2nd Presentation

The German invasion of Poland is often viewed as the beginning of World War II, but long before Germany’s transgression, the imbalance between Japan’s growing militarism and China’s internal weaknesses arguably sparked the series of events that turned a regional conflict into an international war. The northern China region of Manchuria had been a traditionally contested territory both for its strategic location and for its natural resources. Although Japan had gained the essential railroad rights from the Russo-Japanese War in 1905, it was forced to give up much of its territorial gains; concessions that Japan deemed necessary to support its growing militarism and colonial expansion. The Mukden railroad incident, then, was the Japanese government’s justification to the war, no matter how blatantly fictitious it was. According to the Japanese, the Chinese bandits’ success was reason enough to invade Manchuria in the following year and establish the puppet state of Manchukuo. The incident extended beyond a territorial conflict between Japan and China, however, because of the international response that seemed to dismiss the obvious conclusion that Japan had provoked the incident. Tension over Manchuria continued to dominate the East Asian front of the Pacific War and was reflective of a number of cultural and political relations of the period.

 

In The Gate of Heavenly Peace, Jonathon D. Spence provides a comprehensive history of Chinese domestic life during this period. Through the characters of Kang Youwei and Lu Xun, Spence specifically reflects the growing tension in Japanese-Chinese relations and the internal division within China over regaining even the most limited degree of autonomy. Both Lu Xun and Kang Youwei shared a frustrated outlook on China’s development since the late 19^th century. China had radically changed by 1931, but as Kang reflected earlier before his own death in 1927, China needed to transform entirely: it was “necessary to dismantle the building and build anew if we want something strong and dependable.” (49). Spence repeatedly cites Lu Xun’s contempt for the trajectory of government reform. Although these are only two voices, they reflect China’s struggle to adapt to Western and Japanese imperialism that by 1931 and through the War period radically altered the lives of Chinese in the Manchurian region.

 

Hergé created the Adventures of Tintin comic book series as an international perspective on world events. The Blue Lotus is about Tintin’s, the main character, adventures in pre-war Manchuria through the Manchurian railroad incident, and the Japanese decision to leave the League of Nations. As a satirical commentary on war-hungry Japan, Hergé’s cartoon provides a good example of Japanese-Chinese relations as well as the cultural context of contemporary China.

 

Kazuko Kuramoto’s Manchurian Legacy: Memoirs of a Japanese Colonist, is another primary source that reflects the important social and political conflicts within Japan. Her memoir begins before the War but best portrays what life was like for Japanese colonists in Manchuria immediately after Japan’s surrender. Kuramoto remembers living in Dairen, a port city north of Port Arthur, where Japanese pre-war ideas of ultimate sacrifice and national supremacy became “a big joke, where Japanese privileges no longer existed.” (71). The Russian military, Chinese nationalists, and other oppressed minorities under Japanese colonial rule relished in punishing the defeated Japanese.

 

As viewed through the lens of a world history, these documents demonstrate the views of so many conflicted parties whose concerns over Manchuria testified to the historical importance of the region in the development of World War II.