History Accounts

Paper Son: Chinese American Citizen.

Chinese immigration to America was unique for various reasons.  All of this is the subject of my new series.

I begin with the historical account of early American naturalization and immigration events, politics, and jurisprudence.  From the early years I work through and discuss first the Gold Rush and then the construction of the intercontinental railroad to the onslaught of Chinese immigration into the United States. Eventually leading to violence, exclusion, and deportation of Chinese persons.  All this finally led to the United States Government’s acknowledgement and apology.  Including a recognition of Chinese American contributions.

The discussion about naturalization and immigration inevitably leads to the questions of (1) who should be an American; and (2) what is an American?

Paper Son: Chinese American Citizen.

Chinese immigration to America was unique for various reasons.  All of this is the subject of my new series.

I begin with the historical account of early American naturalization and immigration events, politics, and jurisprudence.  From the early years I work through and discuss first the Gold Rush and then the construction of the intercontinental railroad to the onslaught of Chinese immigration into the United States. Eventually leading to violence, exclusion, and deportation of Chinese persons.  All this finally led to the United States Government’s acknowledgement and apology.  Including a recognition of Chinese American contributions.

The discussion about naturalization and immigration inevitably leads to the questions of (1) who should be an American; and (2) what is an American?

Paper Son: Chinese American Citizen.

Chinese immigration to America was unique for various reasons.  All of this is the subject of my new series.

I begin with the historical account of early American naturalization and immigration events, politics, and jurisprudence.  From the early years I work through and discuss first the Gold Rush and then the construction of the intercontinental railroad to the onslaught of Chinese immigration into the United States. Eventually leading to violence, exclusion, and deportation of Chinese persons.  All this finally led to the United States Government’s acknowledgement and apology.  Including a recognition of Chinese American contributions.

The discussion about naturalization and immigration inevitably leads to the questions of (1) who should be an American; and (2) what is an American?

Paper Son: Chinese American Citizen. 

Chinese immigration to America was unique for various reasons.  All of this is the subject of my new series. 

I begin with the historical account of early American naturalization and immigration events, politics, and jurisprudence.  From the early years I work through and discuss first the Gold Rush and then the construction of the intercontinental railroad to the onslaught of Chinese immigration into the United States. Eventually leading to violence, exclusion, and deportation of Chinese persons.  All this finally led to the United States Government’s acknowledgement and apology.  Including a recognition of Chinese American contributions. 

The discussion about naturalization and immigration inevitably leads to the questions of (1) who should be an American; and (2) what is an American?

Paper Son: Chinese American Citizen.

Chinese immigration to America was unique for various reasons.  All of this is the subject of my new series.

I begin with the historical account of early American naturalization and immigration events, politics, and jurisprudence.  From the early years I work through and discuss first the Gold Rush and then the construction of the intercontinental railroad to the onslaught of Chinese immigration into the United States. Eventually leading to violence, exclusion, and deportation of Chinese persons.  All this finally led to the United States Government’s acknowledgement and apology.  Including a recognition of Chinese American contributions.

The discussion about naturalization and immigration inevitably leads to the questions of (1) who should be an American; and (2) what is an American?

Chinese immigration to America was unique for various reasons.  All of this is the subject of my new series. 

I begin with the historical account of early American naturalization and immigration events, politics, and jurisprudence.  From the early years I work through and discuss first the Gold Rush and then the construction of the intercontinental railroad to the onslaught of Chinese immigration into the United States. Eventually leading to violence, exclusion, and deportation of Chinese persons.  All this finally led to the United States Government’s acknowledgement and apology.  Including a recognition of Chinese American contributions. 

The discussion about naturalization and immigration inevitably leads to the questions of (1) who should be an American; and (2) what is an American?

Paper Son: Chinese American Citizen.

Chinese immigration to America was unique for various reasons.  All of this is the subject of my new series. 

I begin with the historical account of early American naturalization and immigration events, politics, and jurisprudence.  From the early years I work through and discuss first the Gold Rush and then the construction of the intercontinental railroad to the onslaught of Chinese immigration into the United States. Eventually leading to violence, exclusion, and deportation of Chinese persons.  All this finally led to the United States Government’s acknowledgement and apology.  Including a recognition of Chinese American contributions. 

The discussion about naturalization and immigration inevitably leads to the questions of (1) who should be an American; and (2) what is an American?

Paper Son: Chinese American Citizen.


Chinese immigration to America was unique for various reasons.  All of this is the subject of my new series. 

I begin with the historical account of early American naturalization and immigration events, politics, and jurisprudence.  From the early years I work through and discuss first the Gold Rush and then the construction of the intercontinental railroad to the onslaught of Chinese immigration into the United States. Eventually leading to violence, exclusion, and deportation of Chinese persons.  All this finally led to the United States Government’s acknowledgement and apology.  Including a recognition of Chinese American contributions. 

The discussion about naturalization and immigration inevitably leads to the questions of (1) who should be an American; and (2) what is an American?

After the war, earnest efforts were made to form a coalition government with the Guomindang and the communists.  When that failed the civil war between the two rekindled. 

The roughly three-year extension of the civil war saw the collapse of the Nanjing government and the Nationalists’ control of China. Eventually leading to in 1949, the inauguration of the Peoples Republic of China, by the communists, and the Nationalists’ flight to Taiwan.   

The war with Japan devastated the Nanjing Government, her military, and China.  The Nationalists had survived the war and still remained in power.  Their failures, however, particularly late in the war, and at the nation’s greatest time of need, were fateful.  

The open, unhealed wound of the issues with the Communist was one of the fateful consequences of the Nationalists’ failures.  Efforts failed to find a peaceful solution between the two, including a coalition-led government.  The war had settled one problem but created a myriad of others.  China was unsettled.  

