Wuhan, 1938: War, Refugees, and the Making of Modern China (review)

Major wars usually have significant social, political, economic, and cultural effects on the nations that fight them. This work applies this aphorism to modern China by examining how events that occurred during the first year of the Second Sino–Japanese War changed Chinese society in many areas. MacKinnon's contention is that during the ten months between the capture of the Chinese capital, Nanjing, by the Imperial Japanese Army on 12 December 1937 and the fall of Wuhan to Japanese forces on 25 October 1938, the large number of refugees from northern, eastern, and southern China who gathered in Wuhan generated a critical mass of patriotic energy and that their synergistic interaction not only transformed them, but, through them, had a long lasting transforming effect on China as a whole. In his prologue, MacKinnon states, "The Wuhan period suggests that the Anti-Japanese War brought changes to Chinese society, culture, and politics analogous to those that occurred after World War I in Europe" (p. 3). He expresses this same view in the book's conclusion, "While defending their city for ten months, the activists of Wuhan initiated changes in Chinese society, culture, and politics that were as far-reaching as those that transformed Europe during the First World War" (p. 115).

MacKinnon's explanation for why the "Wuhan Spirit," as he calls it, emerged and blossomed goes beyond it being a sense of unity born of patriotism. This was a complex situation and he brings out many factors that contributed to what happened. He discusses the desire of the Nationalist government to create a favorable image abroad, especially in the United States. He describes the efforts of both the Nationalists and the Communists to make it appear that their Anti-Japanese United Front was working. He shows how a group of Nationalist generals who had graduated from the Baoding Military Academy instead of the Whampoa Central Military Academy established by Chiang Kai-shek in 1924, and therefore had no deep personal loyalty to Chiang Kai-shek, contributed to Wuhan's relatively free and tolerant atmosphere. He also notes the impact of the many foreign reporters who covered the war from Wuhan and the role played by diplomats in the embassies that were temporarily located in Wuhan before moving further up the Yangtze River to the new Chinese capital at Chongqing. However, the main focus of the book is on the intellectuals who flocked to Wuhan and their activities.

According to MacKinnon, "In 1938 nearly all of China's important intellectuals descended on Wuhan" (p. 63). He mentions many of them and describes the life and work of a few in enough detail so that it is possible gain a sense of their values and motivations for going to Wuhan and doing what they did. Examples include a female lawyer from Shanghai named Shi Liang, who worked in refugee relief, and the writers Lao She and Guo Moruo, who worked to popularize literature and use it to mobilize the Chinese masses to fight the Japanese. In keeping with the theme that what those intellectual activists did in Wuhan had long lasting effects, in his conclusion MacKinnon calls attention to what he calls the legacies of Wuhan in China and Taiwan today.

For those interested in military history, this book contains two short chapters that discuss the strengths and weaknesses of the Chinese and Japanese armies, Chinese and Japanese military strategy in 1938, and the battles fought as the Japanese advanced toward Wuhan from different directions. Particular attention is given to the Chinese victory at Taierzhuang in April 1938 because of how it raised Chinese morale and strengthened the spirit of resistance in Wuhan. Basically, however, the book is a social history of a unique period in the history of twentieth century China. It deals with important events and presents the fruits of...