Scouting and Guiding were reported as banned (or ceased) in mainland China with the establishment of the People's Republic of China (PRC) by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) since 1949. Instead, the Young Pioneers of China and the Communist Youth League, led by the CCP, have become the dominant youth organizations in mainland China for younger and older youth, respectively. However, China now has multiple and originally separate Scouting activities within its borders. In 2004, the Scout Club of Hainan, borrowing heavily from Scouting in terms of emblems, uniforms and activities, was founded in Hainan province; it is, however, not affiliated with worldwide Scouting. An attempt to organize a nationwide Scouting organization in Wuhan was ended by the government in 2004. The Scout Association of the People's Republic of China, founded in 2008, serves Venture Scouts (15 years old to 20) in both genders as well as Rover Scouts (18 years old to 25). accessed on October 1, 2009 The Rover Explorer Service Association operates groups in China.RESA in China
History
Chinese Scouting in mainland China before 1950
Following the birth of the Republic of China, the first Scout troop was organized by Reverend Yen Chia-lin in Wuchang on February 25, 1912 and the Scouting movement spread rapidly all over the country.
The General Association of the Scouts of China was formally established in Nanjing in 1934, and became a member of the International Scout Bureau in 1937. Many Scouts actively participated in the Second Sino-Japanese War from 1937 to 1945.
There were 570,000 registered members in 1941. However, all Scouting activities in mainland were ceased in 1949, when the communists took over mainland China. The Chinese Scout Association was reorganized in 1950 after the ROC government was relocated to Taipei, and resumed membership in the International Scout Bureau as Scouts of China.
Japanese military authorities did not consistently encourage the Scouting movement in occupied territories. Where local conditions were favorable, authorities would permit local Scouting or introduce Japanese-style Scouting, or Shōnendan, and sometimes even made this compulsory. On the other hand, where conditions were not favorable, and anti-Japanese sentiments were likely to be nurtured through Scouting, the authorities would prohibit it entirely. After the start of the Second Sino-Japanese War in 1937, Japanese-style Scouting was occasionally introduced in some parts of occupied China. In May 1938, the Japanese Army and the puppet Chinese Government set up the Qingdao Chinese Boys' Corps, patterned after Japanese Scouting.http://www.scout.org.hk/article_attach/14529/p14.pdf War and Occupation, 1941-1945 by Paul Kua, Deputy Chief Commissioner (Management), Scout Association of Hong Kong, 2010
British and international Scouting in Shanghai The 1st Dragon Troop, formed in 1909 and registered 1910, was the earliest Scout Troop in the Far East. It was destined to evolve into a viable British Association of British and English speaking Scouts whose nationalities were of more than forty countries, and who were full-time residents of the "International Settlement," at Shanghai, which had been a treaty port of China since 1842.
In 1909 a Troop of "Boy Scouts" was formed as a branch of the then-existing (British) "Boys' Brigade," a precursor to Shanghai Scouting, whose members were representative of the cosmopolitan but culturally Western population of the city.
On October 6, 1910, twenty-five boys were selected from the Boys' Brigade Scouts to form the "Shanghai Boy Scouts," independent of Headquarters, London, expressly for the purpose of separation from the Boys' Brigade. These were boys of various nationalities, including some British subjects and those of several different faiths.
In the spring of 1911, the Shanghai Boy Scouts finally left the Boys' Brigade, emerging as three Troops; A, B, and C. with approximately forty-two members wearing three different scarves. There were six Scoutmasters, the Chief Scoutmaster being G.R. Welch, a Briton. They were not registered at HQ, London and soon became an independent Association under the aegis of the Shanghai Municipal Council, the governing body of the International Settlement of Shanghai.
Before Empire Day, 1911, a mature, independent Dragon Troop with some choir boys of the Holy Trinity Cathedral amalgamated with a number of experienced British Scouts from the Boys' Brigade, and were issued a new warrant dated May 24, 1911, as the entirely British Troop. Consolidation was credited to a Warranted Scoutmaster from England, H.R. Hertslet. The Trinity Cathedral Church House and compound became the 1st Shanghai Baden-Powell Group's Headquarters for the next 30 years.
On April 12, 1912, a joint parade was held at the British Consulate Grounds in honor of Lt. General Sir Robert Baden-Powell, who inspected both Scout Associations during his visit to Shanghai. Undoubtedly all existing Scouts of the Settlement would have attended. Present were 35 Baden-Powell Scouts, 70 Shanghai Boy Scouts, 15 Baden-Powell Girl Scouts and combined, 11 Scoutmasters, for a total strength of 131. There were no Boys' Brigade Scouts present. It appears that Boys' Brigade had divested themselves of a Scouting program, which was in keeping with some similar actions in Great Britain around that time.North China Herald and North China Daily News, Shanghai, China, 1912,
Soon after this parade, nine senior boys left the 1st Baden-Powell Troop to continue or complete their education in England. Thus, the 1st Shanghai Troop of Baden-Powell Scouts was able to make a presence at the "Imperial Scout Exhibition" in Birmingham, July 1913, as the "Dragon Troop" of Shanghai wearing their original dark uniforms of 1909. (1st Baden-Powell had changed to khaki in 1911.)
