The September 18th Incident
The September 18th Incident broke out at a time when Chiang Kai-shek was employing every military and political means to strengthen his own rule in China, the Chinese revolution was making rapid headway on the tortuous road and the intermediate political fac-tions were making new political explorations. It changed to a great extent China’s political situation and concrete historical process.
On the night of September 18, 1931 , the Japanese troops dynamited a section of the South Manchuria Railway in Shenyang ‘s northern suburb and falsely accused Chinese troops of the act. On this pretext the Japanese troops suddenly attacked Beidaying, where the Chinese Northeast Army was stationed, and Shenyang . The army withdrew without fighting while the major officers and officials quickly took refuge in other places, thus making it possible for the Japanese troops to occupy such important cities as Shenyang, Changchun, Yingkou, Liaoyang, Anshan, Benxi, Fushun, Siping and Andong (today’s Dandong) on the second day. The Japanese troops stationed in Korea also crossed the border to intrude on China ‘s northeast provinces. By the end of September the Japanese troops occupied Liaoning (excluding Liaoxi) and Jilin provinces, and in November took the larger part of Heilongjiang Province . In January 1932, the Japanese troops attacked Jinzhou and seized the Liaoxi areas and on February 5, occupied Harbin . The three northeast provinces thus fell into the enemy’s hands in less than five months. In March 1932 the puppet state of ” Manchukuo ” was set up under the Japanese imperialists’ direction. Pu Yi became its “chief executive.” Pu Yi (1906-1967) was the banished Qing Dynasty emperor Xuan Tong, of Manchu ethnic group, whose surname was Aisin-Gioro. In September Japan officially proclaimed its recognition of the state of ” Manchukuo ” and a protocol of alliance was signed between Japan and ” Manchukuo .” ” Manchukuo ” was a puppet state entirely under the control of the Japanese Kwan-tung Army. In March 1934 it changed its name to the “Manchu Empire” under the Japanese imperialists’ direction, and Pu Yi was called emperor in place of the “chief executive,” The commanding officer of the Kwantung Army, as the representative of the Japanese Mikado (emperor), acted as Pu Yi’s “instructor” and “guardian” and concurrently as the Japanese ambassador plenipotentiary to “Manchukuo.” He was actually the overlord who held sway in northeast China . The Japanese imperialists ruthlessly carried out military occupation and colonial rule through the puppet power.
After the September 18th Incident, the Japanese imperialists turned northeast China into a colony under Japan’s exclusive control, then began the second step of colonizing all of China under its sole domination, thus changing the Versailles-Washington world pattern formed after World War I and deepening the tension in China between the United States and Britain on the one side, and Japan on the other. Thereafter a great change took place in China ‘s internal political situation and class relations. The threat from Japan became the most important issue so anti-Japanese aggression became the common demand of the whole Chinese people. A partial anti-Japanese war waged by the Chinese people began.
The Kuomintang govemment adopted a non-resistance policy towards Japanese imperialist aggression. Chiang Kai-shek asked the whole nation to “submit temporarily to oppression and await the judgement of acknowledged international justice.” The Kuomintang government many times accused the Japanese troops of aggression in Chinese territory before the League of Nations and asked it to uphold justice, in the hope of compelling Japan to withdraw its troops from the northeast. The League of Nations , however, was then recognized as powerless to impose sanctions against Japan . Disillusioned, Chiang attempted to make direct negotiations with Japan , but to no avail as there was opposition from many sides.
