The Communist resistance movement in war-torn Guangdong, China, 1937-1945
This doctoral dissertation traces the origins of the East River and the Hainan Base Areas, which were established by the Chinese Communist Party in Guangdong during the Anti-Japanese War (1937-45) and explains why they failed to achieve the kind of dramatic expansion as did their northern counterparts. As the case of the East River Base Area demonstrates, the major problem which confronted the Party was the limited scope of Japanese occupation. The absence of widespread political anarchy on the Guangdong mainland did not only trigger much initial debate among Party leaders over the possibility of guerrilla mobilisation but also imposed severe constraints on local attempts to construct Communist bases. In Hainan, although the political-military situation was more favourable, the Party's plan of developing the island into a Communist stronghold in South China still ended up in a merely theoretical construct. Among those important factors which contributed to its frustration were inadequate resources at the Party's disposal, the loss of radio communication between Hainan and the Party Centre in Yan'an, the intense Japanese ~mopping-up~ campaigns and the island's age-long Li-Han racial conflict. It was not until
Chan, Gordon Yiu Ming
East River Base Area
The Communist resistance movement in war-torn Guangdong, China, 1937-1945. This doctoral dissertation traces the origins of the East River and the Hainan Base Areas, which were established by the Chinese Communist Party in Guangdong during the Anti-Japanese War (1937-45) and explains why they failed to achieve the kind of dramatic expansion as did their northern counterparts. As the case of the East River Base Area demonstrates, the major problem which confronted the Party was the limited scope of Japanese occupation. The absence of widespread political anarchy on the Guangdong mainland did not only trigger much initial debate among Party leaders over the possibility of guerrilla mobilisation but also imposed severe constraints on local attempts to construct Communist bases. In Hainan, although the political-military situation was more favourable, the Party's plan of developing the island into a Communist stronghold in South China still ended up in a merely theoretical construct. Among those important factors which contributed to its frustration were inadequate resources at the Party's disposal, the loss of radio communication between Hainan and the Party Centre in Yan'an, the intense Japanese ~mopping-up~ campaigns and the island's age-long Li-Han racial conflict. It was not until
communist resistance movement war china doctoral trace_origins east river base areas establish chinese communist_party anti japanese war explain failed achieve kind dramatic expansion northern counterpart case east river base area demonstrate major_problem confront party limit_scope japanese occupation absence widespread political anarchy mainland trigger much initial debate among party_leader possibility mobilisation also impose severe constraint local attempt_construct communist base although political_military situation favourable party plan develop island communist stronghold south china still end merely theoretical_construct among_important factor_contribute frustration inadequate resource party disposal loss radio communication party centre intense japanese campaign island age long han racial conflict