Despite this threat to China’s sovereignty, the Kuomintang, which ruled China while fighting a civil war against the Communist Party, decided on the policy of “pacify the interior first, then resist external threats.” It suppressed those who spoke up for national unity and resistance against the Japanese. Left-wing cultural groups that were affiliated with the communists, as well as the wider anti-Japanese national salvation movement, had to operate in secret and use fake identities.
lørdag 6. september 2025
From Cinema to Tian’anmen: How China Got Its National Anthem
The history of China’s national anthem, “March of the Volunteers,” began on Sept. 18, 1931. On that day, Japanese troops faked an attack on a railway line in northeastern China — known as the Mukden Incident — and used it as a pretext to invade and occupy three provinces. By 1932, they had propped up the puppet state of Manchukuo, aiming to use the region as a springboard for their greater ambition of conquering all of China.
Despite this threat to China’s sovereignty, the Kuomintang, which ruled China while fighting a civil war against the Communist Party, decided on the policy of “pacify the interior first, then resist external threats.” It suppressed those who spoke up for national unity and resistance against the Japanese. Left-wing cultural groups that were affiliated with the communists, as well as the wider anti-Japanese national salvation movement, had to operate in secret and use fake identities.
Despite this threat to China’s sovereignty, the Kuomintang, which ruled China while fighting a civil war against the Communist Party, decided on the policy of “pacify the interior first, then resist external threats.” It suppressed those who spoke up for national unity and resistance against the Japanese. Left-wing cultural groups that were affiliated with the communists, as well as the wider anti-Japanese national salvation movement, had to operate in secret and use fake identities.
