"918" re-observed
How do foreign scholars view the fourteen-year War of Resistance
Zhai Yaliu
Don't forget the national shame and remember history
1931.9.18
Editor's note: 2021 marks the 90th anniversary of the 918 Incident. The September 18 Incident was the starting point of China's 14-year War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression and also opened the prelude to the world anti-fascist war. Based on clear historical facts and solid academic discussions, the Fourteen-Year War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression has become the mainstream understanding of the history of China's War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression in all walks of life in China. At the same time, we also see that the fourteen-year War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression has also been presented from different angles in the research results of foreign scholars.
Today's "Fangzhi Sichuan" new media matrix and Sichuan Provincial Intelligence Network reprinted the "Theoretical China" WeChat public account article, we come together to understand some of the research status of foreign scholars on the fourteen-year War of Resistance.
The September 18 Incident of 1931 was the starting point of China's War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, and the indomitable partial war of resistance of the Chinese people opened the prelude to the world anti-fascist war. On July 30, 2015, General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out at the 25th collective study of the Politburo of the Central Committee that we should not only study the history of the eight-year comprehensive War of Resistance after the July 7 Incident, but also pay attention to the study of the history of the Fourteen-Year War of Resistance after the 9/18 Incident.
Based on clear historical facts and solid academic discussions, the Fourteen-Year War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression has become the mainstream understanding of the history of China's War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression in all walks of life in China. At the same time, we also see that the fourteen-year War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression has also been presented from different angles in the research results of foreign scholars.
The Fifteen Years' War: The Fourteen-Year War of Resistance against Japanese Scholars
Japanese scholars have a variety of research perspectives on the wars launched and conducted by Japan in the 1930s and 1940s, and there are also many names for the names of the wars. The theory of the "Fifteen Years' War" advocated by some Japanese scholars more epitomizes the japanese scholars' research perspective of the Fourteen Years of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression.
The "Fifteen Years' War" by these scholars refers to the history of Japan's invasion of China on September 18, 1931, and the signing of Japan's unconditional instrument of surrender in September 1945. Although the war actually lasted for 14 years, scholars count it as 15 years according to the number of starting years.
During the September 18 Incident, the Japanese army shelled the North Camp of the Northeast Chinese Army
The term "Fifteen Years' War" originated in the 1950s. In 1956, the Japanese scholar Shunsuke Tsurumi first used the term "Fifteen Years' War (1931-1945)" in the article "The War Responsibility of Intellectuals" published in the January issue of "Chuo Gong Anthony", and explained the reason for his use of the term "Fifteen Years' War" in the article "American Portrait of Japanese Intellectuals" in the July issue of "Chuo Gong Anthony" in the same year. He believes that the Japanese divided the great war from 1931 to 1945 into two, regarded the series of wars of the 918 Incident, the 128 Incident, and the July 7 Incident as a war against China, and understood the Pacific War as a war against the United States, and believed that Japan only suffered defeat in the war against the United States. This division of the war period clearly obscures Japan's responsibility for the war. Therefore, he hopes that "modern historians can try to deal with the series of wars from Showa 6 to Showa 20 as a whole and give them appropriate names."
The name "Fifteen Years' War" proposed by Shunsuke Tsurumi is not only used to define the time limit of the war, but also reflects a historical view that emphasizes Japan's responsibility for the war. Although this usage has aroused some repercussions in the fields of Japanese historical research and historical education, it has not received more attention.
The Chinese army rushed to the front line of the Battle of Songhu for reinforcements
Twelve years later, in 1968, Ieyasuburo's book The Pacific War was published. In the book, Ieyasaburō clearly states that "from the Wicker Lake Incident to the defeat and surrender, the series of inseparable wars between Japan and the various countries— as I personally should understand— are "fifteen years' war." However, because the influence of the "Fifteen Years' War" was still small at that time, Ieyaga Saburo still used "Pacific War" as the title of the book when the book was published. In 1974, Ieyasaburo wrote the name "Fifteen Years' War" in an annotation to his high school textbook "New History of Japan", and became the first person to use "Fifteen Years' War" in Japanese textbooks.
Later, Kiyotaka Kuroba's Fifteen Years' War between Japan and China (Education Agency, 1977-1979), Kiyoichi Imai's Fifteen Years' War and East Asia (Nippon Review Agency, 1979), Keiichi Eguchi's Opening of the Fifteen Years' War (Kokuido, 1982) and A Brief History of the Fifteen Years' War (Aoki Shoten, 1986), Akira Fujiwara and Kiyoichi Imai's History of the Fifteen Years' War in all four volumes (Aoki Shoten, 1988-1989) used the term "Fifteen Years' War" successively. This usage has gradually become known in Japan and has had a certain influence in the academic community.
