TAIPEI, Taiwan--(BUSINESS WIRE)--New History of China's War of Resistance against Japan, a six-volume collection of papers from more than 50 modern Chinese historians, was published by Academia Historica in Taipei in early July.
The volumes focus on government decision making, military battles, all-out war, wartime society, foreign relations and post-WWII China.
The new history uses archival material only recently made public, including the diaries of Chiang Kai-shek (1887-1975) at the Hoover Institution, Stanford University, and the archive of the Bureau of Investigation and Statistics (軍統局, 1938-1946) under the Military Affairs Commission, National government, Academia Historica Director Lu Fang-shang (呂芳上) said.
The new history also examines the role of the Chinese communists during the war, pro-Japanese regimes, society in Japanese occupied areas and the mentality of collaborators, making it a more balanced and comprehensive record of the period from 1937-1945, Lu told CNA.
As most existing Chinese works on the war were published decades ago, it is hoped that the new history will serve as a platform for ongoing academic dialogue and exchange among domestic and overseas scholars and stimulate new research, Lu said.
The project, started three years ago, was intended to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the end of the war.
Similar projects are currently underway at the Hoover Institution, and the Institute of Modern History at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, Lu said.
