Research On Ta Kung Pao’s Opinion On Japan (1931-1937)

From1931to1937, the Japanese militarists had been stepping up their aggression against China, eroding Chinese territory. As one of China’s important public opinion institutes, Ta Kung Pao paid close attention to Japanese invasion. The opinions of Ta Kung Pao on Japan during this period covered four aspects:Firstly, the attitude towards and response to Japanese invasion. From "September18th Incidenf"to" the July7th Incident", the opinions of Ta Kung Pao on Japan had been changing dynamically, from mitigation (September18th Incident) aradicalization (during January28th Incident and War of the Great Wall)、depression and conservative (North China Incident), to infuriation (after the the July7th Incident), Reason for the change is constrained by political opinion, social psychology, and people’s own ideological changes and other social factors; Secondly, views on the League of Nations’s handling China-Japan issues. Although feeling helpless about the weak sanctions of League of Nations, Ta Kung Pao still affirmed its positive role in guiding international opinions.Furthermore, interaction with readers on China-Japan issues. The column of "Children","Readers Forum" had maintained good interactions with readers."Children" played a positive role in guiding the children to focus on current political attention and love the motherland;"Readers’ Forum "provided a free space of speech for readers. Readers could agree or disagree with the remarks of Ta Kung Pao, which always made positive responses to readers’questions. Fourthly, the attitude towards the national government’s handling of China-Japan relations. During this period, the national government had developed policies related to Japan. From the standpoint of national interests, Ta Kung Pao opposed most of the policies and dared to put forward its own views, thus playing the role of public opinion.The influence of Ta Kung Pao was reflected in four aspects:Firstly, disseminating information in time and exposing the essence of Japanese aggression; secondly, opposing civil war and emphasizing the importance of unity against foreign. Thirdly, the idea of "train people for recovery of lost territory"provided an alternative thought to the nation, generating positive results; Fourthly, It dared to point out the defects of government policies against Japan. In addition, restricted by the subjective ideas and knowledge base of the journalists, and the reality of social conditions, some comments and opinions of Ta Kung Pao were biased and limited, which was manifested in the following aspects:Firstly, It did’t guide students to carry on anti-Japanese movements reasonably; Secondly, When the Japanese invaders further expanded the war after September18th Incident, it lacked a firm attitude to resist, which was considered the same with the national government’s "no resistance". Third, sometimes, comment of Ta Kung Pao lack of timeliness and sensitivity.All in all, the influence of public opinion of Ta Kung Pao on society had its good and bad sides. Although having been conservative during "September18th incident" and the North China Incident, which was inconsistent with national anger, it dared to expose acts of the Japanese invasion boldly and encouraged the army and the people through its speech of resistance after Shanghai War, War of the Great Wall, and the July7th Incident, which should be affirmed.