The World Significance of the Chinese People's War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression

The Chinese People's War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression was an important part of the World Anti-Fascist War, and the China theater was the Eastern Main Battlefield of the World Anti-Fascist War. At the cost of enormous national sacrifice, the Chinese people played a vital role in the victory of the World Anti-Fascist War and made an indelible historical contribution to the cause of human justice. General Secretary Xi Jinping has profoundly pointed out: "From the very start, the Chinese People's War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression had the great significance of saving human civilization and defending world peace."

中国人民抗日战争是世界反法西斯战争的重要组成部分，中国战场是世界反法西斯战争的东方主战场。中国人民以巨大的民族牺牲，对世界反法西斯战争的胜利发挥了至关重要的作用，为人类正义事业作出了不可磨灭的历史贡献。习近平总书记深刻指出：“中国人民抗日战争，从一开始就具有拯救人类文明、保卫世界和平的重大意义。”

The historical starting point and strategic fulcrum of the World Anti-Fascist War

世界反法西斯战争的历史起点和战略支点

With the deepening and broad influence of the global historical perspective in the study of the Second World War, the China theater, as the Eastern Main Battlefield of the World Anti-Fascist War, has gained increasingly extensive recognition and attention from international academia. Miao Kexiu, a scholar of Chinese history at the US Naval War College, emphasized in his work *The Crucial Stage of the China Theater: The War of Resistance (1937–1938)*: "China's War of Resistance erupted earlier than the war in Europe and lasted until Japan's surrender several months after the end of hostilities in Europe. The significance of this protracted war between China and Japan cannot be overstated." Andrew Buchanan, a historian at the University of Vermont, explicitly stated in *The Second World War in Global Perspective (1931–1953)*: "China waged a long and resilient War of Resistance, the origins of which can be traced back to 1931. It unfolded fully in 1937 and continued until the victory in the Pacific War in 1945. This 14-year-long resistance fundamentally gives China an indisputable core position in the entire Second World War." When examining the course of the Second World War from a global historical perspective, the unique strategic value of the China theater as the Eastern Main Battlefield and the world significance it contains become increasingly clear and prominent.

随着全球史观在第二次世界大战研究领域的不断深化与广泛影响，中国战场作为世界反法西斯战争的东方主战场，日益获得国际学术界更为广泛的认可与重视。美国海军战争学院中国史研究专家苗可秀在《中国战区的关键阶段：抗日战争（1937—1938）》一文中强调：“中国的抗战早于欧洲爆发，持续至欧洲战事结束数月后日本投降。中日之间这场旷日持久的战争，其意义无论如何强调都不为过。”美国佛蒙特大学历史学者安德鲁·布坎南在《全球视野下的第二次世界大战（1931—1953）》中明确阐述：“中国进行的是一场漫长而坚韧的抗战，其起点可追溯至1931年，并在1937年全面展开，一直持续到1945年太平洋战争胜利结束。这场持续14年的抵抗，从根本上赋予了中国在整个第二次世界大战中无可争议的核心地位。”在全球史视野下审视第二次世界大战的进程，中国战场作为东方主战场的独特战略价值及其蕴含的世界意义愈发清晰和突显。

In recent years, Western historiography has increasingly come to recognize that the China theater is fundamentally significant in defining the starting point of the World Anti-Fascist War. Taking the Mukden Incident [1]1 The Mukden Incident (September 18, 1931) was a staged event by the Japanese Kwantung Army that destroyed a section of railway near Shenyang (Mukden) and blamed Chinese troops, providing a pretext for the invasion of Northeast China. It is widely regarded by many historians as the start of the Second World War in Asia. in 1931 as the beginning of this global war is gradually becoming an important academic consensus in reconstructing the time frame of the Second World War. Teddy Ulricksen, a US scholar of Second World War history at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, offers profound insights on this point. In his book *The Second World War: A Global History*, he argues that the traditional timeline of the Second World War (usually 1939–1945) "is no longer suitable for a complete understanding of this global conflict" and that "the roots and origins of this unprecedented conflict can be traced back at least to Japan's invasion of Northeast China in 1931." Taking the Mukden Incident as the starting point of the Second World War is not only a full respect for and affirmation of the great historical fact that the Chinese people were the first to raise the banner of resistance against fascist aggression and to wage a heroic struggle; it also allows for a comprehensive and accurate reflection of the global, complex, and protracted nature of the Second World War itself.

