![Sample our Area Studies journals, sign in here to start your access, latest two full volumes FREE to you for 14 days]({"type":"image" , "src" : "/sda/5922/TOC-Subject-Sample-2021-Area-Studies.jpg"})
Abstract
Pacifying and mobilizing remote regions like Shaanxi and the greater Northwest was one of the Chinese Nationalist government’s key goals during the War of Resistance Against Japan in 1937–45. This paper looks at attempts to mobilize the productive and human resources of Shaanxi by examining the education and military training programs as initialized and promoted by Hu Zhongnan, Chiang Kai-shek’s protégé and the power-holder of the region. It argues that central government efforts were reasonably successful as the region was closer to the Nationalist state at the end of the war.
Notes
1 The war was also of great benefit to the rival central government of Mao Zedong, but this paper focuses primarily on the Nationalists. After the war the Communists would have to rein in the local figures whose autonomy they had encouraged during the war. See Han Xiaorong, “Localism in Chinese Communist Politics Before and After 1949: The Case of Feng Baiju,” The Chinese Historical Review, 11.1 (Spring 2004), 23–56.
2 Hong Renqing, Kangzhan shiqi de yan’an shixue (Historical Studies in Yan'an During the War of Resistance) (Hefei: Anhui daxue chubanshe, 2006), p. 17; citing a 1941 edition of China Youth.
3 James Millward, Eurasian Crossroads: A History of Xinjiang (New York: Columbia University Press, 2007), p. 206; John W. Garver, Chinese-Soviet Relations 1937–1945: The Diplomacy of Chinese Nationalism, (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1988).
4 Jing Shenghong, Xibei wang Hu Zongnan (King of the Northwest Hu Zongnan) (Zhengzhou: Henan renmin chubanshe, 1996), p. 152.
5 Zhang Xianwen, Huang Meizhi, Jiang Jieshi he huangpu xi (Chiang Kai-shek and the Huangpu Clique) (Zhengzhou: Henan renmin chubanshe, 1987), p. 282.
6 Steve Mackinnon, “The Tragedy of Wuhan,” Modern Asian Studies, 30.4 (October 1996), 935. For other accounts of the execution, see Diana Lary, “Treachery, Disgrace and Death: Han Fuju and China’s Resistance to Japan,” War in History, 13.1 (2006), 65–90.
7 On xunlian, see Julia Strauss, “Strategies of Guomindang Institution Building: Rhetoric and Implementation in Wartime Xunlian,” in Defining Modernity: Guomindang Rhetorics of a New China, ed. by Terry Bodenhorn (Ann Arbor: Center for Chinese Studies, The University of Michigan, 2002), pp. 197–200; Robert Culp, Articulating Citizenship: Civic Education and Student Politics in Southeastern China, 1912–1940 (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2007), ch. 5.
8 Ji Peng, “Lun kangri zhanzheng de shiqi guotong shibing yangcheng jiaoyu” (Military Training During the War of Resistance), Kangri zhanzheng yanjiu, 4 (2003), 32–43.
9 Ch’i His-sheng, “The Military Dimension, 1937–1941,” in China’s Bitter Victory: The War with Japan 1937–1945, ed. by Hsiung and Levine (Aramonk: M. E. Sharpe, 1992), p. 173.
10 Number Two Historical Archives, Nanjing (hereafter NTN), 787–2624 Junshi weiyuanhu junlianbu 1944 jihua.
11 Wen Si, Wo suo zhidao de Huzongnan (The Hu Zongnan I Knew) (Beijing: Zhongguo wenshi chubanshe, 2003), p. 124.
12 Lin Hsiao-ting, “Nationalists, Muslim Warlords, and the ‘Great Northwestern Development’ in Pre-Communist China,” China and Eurasia Forum Quarterly, 5.1 (2007), 118.
13 Garver, Chinese-Soviet Relations 1937–1945, p. 45.
14 Yang Zhesheng, Zai Hu Zongnan shenbian shier nian (Twelve Years Beside Hu Zongnan) (Shanghai: Shanghai renmin chubanshe, 2007), p. 155.
15 Shaanxi sheng danganguan (Shaanxi Provincial archives) (hereafter SX) 1-3-407. This order seems not to have been followed, as in May of 1945 an American soldier was caught with truckload of Six Dynasties and Xia period antiquities worth 5 million yuan. SX1-1-200.
16 Le Dian, “Weiyuanhui zhanshi de gongzuo ganbu xunlian di si tuan neimu” (The Inside Story of the Number Four Cadre Training Team and its Wartime Work), Quanguo zhengban wenshiziliao weiyuanhui Wenshiziliao cungao xianbian (Beijing: Zhong guowenshi chubanshe, 2002), p. 746.
