The Northeast Resistance Writes a Heroic Chapter in the Anti-Fascist Struggle

The September 18th Incident of 1931 broke out, when Japan deliberately launched a war of aggression against China, forcibly occupied China’s Northeast region, propped up the puppet state of Manchukuo, and attempted to implement comprehensive colonial rule. Yet the people of the Northeast did not yield to the guns and bayonets of the Japanese army. Faced with brutal military occupation, economic plunder, and cultural assimilation, they, under the call and leadership of the Chinese Communist Party, waged fourteen years of unyielding and diverse forms of resistance. This period of history is not only a painful page of national invasion but also a stirring epic of the Chinese people uniting, rising up in struggle, and defending their homeland’s sovereignty and national dignity at a moment of existential crisis.

1931年九一八事变爆发，日本蓄意发动侵华战争，武力强占中国东北地区，扶植伪满洲国傀儡政权，企图实施全面殖民统治。然而，东北人民并未屈服于日军的枪炮与刺刀之下。面对残酷的军事占领、经济掠夺与文化同化，他们在中国共产党的号召与领导下，展开长达十四年不屈不挠、形式多样的抵抗斗争。这段历史不仅是中华民族遭受侵略的惨痛一页，更是中国人民在亡国灭种的危难时刻，团结一致、奋起抗争、捍卫家园主权与民族尊严的壮烈史诗。

The Awakening of the Northeast Populace

东北民众的觉醒

Japan’s armed invasion and colonial rule of the Northeast met with determined resistance from the Chinese people, from spontaneous actions to organized efforts, from the very beginning. After the September 18th Incident, national peril awakened the consciousness of national salvation across all strata of Northeast society. Patriotic officers and soldiers of the former Northeast Army, peasants, artisans, intellectuals, and even local gentry, driven by the simple sentiment of defending their homeland, quickly organized large-scale popular armed forces such as the Anti-Japanese Volunteer Armies, National Salvation Armies, and Self-Defense Forces. According to incomplete statistics, by 1932, the total number of various volunteer forces exceeded 300,000, with their activities spanning all three Northeast provinces. In battles such as the Jiangqiao Resistance and the assault on Shenyang, they dealt effective blows to the Japanese army, demonstrating the indomitable fighting will of the Northeast people.

日本对东北的武装侵略与殖民统治，自始便遭遇中国人民从自发到有组织的坚决抵抗。九一八事变后，民族危亡激起东北社会各阶层的救国意识。原东北军爱国官兵、农民、手工业者、知识分子乃至地方乡绅，基于保卫家园的朴素情感，迅速组织起规模浩大的抗日义勇军、救国军、自卫军等民众武装。据不完全统计，到1932年，各类义勇军总数超过30万人，活动范围遍及东北三省，在江桥抗战、攻打沈阳等战斗中给予日军有力打击，展现了东北民众不屈的战斗意志。

The Chinese Communist Party, as the most organized and strategically farsighted political force, issued the call for national salvation and resistance immediately after the September 18th Incident. The next day, the Manchuria Provincial Committee of the CPC issued the “Manchuria Provincial Committee of the CPC Declaration on the Armed Occupation of Manchuria by Japanese Imperialism,” and subsequently dispatched large numbers of cadres deep into the countryside and mining areas to organize guerrilla units. Faced with the successive defeats of spontaneous armed forces due to isolated operations, the Chinese Communist Party took on the heavy responsibility of political integration and military leadership. By establishing an anti-Japanese united front, uniting and reorganizing the remnants of various volunteer forces, it unified the formation of the Northeast Anti-Japanese United Army in 1936, marking the entry of the Northeast resistance into a new stage with the CPC as the leading core and the implementation of protracted guerrilla warfare.

中国共产党作为最具组织性与战略远见的政治力量，在九一八事变后第一时间发出抗日救亡的号召。次日，中共满洲省委发表《中共满洲省委为日本帝国主义武装占领满洲宣言》，随后派出大批干部深入农村、工矿，组织游击队伍。面对自发武装因孤立作战而相继失利的困境，中国共产党承担起政治整合与军事领导的重任，通过建立反日统一战线、团结改编各地义勇军残部，于1936年统一组建东北抗日联军，标志着东北抗战进入以中国共产党为领导核心、实行持久游击战争的新阶段。

Under harsh colonial rule, resistance permeated all areas of society in both overt and covert forms. In the cities, workers engaged in economic struggle by sabotaging production lines; students secretly organized patriotic groups and spread progressive ideas; the cultural sphere adhered to a national stance through veiled writing. The vast countryside constituted a hidden rear area supporting the Anti-Japanese United Army; the masses, through actions such as “concealing production and hoarding supplies,” passing intelligence, transporting materials, and even sheltering the wounded, formed a community of life-and-death interdependence with the armed resistance. The secret networks built by the CPC’s underground organizations and other patriotic forces penetrated the fabric of society, carrying out reconnaissance, liaison, and mobilization tasks, forming an invisible yet resilient resistance front. This nationwide, sustained struggle not only wore down the enemy militarily but also completely shattered the enemy’s colonial rule spiritually, laying the social foundation for the final victory of the War of Resistance.

