“Journalistic War of Resistance” Played an Important Role in the Early Period of the War of Resistance Against Japan

After the September 18th Incident [1]1 The September 18th Incident (1931) was a staged event used by the Japanese Kwantung Army as a pretext to invade and occupy Manchuria, marking the beginning of Japan’s full-scale invasion of China., Japan stepped up its invasion of China. Facing the profound “national calamity” crisis, the anti-Japanese sentiment of the Chinese people grew increasingly high, and spontaneous anti-Japanese patriotic movements erupted in various places. In intellectual circles, voices of “cultural salvation” rose one after another, and the cry of “national salvation” resounded across the land. The news circle, as the vanguard of public opinion, used the propaganda role of the “pen” to strive to build a strong spiritual national defense line.

九一八事变之后，日本加紧侵略中国。面对深重的“国难”危机，中国人民的反日情绪日益高涨，各地爆发了自发的反日爱国运动。在知识界，“文化救国”的声音此起彼伏，“救亡”的呼声响彻大江南北，作为舆论先导的新闻界则利用“笔杆”的宣传作用，努力构筑起强固的精神国防战线。

The News Circle Gathered to Share the National Calamity

新闻界集结共赴国难

Facing the ever-deepening national crisis, the news circle took the initiative to gather together to share the national calamity. On January 1, 1936, the Peiping-Tientsin Journalism Society was established in Peiping [2]2 The Peiping-Tientsin Journalism Society (平津新闻学会) was a professional organization of journalists in Peiping (now Beijing) and Tianjin established in 1936 to promote unity and national salvation.. The manifesto of the convention emphasized that colleagues in the Peiping-Tientsin news circle, placed in a perilous environment, could not but urgently unite, striving together toward the same goal, and made the discussion of how Chinese journalism could “adapt to the urgent needs of the nation and the state today” an important content. It affirmed that, under the principle of “much distress regenerates a nation,” “a severe national calamity is nothing to fear, but if the government does not allow the people to do their utmost to contribute their opinions on saving the nation from extinction, then this country truly faces an irretrievable danger.” It called on the authorities to actively foster the development of the news industry and to “cooperate from top to bottom to break open the current urgent and difficult national fortune.” From May 7 to 9, the Journalism Department of Yenching University held the Fifth Journalism Symposium, with the theme set as “Journalism and the National Calamity,” focusing on the mission the news circle should undertake during the national calamity. Although China’s journalistic strength was still weak at the time, a series of moves by the news circle showed that journalists began to directly link journalism with the national calamity, and, gathering strength, actively explored the path of “saving the nation through journalism” under the new circumstances.

面对日益深重的民族危机，新闻界主动集结起来共赴国难。1936年1月1日，平津新闻学会在北平宣告成立。大会宣言强调，处在险恶环境之下的平津新闻界同仁不能不急起团结，向同一目的协力奋斗，并将研讨中国新闻事业如何“适应现今民族和国家的急需”作为重要内容，认定在多难兴邦的原则之下，“国难严重本没有什么可怕，但若严重而政府尚不许国民尽量贡献其救亡图存的意见，这个国家，才有真万劫不复的危惧”，呼吁当局积极扶植新闻事业发展，“上下合作，打开当前危迫艰难的国运”。5月7—9日，燕京大学新闻学系举行第五届新闻学讨论会，议题确定为“新闻事业与国难”，着重研讨国难时期新闻界应担负的使命。尽管当时中国的新闻力量仍显薄弱，然而新闻界的一系列动向表明新闻人开始将新闻事业与国难直接联系起来，并且集聚力量，在新的形势下积极探索“新闻救国”的道路。

