The Last Hump: The Lahore Elementary Flying Training School, the Chinese Civil War, and the final days of the British Raj

This article centres on the evacuation of the Lahore Elementary Flying Training School, which was built in 1943 to train Chinese pilots and mechanics. It details the British and Chinese authorities’ concerns over the school and how the chaotic situation in India during the final days of the British Raj influenced its evacuation back to China. This article locates the story within the broad context of the British withdrawal from India and the Chinese Civil War, and it uses this case to uncover the links between the two most significant events in the history of modern India and China. In so doing, it puts forward an integrated framework for studying modern Indian and Chinese history.

3. Towards ‘Hot War’ in Asia, 1945–50

‘Towards ‘Hot War’ in Asia, 1945–50’ discusses how Asia became the second major theatre of the Cold War, considering the US occupation regime in Japan. As many as 6 million soldiers and civilians would ultimately lose their lives in Cold War-related conflicts in Korea and Indo-China. Just as the Chinese civil war became inextricably entangled with the Cold War, so too did the independence struggles in post-war Southeast Asia. It was the outbreak of the Korean War in June of 1950, moreover, that precipitated the first direct military showdown between US and communist forces and, as much as any other single event, turned the Cold War into a worldwide struggle.

The Chinese Civil War based on «Foreign Affairs» magazine

In this paper the authors consider the materials of one of the leading American analytical magazines Foreign Affairs, devoted to the Chinese Civil War in 19291950. The novelty of this study lies in the analysis of assessments of key actors and assessments of the situation in the country as well as a possible outcome of the conflict which were made by American journalists. The authors provide the results of the analysis of Foreign Affairs articles for the formation of Mao Zedong image in connection with the events of that time. The authors reviewed the main arguments of the American press, which revealed that the problem of the civil war was one of the components of the complex problem of planning a post-war reconstruction of the world. The United States was primarily interested in changes in the balance of power in the Far East, tried to assess the possible outcomes of the conflict and how they would affect the United States itself (mainly in the economic sphere). But as the victory of the Chinese Communist Party, headed by Mao Zedong, approached the Kuomintang support from American experts weakened. The study of this information phenomenon will allow researchers to understand what impact on Sino-American relations was made by an influential American analytical magazine through the formation of ideas about China, the Chinese people and their political elites.

Ideology Was A Uniform to Be Taken On and Off: An Anti-Communist Prisoner’s Survival from Manchuria to Korea to India

Chi Ki-ch’ŏl’s story reveals a man not driven by ideology, but buffeted by it. He began adulthood as a Korean exile in Manchuria, where the Japanese occupation army conscripted him. After Japan’s defeat in August 1945, he joined a Korean contingent of the Chinese Communist Army and fought in the Chinese Civil War. His unit later repatriated to North Korea, where it joined the invasion of South Korea on 25 June 1950. When U.S.-led forces of the United Nations shattered that invasion in September, he quickly arranged to surrender to U.S. troops. While in custody, Chi worked with Republic of Korea (rok) intelligence to organize prisoner of war (pow) resistance to their being returned to North Korea after the impending armistice. He enjoyed privileges as an anti-Communist in the pow camps, and hoped it would continue. Although an active anti-Communist, Chi judged that he would not be able to live in South Korea as an ex-pow. After refusing repatriation to North Korea, he also rejected staying in South Korea. But Chi would survive elsewhere. He relocated to India, where he thrived as a businessman. He chose the space of neutrality to succeed as an anti-Communist, where life nevertheless reflected the contentious energy of the Cold War. Chi’s decision demonstrated how ideology, despite its importance to him, was not sufficient to translate his rejection of Communist North Korea into a commitment to South Korea.

Benefits for the Vanquished

This chapter places emphasis on issues relating to defeat, which is not exactly a positive frame within which to claim high status. It explores the cases of defeated Germany and Japan and further investigates the fate of the soldiers who retreated with the Nationalist Army to Taiwan after the Chinese Civil War. It also explains how losing a war does not necessarily mean losing the peace, that even in utter defeat, when causes have been discredited, and states collapsed, veterans were not discarded and might even enjoy a reasonably high quality of care. The chapter looks at the counterintuitive story of veterans of defeated armies who obtained generous benefits that outpaced those provided to other claimant groups. It argues that defeat and discredited wars have been more problematic for war memory than for the distribution of material and symbolic benefits.