S17: Civil War

• Wu Zhuoliu’s 1945 autobiographical novel depicts Hu Taiming, a Taiwanese man raised with Chinese traditions during the Japanese occupation.
• Taiming excels in the Japanese system but feels alienated and recognizes the injustice of colonialism.
• He searches for belonging in Japan and China but is ultimately accused of spying for both.

• Road to war: Was there a third way?
• Why did the GMD fail? Why did the CCP succeed?
• How did the Chinese Civil War shape the global Cold War?

• Battle for North China: Beijing and Tianjin (1937)
• Battle of Shanghai (1937)
• Nanjing Massacre (Dec 1937 - Jan 1938)
• Battle of Wuhan (1938)

• Breaching of dam on Yellow River in 1938
• “Use water instead of soldiers” to buy time for retreat from Wuhan
• Based on what he feared, but not what Japan did
• Loss of farmland to infertile sediment
• Drought of 1942-1943: 2 million deaths and 2 million refugees

China at war with itself:

• Nationalist: Free China
• Communist: Base areas
• Collaboration: Occupied China

Four major border areas:

• 1937-09: Shaan-Gan-Ning (Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningxia)
• 1938-01: Jin-Cha-Ji (Shanxi-Mongolia-Hebei)
• 1941-07: Jin-Ji-Lu-Yu (Shanxi-Hebei-Shandong-Henan)
• 1942: Jin-Sui (Shanxi-Mongolia)

• Resistance as foolhardy, driving China toward extinction
• Collaboration was the only realistic means of ensuring the survival of the nation

• More than “collaboration”
• “Traitor of Han race”: Connotations of moral and ethnic transgressions

• “Hanjian”: not collaborator, but traitor with connotations of moral and ethnic transgression
• “Living with occupation” or active collaboration?
• Hanjian as crime: anti-traitor campaign, followed by 30,000+ convictions in post-war trials

• What happened to Liu and his family?
• What happened to his hometown and province?

• Conflicts among allies: “Asia first” vs. “Europe first”
• Disagreements between Joseph Stilwell and Chiang Kai-shek over military strategy, resource allocation, and Stilwell’s directness in criticizing Chiang’s leadership and corruption within the GMD.
• Pearl harbor (Dec 1941) internationalized China’s war of resistance.

• Japan’s largest land operation to create overland link between Korea and Vietnam via China
• Japan quickly captured key cities and airfields, but stretched their supply lines too thin.
• Chinese resistance continued in the countryside in the form of “guerrilla warfare”.
• Despite territorial gains, the campaign failed to achieve a decisive victory or knock China out of the war.

• At least 14 million deaths and a massive refugee crisis (over 80 million) from 1937-1945.
• The war destroyed much of China’s early modernization, including railways, highways, and industrial plants.
• Immense suffering, exemplified by events like the Nanjing Massacre, the Yellow River dike destruction, biological and chemical warfare (Unit 731)

• End of unequal treaties and restoration of sovereignty
• China as one of the Big Four and founding member of the UN
• Beginning of decolonization in post-war world

• Spoke in a minor key about the war
• Focused on the record of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) in guerrilla warfare, the importance of the “mass line”, and the importance of the war in bringing the party to power.

If there had been no Japanese invasion of China, there would have been no Communist victory, let alone today’s talks. …… This is the dialectic of history.

Meeting between Mao Zedong and Kakuei Tanaka, September 27, 1972

• Return of the Nationalists to war narratives
• Focus on trauma: Jappanse war crimes, Nanjing Massacre, Chongqing bombing
• China as part of the global anti-fascist alliance and contributor to int’l security
• WWII helped China assert normative and moral leadership today

When did it start?

• 1927-04: White Terror
• 1936: Xi’an Incident led to temporary truce
• 1941-01: New Fourth Army Incident; Collapse of Second United Front
• 1945-08: End of WWII

Has it really ended?