在严酷的殖民统治下，抵抗以显性与隐性形式渗透到社会各领域。在城市中，工人以破坏生产线等方式进行经济斗争；学生秘密组织爱国团体，传播进步思想；文化界则以隐晦笔法坚守民族立场。广大乡村则构成支援抗联的隐蔽后方，群众通过“瞒产私藏”、传递情报、运输物资乃至掩护伤员，与抗日武装结成生死相依的共同体。由中共地下组织及其他爱国力量构筑的秘密网络，深入社会肌理，执行侦察、联络与动员任务，形成一条无形而坚韧的抵抗战线。这种全民性、持续性的抗争，不仅在军事上消耗了敌人，更在精神上彻底粉碎了敌人的殖民统治，为抗战最终胜利奠定了社会基础。

Struggles for Resource Protection and the Right to Survival

资源保护与生存权利的抗争

Faced with Japan’s policy of “sustaining the war through war,” the people of the Northeast waged a multi-dimensional struggle to protect the foundations of their survival. In the industrial and mining sectors, workers combined direct sabotage of equipment with covert production slowdowns, forming an effective model of resistance. In major mining areas such as Fushun and Benxi, workers not only reduced extraction efficiency and caused mechanical breakdowns but also, at critical moments, passed intelligence on transport routes to the armed resistance, repeatedly disrupting Japanese resource shipments. In 1940, a secret organization of workers at the Anshan Ironworks systematically destroyed coke ovens, halting production at the plant for half a month. This resistance, spanning the entire chain from production source to transport links, significantly increased Japan’s costs of rule and secretly spread a spirit of defiance among the workers, nurturing strength for larger-scale struggles.

面对日本“以战养战”的掠夺政策，东北人民为保护生存根基展开多维度抗争。在工矿领域，工人将直接的设备破坏与隐蔽的生产阻滞相结合，形成一套有效的抵抗模式。在抚顺、本溪等主要矿区，工人不仅降低开采效率、制造机械故障，更在关键时刻向抗日武装传递运输情报，使日军的资源输送屡遭破坏。1940年鞍山制铁所的工人秘密组织，系统破坏炼焦炉，导致该厂停产达半月之久。这种从生产源头到运输链条的全环节抵抗，显著增加了日本的统治成本，并在工人中秘密传播了反抗意识，为更大规模的斗争孕育了力量。

In the agricultural and forestry sectors, peasant resistance demonstrated a high degree of organization and resilience. Faced with the harsh “grain delivery” quotas, they created methods such as double account books, concealed grain cellars, and dispersed planting to systematically hide actual output. Manchukuo records show that actual grain collections often fell short of planned targets by 40%. In forested areas such as the Changbai Mountains and the Lesser Khingan Range, villagers resisted the predatory logging of Japanese enterprises by setting up fake logging sites, secretly marking protected trees, and even sabotaging logging tools at night. Notably, many peasants sent the grain and medicinal herbs they saved to the anti-Japanese base areas through secret transport lines; the people’s self-defensive resistance and organized armed struggle formed a material cycle and strategic synergy.

在农林领域，农民的抵抗呈现出高度的组织性与韧性。面对严苛的“粮食出荷”定额，他们创造了双层账本、隐蔽粮窖、分散种植等多种方法，系统性隐瞒真实产量。伪满资料显示，实际粮食征收量常不足计划数的六成。在长白山、小兴安岭等林区，村民通过设置虚假砍伐迹地、秘密标记保护林，甚至在夜间破坏采伐工具等方式，对抗日本企业的掠夺式采伐。值得注意的是，许多农民将节省下来的粮食、药材通过秘密交通线送往抗日根据地，民众的自卫性抵抗与有组织的武装斗争形成了物质循环与战略协同。