The people throughout China were indignant at the Japanese imperialists’ armed aggression and the Kuomintang’s non-resistance, and all demanded resistance. A nationwide wave of feeling against Japanese aggression, unprecedented in scale, was thus launched. The Chinese Communist Party, the Soviet government and the Workers’ and Peasants’ Red Army issued many statements and made decisions calling upon the Red Army and the oppressed masses “to wage a national revolutionary war to drive the Japanese imperialists out of China.” Open telegrams were issued from all over China to protest against the Japanese imperialists’ atrocities and to demand resistance to the Japanese aggressors. In large and medium cities, meetings, demonstrations and petitions were held, unprecedented both in popularity and Workers in Shanghai and Beiping held strikes one after another. Students played a vanguard role in the anti-Japanese move-ment. They held assemblies and parades, issued open telegrams, produced propaganda, set up anti-Japanese organizations and organized anti-Japanese volunteers, and demanded that the Kuomintang government stop the civil war, arm the civilians and send soldiers to fight the Japanese aggressors. Students in Shanghai, Beiping, Jinan, Wuhan and Guangzhou sent delegates or went in groups to Nanjing to present petitions. On September 28 the petitioning students in Nanjing and Shanghai beat the foreign minister, Wang Zhengting, and smashed Wang’s office. In late November students in Nanjing and other places launched the “send Chiang to the north to resist the Japanese aggressors” movement. Early in December as the petitioning students to Nanjing kept increasing, the Kuomintang authorities formally ordered the prohibition of student groups coming to Nanjing to petition. On December 17, over 30,000 students went to demonstrate and petition around the offices of the Kuomintang central headquarters and the National Government in Nanjing . The Kuomintang troops and armed policemen suppressed them near the Zhenzhu Bridge, killing over 30, wounding over 100, and arresting another 100. The Zhenzhu Bridge massacre sparked off protester in many places. Students, workers and other people in Shanghai, carrying the coffins of the student victims, held a 100,000-person demonstration. Patriotic industrialists and mer-chants in many cities launched a campaign to boycott Japanese goods and demanded that economic relations with Japan suspended. Public figures and newspapers representing the national bourgeoisie made speeches and carded commentaries demanding for an immediate end to civil and union against the Japanese imperialists, criticizing the Kuomintang government’s non-resistance and internal policy, and calling for reorganization of the government and for a government of national defence. Splits and vacillation also occurred inside the Kuo-mintang and among its troops. In November when the Japanese troops attacked Heilongjiang Province, Ma Zhanshan, acting governor of Heilongjiang and the commander-in-chief of the province’s garrison, led his troops in resistance at the Nenjiang Bridge . Donations were sent from all sections of society in support of Ma in the resistance war. In December the 26th Route Army, over 17,000 strong, which had been sent by Chiang to Jiangxi to attack the Red Army, revolted in Ningdu under the leadership of Zhao Bosheng and Dong Zhentang, and went over to the Red Army. To sum up, from the September 18th Incident, a resistance upsurge against Japanese invaders appeared among the workers, peasants, students and urban petty bourgeoisie. The national bourgeoisie also took an active attitude towards resistance against Japan . Even some of the Kuomintang members and troops, in defiance of the Kuomintang Centre’s order, rose in resistance. The patriotic anti-Japanese movement became an irresistible historical trend.
The September 18th Incident brought about a strong international response. The peace-loving and justice-upholding people around the globe unanimously condemned the Japanese imperialists’ aggressive conduct. The governments of the Soviet Union, the United States and Britain reacted differently with their varying standpoints. The Soviet government sympathized with and supported China morally, but it adopted a “neutral” attitude of non-interference in its foreign policy. The American government adopted a wait-and-see attitude at the beginning and only after the Japanese troops had occupied Jinzhou did the U.S. Secretary of State Henry Lewis Stimson deliver notes of “nonrecognition” to the Chinese and Japanese governments, declaring that the United States would not recognize the changed status quo in China’s northeast. Taking a wavering attitude, the British government did nothing practical. This was manifested through activities in the League of Nations . Although the League of Nations made a decision asking Japan to withdraw its troops within the set time, Japan simply ignored the demand. The League did nothing about it. Later it appointed an investigation group. It was formally set up in January 1932 with British representative V. L. George Robert Lytton as its head. After over six months’ “investigation,” in October it published a “documented report of the group.” This document recognized some basic facts such as “the three northeast provinces being part of China,” made certain disclosures of the Japanese imperialists’ aggressive actions, and pointed out that their military action in the “September 18th Incident” could not be regarded as “legal self-defence methods” and “Manchukuo” was a puppet state rigged up entirely by Japan. How-ever, the document excused the aggressors in many respects and pro-posed placing northeast China under “international control,” which would have infringed upon China ‘s sovereignty. In February. 1933 the League of Nations Assembly passed a resolution which basically accepted the opinions and suggestions of Lytton’s investigative report. It declared that no factual and legal recognition would be given to ” Manchukuo,” but this was only a scrap of paper.
In May 1931, after Chiang Kai-shek had held the “National Assembly,” the anti-Chiang faction members such as Wang Jingwei, Sun Ke, Chen Jitang and Li Zongren set up the Kuomintang Central Ex-ecutive and Supervisory Committee Conference and the National Government in Guangzhou in armed confrontation with Chiang’s Nanjing government. After the September 18th Incident both the Nanjing and Guangzhou governments took a conciliatory attitude. The Nanjing side asked its opponent to cancel the “Guangzhou national government,” “unite and take concerted action immediately to cope with national calamity,” while the Guangzhou side asked Chiang to leave office and organize a “united national government,” to “stop internal contention and resist foreign aggression.” Actually what they did was scramble for power under the pretense of “united action against national calamity.” After some contention, a “peace and unity conference” was held in Shanghai , attended by delegates of both sides, in late October. Both sides cast “united resistance against Japan ” to the wind. Their talk centred around the distribution of party, political and military power.
