No.1, 2021

1.InterpretingtheBeginningoftheCPC’sHistoryoftheWarofResistancefromtheWorldHistoryEvolution:Startingfromthe“LyttonCommission”Archives

ZhangShengMaHaitian(4)

2.TheHistoricalSpaceofChinaandJapanbeforetheSeptember18thIncident:EconomicCrisis,SocialTurbulenceandthe“ManchurianandMongolianLifelineTheory”

WangXiliangWangJingrong(12)

3.The“Action”and“Inaction”ofJapan'sInvasionofChinaaftertheSeptember18thIncident:AlsoontheBeginningofthe“15-yearHistoryofWar”

ZangYunhu(22)

4.Behind“TakingItsOwnCourse”:September18thIncidentand“TheExpenditureofManchurianIncident”

WuXiangping(29)

5.TotalMilitaryAggressioninChinaIncludingAtrocitiesAgainstCiviliansandOthers:SummaryofEvidenceandNoteofArgument

DavidNelsonSuttonTranslatedbyYangXiamingCaoJiali(39)

Born in King and Queen County, Virginia, U.S, David Nelson Sutton received his AB. from University of Richmond in 1915 and was admitted to the Law School of University of Virginia in 1919. He practiced law in West Point and attorney for the Commonwealth for King William County, Virginia (1926—1946). He held many posts like President of Virginia State Bar Association of and a member of the American Bar Association. In January 1946, Sutton was invited to participate in the Tokyo trial and served as Associate Counsel of IPS. In March of the same year, Sutton together with Morrow and Henry Qiu of IPS went to China for a five-week investigation and obtained the written testimonies from 31 witnesses. On May 31, Sutton went to Shanghai and Nanjing to meet with witnesses again, and selected 15 witnesses before returning to Tokyo on June 12. Sutton and Morrow as prosecutors’ lawyers participated in the court hearings on the “China Phase”. This article is a summary of evidence of Japanese aggression against China collected by the prosecutors. Based on a large amount of evidence, it outlined the steps of Japan’s violation of its treaty obligations and military aggression against China before and after the July 7th Incident with the mode of committing atrocities against civilians in all the occupied areas, especial in Nanjing,. The paper is collected in the “Sutton Collection” of the Muse Law School, University of Richmond, U.S.

6.LettersfromAmericanReligiousGroupsaboutItsPropertiesDamagedaftertheFallofNanjing

TranslatedbyGaoTianshuLiYu(67)

During the Japanese invasion and occupation of Nanjing, part of the properties of the American Seventh-Day Adventist Church at No. 20 Gaomenlou and Qiaotou Town in Jurong were damaged. For this reason, American missionary Frank B. Knight and D. E. Rebok reported the loss to the US diplomats in Nanjing and the Consul General in Shanghai. These documents once again proved that the Japanese invaders not only caused great harm to the Chinese people, but also harmed the interests of third countries in China. American nationals especially those in Nanjing and the surrounding areas suffered serious property losses, which attracted the attention of the US diplomats in China and started the negotiations with the Japanese counterparts. The relevant letters are from RG 84, Records of Foreign Service Posts, Consular Posts, Shanghai, China, Volume 275 in the National Archives of the United States

7.ResponseandPerfection—OntheWorkofSpecialCareforEntitledGroupsinShandongResistanceBaseAreaagainstJapaneseAggression

ZhangLianyi(74)

During the total war of resistance against Japan, to ensure the special care for the soldiers of resistance and their families, the Shandong Resistance Base area initially established a framework for the special care aiming to ensure basic living needs. In the implementation process, due to officials’ deviation in cognition, the effect of special care failed to meet the expectation. The adjustments and responses were made in a timely manner. By clarifying the target groups and criteria, the reflection of officials combined with a movement to support the army, a benign interaction between the government of base area and an extensive participation of all levels of society was reached, which not only guaranteed the special care for entitled groups including respect for their social status, but also realized the consolidating CCP’s power of the base area and completing the construction of the special care system from being a guaranteed system to a mobilized one.

