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War & Society Volume 31, 2012 - Issue 2: Bringing Asia into Focus: Civilians and Combatants in the Line of Fire in China and Indochina
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Original Article

Beyond Glory: Civilians, Combatants, and Society During the Battle of Shanghai

Christian HenriotInstitut d’Asie OrientaleInstitut Universitaire de France/Université de LyonView further author information
Pages 106-135 | Published online: 12 Nov 2013

  • ‘The Japanese Navy thus with the continuous bombing of Zhabei introduced the world to aerial bombardment of a civilian city’. Donald A. Jordan, The Northern Expedition: China’s National Revolution of 1926–1928 (Honolulu: University Press of Hawaii, 1974), p. 47.
  • Despite its centrality and prominence, the 1932 Shanghai battle is overshadowed by the historiography on the war of resistance (1937–45) that followed. Rana Mitter, ‘Changed by War: The Changing Historiography of Wartime China and New Interpretations of Modern Chinese History’, Chinese Historical Review, 17·1 (2010), 85–95.
  • Christian Henriot, Shanghai, 1927–1937: Municipal Power, Locality, and Modernization (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1993), Chapter 4.
  • Jordan DonaldA., China’s Trial by Fire. The Shanghai War in 1932 (Ann Arbor: The University of Michigan Press, 2001), p. 128. See pictures in The Sino-Japanese War in Shanghai (Shanghai: North China Daily News & Herald, 1932).
  • After the signing of an agreement between China and Japan, Japanese troops withdrew from the Shanghai area between 17–25 May. By 31 May, they had all been shipped back home. Source: Motosada Zumoto, Die Chinesisch-Japanischen Schwierigkeiten 1931–1932 (Tokyo, 1932), p. 199.
  • For a brief history of the nineteenth army and its main officer, General Cai Tingkai, see respectively, Bokang Zhu and Zhenzhong Hua, Shijiu lujun kang Ri xuezhan shiliao (Historical materials on the bloody war against Japan by the Nineteenth Army), Di 1 ban., Minguo congshu (Shanghai: Shanghai shudian, 1991), Chapter 1; and Zhu Xiao, ‘Kangzhan jiangjun Cai Tingkai’, Dang shi zongheng, 9 (2010), pp. 24–28. On Chinese military development, see Hans van de Ven, War and Nationalism in China, 1925–1945 (London and New York: RoutledgeCurzon, 2003); Frederick Fu Liu, A Military History of Modern China, 1924–1949 (New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 1981).
  • Jordan, China’s Trial by Fire, pp. 102 and 282.
  • Edward Dreyer, China at War, 1901–1949 (New York: Longman, 1995), pp. 162, 165, 167–68.
  • Bernd Martin, Die Deutsche Beraterschaft in China 1927–1938: Militär, Wirtschaft, Aussenpolitik = The German Advisory Group in China: Military, Economic, and Political Issues in Sino-German Relations, 1927–1938 (Düsseldorf: Droste, 1981).
  • This table is based on data collected on all the officers of both the nineteenth and fifth route armies killed in the 1932 conflict, as well as the soldiers of the eighty-eighth division of the fifth army killed in action. While this does not reflect the whole combat population, I believe this is a fairly representative sample. This is based on data collected from two sources: Lujun di wu jun di bashiba shi, Lujun di bashiba shi Song Hu kang Ri zhandou jingguo (China: s.n., 1932); Liang Xueqing and Xu Boxiong, Song Hu yu Ri xuezhan da huashi — Pictorial Review of the Sino-Japanese Conflict in Shanghai (Shanghai: Wenhua meishu tushu gongsi, 1933).
  • Jordan, China’s Trial by Fire, p. 186.
  • Zumoto, Die Chinesisch-Japanischen Schwierigkeiten, pp. 154 and 178.
  • Henriot Christian, ‘A Neighborhood under the Storm: Zhabei and Shanghai Wars’, European Journal of East Asian Studies, 9·2 (2010), 304–13.
  • Jean Luc Pinol and Maurice Garden, Atlas des Parisiens, de la Révolution à nos Jours (Paris: Parigramme, 2009), pp. 36–37.
  • Vincent Courcelle-Labrousse, La Guerre du Rif: Maroc, 1921–1926 (Paris: Tallandier, 2008).
  • Ian Patterson places the toll for civilians who were killed during the bombing at 127 and at 121 for those who died later of their injuries. Ian Patterson, Guernica and Total War (Harvard: Harvard University Press, 2007), p. 22.
  • See pictures in The Sino-Japanese War in Shanghai.
