Did Japan do China a "Great Favor" by invading? Ask Mao

[Randy W]

from the SCMP



Mao Zedong thought Japan did the Communist Party a great favour by invading China. Can Hong Kong agree with that?

• The Chinese leader believed his party could not have come to power if the Japanese had not invaded. Hong Kong’s education secretary, in framing the issue about the DSE exam question as one of political correctness, is missing the point

 

Secretary for Education Kevin Yeung Yun-hung said there could only be one answer to the question in the Diploma of Secondary Education history exam regarding Sino-Japanese relations between 1900 and 1945: Japan had done China harm, and no good at all, during the second Sino-Japanese war. On the face of it, few people could disagree with this. How could an invasion that resulted in the loss of millions of lives be good in any sense of the word? But this is to fail to take into account the strategic thinking of Chairman Mao Zedong.

 

. . .

“We must express our gratitude to Japan,” Mao said. “If Japan didn’t invade China, we could have never achieved the cooperation between the Kuomintang and the Communist Party. We could have never developed and eventually taken political power for ourselves. It is due to Japan’s help that we are able to meet here in Beijing.” In other words, had it not been for Japan’s aggression, the communists would have been wiped out by Chiang Kai-shek’s Kuomintang army. By forcing Chiang to focus on resisting Japan rather than eradicating the communists, the invasion gave Mao’s forces years to regroup and expand their territorial control.

[danb]

"Hong Kong’s education secretary, in framing the issue about the DSE exam question as one of political correctness." I think this question was posed to high schoolers in Hong Kong. It sounds like the answer according to the Hong Kong’s education secretary was no, correct? First I have to say it was not the intent of Japan's invasion and occupation of China to help out the Chinese Communist party. It would be interesting to see how the high schoolers answered that question. More yeahs or more nays? Also I wonder if Mao's statements were intend as a jab to the Japanese or was he just trying to be a diplomat. Danb

[Randy W]

This SCMP article talks about the controversy stirred up by the DSE question -

 

How a history exam question stirred up controversy over China, Japan and Hong Kong’s education system

The question in the DSE history paper asked if Japan ‘did more good than harm to China’ between 1900 and 1945

Observers say the furore affected not only the 5,200 students who sat the exam, but has wider implications for Hong Kong

The question was about two texts discussing Japan's offerings of educational and financial assistance to China in the early 20th century. No mention was made of the Communist takeover or the role that Japan inadvertently played in that. But the question was about the period from 1900 to 1945 which, of course, includes Japan's invasion of China.

This article claims that the answers to the exam question would have “seriously hurt the feelings and dignity of the Chinese people who suffered great pain during the Japanese invasion of China”. But it seems that Mao had his own even more hurtful answer, regardless of how tongue-in-cheekily or ironically it was intended.

[danb]

I read the first article rather quickly and completely ignored the actual small ( very very small to my old tired eyes) printed excerpt that the students' questions that the students were asked. I went back and tried to read the excerpts. They were still very small printed. So after about 10 minutes I figure out how to enlarge the printed excerpts : I posted it bellow:

 

Edited May 23, 2020 by danb (see edit history)

[danb]

Well when I initially enlarged the excerpt the print was larger. but after the final posting it was small again. If anyone want to see an enlarged post one can right click on the article and then click on "open image in a new tab". The print should be larger.

Those questioned were posed to high schoolers. Those student must be rather smart. The time period that those two articles were taken from were during a time when China was going thru many events. It was hard for me put things in perspective. Yuan Shikai was a Warlord or was that his son?, The Ming government, The provisional of the Republic of China, Sun Yat Sun and others,etc. They all of names that I have heard about but not sure where exactly they fit in Chinese history. I wonder how the original article/ opinion piece is intend to fit into present day history. Danb