War and Nationalism in China: 1925-1945

Routledge Studies in the Modern History of Asia

by Hans van de Ven

In 1937, the Nationalists under Chiang Kaishek were leading the Chinese war effort against Japan and were lauded in the West for their efforts to transform China into an independent and modern nation; yet this image was quickly tarnished. The Nationalists were soon denounced as militarily incompetent, corrupt, and antidemocratic and Chiang Kaishek, the same.

In this book, van de Ven investigates the myths and truths of Nationalist resistance including issues such War and Nationalism in China offers a major new interpretation of the Chinese Nationalists, placing their war of resistance against Japan in the context of their prolonged efforts to establish control over their own country and providing a critical reassessment of Allied Warfare in the region. This groundbreaking volume will interest students and researchers of Chinese History and Warfare.

Genres: History, China, Japan, Nonfiction, War

392 pages, Hardcover

First published June 12, 2003

About the author

Johan 'Hans' van de Ven is an authority on the history of 19th and 20th century China. He holds several positions at the University of Cambridge, where he is Professor of Modern Chinese History, Director in Asian and Middle Eastern Studies at St Catharine's College and previously served as Chair of the Faculty of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies. He studied sinology at Leiden University. Then, after studying with Susan Naquin at the University of Pennsylvania for a period of time, he moved to Harvard University, where he studied modern Chinese history under Philip Kuhn and received his PhD.

Van de Ven has particularly focused on the history of the Chinese Communist Party, Chinese warfare, the Chinese Maritime Customs Service and the history of globalization in modern China.

Van de Ven is a guest professor at the History Department of Nanjing University and was an International Fellow at the Hopkins-Nanjing Center, China, in 2005–06. In 2019, he was appointed as an honorary visiting professor at the Institute of Humanities and Social Sciences at Peking University.

He was awarded the Philip Lilienthal Prize of the University of California Press for best first book in Asian Studies for his book on the founding of the Chinese Communist Party in 1991 and the Society for Military History 2012 Book Prize for non-US work for the book The Battle for China, which he edited along with Mark Peattie and Edward Drea.

Van de Ven is married to Susan Kerr. They have three sons—Johan, Derek and Willem. His wife's father was the late Malcolm H. Kerr, political scientist and President of the American University of Beirut, who was assassinated in January 1984. She wrote a book about her family's quest for truth and justice. Van de Ven is the brother-in-law of Steve Kerr, coach of the Golden State Warriors, former Arizona Wildcats and Chicago Bulls player.

Reviews

[James Yu]

Like a Gobstopper candy, Van de Ven’s book is tasty but hard to swallow. Nobody can deny this is an incredible book on certain aspects of the history of Republican China in the English language but dear lord the density of its content is incomparable.

Read it, understand it, don’t read it again.

[Lizzie]

Van de Ven aims at several correctives in this deeply researched history of Nationalist (KMT) competition with other Chinese factions and mobilization for war with Japan. First, he wants to write over the 'Vinegar Joe' Stilwell narrative and its many children, which argue that the KMT failed to prosecute the war with Japan effectively due to incompetence, corruption, and the prioritization of its competition the Communists and other rivals. Second, he wants to document the parameters that shaped and constrained KMT prosecution of the War of Resistance, including 1) the difficulty of directing a coalition of effectively independent regional and ideological militias, and, 2) the fiscal crisis and collapse of logistics that hurt the KMT and affiliates after 1941. Finally, he shows how KMT strategy was intimately twined with geopolitics, including the possibility of playing the Soviets and Japanese off one another and the need to sustain relations with Britain and the United States despite minimal short-term prospects of either being an effective ally against Japan at the start of the war.

This work, in delving into the complexity of Chinese militia politics, captures the fluidity of power and control at this time. Under different conditions, the Nationalists might have come to a different end, but such is true of the CCP and a number of temporary regional coalitions such as the Northwest Alliance as well. Years of total war against foreign occupiers destroyed Chinese infrastructure, social cohesion, and the military bases of previously dominant power players. International assistance to the KMT was minimal and designed more to keep China in the fight than to help it actually succeed. Van de Ven explains how and why the KMT was left in a very poor strategic position vis a vis other competitors, especially the CCP, in 1945 after the Japanese surrender.

[KATIE MEYERS]

War and Nationalism in China: 1925–1945 is an impressive work of historical scholarship that offers readers a deeper and more nuanced understanding of China's struggle during one of the most turbulent periods in its history. Hans van de Ven presents a carefully researched analysis that challenges conventional interpretations while remaining balanced and accessible.

One of the book's greatest strengths is its examination of the Chinese Nationalists and their role in the war against Japan. Rather than relying on familiar narratives, the author explores the political, military, and social realities that shaped China's resistance effort, providing readers with a richer and more comprehensive perspective on the period.

The discussion of Chiang Kai-shek, Allied strategy, and the broader international dimensions of the conflict is particularly insightful. By connecting events within China to developments across Asia and the wider world, the book demonstrates how deeply intertwined global and regional history can be.

The research is thorough, the analysis is thoughtful, and the arguments are presented with clarity and intellectual rigor. Readers interested in military history, modern China, international relations, or the Second World War will find much to appreciate in this work.

More than a history of war, this book is an exploration of nationalism, state-building, leadership, and the challenges of political transformation during a time of crisis. It is an important contribution to the field and a valuable resource for anyone seeking a deeper understanding of modern Chinese history.

[Andrew Daniels]

dry like paste
author seems to hate punctuation
often feels like reading a series of telegrams