Ju Li: The Historical Turning Point of the Chinese Nation's Journey from Profound Crisis toward Great Rejuvenation [1]
The War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression was the longest-lasting national liberation struggle of the largest scale, involving the greatest sacrifices, ever fought by the Chinese people against foreign invasion in modern history. Through extraordinary and bloody struggle, the Chinese people won their first complete victory against foreign invasion in the modern era. This great victory became the historical turning point for the Chinese nation, moving from the profound crisis it had fallen into since the start of the modern era toward great rejuvenation. History is the best textbook and the best sobering agent. Looking back at the great victory of the Chinese People’s War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression eighty years ago, it has already transformed into a massive and precious spiritual asset, resonating in the chest of every son and daughter of China, guiding us to overcome all hardships and obstacles, and to march courageously toward national rejuvenation!
I. The Awakening of the Chinese Nation: From a Heap of Loose Sand to a Great Wall of Flesh and Blood
Modern Chinese history is a history of suffering, aggression, and humiliation at the hands of imperialist powers. Among these, the Japanese war of aggression brought the heaviest disasters, the greatest losses, and the deepest suffering to the Chinese people, plunging the Chinese nation into an unprecedentedly grave national crisis. But as Engels said: "There is no great historical evil without a compensating historical progress." In the great struggle to resist the Japanese aggressors to the death, the national awakening and unity of the Chinese nation reached an unprecedented height.
— "Arise! Arise!" The Communist Party of China sounds the bugle to awaken the masses and save the nation from peril
After 1840, the continuous aggression against China by Japanese imperialism was the darkest page in modern Chinese history. Entering the 20th century, the pace of the Japanese aggressors' invasion of China accelerated greatly, pressing forward step by step as their ambition to destroy and dominate China unilaterally swelled rapidly. They occupied Qingdao in 1914 and presented the "Twenty-One Demands" [1] in 1915. In 1931, they engineered the September 18th Incident and occupied the Northeast. In 1932, they provoked the January 28th Incident and launched a large-scale attack on Shanghai. In 1933, they crossed Shanhai Pass and occupied Jehol. In 1935, they created the North China Incident [2] and engineered the so-called "North China Autonomy Movement." In 1937, they manufactured the Lugou Bridge Incident [3] and launched a full-scale war of aggression against China. The aggressive actions of the Japanese invaders, aggressive and arrogant to the extreme, pushed the Chinese nation to the brink of national destruction and racial extinction.
Faced with the massive aggression of Japanese militarism, the loss of vast territories, and the humiliating concessions of the Kuomintang (KMT) government, the Communist Party of China (CPC) took the lead in raising the banner of armed resistance against Japan. It called on the workers, peasants, and laboring masses of all China to "mobilize as one and arm yourselves to give a serious answer to the Japanese robbers and all imperialists." In October 1935, the Party published the Letter to All Compatriots for Resisting Japan and Saving the Nation (known as the August 1st Declaration), loudly raising the slogan of "Resisting Japan and Saving the Nation." It called for an end to the civil war so that all political parties, all armies, and all compatriots from all walks of life in the country could concentrate all national strength to fight for the sacred cause of resisting Japan and saving the nation. In December of the same year, the Wayaobu Meeting [4] formally established the tactical orientation of the Anti-Japanese National United Front. On July 8, 1937, the day after the Lugou Bridge Incident occurred, the CPC Central Committee sent a telegram to the whole country, sounding the strongest note of the whole-of-nation resistance: "Peiping and Tianjin are in peril! North China is in peril! The Chinese nation is in peril! Only by implementing resistance by the whole nation is there a way out for us!"
To promote the establishment of the Anti-Japanese National United Front, the Communist Party of China prioritized national interests and the greater national cause. With great political breadth, it adjusted its policy toward the KMT, moving from "opposing Chiang [Kai-shek] to resist Japan" and "forcing Chiang to resist Japan" to "uniting with Chiang to resist Japan." It facilitated the peaceful resolution of the Xi'an Incident [5] and pushed the KMT and CPC onto the path of the Second Cooperation, preparing the necessary prerequisites for achieving a whole-of-nation war of resistance.
The CPC's correct propositions and actions to resist Japan and save the nation demonstrated a clear stance of resolute opposition to Japanese aggression. They reflected the tenacious will of the Chinese nation to never submit in the face of Japanese invasion and sounded the bugle for the awakening of the Chinese nation.