Between August and September 1936, anti-Japanese national salvation incidents erupted spontaneously in Chengdu, Beihai, Hankou, Shanghai, and other places. After the incidents, Japan attempted to use local events to suppress the Chinese people’s anti-Japanese movement and expand its invasion rights and interests. “The tension in the air between China and Japan truly reached an extreme.” Under this situation, the news circle rapidly gathered together. On October 2, more than twenty newspapers in Shanghai and Nanjing issued a joint declaration entitled “Our Common Opinion and Belief in the Tense Situation of Sino-Japanese Relations.” On the one hand, it pointed out the tense situation in Sino-Japanese relations, called on the nation to recognize the severity of the relationship between the two countries, clarify its own responsibility, and urged domestic political parties to eliminate political views and differences, proceed from the overall situation of national survival, and recognize the situation in Sino-Japanese relations. On the other hand, it expressed that the key to whether Sino-Japanese relations can improve lies with Japan, hoping that the Japanese government and public could fully understand the nature of the “Sino-Japanese incident,” handle the tense situation triggered by the “Sino-Japanese incident” with caution from the overall and long-term interests of bilateral relations, and seek the restoration of normal relations between the two countries. The declaration by colleagues in the news circle had a tremendous impact in public opinion circles. According to incomplete statistics, within just over ten days after the declaration, news circles in Guangzhou, Hankou, Peiping, Tianjin, Chengdu, Zhenjiang, Xi’an, Nanchang, Luoyang, Chongqing, Hong Kong, Fuzhou, Henan, Hunan and other places issued telegrams or declarations to warmly respond and support it, forming an influential news circle movement. It can be said that this was a concentrated demonstration of the public opinion influence of the news circle on the eve of the full-scale outbreak of the War of Resistance, and it had an important impact on the concept of “saving the nation through journalism” in the news circle during the War of Resistance.

1936年8—9月期间，成都、北海、汉口和上海等地爆发民众自发反抗日本侵略的抗日救亡事件。事件发生后，日本企图利用地方事件压制中国人民的抗日运动，扩大侵略权益，中日两国“空气之紧张，真是到了极点”。在此局势下，新闻界迅速集聚起来。10月2日，上海、南京两地20多家报纸发表题为《中日关系紧张中吾人之共同意见与信念》的联合宣言，一方面指出中日关系的紧张局势，号召国民认清两国关系的严重性，明确自身的责任，呼吁国内各党派消除政见与分歧，从民族存亡的大处出发，认清中日两国关系的形势；另一方面则表达了中日关系能否改善的关键在于日本，希望日本朝野能够充分认识“中日事件”的性质，从两国关系的大局和长远利益出发，慎重处理“中日事件”引发的紧张局势，谋求两国关系常态的恢复。新闻界同业的宣言在舆论界产生了极大的影响。据不完全统计，宣言发表后的短短十多天内，就有广州、汉口、北平、天津、成都、镇江、西安、南昌、洛阳、重庆、香港、福州、河南、湖南等地的新闻界发表通电或宣言予以热烈响应和支持，形成了颇具影响力的新闻界运动。可以说，这是新闻界在全面抗战爆发前夕舆论影响力的一次集中展示，对抗战时期新闻界“新闻救国”理念产生了重要影响。

Facing the new situation, the Sixth Journalism Symposium of the Journalism Department of Yenching University, held from May 6 to 8, 1937, continued the theme of the fifth symposium, setting the symposium’s theme as “The Mission of Today’s Chinese Press,” exploring from multiple levels the mission of the news circle to the state under the background of national salvation. On June 5, Gu Zhizhong [3]3 Gu Zhizhong (顾执中, 1898–1995) was a prominent Chinese journalist and educator, a founder of the China Young Journalists Association, and an advocate of “saving the nation through journalism.”, feeling that the responsibility was “heavier day by day,” wrote in the “To the Reader” of the inaugural issue of the monthly magazine *Journalist* published in Shanghai, calling on journalists to take up the “sharp tools of war,” bravely shoulder their own responsibilities, mobilize the entire nation to defend the country and protect the home, strive for independence, freedom, and equality, and build a solid fortress for world peace.

