The War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression

 

The War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


History is wordless, yet the spirit is immortal!
We look back at this period for purpose of remembering our forerunners and treasure the peace of today.
今天,我们再度回首这段历史,是为了记住先辈们的热血,更是为了珍惜今天的和平 。

Those Dark Days
 

 

 
National Heroes


A Scene of Fighting Back

A Scene of Protesting

A Scene of Fighting


They Now Surrendered


Joy of Victory

The Moment of Victory…


The War of Aggression intended to eliminate China
A. Japan’s Plan to Eliminate China and its execution


A. Japan’s Plan to Eliminate China and its execution
After the Meiji Reform in 1868, Japan adopted gradually a state policy to conquer the world by force, that included a “north ward” continental policy and a “south ward” ocean policy.

 

 


 

The Meiji Emperor

Japan's aggression of China began with the war in 1895, which ended with the Treaty of Shimonoseki according to which China ceded territories and paid indemnities, and Japan became a “Parnevu”.

 

 

 

Ito Hirobumi

Japan got from the International Protocol of 1901 34.793 taels of silver.
After the Japan-Russia War 1904-05, Japan, in accordance with the Portsmouth Peace Treaty, occupied the Liaodong Peninsular and set up a whole set of colonial systems there.

 

 

 

 

 

 

A Russian Warship hit by a shell at the Lushun Harbor in
China on Dec. 6, 1904


In his secret memorial to the Emperor, the Japanese Prime Minister Tanaka Giichi wrote in June, 1927, “To conquer China, Manchuria and Mongolia must be conquered first; to conquer the world, China must be conquered first.”


“The Empire is experiencing internally the ache of the lack of production force, the lack of production equipment, the lack of raw material and the shortage of capital. All these can be supplemented by a new war; the surging unstable forces and waves of strikes can only be put down by mobilizing from within an external war.”
--excerpts from a secret report in Japan in the thirties


On the night of September 18, 1931, the Japanese kwantung Army shelled and destroyed a section of the railway in the north suburb of Shenyang and attacked the Northern Battalion of China’s Northeast Army, and occupied Shenyang the next day. This is the “Sept. 18 Incident.”

Why Chiang Kai-shek adopted a non-resistance policy before and after the Sept. 18 Incident?
Chiang’s general policy was “putting internal pacification before external resistance.”
Chiang wanted to reserve strength, by ceding Northeast to Japan, he wished Japan would not invade Northern China.
Kuomintang didn’t want to see the growth of the strength of the people, which would endanger their rule.
They had the illusion that the League of Nations would apply sanctions against Japan.


On July 7, 1937, Japanese army staged the Lugou (Marco Polo) Bridge Incident and began its all-round attack on China.

Japan began its all-round war of invading China after the Marco Polo Bridge Incident.     
Japan mobilized almost all its military forces and adopted a strategy of “Quick Settlement by Quick Warfare”, and started offensives on North, East and Central China.

Towering Crime committed by Japanese troops.
   
Extremely Brutal Massacre


Japanese Army sending people to the slaughter site

Evidence of the Brutal Crime


Nanjing Massacre

Japanese Rightists tried to distort history
In recent years, the rightists in Japan kept saying that the Nanjing Massacre was fabricated, and that those killed were less than 300,000. They tried to revise their textbooks in an attempt to defy Japan’s responsibility for the war.
 

Hard Facts
After the war, the Far East International Court-martial and China’s Court-Martial conducted trial on the case of Nanjing Massacre and related war criminals.
Judging from facts exposed by Japan itself after the war also provided evidence for the case.
World media exposed and condemned the atrocity of Japanese troops at the time.


Photos of Nanjing Massacre

Looting Frantically China’s Resources and Wealth

 According to incomplete statistics, China’s casualties were 35 million in the war; based on the exchange rate of 1937, China’s direct economic losses were US$ 100 billion and the in-direct economic losses were US$ 500 billion.
Education for National Subjugation
Japanese aggressors conducted education of enslavement in their occupied areas for purpose of eliminating China’s national consciousness and the spirit of resistance and maintaining their colonial rule.