The Guangzhou delegates put forward “a reform programme of the central political system,” which aimed at destroying the dictator-ship system set up by Chiang Kai-shek and seizing central power. The Nanjing delegates insisted that the party’s rule and the constitution could not be changed. What this really meant was that they were re-fusing to abandon control of central power. As both sides attacked each other, the conference came to a deadlock. Later they reached an agreement after the mediation of many people. They decided the Kuomintang Fourth National Congress would be held by both sides at their locales to choose their own Central Committee members, and then the Fourth Plenary Session of the Fourth Central Committee would be held in Nanjing to deal with the proposals raised by both sides and also with the issue of reorganizing the government. The Nanjing Kuornintang Fourth National Congress was held on Novem-ber 12, at which Chiang Kai-shek talked loudly about strengthening “internal unity” so as to “resist foreign aggression,” but proposedno concrete measures of resisting foreign aggressors. What he wanted was to hold fast to central power. The Guangzhou Kuomintang Fourth National Congress was held on November 18. Because of the scram- ble for power between the anti-Chiang cliques, no compromise was reached. The Guangzhou congress members were split into the Hu Hanmin clique of Guangzhou and the Wang Jingwei clique of Shang-hai. Hu Hanmin (1879-1936) claimed the congress’ aims were to sin-cerely unite against foreign aggression, “overthrow dictatorship and implement democratic politics.” His intention was to force Chiang Kai-shek to leave office and reorganize the Nanjing government. After the congress, the party central headquarters of the Hu clique was for-mally set up in Guangzhou . In such a situation Chiang Kai-shek con-sidered that it would be disadvantageous to him to hold out tena-ciously; so he decided to make concessions in order to gain advantage. He handed in his resignation as the president of the Kuomintang Na-tional Government and the head of the Executive Yuan on December15.
After Chiang’s resignation, Lin Sen (1867-1943) was appointed president of the National Government and Sun Ke (1891-1973) head of the Executive Yuan by the First Plenary Session of the Fourth Kuomintang Central Committee. The Nanjing and Guangzhou sides thus organized a “united government.” Actually Chiang, Wang and Hu did not cooperate, but they all manipulated the political situation be-hind the scenes. Sun Ke, without real power, could do nothing. In January 1932 the Japanese troops occupied Jinzhou without much effort. This aroused a nationwide denunciation of Sun Ke’s govern-ment. The Kuomintang govemment kept up the policy of nonresis- tance and no negotiations. Making use of the situation, Chiang’s close followers in the Kuomintang raised a cry for Chiang’s resumption of office. Chiang made a speech at Fenghua’s Wuling School on the”Northeast Problem and the Policy Towards Japan” on January 11, 1932 . He tried hard to explain the nonresistance of the Kuomintang government and attacked the patriotic anti-Japanese movement. He asked the citizens to obey the government in everything. He opposed declaring war on and breaking off relations with Japan . His policy towards Japan was to continue relations, avoid a declaration of war and refuse to conclude and sign any treaty ceding territory and surren-dering China ‘s sovereign rights. At that time collaboration between Chiang Kai-shek and Wang Jingwei was brewing. After delivering his speech, Chiang went to Hangzhou to meet with Wang and the two reached an agreement on the division of power, whereby Wang was to take charge of domestic and foreign affairs and Chiang military affairs. The Chiang and Wang cliques thus jointly held the power of the Kuo-mintang central government and pushed the Hu Hanmin clique out of the government.
On the night of January 28, an attack on Shanghai . The 19th 1932, the Japanese troops launched Route Army stationed in Shanghai, influenced by the anti-Japanese enthusiasm of the patriotic Chinese people, started resisting the Japanese invasion under the leadership of its commanding generals Cai Tingkai (1892-1968) and Jiang Guang- nai (1887-1967). After the December 8th Incident, the people of all circles in Shanghai launched a big movement to support the 19th Route Army’s anti-Japanese fighting. In mid-February 1932, Zhang Zhizhong led the Fifth Corps with Chiang’s agreement to participate in the fighting. Thanks to the 19th Route Army and the Fifth Corps’ heroic resistance and the active participation of the broad masses, Shanghai held off the aggressors for over one month, killing and wounding over 10,000 Japanese troops. The Japanese army was forced to change its commanding general three times, but was still unable to make any headway. However, after the 19th Routh Army suffered heavy casualties and was badly in need of support and help, Chiang Kai-shek refused to send reinforcements, and his Ministry of Military and Political Affairs even pocketed a portion of the soldiers’ pay and held up the people’s donations. The Japanese aggressors or-ganized additional troops in Shanghai , launched a general attack and landed at Liuhe. Outflanked, the 19th Route Army was forced to withdraw from the city. On March 14, through the British envoy Lampson’s mediation, both the Kuomintang and Japanese troops stopped military actions and engaged in armistice negotiations. On May 5, an armistice agreement of national betrayal and humiliation was signed.