17 Wen Si, Wo suo zhidao de Hu Zongnan, p. 145.
18 Lixing, 1942.9.
19 Lixing, 1942.9.
20 Lixing, 1941.8.
21 Xijing Ribao (hereafter XJRB), 1939.11.15.
22 Lixing, 1940.9.
23 Wangqu, 1941.7.
24 The process of sinifying minority groups under the republic and fitting them into the nation has mainly been studied in the context of the Southwest and Tibet. See James Leibold, “Un-mapping Republican China’s Tibetan Frontier: Politics, Militarism and Ethnicity Along the Kham/Xikang Border,” The Chinese Historical Review, 12.2 (Fall 2005), 191–227. James Leibold, “Rethinking Kuomintang National Minority Policy: The National Question and Regional Warlordism on the Early 20th Century Chinese Frontier,” in China Reconstructs, ed. by Cindy Yik-Yi Chu and Ricardo K. S. Mak (Lanham, Maryland: University Press of America, 2003), pp. 103–24. Both the 1946 Constitution and the 1945 revision of the statues of the Guomindang gave Mongolians, Tibetans, and other minority nationalities specific representation. Ch’ien Tuan-Sheng, The Government and Politics of China 1912–1949 (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1950), pp. 452, 466.
25 XJRB, July 31, 1939 points out that Qinghai province had all five of China’s main nationalities.
26 Li Wei, Kangri zhanzheng zong de Huizu (The Hui in the War of Resistance) (Lanzhou: Gansu Renmin chubanshe, 2001), pp. 14–19.
27 SX, 9-1-17.
28 XJRB, June 27, 1939.
29 Lixing, 1941.6.
30 XJRB, July 31, 1939.
31 Xingzhengyuan jiaoyu bu, Bianqu jiaoyu (Frontier Education) (Nanjing?, 1946), 3.
32 Jiaoyubu bianqu jiaoyusi, Bianqu jiaoyu gaikuang (The Frontier Education Situation) (Nanjing?, 1947), p. 115. The central government had begun trying to mobilize minorities as early as 1930 via the Frontier Education office inside the Ministry of Education.
33 Zwia Lipkin, Useless to the State: “Social Problems” and Social Engineering in Nationalist Nanjing, 1927–1937 (Cambridge: Harvard University Press 2006), p. 61.
34 Su Zhiliang, Qu dahoufang: Zhongguo kangzhan neiqian shilu (To the Great Rear Area: China’s Move to the Interior During the War of Resistance) (Shanghai: Shanghai Renmin, 2006), p. 309.
35 Su Zhiliang, Qu dahoufang, p. 312.
36 The Nationalists had made some attempts at development in the Northwest before this, but it had not been a major emphasis.
37 Shaanxi difangzhibian weiyuanhui, Shaanxi sheng zhi, 22 (Shaanxi provincial gazetteer) (Xian: Shaanxi renmin chubanshe, 2000), 98.
38 SX 1-3-64.
39 Wei Yuzhen, “Wang Weiheng zhuchi de jun xu shixiban” (Wang Weiheng’s Military Training Group), Xi’an wenshiziliao, 8 (1985), p. 64.
40 China Handbook 1937–1945, p. 373. These are central government statistics, and it is not clear if the very low pre-war numbers reflect a lack of production or lack of government awareness of this production. From a military perspective it does not much matter.
41 Alan Baumler, The Chinese and Opium Under the Republic: Worse than Floods and Wild Beasts (Albany: State University of New York Press, 2007), ch. 9.
42 Dong Zhenping, Kangzhan shiqi minguo zhengfu yenwu zhengce yanjiu (Research on the Nationalist Government’s Salt Policies During the War of Resistance) (Jinan: Qilu shushe, 2004), pp. 251–52.
43 Ibid., pp. 114, 152.
44 Lixing, April 1, 1941. In 1940, Shaanxi was reorganized into 92 counties, and these were further divided into three regions.
45 Wang Tianzheng, “Kangzhan shiqi guojia jinrong jigou zai Shaanxi de nonghuo” (Rural Investment by National Financial Organizations in Shaanxi During the War of Resistance), Kangri zhanzheng yanjiu, 2 (2009), 71. Investment in Shaanxi went from 8 million yuan in 1940 to over 500 million in 1944. This is less impressive than it seems given wartime levels of inflation, but it is still a substantial increase.
46 SX 1-3-354, Tong oil was one of the few strategic goods Nationalist China could export to its allies, and was also used as a motor fuel.
