The World-Historical Significance of China's War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression

After the Pingxingguan victory[1]1 Pingxingguan victory: A battle in late September 1937 in Shanxi Province in which the Eighth Route Army (the CPC-led main force) ambushed and defeated a Japanese transport column, boosting Chinese morale early in the full-scale war., the Eighth Route Army advanced toward the enemy's rear areas.

平型关大捷后，八路军向敌后挺进。

China's War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression was both an important component of the World Anti-Fascist War and a historic contribution to winning that war, possessing great world-historical significance.

中国抗日战争既是世界反法西斯战争的重要组成部分，又为赢得世界反法西斯战争胜利作出了历史性贡献，具有重要的世界历史意义。

China opened the earliest and longest-lasting Eastern Main Battlefield against fascism.

中国开辟了世界上最早的、持续时间最长的反法西斯东方主战场

The fascist states were the chief culprits that provoked the Second World War. In the 1920s and 1930s, fascist forces came to power in Italy, Japan, and Germany, gradually forming war source zones in the East and West. Their aim was to establish a world order under fascist rule and to permanently exploit and enslave the entire world.

法西斯国家是挑起第二次世界大战的罪魁祸首。二十世纪二三十年代，法西斯势力在意大利、日本、德国上台执政，逐步形成东、西方战争策源地。法西斯势力的目标是建立法西斯统治的世界秩序，永久剥削奴役全世界。

On September 18, 1931, Japan launched the September 18th Incident[2]2 September 18th Incident: On September 18, 1931, Japanese troops staged a false explosion on a railway near Mukden (now Shenyang) and used it as a pretext to occupy all of Northeast China, establishing the puppet state of Manchukuo., invading Northeast China. This marked the beginning of its large-scale war of aggression against China and was also the starting point of the localized wars that led to the Second World War. From that point, the Chinese people raised the banner of armed resistance, fired the first shots of the War of Resistance, and pulled back the curtain on the World Anti-Fascist War. The period from the September 18th Incident to the July 7th Incident[3]3 July 7th Incident (also called Marco Polo Bridge Incident): On July 7, 1937, a skirmish near Beijing escalated into full-scale war between Japan and China. was the stage of localized war in China's War of Resistance. During this period, China's resistance manifested mainly in two aspects: first, the Chinese Communist Party (CPC) led anti-Japanese guerrilla warfare in the Northeast; second, the anti-Japanese faction within the Kuomintang waged localized resistance.

1931年9月18日，日本发动侵略中国东北的九一八事变，这是其大规模侵华战争的开端，更是第二次世界大战局部战争的起点。从此，中国人民高举武装抗日的旗帜，打响了抗日战争的第一枪，也拉开了世界反法西斯战争的序幕。从九一八事变至七七事变，是中国抗日战争的局部战争时期。这一时期，中国的抵抗主要表现在两个方面：一是中国共产党在东北领导开展抗日游击战争。二是国民党内抗战派的局部抗战。

China's localized war of resistance was of great significance: it was the first in the world to raise the banner of the anti-fascist war, representing the forward direction of world history; it pioneered worldwide the new form of warfare of using guerrilla warfare to resist fascist aggression, becoming another important form of resistance in the World Anti-Fascist War; and it promoted the eruption of total resistance by the entire nation.

中国的局部抗战意义重大：在世界上首举反法西斯战争的大旗，代表了世界历史的前进方向；在世界上最早创造了以游击战争抗击法西斯侵略的新型战争形式，成为世界反法西斯战争的又一重要抵抗形式；对全民族奋起展开抗战起到了推动作用。

On July 7, 1937, Japan launched its full-scale war of aggression against China. At the critical juncture when the Chinese nation faced survival or extinction, the Kuomintang and the CPC achieved their second cooperation, and soldiers and civilians of the entire nation shared a common hatred of the enemy and rose to resist. The frontal battlefield commanded by the Kuomintang and the enemy-rear battlefield led by the CPC echoed each other, effectively striking at and pinning down the main force of the Japanese army and part of its navy, marking the formal opening of the Eastern Main Battlefield of the World Anti-Fascist War.

1937年7月7日，日本开始全面侵华战争。在中华民族面临生死存亡的紧要关头，国共实现了第二次合作，全国军民同仇敌忾，奋起抵抗。国民党指挥的正面战场和中国共产党领导的敌后战场相互呼应，有效地打击和牵制了日本陆军主力及海军部分兵力，标志着世界反法西斯战争东方主战场的正式开辟。

On the frontal battlefield, during the early stage of the total national war of resistance, the Chinese army tenaciously fought the Japanese forces in the vast areas of North, Central, and South China. In the Battle of Shanghai, the Battle of Tai'erzhuang, and the Battle of Wuhan, the Chinese army repeatedly achieved meritorious feats, heavily damaging the Japanese forces, and the Japanese were forced to shift from a war of quick decision to strategic stalemate. Millions of troops on the frontal battlefield, using the vast territory, confronted the Japanese invading forces in China, pinning down the main force of the Japanese army on the China battlefield, leaving it in a dilemma until its defeat.