After that, Chiang Kai-shek formally affirmed the reactionary policy of “internal pacification before resistance to foreign invasion” as his basic norms of handling internal and foreign affairs. This policy was aimed actually at “pacification,” rather than “resistance.” Under the reactionary state policy, the anti-Japanese democratic movement upsurge after the September 18th Incident was suppressed. In the meantime the country’s territory and sovereign rights were continu-ously encroached upon by the Japanese imperialists. China ‘s national disaster deepened day by day.
On New Year’s Day of 1933 when the Japanese troops launched an attack on Shanhaiguan Pass , the Chinese army stationed there rose in counter-attack, thus raising the curtain on resistance on the Great Wall. On January 3, Shanhaiguan Pass fell into the Japanese hands. Then the Japanese invaders attacked Rehe in three columns. The Rehe provincial governor, Tang Yulin, and 200,000 soldiers fled without fighting. The Japanese vanguard, 128 strong, occupied Chengde, the provincial capital, on March 4. This caused a nationwide denunciation of Zhang Xueliang and demand for the punishment of Tang Yulin. Chiang Kai-shek decided to have Zhang Xueliang resign and appoint-ed He Yingqin to replace him and act concurrently as chairman of the Beiping branch of the Military Commission.
After the Japanese aggressors occupied Shanhaiguan Pass and Rehe, they launched attacks on the militarily important location of Xifengkuo, Lengkou and Gubeikou along the Great Wall. The Kuo-mintang Northwest Army led by Song Zheyuan, the Shanxi Army led by Shang Zhen, the Northeast Army led by Wang Yizhe and the Cen-tral Army reinforcements led by Guan Linzheng, all heroically re-sisted the offensive of the Japanese troops. The Great Wall resistance battle dealt the arrogant Japanese aggressors a heavy blow. When the Japanese invaders suffered setbacks at the important passes on the Great Wall, they pushed forward through Shanhaiguan Pass towards the east of the Luanhe River . The Kuomintang troops at these passes withdrew one by one after being attacked front and rear. While the Japanese troops were penetrating to the east of the Luanhe River , the British government began to worry that this action would endanger British interests and rights in this area. It then lodged a serious protest to the Japanese government. Afraid of incurring international disputes, the Japanese government ordered the withdrawal of the Japanese troops from east Luanhe River back to the Great Wall line in mid-April. It adopted a method of instigating rebellion internally through buying over agents in an attempt to create a second ” Manchukuo ” in north China . Early in May, seeing that their instigation could not come to effect quickly, the Japanese troops launched another offensive to the east of the Luanhe River and forged across the river to make a surprise attack on the liver’s west. Over 20 counties of eastern Hebei Province were occupied by the invaders, placing Beiping and Tianjin in immi-nent danger. At this critical juncture, on May 3, 1933 , the national government published an order to establish the Beiping Government Affairs Rearrangement Committee of the Executive Yuan and appointed Huang Fu as its chairman. Huang was then sent to north China
to negotiate with Japan about armistice issues. Huang held secret ne-gotiations with the Japanese in Beiping and reached an agreement in principle. On May 31, 1933 , He Yingqin, acting chairman of the Beiping branch of the Military Commission of the national govern-ment, with the agreement of Chiang Kai-shek and Wang Jingwei, sent Xiong Bin to sign the Tanggu Agreement with the Japanese army’s delegate, Yasuji Okamura. This agreement virtually acquiesced in the “lawfulness” of the Japanese occupation of the three northeastern provinces and Rehe, and recognized eastern Hebei as a “demilitarized zone.”
Although the anti-Japanese democratic movement of the Chinese people had met with ruthless suppression by the Kuomintang govern-ment, it continued to grow. in momentum in face of the deepening aggression of the Japanese imperialists and the sharpening national crisis consequent upon Chiang’s policy of “internal pacification before resistance to foreign invasion.” The public opinions centred on con-demning the Kuomintang government and Chiang’s nonresistance policy, and called upon the Kuomintang to change its “suppress the Communists” policy, stop civil war and unite against foreign aggres-sion. Newspapers and magazines such as Shen Bao (Shanghai Daily), Da Gong Bao (Impartial Daily), Xin Wen Bao (News Daily), and Dongfang (The East) carded commentaries, criticizing the Kuomin-tang’s domestic and foreign policies, urging the Kuomintang govern-ment to “change its attitude” and castigating Chiang Kai-shek and his followers. These commentaries expressed the discontent of the people of the whole country, who were more and more dissatisfied with the Kuomintang’s rule and its policy. The progressive intellectuals, agitat-ed by the national crisis, demanded an anti-Japanese policy, as well as democracy and unity.
