Walking through realism and idealism , the study of American literary reportage about China during the Sino-Japanese war

Abstract

From 1931 to 1945, during The Sino-Japanese War as officially defined in China, a group of American journalists and military personnel in China created long-form documentary reportage works on the theme of Chinese society in the Sino-Japanese War. These works did not only show the battle scenes of major battles, but also focused on the social situation in the rear of China, as well as the Sino-Japanese War in China's modern history, to analyze the causes of the outbreak of the war, the problems of Chinese society exposed in the war, and the political trend of China after the end of the war. This article argued that in this series of reportage, with the United States joining the Allies as a turning point, the focus of the author's creation has changed. In the early stages, the author's attention focused on the front-line positions, and several battlefield sketches were completed. Writers tended to be hopeful about a unified China destined to win the war during this period. But as China and the United States forged an alliance after Pearl Harbor, U.S. personnel in China gained more access to information about China, and the creators of reportage followed the government and turned their focus to China's domestic political party issues rather than fighting Japan. In their works, these authors show a sympathetic attitude toward the Chinese Communist regime and try to influence U.S. policy toward China through public opinion. These attacks on U.S. Policy in the Far East reflect the idealistic side of the writer, but their fundamental political logic remained the recognition of U.S. participation in the internal political management of the Third World after World War II. War reportage, after participating in war propaganda, showed a political rather than an objectivity.