In the realm of social life, the Japanese-puppet regime’s “collective hamlet” policy aimed to control manpower and resources, but large numbers of peasants fled into the deep mountains, forming a “secret camp economy” of self-sufficient farming that supported the Anti-Japanese United Army. These hidden settlements not only undertook agricultural production but also gradually established simple logistical support facilities such as weapons repair and clothing manufacture, becoming indispensable hidden rear areas for the United Army. Urban residents, through black-market trading, hoarding supplies, and falsely reporting household registration numbers to receive more rations, undermined the Japanese-puppet rationing control system. These everyday, life-oriented resistance practices not only ensured basic survival but also continuously eroded the colonial economic system at the micro level, showcasing the extraordinary wisdom and collective resilience of the Northeast people in defending their homeland and right to survival under extreme conditions. This comprehensive resistance, from the economic base to social life, constituted a profound negation of the colonial ruling order.

在社会生活领域，日伪推行“集团部落”政策旨在控制人力与资源，但大量农民逃入深山，形成自主耕作、支援抗联的“密营经济”。这些隐蔽的聚落不仅承担农业生产，还逐步建立起简易的军械修理、被服制作等后勤保障设施，成为抗联不可或缺的隐蔽后方。城市居民则通过黑市交易、物资囤积、谎报户籍人数多领配给等方式，瓦解日伪的配给统制。这些日常化、生活化的抵抗实践，不仅保障了基本生存，更在微观层面持续瓦解着殖民经济体系，彰显了东北人民在极端环境下保卫家园与生存权利的非凡智慧与集体韧性。这种从经济基础到社会生活的全面抵抗，构成了对殖民统治秩序的深刻否定。

The Defense of National Integrity

民族气节的捍卫

Against the backdrop of Japan’s policy of cultural enslavement, which sought to strangle Chinese national identity, the people of the Northeast, with indomitable spiritual strength, guarded their cultural roots and transmitted the national spirit. Numerous patriotic teachers risked their lives, both inside and outside classrooms under Japanese-puppet surveillance, to subtly embed national consciousness by teaching classical literature and historical allusions. Folk private schools and family education continued under extremely difficult conditions; some teachers used “dual textbooks,” outwardly teaching Japanese-puppet approved content while actually transmitting the essence of traditional Chinese culture, allowing the cultural lifeline to survive in secrecy. Students engaged in spontaneous resistance by organizing secret reading groups, copying and reciting patriotic poems, and singing adapted folk songs containing anti-Japanese hidden meanings, sustaining an emotional identification with the national culture.

在日本推行文化奴化政策、企图扼杀中华民族认同的背景下，东北人民以不屈的精神力量，守护文化根脉，传承民族精神。众多爱国教师甘冒生命危险，在日伪监督的课堂内外，通过讲授古典文学、历史典故等方式，巧妙嵌入民族意识。民间私塾与家庭教育在极端困难的环境中延续，部分教师采用“两面教材”，表面教授日伪审定内容，实则传递中华传统文化精粹，使文化命脉在隐秘中得以存续。学生则以组织秘密读书会、传抄爱国诗词、传唱改编后含有抗日隐义的民歌等方式，进行自发抵抗，维系着民族文化的情感认同。

In the public cultural sphere, resistance took the form of veiled yet resilient artistic creation and dissemination practices. Patriotic writers and artists, using the limited legal space, created a large number of literary works, plays, paintings, and songs that metaphorically depicted national suffering and called for a spirit of resistance, forming a unique “coded language” art of resistance. For example, some painters expressed indomitable will by depicting symbolic subjects such as plum blossoms braving snow or the towering Changbai Mountains; musicians set anti-Japanese poems to music and spread them as folk tunes. Underground printing networks secretly produced anti-Japanese newspapers and periodicals, breaking through information blockades to spread news from the front lines and ideas of national salvation. Furthermore, traditional Northeast local art forms such as errenzhuan (a song-and-dance duet), folk storytelling, and paper-cutting were imbued with new content of anti-Japanese national salvation, becoming important vehicles for consolidating community identity and inspiring popular morale, achieving a creative integration of national art forms with the themes of the era.