  • This inequality remained a persisting and debilitating factor in the next military confrontation in 1937. Chang Jui-te, ‘The Nationalist Army on the Eve of the War’, in The Battle for China: Essays on the Military History of the Sino-Japanese War of 1937–1945 ed. by Mark Peattie (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2011), pp. 88–91.
  • See pictures in The Sino-Japanese War in Shanghai.
  • Jordan, China’s Trial by Fire, p. 141.
  • Jordan, China’s Trial by Fire, p. 128.
  • Jordan, China’s Trial by Fire, pp. 108, 117.
  • North China Herald, 1 March 1932.
  • Amy Bell, ‘Landscapes of Fear: Wartime London, 1939–1945’, Journal of British Studies, 48·1 (2009), 153–75.
  • North China Herald, ‘The Bombing of Chapei’ (30 January1932), 2 February 1932.
  • Jordan, China’s Trial by Fire, p. 46.
  • This was one of the major lessons drawn from this conflict by a military officer. Zhang Xuewu, Song Hu kangzhan suo de zhi jingyan yu jiaoxun (A record of the war against Japan of the Sixtieth Division of the Nineteenth Army) (Nanjing: Shoudu zhongyang lujunguan xuexiao tushuguan, 1933), p. 31.
  • This was also a major complaint by wounded soldiers near Beijing that they fought hopelessly against an enemy with superior weapons and badly needed air support by Chinese forces. ‘Weiwen shangbing ji’, Kangri funü, 2 (20 April 1933), 2–3.
  • [19 lujun di 60 shi], Shijiu lujun di liushi shi kang Ri zhan zhengji (Zhangzhou: Gai bu, 1933), fubiao 3.
  • Xuewu Zhang, Song Hu kangzhan, p. 223.
  • [19 lujun di 60 shi], Shijiu lujun di liushi shi kang Ri zhan zhengji, fubiao 3–4.
  • See pictures in The Sino-Japanese War in Shanghai: ‘One of the perfect networks of trenches encircling Kiangwan’ or ‘Trench defended by the 19th Army’.
  • Jordan, China’s Trial by Fire, pp. 188–89.
  • Jordan, China’s Trial by Fire, p. 190.
  • Liang and Xu, Song Hu yu Ri xuezhan da huashi; ‘Shanghai kang Ri jiuwang yundong de diwei he zuoyong, Shanghai difang zhi, 6 (2001), available at: <http://www.shtong.gov.cn/node2/node70393/node70403/node72455/node72457/index.html> [accessed 3 December 2011].
  • Aaron William Moore, ‘Talk about Heroes: Expressions of Self-Mobilization and Despair in Chinese War Diaries, 1911–1938’, Twentieth Century China, 34·2 (2009), 30–54.
  • Zhang Zhizhong, ‘Di wu jun canjia Song Hu kang Ri zhanyi de jingguo’, in Kang Ri fengyun lu: Jinian kang Ri zhanzheng shengli sishi zhounian Nanjing wenshi ziliao zhuanji (Nanjing: Zhongguo renmin zhengzhi xieshang huiyi Nanjing shi weiyuanhui wenshi ziliao yanjiu weiyuanhui, 1985), p. 134.
  • Zhang Zhizhong, ‘Di wu jun canjia Song Hu kang Ri’, p. 136.
  • Zhang Zhizhong, ‘Di wu jun canjia Song Hu kang Ri’, p. 137–38.
  • Chen Linggu and Qiu Dongping, Xue chao hui kan (Canton: Nanxing baoshe, 1932), p. 94.
  • Jordan, China’s Trial by Fire, p. 186.
  • North China Herald, 31 May 1932.
  • [19 lujun di 60 shi], Shijiu lujun di liushi shi kang Ri zhan zhengji, 54 and fubiao 2.
  • [19 lujun di 60 shi], Shijiu lujun di liushi shi kang Ri zhan zhengji, fubiao 19–50.
  • Zhang Zhizhong, ‘Di wu jun canjia Song Hu kang Ri’, p. 140.
  • Liang and Xu, Song Hu yu Ri xuezhan da huashi.
  • Liang and Xu, Song Hu yu Ri xuezhan da huashi, name lists, pp. 9–17.
  • Zhang Xuewu, Songhu kangzhan suo de, p. 198.
  • On the use of dum dum bullets: A Month of Reign of Terror in Shanghai: What the Foreigners See, Say and Think from January 28 to February 27, 1932 (Shanghai: China Weekly Herald, 1932), pp. 20–21.
  • Liang and Xu, Song Hu yu Ri xuezhan da huashi, p. 17.
