Wuhan, 1938 War, Refugees and the Making of Modern China by Stephen MacKinnon and had photographs by Robert Capa. The author explains the development of the modern Chinese culture, politics, and the social changes after the Wuhan’s fall and defense. Wuhan had three cities, and there was a tense relationship between the communities in the three cities. When Hanyang, one of the Wuhan cities, was made a railway station, the community started to adopt western culture and modernization. Hanyang, Wuchang, and Hankou were the three main cities of Wuhan fighting over political issues and flooding. War in these three cities caused the downfall of Wuhan and, therefore, the building of the bridge in 1957. It was a significant factor in the formation of the modern Wuhan. The author has an explicit thesis as the author argues on the political history of the Chinese Republic to develop the difference between the previous and the modern Wuhan.
The theoretical assumptions argued by the author include the use of leadership and strategy in defending Central China. In 1938, this book shows that General Hu Zingnan shot General Han Fuju, the Chinese military commander. The commander’s death challenged the governing and organization of the defense of Shandong. The commander died after retreating from the war with General Hu Zingnan after assessing the risk of losing eighty thousand military men. The lack of resistant forces in China led to the loss of Qingdao, Nanjing, and Jinan. After the execution of the commander, other commanders met in Wuchang and agreed to force Japan into war. This war is also significant as China attempts to make plans of defending itself from the Japanese. The war led to Chines refugees getting displaced due to the Anti-Japanese War. Resistance brings different outcomes, and conflicts cause the displacement of people from their residing places.
The Japanese believed that the war was to bring modernization, economic, social, and political change. Japan overpowered China due to different factors. “In sweeping through Shanghai and then Nanjing, their troops had proven to be much better prepared than the Chinese in training, armaments, and supporting industrial infrastructure (including the routing of supplies south from Manchuria).” Although the Chinese lacked resources and proper organization in the troops, they fought with the Japanese, but in the end, Japan succeeded in taking Xuzhou and Wuhan in 1938. The information is essential since it shows the effect of the war that led to the death of 20 million Chinese militaries.
After the war, there was, there were refugees from China. The refugees moved due to the invasion of the Japanese. The refugees comprised more children, and the adult population comprised highly intellectual persons. “This group included professors, schoolteachers, students, writers, poets, painters, dramatists, scientists, journalists, editors, and others.” There were several effects of the war, and one of them was new opportunities. The skilled workers who worked in the armament industry in Wuhan helped transform the economy. Also, during the war, Wuhan did not import any commodities or processed goods. It, therefore, improved entrepreneurship in Wuhan since, after the wars, people had the machinery and expertise to produce goods and provide employment opportunities.
During the wars, the Chinese developed unity that they wished would help finish the battle. The agreement later impacted the growth of the culture. The refugees comprised writers, journalists, philosophers, and artists who organized cultural meetings to defend Wuhan. The artistic movements helped organize both the social and political structure of the Chinese. Also, appreciation of the youth and their voices heard. They helped ensure that education was affordable to every child from government officials and wealthy families. The youth were also crucial to the country’s defense from the war of attrition. There is the theme of change in Wuhan through the war since there was modernization, political change, culture, and society.
Bibliography
MacKinnon, Stephen R. Wuhan, 1938: War, Refugees, and the Making of Modern China. Oakland: University of California Press, 2008.