Chinese soldiers holding the Lugou Bridge
From the 1980s to the beginning of this century, Keiichi Eguchi, a researcher of modern Japanese history, has been using the framework of the "Fifteen Years' War" theory to conduct research on modern Japanese history, and has expanded his influence by writing a general history of war, which has played an important role in popularizing the name "Fifteen Years' War" in academia and society.
Eguchi believes that the series of foreign wars, including the September 18 Incident, launched by Japan in 1931, the acceptance of the Potsdam Proclamation on August 14, 1945, and the signing of the Instrument of Surrender on September 2 were not sporadic and isolated, but a war in which they were closely linked and viciously developed. Therefore, this series of wars can be collectively referred to as the "Fifteen Years' War", and it is pointed out in particular that the process of Japanese aggression cannot be explained without taking into account China's movements (resistance, counter-aggression).
Regarding the question that the actual duration of the war was only 14 years, it was not appropriate to call it the "Fifteen Years' War", Eguchi's explanation was that, like the false calculation of age, "Fifteen Years' War" was a term full of sense of the times, and if the year of the outbreak of the war was recorded as the first year, then the year of the end of the war was the fifteenth year.
On the afternoon of September 5, 1945, more than 20,000 people from all walks of life in Yan'an held a "conference to celebrate the victory of the War of Resistance" in the square outside the South Gate.
On September 3, 1945, on the streets of Chongqing, the people celebrated the victory of the War of Resistance
The choice of the name of the war not only provides a basic framework and scope for the historical narrative, but also reflects the historical views and values behind the historical narrative. The Japanese scholar Shunichiro Kisaka pointed out: "The term 'Fifteen Years' War has a distinctive feature in historical understanding because it emphasizes the following three points: first, Japan's aggression against Asia was carried out with its consistent intentions; second, the contradictions arising from the previous war gave rise to new wars, which were inseparable from the relationship between the three wars (the Northeast China War, the Sino-Japanese Total War, and the Asia-Pacific War); third, The 15-year-long China Anti-Japanese National Liberation Movement was the greatest driving force for the continuation of these three wars. ”
Several editions of The Protracted War
The "Fifteen Years' War" was a direction in which some Japanese scholars, standing on the stand of criticizing Japan's war of aggression and refuting conservatives and right-wing elements in beautifying the war of aggression, understood a direction of the Sino-Japanese war, and once had a greater impact on Japanese academic circles and society. In recent years, however, the influence of this formulation has weakened due to changes in Japan's actual environment and weaknesses in this theoretical framework, such as insufficient attention to international relations and non-war states between wars.
At the same time, we should also see that although the "fifteen-year war" mentioned by some Japanese scholars is consistent with the definition of the beginning and end time of the war in China's fourteen-year war of resistance, due to the deviation in the historical view and the difference in the narrative subject, the name of the former is literally a neutral statement of time and does not reflect the nature of its war of aggression; and the "resistance" we call the fourteen-year war of resistance is a resistance to the war of aggression launched by the Japanese militarists. It vividly illustrates the strength and justice of the Chinese people in rising up against aggression.
Some views of Western scholars on the Fourteen-Year War of Resistance
For a long time, in the study of the history of World War II, Western scholars have attached importance to the study of the European battlefield and the Pacific War, mainly in the United States, but not enough to the study of China's War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression and its position in the world anti-fascist war. The number of treatises on the study of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression in China is limited, and there are only a few scholars who have studied it. However, in such a general environment, when it comes to the study of the Chinese War of Resistance Against Japan, there are also many people who propose or believe that the Chinese War of Resistance Against Japan (Second Sino-Japanese War) should begin in 1931. There are three main cases.
The first is to clearly agree with the reference to the fourteen-year War of Resistance. Steveny Grimalty, director of the Gonseong Memorial In France, wrote: "The Lugou Bridge Incident in 1937 marked the beginning of China's 'Eight-Year War of Resistance'. In fact, if September 1931 is taken as the starting point, it seems more appropriate to use the "Fourteen Years of Resistance". Europeans are accustomed to seeing the German invasion of Poland on September 1, 1939, the beginning of World War II, when in fact China and Spain had been embroiled in the war. ”
In an interview in January 2017, he Mingsheng, a Dane, author of "Shanghai 1937: The Battle of Songhu through the Eyes of Agence France-Presse Journalists," said that "it makes sense to make 1931, rather than 1937, the first year of the Second Sino-Japanese War" and that "although the Japanese invasion in 1931 was hailed as the 'Manchurian Incident,' it was actually a full-scale Japanese invasion of a territory that had been part of China for centuries." In fact, in terms of the scale of the invasion, the Japanese occupation of northeast China in 1931 was more than five times larger than the western half of Poland occupied by Nazi Germany eight years later. ”
Second, when writing articles or organizing academic seminars, defining the War of Resistance Against Japan as fourteen years from the beginning of 1931 to the end of 1945 shows a de facto identity.
For example, the American scholar David M. In his essay "Historical Documents: The Sino-Japanese War, 1931-1945", M. Gordon directly defined the Sino-Japanese War from 1931 to 1945. This research review devotes a certain amount of space to the domestic causes of Japan's invasion of northeast China, the international background, and long-planned ambitions.