在正面战场，全民族抗战初期，中国军队在华北、华中、华南广大地区顽强抗击日军。在淞沪会战、台儿庄战役、武汉会战中，中国军队屡立战功，重创日军，日军被迫从速决战转入战略相持。正面战场数百万大军利用广阔的国土与侵华日军对峙，将日本陆军主力牵制在中国战场，使其进退维谷，直至战败。

On the enemy-rear battlefield, the Eighth Route Army, the New Fourth Army, and other anti-Japanese armed forces led by the CPC successively penetrated the enemy rear areas in North, Central, and South China, establishing anti-Japanese base areas and mobilizing the masses to wage guerrilla warfare. After the Battle of Wuhan in October 1938, the Japanese began shifting the focus of their operations in China from the frontal battlefield to the enemy-rear battlefield, plunging the latter into its most difficult period. However, the anti-Japanese armed forces led by the CPC continuously struck at the Japanese forces with flexible and mobile strategic tactics while strengthening themselves, becoming the mainstay of China's resistance.

在敌后战场，中共领导的八路军、新四军和其他抗日武装，先后深入华北、华中、华南敌后建立抗日根据地，发动群众开展游击战争。1938年10月武汉会战后，日军开始将对华作战重点从正面战场转向敌后战场，使敌后战场进入最困难时期，但中共领导抗日武装以灵活机动的战略战术不断打击日军，壮大自己，成为中国抗战的中流砥柱。

Throughout the eight-year total national war of resistance, China consistently resisted the main force of the Japanese army and part of its navy, truly serving as the Eastern Main Battlefield of the World Anti-Fascist War. Historical facts prove that the China battlefield was the earliest opened, the longest lasting, and the one that ultimately won victory as the Eastern Main Battlefield against fascism.

在长达八年的全民族抗战时期，中国始终抗击着日本陆军主力和海军部分兵力，是名副其实的世界反法西斯战争东方主战场。史实证明，中国战场是开辟时间最早、持续时间最长，并取得最终胜利的反法西斯东方主战场。

China's War of Resistance effectively supported the operations of allied nations such as the Soviet Union, the United States, and Britain.

中国抗战有力地支援了苏、美、英等盟国的作战

With the full outbreak of the Second World War in September 1939, the pace of alliance among anti-fascist nations accelerated. The anti-fascist wars of various countries supported one another. The support of the China battlefield for other world battlefields is mainly manifested in the following:

1939年9月第二次世界大战全面爆发，反法西斯国家联合的步伐加快。各国的反法西斯战争是互相支援的。中国战场对世界其他战场的支援主要表现在：

(I) China's War of Resistance effectively supported the Soviet Union's Great Patriotic War. Attacking northward to take Siberia was a fixed national policy of Japanese fascism. In July 1938 and May 1939, the Japanese army provoked the Soviet army at Zhanggufeng and Nomonhan[4]4 Zhanggufeng and Nomonhan: Two border clashes between Soviet and Japanese forces in 1938 and 1939, respectively, in which Japan was defeated and subsequently avoided attacking the USSR during World War II., respectively, but both ended in failure. Since the main force of the Japanese army was committed to the China battlefield, it was unable to simultaneously wage a war of aggression against the Soviet Union.

（一）中国抗战有力地支援了苏联的卫国战争。北向进攻苏联、占领西伯利亚是日本法西斯的既定国策。1938年7月和1939年5月，日军先后在张鼓峰、诺门坎，向苏军发起挑衅，均以失败告终。日军主力投入到了中国战场，因此无力同时发动侵苏战争。

After the full outbreak of the Second World War, the attention of Britain, France, the United States, and the Soviet Union was focused on Europe. Within Japanese military and political circles, there were repeated proposals to take advantage of the Soviet Union's preoccupation with the West to attack northward, but they failed to reach consensus due to insufficient troop strength. Starting in June 1942, Germany launched the Battle of Stalingrad and repeatedly tried to entice Japan to attack the Soviet Union, but Japan refused on the grounds of insufficient troop strength. It was precisely because the China battlefield resisted and pinned down the main force of the Japanese army that the Soviet Union was spared a two-front attack from Germany and Japan and could concentrate all its efforts on fighting Germany, thereby winning the Great Patriotic War.

