FROM MANCHURIA TO A UNITED FRONT, 19317

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CHAPTER 8

• FROM MANCHURIA TO A UNITED FRONT, 1931-7

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Main Characters in this chapter

• Chiang Kaishek-military political leader who
  assumed leadership of KMT after Sun Yatsens death

• Zhang Xueliang and Communists- became ruler of
  Manchuria North China after assassination of
  father by Japanese-patriotic hero

3
Timeline (1931-1937)
1934-35 Long March Communists get close to the
areas threatened by Japan
1936- Chiang Kaishek organizes extermination
campaign against Communists and sends
North-Eastern Army to attack their base in Yanan
1937- As a response to invasion, GMD establishes
Supreme National DefenseAdvisory Council
Dec. 1936-The Xian Incident
1931-32 Japanese conquer all of Manchuria
1937

• 1936- Zhang and Communists make agreement not
  fight each other, instead to fight the Japanese

July 1937- Japan attacks China, begin another
invasion to conquer entire country
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Growing Tensions between Japan and China

• 1930-31- particularly bad years for Chinas
  national unity.
• fighting in North China and an Anti-Chiang
  "Northern Coalition" of warlords (?domestic
  issues and disunity make it easier for Japan to
  invade China)
• September 1931- North China is attacked by Japan
• Japans hunger for land in China NOT satisfied by
  conquest of Manchuria
• 1933- Kwantung party occupies the province of
  Rehe
• 1934- continues to advance slowly southwards
• By end of 1936- has occupied many provinces
  (Chahaer, Suiyuan, Hebei, Shanxi) and is
  demanding the separation of northern China from
  the South

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The Expansion of Japan, 1931-1937
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Chinese Response to Japanese Invasion

• Since 1900, anti-foreign feeling is strong in
  China
• Hatred of foreigners now directed against
  Japanese
• In Shanghai (Chinas busiest trading port),
  Chinese boycott Japanese goods
• Chinese people want Chiang Kaishek to declare war
  on Japan and drive Kwantung out of China
• Chiang Kaishek refuses because he believes that
  national unity must be achieved before attacking
  invaders. In other words, Guomindang must
  establish power all over China (which means
  wiping out the Communists) before risking a major
  war against Japan

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Chiang Kaishek
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...Chinese Response continued

• On the other hand, Communists wanted to fight
  Japan
• 1935- Chinese do not fight Chinese was their
  main slogan
• Long March of 1934-5- had brought Communists
  close to the areas threatened by Japan and they
  were in a good strategic position to start war

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Another Extermination Campaign, 1936

• Chiang Kaishek ignores the demands of Communists
  for a united front of all the Chinese against
  Japan
• 1936- organizes yet another extermination
  campaign against the Communists and sends his
  North-Eastern Army to attack their base in Yanan
  (city of Xian, capital of Shaanxi province)
• North-Eastern Army is commanded by Zhang
  Xueliang, who was driven out of Manchuria by
  Japanese in 1931- Zhang himself wanted revenge
  against Japanese for murder of his father
• His orders were to wipe out the Yanan Soviet,
  however Zhangs troops, mostly Manchurians, were
  more interested in fighting Japanese than
  Communists

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...Extermination Campaign continued

• 1936- Zhang and Communists make an agreement to
  not fight each other, instead to join forces to
  fight the Japanese
• Dec. 1936- Chiang Kaishek finds out and flies to
  Xian to persuade Zhang to renew extermination
  campaign

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The Xian Incident, December 1936

• Zhangs troops led by Captain Sun Mingzhiu storm
  into Chiangs hotel
• Chiang manages to escape but is caught and told
  by Sun, We only ask you to lead our country
  against JapanFrom now on there must be a new
  policy for China
• Zhangs rebels keep Chiang prisoner for the next
  2 weeks. In the meantime the Guomindang, the
  Communist party and the Russian government hold
  long discussions and finally agree to release
  Chiang
• Finally Chiang agrees to form a United Front with
  the Communists against Japan
• Russian government agrees to give them military
  aid and Chiang is named Commander in Chief of all
  Chinese forces

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A United Front

• Japan decides to strike against China before it
  becomes too strong and in July 1937, without
  declaring war, begin another invasion aimed to
  conquer the entire country
• In 1937- AS A DIRECT RESULT OF CHINAS INVASION
  BY JAPAN, Chinas Guomindang Government (GMD)
  establishes Supreme National Defense Advisory
  Council to create political unity and as a
  symbol of a one party state
• March 1938- this council declares a Peoples
  Political Council to unify the national
  strength. The resultant Peoples Political
  Council gives birth to greater liberal freedoms
  (ex. Free speech) and marks a dramatic revival of
  the possibility of Chinese democracy

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Analysis So how did this whole conflict of Japan
against China lead to the rise of a single party
state???

• China was in a condition to give rise to a single
  party state
• The internal and external conflicts that China
  was gave the Communists an opportunity to take
  leadership and gain power
• Chiang Kaishek wanted to keep the focus on
  solving internal issues first, instead the
  Communists won the hearts and minds of Chinese
  people by managing to unite them in fighting
  Japan
• Before, the power was centralized on the KMD, the
  Communists managed to shift the power from the
  KMD into their own hands
• Since the Communists played an overwhelmingly
  important role in Chinas struggle for
  independence from invasion, they gained
  tremendous popularity and trust
• By gaining popularity and shifting the power from
  the KMD into their own hands, Communists were now
  in a position to decide their own political
  policy/government type(single party state)

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Bibliography

• Groot, Gerry. Managing Transitions The Chinese
  Communist Party, United Front Work, Corporatism,
  and Hegemony. New York Routledge, 2004.
• "Mao Zedong." Britannica Online School Edition.
  2006. Encyclopaedia Britannica.     27 Oct. 2006
  lthttp//school.eb.com/gt.
• Thornton, Richard C. China A Political History,
  1917-1980. Boulder, CO Westview Press, 1982.
• Wikipedia Contributors. "Zhang Xueliang ."
  Wikipedia. 2006. 27 Oct. 2006 lthttp//en.wikipedia
  .org/w/index.php?titleSpecialCitepageZhang_Xue
  liangid80978373gt.

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COMING UP....More details on The Japan-China
War/The Sino-Japanese War