by Ray Matsumoto In 1989, six years following his mother’s suicide, Mr. Yoshiji Watanabe was watching an interview with a Japanese woman on TV. She was one of the many Japanese women and children abandoned in Manchuria following the Soviet invasion. She stated in the interview, “The war has never ended for me.” These words deeply resonated with Mr. Watanabe. In his words, “it stirred the darkness and sin suppressed in my heart.”
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by Tori Borges Before the conflict broke out in the Pacific, there were warning signs of trouble to come during the interwar period. As Japan made territorial gains, there were concerns from Western powers that war could break out again, especially regarding China. The 9 Power Treaty was meant to alleviate these concerns by having the world powers agree to recognize China's sovereignty and support its stability. The real motivations, however, were to protect the economic interests of Western nations. Perhaps because of this, the treaty made no overarching changes to support China against Japanese aggression and ultimately failed. by Angela Xie Most people think of Chinese history as the splendid palaces and plentiful cultures in ancient dynasties or maybe the rise of the Chinese Communist Party and the establishment of the People's Republic of China. Indeed, either one of them was a significant part of Chinese history. This raises the question, "What happened between those two eras?" by Ray Matsumoto Aisin-Gioro Puyi was born on February 7th, 1906, to his father, Zaifeng, Prince Chun, and mother, Youlan. In December 1908, Puyi was crowned the emperor of the Qing Dynasty at the age of two following the death of the Guangxu Emperor, who died childlessly. Puyi was split from his family, and only his wet nurse Wang Lianshou was allowed to follow him to the Forbidden City. Puyi spent most of his time with eunuchs (castrated servants), who did everything from tutoring him to clothing him. The older Puyi became, the more he realized the power he held over these eunuchs. He recounts in his autobiography that he used to shoot them with his air gun and even ordered a eunuch to eat dirt to test his loyalty (Behr, 74). Nurse Wang was the only person who could restrain Puyi. However, when Puyi was eight, Empress Dowager Longyu, the de facto ruler of the Qing dynasty, expelled Wang from the Forbidden City. Puyi, reportedly, started crying himself to sleep after she left (Behr, 76). by Trevor Hackbardt The Pacific Theater consisted of a series of land and sea battles between the United States and the Japanese Empire, often referred to as the "island hopping" campaign. The US did not become directly involved in the war until almost two years after the war had started in September of 1939. However, the Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, changed the course of the US' action and history.
by Sophia Maroulis The Nationalist government (Kuomintang or KMT) and the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) were engaged in armed conflict from 1927 until 1937, when the parties had to temporarily unite* against Japan's invasion of China in the Second-Sino Japanese War (1937-1945). When Japan surrendered on August 15, 1945, it could have marked the end of eight years of brutal warfare in China, but instead, the war-torn country immediately experienced another four years of war. As soon as the Chinese repelled the foreign threat, the KMT and its rival, the CCP, resumed fighting each other for control of China. The Chinese Civil War (phase 1: 1927-1937, phase 2: 1945-1949) began with everyone but the CCP believing that the KMT would win and ended with the international community staring in disbelief as the CCP established the People's Republic of China (PRC) on October 1, 1949, while KMT members fled to Taiwan. This post focuses on the second phase of the Chinese Civil War (1945-1949). The billion-dollar question—for the U.S. had spent over 1 billion dollars on military aid for the KMT from 1945 to 1948 in an attempt to stop the spread of communism—was how did the reigning Nationalist government with more power, more men, more arms, and more military aid fall to the smaller Chinese Communist Party in four years? (Tanner 277). by Sophia Maroulis The Second United Front* in China was the alliance between the ruling Chinese Nationalist Party or Kuomintang Party (KMT), headed by Chiang Kai-shek, and the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), headed by Mao Zedong. Both parties and several warlords agreed to temporarily cease fighting each other for control of China to work together to combat the invading Imperial Japanese Army during the Second Sino-Japanese War (1937-1945). However, although the KMT and CCP shared a common enemy and were allies in name, in practice, their alliance was fraught with conflict. by Dylan Weir In 2015, the Tokyo High Court ruled on a suit brought by 188 victims of the Chongqing bombings. The plaintiffs, many of them in their 80s and 90s, sought compensation and an apology from the Japanese government for the World War II bombing campaign against the civilian population of Chongqing that occurred between 1938-1944. While the Court acknowledged that the bombings did occur, it ruled that the victims were entitled to neither compensation nor an apology. This case is an example of the ongoing struggle to hold Japan accountable for its wartime crimes. by Jolin Chan Wealth, power, influence. These words encapsulated the Soong family as they engaged in the politics of an ever-transforming China during the 20th century. While the Japanese invaded, political rifts threatened the country's stability, and the world became enveloped in war; three sisters—Ailing, Chingling, and Meiling—simultaneously represented and reshaped the country. As the daughters of a wealthy family and the wives of prominent leaders, they were in a different kind of frontline during World War II: determining the financial, political, and social situations for hundreds of millions of people. by Angela Xie Following the 18th century, China was a desired trading partner for western countries. The grandfather of Roosevelt Delano Roosevelt, Warren Delano, amassed enormous wealth by selling opium in Canton in the early 1800s. However, like many other Americans, Delano portrayed China as a "pitiful, drug-addicted, backward pagan mess of a place"[1] that should be Christianized and civilized by American values. This idea of saving and changing China into a westernized country continued in the twentieth century. In the 1930s, China Lobby was established; it encompassed a particular group of people who shared a similar interest in overthrowing communism in China. It was typically referred to as an offshoot of Roosevelt's unconventional diplomacy to support China in fighting Japan. The core members of the China Lobby included Henry R. Luce, Congressman Walter H. Judd, Senator William F. Knowland, diplomat William C. Bullitt, aviator Claire L. Chennault, businessman Alfred Kohlberg, and lawyer William J. Goodwin[2]. This essay will investigate how the China Lobby has greatly impacted the US-China relationship before and after the founding of the People's Republic of China (PRC). |