第二次世界大战全面爆发后，英、法、美、苏等国的目光都聚焦于欧洲。日本军政界多次提出趁苏联无暇东顾，北向攻苏，均因兵力不足未能达成一致。1942年6月起，德国发动斯大林格勒战役，多次诱迫日本攻苏，均以兵力不足遭拒。正是中国战场抗击和牵制了日本陆军主力，才使苏联免遭德、日东西两面夹击，得以集中全力对德作战而取得卫国战争的胜利。

(II) China's War of Resistance effectively supported the Pacific War of the United States and Britain. Advancing southward was another national policy of Japan. In September 1939, Germany invaded Poland, and in May–June 1940, the German fascists defeated the British and French armies—both provided Japan with opportunities to advance southward. However, because Japan was deeply bogged down in the protracted war in China, it had to postpone the southward advance.

（二）中国抗战有力地支援了美、英的太平洋战争。南进是日本的另一国策。1939年9月德国进攻波兰、1940年5—6月德国法西斯击败英法军队，两次给日本提供南进良机。但日本因深陷于中国持久战中难以自拔，不得不推迟南进。

On December 8, 1941, Japan launched a surprise attack on Pearl Harbor, initiating the Pacific War. However, due to the strong pinning-down effect of the China battlefield, Japan's army strength in the Pacific theater was seriously insufficient. After the initial victories in the Pacific War, the Japanese navy attempted to press on and capture Australia, but the army refused on the grounds of insufficient troops. Instead, the Japanese army urgently hoped to end the war in China as quickly as possible and then use China's human and material resources to stop the U.S. counteroffensive in the Pacific theater. The Japanese army was fighting on multiple fronts and could not attend to all. From September 1942 to January 1943, the Japanese army suffered a heavy defeat in the battle for Guadalcanal in the Pacific theater, was forced into strategic defense, and retreated step by step under the blows of the superior U.S. forces until its final surrender.

日本于1941年12月8日偷袭珍珠港，发动了太平洋战争。但由于中国战场的强力牵制，日本在太平洋战场的陆军兵力严重不足。日本在太平洋战争初战胜利后，海军妄图乘胜攻占澳洲，但陆军以兵力不足予以拒绝。相反，日本陆军迫切希望尽快结束对华战争，进而利用中国的人力、物力资源，以阻止美国在太平洋战场的反攻。日军多线作战，首尾难顾。1942年9月至1943年1月，日军在太平洋战场的瓜达尔卡纳尔岛争夺战中遭受重创，被迫转入战略防御，在美国优势兵力打击下节节败退，直到战败投降。

(III) China's War of Resistance effectively supported the North African and Mediterranean theater of the United States and Britain. In the spring of 1942, the German advance in North Africa prompted Japan to propose a westward offensive plan, attempting to force a decisive battle with Britain in India and thereby compel Britain to surrender. Because the main force of the Japanese army was deeply stuck in the China battlefield, it could only send two divisions into India for operations, and ultimately had to abandon the westward strategy. South Asia, the Middle East, North Africa, and the Mediterranean region were thereby spared the ravages of Japanese fascism.

（三）中国抗战有力地支援了英美的北非地中海战场。1942年春，德军在北非的进展，促使日本提出西进作战计划，企图在印度同英国决战，以迫降英国。由于日本陆军主力深陷中国战场，只能派出2个师团进入印度作战，最终只能放弃西进战略，南亚、中东、北非与地中海地区由此免遭日本法西斯的蹂躏。

(IV) The Chinese army's entry into Burma for combat effectively supported the operations of the British and American allied forces in Burma and Southeast Asia. After the outbreak of the Pacific War, China and Britain quickly signed the *Sino-British Agreement on the Joint Defense of the Burma Road*. In mid-December 1941, the Japanese army launched its offensive in Burma, and the British forces collapsed, with southern Burma falling. In March 1942, China sent two corps of the Expeditionary Force into Burma. Chinese, British, and American allied forces fought together tenaciously and, on January 28, 1945, recovered the entire Burma Road. This restored China's access to foreign aid and, moreover, established a forward base for the allied counteroffensive in Burma and across Southeast Asia.

（四）中国军队入缅作战有力地支援了英美盟军在缅甸和东南亚的作战。太平洋战争爆发后，中英迅速签订《中英共同防御滇缅路协定》。1941年12月中旬，日军发动对缅甸作战，英军溃败，缅南失陷。1942年3月，中国派出远征军2个军进入缅甸，中英美盟军携手艰苦奋战，于1945年1月28日，收复了滇缅公路全线，使中国重获外援之路，更为盟军在缅甸乃至在东南亚的反攻建立了前进基地。

China made important contributions to the construction of a new postwar international order.