Nation-wide Resistance

The Communist Party of China Raised High the Banner of Armed Resistance against Japanese Invasion.
On the third day of the Sept. 18 Incident, the Central Committee of the CPC issued a declaration against the Japanese Aggression.
On Sept. 22, 1931, the Central Committee of the CPC passed “The Resolution on the Forceful Occupation of Manchuria by Japanese Imperialists”.
On April 15, 1932, Mao Zedong, on behalf of the provisional government of the Chinese Soviet Republic “The Declaration of War against Japan by the Provisional Government of the Chinese Soviet Republic”.
The CPC led directly the armed struggle in the Northeast against Japanese aggression.

The Nationalists and Communists Collaborated to Face up the National Crisis      
1.Why the Second Collaboration Was Possible?


2.The Peaceful Solution of the Xi’an Incident Was the Key in Changing the Situation


Firstly, the deepening national crisis was the main reason behind the second collaboration between the two parties.


“The second collaboration between the Nationalists and the Communists stemmed from their common interests. At the critical juncture, the Japanese imperialists wanted to conquer us, the national contradiction between China and Japan was the main contradiction, which was the crux of all problems.”


Second Collaboration
Secondly, both parties made some compromise in policies:
The Policy of the Communist evolved from “Opposition to Chiang and Resistance against Japan” to “Pressing Chiang for Resistance against Japan” to “Alliance with Chiang in Resistance against Japan”.
The policy of the Nationalist evolved gradually from civil war and non-resistance  to peace, democracy and resistance against Japan.
Thirdly, the cry for uniformed resistance of the people and the resolve against aggressors was a driving force to the collaboration of the two parties.
“Compromise was made by both parties: the Nationalist discarded civil war, autocracy and non-resistance, the communist discarded the hostile between the two political regimes. We used the latter to exchange for the former, and collaborate with the Nationalists again and strive for the salvation of our nation.”
                                                                  ---Mao Zedong

Why Did the Communists Wanted a Peaceful Solution to the Xi’an Incident?
      

Why did the Communists wanted to do so? For one, China was under a threat of “extinction of the whole nation”; and secondly, the Communists “had a chance to express their sincerity in putting forward the United Front Platform.”
                                                
                     ---Edgar Snow

Liu Bocheng’s Remarks
Liu Bocheng said later that the Communists placed the interests of the nation and the people above every thing else. We had to bury the class hatred deep into the heart and face up the enemy at the critical juncture of national crisis, and collaborate with the nationalists.
Liu Bocheng

The Nationalists and their Front Battlefields


A. The Front Battlefields in the Strategic Defensive Phase 
From the Lugouqiao Incident in July, 1937 to the lost of Wuhan in October 1938,  Chinese War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression was at the strategic defensive phase when the front battlefields where the Nationalists troops shouldered the main task of resistance and organized a series of major battles such as battles at Songhu, Xinkou, Xuzhou and Wuhan.


The Front Battlefields in the Strategic Defensive Phase 


Front Battlefields in the Strategic Defensive Phase
The Xinkou Battle
The Battle in October, 1937 was the largest and most violent one, which lasted for 23 days, over 40 fighting were waged, the casualties of the Japanese troops were over 20,000 and checked their south ward movement along the Pinghan railways.
 
Mr. Hao Mengling, Commander of the 9th Army, who died in the Xinkou Battle

The Xuzhou Battle
After they occupied Nanjing, Jinan, the Japanese troops pulled together 240,000 troops in January 1938 to sandwich Xuzhou from south and north.  The Chinese army won the battle at Taierzhuang, and greatly encouraged the Chinese people.


Li Zongren at the Taierzhuang Railway Station.


The Battle at Wuhan
In June 1938, Japan attacked Wuhan with 400,000 troops, 120 warships and 300 fighters. The Chinese army approximately 1 million soldiers, in 130 divisions fought against the Japanese. The Japanese casualties were 200,000 and the Chinese were 400,000.

The Zhongshan Warship was destroyed by Japanese fighter in the Battle of Wuhan.

