Would he have been better?

John Gittings

  • Generalissimo: Chiang Kai-shek and the China He Lost by Jonathan Fenby
    Free Press, 562 pp, £25.00, November 2003, ISBN 0 7432 3144 9

Chiang Kai-shek celebrated his 50th birthday (by the Chinese way of counting) in October 1936. To mark the occasion, every schoolchild in the country – or in those parts not already occupied by the Japanese army – was instructed to contribute 15 cents, and every teacher one dollar, to help purchase fighter planes from the US. A new spirit of patriotism was stirring as Japan continued its creeping aggression in the north. Army recruits were given lectures on ‘The Coming Sino-Japanese War’ and ‘How to Make Sacrifices’.

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Vol. 26 No. 6 · 18 March 2004 » John Gittings » Would he have been better? (print version)
Pages 33-35 | 3859 words