近年来，西方史学界愈发清晰地认识到，中国战场对于界定世界反法西斯战争的起始节点具有根本性意义。以1931年九一八事变作为这场全球性战争的开端，正逐渐成为重构二战时间框架的重要学术共识。美国二战史研究专家、内华达大学拉斯维加斯分校泰迪·乌尔德里克斯对此有深刻洞见，他在《第二次世界大战：一部全球史》中提出，传统的二战时间线（通常指1939—1945年）“已不再适用于对这场全球冲突的完整理解”“这场规模空前的冲突，其根源与开端至少可以追溯至1931年日本对中国东北的侵略”。将九一八事变作为第二次世界大战的起点，不仅是对中国人民率先举起反法西斯侵略旗帜、进行英勇抵抗这一伟大历史事实的充分尊重与肯定，而且能够全面、准确地反映第二次世界大战本身所具有的全球性、复杂性和长期性。

The protracted War of Resistance in the China theater became the strategic fulcrum of the global war situation. Many Western scholars believe that the prolonged resistance in the China theater firmly pinned down the main forces of the Japanese army and fundamentally altered the strategic layout and development trajectory of the World Anti-Fascist War. Ronald Spector, a renowned military historian at George Washington University, argued in his article *The Sino-Japanese War in a World Historical Context*: "The fact that China remained unbowed in the war against Japan was itself the greatest political and spiritual contribution to the Allies." Rana Mitter, a scholar of the history of China's War of Resistance at Oxford University, wrote in his book *China, the Forgotten Ally: The Complete History of the Sino-Japanese War as Seen by the West*: On the military level, the China theater was the fourth pillar supporting the strategic structure of the Allies. The sustained defense and local counteroffensives in the China theater between 1942 and 1944, especially the resistance against the Japanese "Operation Ichigo" [2]2 Operation Ichigo was a large-scale Japanese offensive launched in 1944 to establish a land corridor from Northeast China to Vietnam and to destroy US air bases in southwest China., successfully pinned down large numbers of main Japanese forces, preventing them from supporting the Pacific theater, and played a significant supporting role in the Allied operations in Normandy and the Southwest Pacific.

中国战场的持久抗战成为全球战局的战略支点。不少西方学者认为，中国战场以其旷日持久的抵抗牢牢地牵制了日本陆军的主力部队，从根本上改变了世界反法西斯战争的战略布局与发展走势。美国乔治·华盛顿大学的著名军事史学家罗纳德·斯佩克特在《世界历史背景下的中日战争》一文中提出：“中国在对日战争中保持不倒，这本身就是对盟军在政治和精神上的最大贡献。”英国牛津大学中国抗战史研究专家拉纳·米特在《中国，被遗忘的盟友——西方人眼中的抗日战争全史》一书中提出，在军事层面上，中国战场是支撑盟军战略格局的第四根支柱，1942—1944年间中国战场上的持久防御与局部反攻，尤其是对日军“一号作战”的抗击，成功牵制了大量日军主力，使其无法支援太平洋战区，对盟军在诺曼底与西南太平洋的行动具有重要支撑作用。

As a strong strategic fulcrum in the World Anti-Fascist War, the China theater not only consumed and weakened Japan's war power and slowed the pace of Japan's aggression, but also powerfully supported the Allies' global counteroffensive strategy at critical moments, laying a solid Eastern cornerstone for the eventual defeat of the Fascist Axis powers.

中国战场作为世界反法西斯战争中一个坚强的战略支点，不仅消耗和削弱了日本的战争实力，减缓了日军的侵略步伐，更在关键时刻有力地支撑了盟军的全球反攻战略，为最终战胜法西斯轴心国奠定了坚实的东方基石。

Promoting the establishment of the anti-fascist alliance and the reconstruction of the post-war order

推动反法西斯同盟建立与战后秩序重构

As an important part of the World Anti-Fascist War, the Chinese People's War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression not only defended the nation's right to survival but also, in the strategic role of one of the Big Four among the Allies [3]3 During the Second World War, China, along with the United States, the United Kingdom, and the Soviet Union, was recognized as one of the "Big Four" Allied powers, playing a leading role in the strategic direction of the war., reshaped the cooperation model of the world anti-fascist forces. International academia has gradually come to recognize that China, through the global radiation of key campaigns, strategic leadership in the China-Burma-India theater, practical contributions in humanitarian aid, and institutional contributions to the post-war order, injected irreplaceable spiritual cohesion and strategic momentum into the Allies, profoundly influencing the course of the war and the reconstruction of the post-war international system.