• A war that hasn’t ended: Taiwan as “renegade province”
• “Who lost China” debate and Red Scare

Internal threats

• Weaknesses in state building
• Economic mismanagement
• Tactical errors on the battlefield

External threats

• CCP ideology and organization
• Role of Soviet Union
• Waning US support

Strengths

• In control of the state, with power to tax, conscript, appoint
• Legitimacy widely accepted around the world
• 4.6 million soldiers in 1946, despite 3 million casualties in war against Japan
• Help from US alliance

Weaknesses

• Aggressive administrative and fiscal policies
• Galloping Inflation
• Corruption within rank and file

Strengths

• Growth in membership: from 40K to 1.2 million
• Armed force: Independent army of a million men (1946)
• Experience in governance: 1/5 of country, or 25% (100 million people) of population
• Ideological and organizational strength: Mao as top leader, with unity of purpose and command
• Growing popular support as defender of the nation
• Help from Soviet alliance

Weaknesses

• Most forces in northwest China, at country’s periphery
• Thin control of industrial centers and key transport links
• Unable to match GMD elite forces’ in training and equipment

• What is “New Democracy”? What is new about it?
• Explain its meanings for Chinese politics, economy, and culture.
• Why is Mao writing? Who is the intended audience? How effective is his messaging?

• The CCP proposed the idea of a coalition government that included the CCP and other democratic parties.
• The party also decided to pursue a closer relationship with the US: to reduce suspicion of Communists, and to use its influence to check Jiang’s power.
• Result: Dixie Mission in July 1944, first direct contact between the US gov and the CCP

Nationalist Party:

• September 1944: Tensions arose between Jiang and U.S. Chief of Staff Joseph Stilwell.
• President Roosevelt requested Jiang to give Stilwell full military command in China.
• Patrick Hurley was sent to mediate between Jiang and the CCP.

• Nov 1944: Hurley reached a five-point agreement with the CCP for a coalition government.
• Jiang rejected this and announced a three-point plan which required the CCP to relinquish military control.
• April 1945: Hurley announced U.S. support for the GMD, refusing to cooperate with the CCP.
• July 7, 1945: The CCP felt betrayed by U.S. policy and opposed it.

• On August 28, 1945, Mao Zedong and CCP leaders met in Chongqing to discuss political reform and military nationalization.
• The key issue was the CCP’s desire for an independent army, while Jiang wanted all forces under government control.
• Mao agreed to cut CCP troops but wanted the GMD to reduce their forces as well.
• No consensus was reached on democratizing China’s government.

• What were the CIA’s assessments of the GMD and the CCP?
• How accurate were these asessments?
• What was the best course of action for the US?

• Costly and timely reconstruction
• Capital flight through foreign banks protected by unequal treaties
• Military costs create major deficits in treasury
• Hyperinflation leads to military failure: Poor pay, corruption, and desertion of GMD military and civilian employees

Four-way:

• United States
• Soviet Union
• Nationalist Party
• Communist Party

Discuss:

• Most likely outcome
• Best outcome / alternative
• Why?

The CCP

• Gained political influence during and after the war.
• Refused to give up military control for a role in the GMD government.
• Wanted democratization first.

The Nationalist

• Confident in their military strength and American support.
• Refused to compromise, believing concessions would weaken their rule.
• Demanded the CCP submit its military.

At the time of Japan’s surrender in August 1945:

• 1 million Japanese troops in China proper
• 1 million in Manchuria
• 1.75 million Japanese civilian

As negotiations faltered, clashes between GMD and CCP forces escalated in northern China:

• The U.S. helped transport GMD troops to the region, increasing competition for territory with the CCP.
• The CCP sought control of Manchuria with support from the Soviet Union after their entry into the war.

• Tactical errors: Fighting in Manchuria, squandering advantage
• Corruption and mismanagement alienated economic and intellectual elites
• Failure to compromise: Solving conflict with CCP through military offensives

• Luck: Disintegration and failings of the GMD
• Help from outside: A Creation of Soviet Union?
• Mao Zedong as master tactician? Result of superior strategy and organizational methods

The Myth of a Lost Chance:

• From a Chinese perspective, the most profound reason underlying the ccp’s anti-American policy was Mao’s grand plans for transforming China’s state, society, and international outlook.
• Even though it might have been possible for Washington to change the concrete course of its China policy, it would have been impossible for the United States to alter the course and goals of the Chinese revolution.

• China was moving toward civil war in 1945-46 amid escalating U.S.-Soviet conflicts.
• The CCP-GMD conflict was influenced by changes in Soviet and American policies toward East Asia.
• The Chinese civil war as the beginning of Cold War in East Asia.