  • North China Herald, 1 March 1932.
  • North China Herald, 12 April 1932.
  • North China Herald, 22 March 1932.
  • Jordan, China’s Trial by Fire, p. 68.
  • Shanghai zhanqu nanmin linshi jiujihui, Shanghai zhanqu nanmin linshi jiujihui gongzuo baogao shu (Shanghai: Shanghai zhanqu nanmin linshi jiujihui, 1933), p. 54.
  • North China Herald, 15 March 1932.
  • Frederic Liu, A Military History of Modern China, 1924–1949 (New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 1956), pp. 139–40; Lloyd E. Eastman, Seeds of Destruction: Nationalist China in War and Revolution, 1937–1949 (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1984), p. 155.
  • Eastman, Seeds of Destruction, pp. 141–42.
  • Guofangbu, Guojun dang’an mulu huibian (Taibei: Guofangbu shizheng bianyiju, 1993); Guofangbu, Guojun dang’an mulu (Taibei: Guofangbu shizheng bianyiju, 1970).
  • Shanghai shi zhengfu gongbao, 1932, 116, pp. 21–22; 1932, 117, pp. 38–39.
  • I have found a single book that addressed both the issue of wounded soldiers and refugees in the 1937 war. Ye, Suzhong, Shangbing wenti yu nanmin wenti (Chongqing: Duli chubanshe, 1938).
  • Diana Lary and Stephen MacKinnon, Scars of War: The Impact of Warfare on Modern China (Vancouver: UBC Press, 2001).
  • Ka-che Yip, Health and National Reconstruction in Nationalist China: The Development of Modern Health Services, 1928–1937 (Ann Arbor: Association for Asian Studies, 1995), pp. 158–59.
  • Kaiyi Chen, Seeds from the West: St John’s Medical School, Shanghai, 1880–1952 (Chicago: Imprint Publications, 2001), pp. 145, 170.
  • Chen, Seeds from the West, p. 181.
  • Liang and Xu, Song Hu yu Ri xuezhan da huashi, p. 2.
  • ‘Renmin zhihuan kangzhan’, Baoshan xianzhi, Chapter 2, Section 2, available at: <http://www.shtong.gov. cn/node2/node4/node2250/node2673/node13709/node15250/node61284/userobject1ai4853.html> [accessed 3 December 2011]. On the Red Cross in China, see Caroline Reeves, ‘The Power of Mercy. The Chinese Red Cross Society, 1900–1937’, doctoral dissertation (Harvard University, 1998).
  • Chen Lifen, ‘Shanghai kang Ri jiuwang’.
  • Zhongguo renmin zhengzhi xieshang huiyi, Baoshan shi hua ([Shanghai]: s.n., 1989), 68.
  • A Month of Reign of Terror in Shanghai, 10 (from North China Daily News, 4 February 1932).
  • Liang and Xu, Song Hu yu Ri xuezhan da huashi, 9.
  • Sun, Yuqin and Luhong Zhang, ‘Shanghai tongzijun yu yi’erba kangzhan’, Lantai shijie, 4 (2010), 43; Shanghai zhanqu nanmin, Shanghai zhanqu nanmin, p. 15.
  • Liang and Xu, Song Hu yu Ri xuezhan da huashi, p. 9.
  • On Buddhist associations, see James Brooks Jessup, ‘The Householder Elite: Buddhist Activism in Shanghai, 1920–1956’, doctoral dissertation (Berkeley: University of California, 2010), especially Chapter 2 for Zhabei.
  • Zhu and Hua, Shijiu lujun kang Ri xuezhan shiliao, pp. 441–42.
  • Zhu and Hua, Shi jiu lu jun, p. 388.
  • Wu Lüsun (1938), no page number.
  • Zhu and Hua, Shi jiu lu jun, pp. 429–31.
  • Liang and Xu, Song Hu yu Ri xuezhan da huashi, p. 54.
  • Zhong ri zhanshi shiji (Shanghai: Yingwen tamei wanbao, 1938), p. 54.
  • Hua Bai, Yi er ba — Song Hu kang zhan (Shanghai: Da cheng chuban gongsi, 1948), pp. 33–34.
  • Li Zhongyi, ‘Shangbing yiyuan zhong de yi zhou’, Wenshi, 1·3 (1934), 160.
