A City at War: Clashes,Devastations,and Survivals beyond the Battlefield in China during the War of Resistance against Japan

Abstract

This article examines how the Japanese invasion of 1937 affected urban China by focusing on Japanese air raids on Changsha and the large-scale evacuations that followed. I argue that even though the city suffered considerable destruction, its residents developed new wartime routines incorporating the Japanese air raids and repeated evacuations into their daily lives. This was in contrast to their initial confusion and fears about the city’s fate in late 1937 when the first Japanese aerial bombardment unfolded. Government-led evacuations saved people from being killed by bombings. When more air-defense shelters became available across the city, people showed impressive evolution in serenity, resilience, and grit to face air raids. Japanese air bombings and the need for evacuations in Changsha forced people to work less and earn less, such circumstances led to increased obstacles and unpredictability, complicating their survival during the wartime period.