Inside China Today

Series

Series Name

The March of Time 10th Year

Issue

Issue No.

7

Date Released

26 Feb 1945

Length of issue (in feet)

1587

Stories in this Issue:

1. 1Inside China Today

Story

Story No. within this Issue

1 / 1

Summary

The March of Time synopsis: Leader of China throughout eighteen years of troubled national life, Presidnt Chiang Kai-shek, has sought to preserve his nation’s future and the principles laid down by Sun Yat Sen, by which it was hoped that China would become united, independent and democratic. But, in 1931, Japan began a series of conquests which by 1943 had conquered much and blockaded all of China. While waiting for international support, Free China fought alone, in the face of defeat after defeat, with an army so poorly equipped that shoes were an unheard of luxury on the long forced marches and in many divisions there was but one rifle for every ten men. In spite of the Japanese blockade, which has caused inflation, fostered graft and lowered morale, Free China has managed to keep her two hundred and fifty million people united in their determination to preserve their own national existence.

Forced inland to avoid the barbarity of the Japanese invader, many Chinese peasants, working with modern machinery, are adding to the supply of skilled manpower but, although they are mastering the techniques of the Western World, the industrial establishment upon which their war effort depends is still pitifully meagre. A further handicap is the lack of modern transportation, for her roads only total fifty thousand miles and her railways less than a thousand, but in spite of the war, this mileage is being slowly and doggedly rebuilt and extended. Free China is governed by one political party, the Kuomintang, and though its dictatorship, it believes, has been necessary under the pressure of war, the Committee regards itself as the trustee of China’s democratic future and has promised to put a new constitution into effect after the war’s end. Responsible for the difficult task of waging war is the Supreme National Defence Council which, in addition to lacking supplies and transport facilities, and plagued by inefficiency and graft in the battle against Japan, also faces the problem of the Chinese Communists. In the North, thousands of square miles of territory and some eighty million people are controlled, in defiance of the Kuomintang, by Mao Tsetung and his Communist armies of some half million troops, many of them tough, veteran fighters. Lacking equipment, they have been able to fight the Japanese with only partial effectiveness but being a powerful cohesive force, they have come to rule the people in their own areas with an iron hand. Organized as a separate Government, a state within a state, they have their own money, their own printing plants and their own press, but they allow no word against their regime to see print and freedom of speech in the Communist areas is even more restricted than it is in Chungking. That the split between China’s communists and the Kuomintang Government has hampered the fight against the Japanese, has long been obvious, and hopes were high in the democratic world when the news went out, in late 1944, that the Communists and the Chungking government had re-opened negotiations and might come to an understanding. China’s future constitutional republic is based on local government in her two thousands counties or Hsiens, and in two years the National Government has developed the reformed Hsien system in eighty per cent of the total area of Free China. Through these Hsiens it is hoped to spread throughout China a practical experience of modern democratic methods, and to that end the Chinese people are working and fighting. Even among the coolies there is a growing understanding of China’s destiny and a strong-hearted faith in the ultimate freedom of the nation from oppression and aggression.

Researcher Comments

This story was included in Vol.11 No.4 of the US edition.

Keywords

Politics and government

Written sources

The March of Time Promotional Material   Lobby Card, Used for synopsis

Credits:

Production Co.

Time Inc.