  • In a general assessment of the weaknesses of the treatment of wounded soldiers in 1937, an official publication pointed out the lack of stretchers to evacuate the soldiers, the lack of bandages and medical supplies on the frontline, and even the lack of staff to carry the wounded soldiers. All these factors meant a higher number of deaths. It also pointed out the insufficient number of hospitals and, therein, the lack of equipment to treat the soldiers, especially surgery. It also meant that large numbers of soldiers remained unattended. Shangbing wenti yu nanmin wenti, pp. 16–18, 28–32. On the system of support to wounded soldiers in the US army since the Civil War, see Walter B Gribben, ‘United States Army Trauma Care from the Civil War to the Vietnam Era and Its Influence on Civilian Emergency Medical Services’, Journal of the Georgia Association of Historians, vol. 36 (2005–06), pp. 39–80.
  • North China Herald, 1 March 1932.
  • North China Herald, 1 March 1932.
  • Zhu and Hua, Shi jiu lu jun, p. 447.
  • Zhu and Hua, Shi jiu lu jun, pp. 448–55.
  • Ningbo lü Hu tongxianghui yuekan (1932), 6.
  • Shen Bao, 1 February 1932; 4 February 1932; 24 February 1932.
  • Cao Jun, ‘Shanghai Ningbo bang de kang Ri jiuguo huodong’, Shanghai difang zhi (1995), 4, available at: <http://www.shtong.gov.cn/node2/node70393/node70403/node72530/node72614/userobject1ai81968.html> [accessed 3 December 2011].
  • Shen Bao, 25 February 1932; Cao Jun, ‘Shanghai Ningbo bang de kang Ri jiuguo huodong’, ‘Ben hui zushe Hongshizi di sanshisi shangbing yiyuan zhi jingguo baogao’, Ningbo lü Hu tongxianghui yuekan, 107 (1932), 3–9.
  • Shen Bao, 2 March 1932.
  • ‘Huiguan (gongsuo)’, Shanghai tongzhi, roll 46, Chapter 3, Section 1, available at: <http://www.shtong.gov. cn/node2/node2247/node4605/node79828/node79837/userobject1ai102001.html> [accessed 3 December 2011].
  • Yao quenian, ‘Kangzhang shiqi de Shanghai meiye tongye gonghui’, Shanghai difang zhi (1998), 5, available at: <http://www.shtong.gov.cn/node2/node70393/node70403/node72511/node72584/userobject1ai81304.html> [accessed 3 December 2011].
  • ‘Huizhu jiaoquan shangbing zaimin’, Jingxinbao, 46·4 (1932), 130–32.
  • Li Fen, ‘Zhongguo hongshizihui di ershier shangbing yiyuan zuzhi neiqing’, Shengjiao zazhi, 21·6 (1932), 37.
  • North China Herald, 23 February 1932.
  • ‘Shehui shiye’, Shanghai zongjiao zhi, Part 4, Chapter 4, Section 3, available at: <http://www.shtong.gov.cn/node2/node2245/node75195/node75203/node75285/node75299/userobject1ai91990.html> [accessed 3 December 2011].
  • North China Herald, 1 March 1932.
  • North China Herald, 1 March 1932.
  • ‘Toushen kang Ri jiuwang yundong’, Shanghai funü zhi, Part 2, Chapter 2, Section 4, available at: <http://www.shtong.gov.cn/node2/node2245/node64804/node64810/node64853/node64861/userobject1ai59115.html> [accessed 3 December 2011]; Zhang Jianji, ‘Baoshan he kangzhan’, Shanghai difang zhi (1997), p. 2, available at: <http://www.shtong.gov.cn/node2/node70393/node70403/node72520/node72592/userobject1ai81717.html> [accessed 3 December 2011].
  • ‘Toushen kang Ri jiuwang yundong’.
  • ‘Yongjun fuxue’, Luwan quzhi, Part 25, Chapter 1, Section 1, available at: <http://www.shtong.gov.cn/node2/node4/node2249/luwan/node37121/node37123/node62721/userobject1ai22137.html> [accessed 3 December 2011].
  • Baoshan shi hua, p. 66.
  • ‘Renwu zhuanji’, Chongming xianzhi, roll 35, Chapter 2, p. 58, available at: <http://www.shtong.gov.cn/node2/node4/node2250/node4426/node16079/node17383/index.html> [accessed 3 December 2011].
  • ‘Zhao Jingru’, Shanghai jianzhu shigong zhi, Part ‘renwu’, Chapter 1, available at: <http://www.shtong. gov.cn/node2/node2245/node69543/node69552/node69640/node69644/userobject1ai67899.html> [accessed 3 December 2011].
  • ‘Huiguan (gongsuo)’, Shanghai tongzhi.
  • ‘Renwu zhuanlüe’, Shanghai zhonghua zhiye jiaoyushe zhi, Chapter 6, Section 1, available at: <http://www.shtong.gov.cn/node2/node2245/node82329/node82339/node82352/userobject1ai111612.html> [accessed 3 December 2011].