— "Every person is forced to give out one last roar," the Sleeping Lion of the East wakes up
The thunderous roar of the Japanese aggressors' cannons struck hard at the hearts of the Chinese people, waking the long-slumbering "Sleeping Lion" of the East. A young student wrote in a letter to Zou Taofen, editor-in-chief of Life Weekly (Dazhong Shenghuo): "The enemy's planes keep flying over our heads, the sound of cannons from so-called field exercises makes the classroom windows tremble, and machine guns fire continuously at targets. Each of these bullets feels like it’s hitting our hearts. Teacher, can we still study?" The film Children of Troubled Times, released in 1935, featured a theme song that voiced the common heartfelt cry of China's sons and daughters filled with grief and indignation: "Arise! Ye who refuse to be slaves! With our very flesh and blood, let us build our new Great Wall! The Chinese nation has arrived at its most perilous time, every person is forced to give out one last roar." [6]
The grief and indignation of the entire nation accumulated, surged, and grew; all of China was like a volcano on the verge of eruption. On December 9, 1935, under the leadership of the Communist Party of China, thousands of patriotic students poured into the streets, raising their arms and shouting slogans such as "Down with Japanese imperialism" and "Stop the civil war, unite against foreign aggression." The storm of the anti-Japanese national salvation movement led by the Beiping [7] students quickly swept across the country, both inside and outside the Great Wall and north and south of the Yangtze River. Resistance movements surged everywhere.
The awakening of a nation usually requires two conditions: first, the nation must face a severe crisis unlike any encountered before, pushing the entire nation to a moment of life and death; second, at this moment of survival, the nation needs to see a new way out and have new hope ignited. This is why, although modern China was invaded, colonized, and oppressed time and again, the "Sleeping Lion" of the Chinese nation did not fully wake up until the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, when it began to awaken and rise up in struggle. The unprecedented danger of national destruction, combined with the guidance of the Communist Party of China holding high the banner of whole-of-nation resistance, prompted the Chinese nation to complete the massive transformation from a "sleeping lion" to an "awakened lion" and a "furious lion."
— "Four hundred million people leaping into action together," the Chinese nation achieves unprecedented unity and cohesion
Under the banner of the Anti-Japanese National United Front, based on KMT-CPC cooperation and initiated by the Communist Party of China, the Chinese people changed their previous state of fragmentation and being a "heap of loose sand" [8], throwing themselves without hesitation into the torrent of resisting Japanese aggressors.
Men, women, the old, and the young were all mobilized. "Mothers told their sons to fight the invaders; wives sent their husbands to the battlefield." In Miyun, Beijing, the heroic mother Deng Yufen sent her husband and five children to the front line one after another; they all eventually fell on the battlefield. All sectors of society provided full support. "Those with money gave money, those with guns gave guns, those with grain gave grain, those with strength gave strength, and those with specialized skills contributed their skills." The industrial, news, educational, and artistic sectors took emergency action; even many monks in the religious community picked up steel rifles to join the anti-Japanese ranks. Chinese living abroad helped with everything they had. Overseas Chinese national salvation organizations were established one after another, supporting the ancestral home’s resistance through various means. The famous patriotic overseas Chinese leader Tan Kah Kee [9] initiated the establishment of the South Seas Federation of Overseas Chinese, actively organizing donations of money and materials from overseas Chinese in Southeast Asia and their return to China to participate in the war. These new phenomena, unseen for a century, marked the unprecedented awakening and unity of an ancient nation. This awakening and unity reflected a high degree of identification with the country and the nation, condensing the will and strength of the entire people. The Japanese aggressors increasingly found that they were facing a growing, cohesive Anti-Japanese National United Front composed of the entire Chinese nation—an indestructible and insurmountable "Wall of Bronze and Iron"!
The test of the flames of the War of Resistance enabled the Chinese people to achieve an unprecedented height of spiritual and organizational progress. It greatly enhanced the sense of identity and cohesion of the Chinese nation and significantly strengthened the consciousness of the Chinese people to fight for the nation's future and destiny. All of this laid a solid foundation for national rejuvenation.
II. Forging the Backbone of National Rejuvenation: From Repeated Defeats to Invincibility
In the nearly one hundred years before the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, not a single instance of Chinese resistance against foreign invasion ended in anything but failure. Why, then, was a poor and weak China able to defeat the overbearing Japanese militarism and seize victory in the War of Resistance? What was the most profound driver of this historical change?
— Having a well-deserved mainstay
Since the day of its founding, the Communist Party of China has taken the realization of the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation as its historical mission. It has been the most steadfast in defending national independence, the most resolute in protecting national interests, and the most courageous in resisting foreign aggression. From proposing the establishment of the Anti-Japanese National United Front to adhering to and implementing the line of total resistance; from putting forward the strategic general policy of "protracted war" [10] to implementing a whole set of strategies and tactics of "people's war"; from extensively establishing anti-Japanese base areas to actively opening up battlefields behind enemy lines—the Communists, with their political propositions, firm will, and exemplary actions, led the correct direction for securing victory. They sustained the hope of saving the nation from extinction and became the mainstay of the whole-of-nation resistance.
