China and Japan - 1911-1949

China and Japan: 1911-1949

In 1911 China was under foreign rule and had been since 1644 (Qing Dynasty). These people were called the Manchus and came from a region east of Mongolia and north of Korea (north-east of China). The dynasty had survived for over 250 years but it was on its last legs. In a final desperate attempt to retain power the government allowed foreign businesses to rent/loan individual train lines in order to generate capital. This led to protests and rallies in August 1911; you see the Chinese had never allowed for foreign invasion before. They were a country that had kept very much to themselves for thousands of years. So a local regional governor (without the express permission from the emperor), in trying to subdue the situation, had the ring-leaders gathered up and then executed. This wasn’t a smart decision and it ignited a full-scale uprising; within four months two-thirds of China had renounced the Qing dynasty, and by the end of December 1911 the Qing dynasty had shit itself!

http://theqingdynasty.com/qing-dynasty-geography.html

https://www.slideshare.net/jtspag/qing-dynasty-china-19th-century

In its place a local Chinese government was established (called the Republic of China) with Yuan Shi Kai chosen as President in February 1912. However, it wasn’t the only party to be formed during this time. The Guomindang (Nationalists) were also formed in 1912, and the Communist Party was established in 1921. The period of 1912-1914 was fairly unstable with President Yuan Shi Kai trying to subdue potential threats. But when the First World War erupted, Britain, which had been providing some support for Yuan, left to fight in Europe. As a result, Japan, who were hovering in the background waiting for an opportunity (they already occupied German leased Shandong province – east China between Beijing and Shanghai), made threats of war and presented President Yuan with the ‘Twenty-One Demands’; essentially they were a collection of offensive demands that indicated China was to become a protectorate of Japan. With no support, and little chance of success, Yuan agreed to a few of the less belligerent demands. But this made his rule tenuous at best with more and more provinces throughout China considering him an untrustworthy ruler that betrayed China. So they declared their independence and by 1916 the ‘Warlord Period’ had begun. Yuan was dead the following year as a result of what the doctors termed a ‘disease caused by intense disappointment’. We should seriously have that disease term in the West!

The twelve years of the Warlord Period (1916-1928) was one giant shit-storm! As the name suggests, it was extremely violent, with Beijing the top prize because European powers refused to accept any other administration as genuine. China fell into a state of disrepair with communication systems being destroyed and then not fixed. Resources became scarce so warlords fought each other over farming land.

Meanwhile Japan was becoming more offensive so in 1919 over 3000 students marched in Tiananmen Square (called the ‘May Fourth Movement’). It’s famous because it triggered a shift in thinking within the young Chinese and was a catalyst for the founding of the Communist Party of China in Shanghai on July 1^st 1921. Nothing was ever going to be the same again!

The Nationalists were not laying idle and had reached the conclusion that Soviet Russia was the only real friend that China had (a low ranking official called Jiang Jie Shi, also called Chiang Kai-shek, had gone to the Soviet Union for training); and seeing as the new Communist party had similar views to their own they decided to join forces to rid China of the warlords once and for all, and create a socialist state. By 1925 Jiang Jie Shi was the leader of the Nationalists northern army and was tasked with subduing the northern warlords.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chiang_Kai-shek

All was not rosy between the two parties however, and as tensions grew (over several years) the Nationalist forces took up arms against the Chinese Communists. The events that transpired from 26 March to 12 April 1927 in the Shanghai massacre of Communists was the final straw and they henceforth became bitter enemies. Not surprising really when about 50 000 Communists were killed in and around Shanghai and only about 5000 Nationalists died.

As a result of the massacre, Jiang Jie Shi became ruler of the Nationalists and in 1928 they took Beijing (although their main base was in Nanjing); and seeing as European countries recognised the ruler of China as being the one on the throne in Beijing, the Nationalists were officially in charge of the reunification of China with Jiang Jie Shi as the new Emperor. The West were also breathing a collective sigh of relief because they were worried about the potential for a Communist China.

Depending on which side you are on, it was either a good or bad thing that the Shanghai massacre didn’t destroy the Communist party, and they began a rebuild in southern China. Japan also hadn’t gone away and were doing likewise in north-eastern areas of China and Manchuria. Communist officials, including Mao Ze Dong and Zhu De, were recruiting the local peasants in southern China to fight prolonged battles with the Nationalists. Emperor Jiang Jie Shi was forced to employ powerful military commanders to rural posts to keep the Communists quiet. However these men were not always committed to the Nationalist cause and were typically thieving wankers that only cared about themselves. Not surprisingly, this caused the local peasants to view the Nationalists as thieving wankers (like equals like after all), and so they joined the Communists in their thousands. In 1929 alone the Nationalists spent over 50% of their annual expenditure on wars against the Communists and the Japanese.

http://www.notable-quotes.com/z/zedong_mao.html

http://www.biografiasyvidas.com/biografia/z/zhu_de.htm

Emperor Jiang Jie Shi was almost able to wipe out the Communists before they broke out on their ‘Long March’ in 1934-1935. Covering a distance in excess of eight thousand kilometres and lasting 370 days (16^th October 1934-20^th October 1935) the Communists escaped their southern base which was no longer safe. Over 100 000 people began the journey, with roughly 80 000 of them soldiers. By the time they reached their north-western destination of Yan’an in Shaanxi province there were less than 8000 left alive. Crucially though Mao Ze Dong was one of those 8000 and he became the Chairman (ruler) of the Communists. This occurred midway through the march (January 1935) in Zunyi. I can confidently say that it would have been much better for China had Mao not survived!