In December 1932 the China League for Defence of Civil Rights was formally established, with Soong Ching Ling (1893-01981) as president and Cai Yuanpei (1868-1940) as vice-president. The aims of the league were to save all patriotic revolutionary “political prison-ers,” and fight for freedom of speech, the press, assembly and asso-ciation.
In the spring of 1933 the Japanese troops extended their aggres-sion to south of the Great Wall threatening north China . Open tele-grams from people’s organizations in various provinces and munici-palities were sent to Feng Yuxiang, asking him to put up resistance Lgainst Japan . With the encouragement and help of the Chinese Com- munist Party, Feng Yuxiang organized the Qahar People’s Anti-Japanese Allied Army in Zhangjiakou on May 26, with himself as the commander-in-chief. The First Congress of the Anti-Japanese Allied Army was held in Zhangjiakou in June. It passed a resolution on the programme of the People’s Anti-Japanese Allied Army. After the con-gress the army was divided into three columns to fight the approach-ing enemy. They recaptured Dolon Nor in July, and drove the Japanese and puppet troops out of Qahar. Chiang Kai-shek used every means to attack the allied army. The allied army, under the converging attack of the Japanese invaders and Chiang’s troops, was in a difficult position. Vhen the Japanese troops reoccupied Dolon Nor in August, Feng Yuxiang was compelled to abolish the general headquarters of the Allied Army and left the army. Subsequently Ji Hongchang and Fang Zhenwu declared by open telegram that the name of the Anti-Japanese Allied Army was now changed to Quell-the-Aggressors Army. The army continued its resistance against Japan in Rehe and around the Great Wall. However it suffered defeat due to the joint attacks of the Chiang and Japanese troops in September.
In November 1933, the Kuomintang 19th Route Army under the command of Cai Tingkai, Chen Mingshu (1889-1965) and Jiang Guangnai, and part of the Kuomintang anti-Chiang forces headed by Li Jishen launched the “Fujian Incident.” They held the Chinese People’s Interim Congress in Fuzhou , published “The Manifesto of People’s Rights,” and established the People’s Revoltitionary Government. They advocated eliminating the imperialist forces in China , abolishing unequal treaties, overthrowing the counter-revolutionary, traitorous government, getting rid of all feudal forces, distributing farmland on a per capita basis, developing national capital, improving the livelihood of the workers and peasants, ensuring that the working people enjoy absolute freedom and equality, etc. These reflected the political and economic demands of the middle stratum. The Chinese Soviet Provisional Central Government and the Workers’ and Peasants’ Red Army concluded an agreement with the Fujian People’s Government for resistance to Japanese aggression and struggle against Chiang Kai-shek. The establishment of the Fujian People’s Government marked the breaking-up of the Kuomintang camp. Chiang made every effort to eliminate the Fujian People’s Government. By the end of 1933, Chiang made himself commander-in-chief of the “Suppress-the-Bandit Army” and mustered large numbers of troops to attack Fujian . Mean- while he sent people to sneak into Fujian and buy the officers of the19th Route Army with money and official posts. The Japanese, British and American naval vessels and gunboats, under the pretext of protecting their nationals in Fujian , coordinated with Chiang’s troops to threaten the Fujian People’s Government. In January the following year, due to the fierce assault and siege of Chiang’s troops and some officers within its own ranks crossing over to Chiang’s side, the Fujian People’s Government collapsed. The CPC Central Committee under the rule of the “Left” opportunist line failed to give adequate support to the Fujian People’s Government.
On April 20, 1934 , the “Basic Programme of the Chinese People’s War Against Japan” proposed by the Chinese Communist Party and signed by 1,779 people including Soong Ching Ling, He Xiang-ning and Li Du was published. It called on the Chinese people to rise and arm themselves to drive the Japanese imperialists out of China , and to set up a general leading body of the nation’s armed resistance against Japan . In May the General Committee of the Chinese Nation for Armed Self-Defence was set up in Shanghai . This programme, though expressing the just demand of the Chinese people for resistance against Japan and for national salvation, could never be realized under the Kuomintang reactionary rule.
Ask Questions ?