Hague Peace Conference and the Lake Mohonk Conference on International Arbitration at the turn of twentieth century stimulated renewed interest in organizations such as the American Peace Society, and inspired the formation of the Cosmopolitan Club on university campuses. Around 1910, the European Corda Fratres joined forces with the Association of Cosmopolitan Clubs. Hu Shi, president of the Cornell Cosmopolitan Club in 1913, became a convert to the cause of peace, and defended his pacifism in war-stricken China throughout his life. In the same period, the Japan Peace Society worked closely with many American peace organizations. From Europe to America to Asia, most peace proponents advocated arbitration, conciliation, international laws, the establishment of an international court and an international congress. Their shared language of the discourse on pacifism demonstrates vividly an instance of the transmigration of ideas across spatial and cultural boundaries.