中国人民抗日战争作为世界反法西斯战争的重要组成部分，不仅捍卫了民族生存权，更以同盟国四强之一的战略角色，重塑了世界反法西斯力量的协作模式。国际学术界逐渐认识到，中国通过关键战役的全球性辐射、中缅印战场的战略主导、人道救援的文明实践以及对战后秩序的制度性贡献，为同盟国注入了不可替代的精神凝聚力与战略动能，深刻影响了战争进程与战后国际体系的重构。

Key campaigns in the China theater affected the overall situation of the World Anti-Fascist War. The major campaign operations in the China theater had impacts that far exceeded geographic boundaries and directly influenced the global war situation. Recent research in Western academia shows that China's containment of Axis expansion was of critical significance. Peter Harmsen, a Danish journalist, argued in his book *Shanghai 1937* that the Battle of Shanghai [4]4 The Battle of Shanghai (August–November 1937) was a major campaign of the Second Sino-Japanese War, in which Chinese forces defended Shanghai against Japanese invasion. It was one of the largest and bloodiest battles of the early war. "gave birth to a new form of warfare," was "the rehearsal for the Second World War," and was "a key event that shaped the modern world." The key campaigns in the China theater fully demonstrated the world significance of China's War of Resistance and displayed the strategic position of the Eastern Main Battlefield in the entire Second World War.

中国战场的关键战役影响世界反法西斯战争全局。中国战场上的重大战役行动，其影响远超出地域范围，直接牵动全球战局。西方学术界近年的研究显示，中国战场对轴心国扩张的遏制具有关键性意义。丹麦记者何铭生在《上海1937》一书中认为，淞沪会战“催生了新的战争形式”，是“第二次世界大战的彩排”，是“塑造现代世界的关键事件”。中国战场上的关键战役充分展现了中国抗战的世界性意义，展示出东方主战场在整个二战中的战略地位。

China's dispatch of troops to the China-Burma-India theater formed a powerful strategic support for the World Anti-Fascist War and injected a crucial geopolitical force into the anti-fascist alliance. The Chinese Expeditionary Force's [5]5 The Chinese Expeditionary Force was the Chinese army sent to fight alongside Allied forces in Burma and India from 1942 to 1945, tasked with protecting the Burma Road and supporting the Allied campaign against Japan. Yunnan-Burma campaign was one of the few multinational coordinated operations led by an Asian country during the Second World War, and its strategic value profoundly reshaped the global layout of the Allies. Rana Mitter argued that the Chinese Expeditionary Force tied down elite Japanese forces in Burma, forcing the Japanese army to abandon plans to reinforce the Pacific theater. Joseph Stilwell, who served as Chief of Staff of the China Theater, emphasized in his diary that the Chinese Expeditionary Force's opening of the Stilwell Road [6]6 The Stilwell Road (named after General Joseph Stilwell) was a supply route built by the Allies from Ledo, India, to Kunming, China, during the Second World War to transport matériel to China. was of great significance for the formation of a counteroffensive situation in the Asian theater. The China-Burma-India theater, led by China, not only secured the delivery of supplies to China but also smashed Japan's strategic attempt to cut the Asian anti-fascist line, allowing the China theater to continue pinning down Japanese army forces and creating conditions for the Allied counteroffensive in the Pacific theater.

中国出兵中缅印战场形成了世界反法西斯战争的强大战略支撑，为反法西斯同盟注入关键地缘力量。中国远征军的滇缅作战是二战中少有的由亚洲国家主导的跨国协同作战，其战略价值深刻重塑了同盟国的全球布局。拉纳·米特认为，中国远征军在缅甸牵制日军精锐，迫使日本陆军放弃增援太平洋战场的计划。曾经担任中国战区参谋长的史迪威在其日记中强调，中国远征军打通史迪威公路对于亚洲战场反攻局面的形成具有重要意义。中国主导的中缅印战场不仅保障了援华物资输送，更粉碎了日军切断亚洲反法西斯战线的战略企图，使中国战场持续牵制日本陆军兵力，为盟军在太平洋战场的反攻创造了条件。

China's War of Resistance was decisive in the reconstruction of the post-war world order. Teddy Ulricksen stressed in *The Second World War: A Global History*: "The importance of the Asian theater in shaping the post-war order is no less than that of Germany's defeat in Europe." Rana Mitter wrote in *China, the Forgotten Ally*: "China's participation in that arduous war in the 1930s and 1940s was not only for national dignity and survival but also for the victory of all the Allies." Starting from the later period of the World Anti-Fascist War, China participated in the founding of the United Nations and the construction of the post-war international order, laying the foundation for the post-war international order centered on the United Nations.