  • ‘Zou Taofen guju yu Wan Yifang’, Shanghai mingjianzhu zhi, available at: <http://www.shtong.gov.cn/node2/node71994/node81772/node81776/node81788/userobject1ai109115.html> [accessed 3 December 2011].
  • ‘Yang Xingfou’, Shanghai tongzhi, roll 44, ‘zhunazhu’, available at: <http://www.shtong.gov.cn/node2/node2247/node4603/node79844/node79846/userobject1ai102581.html> [accessed 3 December 2011].
  • ‘Bokuan jieji Song Hu kang Ri shangbing yiyuan’, Zhongyang dangwu yuekan, 45/46 (1932), 440–41.
  • ‘Shangbing jiuhudui zhi tongji yixueshe zhi jingguo’, Tongji yixue jikan, 3·3 (1933), 91–92.
  • North China Herald, 8 March 1932.
  • North China Herald, 31 May 1932.
  • North China Herald, 1 March 1932.
  • North China Herald, 1 March 1932.
  • North China Herald, 1 March 1932.
  • Zhu and Hua, Shi jiu lu jun, p. 448–55.
  • North China Herald, 1 March 1932; Cao Jun, ‘Shanghai Ningbo bang de kang Ri jiuguo huodong’; ‘Huiguan (gongsuo)’, Shanghai tongzhi; Li Fen, ‘Zhongguo shizihui’, p. 378; ‘Bokuan jieji Song Hu kang Ri shangbing yiyuan’, pp. 440–41.
  • Shanghai zhanqu nanmin, Shanghai zhanqu nanmin, p. 50.
  • Chen Lifen, ‘Shanghai kang Ri jiuwang’.
  • North China Herald, 23 February 1932.
  • North China Herald, 1 March 1932.
  • Li Fen, ‘Zhongguo hongshizi’, p. 378.
  • ‘Zhongguo hongshizi di ershier shangbingyuan furen deng layuan weilao shangbing liuying’ [picture], Shengjiao zazhi, 21·6 (1932), 1.
  • Li Zhongyi, ‘Shangbing yiyuan zhong de yi zhou’, p. 150.
  • North China Herald, 1 March 1932.
  • Li Zhongyi, ‘Shangbing yiyuan zhong de yi zhou’, pp. 145–48, 162.
  • Li Zhongyi, ‘Shangbing yiyuan zhong de yi zhou’, pp. 151–52, 161–63.
  • North China Herald, 22 March 1932.
  • North China Herald, 5 April 1932.
  • Hu Tian, Hu zhan xiezhen (Chengdu: Xinxin yinshuashe, 1938), pp. 158–60, 170–73; ‘Shangbing yiyuan jisuo’, Beiyang huabao, (1933), 917, 2. It is about a hospital for wounded soldiers, probably in North China. It mentions the role of the city — Tianjin? — Youth Association (Qingnianhui) in helping the wounded soldiers with various chores (writing, buying things, etc.) and entertaining them (as well as doing propaganda work). Initially, the hospital was constructed with straw and mud, there were no beds or bed covers. Eventually the president (Zhuxi) gave 400 yuan and beds and covers were purchased. The local civic association (Difang weichihui) also contributed beds.
  • Yi Zhong, ‘Shangbing’, Guowen zhoubao, 10·26 (1933), 1–4.
  • North China Herald, 31 May 1932.
  • North China Herald, 17 May 1932.
  • Zhang Xuewu, Song Hu kangzhan suo de, pp. 230–31.
  • ‘Shangbing zi shu’, Kongde xiaokan, 5 (1933), 21–23.
  • Qian Renkang, ‘Shangbing de beiai’, Shiyue tan, 15 (1933), 16.
  • Li Zhongyi, ‘Shangbing yiyuan zhong de yi zhou’, 161.
  • North China Herald, 31 May 1932.
  • Zhang Zhizhong, Diwujun canjia Song Hu kang Ri zhan, p. 140.
  • ‘Furen daxue gongjiao qingnianhui pai daibiao weilao shangbing’, Tianzhu gongjiao baihua bao, 17·3 (1933), 55–58.
  • See Song Hu yu Ri xuezhan da huashi.
  • Zuo Shuangwen and Guan Zhao, ‘Guangzhou shijiu lujun Song Hu kangri zhenwan jiangshi lingyuan’, Kang Ri zhanzheng yanjiu, 1 (1996), 235–40; Guangzhou ribao, 4 September 2010.

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