面对新形势，1937年5月6—8日举办的燕京大学新闻学系第六届新闻学讨论会延续第五届的主题，将讨论会的主题确定为“今日中国报界的使命”，从多层面探讨救亡背景下新闻界对于国家的使命。6月5日，感受到责任“一天重一天了”的顾执中在上海出版的《新闻记者》月刊创刊号的《致读者》中，号召新闻记者拿起“犀利的战具”，勇敢地担负起自身的责任，发动全民族卫国保家，争取独立自由平等，为世界和平筑就一座坚固的堡垒。

Building the Journalistic Anti-Japanese National United Front

构筑新闻界抗日民族统一战线

After the full-scale outbreak of the War of Resistance, the news circle’s enthusiasm for national salvation grew even higher. Many journalists abandoned their previous comfortable lives, organized wartime work groups and service teams, and, fearing no hardships, penetrated deep into the front lines for interviews and reporting, throwing themselves into national salvation work and vigorously strengthening the propaganda of the War of Resistance. Some journalism scholars also strengthened research on wartime journalism. According to incomplete statistics, in just the two years from 1937 to 1938, there were as many as 15 works directly related to wartime journalism published, including Wang Xinchang’s *The War of Resistance and Journalism*, Ren Baiao’s *News Propaganda During the War of Resistance*, and Ren Biming’s *Wartime Journalism* [4]4 Wang Xinchang (王新常), Ren Baiao (任白涛, 1890–1952), and Ren Biming (任毕明, dates unknown) were Chinese journalism scholars who published works on wartime journalism during the War of Resistance.. It is worth noting that in September 1938, the Zhejiang Provincial Wartime Journalism Society also published the magazine *Wartime Journalist*, which specialized in articles on wartime news business, cheering for the anti-aggression struggle. In addition, countless related articles were published in various periodicals. Journalist groups in various places also quickly took action, denouncing the Japanese invaders’ atrocities, launching fund-raising to comfort frontline soldiers, strengthening contacts with foreign journalists in China, and making due contributions to propaganda work in the early period of the War of Resistance.

全面抗战爆发后，新闻界的救亡热情更加高涨，很多新闻记者舍弃原来安逸的生活，组织战时工作团、服务队，不畏艰险深入前线采访报道，投身到救亡工作之中，大力加强抗战的舆论宣传。一些新闻学者也大力加强对战时新闻学的研究。据不完全统计，仅1937—1938年两年间出版的直接有关战时新闻学的著作就达15种，其中包括王新常的《抗战与新闻事业》、任白涛的《抗战期间的新闻宣传》以及任毕明的《战时新闻学》。值得注意的是，1938年9月浙江省战时新闻学会还出版了《战时记者》杂志，专门刊发有关战时新闻业务的文章，为反侵略斗争摇旗呐喊。除此之外，各种刊物发表的相关文章更是不计其数。各地新闻记者团体也迅速行动起来，声讨日寇的侵略行径，发动募捐慰劳前方将士，加强与外籍在华记者的联络，为抗战初期的宣传工作作出了应有的贡献。

As the war progressed, nationally influential newspapers such as *Ta Kung Pao* and *Shen Bao* [5]5 Ta Kung Pao (《大公报》, “L’Impartial”) and Shen Bao (《申报》, “Shanghai News”) were two of the most influential independent newspapers in Republican China, both relocated to the interior after the outbreak of war. were successively moved to Hankou for publication. A large number of journalists also moved from the coastal areas to the interior. Coupled with the successful founding of the *Xinhua Daily* [6]6 Xinhua Daily (《新华日报》) was the official newspaper of the Chinese Communist Party, first published in Hankou in 1938. in Hankou and the existing newspapers such as *Wuhan Daily* and *Sao Dang Bao* [7]7 Wuhan Daily (《武汉日报》) was a Nationalist Party newspaper; Sao Dang Bao (《扫荡报》) was a military newspaper of the Nationalist government., Wuhan for a time became the news center for national War of Resistance propaganda, with journalists gathering. On March 30, 1938, the China Young Journalists Association (hereinafter referred to as “CYJA”) was established in Wuhan [8]8 The China Young Journalists Association (中国青年新闻记者学会) was a national organization of patriotic journalists under the leadership of the Chinese Communist Party, founded in Wuhan in 1938.. Subsequently, CYJA branches, including those in Yan’an and Hong Kong, were established one after another, forming a vast journalist network circle led by the general association and supported by branches. It called on young journalists across the country to shoulder the tasks of the times during the War of Resistance, to take up their weapon—the pen—to strive for the final victory of the War of Resistance, and it constituted a journalistic united front under the guidance of the Anti-Japanese National United Front. It not only united young journalists across the country but also supported the journalistic work during the War of Resistance.

