Journal of Japanese Invasion of China and Nanjing Massacre

1.SeveralIssuesaboutChina’sPostwarRequestfortheReturnoftheLootedGoodsandMaterials

WuJingping(4)

Soon after the victory of the Chinese war of resistance against Japan, China, as a victimized country, warring country and victorious country, put forward its legitimate request for the return of looted goods and materials. The National Government, its affiliated institutions, related enterprises and many people from the government and the public made joint efforts in determining the basic principles and methods for the return of the looted goods and materials and in a series of basic issues around the return, which played a certain role in obtaining the final return of some looted goods and materials in many specific cases, exposing and punishing the crimes of the Japanese invasion of China. There are many reasons and lessons that led to the unsmooth return of the looted goods and materials after the war, and more in-depth and specialized research should be conducted.

2.AStudyontheWarMobilizationintheShaanxi-Gansu-NingxiaBorderRegionduringtheWarofResistanceagainstJapan

HuangZhenglin(13)

In August 1937, the CPC proposed a policy at the Luochuan Meeting of the wartime comprehensive mobilization, namely, the “General Mobilization of the National Army” and “General Mobilization of the People”, believing China’s war of resistance could only win by means of the wartime comprehensive mobilization. In the early days of the total war of resistance, peasants’ nationalism and patriotism were inspired by downplaying the concept of “class”, and the comprehensive mobilization of CPC achieved initial results. However, when the war continued, the excessive mobilization in the Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningxia Border Region caused the alienation between the people and the CPC regime. To solve the crises faced by the regime, in addition to the regular mobilization, the CPC launched a new mobilization mode of mobilizing the gentry to participate in the CPC regime so as to expand the class base of the regime of resistance against Japan, mobilizing the personnel in the party, government and military to carry out a “self-reliance” production campaign to reduce the wartime financial burden to the people in the border region, and mobilizing the peasants to reduce rents and interest rates in order to strengthen their status in the grass-roots society and the CPC’s control of grassroots society. Unlike the requisition of grain, conscription, and expropriation of war material, the CPC strengthened its control over the rural society through this new mobilization mode.

3.TheImportantValueoftheNewly-discoveredOperationOrderNo.44oftheBattleofNanjing

SunZhaiwei(29)

In recent years, the Memorial Hall of the Victims in Nanjing Massacre by Japanese Invaders has collected and exhibited an original copy of the Operation Order No. 44 of the Battle of Nanjing, which is rare among the operation orders issued by the Nanjing Garrison. The content proves that after receiving the retreat order from Chiang Kai-shek, Tang Shengzhi took temporary measures by ordering the troops to continue to hold their grounds on one hand and the staff officers to arrange an orderly retreat on the other hand. This provides a solid evidence in terms of a correct and fair evaluation of Tang Shengzhi’s performance during the Battle of Nanjing. This operation order has great significance and value in terms of the completeness and suggestiveness.

4.SupplementaryExaminationofthe“EnemyPlaneSprayingGerms”duringtheNingboPlaguein1940

ZhouDonghuaSuXiangyi(38)

In 1940, the Unit 731 of Japanese invaders launched a germ warfare against civilians with planes spraying germs in Yinxian, Quxian and Jinhua of Zhejiang Province, which caused the plague in the above-mentioned three places and the huge causalities and losses in civilian lives and property. The academic community has already studied the issue with archives and documents of both China and Japan, confirming that it was a premeditated atrocity committed by the Unit 731 of Japanese invaders. About the issue of the “enemy planes spraying germs” during the Ningbo Plague in 1940, considerable academic studies have demonstrated the method, time and the extent of the damage. However, issues such as the exact time, the actual situation of the Japanese plane spraying the germs, the exact time of the outbreak of plague and the response to the plague at Huamei Hospital have not yet been solved with third-party archives and documents. Archives collected at the Columbia University of the United States such as the 1940 annual report and letters of Huamei Hospital and “Joining the Army”, a memoire by soldiers from Hangzhou Water Supply and Epidemic Prevention Troops of Unit 731 show that Unit 731 attacked Ningbo with plane spraying germs ” at least twice on October 5 and October 27, 1940. The exact large-scale outbreak of the Ningbo plague was October 30, and the prevention and control of the plague at Huamei Hospital was the exact evidence of the bacterial warfare committed by the Unit 731 in Yinxian.