中国抗战对战后世界秩序的重构具有决定性意义。泰迪·乌尔德里克斯在《第二次世界大战：一部全球史》中强调：“亚洲战场对战后秩序塑造的重要性不亚于德国在欧洲的败北。”拉纳·米特在《中国，被遗忘的盟友——西方人眼中的抗日战争全史》中写道：“中国在20世纪三四十年代参与那场艰苦卓绝的战争，不仅是为了国家尊严和生存，还为了所有同盟国的胜利。”中国从世界反法西斯战争后期，就参与创建联合国和战后国际秩序建设，为战后形成以联合国为核心的国际秩序奠定了基石。

Providing a strategic model for the world's national liberation movements

为世界民族解放运动提供战略范例

The Chinese People's War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression was not only an important part of the World Anti-Fascist War but also a practical model for the national liberation movements of colonial and semi-colonial countries. International academia fully affirms the political wisdom and military art displayed by the Communist Party of China during the War of Resistance. It holds that the strategic experiences forged in the war, including the theory of people's war, guerrilla warfare, protracted war, the united front, and base area construction, provided replicable paradigms for national liberation struggles worldwide.

中国人民抗日战争既是世界反法西斯战争的重要组成部分，更是殖民地半殖民地民族解放运动的实践典范。国际学术界充分肯定抗战时期中国共产党表现出的政治智慧与军事艺术，认为抗战中淬炼而成的人民战争理论、游击战、持久战、统一战线、根据地建设等战略经验，为世界范围民族解放斗争提供了可复制的范式。

The Communist Party of China creatively elevated "people's war" from the tactical level to the strategic level, constructing a theoretical system integrating social mobilization, political organization, and military struggle. Ronald Spector, in his article *The Sino-Japanese War in a World Historical Context*, argued that the people's war advocated by Mao Zedong "was far more than just launching a few guerrilla campaigns; it was organizing the whole society to rise up and resist the Japanese." People's war is, in his view, "China's greatest contribution to the history of warfare, both past and present." Max Boot, a foreign relations council fellow and military historian, wrote in *Invisible Armies: A History of Guerrilla Warfare*: "Many of Mao's theories of war, such as 'the people are water, the army is fish,' are still widely cited today."

中国共产党创造性地将“人民战争”从战术层面提升至战略高度，构建了社会动员、政治组织与军事斗争三位一体的理论体系。罗纳德·斯佩克特在《世界历史背景下的中日战争》一文中认为，毛泽东倡导的人民战争“远远不止是发动了几场游击战，它更是组织了整个社会奋起抵抗日本人”，人民战争“过去是、直到现在都是中国对战争历史的最大贡献”。美国外交关系委员会研究员、军事历史专家马克斯·布特在《隐形军队：游击战的历史》一书中提出：“毛泽东的许多战争理论，比如说‘人民群众是水，而军队是鱼’至今仍被广为引用。”

Guerrilla warfare and protracted war have had a far-reaching impact. Mark Opper, a scholar of East Asian studies at Randolph-Macon College in the United States, emphasized the significance of the Chinese Communist Party's guerrilla warfare behind enemy lines in his book *People's War in China, Malaya, and Vietnam*. He argued that "after the Chinese Communist Party achieved victory, revolutionaries around the world adopted the strategies and tactics of guerrilla warfare in an attempt to replicate the Chinese Communist Party's success." The Malayan Communist Party and the Algerian National Liberation Front, among others, drew on the Chinese Communist Party's guerrilla warfare experience to varying degrees, forming a global system of "people's war" practice. Ronald Spector, in *The Sino-Japanese War in a World Historical Context*, believed that "in world military history, the Sino-Japanese War holds an important position in both the theory and practice of protracted war."