中国在战后国际新秩序的构建中作出了重要贡献

China not only effectively supported the operations of the allied nations—the United States, Britain, and the Soviet Union—on various battlefields, but also played an irreplaceable and important role in rebuilding the postwar international order.

中国不仅有力地支援了美英苏盟国在各个战场的作战，而且在重建战后国际新秩序中也发挥了无可替代的重要作用。

First, China's international status rose to that of one of the anti-fascist Big Four. Since the Opium War, every previous Chinese resistance to foreign aggression had ended in defeat, reducing China to a semi-colonial country dominated by multiple powers and completely devoid of international standing. After the start of the War of Resistance, because China had been the earliest to begin and had persistently persisted in the anti-fascist war, it won the respect of all countries, and its great-power status was recognized by the international community. On January 1, 1942, 26 anti-fascist nations headed by the four great powers—China, the United States, Britain, and the Soviet Union—issued the *Declaration by United Nations* (the *Washington Declaration*). China entered the world's top four for the first time, participating in the creation of the United Nations and a series of post-war international institutions, and playing an important role.

其一，中国的国际地位上升到反法西斯四强之一。自鸦片战争始，中国历次反抗外来侵略均以失败告终，沦为受列强共同支配的半殖民地国家，毫无国际地位可言。抗战开始后，中国因最早开始并始终坚持进行反法西斯战争，赢得了世界各国的尊重，中国的大国地位得到国际社会的公认。1942年1月1日，以中、美、英、苏四大国领衔的26个反法西斯国家发表《联合国家宣言》，中国首进世界四强，参与联合国等一系列战后国际体系的创建，并发挥了重要作用。

Second, China actively promoted the establishment of the World Anti-Fascist Alliance, providing a guarantee for victory in the Second World War. China was the first to propose the establishment of an anti-fascist alliance. As early as March 1, 1937, Mao Zedong clearly put forward the CPC's proposition on building an international anti-fascist united front. On April 1, 1938, the Kuomintang also explicitly stated that it would unite all forces opposing Japanese imperialist aggression to stop Japanese aggression and establish and guarantee lasting peace in East Asia. China's initiative to build an international anti-fascist united front was first responded to by the Soviet Union. On August 21, 1937, China and the Soviet Union signed a non-aggression pact, and the Soviet Union began large-scale aid to China's resistance. After the outbreak of the Pacific War in 1941, China immediately declared war on Japan, Germany, and Italy and proposed that the United States, Britain, and the Soviet Union immediately form an alliance with China. On January 1, 1942, with China's active promotion, 26 anti-fascist nations headed by the four great powers—China, the United States, Britain, and the Soviet Union—issued the *Declaration by United Nations*. The World Anti-Fascist Alliance was formally established, providing a guarantee for victory in the anti-fascist war.

其二，中国积极推动世界反法西斯联盟的建立，为二战的胜利提供了保证。中国最早提出建立反法西斯联盟的要求。早在1937年3月1日，毛泽东就明确提出中共关于建立国际反法西斯联盟的主张。1938年4月1日，国民党也明确提出，要联合一切反对日本帝国主义侵略之势力，制止日本侵略，树立并保障东亚之永久和平。中国建立国际反法西斯统一战线的倡议，最先得到苏联的响应。1937年8月21日，中苏签订了互不侵犯条约，苏联开始大规模援华抗日。1941年太平洋战争爆发后，中国立即对日、德、意宣战，并建议美、英、苏立即与中国结盟。1942年1月1日，在中国的积极推动下，以中、美、英、苏四大国为首的26个反法西斯国家发表《联合国家宣言》。世界反法西斯联盟正式宣告建立，为夺取反法西斯战争的胜利提供了保障。

Third, China made significant contributions to the construction of the postwar international order. In the middle and later stages of the anti-fascist war, China began to deliberate and negotiate the establishment of a new postwar order: the creation of the United Nations, international economic organizations, participation in the founding of the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (later renamed the World Bank) and the International Monetary Fund, and the drafting of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade. In this process, China actively spoke up for itself and for weak and small countries, striving to safeguard the interests of weaker nations and achieving some important breakthroughs.

其三，为战后国际秩序的构建作出了重大贡献。在反法西斯战争的中后期，中国便开始酝酿协商建立战后新秩序：创建联合国、创建国际经济组织，参与创建了国际复兴开发银行(后改称世界银行)和国际货币基金组织，拟定了关税与贸易总协定。在此过程中，中国积极为本国及弱小国家发声，努力维护弱小国家的利益，取得了一些重要突破。

China's War of Resistance laid the foundation for the birth of New China.

