Research On The China-related Reports In The Times On The Eve Of The Anti-Japanese War

In recent ten years, the historical materials and files about Anti-Japanese War have been digged into constantly. Under this circumstance, the concept of Big History of Anti-Japanese War appeared in the field of the study on the history of Anti-Japanese War, which means on the one hand, the study span has increased to 14 years, and on the other hand, the study horizon has extended to abroad. With the help of The Times, the researcher tries to make contribution to the study on the history of Anti-Japanese War with an international view. This study is going under the background of Big History of Anti-Japanese War. From the perspective of international relationship, it shows the interactive relations among China, Japan and Britain on the eve of the war and draws the outline of the fluctuant political situation in China at that time with the aid of the interdisciplinary vehicles combining history and journalism.For Anti-Japanese War, the Xi’an Incident and the July 7 Incident of 1937 are two symbolic events. The former opens the door of the peace negotiation between the Kuomintang and the Communist Party; the latter ushers in the total resistance against Japanese. During the time interval between these two events, it seems to be calm for the peace negotiation between the Kuomintang and the Communist Party and the war preparation in both China and Japan. However, The Times looks not that calm, and on the contrary, it reports the situation related to China quite frequently. Faced with this contrast, the researcher is about to analyze the original reports related to China on The Times from December 1936 to July 1937, and on this basis to explore the differences between the reports on The Times and the records in past historical materials.With dissecting the frequent reports at that time on The Times, the researcher analyzes the precarious situation in China in 1937 in three aspects including the Xi’an Incident, Sato Diplomacy and the resistance of China. As a result, the differences from the past historical materials and the deep analyses in the reports are conducive to supplementing a new view of studying the situation in China on the eve of Anti-Japanese War.The researcher thinks that to study the situation in China at that time in an international view really helps to stand outside the existing studies about the Kuomintang and the Communist Party and to discover the impact of the relationship between China and Japan and the international environment on the political situation in China. In the meantime, the change of the political situation in China also influences the adjustment of Japanese policies.