When the war entered the stage of strategic stalemate—and as the military and civilians in the base areas under the leadership of the CPC tenaciously resisted the Japanese invaders, making the battlefields behind enemy lines increasingly the main theater of war—the diehards within the KMT disregarded the overall situation of the resistance. They launched three anti-communist upsurges one after another, and in January 1941, they manufactured the Southern Anhui Incident [11], which shocked China and the world. However, the CPC always prioritized the overall situation of the resistance, disregarded various grievances with the KMT, and firmly guarded the Anti-Japanese National United Front—the lifeline of victory. With extraordinary political leadership and correct strategies and tactics, the Party unswervingly maintained and promoted the whole-of-nation resistance.
During the arduous years of leading the war, the CPC reached maturity through the comprehensive forging of politics, ideology, organization, conduct, and discipline by creatively implementing the "Great Project" [12] of Party building. It became the strong core leading the Chinese people in the struggle for national independence and people's liberation, bringing a brand-new atmosphere to the war with its new look. Increasingly, the masses of the people and the international community came to know and understand the Communist Party of China. The United States Army Observation Group in Yan'an (the Dixie Mission) once remarked that the resistance led by the Communist Party had "a vigorous atmosphere and strength, and a desire to engage the enemy."
— Having a heroic people's army to defeat a powerful enemy
In May 1938, as vast territories in North and East China were lost, the crisis of national and racial extinction hung over the land like a dark cloud. While the whole country was in a state of panic, a resonant voice clearly and firmly told the world: "Will China be subjugated? The answer is: No, she will not be subjugated, and final victory will be China's. Can China win a quick victory? The answer is: No, she cannot win a quick victory, the War of Resistance is a protracted war." Comrade Mao Zedong published On Protracted War, drawing together the wisdom of the whole Party to scientifically and systematically explain the general policy of protracted resistance. He proposed a whole set of practical methods to mobilize the masses of the people, continuously weaken the enemy's advantages, and grow our own strength during the protracted war to seize final victory, pointing the way toward the inevitable victory of China's resistance.
Under the guidance of the line of total resistance and the strategic general policy of protracted war, the anti-Japanese armed forces behind enemy lines led by the CPC were like a sword unsheathed. Three divisions of the Eighth Route Army marched to the anti-Japanese front in North China; the New Fourth Army developed battlefields behind enemy lines in Central China... The battlefields behind enemy lines opened by the CPC and the frontal battlefields commanded by the KMT coordinated with each other, attacking the enemy from both front and rear. This gradually transformed China's strategic inferiority into superiority, creating the conditions for seizing final victory in the War of Resistance.
The Japanese army used every vicious plot and cruel means in its operations against the Eighth Route Army in North China, attempting to strangle the anti-Japanese armed forces and base areas led by the CPC. However, the military and civilians in the anti-Japanese base areas behind enemy lines "feared neither rain nor wind, blocked the retreat, and launched surprise attacks; today taking a village, tomorrow reclaiming a city." They created and applied diverse combat methods such as tunnel warfare, landmine warfare, "sparrow warfare" (guerrilla sniping), and sabotage warfare, enacting a drama of war where "combat was everywhere and at all times." Japanese historian Kazutaka Kikuchi said, "Without examining the battlefields of the CPC's army, it is impossible to clarify how the powerful Japan ultimately lost to the weak China."
The War of Resistance tempered a heroic people's army. By the time of victory, the people's army had grown to about 1.32 million personnel, with the militia reaching more than 2.6 million, providing a solid strategic support for the realization of national rejuvenation.
— Having precious spiritual assets to temper rejuvenation
The War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression was not only a contest of military and economic strength but also a confrontation of will and spirit.
The Chinese nation is a peace-loving nation, but when aggressors impose war upon the Chinese people, the indomitable and tenacious spirit of struggle inherent in the Chinese nation since ancient times is of infinite power. A fatal mistake made by the Japanese aggressors was to greatly underestimate this spiritual power latent among the Chinese masses, especially the patriotism of "uniting as one to face the national crisis" that erupted at the critical moment of national survival. In the face of the serious threat of national and racial extinction, the Chinese people closely linked their future, destiny, expectations, and interests with the resistance. The patriotic sentiments engraved deep in the souls of the Chinese people were stimulated as never before, and saving the nation from peril became the common will of all sons and daughters of China.