中国抗战为新中国的诞生奠定了基础

The War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression was the first war of resistance against foreign aggression in modern times in which the Chinese nation achieved complete victory. The key factor enabling China to win this war was the Chinese Communist Party. The CPC always stood at the forefront of the War of Resistance, was the initiator and firm executor of the Chinese united front against Japan, and represented the correct direction for the Chinese nation to seek survival and liberation. After the outbreak of the September 18th Incident, the CPC organized guerrilla warfare in the Northeast, dealing heavy blows to the Japanese Kwantung Army. After the July 7th Incident, under the impetus of the CPC, an anti-Japanese national united front based on Kuomintang–CPC cooperation was established, mobilizing the entire nation to resist Japan. The CPC and the people's armed forces under its leadership advanced into the Japanese rear areas in North, Central, and South China, opened up anti-Japanese base areas, mobilized the masses to wage guerrilla warfare, and created the Chinese enemy-rear battlefield. The CPC's enemy-rear battlefield and the Kuomintang's frontal battlefield echoed each other, jointly fighting the Japanese forces and constituting the Eastern Main Battlefield of the World Anti-Fascist War. After the end of the Battle of Wuhan in 1938, the Japanese army shifted its main forces to the "pacification campaigns" against the CPC's enemy-rear battlefield, rapidly turning the latter into the main battlefield of China's resistance, and the CPC became the mainstay of China's War of Resistance.

抗日战争是近代以来中华民族反抗外来侵略的斗争中第一次取得完全胜利的战争。中国能取得这场战争的胜利，关键因素是有了中国共产党。中国共产党始终站在抗日战争的最前列，是中国抗日民族统一战线的倡导者和坚定的实施者，代表了中华民族求生存、求解放的正确方向。九一八事变爆发后，中共在东北组织抗日游击战争，沉重打击了日本关东军。卢沟桥事变后，在中共推动下，建立了以国共合作为基础的抗日民族统一战线，动员全民族抗日。中共及其领导下的人民武装挺进华北、华中、华南日军后方，开辟抗日根据地，发动群众开展游击战争，开辟了中国抗日的敌后战场。中共敌后战场与国民党正面战场互相呼应，共同抗击日军，构成了世界反法西斯战争的东方主战场。1938年武汉会战结束后，日军将主要兵力用于对中共敌后战场进行的“治安战”，使敌后战场迅速发展成为中国抗日的主要战场，中共成为中国抗日战争的中流砥柱。

The War of Resistance was a touchstone: all classes and all political parties in China had to be tested in this surging national liberation war. The War of Resistance exposed the Kuomintang's autocratic dictatorship, corruption, and incompetence. The various retrogressive acts of the Kuomintang and its government caused it to lose popular support among the people of the whole country, thereby sealing its fate of defeat after the war.

抗日战争是试金石，中国的一切阶级、一切政党都要在这场波澜壮阔的民族解放战争中经受考验。抗日战争暴露了国民党的专制独裁、腐败无能，国民党及其政府的种种倒行逆施，使它在全国人民中大失人心，从而决定了它在战后的失败命运。

During the War of Resistance, the Chinese Communist Party underwent the test of blood and fire and rapidly grew and strengthened while fighting the Japanese army. The CPC's prestige among the people of the whole country increased day by day; it won deep popular support, laying a solid foundation for winning the War of Liberation.

在抗日战争中，中国共产党经受了血与火的考验，在同日军作战中迅速发展壮大。中共在全国人民中威望日增，深得人心，为夺取解放战争的胜利打下了坚实的基础。

The Second World War was a turning point in the mid-20th century, when human history moved from world war toward postwar peace and development. At this pivotal moment in world history, China opened the earliest and longest-lasting Eastern Main Battlefield against fascism, effectively supported the anti-fascist wars of other countries, made important contributions to the establishment of a new postwar international order, laid the foundation for the birth of New China, and wrote a brilliant and magnificent chapter in world history.

第二次世界大战是20世纪中叶人类历史从世界战争走向战后和平与发展的转折点。在世界历史这一重大转折关头，中国开辟了世界上最早、持续时间最长的东方反法西斯主战场，有力地支援了各国的反法西斯战争，为战后国际新秩序的建立作出了重大贡献，为新中国的诞生奠定了基础，在世界历史上书写了浓墨重彩的光辉篇章。

(The author is a senior professor of humanities and social sciences at Wuhan University and former vice-president)

（作者为武汉大学人文社科资深教授、原副校长）

Online editor: Tongxin

网络编辑：同心