All About National Survival: Chinese Intellectuals’ Understanding of War during the Interwar Period, 1914–1937

This chapter looks at the Chinese intellectuals changing understanding of modern warfare from the start of the First World War to the outbreak of the Second Sino-Japanese War. During the First World War, Chinese intellectuals, including the officers who received modern military training, tried to understand the ways that European powers mobilised their economy and society for the war effort. For this they often used the lens of the Japanese military, which spent much effort studying the war systematically.

After the war, a consensus emerged among the Chinese intellectuals interested in military affairs that China not only needed a strong military and economy but also an all-powerful state that could exert control and regulation over different aspects of society, from economic activities to the spiritual life of the people. This consensus, this chapter argues, helped defend the authoritarian party-state that existed in China between 1928 and 1937.