The Points, Lines and Surfaces of History - How Many Years of Anti-Japanese War

Last week, history was mentioned, so continue the topic, this time it is the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression.

In recent years, the CCP has changed the 8-year War of Resistance into a 14-year War of Resistance, that is, from 1937 to 1931. The CCP chose to start in 1931 because of the nine. Eighteen incidents. I believe that everyone knows why this change is made. It is to show that the CCP is leading the Chinese people to fight against Japan’s aggression against China and win the victory.

I remember that when I was reading modern Chinese history in middle school, whenever I read the phrase "in order to fight against foreign countries, we must first be safe inside", I always came to the following conclusion: The Kuomintang army must first destroy the Communist army before it can fight against the Japanese army, so the national army is passively resisting the Japanese. Zhang Xueliang was dissatisfied with this, so he launched the Xi'an Incident, admonished Zhang Xueliang, and forced Chiang Kai-shek to fully resist Japan.

Are these really so? I recently finished reading a book titled "Rong Li Xiang Xiang: Research on the Commemorative Ceremony of the National Army's Operation Against Japan from 1931 to 1937." The author Wen Yuzhen tried to see whether the National Army did not resist Japan from 1931 to 1937 from the combat commemorative ceremony.

The author selects 5 memorial conferences/monument tower unveiling ceremonies (hereinafter referred to as cases) for research and analysis, including attendees, the entire ceremony, and offerings. The 5 cases are: the 19th Route Army's Songhu Anti-Japanese War Memorial Meeting, the Army's 88th Division Songhu Battle Memorial Tower, the memorial meeting for the fallen soldiers of the Great Wall Battle in the Ji-re area, and the 26th Army's anti-Japanese war against bandits The memorial meeting for the fallen soldiers, and the memorial meeting for the fallen soldiers in Suiyuan Tingzhan. The author once shared why she started her research on this topic, because one day she went to the Hong Kong cemetery in Happy Valley and saw large monuments, which led her to study the history of the Kuomintang and the Communist Party from this angle.

Two of the five cases are related to the Battle of Songhu, which must be meaningful. According to Wikipedia, after the Songhu War, on April 15, 1932, the then Provisional Central Government of the Chinese Soviet Republic declared war on Japan. The CCP now regards this as the beginning of the Anti-Japanese War. [Note 1]

The author expresses in the book that there is a set of ceremonies in the five cases, including playing mournful music, reverently reading the Prime Minister's will, reading the memorial speech, offering sacrifices, offering sacrifices, and bowing three times. Through the ceremony, the centripetal force of the army and the people is united, and the army and the people are united to fight against foreign enemies. From each of the sacrifices, we can see that if the will of the same hatred is established. At that time, most of the ceremonies were written in Wei and Jin parallel style. For example, in the memorial meeting of the 19th Route Army Songhu Anti-Japanese Death, the chief priest Juzheng (President of the Judicial Yuan of the National Government of the Republic of China) [Note 2] wrote:

...... Heaven is calamating China, the calamity should not end, the feudal slaves are raging, the whole country is in the same hatred, to save this critical situation, the Pixiu of Laidos, died with the enemy, trying to solve the hidden worries of the 40,000,000 compatriots, the corpses are covered in horse leather, and tears are overflowing Shenzhou, the scattered voices spread far and wide, the righteousness lasted for a long time, woohoo, the world is surging, waiting for the slave face and the slave knees, the princes are heroic, and the descendants will admire them in Qianqiu. (page 81)

From these ceremonies and words, we can indeed see how the Kuomintang government united the army and the people to fight against foreign enemies in these mourning meetings.

Returning to the question at the beginning, whether the Nationalist government only cares about eliminating the CCP instead of resisting Japan, the author has the following views:

...Secondly, the failure of Songhu's war against Japan was a disgrace to all the military and civilians, so it was necessary to work hard to prepare for the future war against Japan, and the premise of "preparing" for the war against Japan was to obey the Nanjing government and the leader Chiang Kai-shek. The command of Zhongzheng supports the national policy of the Nanjing government that "in order to fight against foreign countries, we must first settle down inside, and only when we are unified can we defend against insults". The traditional view holds that the so-called "An Nei" refers specifically to the encirclement and suppression campaign against the CCP. However, we can see from the speeches of the princes at the ceremony that the broader meaning of "Annei" is to unify the national army and factions within the national government, and to integrate the power of the whole country. Otherwise, events like the "Min change" would be absolutely useless to the Japanese war effort. … (p. 118)

For the Central Committee of the Kuomintang, the biggest problem is that the army/corps run their own affairs, do not obey the command of the central government, or even launch a coup d'etat. Therefore, unity of the army and the people is the biggest prerequisite. At the end, the author further pointed out that at that time the Kuomintang regarded the Japanese army and the Communist Party as enemies and wanted to eliminate them:

During the six years from the "September 18 Incident" in 1931 to the "July 7 Anti-Japanese War" in 1937, both at home and abroad, the government and the people generally used the term "national disaster" to describe the country's situation during this period. The six-year period of national disaster" refers to this period of quasi-war state. In addition, scholar Jiang Yongjing used "partial resistance" in his book "The History of the Anti-Japanese War" to contrast with the "comprehensive Anti-Japanese War" after the "July 7 Anti-Japanese War". At this time, the "national disaster" faced by the national army was not only from the Japanese army from outside, but also from the CCP in the interior. In the memorial meeting of the fallen soldiers of the 26th Army of the National Army, the content of the speech was "Because the country cannot survive without suppressing bandits", it is enough to see that the National Government regards internal turmoil and foreign aggression as equal threats without distinction between internal and external. ...Faced with unprecedented changes in internal and external confrontation, the Nationalist government adopted "negotiations on the one hand and resistance on the other", emphasizing the "integration of the military and the people", and initiated long-term spiritual preparedness. From the observation of the memorial service for the fallen soldiers during this period, it can be understood that the so-called "the national army only fought civil wars and did not resist the Japanese" and "before 1937, the national government did not resist the Japanese aggression, and it was a loss of power and humiliation to the country". Self-defeating speech. (pages 252, 253)

For me, the author's arguments and arguments I have never heard before. For example, "Anne" means uniting the army and the people, not just destroying the communist army. However, this was only a response to the argument that the national army did not resist the Japanese invasion. As for "Anne", it is still an "unresolved" doubt.

In any case, when Japan invaded China, the result was not that China won, but Japan had to surrender. And the situation after that, everyone already knows - the CCP won power, and the Nationalist government retreated to Taiwan.

However, as Teacher Long Yingtai's "Big Rivers and Seas 1949" said:

Please look me in the eyes and tell me honestly:
Is there a "winner" in war?

～～～～～～～～～

[Note 1] One. February 8 Incident (Songhu Incident) (Wiki) —
https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/January 28 Incident

[Note 2] Juzheng (Wiki) -
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Juzheng

"Rong Li Xiang Xiang: 1931-1937 National Army's Commemorative Ceremony of the Battle Against Japan" (from a blog) — https://www.books.com.tw/products/0010929309