5.Japan’sWartimePacifyingandPropagandaSquad(Senbu-han)andits“PacifyingandPropaganda”WorkintheOccupiedAreaofNorthChina

WangMeng(45)

With the outbreak of the full-scale war of aggression against China, the Japanese military and political authorities quickly established the Pacifying and Propaganda Squad of North China, through which the Japanese forces seeped into the grassroots society in North China. The “Pacifying and Propaganda Circle of Influence” has gradually formed in the occupied area with the home office as the center and the local offices as the terminal. With the development of the Security Campaign in North China, the organizational structure of the Pacifying and Propaganda Squad of North China also changed into a paramilitary organization subordinate to the Japanese Army in North China. The former members from the Manchurian Railway were gradually replaced by new members with diversified occupations. Japan’s “Pacifying and Propaganda” work in the occupied area of North China was temporary and disorderly. The Eighth Route Army’s perseverant mass work eventually made the work of the Pacifying and Propaganda Squad of North China a mere formality, and became the most critical force to deter the Japanese and puppet forces from reaching the grassroots level in the occupied areas of North China. The effectiveness of the “Pacifying and Propaganda” work was also greatly undermined by the lack of the Japanese military discipline. The “Pacifying and Propaganda” work could not really alleviate the hostility of the Chinese people towards the invaders. The disbandment of the Pacifying and Propaganda Squad of North China implied the general failure of Japanese army in the “Pacifying and Propaganda ” work in the occupied areas of North China.

6.Re-studyontheOriginofthePacificWar:TheImpetusofGermanExpansiontoJapan’sDecisionof“SouthwardAdvancement”

XuChuanbo(62)

After WWI, senior officials of Japanese Army and Navy had planned the expansion strategy to plunder resources and achieve the goal of “self-sufficient economic circle”. However, the Army and the Navy have differences in the expansion direction regarding “northward advancement” and “southward advancement.” The pro-British and American naval forces opposed radical expansion. Meanwhile, the strength of the Soviet Union, the United Kingdom, and the United States also had an impact on Japan. Therefore, the strategy failed to be implemented for a long time . However, the “Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact” forced the Japanese Army to abandon its “northward advancement.” The rapid victory of the German army on the western front brought about the “southward advancement”faction in the Japanese army and navy defeating the pro-British and American factions. When coming into power, they established the strategy of “southward advancement” to achieve the goal of “self-sufficient economic circle”. The German’s attack on the Soviet Union relieved the worries of the “southward advancement” faction. Japan then aggressively advanced southward and launched a Pacific war against the United States. This showed that the German offensive played a major role in promoting Japan’s decision of “southward advancement”.

7.TheChangeofJapaneseNavy’sInvasionStrategyduringtheMukdenIncident

ChenXiang(77)

The Japanese army conspired and executed the Mukden Incident. At that time, the Japanese navy was led by the army in terms of invading China. To reverse its passive situation, the Japanese Navy’s “Fleet faction”, which strongly advocated invading China, began to actively cooperate with the Army, making the Japanese Navy moved to the forefront of the invasion of China. During the Mukden Incident, the Navy completed its coordination with the Army in its strategy of invading China, which forced the government to abandon its so-called “downscaling the conflict ” policy and took this opportunity to withdraw from the London Naval Treaty. The Navy provided support for the Army’s northward advancement in exchange for the Army’s support for its southward advancement strategy, and the Japanese army therefore completed the general strategic integration before the full-scale invasion of China.

