China's War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression was obviously 14 years, why is there a saying that there is an 8-year War of Resistance?
China's War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression refers to 14 years from the September 18 Incident on September 18, 1931 to Japan's surrender on September 2, 1945. However, why is there such a thing as an 8-year war of resistance?
The main reason is that at the end of the War of Resistance Against Japan, the mainstream understanding was the 8-year War of Resistance, and it was not until the 50s of the 20th century that there was a 14-year War of Resistance. This is because after the Lugou Bridge Incident that broke out on July 7, 1937, Chiang Kai-shek issued the famous "Lushan Speech" and "Letter to the Soldiers of the Anti-Japanese War", officially announcing the all-out war of resistance. At the ** level, the all-out war of resistance can be calculated from Chiang Kai-shek's "Lushan Speech", and at the end of the war of resistance against Japan, China was still under the rule of Chiang Kai-shek's Chinese ***. Therefore, according to the statement at the time, the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression was considered to be an eight-year war of resistance that began in July 1937.
However, in fact, the Chinese people's War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression began as early as 1931 after the September 18 incident. The Northeast region lived under Japanese rule for 14 years, while Chiang Kai-shek focused his main efforts on the civil war, adopting a policy of non-resistance against the Japanese. It was not until after the Xi'an Incident that Chiang Kai-shek stopped the civil war and fully engaged in the war of resistance. Therefore, for the Chinese people, the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression began on September 18, 1931 and lasted 14 years.
Later, through the efforts of many experts and scholars, the 14-year view of China's War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression gradually became the mainstream view. This is because the September 18 Incident was actually the starting point of the War of Resistance Against Japan, and the all-out War of Resistance was only a part of it. Therefore, more people now agree that the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression began in 1931 and lasted 14 years.