Abstract

During China’s Resistance War with Japan from 1937 to 1945, Xi’an, an ancient capital of China, was bombed by the Japanese military as were the wartime capital, Chongqing, and many other Chinese cities. Free from Japanese occupation throughout wartime, Xi’an’s only direct exposure to war was the bombing, the significance of which received little attention in Western and Chinese scholarship.

This paper is part of a dissertation in progress. It first investigates the rationale for the bombing and outlines the scale and intensity of its physical destruction. Then it discusses the psychological impact of air attacks on citizens of Xi’an, demonstrating civilian vulnerability to destructive forces in an all-out war. Lastly, the paper examines local air defense organised by the state and analyses citizens’ response to and interactions with the government.

Vulnerability is an ‘unstated criterion of citizenship’ (Sita Ranchod-Nilsson and Mary Ann Tétreault, 2000). Intended to break the Chinese morale, the bombing exposed the vulnerability of civilians in Xi’an. The state acknowledged their vulnerability and thereby their citizenship by strengthening air defense and providing reliefs; loyalty was demanded in return.

This paper argues that through such intensifying interactions, the state was able to extend its control over the society, while citizens of Xi’an were familiarised with their roles within the existing power structure – they were, in a word, politicised. Both processes, the paper argues further, contributed to national resistance and the ‘imagining’ (Benedict Anderson, 1991) of the Chinese nation.