How was “China’s War” our war? You’ve been here before. This is WWII. How is that we have posters such as these seeking relief for the Chinese?
There was another one I couldn’t save that should a portrait of a Chinese soldier saying “This man is your friend. He fights for your freedom.” So whats up with all these English language relief posters for China?
There is lots of great stuff in this chapter. Your terms are, in this chapter;
Guomindang CCP Marco Polo bridge Chiang Kai Shek
Long March* Burma Road united front
“New Fourth Army Incident” Gen Joseph Stillwell “Hongkew”
Mao Zedong fabi
So, place each of them in context in the chapter, the fabi is the Chinese currency, part of their nationalism, that the Japanese seek to undermine. The “united front” is the alliance of the nationalists and the communists against the Japanese which is effectively ended with the “New Fourth Army Incident.”
There are other things that you should catch just because of context or humor. Remember that test question about American involvement prior to Dec 7? There is good evidence in here for that. What is it? What was Stillwell’s nickname for Chiang? Hysterical.
See you tomorrow.
Keep an eye on those terms. They should make life easier here. Questions, comments, confusions?
I miss Kissinger. I miss him more than I thought I would! What bugs me about this chapter is just that there are soooooooo many facts and it’s not too fun to read. Something that I just found interesting in the chapter is the “Dear Miss Sophie” letter in 1927 was one of the first in China to have a feminist point of view. As for term wise Hongkew was interesting in general because it was Japan’s own version of concentration camps, Spence did not make it seem as bad though. I don’t know if it was me but the only term he fully explained was Marco Polo Bridge, whereas the others were mentioned but not as thoroughly explained. I still miss Kissinger.
I think I might just run back to Kissinger, after reading this chapter. There were a multitude of facts, but I do remember that the Japanese had 10 puppet governments set up.
In addition, the Burma Road was the “south China’s only link to the military supplies and gasoline needed to keep Chiang Kai -shek’s resistance viable” (458). The Burma Road actually spans about 715 miles and opened on December 2, 1938 but was the victim of many disasters such as landslides and traffic.
To answer what Stilwell’s nickname was, he was known as Vinegar Joe. He was in charge of the British Flyers known as The Flying Tiger squadron. Stilwell was in a joint campaigns with the Chinese, against the Japanese but he disliked Chiang. He even went as far as to call refer to Chiang as Peanut in his dispatches, according to Spence.
The war between China and Japan reminds me of the Korean War. I remember Kissinger or A&B bringing up the idea that the Korean War had no specific aim or it wasn’t defined very well, hence the changing objectives. When Spence sums up the war in the first section he reveals the daunting statistics (the Korean War also had overwhelming numbers). He attributes it to the fact that the war was still undeclared with no clear goal or purpose. He blames the cruelty of the war on the Japanese who were bored, tired, and frustrated. He also says that perhaps all Chinese were marked as victims since everybody was targeted regardless of sex or gender. I agree with Spence that this has to be one the most horrific wars of modern warfare.
It’s incredible all the life’s lost in this war in particular from just malnutrition. There is an enormous difference between the peasants under Mao ze dong and Chaing Kai shek. This war was extremely long, I am still confuse a to why Japan bombed America in Pearl Harbor if they were so heavily concerned to deal with the Burma Road and the Marco Polo bridge. The years are long and many attempts back and forth for American support to china, I as very touched by the description between a health Chinese child and one undergoing starvation. I am till confused about the separation in China, why was it caused in the first place and according to spence there is 10 divisions however he only mentions several names for the division.
This is the time period when Roosevelt was still in power and made a large effort to ride communists yet he decided to support the Chinese Commies against the Japanese raping and the harm brought upon the villagers.
It’s curious to hear the collection of taxes through food the CCP did in attempts to lower inflation.
This reading was informative but difficult to understand the exact part of china deeply involved and to follow the connection ding ling’s book has to the war.
Something I learned from this chapter that the first battle of WWII actually happened between Japan and China. In reality it can be summed up as a complete misunderstanding between the countries military units. The reason why Japan attacked the Chinese was being one of their soldiers was missing and the Japanese thought one of their soldiers were held hostage. But in reality, that wasn’t the case. It became quite evident that the Japanese were far more advance with their artillery and technology for the Japanese intercepted secret telegraphs of the Chinese. Also the Chinese bombs were quite inaccurate causing a great deal of deaths to their own civilians. I have one question though, in the beginning of the chapter, why didn’t the League of Nations help the Chinese in the “settling the China Incident”? (447) The Japanese believed that “international world support would be on China’s side”. But in reality it wasn’t. Why was that?
I think what challenged me the most during the reading was the fact that I wasn’t fully sure what information I should be retaining and what information is less important. The terms helped me along the way, but theres usually more we need to know than the terms.
This really was, in a way, “our” war. As Spence(r) explained, this war would have implications for China that would change the politics of the nation. The war would lead to Mao’s communist takeover, and eventually would have effects on the Korean War. Although the Chinese “won” the war (although the US involvement really had a huge impact), the long run outcome was a loss for democracy.
I didn’t understand how currency had such importance to the Japanese. I know the Chinese use the Yuan present day, but what was the fabi?
I always get out of Kissinger a little bit confused about what I just read, but he is nothing compared to Spence. There are soo many facts one after another that its just hard to keep all the names and facts straight. Sooo i had a lot of confusions, but I think I got a good general idea. When i read about the malnutrition and deprivation of people during the war contrasted with the healthy citizens, it sounded a bit like what we’ve been hearing about China recently, with a small population living comfortably and a larger population experiencing poverty and such.
I found this reading interesting, especially near the end where it meantions that the US actually worked with the Chinese communists to increase the military power of China as a whole. Granted, the US was allies with the Soviet Union, though the alliance with Chinese Communists seems a bit odd. I guess the US was really desparate to defeat the Japanese at all costs, even if it mean unusual alliances. Those posters promoting the alliance with the Chinese were probably to sway public opinion in favor of good relations with China, in their common opposition of Japan.
In regards to WWII, Spence was making what I thought was a Kissinger-esque claim, but then I realized that he had 40 pages of hard core evidence to back it up. He said that the reason why America and the West were able to defeat Japan was because China was keeping 2/5 of their forces… “Occupied”. So I guess you could say that America and China were helping each other equally in a united front against Japan. But I am confused as to how or what changed so dramatically from Chiang to Mao. America and China went from being unofficial buds to legitimate enemies in a relatively short time span. Was it Mao? Was it communism itself? Or was it the changing national interest that caused such a large rift to open between America and the country?
Just as I had expected, this chapter was real dense, and a lot more confusing than any Kissinger readings we’ve done to date. Just as Franny said, I don’t exctly understand why the United States felt so obligated to help China, especially during a time when the US had many other things to worry about. The US even went as far as to recognize China in the Allied war effort, along with the other big superpowers such as Britain and the Soviet Union. China was helpful in the war effort, for Spence reiterated several times that China played a crucial role in “tying down” two fifths of the Japanese armies, thus essentially, keeping them occupied from attacking American and other Allied forces. On a completely separate note, I had no idea that Jews had fled to China during WWII, let alone several thousand of them. In trying to find refuge, the Jews were moved, and in some cases forcefully, to the ghettos such as Hongkew, where they often lived in poor conditions.