By April 1914, without any senior members of the Shanghai Public School left in the 1st Baden-Powell Troop, the remaining Cathedral School Scouts were registered as the 1st Shanghai Cathedral School Troop, thus becoming the 1st Baden-Powell. Their first Scoutmaster was L.R.Wheen. (Warranted April 7, 1914 HQ London.)
In August, the Great War in Europe had an unforeseen effect on the composition of the Scout Groups in Shanghai. F.C. Millington, one of the earliest Warranted Scoutmasters in the world, took charge of the 1st Baden-Powell Scouts at the end of 1914 and on January 30, 1915, he and Rev. A. J. Walker, invested twenty-two new boys from the two schools, including several senior British Scouts from the Shanghai Public School Troop of Shanghai Boy Scouts. By the end of 1914 five British Scouts had left to serve at the Western Front, as signalers.
On May 24, 1915, the fourth anniversary of the Troop, a telegram from HQ London, sanctioned the addition of all Public School Patrols, as a separate section of the 1st Baden-Powell. This included members of other nationalities, and without having to leave the den at the Shanghai Municipal Council's "state of the art" school building. These were the first international members of the British Association. By the end of the year at least another ten British Scouts including Millington, had left to serve their country.
A Combined Rally of three Associations was held on June 26, 1915. The Chinese Boy Scouts Association had approximately 200 attendees, the Shanghai Boy Scouts, about 30, and the Baden-Powell Scouts, about 60. The 1st Baden-Powell comprised Cathedral School Patrols and newly sanctioned Public School Patrols (formerly of the Shanghai Boy Scouts.) In August 1915, Fitzroy Lloyd took over as Scoutmaster with Samuel Hore as Assistant Scoutmaster. It is all but certain that Lloyd and Hore originated as Scouters in Boys' Brigade and were not warranted by HQ London until a few years later. C.A. Connor, W.R. Hatton and E. Judah also originated in Boys' Brigade and were skilled signalers; Connor was an Instructor, while Hatton was the first death recorded.North-China Herald, Shanghai, China 1915
In late 1916, the Public School Patrols of 1st Baden-Powell became the 2nd Shanghai Public School Troop of Baden-Powell Scouts; they became the trailblazers for the thousands that followed in the next thirty years.
In 1919 a 3rd French Municipal School Troop and 4th Thomas Hanbury School Pack were formed and from 1919 to 1948 many new Troops of international members were registered with "Imperial Headquarters" (a name change in 1920). Sixteen Group numbers were issued by the Shanghai Branch, up to 1942. This rapidly growing Association provided impetus for mature Troops to form their own National Associations.
In Shanghai, Scout troops for the Americans,The Americans’ Eagle Patrol in the Shanghai Boy Scouts were the predecessors of the Boy Scouts of America Shanghai Troop of 1919. The British registered 7th YMCA Troop (of American Sea Scouts) were registered with The Boy Scouts of America in 1933. the French, the stateless Russians, and other Europeans, all got their start with the British Movement of the "International Settlement." Prior to the establishment of other Associations, foreign Scouts were taking instructions and passing tests in English and wearing British uniforms and badges. Many, however, did have the benefit of an early British education at schools in the International Settlement.
In regard to Chinese Scouts, they first started at Boone University in Wuchang in 1912, but began at Shanghai in 1913 with the help of resident bilingual British and American Scoutmasters. By the summer of 1915 they had grown into six Troops. Four out of the six were linked to Christian institutions and two were of secular schools. Chinese Scouts converted to their Nationalist Association toward the latter part of 1926. In 1932, at least four Chinese Scout paramedics became martyrs during the Battle of Shanghai.
The British Association's peak strength was 621 in 1940, averaging about ten constant Groups from 1932 to 1941. From the beginning of The Boy Scouts Association at Shanghai in 1911 up to 1948, sixteen Group Numbers were issued with several being reissued to new arrivals as older Groups expired. This eventually comprised about thirty known Groups of one or more units of Wolf Cub Packs, Scout Troops or Rover Crews.
In addition to several School and Church Groups, there was a Jewish Group, two Catholic Groups, two central European refugee Groups, Czechoslovak "Old Scouts," who became Rovers, two "White" Russian Troops and a French Municipal School Group. At one time there was even a German Lutheran Group based in Shanghai's German School, the Kaiser Wilhelm Schule, which was taken over by the Hitler Jugend in 1933, when their membership was cancelled. There were also two Shanghai Telephone Company Rover Crews, a Wool Manufacturing Company Cub pack and several Independent Groups.
Among the British Scout Groups in Shanghai was also the 5th Shanghai (Jewish) Boy Scout Troop, that was under the leadership of Scoutmaster Noel Jacobs. Jacobs and Scouts from the 5th Boy Scout Troop founded together with members from the Jewish youth movement Betar a Jewish unit in the Shanghai Volunteer Corps.
The European refugees were mostly Austrians and many others who had escaped the Holocaust. They were the latest Scouts to find safe haven in Shanghai but became restricted to a designated area by the Japanese military during the occupation. They became very active after the war when other Groups were closing and those of all nationalities were emigrating to various parts of the world, while awaiting their own turn in 1948.