8.TheImageofDr.BethuneintheCommemorativeDiscoursesoftheCPCoverthePast80Years

NiuBaoxiu(83)

During the total war of resistance against Japan, Dr. Norman Bethune, a Canadian died in the Shanxi-Chahaer-Hebei border area because of the surgical infections. To commemorate his outstanding contribution, the CPC has held various commemorative activities, and the theme of commemoration has also shown distinctive characteristics of the time. Over the past 80 years, the image of Dr. Bethune has been developed around themes such as the united resistance against Japan, resumed construction, shaping people of a new type and modern diplomacy, etc. Since the period of the War of Resistance, the image of Bethune has gone through a process from the initial establishment to popularization, which demonstrates the CPC’s profound understanding and flexible response to the change of times.

9.TheMulti-layered“War”amongtheState,MediaandFemaleWriters—CenteringonYoshiyaNobukoandFumikoHayashi

LiWei(94)

Yoshiya Nobukoa and Fumiko Hayashi were two most active female writers in Japan during the Japanese war of aggression against China. They came to China as members of the “Pen Troops” in 1938, and then respectively created works such as Swirling Currents. By exploring the ins and outs of such works, it can be found that the “gender” of Japanese female writers is not only a “l(fā)abel” deliberately used by the Japanese military and the media, but also an individual characteristic that the writer themselves highlights on purpose. On this basis, a concrete analysis on the image of “women at home” constructed in these works could reveal the internal mechanism of how Japanese female writers induced the Japanese women in general to actively supported the war, and then further investigate the war responsibility that they should bear.

10.Re-examinationoftheImplementationofJapanese“ComfortWomen”SysteminNanjing

LiuGuangjianZhuLing(105)

The “comfort women” system is a system implemented by Japanese militarists that violated human rights during the World War Ⅱ, which is an organized national crime. However, the postwar Japanese authorities denied that the government had ever implemented this system, arguing that it was a private act of some individual practitioners and had nothing to do with the Japanese government and the military. But, some Chinese and Japanese archives clearly record the important role played by the Japanese authorities in the establishment and implementation of the “comfort women” system. Nanjing was a city where the Japanese army’s “comfort women” system had been implemented more early and systematically. Combining with previous studies and some newly-discovered archives, this article takes Nanjing as an example to investigate the implementation process and characteristics of the Japanese “comfort women” system in Nanjing,

11.TheJointOfficeofYangtzeRiverShippingIndustryandtheWestwardTransferenceofMaterialsinBeijing,ShanghaiandWuhan(1937—1940)

YangXiangkun(116)

After the outbreak of the total war of resistance against Japan, to organize the westward transference of materials in Nanjing, Shanghai etc., the Shipping Bureau of the Ministry of Communications instructed China Merchants, Minsheng, Sanbei and other shipping companies to set up a joint office of Yangtze River Shipping Industry in charge of the military and civilian transportation matters. The Joint Office organized successively the combined Shanghai-Zhenjiang transport and the segmented transport between Wuhan and Chongqing to ensure the smooth westward transference of materials from the regions of Nanjing, Shanghai and Wuhan, which played an important role in supporting the protracted war of resistance. Due to the hasty organization, Japanese air raids and ineffective communication, there were a lot of problems in the process of organizing the westward transference of materials, and the Joint Office was even revoked for a while. However, the segmented combined transport and the multi-sectors’ coordination mechanism established by the Joint Office has certain significance for the transportation of materials during the War of Resistance against Japan.

12.TheChengduIncidentandSino-JapaneseNegotiationsfortheAdjustmentofDiplomaticRelationsbeforetheOutbreakoftheTotalWarofResistance

YinXiaoyu(130)

Although the Chengdu Incident occurring in the second half of 1936 affected the Sino-Japanese relations to a certain extent, it also created an opportunity to resume the negotiations. Japan attempted to use the Chengdu incident to resolve various unsettled issues of the past, which led to a shift of the goal of the negotiations from resolving specific incidents to comprehensively adjusting the national relations. As the two sides held different opinions in many issues, the negotiation was difficult to proceed and was finally forced to “stick to the facts” only, and resolved the Chengdu Incident to a limited extent. The Sino-Japanese negotiations triggered by the Chengdu Incident showed the willingness of China and Japan to adjust their relations before the outbreak of the total war of resistance. However, due to the obvious differences between the two sides, the result for improving diplomatic relations was limited.

【English abstracts translated by Cai Dandan】