Lesson 22: Victory in the War against Japan

All People Persist in the War of Resistance

After the fall of Guangzhou and Wuhan, the Japanese army changed its strategy to induce political surrender of the Kuomintang government, supplemented by military strikes, because of the long battle line, insufficient troops and tight domestic resources; intensified attacks on anti-Japanese bases behind enemy lines; and strengthened military rule and economic plundering of the occupied areas.

Under the surrender inducement of the Japanese invaders, Wang Jingwei, the head of the pro-Japanese faction in the Kuomintang government, openly defected to the enemy and established the pseudo-Kuomintang in Nanjing in March 1940. The Kuomintang stubbornly created anti-Communist "frictions" and in January 1941 created the "South Anhui Incident" which shocked China and abroad. The Communist Party of China (CPC) fought tit-for-tat, persisted in the war of resistance, and launched a great production movement in the anti-Japanese bases behind the enemy lines, and broke the blockade of the Japanese and pseudo-armies by doing things on its own.

Under the banner of the anti-Japanese national united front, all Chinese nationalities, political parties and political factions sought common ground while reserving differences and fought together against the enemy. In the Battle of Zaoyi, General Zhang Zizhong, commander-in-chief of the 33rd Army Group, was martyred. General Zuo Quan, deputy chief of staff of the Eighth Route Army, was killed in the battlefield during the anti-depredation campaign. At the same time, young students from all over the world joined the army; women actively participated in anti-Japanese propaganda, rescue and field services; workers who moved with the factories worked overtime day and night to support the front; overseas Chinese and compatriots from Hong Kong and Macao actively donated money and materials to support the war effort, and tens of thousands of overseas Chinese youths returned to China to join the war effort; various anti-war associations were established in the literary and artistic circles to promote the war effort and boost morale through literary and artistic works. The Japanese invaders were caught in the sea of the Chinese people's war.

The Seventh Congress of the Communist Party of China

In April 1945, the Seventh National Congress of the Communist Party of China was held in Yan'an. The Congress summed up the historical experience of the CPC in leading the tortuous development of the democratic revolution in China, especially the rich experience of the eight-year war of resistance, and formulated the political line of the Party, which was to mobilize the masses, strengthen the people's power, defeat the Japanese invaders under the leadership of the CPC, liberate the whole nation, and build a new democratic China.

The Congress elected the leading organs of the Central Committee, and Mao Zedong was elected Chairman of the CPC Central Committee at the First Plenary Session of the Seventh Central Committee. The Congress established Mao Zedong Thought as the guiding ideology of the CPC and wrote it into the Party Constitution. The Party Constitution adopted at the Seventh Congress stipulated that the CPC should take Mao Zedong Thought, the unification of Marxist-Leninist theory and the practice of the Chinese revolution, as the guideline for all its work and oppose any dogmatic and empirical bias. This was of great and far-reaching significance in unifying the thinking of the Party as a whole, guiding its actions and realizing the Party's political line. The Seventh Communist Party Congress prepared the conditions for the final victory in the war against Japan and pointed out the direction of the post-war struggle for the CPC and the Chinese people.

Strategic counter-offensive and Japanese surrender

From 1944 to the beginning of 1945, the world's anti-fascist battlefield was full of good reports, and Germany was at a disadvantage and defeated in the European battlefield. Under the successive blows of the United States and Britain, Japan was defeated and in trouble in the Pacific Theater. On August 6 and 9, 1945, the U.S. dropped atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and on August 8, the Soviet government declared war on Japan. The following day, the Soviet Red Army marched to northeast China and launched an attack on the Japanese Kwantung Army.

On August 9, Mao Zedong issued a statement entitled "The Last Battle against the Japanese", calling on all anti-Japanese forces of the Chinese people to launch a nationwide counter-offensive to defeat the Japanese invaders completely.

On August 15, 1945, the Japanese Emperor was forced to declare unconditional surrender. China's war against Japan was finally won, and Taiwan was returned to the embrace of the motherland.

The reasons for the victory of the war against Japan and its great significance

The great national awakening of the Chinese people, their unprecedented national unity and heroic national resistance were decisive factors in the victory of the Chinese people in the war against Japan. The Chinese Communist Party played the role of a mainstay in the national war of resistance. The victory of the Chinese people's war of resistance against Japan was also inseparable from the support of all peace- and justice-loving countries and people in the world.

The Chinese War of Resistance against Japan was the first national liberation war in modern times in which China achieved complete victory against foreign invasion. It promoted the awakening of the Chinese nation and laid an important foundation for the Chinese Communist Party to lead the Chinese people to achieve complete national independence and people's liberation. China opened up the main battlefield of the world anti-fascist war in the East and made great contributions to the victory of the world anti-fascist war and the maintenance of world peace. China's international status has been improved.（941words）