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Consensual Nationalism: The KMT and the Second Sino-Japanese War

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Abstract

This chapter provides the first of our two case studies on consensual nationalism, examining the party’s recognition of the KMT’s key role in the Second Sino-Japanese War. Previously, stringent political controls were noticeably relaxed during 2005 to mark the 50th anniversary of the end of the war. This gave rise to an upsurge in investigative journalism and internet activity which highlighted the true role of the KMT during the war. The CCP’s underlying objective has been to promote itself as the party of national unity, but the public response has not always been supportive of the CCP. This has seen widespread anger over the CCP mistreatment of KMT veterans after the war and accusations of an historical cover-up over the KMT’s key contribution in defeating Japan and the CCP’s lack thereof.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK

    Robert Weatherley

  2. University of Oxford, Oxford, UK

    Qiang Zhang

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  1. Robert Weatherley
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  2. Qiang Zhang
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Weatherley, R., Zhang, Q. (2017). Consensual Nationalism: The KMT and the Second Sino-Japanese War. In: History and Nationalist Legitimacy in Contemporary China. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-47947-1_5

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