In January 2012, the Center for The Study of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression (1931-1945) held a three-day conference with the theme of "New Approaches and Methods in the Study of the War of Resistance Against Japan 1931-1945", which lasted for three days and was attended by scholars from many countries.
In September 1937, soldiers of the 115th Division of the Eighth Route Army ambushed the Japanese on both sides of the Pingxingguan Highway
The third is to express his interest and thoughts on the view that the War of Resistance Against Japan began in 1931. Fang Dewan, a professor at the University of Cambridge in the United Kingdom, has been paying attention to the research of Chinese academic circles on the starting point of the War of Resistance Against Japan. "From a local perspective, one can also ask: Is it correct to set the time of the Sino-Japanese War to begin in 1937 and end in 1945," he said. I have already mentioned the fact that many historians of the People's Republic of China now believe that the War of Resistance Against Japan began in 1931 when the Japanese conquered Manchuria. Although the all-out War of Resistance began in 1937, the fact is that after 1931, China constantly faced Japanese aggression, including on the battlefield. ”
On November 3, 1938, soldiers of the New Fourth Army fought the enemy in the Battle of Majiayuan
The September 18 Incident served as the starting point of World War II
It is worth noting that in the course of western research on the history of World War II, the idea of taking the outbreak of China's War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression in the far East as the starting point of World War II has emerged. In addition to some works that use the outbreak of the Lugou Bridge Incident in 1937 as the starting point of World War II, there are also works that use 1931 as the starting point of the historical narrative of World War II.
As early as the 1980s, Random House Publishing House published the World War II Yearbook 1931-1945, which chronicled the Japanese invasion of China on September 18, 1931, until The announcement of Japan's surrender on August 15, 1945.
Japanese Surrender Edict signed by the Emperor of Japan
In addition, related works are also of concern.
In April 2015, the French publishing house Galima launched a two-volume book, 1937-1947: War- The World. The book is co-edited by Professor Robert Frank, a well-known French expert in the history of international relations, and Professor Alia Agraland, an expert in the history of the Resistance Movement, and gathers more than 50 historians, philosophers and political scientists from France, Britain, Germany, Italy, Canada, Austria and other countries to write relevant content. The book explicitly extends the narrative of World War II to the Events of September 18 in 1931, the war in Ethiopia in 1935, and especially the full-scale and large-scale war against the Japanese invasion that broke out in China in 1937. This is rare in Western historians.
British historians Anthony Beaver and Evan Mozley, as one of the few Western authors who emphasized China's contribution in writing the history of World War II, did not explicitly link the starting point of World War II to September 18 in 1931, but when describing the history of World War II, they retrospectively or focused on this year. Their writing is based on the understanding that Japan's aggression against China in 1931 began to undermine the international system established since the Washington Conference in 1921, and that World War II originated in this conflict between the old and new international orders.
Different from the Eurocentric perspective of the Second World War, Rana Mitte, a professor of modern Chinese politics and history at Oxford University in the United Kingdom, "The Forgotten Alliance: China's Second World War 1937-1945", placed China at the core of World War II, discussed China's role and contribution in the Allied anti-fascist war, and called on the world to give China a fair evaluation. The first part of the book, "The Road to War," is devoted to sino-Japanese relations, including the domestic situation in China from the Xinhai Revolution to the Communist Revolution, and the increasing conflict between China and Japan after the September 18 Incident.
On September 2, 1945, the signing ceremony for Japan's surrender was held aboard the USS Missouri, an American battleship anchored in Tokyo Bay, Japan. This was the time when the Japanese representative signed the instrument of surrender on the American warship USS Missouri
It can be seen from the above-mentioned foreign scholars' research perspective on the Fourteen-Year War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression: On the one hand, taking the September 18 Incident as the beginning of China's War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, and studying China's War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression from the perspective of the Fourteen-Year War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression and even the World Anti-Fas war, it is already an objective existence in the international academic circles. To a certain extent, this objective existence is conducive to promoting the international community's understanding of the important historical position of China's War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression in the world anti-fascist war. On the other hand, although scholars at home and abroad have made some differences in the perspective of the study of the Fourteen-Year War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, due to the different research subjects, scholars from different countries still have different characteristics of the objects of concern, focus of attention and level of understanding of the history of the Fourteen-Year War of Resistance Against Japan from 1931 to 1945, leaving room for academic exchanges and dialogues.
Much remains to be done to deepen and strengthen the study of the history of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, to further awaken and expand the international community's understanding of the important historical position of China's War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression in the world's anti-fascist war, and to enhance the international influence of our discourse system and discourse power in the history of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression.
(Original title: "A Synthesis of foreign scholars' research perspectives on the "Fourteen-Year War of Resistance"", published in Red Wide Angle, No. 3, 2017.) Omit comments when compiling)