Divided We Stall

As a plot, the Chinese Communists were the real beneficiaries of the Sino-Japanese War. Whilst power-hungry Mao Zedong was steamrolling China into an unrecognizable Bolshevik state, he repeatedly showed barefaced gratitude to the Japanese visitors, namely ex-IJA General Endou Saburou in 1956, Socialist Sasaki Kouzou in 1964, and the PM Tanaka Kakuei in 1972, etc. for the Japanese aggression. For generations this ordeal continues to weigh heavily on China, and every family still has a war history under the incumbent corrupt and morally bankrupt government. Today, what troubles Chinese most is "the state of the souls".

Retrospectively, the depleted Nationalist centre began to falter after the VJ Day, as the Reds started flexing their muscle against it. During the dissolution in 1946-49, it kicked off a regional war that soon swallowed China. After their evasive strategy during the Japanese invasion, the Red paramilitaries and field armies launched a nation-wide barrage that inspired bloodshed on massive scale. From Sep 1948 to Jan 1949, the Reds won all the three decisive battles (遼沈, 淮海, 平津三大戰役) and destroyed 173 centre divisions. With such a massive loss of manpower-1,540,000 men- and equipments, the Nationalist regime could do nothing else but retreating to Taiwan.

After humiliating negotiations in Moscow, on 14 February 1950 Mao and Stalin signed the inequitable Sino-Soviet Treaty of Friendship, Alliance and Mutual Assistance for an upcoming unnecessary war. One of the ironies of this treaty was, it substantially terminated the Great Helmsman’s attempt of "Bloodletting of Taiwan". Though it did not prevent extreme breaking-up between the two tyrannies in 1956, the timing did seem reflective of a broader drift in Reds’ ideology away from the traditional Chinese value. Since 1949 the Maoist regime completely changes the culture and geography of the Chinese people. For those fought and struggled on a change then, now it seems in China like a false hope and historical wrong turn.

Related Chinese Civil War hardware M3A3/M5A1 General Stuart light tank, the work horse P-40 Kittyhawk, the L-bird Stinson L-5 Sentinel are presented here, and are accompanied by their equally unique stories.