Exploring The History of China: Part One

Exploring The History of China: Part One Exploring The History of China: Part One
with G. Jökull Gíslason

I am a member of the Icelandic Chinese Cultural Society and this year the Chinese People’s Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries (or CPAFFC) invited us to send a five-person delegation to China as part of their 60th anniversary celebrations.

Left: An image fron the Battle for Tai’erzhuang.
For those who don’t know, sixty years are very important in Chinese culture since this marks the full completion of one complete cycle of the Chinese Zodiac. Part of the programme was dedicated to this celebration but we were also allowed to make requests as to what our special interests we had. I was quick to mention the Second Sino-Japanese War or the War of Resistance against Japan. I left the suggestion open as I trusted the CPAFFC to cater to my request from their extensive experience. As it turned out, I was very happy with their response.

China’s part in World War Two is probably the least know part of the conflict and yet it was part of an ongoing war that lasted far longer than the conflict elsewhere. Tying down very large numbers of Japanese soldiers and contributed in a major way to the Allied victory. In fact the military history of China is so tremendous that if we look at the ten deadliest conflicts in human history we see that eight of them are connected to China in some major way.
Rank
Conflict
Casualties
Rank
Conflict
Casualties
1.
World War Two
60 - 85 million.
6.
World War One
16 - 40 million.
2.
Mongol Conquests
30 - 60 million.
7.
An Lushan Rebellion
13 million.
3.
Qing Dynasty Conquest of Ming Dynasty
25 million.
8.
Chinese Civil War
7.5 million.
4.
Taiping Rebellion
20 million.
9.
Conquests of Tamerlane
7 - 20 million.
5.
Second Sino-Japanese War
20 million. 10.
Russian Civil War
5 - 9 million.
The Battle of Tai’erzhuang is important in the annals of the Second Sino-Japanese War. It was here that the Chinese won their first victory over the Japanese in April 1938. Following the Lugouqiao/ Marco Polo Bridge Incident in July 1937, the conflict had escalated rapidly. Since the Nationalist government was weak in northern China they had attempted to bring the conflict closer to their area of operations and what followed was the Battle of Shanghai.
The Chinese sent in their best trained and equipped soldiers against the Japanese who ironically had been trained by German military advisors led by Hans von Seeckt and later Von Falkenhausen even though later Germany would ally with Japan. Eventually the Japanese won the Battle of Shanghai with far superior equipment, naval gunfire and air support. What followed the fall of Shanghai was the Japanese capture of the then Chinese capital Nanking (Nanjing) better known as the Rape of Nanking.

These victories left the Japanese in a difficult position; their powerbase was in north China and now they had captured sizable territories around Shanghai and Nanjing and needed to consolidate their ground. So they started military operations to consolidate their holdings and heavy fighting would ensue around Xuzhou in Shandong province and with the hardest fighting centred in the ancient town of Tai’erzhuang.

Right: A map of my journey from Beijing to Tai’erzhuang.
Exploring The History of China: Part One
Below: CPAFFC sent us on the high speed train that connects Beijing to Shanghai.
Below: The gates to the old city
Exploring The History of China: Part One Exploring The History of China: Part One
Tai’erzhuang was an old city situated on strategic railroad and canal junctions. Because most of the buildings were made from bricks and had low walls it was ideal for defence. The Japanese were presented with two choices; to assault the city directly or go through mountainous terrain. The Japanese decided to go for the city where the Chinese had been building up their defence for some time. What followed were two weeks of very hard fighting. The Japanese superiority in tanks and advanced weapons was of little use in the close confines of the brick buildings and the battle became a struggle for each building and street. At the same time the Japanese supply lines were being harassed by Chinese forces to their rear.
Exploring The History of China: Part One The Japanese never managed to surround the city and the Chinese were able to reinforce the garrison and eventually after heavy losses on both sides the Japanese were forced to withdraw. This was the first major victory of the Chinese Nationalist Alliance in the war and it broke the myth of Japanese military invincibility. Since then it has been a landmark victory in the history of the War of Resistance against Japan.

