The Kuomintang (KMT) during the war with Japan

Chiang and the Kuomintang emerged weaker as a result of the war with Japan. Chiang was seen as unpatriotic in his initial reaction to the Japanese threat and his later lukewarm acceptance of the United Front. Moreover, many people in Kuomintang controlled areas did not like Chiang’s rule. Read the following notes and answer the questions on the back of the sheet:

Why did the KMT lose support during the War?

Chiang retreated before the Japanese & gave up the capital of Nanjing. He moved the government to Sichuan province. In Sichuan Chiang was cut off from the industrialised areas of China, which were his main power base. The KMT could do little to fight back. The KMT appeared to be unwilling to attack the Japanese.

The KMT government became increasingly corrupt as officials competed for personal power and influence. Inflation grew rapidly and the power of Warlords increased.

Chiang governed like a military dictator with the name of the ‘Generalissimo’ with a private army of ‘Blueshirts’, led by Tai Li, which hunted down and tortured enemies of the Kuomintang, especially the communists.

Chiang did little to improve China’s welfare problems. There was a lack of medical care, poor housing and a shortage of schools.

He did nothing to reduce the rents paid by peasants or to increase peasant ownership. The KMT had little support in the countryside from peasants. It was seen as the party of bankers, businessmen and landowners.

The Japanese Occupation

The Chinese people were meanwhile suffering terribly from the effects of the war. Those who lived in areas held by the Japanese were treated brutally. The Japanese took all the food. They used the Chinese as slave labour, forcing them to work in dreadful conditions in the mines and factories to produce materials for the Japanese war effort. They controlled every aspect of Chinese life, and torture, beatings and murders became commonplace punishments for even the smallest of crimes.

‘My grandparents were on the verge of starvation.

Much of what was produced locally was forcibly

exported to Japan. The large Japanese army took most

of the remaining rice. The main food was acorn meal

which tasted and smelled revolting...

When local children passed a Japanese in the street

they had to bow and make way. Japanese children

would often stop local children and slap them for no

reason at all…

The Japanese set up a system of neighbourhood

control. They made the local big shots the heads of

these units and these neighbourhood bosses collected

taxes and kept a round-the-clock watch for lawless

elements. It was a form of gangsterism. The Japanese

offered large rewards for turning people in…

[One of her mother’s 11 year old school friends had

been caught with a book by a banned Chinese writer]. 2

days later the whole school was marched to a barren

snow-covered stretch of ground outside the west gate.

Local residents had also been summoned there. The

children were told they were there to witness ‘the

punishment of an evil person who disobeys great

Japan.’ Suddenly my mother saw her friend being

hauled by Japanese guards to a spot right in front of

her. The girl was in chains, and could hardly walk. She

had been tortured and her face was swollen so my

mother could barely recognise her. The Japanese

soldiers lifted their rifles. There was a crack of bullets

and the girl’s body slumped into the snow.’

Source C: Four extracts from Wild Swans,

written by Jung Chang in 1991.

“Nearly everyone in the KMT army was on the make. Officers fiddled

their accounts, drawing pay for twice the men they really

commanded and keeping the extra for themselves. Army stores were

sold on the black market. The only things the KMT seemed to think of

were food, drink and women.”

Source A: By a KMT officer who left to join the CCP in

1945.

“On 12th November 1938 the city of Changsha was destroyed

by fire, not started by the Japanese but by the KMT

themselves. Their stupid scorched earth policies laid waste all

about them. This was more harmful to their own people than

to the enemy. In the Spring the Yellow River dykes had been

breached by order of Chiang Kai-Shek to flood the land and

stop the Japanese. It had not stopped them, though it did

flood the land, and a million Chinese peasants were drowned.”

Source B: Written by Han Su-yin, who was a nurse

in China in the late 1930s.

The Chinese Communist Party during the war with Japan

The war record of the Communists contrasted sharply with the Nationalist’s performance. Unlike Chiang, Mao seemed determined to take positive action to drive the Japanese out. From 1936 to 1939 the Communists built up their forces under the brilliant leadership of Lin Biao. They had virtually no resources – at first they were mainly armed with spears! However, they knew the countryside and the peasants and they made excellent use of guerrilla tactics. They cut telegraph wires, blew up railways and surprised Japanese troops in ambushes, capturing their weapons.

Guerrilla Warfare Mao describe the Red Army as the ‘fish who swam in the sea’, the sea being China’s peasants. The peasants supported the Communists from the start. The Red Army lived in the villages with the peasants. They taught children to spy on the children that Japanese soldiers were coming, they would bury food and tools. They would hide away cattle. The people hid in caves or tunnels under the village. They laid mines. The Japanese soldiers never knew what they could touch in one of these empty villages. An old plough, a parcel, even a dead cow might explode. From 1937 onwards they carried out a

successful guerrilla operation against the Japanese, gradually moving eastwards from Yanan and taking control of Northern China.

In 1940 the CCP began a campaign known as the Hundred Regiments Battle in which they attacked the Japanese controlled railways system and paralysed Japanese transport.

Small Red Army units struck deep into Japanese-held territory, hit important targets, and then retreated back into safety. By working with the peasants, the communists were soon in control of the countryside. They never met the Japanese head-on, melting away if attacked. When the Japanese were weak, or caught unawares, they were suddenly attacked.

The Japanese Retaliate The Japanese responded in 1941 with the ‘Three All Campaign – kill all, burn all, destroy all’. Their aim was to turn people against the communists by burning down their villages and crops and killing the peasants. The campaign had the opposite effect. It drove peasants to support the CCP. In 1937, the CCP held 30,000 sq miles of China

with 2 million people. By 1945, when the Japanese surrendered, the

CCP held 300,000 sq miles and 95 million people!

How did the CCP gain support during the War? Life in the Communist liberated areas was generally far better than in those areas under the control of the KMT. This was mainly due to Mao’s Red Army which had all the qualities which Chiang and his officers seemed to lack. The CCP had a core of dedicated and able leaders. They were not corrupt. They treated the peasants with courtesy and respect. As they taught peasants to fight, they also taught them about Communist beliefs and ideas.

Big estates were confiscated from rich lands and shared among the peasants.

Rents and taxes were reduced and peasants were given interest-free loans.

Out-dated and undesirable practices were abolished especially in the lives of women. For example ‘foot binding’ which involved the practice of binding girl’s feet tight in bandages so they grew up with small feet.

Women’s Associations were set up to help women to free themselves from violent husbands.

The Red Army was very disciplined and never treated the peasants badly. In return, the peasants kept the Red Army informed about Japanese activities. The Red Army also helped in the fields and around villages.

Questions

1. Read Source A. Why do you think the author switched

sides?

2. According to Source B, how effective were Chiang’s tactics?

3. Han Su-yin was a Communist who took part in the Long

March. Does this change your view of Source B?

4. What does Source C tell us about the nature of the

Japanese occupation?

5. Why did the KMT lose support during the Japanese

invasion?

6. What could the KMT have done differently to avoid this

loss in support?

7. Why did the Communists have to use guerrilla tactics?

8. List the factors which helped the Communists gain support

from the peasants.