The Nationalists were rather active on the front battlefields. However, aside from the victory at Taierzhuang, all other battles ended with failure. Why was that?
The objective reasons were that the enemy was strong and ourselves were weaker. Japan was a big power and had been preparing for the war for a long time; China was a weak country, and the Nationalist government didn’t really make any serious preparations for the war. Therefore, Japan had the superiority in military, economic and organizational aspects.

Subjectively:
The failure was caused first of all by the one-sided line of resistance of the Kuomintang. The one-sided line means that they relied solely on the government and the regular armies, dared not mobilizing and arming the broad masses of the people.

Reasons for Failure
Secondly, the military authorities of the Kuomintang failed to introduce an active defensive policy and engaged in merely the position defensive warfare. Because troops were scarcely placed without strong preparatory brigades, the entire front would be shaky or crumbling if one layer of defensive line was broken.  
Thirdly, there were numerous factions within the Kuomintang armies, each was defending its own interest. They often tried to reserve their own strength, could not coordinate their efforts in fighting, instead they jostled against each other. A fighting army often missed the best fighting time because of the late arrival of the reinforcement. The troops of the Kuomintang were not well disciplined, they were corrupted, some senior commanders had no fighting will, they were scared of the enemy and often fled away without fighting.



A. An All-round Resistance and a Policy of Protracted War
1. Why a line of an all-round resistance for the whole nation?      
In the eyes of Mao Zedong, soldiers and the people are the basis of victory. The most profound force of war lies in the people. Only when the people of the entire nation is mobilized, the enemy would be swamped in the vast ocean, and the flaws in and shortage of weaponry can be made up. The reason why the Japanese imperialists dared to attack China, was because they saw us Chinese were like a heap of loose sand, unorganized even though bigger in number. So, as soon as the Chinese people are organized, and when the Chinese people shouted out in anger in unison, the Japanese aggressors would be bogged down in mud and would be able to get out.


2.Why a policy of a protracted war?


Mao Zedong pointed out: the Sino-Japanese war is “one of life and death between the semi-colonial and semi-feudalist China and the imperialist Japan.” This is the ground for the whole issue.
In this war, the contradictions between China and Japan were expressed as:


Mao Zedong predicted the development of the war in a scientific way, that is the war of resistance against Japanese Aggression would go through three stages, namely the strategic defense stage, the strategic stalemate stage and the strategic counter offensive stage. Among which, the strategic stalemate stage is the most crucial stage for the ultimate victory of China’s war of resistance against Japanese Aggression.
Conclusion:The resistance is a protracted war and the final victory belongs to China.


Reaction to the Book
Fu Zuoyi
How Nationalist generals reacted to the book:

B. the Opening of battlefields in the rear and the waging of guerrilla warfare
After the people’s anti-Japanese army led by the CPC suffered defeat at the front battlefields, they marched into the rear areas of the enemy and waged flexible attacks and a magnificent people’s war.

1. The necessity and possibility of a guerrilla warfare in the rear regions of the enemy


The possibility of a guerrilla warfare in the rear regions of the enemy
 Firstly, the enemy is small in number, the more geographical area they occupy, the more scarce their forces, and as a result, they could only control trunk transportation lines and cities and towns, their forces were weak in the vast countryside. So, if the people’s army penetrate into the countryside in the rear of the enemy, they could strike effectively on the enemy.
Secondly, the Nationalist troops withdrew from the vast rear areas when the Japanese troops attacked, and the Japanese forces were not ready to govern these places, which were in an anarchy status, a favorable condition for the CPC to establish anti-Japanese base areas.
Thirdly, in the Japanese occupied areas, the broad masses of the people wanted to fight against the Japanese. Except a handful traitors of the Chinese nation, every class, including landlords wanted to fight. Thus the anti-Japanese struggle in the rear areas had a profound basis of the support from the people.
Fourthly, in the resistance period, the economy in the countryside was self-sufficient, which could not be affected by the enemy’s blockade. There could be enough material supply for the resistance, and the anti-Japanese forces could stay on in these areas.
Fifthly, the people’s armed forces had undergone long term war tests, were the mainstream of the war of resistance and could mobilize and organize strong people’s armed forces.Sixthly, the CPC had rich experience in leading the base areas.