随着战争的进行，具有全国影响力的《大公报》《申报》等报纸先后迁到汉口出版，大批新闻从业者也由沿海向内地转移，再加上《新华日报》在汉口的成功创办以及原有的《武汉日报》《扫荡报》等报纸，武汉一时成为全国抗战宣传的新闻中心，新闻记者云集。1938年3月30日，中国青年新闻记者学会（以下简称“青记”）在武汉宣告成立，随后包括延安、香港分会在内的各地青记分会纷纷成立，形成了以总会为引领、分会为依托的庞大新闻记者网络圈层，号召全国青年新闻记者肩负起抗战中的时代任务,拿起手中的武器——笔杆来争取抗战的最后胜利，构成了抗日民族统一战线指导下的新闻统一战线，不但团结了全国的青年新闻记者，而且支撑起了抗战中的新闻工作。

CYJA Actions Inspired the People

“青记”行动鼓舞人心

In order to strengthen confidence in victory in the War of Resistance, boost morale, and also to solve the difficulties of wartime news dissemination and strengthen journalistic work during the war, CYJA specially organized wartime interview teams, penetrating deep into the front lines of various war zones, disseminating the latest news of the War of Resistance to the Chinese people and the international community, using their interviews to expose the enemy’s aggressive acts. This constituted important activities of CYJA in the anti-aggression movement. CYJA also relied on its organizational bodies to hold various forms of welcome parties and farewell parties. On the one hand, it expressed condolences and welcome to war correspondents who had escaped danger from the front lines, sharing their escape experiences and interview experiences; on the other hand, it bid farewell to and encouraged war correspondents about to depart for the front lines, making CYJA the “home” of journalists from all over. Such occasions, due to the prominence of the country’s main tasks, actually became “pledge rallies” for war correspondents before their departure.

为了坚定抗战胜利信心，鼓舞抗战士气，同时也是为了解决战时新闻传播的困难，加强抗战时期的新闻工作，青记专门组织了战时采访团，深入各战区最前线，将抗战的最新消息向中国民众和国际社会传播，用自己的采访揭露敌人的侵略行为，而这也构成了青记在反侵略运动中的重要活动。青记还依托团体组织举行各种形式的欢迎会、欢送会，一方面对前线脱险归来的战地记者表示慰问和欢迎，分享脱险经历与采访经验；另一方面对即将开赴前线的战地记者表示道别和鼓励，使青记成为各地新闻记者的“家”，这样的场合也因国家主要任务的凸显，实际上成为战地记者临行前的“誓师大会”。

The “Journalist Symposium,” an important form of strengthening member contacts and serving wartime journalistic work, became a distinctive activity of CYJA. At the beginning of 1938, at the “Journalist Symposium” with the theme “The Work That Journalists Should Undertake During the War of Resistance,” the executive council member of CYJA, Fan Changjiang [9]9 Fan Changjiang (范长江, 1909–1970) was a famous Chinese journalist, a founder of the China Young Journalists Association, and later a senior official in the Chinese Communist Party’s propaganda system., specifically pointed out that journalists during the War of Resistance should establish the principle of “national interests above all else,” and that the selection of news materials should “use this as the standard.” He emphasized that CYJA, as an organization gathering young journalists, “should even more stress this principle.” Honorary council member of CYJA, Jin Zhonghua [10]10 Jin Zhonghua (金仲华, 1907–1968) was a Chinese journalist, editor, and international affairs commentator, active in the wartime united front., also emphasized that journalists “must take national liberation as the greatest goal and resisting Japan to save the nation as the main work.” It was through this special form of symposium that not only were journalists from various places gathered, but also the War of Resistance strength of the news circle was consolidated.