“I would not hesitate to lose my head, and my blood may be shed, but my loyal will shall never waver.” In the freezing snow, Yang Jingyu [13] led his troops in maneuvers against Japanese and puppet forces, maintaining a firing posture even at the moment of his death. “I bestow upon you this flag to carry at all times. Use it to wipe away blood when wounded, and to wrap your body after death...” Before leaving Sichuan for the War of Resistance, the soldier Wang Jiantang received a large white cloth flag from his father. In the center of the flag was written a vigorous and powerful character: “Death” (死). A newspaper editorial at the time wrote: “On the battlefields of the north and south today, men are competing and scrambling to die, because everyone possesses an absolute faith; they know that sacrificing themselves is the price for the independence and freedom of generations of the Chinese nation’s descendants.”
In the magnificent course of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, the Chinese people followed one after another [14] to jointly resist foreign aggression. They demonstrated to the world a patriotic sentiment characterized by the belief that “everyone bears responsibility for the rise and fall of the nation” [15], a national integrity of facing death with equanimity and preferring death to surrender, a heroic spirit of defying brute force and fighting to the end, and a conviction in victory marked by perseverance and indomitability. This forged the Great War of Resistance Spirit and recast the mettle and soul of the Chinese nation. The Great War of Resistance Spirit is a spiritual Great Wall built by the Chinese people with their own flesh and blood; it is a concentrated explosion of the Chinese nation’s cohesion and combat effectiveness at a time of peril, and a future harbinger that China would not perish but would inevitably rise and rejuvenate. It will forever inspire the Chinese people to overcome all difficulties and obstacles and struggle unremittingly to achieve national rejuvenation.
III. Opening Bright Prospects for the Great Rejuvenation of the Chinese Nation: A Change in the Destiny of the State
The victory of the Chinese War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression washed away the trauma of the state, the shame of the nation, and the pain of the people that had persisted since the beginning of modern times. From then on, no more would invaders be able to run rampant on Chinese soil. Ancient China stood up from its most dangerous predicament.
— Re-establishing China’s status as a major power in the world
Once upon a time, China suffered deeply from the bullying of the Great Powers. Not only did it fail to play an important role in international affairs, it did not even possess the qualifications for basic equal dialogue. This situation underwent a major change during the War of Resistance.
Through enormous national sacrifice, China’s War of Resistance made an irreplaceable and significant contribution to the victory of the World Anti-Fascist War, earning the respect of the international community. For a long period, the War of Resistance pinned down and combated the main forces of Japanese militarism, playing a decisive role in the complete destruction of the Japanese invaders. Strategically, it coordinated with and supported the operations of the Allied forces, playing an important role in strategic coordination for the European theater and the anti-fascist wars in other parts of Asia, while constraining and disrupting the attempts at strategic coordination between Japanese, German, and Italian fascists. Stalin spoke highly of the Chinese people, stating they “played a dual role in the cause of eliminating the Japanese imperialists.” U.S. President Roosevelt stated that the United States “cannot forget how the Chinese people withstood the brutal attacks of the Japanese for over seven years and pinned down massive enemy forces across vast areas of the Asian mainland.”
Because the Chinese military and civilians played an extremely important role in the World Anti-Fascist War and were, along with the Soviet Union, the United States, and Britain, the main forces persisting in the fight against the Axis powers, China earned the title of one of the “Four Great Powers.” On January 1, 1942, twenty-six anti-fascist nations signed the Declaration by United Nations in Washington; China joined the ranks of the four major countries leading the signatures alongside the U.S., Britain, and the Soviet Union. In April 1945, China, together with the U.S., Britain, and the Soviet Union, initiated the San Francisco Conference to discuss the establishment of the United Nations. With the official release of the United Nations Charter, China became one of the five permanent members of the UN Security Council.
The victory of the War of Resistance re-established China’s status as a major power in the world and provided indispensable external conditions for achieving the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation.
— Promoting the abolition of unequal treaties imposed on China by the Great Powers
Abolishing the unequal treaties [16] was a strong desire of the Chinese people since the beginning of modern times. The War of Resistance created the conditions for China to change its unequal international status and abolish these treaties. At China’s repeated urging, the U.S. and British governments changed their past attitude of contempt toward China and were forced to abandon their stubborn positions. On January 11, 1943, they signed new treaties with China in Washington and Chongqing respectively, abolishing their extraterritoriality in China.
