This event is co-hosted by the Center for East Asian Studies, School of Public Policy and Department of History.
How did the Nationalist government feed their armies during its war against Japan, and survive eight years of war against all odds? Jennifer Yip demonstrates how the Chinese government relied on mass civilian mobilization to carry out all stages of military provisioning, from procurement to transportation and storage. The circulation of grain throughout wartime China depended on the intensive use of civilian labor and assets. By tracing the complex movement of grain across large distances and across free/occupied boundaries, Yip shows how China sustained total war by ruthlessly extracting civilian resources, with adverse consequences for much of the population. Such reliance on a distinctly preindustrial resource base shaped China's conception of its own total war effort and distinguished China's experience as unique among World War Two combatants. Yip revisits conceptual understandings of total war by challenging, firstly, the predominant image of World War II as one of technological prowess, and secondly, the tendency to conflate total war with industrialized warfare. China's story encapsulates enduring themes in wartime politics and strategy: the weaponization of food; hunger in conflict; and the challenge of retaining state legitimacy while demanding citizen sacrifice.
Author: Jennifer Yip is an assistant professor of History at National University of Singapore who researches modern war and the socio-economic effects of war mobilization.
Discussant: Robert Daly is visiting professor of the practice and founding director of the Program on China and the United States (CUSP) in the School of Public Policy.