在公开的文化领域，抵抗表现为隐晦而坚韧的艺术创作与传播实践。爱国文人、艺术家利用有限的合法空间，创作了大量隐喻民族苦难、呼唤抗争精神的文学作品、戏剧、绘画与歌曲，形成了独特的“隐语”抵抗艺术。例如，一些画家通过描绘傲雪寒梅、巍峨长白山等象征性题材，寄托不屈之志；音乐家则将抗日诗词谱曲后以民间曲调传唱。地下印刷网络秘密印制抗日报刊与书籍，突破信息封锁，传播前线战况与救国思想。此外，东北地方戏曲如二人转、民间说唱、剪纸等传统艺术形式，也被赋予抗日救亡新内容，成为凝聚社区认同、鼓舞民众斗志的重要载体，实现了民族艺术形式与时代主题的创造性结合。

An even broader and deeper resistance was rooted in the daily practices of social life and the transmission of collective memory. Ordinary people, on occasions such as festivals, weddings and funerals, and ancestral rites, maintained the traditional rituals and ethical concepts of the Chinese nation. Many families secretly displayed traditional New Year pictures instead of Manchukuo propaganda during the Spring Festival, and in ancestor worship, they emphasized family lineage and national history. They resisted the Japanese-puppet regime’s “national indoctrination” campaigns and “emperor worship” ceremonies through passive non-participation and deliberate indifference. Within families and among neighbors, through oral history, coded communication, and secret gatherings, information about the War of Resistance and national beliefs were quietly transmitted and reinforced within community networks. This collective posture, pervasive in daily life, silent yet unyielding, not only protected the foundations of culture but also built a deep socio-psychological defense line against cultural assimilation, demonstrating the unconquerable nature of spiritual identity. This intergenerational cultural transmission laid an important foundation for the reconstruction of national culture and social cohesion after the war.

更为广泛而深刻的抵抗，深植于社会生活的日常实践与集体记忆的传承之中。普通民众在节日习俗、婚丧礼仪、家族祭祀等场合，保持着中华民族的传统仪轨与伦理观念，许多家庭在春节暗中张贴传统年画而非伪满宣传品，在祖先祭拜中强调家族源流与民族历史。他们以消极不参与、刻意冷漠等方式，抵制日伪推行的“国民教化”运动与“尊皇”仪式。在家庭与邻里之间，通过口述历史、暗语交流、秘密集会，抗战信息与民族信念得以在社区网络中悄然传递与强化。这种弥漫于日常生活的、沉默却不屈的集体姿态，不仅保护了文化的基底，更构筑了抵御文化同化的深厚社会心理防线，彰显了精神认同的不可征服性。这种代际间的文化传递，为战后民族文化的重建与社会凝聚奠定了重要基础。

Looking back at history, the 14 years of the Northeast people under Japanese colonial rule constitute a history of resistance filled with blood and tears yet shining with an unyielding spirit. On the material level, they protected resources, maintained survival, and supported the War of Resistance in various ways; on the spiritual level, they upheld cultural identity, defended national dignity, and passed on the torch of patriotism. This all-round resistance not only dealt a blow to the rule of the Japanese aggressors but also demonstrated the strong cohesion and unyielding will of the Chinese nation in times of crisis.

回顾历史，东北人民在日本殖民统治下的14年，是一部充满血泪却又闪耀着不屈精神的抗争史。在物质层面，他们以各种方式保护资源、维持生存、支援抗战；在精神层面，他们坚守文化认同、捍卫民族尊严、传递爱国火种。这种全方位的抵抗，不仅打击了日本侵略者的统治，更彰显了中华民族在危难时刻的强大凝聚力和不屈意志。

The resistance of the Northeast people is an important component of the Chinese People's War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression and also a heroic chapter in the World Anti-Fascist War. The Chinese nation is a great nation that never yields and constantly strives for self-improvement. No external invasion or oppression can destroy the spiritual core and cultural identity of the Chinese people. Today, we remember this history of resistance not only to honor the heroism of our forebears but also to inherit and carry forward this national spirit of defying brute force and uniting in struggle, unswervingly follow the path of socialism with Chinese characteristics, safeguard national sovereignty, security, and development interests, and jointly create a future of peace and prosperity. The power of the people is always invincible, and just resistance will ultimately illuminate the sky of history.

东北人民的抗争是中国人民抗日战争的重要组成部分，也是世界反法西斯战争中的英勇篇章。中华民族是一个永不屈服、自强不息的伟大民族。任何外来侵略与压迫都无法摧毁中国人民的精神内核与文化认同。今天，我们铭记这段抗争史，不仅是为了缅怀先辈的英勇，更是为了继承和发扬这种不畏强暴、团结奋斗的民族精神，坚定不移地走中国特色社会主义道路，维护国家主权、安全与发展利益，共创和平与繁荣的未来。人民的力量永远是不可战胜的，正义的抗争终将照亮历史的天空。

(The author is a professor at the School of History and Culture, Changchun Normal University)

(作者系长春师范大学历史文化学院教授)

Online editor: Huihui

网络编辑：慧慧