Constructing the Memory of China’s War of Resistance in Global War History

The Chinese People’s War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression is perhaps still the least understood dimension of the Second World War in the Western world, and there are multiple reasons for this. First, this war has not received the attention it deserves in Western countries. Second, most of the relevant materials are primarily in Chinese or Japanese, and these two languages are still relatively little studied in Europe and the Americas, making access to related sources quite difficult.

中国人民抗日战争，或许仍是第二次世界大战中西方世界了解最少的一个侧面，这有多方面的原因。首先，这场战争在西方国家没有受到应有的重视。其次，相关资料大多以中文或日文为主，而这两种语言在欧美地区仍然较少被学习，获取相关材料也颇为困难。

In recent years, however, this situation has improved. Western academic attention to this war history has gradually increased. Beginning in the 1990s, important scholars such as Harvard University Professor Ezra Vogel promoted cooperation among Chinese, Japanese, and Western scholars to jointly explore the history and impact of this war. Several Western scholars, including Stephen MacKinnon, have also published important works on China’s wartime experience.

不过，近年来这一状况有所改善。西方学术界对这段战争历史的关注逐渐增多。从20世纪90年代开始，哈佛大学教授傅高义（Ezra Vogel）等重要学者推动中、日和西方学者携手合作，共同探讨这场战争的历史和影响。史蒂芬·麦金农（Stephen MacKinnon）等多位西方学者也相继发表了关于中国战时经历的重要著作。

I myself published *Forgotten Ally: China’s World War II, 1937–1945* in 2013, hoping to present the political and social history of China during the Second World War to Western readers. It is my great honor that the Chinese edition of this book has attracted a certain degree of attention and has been regarded by many scholars as an important supplement to the field of War of Resistance studies.

我本人于2013年出版了《中国，被遗忘的盟友——西方人眼中的抗日战争全史》（Forgotten Ally: China’s World War II 1937—1945），希望为西方读者呈现二战期间中国的政治和社会历史。非常荣幸这本书的中文版获得了一定关注，也被不少学者视为抗战研究领域的重要补充。

Over the past decade, more important works focusing on the War of Resistance have emerged in Western academia. One significant trend is to place the War of Resistance within a global historical perspective, emphasizing its position in the global landscape while comparing it with the experiences of other countries. One of the most influential works of the past decade is by British historian Hans van de Ven. I was a doctoral student under Professor van de Ven and have benefited for many years from his highly innovative interpretations of the War of Resistance period.

过去十年间，西方学术界涌现出更多聚焦抗战方面的重要著作。其中一个重要趋势是将抗战置于全球史的视野中，强调这场战争在全球格局中的地位，同时与其他国家的经历进行比较。过去十年最具影响力的作品之一，是英国历史学家方德万（Hans van de Ven）的作品。我曾是方德万教授的博士生，多年来一直受益于他对抗战时期极具创新性的解读。

We hope that research on the War of Resistance will continue to maintain vigorous vitality and academic dynamism in the future. Important Chinese academic journals, such as *The Journal of Studies of China’s Resistance War against Japan*, publish a large number of in-depth research results based on archives and library materials. However, for readers who do not know Chinese, these studies remain difficult to access and understand. In the future, how to make these academic achievements more widely understood and applied by the global academic community will become an important issue that urgently needs to be addressed.

我们希望，抗战研究在未来继续保持旺盛的生命力和学术活力。中国的重要学术期刊，如《抗日战争研究》发表大量基于档案和图书馆资料的深入研究成果。然而，对于不懂中文的读者来说，这些研究仍较难获取和理解。未来，如何让这些学术成果更广泛地被全球学术界理解和应用，将成为一个亟须解决的重要课题。

New research directions can also turn from the war period itself to the postwar period. Over the years, research on European postwar reconstruction has been rich in results, with a large number of important books and articles discussing the reconstruction process in Eastern and Western Europe in detail. By contrast, research on postwar Asia has generally been relatively weak. Postwar Japanese studies are relatively abundant, mainly thanks to the opening of relevant materials and the accessibility of archives since the 1950s.

新的研究方向也可从战争时期本身转向战后时期。多年来，欧洲战后重建的研究成果丰富，涌现了大量重要书籍和文章，详细论述了东西欧的重建历程。相比之下，亚洲战后研究总体较为薄弱。战后日本研究相对丰富，主要得益于自20世纪50年代以来相关资料的开放和档案的可及性。

However, in recent years there have been more signs of opening up, and academia has begun to pay attention to some important issues that emerged after the Allied forces finally secured victory in Asia in 1945. For example, scholars have become increasingly interested in the international institutions established after World War II that profoundly influenced the fate of China and even Asia and the world. One important institution founded at the end of World War II was the United Nations. In US President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s conception of the postwar world order, China played a key role. His theory of the “Four Policemen” envisioned a body resembling a world council composed of the United States, Britain, the Soviet Union, and China to jointly maintain global peace. To this day, the United Nations remains the core of the international order established in 1945. In recent years, understanding the historical origins of China’s participation in the United Nations has become increasingly important.

不过，近年来出现了更多开放的迹象，学术界开始关注1945年盟军最终确保亚洲胜利后涌现的一些重要议题。例如，学者们对二战后成立并深刻影响中国乃至亚洲及全球命运的国际机构研究兴趣日益浓厚。二战末期成立的一个重要机构是联合国。在美国总统罗斯福关于战后世界秩序的构想中，中国扮演着关键角色。他提出的“四大警察”理论，设想由美、英、苏、中四国组成一个类似世界理事会的机构，共同维护全球和平。时至今日，联合国依旧是1945年建立的国际秩序的核心。近年来，理解中国参与联合国的历史渊源变得愈发重要。

Although the history of China’s War of Resistance has not yet been fully integrated into the West’s overall understanding of global war, research has increased significantly compared with ten years ago. Comparative social history is likely to become an important direction for future historiography. Understanding China’s experience in the War of Resistance is not only of great significance to Chinese academia but should also be known to the world at large. Therefore, relevant academic research should further explore the uniqueness of China’s experience while clarifying its commonalities with other parts of the world.

尽管中国的抗战历史尚未完全融入西方对全球战争的整体认知，但与十年前相比，相关研究已显著增多。比较社会史有望成为未来史学发展的重要方向。理解中国的抗战经验不仅对中国学术界具有重要意义，也应为全球所共知。因此，相关学术研究应进一步探讨中国经验的独特性，同时厘清其与世界其他地区的共通点。

(The author is a British historian and professor at Harvard Kennedy School.)

（作者系英国历史学家、哈佛大学肯尼迪学院教授）

Online editor: Tongxin

网络编辑：同心