The Sino-Japanese War ends.  Japan’s surrender, a momentous event, also ended World War II.  A victory certainly for China and the Allied Powers.  It left, however, many geo-political questions and issues.  The war with Japan also exposed to the world the deteriorated condition of the Nationalist military forces, the Nanjing Government, and China. 

The victory also did not resolve the open, unhealed sore between the Chinese Nationalist and the Chinese Communist.  By 1945, the Americans began a series of efforts to mediate the two sides toward a coalition government.  Despite some early optimism, the formation of a coalition government evaporated.  Meanwhile the Soviet Union quickly turned to Manchuria and rushed in after the Japanese forces left.  

China’s war against Japan eventually merged into the greater world war.  Particularly after the attack on Pearl Harbor, Japan became a central concern to the Allies, especially the United States. 

Soon after the Japanese began their war against China, it had planned to pacify and consolidate the territory she had gained in China.  However, largely unsuccessful, by 1942, she had bigger issues with the Allies’ efforts against her in the Pacific. 

That did not deter her from successfully launching and completing her largest military campaign in China.  In the spring of 1944, Japan began Operation Ichigo.  A massive and impressive military offensive to link northern Asia and southern Asia and to rid China of the American airfields. 

Did the second united front between the Nationalists and the Communists solidly meld the two sides together, or was that merely an illusion?  We find out in this episode.  

 By 1939, the United States was loaning money to the Nationalist government.  There was no appetite by the western nations to pursue appeasement with Japan as they had toward Germany. In 1940, Japan became part of the Axis Powers.  China joined in with the western Allied Powers.  The Sino-Japanese War merged with the greater conflict of World War II. 

The second Sino-Japanese War began in July 1937.  Which side started it can be debated.  We do know it was an eight-year horror show.  It would overlap and influence the coming second world war.  The opening actions of the Japanese war saw terrible human casualties.  These portended what was coming. 

In this episode I focus on the opening phases of the war.  I end the episode with a question or thought.  What group benefited the most from the disastrous events of the Sino-Japanese War?

The relatively short time span from 1927, after the Nationalists’ creation of the Nanjing Government, to 1937, at the start of the Sino-Japanese war, makes it difficult to evaluate that government.  Today, there are mixed views. 

During a portion of that same time span, Japan tried to solidify their physical and international control of Manchuria.  Protective and restive about their position, Japan sought to expand its empire further into China. That inevitably forced a confrontation with the Nationalist led Nanjing Government. 

Beginning in 1927, Mao Zedong and Zhu De grew the Communist Red Army from a small force of maybe 5,000 troops to over 250,000 troops by 1933. Despite the progressive antagonism and military attacks by the Nationalist forces, the communist learned to recruit for their party primarily from the peasants and the farmers.  They even formed a State within a State called the Chinese Soviet Republic.  It existed mostly in the southeast regions of China.  There the Chinese communist party and the Red Army grew. 

The Chinese Civil War started with the Autumn Harvest Uprising in 1927 and pitted the communist against the Nationalist.  The war would last intermittently until almost 1950.   After numerous attempts to destroy the communists by Chiang Kai-shek and his Nationalist forces, the Red Army and the communists escaped the southeast region of China.  The Long March, as it is called, ended in 1935. It relocated the army and the communists several thousand miles to Shaanxi Province located in northwest China. 

After the Xian Incident in late 1936, the Guomindang (Nationalists) and the communist agreed to a temporary truce to form the second united front.  Its purpose was to the fight the ever increasingly aggressive Japanese encroachment into China. 

If the 1920 decade was not enough drama, stay tuned for the even more dramatic 1930s.  The decade tested the new Nationalist government in Nanjing, its leader, Chiang Kai-shek, and China. Internationalism was tossed.  Ever so visible with Japan’s aggression toward China.  Beginning in 1931 with the Mukden Incident Japan began its campaign to seize complete control of Manchuria.  Eventually renaming the region Manchukuo and intending to push farther into China. 

The new National government in Nanjing begins.  For most of its existence it was led by Chiang Kai-Shek and his Guomindang cadre.  Many parts of China were united for the first time since 1916.  It was an uneasy unity facing many challenges both immediately and in the future. 

Chiang Kai-Shek would eventually emerge as an autocratic, powerful, and dynamic leader.  He would face great challenges.  Some of those were economic and political as well as from Japan, warlords, and the Chinese Communist Party.

There were many reasons for the Peking (Beiyang) government’s failure.  Its fecklessness led to the organization and planning of the massive nationalist campaign in China in the 1920s. Its goal was to unify China and expel or neutralize foreign intrusion and interference.  Russia ironically played a large role. 

Through the merger of the Guomindang Nationalists and the Communists, the government in Peking was cast out.  Chiang Kai-Shek emerges during this period as a key leader.  He led the Nationalists in the Northern Expedition to establish a new government in Nanjing in 1928. Later he expelled the Communists from the new government and the Guomindang. 

The May 4, 1919, demonstrations (or revolution, as it is referred to sometimes) opened a public discourse in China over the nation’s past and future direction.  It was partially precipitated by the betrayal China received from the Paris Peace Conference.  The Chinese nationalist and communist movements, so prevalent in the next decade, can probably trace their roots to the iconic May 4th event. 

The multi-national Washington (D.C.) Naval Conference in late 1921 and early 1922, tried to address the Chinese frustrations as well as the Pacific-Asia hegemony issues and balance.  Several key treaties and understandings came out of the conference.  Among those were the return of Shandong Province to China.  Also, the geo-political concept of internationalism became a central focus.  Naval armament quotas and limits in the region were another focus.