A whole nation walking: The 'Great Retreat' in the War of Resistance, 1937--1945 (China)

Historiography on China in the War of Resistance (1937–1945) has focused on political events: the interruption of the Nationalist Party's efforts to centralize authority; the rise of the Communist Party as a viable contender for national power. The migratory experience of millions of Chinese has remained largely unexplored. This dissertation illuminates the history of the mass migration movement caused by the war.; The work explores the roles of total war and nationalism in the transformation of Chinese modernity. For the Chinese state, the external invasion and the relative weakness of Chinese military power transformed the total war into a long-term and protracted campaign. The process of the wartime retreat to the interior allowed the Nationalist government to accomplish its agenda of centralization. The war greatly furthered the state's means of controlling industry, and increased control over the mobilization of the masses and of population movement. For the people, a consciousness of national belonging replaced regional identity in the course of the retreat. Moreover, the weakening of native-place associations as the foci of civil institutions contributed to a further dependency upon the state for the refugees' livelihood during and after the relocation. Although the great evacuation provided the government opportunities for legitimacy as the symbol of resistance and the extension of central authority, the increasing gap between mass demands for welfare and resource scarcity finally led to popular disillusion with the Nationalist government.; In investigating wartime migration, my work seeks to revise the traditional periodization in the historiography of Republican China. Rather than viewing the war as an interim period for Republican China and as an impediment to the Nationalist schemes of modernization, my work examines total war as part and parcel of a continuum of nation-building efforts in modern China.