2.Why was guerrilla the main form of battle for the people’s army?
Guerrilla warfare was upgraded to a strategic position and bore an over-all significance, became the main form of battle for the people’s army in the initial and middle stages of the war against Japanese aggression.

The Importance of Guerrilla
 Guerrilla warfare played an important strategic role in various stages of the war of resistance:
In the strategic defensive stage, front battle fields were the main form of war, while the guerrilla war was only supplementary; in the strategic stalemate stage, guerrilla warfare became the main form, and it prepared conditions for the strategic counter offensive.

Experts’ Remarks


C. Adhere to the Policy and Principle of Resistance, Unity and Progressiveness
1.Adhere to the Principle of Independence in the United Front for Anti-Japanese Aggression  

The purpose of remaining independent was, “on the one hand maintaining the positions already obtained, without them, nothing could be talked about; and on the other hand, was to develop more positions and to realize the purpose of mobilizing millions of the broad masses into the national united front for the resistance and defeat the Japanese imperialism.”

2. Adhere to the policy of resistance, unity and progressiveness in opposition to compromise, splitting and retrogressive -ness
In order to keep on the resistance and the protracted war and the united front, considering the passive attitude of the Kuomintang in the resistance and the active measures of them in opposing the CPC and the people and their tendency of making compromise, the CPC put forward policies of “adhering to the resistance, unity and progressiveness in opposition to compromise, splitting and retrogressive-ness.” That was to say that while fighting against the diehards, the CPC shall be on a just ground, for her advantages and with restraints, and that were the principles of self-defense, victory and keeping the struggles local.


3.The General Policy for Consolidating the National United Front for Resisting Japanese Aggression


Mao Zedong said, “The basic condition for the victory in Anti-Japanese Aggression is the enlargement and consolidation of the national United Front, and to achieve this purpose, we have to adopt the policy of developing the progressive forces, trying to win over the middle forces and isolating the diehards, these are the three indispensable links…”

4. Building of the Democratic Bases and Their Positions         
1.The Three-Thirds System
The composition of staff in the Anti-Japanese Aggression Democratic Government was the “Three-Thirds” system, that was the CPC members, non-CPC leftists and in-betweens occupied one third each.

The Three-Thirds System
Chalmers A Johnson made such comments on the Three-Thirds system of the CPC, “To form such a government, which was not a democracy for the rule of majority, impossible at the time, is more or less a clean and integrate government that was supported by a greater part of the people—the Japanese saw it and could do nothing about it.”

2. Self-Reliance by Our Own Hands
Mao Zedong said, “At one time, we had almost no clothing, no cooking oil, no paper, no vegetables; soldiers had no shoes, no socks; staff members had nothing to cover themselves at night in winter.” To overcome serious difficulties the bases faced, in 1942, a Great Production Movement was carried out by soldiers and civilians at the base areas under the leadership of the CPC.


The 359 Brigade of the 8th Route Army opened up waste land at Nanniwan in April of 1941. On the right, inscriptions by Mao Zedong: “Use our own hands,” “Self-Reliance.”

5. Promote the Democratic Movement and the Progressive Cultural Work in the Kuomintang Ruled Areas.
The democratic movement and progressive cultural work in the Kuomintang ruled areas were an important part in the whole nation’s resistance against Japanese aggression, which played important roles in stimulating senses of patriotism and democracy, adhering to unity and resistance, supporting the front lines and accumulating revolutionary forces.


Comments on CPC and Border Area Government
The staff at the American Embassy at the time recognized in their report to the State Department, “The government run and the army led by the CPC was the first government and army in the modern history of China that were actively supported by the broad masses of the people.” “The Communists would be the most powerful and most constructive force in unifying China.”

6. The Building of CPC Itself


What is the historic inevitability for sinolizing Marxism?
1, It reflected the immense specialty of the Chinese society and Chinese revolution and the special need for the theoretic development.
2. It reflected the self-consciousness of the CPC in blending with foreign culture.
3. It embodies the inherent requirement for a wider application and further development of Marxism in China.