You might think that with such a small number of Communists left that the Nationalists could have crushed them in Yan’an but that didn’t happen, and so their numbers quickly regenerated. Emperor Jiang did order the complete destruction of the Communists but before that could happen Japan got mega-nasty again. More on that shortly!

On a side note, one of the reasons that the Communists were more popular than the Nationalists was because of the way each of the armies and officials behaved. Chairman Mao laid down a military code which consisted of three rules and eight points. These were:

The three main rules:

1)      Obey orders in all your actions.

2)      Don’t take a single needle or a piece of thread from the people.

3)      Turn in everything captured.

The eight points:

1)      Speak politely.

2)      Pay fairly for what you buy.

3)      Return everything you borrow.

4)      Pay for anything you damage.

5)      Don’t hit or swear at people.

6)      Don’t damage crops.

7)      Don’t take liberties with women.

8)      Don’t ill-treat captives.

The Nationalists however allowed their armies and officials free licence to do what they liked to the Communists, the Japanese, but more importantly, to the common Chinese people. They raped, pillaged and plundered to their hearts content, and the Chinese people rebelled by joining the Communists in record numbers, even though this was treason in its most basic form.

On the 25^th November 1936, Germany, Japan, and Italy signed the ‘Anti-Comintern Pact’ (Anti-Communist). New swarms of Japanese soldiers, the dreaded Kempetai (the Japanese equivalent of the Gestapo), came down from the north east with the sole purpose of destroying anything Communist, and therefore by default, anything Chinese. I do find this interesting seeing as the ruling power of China at the time wasn’t Communist in nature. I guess the Japanese just figured they couldn’t tell one Chinese from the other so they just killed any Chinese they saw; and they were significantly worse than the Nationalists had been in previous years.

As stated above, towards the end of 1936, after the Communists had set up their base of operation in Yan’an, Emperor Jiang Jie Shi decided to launch a final onslaught against them. His close commanders disagreed because they were more concerned with the debaucheries the Japanese were inflicting on fellow Chinese. They also viewed the Communists as being Chinese, so they were more focused on the Japanese threat than with the Communists. So Jiang Jie Shi’s two closest commanders, Zhang Xue Liang and Yang Hu Cheng, imprisoned him on the 12^th December 1936.

The Emperor was convinced, at gunpoint (which is definitely a good way to convince someone!) to sign a peace treaty with the Communists. He shouldn’t have been too unhappy because the treaty allowed the Nationalists to remain in power, and for him to stay on as Emperor. Also the Japanese were in for a tougher fight because the Nationalists and Communists combined their army’s forces. The only thing the Communists wanted was to establish their own independent government in Yan’an.

https://www.google.com.au/maps/dir/Nanjing,+Jiangsu,+China/Yan'an,+Shaanxi,+China/Beijing,+China/@36.4081252,112.4634515,5.75z/data=!4m20!4m19!1m5!1m1!1s0x35b58c9b668dcd83:0x8ffbb60b79df1b06!2m2!1d118.796877!2d32.060255!1m5!1m1!1s0x366e2402cd87b947:0x925130a66613ae53!2m2!1d109.489757!2d36.585445!1m5!1m1!1s0x35f05296e7142cb9:0xb9625620af0fa98a!2m2!1d116.407395!2d39.904211!3e0

Even with their combined Chinese forces, it wasn’t enough and throughout 1937 Japanese troops seized Beijing, Shanghai, and Nanjing (the last was a particularly bloody affair with the Japanese raping and/or killing over 300 000 Chinese – most of them innocents!). The Nationalists were in charge of the defence of the cities, and the Communists were in charge of defending the regional areas. Emperor Jiang Jie Shi was forced to flee inland as the major cities were seized and his immense army was crushed. He settled in the remote southern city of Chongqing, but not before an appalling decision to implement a ‘Scorched Earth’ policy. This involved slowing the south-west progression of the Japanese army. He ordered the breaching of the Yellow river dykes, which inundated several provinces. This had the positive effect of making large expanses of land impassable but in the process he effectively drowned (or they died from starvation) millions of the local Chinese peasants. Yes I did say millions and I did say appalling!!