The abolition of the unequal treaties was the result of years of bloody resistance by the Chinese military and civilians; it was a major victory for the Chinese people’s long-standing national liberation movement and their demands for treaty abolition. The abolition of these treaties canceled many privileges seized by various countries through unequal treaties and enabled China to obtain a status of independence and equality in a legal sense.
— Putting national rejuvenation on the historical fast track
The great victory of the War of Resistance accelerated the victory of the New Democratic Revolution [17] and the arrival of the founding of New China, becoming the pivot for the turning point in modern Chinese history.
The War of Resistance was won, but the Chinese nation still faced a choice between two futures and two destinies. One was an “independent, free, democratic, unified, and prosperous China—that is, a bright China, a New China in which the people are liberated”; the other was a “semi-colonial, semi-feudal, divided, poor, and weak China—that is, an Old China.”
Where was China headed? Different political parties were making choices; history and the people were making choices.
The Communist Party of China (CPC) advocated for “achieving national unification on the basis of peace, democracy, and unity, and building an independent, free, and prosperous New China.” Comrade Mao Zedong, carrying the strategy of establishing a coalition government and disregarding personal danger, rushed to Chongqing to negotiate with Chiang Kai-shek. They signed the “Double Tenth Agreement,” [18] making every effort to seek a glimmer of hope for building the country in peace.
The Kuomintang (KMT) reactionary ruling clique, however, chose a war that ran counter to the will of the people. Particularly at a moment when the people of the whole country longed for stability and peace, Chiang Kai-shek—confident in his absolute superiority in military strength and disregarding the strong opposition of all sectors of society—blatantly tore up the peace agreements and launched an all-out civil war, leading to a complete loss of public support.
To stifle peace and choose war is to inevitably lose the hearts of the people. Having experienced a 14-year War of Resistance, the awakened Chinese people expected peace and the establishment of an independent, free, democratic, unified, and prosperous New China more than ever before. In comparing the KMT and the CPC, and through the hard-won victory of the War of Resistance, the Chinese people became more determined in their pursuit of national independence and national prosperity. They realized more profoundly that the prerequisite for the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation is the realization of national independence and people’s liberation, and they recognized more clearly that the CPC’s proposals for transforming the Old China and building a New China represented the fundamental interests of the Chinese nation. More and more people, including many who were originally in a politically middle-ground state, became deeply disappointed with the KMT and turned to trust and support the CPC. This shift in the public’s alignment (人心向背) [19] changed the balance of political forces in China and brought the Chinese revolution to a turning point. This turning point accelerated the collapse of KMT rule on the mainland and speeded up the process of the New Democratic Revolution’s victory.
In the short span of just over four years after the victory of the War of Resistance, the CPC led the people in eliminating 8 million troops of the KMT reactionaries, overthrew the KMT reactionary government, achieved complete victory in the New Democratic Revolution, and began the new historical journey of ancient China’s "nirvana and rebirth from the ashes!"
Looking back at the path we have traveled, the green mountains stretch into the distance [20]. Only by placing the great victory of the War of Resistance within the continuous struggle of the Chinese people to achieve the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation since modern times can we profoundly understand what General Secretary Xi Jinping said: “This great victory is the historical turning point for the Chinese nation to move from the deep crisis of modern times toward great rejuvenation.” From the Opium War in 1840 to the victory of the War of Resistance in 1945, over those 105 years, China continuously sank into a predicament likened to “living under a collapsing roof, in a leaking boat, or atop kindling,” and the people suffered through the pain of being treated like “slaves, oxen, horses, dogs, or sheep,” with the destiny of the Chinese nation falling into a historical trough.
In the 80 years from the victory of the War of Resistance in 1945 to today, the CPC has united and led the people in bloody battles and determined efforts to build New China, achieving a great leap from thousands of years of feudal autocracy to people’s democracy. We completed the socialist revolution and promoted socialist construction, achieving the most extensive and profound social transformation in the history of the Chinese nation. We carried out reform and opening up and socialist modernization, achieving a historic breakthrough from relatively backward productive forces to becoming the world's second-largest economy. As we initiated the Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era, we have built a moderately prosperous society in all respects on Chinese soil, historically resolving the problem of absolute poverty. The realization of the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation now possesses a more complete institutional guarantee, a more solid material foundation, and a more proactive spiritual force.
“Bitter sacrifice strengthens bold resolve / Which dares to make sun and moon shine in new skies.” [21] Today’s China is no longer the China of 80 years ago; the changes have been earth-shaking. The CPC has united and led the people in writing the most magnificent epic in the thousands of years of the Chinese nation’s history. The great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation has entered an irreversible historical process!
Source: Qiushi, 2025, No. 17 Web Editor: Tongxin