On August 15, 1945, the Emperor of Japan issued a declaration of unconditional surrender, announcing the end of a bloody war that lasted for 14 years. The news quickly spread across the country, sparking a national celebration. With the surrender and evacuation of the Japanese army, they left behind a large amount of property in Chinese mainland, which was large and left behind by hastily evacuated. The Kuomintang became the biggest beneficiary, and even set up a "Committee for the Reception of Enemy and Puppet Organs and Assets" in Shanghai, which was responsible for receiving the property surrendered by the Japanese army.
However, some historians regard the Kuomintang's receipt of Japanese property as a "victorious disaster." Why do historians say this about this?What kind of changes have taken place in the Kuomintang after the takeover?After Japan's surrender, the Kuomintang longed for the property left behind by the Japanese army. The Japanese property in China was immediately confiscated and taken over by the Mink** and used for post-war reconstruction and reparations. Japanese assets in China include factories, railways, mines, ships, real estate, banks, and shops.
In May 1946, China set up a committee for the disposal of Japanese property, which was responsible for the unified management and disposal of Japanese property in China. Subsequently, in November 1947, China promulgated the Regulations on the Disposal of Japanese Property, which stipulated the procedures and principles for the classification, registration, evaluation, confiscation, takeover, and disposal of Japanese property. In June 1948, China** and the United States signed the "Sino-US Property Agreement with Japan", which determined the proportion and method of distribution of Sino-US property in China to Japan.
Before October 1, 1949, China** confiscated about 100 billion yuan of Japanese assets in China (at the exchange rate at the time), of which about 60 billion yuan was allocated to the United States and about 40 billion yuan remained in China. Even leaving aside the assets left to the United States, the Kuomintang received a large sum of money. Then, they began to plan what to do with the money.
The Kuomintang set up the "Committee for the Reception of Enemy and Puppet Organs and Assets", and in the same year set up the "Committee for the Disposal of Real Estate" and the "Committee for the Disposal of Civilian Industrial and Commercial Enterprises Occupied by the Enemy and Puppet", and then more and more relevant institutions were established. The increasing number of such bodies has led to the overlap of their respective responsibilities and the direct conflict of interests of various departments. These bodies represent different interest groups, each with its own backstage, which makes it impossible to achieve unity of opinion.
The Japanese real estate in China was sealed, causing confusion in management. Different agencies tore seals at each other, and even armed confrontations occurred, leading to a chaotic situation of seizing real estate and forcibly arresting people. At the same time, the Japanese army waged a financial war, issuing a large number of counterfeit coins in the occupied areas, disrupting the financial order and exacerbating the inflation problem. After the surrender, the counterfeit currency used in the occupied area was invalidated, but *** could not quickly release legal currency, resulting in the continued use of counterfeit currency. At this time, some people within the Kuomintang took advantage of the opportunity to accumulate wealth, and even prevented the circulation of legal currency and engaged in black market transactions.
At the same time, many interest groups have made a fortune, resulting in poor management and mishandling of materials. The chaotic management led to a large amount of materials being resold, and in some places, the Kuomintang guards stole and sold all the rice and sugar in the warehouse. According to statistics, when Peiping received the enemy's counterfeit property, less than 1 5 people were able to enter the collection warehouse normally, and this was only the situation in Peiping, and the whole country can imagine it. What was originally the act of receiving as the victor turned into a "spoils sharing meeting" in the hands of the Kuomintang.
People were very dissatisfied with the greedy behavior of the Kuomintang, believing that everything they did was for the sake of the "five sons of Dengke", that is, gold, houses, tickets, cars, and women. Therefore, "I want to **, hope for **, and I will suffer even more when I come." It became a mantra for people in many areas at that time. Originally, many people believed that after Japan was driven out, China would usher in a peaceful life and that happy times were coming. However, they did not expect that the corruption of the Kuomintang was already so serious.
Even Chiang Kai-shek himself knew what was happening in the process of receiving, so when he later recalled why he was defeated by the Communists, he said: "Although we have recovered our land, we have lost the hearts and minds of the people." ”。It was the corrupt behavior of the Kuomintang that led to the gradual shift of people to support the Communist Party after the victory of the Anti-Japanese War, which was also the reason why the People's Liberation Army won successive battles in the War of Liberation, and finally the Kuomintang could only lead its subordinates to flee to Taiwan.
Therefore, although it seemed that victory in the War of Resistance should be the reward of the victors, for the Kuomintang, it caused them to gradually lose popular support, turning the victory into a "disaster".