Despite its relative brevity, this study of Wuhan in 1938 by Stephen R. MacKinnon has a kind of panoramic sweep, covering the essentials of the military confrontation, the refugee situation, culture and the press, the mobilization of youths, and the international dimension. One of the hallmarks of the book is its use of biographical vignettes to carry the story along, which points to the sweep of analysis by the range of those covered: Chen Cheng, Lao She, Guo Moruo, Wen Yiduo, Chen Lifu, Zhang Zhidong, Liu Xinsheng, Shi Liang, and Rewi Alley. Robert Capa's excellent photographs of the Wuhan scene are another of the book's highlights.
The book's subtitle elucidates the author's aims for the volume. MacKinnon's account of the battle for the central Yangzi reads like a catalogue of Chinese strategic failings and shortcomings: an overemphasis on positional warfare, an overall lack of coherence in the deployment of troops, an overly politicized and complex command structure, and an avoidance of decisive confrontations by commanders. All of this was at the mercy of the massive superiority of Japanese equipment, mobility, and firepower. The Baoding Military Academy connection between many of the generals involved in the Wuhan campaign is noteworthy: “They were committed to working together on the battlefield and agreed, politely and willingly, to quietly circumvent Chiang Kai-shek's directives when necessary” (p. 28).
The chapter on refugees is essentially the same essay (with minor additions) by MacKinnon that appeared in Scars of War (Vancouver: University of British Columbia Press, 2002). In my opinion, more details on the actual refugee experience would have strengthened this chapter; specifics, for example, on refugee participation in the armament industry are scant. There are occasional minor errors. For example, MacKinnon asserts that “[t]he highest percentage of refugees came from the inland provinces of Henan, Shanxi, Hunan, and Hubei” (p. 47). But the statistics in table 1 (p. 48) put Hubei seventh in rank after Suiyuan, Jiangsu, and Shandong.
The other element in the subtitle is “the making of modern China.” My concern here is an issue that MacKinnon touches on himself: “Thus, historians have often dismissed Wuhan's inspirational role … in 1938 as inconsequential …. Indeed, if we consider only the history of the Guomindang and Communist parties, this conclusion is largely accurate. The ten months of unified governance at Wuhan were an aberration” (p. 113). Ten months is a very short period of time; and Wuhan, for all its importance, was simply one site in China that was embroiled in war. Other cities in other provinces, admittedly not serving as the national capital, had to wrestle with refugee relief and issues of culture and youth. Why is it that the Wuhan experience specifically “laid the foundation for the comprehensive social-welfare and health programs later instituted in the PRC [People's Republic of China] and Republic of China”? (p. 54).
Similarly, MacKinnon needs to elaborate and explain some of his grander statements, such as his assertion that “the relief effort connected national integration to social responsibility, reaching beyond local ties to a redefinition of community” (p. 54). What exactly was this “redefinition of community”—what are its elements, and who was aware of this “community”? He claims that the Wuhan experience “altered Chinese culture permanently” (p. 82) and that it “changed China's collective consciousness—reshaped politics, society, and culture” (p. 96). On their face, these claims seem too extravagant. How did this brief period—less than a year—in one Chinese city have such far-reaching and thoroughgoing impacts and implications? There is also a paucity of details to support some generalizations. An example is the treatment of youth and students. In a crucial paragraph beginning “Youth and students …” (p. 95), there are a host of interesting generalizations but no endnotes to enable the reader to pursue particular points.
MacKinnon's research advances our understanding of the period by looking at the wide-scale impact of war on a rich array of Wuhan society. The comparison of Wuhan and Madrid brings a fresh way of seeing the Chinese city. Surprisingly, given their mobilizational success in other arenas, the Chinese Communist Party, MacKinnon notes, was ineffective in mobilizing refugee students. MacKinnon ends on a suggestive note, positing that the war produced “a kind of psychic numbness to violence and ability to endure oppression without protest” (p. 118) and that that “survivor mentality” carried over into the 1960s. One wonders whether such a characteristic, if it was widespread, was produced existentially by this war or whether it taps into deeper streams of traditional Chinese culture.