2. The theory of the New Democracy was systematically expounded
In the latter half of the 30s and the beginning of the 40s of the 20th century, Mao Zedong wrote “For the First Issue of ‘The Communists’”, “The Chinese Revolution and the CPC”, “On the New Democracy” and other important works. He pointed out there were two phases in Chinese Revolution, proposed the political, economic and cultural platforms for the party in the New Democratic Revolution, he also pointed out what were the three treasures for defeating the enemy in the Chinese Revolution.


Why to unfold the Yanan Rectification Movement?
Firstly, ever since the founding of the party, with its growth, it had been affected by “leftist” and right thinking, and a clear-up in thinking was necessary; secondly, the CPC had long been working in the countryside, most members were farmers, there had not been a chance to give them a systematic education of Marxism.

Why opposition to subjectivism was the center in the rectification movement?
1, It was a style of study that opposes Marxism;
2, It was the root for “left” and right opportunism;
3, Sectarianism and stereotyped Party writing were derivatives of subjectivism. 
Mao Zedong said thus about the rectification, “The Rectification Movement and the Production campaign started respectively in 1942 and 1943 almost in the entire domain have and are playing a decisive role in spiritual and material life. If we fail to grasp these two rings in due course, we would not be able to grasp the entire revolution chain and our struggle could not make head ways.”

The Position of CPC
The history of the anti-Japanese aggression fully demonstrated that the CPC was the staunch defender of the interests of the Chinese nation and the Chinese people, so having gone through the anti-Japanese war, the people’s revolutionary forces led by CPC became much stronger, and the political authority of the CPC was extremely high among the people. More and more Chinese placed their hopes for national independence, people’s democracy and the prosperity of the country on the CPC.

Zhou Enlai said at the time, “In 1944, not only petty bourgeois, but also the national bourgeois became close to us.”  Hard as it was to comprehend, but it was true.

The “Old China Hands” in the American Embassy, Services and Davis,  at the time pointed out squarely in their report to the State Department, “The ruling clique of the Kuomintang was sacrificing the interests of the Chinese nation for its selfish purpose”; they asserted , “The future CPC shall occupy a definite and important position.”

The Victory of the Anti-Japanese War and Its Significance
A. The Victory



The Assessment by Key World Figures
Stalin once said, “Only when the hands and feet of the Japanese aggressors were bounded (by China), were we able to avoid fighting on two lines when the German aggressors attacked.”Stalin



The Assessment by Key World Figures


The British Prime Minister Churchill said, “All of our positions in the Middle East would collapse if Japan marched into the Indian Ocean. It was only China who could prevent such from happening.”


C. The Significance of Victory and Basic Experience
1.Significance of Victory
Firstly, the Japanese aggressors were totally defeated, China’s sovereignty and territorial integrity were safeguarded, thus laid a foundation for the great recovery of the Chinese nation.

Significance of Victory
Secondly, the Chinese nation was further awakened, the progress of the Chinese people in spirit and organization was unprecedented high.
Thirdly, the great unity of the Chinese nation was promoted and the national spirit of China was further developed.
Fourthly, China’s victory had immense impact on the victory of the world in fighting Fascists and on maintaining world peace.

2.Causes for Victory 
Firstly, the CPC was the mainstay in the war with her firm will and model behaviors.
    

Secondly, the decisive factor was the awakening of the Chinese nation, the national unity and the heroic fighting;
Thirdly, the support China enjoyed from all peace-loving countries and people, international organizations.



3.Basic Experience
Firstly, the great unity among all nationalities of China was the source of strength to overcome all difficulties and attain our objectives.
Secondly, the great national spirit with patriotism at its core was a driving force to stimulate the Chinese people. 

Thirdly, Elevation of China’s comprehensive power is the basic guarantee for the Chinese nation to stand among all countries of the world.
Fourthly, Chinese people love peace, oppose aggression and at the same time are not afraid of war.
Fifthly, the CPC was the mainstay in the war of resistance against the Japanese aggression.

Thank you!


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