游击战和持久战影响深远。美国兰道尔夫·麦肯学院东亚研究专家马克·奥珀在《中国、马来亚和越南的人民战争》一书中，强调中共在敌后开展游击战的意义，提出“在中国共产党取得胜利之后，全球各地的革命者都采用游击战的战略和战术，试图复制中国共产党的成功”，马来亚共产党、阿尔及利亚民族解放阵线等都不同程度地借鉴了中国共产党的游击战经验，形成全球“人民战争”实践体系。罗纳德·斯佩克特在《世界历史背景下的中日战争》中认为，“在世界军事历史上，中日战争在持久战的理论和实践中都占有重要地位”。

The Chinese united front for resistance against Japan, advocated and actively promoted by the Communist Party of China, was a key magic weapon for uniting the strength of the entire nation to resist foreign aggression, and it also provided important inspiration for the establishment of the world anti-fascist alliance. Lyman Van Slyke, a scholar of the history of the Chinese Communist Party at the University of California, Berkeley, systematically analyzed the Chinese Communist Party's united front strategy in his book *Enemies and Friends: The United Front in Chinese Communist History*, written as early as the 1960s, revealing its inherent consistency with the world anti-fascist alliance. The Communist Party of China also called for the establishment of an anti-fascist alliance of Eastern nationalities, setting up an Eastern model for the formation of the world anti-fascist alliance.

中国共产党倡导并积极推动建立的抗日民族统一战线，是凝聚全民族力量共御外侮的关键法宝，也为世界反法西斯同盟的建立提供了重要启示。美国加州大学伯克利分校中共党史研究专家范力沛早在20世纪60年代的《敌与友：中共党史上的统一战线》一书中，就系统分析了中国共产党的统一战线策略，揭示了其与世界反法西斯同盟的内在一致性。中国共产党还号召建立东方各民族反法西斯同盟，为世界反法西斯同盟的建立树立了东方样板。

The political, economic, and social construction practices carried out by the Communist Party of China in the anti-Japanese base areas behind enemy lines not only effectively supported the protracted war but also explored a unique path of social transformation and nation-building under war conditions, possessing pioneering and exemplary significance. Mark Selden of Cornell University, in his book *The Yan'an Way in Revolutionary China*, argued that the "Yan'an Way" [7]7 The "Yan'an Way" refers to the political, economic, and military policies developed by the Chinese Communist Party during its base area in Yan'an (1935–1948), emphasizing mass mobilization, self-sufficiency, and people's war, which later influenced revolutionary movements in other countries. represented a new type of revolutionary strategic model, and this practical path provided valuable experience that could be drawn upon by national liberation movements in Asia, Latin America, Africa, and other regions.

中国共产党在敌后抗日根据地进行的政治、经济、社会建设实践，不仅有效支撑了长期抗战，更探索出一条在战争环境下进行社会变革和国家建构的独特路径，具有开创性示范意义。美国康奈尔大学马克·赛尔登在《革命中的中国：延安道路》一书中提出，“延安道路”代表了一种新型的革命战略模式，这种实践路径为亚洲、拉丁美洲、非洲等地区的民族解放运动提供了可资借鉴的宝贵经验。

History has proven that the Chinese People's War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression made a decisive contribution to the victory of the World Anti-Fascist War. As General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out: "The victory of the Chinese People's War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression was the first complete victory in China's resistance against foreign invasion in modern times... This great victory re-established China's status as a major power in the world and earned the Chinese people the respect of peace-loving people around the world." Remembering the history of the War of Resistance and deepening our understanding of its world significance is not only to comfort the martyrs but also to draw wisdom and strength, promote the common values of all mankind—peace, development, fairness, justice, democracy, and freedom—jointly build a community with a shared future for mankind, and together create an even better future for humanity.

历史证明，中国人民抗日战争为世界反法西斯战争胜利作出了决定性贡献。习近平总书记指出：“中国人民抗日战争胜利，是近代以来中国抗击外敌入侵的第一次完全胜利……这一伟大胜利，重新确立了中国在世界上的大国地位，使中国人民赢得了世界爱好和平人民的尊敬。”铭记抗战历史，深化对其世界意义的认识，不仅是为了告慰先烈，更是为了汲取智慧与力量，弘扬和平、发展、公平、正义、民主、自由的全人类共同价值，携手构建人类命运共同体，共同创造人类更加美好的未来。

(The author is the principal investigator of the National Social Science Fund general project "The Chinese People's War of Resistance and Its World Significance in Western Discourse" and a professor in the Department of Marxism at Shandong Normal University.)

（作者系国家社科基金一般项目“西方话语中的中国抗战及其世界意义研究”负责人、山东师范大学马克思主义学部教授）

Online editor: Tongxin

网络编辑：同心