Much of the city was destroyed in the battle but it has been rebuilt in recent years as a tourist city, mostly catering to Chinese tourists so it was a special privilege to walk its streets and imagine the city under wartime conditions over 75 years ago.

Left: Behind some of the reconstructed buildings older ones remain where the fighting took place.

Below: Scattered around the city are pictures showing what the streets looked like during the fighting along with some life-sized dioramas.
Exploring The History of China: Part One
Exploring The History of China: Part One

Below: This is taken from Moon River Street where the fighting was at its fiercest; leaving bodies littered all over the street and yards and blood covering the street.

Below: Moon River Street after its reconstruction.
Exploring The History of China: Part One Exploring The History of China: Part One
Below: One of the many canals that would obstruct the fighting during the battle.
Below: One of the wartime photographers present was Robert Capa. This is one of his iconic images in a 3D reconstruction.
Exploring The History of China: Part One Exploring The History of China: Part One
Close to the city there is a museum dedicated to the fighting; I was impressed by the quality of Chinese Museums and their displays.
Below: The Battle of Tai’erzhuang museum.
Below: Outside there was a small selection of weaponry from various periods.
Exploring The History of China: Part One Exploring The History of China: Part One
At the entrance there was a large bronze mural depicting the battle.
Below: Examples of the bronze mural outside the museum.
Exploring The History of China: Part One Exploring The History of China: Part One Exploring The History of China: Part One
The museum was fairly large and I was very impressed with the number of guests and a number of dioramas.
Exploring The History of China: Part One
Exploring The History of China: Part One
Below: Amongst the items on display were historical photographs and situatuional amps.
Exploring The History of China: Part One Exploring The History of China: Part One
Below: Weapons...
Below: ...weapons...
Exploring The History of China: Part One Exploring The History of China: Part One
Below: ...and more weapons! Below: Models of the battleground.
Exploring The History of China: Part One Exploring The History of China: Part One
Below: My lack of Chinese language skills did leave me baffled at times.
Below: The photos I could understand and often had was a small translation in English.
Below: There was also impressive artwork.
Exploring The History of China: Part One Exploring The History of China: Part One Exploring The History of China: Part One
Exploring The History of China: Part One
The museum also had souvenirs. That is a bottle of strong and seriously bad tasting alcohol. A good idea at the time but my experience as a police officer includes airport security and I quickly realised that I had very little interest in opening my luggage for inspection at Beijing International Airport so I will have to find something else for next year’s Einherjar Handicap.

From Tai’erzhuang we travelled to Qufu, the city of Confucius and from there to Jinan where the CPAFFC obliged me with a visit to the home of Professor Lee. Mr. Lee is a specialist in the Second Sino-Japanese War and was very happy to receive me. He has researched the Jinan Incident of 1928 which is a precursor event to the Second Sino-Japanese War. At the start he told me I had to know three things about the Japanese:

1. They are liars.
2. They display bad behaviour.
3. They are rude invaders.

Left: A souvenir best left behind.
Something was lost in translation but that certainly set the tone to the following lecture which was not without a propagandistic side. That is also part of history and Professor Lee re-told the story of the Jinan Incident in a very lively and entertaining manner and opened up something entirely new to me. The history of the Second Sino-Japanese War is part of China’s troubled past and was shadowed by the civil war that followed. Now it is re-emerging and is being re-evaluated as part of Chinese history and just as with the Eastern Front in Europe I suspect we will be seeing an upheaval in this shadowed part of World War II in the coming years.

Right: Professor Lee.
Exploring The History of China: Part One
Exploring The History of China: Part One

To find out more I suggest these two links:

The Battle of Tai’erzhuang
http://ww2db.com/battle_spec.php?battle_id=173

The Jinan Incident
http://ww2db.com/battle_spec.php?battle_id=243

In part two, you will join me in a visit to the Military Museum in Beijing along with suggestions of other places of interest.

~ Jökull.


Last Updated On Wednesday, May 28, 2014 by Blake at Battlefront