Meanwhile, Japan had seized the entire Eastern and Southern seaboards of China and had also successfully fought their way inland on the train-lines and seized major inland cities and provinces. They were successfully overwhelming the Nationalists troops, but the Communists were an entirely different animal altogether, and the Japanese were unable to seize large portions of the countryside (and their subsequent resources). Why were the Communists able to do what the Nationalists were not? Well it was pretty simple really – incredibly large numbers of Chinese wanted to join the Communists! As a case in point, between 1937 and 1945 the Communist army grew from 90 000 to almost one million.

https://www.marxists.org/subject/china/

I should probably give you an idea of the populations of the two countries so you can appreciate more clearly what I am saying; in 1940 the population of China was about 550 million and Japan was about 80 million; Japan were effectively outnumbered 7 to 1. Having said that, the Japanese were far superior in their air and naval development and force. Regardless, the Japanese government decided to consolidate the cities and land they had already captured and try to ‘ride-out’ the Chinese. This decision ended up an epic fail (and not the only one Japan would make in coming months); the main reason for this was because the Nationalists and, therefore, by default the Communists, were continually being supported, initially by the Soviet Union, and then by the USA, Great Britain, and France. By 1941 the Soviet’s, Brits and French had stopped supporting China, for obvious reasons – they were neck deep in it with the Second World War requiring all their resources and manpower.

By 1941 Japan were getting desperate. China wouldn’t surrender; the USA were providing more and more support for the Nationalists; the Communists were controlling the countryside; and Japan were running out of money. The government decided to look elsewhere for money and started eying off the rest of East Asia, in particular the oil rich Dutch East Indies, and the rubber plantations and tin mines of Malaysia. The only problem was that the USA war ships were patrolling the area 24/7.

Retrospect is a marvellous thing, which the Japanese government didn’t have in 1941 when they decided that by attacking Pearl Harbour (epic fail number two) they could achieve several positive outcomes with one strike: 1) Remove USA support for the Chinese; 2) rid East Asia of USA warships allowing Japanese warships free reign of the area; and 3) the perceived snowball effect of China surrendering. This clearly didn’t happen in the way that Japan had hoped and as a result both the USA and Japan entered the Second World War. This further weakened Japanese forces and put additional strain on their finances.

https://www.britannica.com/event/Pearl-Harbor-attack

Incredibly, with the Chinese on the brink of victory, the Nationalists changed their tune. Emperor Jiang Jie Shi had decided that Japanese rule was a better choice than Chinese Communist authority, so the Nationalists switched sides and joined the Japanese fight against the Communists. The fragile truce between the Nationalists and Communists was broken forever more. Emperor Jiang didn’t bother passing on this rather important nugget of information to the USA, and so we ended up with the bizarre situation where the USA continued to sponsor the Nationalists in their fight against the Japanese, whilst the Nationalists were fighting with the Japanese. The American government were essentially providing money and equipment to Japan whilst they were fighting Japan.

I’m unsure as to what Emperor Jiang was hoping for with his decision to support the Japanese. What did certainly happen is that most of the population were seeing the Nationalists as turncoats, therefore they were not to be trusted and needed to be overthrown. As a result Communist party membership numbers increased dramatically through this period.

These incredible scenes inside of China were not apparent to the West, and in fact, Allied wartime propaganda hailed Emperor Jiang as the East’s only saviour against the Red Communist China. In further amazing developments (I’m still shaking my head) Stalin believed that Emperor Jiang would be easier to control that Chairman Mao, even though Mao was outwardly Communist, and Jiang, not so much. So Stalin loaned Jiang money and sent his forces aid, and also officially recognised the Nationalists (stationed in Chongqing) as the sole government in China, whilst offering Mao a giant bowl of fuck-all. Also Japanese troops stationed in China surrendered to the Nationalists. In so doing the USA used these troops to support the Nationalists in their battle against the Communists. So enemies become friends!

So essentially what we had was a Nationalist force backed by Japanese troop support along with USA troops, finances and equipment, as well as Soviet finances and equipment, and who also regained Northern provinces vital for Communist expansion. They were up against the Chinese Communist party which had the Chinese populations support. Extraordinarily people power won, but not before the Communists, or the People’s Liberation Army as they were now called, had to again retreat to the country (like they did back in 1927). The Nationalists forces took over the cities as well as Yan’an (the old Communist home base of operations) but these were hollow victories as the Communists left the cities empty and consolidated their forces in the countryside.

Three final factors swung the civil war in favour of the Communists. 1) The government officials put in charge of the reclaimed cities were corrupt, thieving, violent, and repugnant individuals that so enraged the locals that hundreds of thousands of them fled to the country to join the Communists. 2) Manchuria was seized via the surrender of the city of Mukden on the 2^nd November 1948. Nearly half a million Nationalists troops died. 3) The city of Xuzhou was seized on the 10^th January 1949 after a huge battle that lasted 65 days. 600 000 more Nationalists troops perished. The Nationalists never recovered and Chairman Mao Ze Dong officially established the People’s Republic of China on the 1^st October 1949.

To this day I am still perplexed as to how the Communists did it. Emperor Jiang should never have lost. He had more troops, more weapons/equipment, and more international support. It just goes to show that people power can make a difference; even vastly outnumbered people.

This post is another snap-shot from my latest novel titled “We get the world we deserve”.

Love and light to you all

David Hartmann