During the recent military parade in Beijing marking the 80th anniversary of victory in the War of Resistance Against Japan, debates flared up in the media and social media over who contributed more to the victory: the “Nationalist Army” or the “Communist Army.”
But real history actually invalidates the premise of that debate. Before the Xi’an Incident of 1936, China had two armies: the “National Revolutionary Army” (NRA) and the Communists’ “Red Army.” After the Xi’an Incident, the Red Army was incorporated into the NRA to jointly resist Japan. Thus, during the War of Resistance, almost all anti-Japanese forces were part of the NRA.
Although nominally under Chiang Kai-shek’s command, in practice only the “Central Army” belonged to Chiang. The NRA was a broad umbrella: there were NRA units under Communist leadership, under Beiyang warlord leadership, under the Qing Dynasty general’s leadership, and under regional warlord leadership. All of them made significant contributions to the war effort.
Famed anti-Japanese general Zhang Zizhong, for example, came from the Beiyang faction. The Sichuan Army’s sacrifices and performance in the war were no less than those of the Central Army.
After retreating to Taiwan, Chiang Kai-shek and the Kuomintang promoted a narrative that divided the resistance into only two camps: the “Nationalist Army” and the “Communist Army.” This does not reflect historical reality, because the definition of “Nationalist Army” during the Anti-Japanese War was very different from its meaning during the later Civil War.
The NRA originated in 1924 with the establishment of the Huangpu (Whampoa) Military Academy, funded by the Soviet Communist Party. It absorbed regional warlord forces such as the Guangdong, Hunan, and Yunnan armies to form the first generation of the NRA. Its political composition included right-wing Kuomintang, left-wing Kuomintang, and Communist Party members. In 1926, the NRA launched the Northern Expedition. In 1927, Chiang Kai-shek allied with secret societies to “purge the Party,” massacring Communists and imprisoning left-wing KMT members. Li Youbang, a Taiwanese from Whampoa’s second class, was jailed as a leftist and later executed after returning to Taiwan with Chiang.
After that, the Communists broke away from the NRA and formed the “Workers’ and Peasants’ Red Army,” beginning the first phase of the Civil War. Most “non-Chiang” armies, however, stood by as spectators. Chiang’s policy of “first internal pacification, then external resistance” was seen by them as “only fight the Red Army, not the Japanese” — or even “ally with the Japanese to fight the Red Army.” This severely damaged Chiang politically.
The Xi’an Incident marked a historic turning point, with all sides joining in an “Anti-Japanese United Front.” All forces were again renamed the NRA. At that time, there was no “People’s Liberation Army.” The northern Red Army became the “Eighth Route Army” (later renamed the NRA’s 18th Group Army), while the southern Red Army became the “New Fourth Army.”
The earliest anti-Japanese force was the “Northeast Anti-Japanese Volunteer Army,” formed in 1931. This is the origin of the Chinese national anthem “March of the Volunteers.” In 1933 it became the “Northeast People’s Revolutionary Army,” in 1936 the “Northeast Anti-Japanese United Army,” and in 1945 the “Northeast People’s Autonomous Army.” This force fought with enormous sacrifice and never bore the name “NRA.”
After 1946, with the resumption of the Civil War, the NRA split once more into the “Republic of China National Army” (based on KMT forces) and the “People’s Liberation Army” (Communist forces).
In this complex historical process, one can say that during the eight years of resistance, there were really only two categories of anti-Japanese forces: the NRA and the Northeast Anti-Japanese United Army. It is valid to credit the “Nationalist Army” as a whole, but the definition of “Nationalist Army” during the resistance is very different from its definition in the Civil War.
Editor: Zhiyu Wang
