Why have we only rarely heard China's name mentioned among the major countries in World War II?
That's a good question, because the Chinese played an important role in keeping Japan restricted to areas they already controlled. This was because, for World War II, the Communist China established a truce with Chiang Kaishek's Kuomindang, which grew China's military force. As a result, their force was effectively able to operate as a large guerrilla force in northern China. In August and October of 1941, these groups conducted large offensives against the Japanese and severely hindered the movement of Japanese soldiers. However, the Japanese hit back hard, and by the end of the year the Chinese had lost 100,000 men. In total, by the end of the war, China had lost more than 14 million. For a country who's sacrificed so much to be mentioned so little seems wrong.
Author Rana Mitter writes, "Regardless of the many flaws of the Chinese government at the time, Chiang Kai-shek’s government, I think it’s fair to say that they never, neither then nor now, have been given sufficient credit for what has often been regarded as a purely American victory in Asia, and particularly the Pacific. But the Chinese contribution up to now has generally been mostly dismissed or regarded as very minor, secondary, and not really worth bothering with. I think as we move decades and decades away from the events themselves, it’s no longer tenable to retain that position."
Back to answering the question. Essentially, China's contribution to the war was ignored because of the Cold War. In a time when both the United States and Russia were madly competing for dominance, both sides could care less about remembering the feats of their allies. Furthermore, Chiang Kai-shek's government was sentenced to the small island of Taiwan, and since most of China's feats were accomplished through the Nationalist Party, they were also lost with them. Mao wan't about to make his political enemy a hero.
For these reasons, China was seen as only a minor contributor to World War II. However, we should remember and honor their many sacrifices forever.
Sources:
https://www.historynet.com/what-did-mao-and-his-communist-army-contribute-to-defeating-japan.htm
https://psmag.com/news/china-lost-14-million-people-world-war-ii-forgotten-66482
I enjoyed your post as it shed light on the impact that China had on WWII. It reminds people that China helped in the defeat of Japan with the US. I found it really sad how 14 million Chinese people died during WWII and China is not getting the recognition that it deserves. Upon doing some research, I found that 80 million refugees had died as well which is an extremely large amount of people. These deaths were from many events like the Rape of Nanking and other lesser known events that had an equal impact like the carpet bombing of Chongqing in 1939.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/18/opinion/the-worlds-wartime-debt-to-china.html