47 Wu Yingguang, “Henan de liangshi duanque he riban de liangshi lueduo” (Grain Shortages in Henan and Japanese Grain Plundering) in Yang Tianshi and Zhuang Jianping, Zhanshi Zhongguo ge diqu (Regions in Wartime China) (Beijing: Shehui kexue wenxian chubanshe, 2009).
48 China Yearbook (1937–1945), p. 371.
49 Dong Zhenping, Kangzhan shiqi minguo zhengfu yenwu zhengce yanjiu, p. 240.
50 Hu Zongnan, “Lun rencai yu jianguo jianjun de guanxi” (The Connection Between Talent and Building up the Nation and Army), in Zongnan wencun (Works of Hu Zongnan) (Taibei: Zhongguowenhua yanjiusuo, 1963).
51 NTN, 787-6443 Diyi zhanqu ji Punan junzheng gongzuo baogao 1940.
52 Tang Zhengmang, Zhongguo xibu kangzhan wenhua shi (Cultural History of Wartime West China) (Beijing: Zhonggongdangshi, 2004), pp. 51, 124–25.
53 XJRB, April 7, 1939. On the Three Principles of the People Youth Corps as a party auxiliary, please see Lloyd Eastman, Seeds of Destruction: Nationalist China in War and Revolution (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1984), p. 91.
54 XJRB, April 28, 1939.
55 SX, 9.1.25. The report mentions that they included both males and females.
56 Zhou Xihua, “Texun dui de qianqian houhou” (The Story of the Special Training Team), Xian wenshiziliao, 8 (1985), 75.
57 Wu Kefu, “Fu Zhe zhaosheng jingguo” (Recruiting Students in Zhejiang), Xian wenshiziliao, 8 (1985), 220–26. The author was apparently from Zhejiang. He had been in Shaanxi doing anti-opium work.
58 Zhu Jiapian, “Di qifenxiao shiwuqi xuesheng zongdui luekuang” (The Situation of the Fifteenth Class the Number Seven School), Xian wenshiziliao, 8 (1985), 27.
59 Ibid., p. 34.
60 Jing Shenghong, Xibeiwang Hu Zongnan (Hu Zongnan, King of the Northwest) (Zhengzhou: Henan Renmin, 1995), p. 155.
61 Wang Zhenlin, “Wo zai shiliuqi xuesheng liu zongdui shouxun de qingkuang” (My Experiences in Team Six of the 16th Class), Xian wenshiziliao, 8 (1985), 45.
62 Zhu Jiapian, “Di qifenxiao shiwuqi xuesheng zongdui luekuang,” p. 27.
63 NTN 2·6722, Gezhanzhi xuexiao’ban’’tuan’ nianling details attempts to put these students into regular schools in 1942.
64 Eastman, Seeds of Destruction, p. 147.
65 NTN, 787-10294, Diyizhanqu xiangbei punan zhan zhetao 1941, NTN 787-10330 Diyi youdui zai punan 1941.
66 NTN, 787-2601, Paobing zhengxun baogaoshu 1940, 1940.9. At least in theory commanders were supposed to track how many hours of each type of training their units had received.
67 NTN, 771-79, Junxunbu ‘shibingxuzhe’.
68 NTN, 787-2601, Paobing zhengxun baogaoshu 1940.
69 Lixing, 1940·1. Students moving West during the war specifically mentioned opium smoking as a sign they were entering backwards, rural China. John Isreal, Lianda: A Chinese University In War and Revolution (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1998), p. 46.
70 Jundui xunlian shou (Military Training Handbook) (Chongqing?, 1942), p. 7. Guerrilla warfare was part of the Nationalist military strategy, but in print it got even more attention than one might expect.
71 Shaanxi xunlian tuan tuankan (Shaanxi Training Team) (1943.3.15), 23.
72 Zhanyou yuekan (Comrades-in-arms’ Monthly) (1938·12·15), p. 29.
73 Wangqu, 1941·4.
74 Wangqu, 1941·5.
75 Yi Shuihan, “'Wangqu jushe de chengli jieshu” (Wangqu Theater Society, from Beginning to End), Xi’an wenshiziliao, 8 (1985), 88.
76 Tang Zhengmang, Zhongguo xibu kangzhan wenhua shi, p. 145.
77 Yang Zhesheng, Zai Hu Zongnan shenbian shier nian, p. 34. Their marksmanship also seems to have been somewhat deficient. From the Number Seven school's perspective lack of political and cultural knowledge and lack of technical skill would go together.
