Writing war: autobiography, modernity and wartime narrative in nationalist China, 1937-1946

Journal article

The Sino-Japanese War of 1937-45 was perhaps the single most destructive event in twentieth-century Chinese history. However, there has been relatively little attention paid to how war was experienced in the Nationalist-controlled area ('Free China') under Chiang Kaishek. Two autobiographical texts are examined here, one a sequence of reportage from the early war years by the journalist Du Zhongyuan, and one a biji (notebook) written immediately after the war's end by the social scientist Xu Wancheng. By choosing particular modern or anti-modern genres and styles to write in, the authors expressed a wider sentiment about the war's ambiguous role in modernising China. Du's work hopes to create modernity from destruction; Xu's suggests that modern warfare has created chaos.

Authors: Mitter, R

• Publication status: Published
• Peer review status: Peer reviewed
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press
• Journal: Transactions of the Royal Historical Society
• Volume: 18
• Pages: 187-210
• Publication date: 2008-01-01
• DOI: 10.1017/S0080440108000704
• EISSN: 1474-0648
• ISSN: 0080-4401
• Language: English
• Keywords: China; Sino-Japanese War of 1937-45
• Subjects: History