作为加强会员联络、服务抗战新闻工作重要形式的“记者座谈会”成为青记别具特色的活动。1938年初，在以“抗战中新闻记者应有的工作”为主题的“记者座谈会”上，该会常务理事范长江就特别指出，抗战时期的新闻记者应树立“民族利益高于一切”的原则，新闻材料的选择要“以此作标准”，作为青年记者集合的青记这个组织“更应强调这原则”。该会名誉理事金仲华也强调新闻记者“必须以民族解放作为最大的目标，以抗战救亡作为主要的工作”。正是以这种特殊的座谈形式，不仅集聚了各地的新闻记者，而且也凝聚了新闻界的抗战力量。

Furthermore, facing the unprecedented national crisis, CYJA specially founded the magazine *Journalist* as its journal. Combining the tasks of different stages of the War of Resistance, the journal successively organized special issues on reconstruction during the War of Resistance, frontline news work, wartime news policy, and frontline newspaper issues. It published a large number of articles resisting aggression and upholding the “journalistic war of resistance,” emphasizing that journalists “are a propaganda, educational, and organizational combat force within the extremely broad Anti-Japanese National United Front,” calling for “unity, is strength!” It urged “every news warrior on the frontline of the War of Resistance to give fuller play to combat effectiveness and increase the strength of the War of Resistance.” It even proposed establishing a National Anti-Enemy Journalists Association, calling on “national journalists and even broadly the newspaper people, unite, join hands together, and strive for the sacred cause of the War of Resistance and national reconstruction!” These words, imbued with the belief in “saving the nation through journalism,” not only inspired the confidence of journalists across the country in the War of Resistance but also further strengthened wartime journalistic work, becoming a major public opinion position for the “journalistic war of resistance.” At the critical moment of the nation’s and the people’s survival, the news circle took the initiative to take up the pen as a weapon against aggression, adhered to the common stand of “national interests above all else,” launched a relentless counterattack against the enemy, and built a spiritual national defense line for the War of Resistance. It played an irreplaceable and special role in “saving the nation through journalism” and even in strengthening the faith of the entire nation in the War of Resistance. It can truly be said that it built a journalistic national defense line to defend the country and protect the home.

此外，面临空前的民族危难，青记还专门创办《新闻记者》杂志作为会刊。该刊结合抗战不同阶段的任务先后组织了抗战建国特辑、战地新闻工作特辑、战时新闻政策特辑以及战地报纸问题特辑，刊发了大量反抗侵略、坚持“新闻抗战”的文章，强调新闻记者“是极广泛的抗日民族统一战线中的一支宣传、组织与教育的战斗力量”，呼吁“团结，便是力量！”号召在抗战火线上的“每一个新闻战士，更大的发挥战斗效能，增加抗战力量”，甚至还提出建立全国抗敌记者协会，号召“全国新闻记者乃至广义的报人们，团结起来，共同携手，努力抗战建国的神圣事业！”这些凝聚着“新闻救国”信念的话语，既激励着全国新闻记者的抗战信心，又进一步加强了战时的新闻工作，成为“新闻抗战”的一大舆论阵地。在国家民族危亡的关头，新闻界主动拿起手中的笔杆作为反侵略的武器，坚持“民族利益高于一切”的共同立场，向敌人作无情的反击，构筑了抗战的精神国防战线，对“新闻救国”乃至于坚定全国民众的抗战信念都发挥了无可替代的特殊作用，可以说真正构筑了一条保家卫国的新闻国防战线。

In summary, in the history of the War of Resistance Against Japan, the news circle played an important and special role. Journalists not only adhered to the duty of news reporting, but also actively shouldered the era mission of “saving the nation through journalism” at the critical juncture of the national crisis, writing the rallying call of public opinion propaganda in the history of China’s War of Resistance Against Japan, and making indelible contributions to the War of Resistance.

总之，在抗日战争史上，新闻界发挥着重要且特殊的作用。新闻记者不仅恪守着新闻报道的职责，而且在国难危机的重要关头主动肩负起了“新闻救国”的时代使命，书写了中国抗日战争史上的舆论宣传集结号，为抗战作出了不可磨灭的贡献。

(The author is a researcher at the Institute of CPC History and Party Building, Henan Normal University)

（作者系河南师范大学中共党史党建研究院研究员）

Online editor: Tongxin

网络编辑：同心