8.PredicamentandResponse:TheFrequentFlightAccidentsandRemediationoftheChineseAirForceduringtheTotalWarofResistanceagainstJapan

LiangShanming(85)

The incidence rate of flight accidents is one of the main indicators to measure the military capability of an air force. During the war, China’s Air Force had various flight accidents. The fundamental reason was the chaos of the KMT Air Force’s guiding philosophy and the ineffective training. To reduce the flight accidents, the Aviation Committee gradually improved the investigation and review mechanism of flight accidents; adopted the policy of solving flight accidents in actual combat; switched to American training models; specified reward and punishment mechanisms; strengthened the discipline inspection and supervision; increased the number of outsourcing aviation equipment and the capability of self-repair; attached importance to the personal health and safety of pilots and accelerated the improvement of supporting facilities as well as the air force system, etc. Those measures did gradually reduce the number of the wartime flight accidents . However, due to the changes in the overall air combat strength between China and Japan and the evolution of the Far East and Pacific front, as well as the constraints of the ineffective implementation of certain measures, there were ups and downs in the actual effect of the remediation, which, to a certain extent, affected the steady improvement of the Chinese Air Force’s overall combat effectiveness during the total war of resistance against Japan.

9.FromaMarginalMantoanOutsider:TheRoleofYanXishanbeforeandaftertheXi’anIncident

ZhangLijie(97)

Yan Xishan was an important participant in the Xi’an Incident. Before the Incident, Yan Xishan asked for help from both Chiang Kai-shek and Zhang Xueliang in order to guard against foreign enemies and wandered between the two. After the Incident, Yan Xishan was proposed as a mediator because of his position and strength. However, due to the crisis of Shangxi and Suiyuan and the uncertain situation, he acted cautiously and stayed on the edge of the Incident. In the aftermath of the Incident, Yan Xishan was still ambiguous and hesitant, and was finally pushed out of the picture by Chiang Kai-shek, who was eager to resolve the Incident as soon as possible. The inherent contradictions between Yan Xishan’s interest and political character made it difficult for him to play a key role. The evolution of his role from a marginal man to an outsider in the Incident indicated that it was also hard for him to bear the important responsibility in the overall situation of the war of resistance against Japan.

10.Calamityand“Recovery”:Nanjing’sGeneralMerchandiseIndustryduringtheOccupation

SuKai(109)

In 1927, the Nationalist Government made Nanjing the Capital. With the rise of the movement to use national goods, Nanjing’s general merchandise industry had made considerable progress with both commercial districts and large-scale shopping malls. After the fall of Nanjing, the general merchandise industry within the city was almost burned out and suffered a devastating blow. In the early days of the fall, to maintain the ruling order, the puppet regime carried out some work in the restoration of the general merchandise business, and renovated the existing shopping malls to attract vendors. With the outbreak of the Pacific War, the puppet regime of Wang Jingwei, as a tool for Japan to seize resources to support the war, actively implemented the wartime economy and strictly controlled the business activities of the general merchandise industry. At that time, with the “recovery” of the general merchandise industry, many newly-developed trade associations of the general merchandise industry had dual identities. They were both self-help organizations of the industry and a tool of the puppet regime to control the industry, seeking a balance between the interests of groups and of the “government”.

11.StudiesontheArrest,TrialandPenaltyEnforcementofTraitorsinHubeiProvinceaftertheVictoryoftheWarofResistanceagainstJapan

DuanZhenhua(118)

After the victory of the War of Resistance against Japan, Hubei Province held trails of traitors within its territory and punished them according to relevant laws on punishment of traitors. In the early post-war period, centralized arrests and sporadic arrests of traitors were carried out in Hubei Province, and then trials were held. However, the original intention of being “rapid and strict” was difficult to achieve due to the review procedure, the restricted whistle-blowing right and the time limit to settle the case during the trial. The trial appeared to be tight at first and loose afterwards. In addition, during the execution of the penalty, with the change of situation, Hubei Province commuted the sentence for convicted traitors and released them on parole, which made the postwar punishment of traitors too lenient.

12.SummaryoftheSymposiumon“theAnti-JapaneseWarandNanjingMassacrefromInternationalPerspective”

ZhangGuosong(131)

【English abstracts translated by Cai Dandan】