78 Luo Lirong, “Guomindang zhongyang lujun junguan xuexiao di qi fen xiao gaishu” (An Overview of the Guomindang Central Government’s Number Seven Military School), Quanguo zhengban wenshiziliao weiyuanhui, Wenshiziliao cungao xianbian (Edited and Collected Memoirs) (Beijing: Zhongguo wenshi chubanshe, 2002), p. 736.
79 Lixing, 1942·5.
80 Lixing, 1942·6.
81 On wartime diaries, see Aaron William Moore, “The Peril of Self-Discipline: Chinese Nationalist, Japanese, and American Servicemen Record the Rise and Fall of the Japanese Empire, 1937–1945” (PhD dissertation, Princeton University, 2006).
82 Luo Lirong, “Guomindang zhongyang lujun junguan xuexiao di qi fen xiao gaishu”, p. 745.
83 Li Youlong, “Huzongnan de fandong zushiji youguan xunlian jigou” (Hu Zongnan’s Reactionary Organizations and Associated Training Organizations), in Wenshiziliao cungao xianbian, p. 772. Although Li was mostly active in the late 40s, he provides the most detailed account of Hu’s process of political training.
84 Ibid., p. 801.
85 Ibid., p. 804.
86 SX, 1-1-161.
87 SX, 1-7-13.
88 Yang Tianshi and Huang Daoxuan, Zhanshi Zongguo de shehui yu wenhua (Society and Culture in Wartime China) (Beijing: Shehuikexue wenxian, 2009), p. 5.
89 Ibid., p. 16.
90 SX, 9-1-17.
91 SX, 9·3·388.
92 SX, 1-3-15, SX 9-1-17.
93 SX, 1-3-64, SX 1-4-46.
94 SX, 1-7-2.
95 SX, 1-3-20.
96 SX, 84-1-34, 84-1-41-2.
97 Only one out of the hundred or so I looked at mentioned going to the front to fight as a goal.
98 SX, 9·4·1046. The monks also learned some anti-Japanese songs, but were excused from guerrilla warfare training.
99 Keith Schoppa, In A Sea of Bitterness: Refugees During the Sino-Japanese War (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2011), p. 8.
100 Xiao Yinzhang, Riben feiji hongzha Shaanxi shilu (An Account of Japanese Air Bombardment of Shaanxi) (Xi’an: Shaanxi shifan daxue, 1996), p. 35. Many accounts mention the exact number of bombs dropped, and although it may seem unlikely that they could be counted accurately these were not very large raids. In his diary Wang Mangsong is skeptical about these numbers but reports them anyway, while also reporting the level of panic even small raids could cause in Quzhou early in the war. Schoppa, In A Sea of Bitterness, pp. 92–94.
101 Xiao Yinzhang, Riben feiji hongzha Shaanxi shilu, pp. 5–6.
102 Xiao Yinzhang Riben feiji, p. 19. Diana Lary cites national statistics that reflect the same trend, The Chinese People at War: Human Suffering and Social Transformation (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2010), p. 89.
103 Xiao Yinzhang Riben feiji, p. 125.
104 Ibid., p. 109.
105 XJRB, November 27, 1938.
106 Xiao Yinzhang Riben feiji, p. 103.
107 Ibid., 124. Cloth soaked in urine was one of the earliest (ineffective) forms of gas masks in WWI. Other Chinese military texts recommended towels soaked in water. The US Centers for Disease Control suggest that Lewisite smells like geraniums, but rotten apples would seem a more useful comparison in rural Northwest China.
108 Air defense organizations were much less popular in Xinjiang, which never experienced air raids. Shi Lun, Xibei majia junfashi (History of the Ma Family Warlords of the Northwest) (Lanzhou: Gansu renmin chubanshe, 2006), p. 228.
109 Speech to the 19th graduating class, 1939. Hu Zongnan, Zongnan wencun (Works of Hu Zongnan) (Taibei: Zhongguo wenhua yanjiusuo 1963), p. 13.
110 Peter Fritzsche, A Nation of Fliers: German Aviation and the Popular Imagination (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1992), p. 217.
111 Hu Zongnan, Zongnan wencun, p. 23.
112 Zhang Xianwen, Zhongguo kangri zhanzheng shi (History of the Sino-Japanese War 1931–1945) (Nanjing: Nanjing daxue chubanshe, 2001), p. 1059.
113 “Chinese General Doubts Red’s Help,” New York Times, June 3, 1944.
114 To date, a Taiwan edition does not seem to have come out.
115 Li Youlong, “Huzongnan de fandong zushiji youguan xunlian jigou,” p. 775.