The Chinese War Production Board And The U.S.

In the later period of the Anti-Japanese War, with the help of the U.S.A., a supreme economic agency in charge of all the wartime affairs-the War Production Board of China was established in Chongqing in November 1944 to save the collapsing wartime economy. The establishment of the Board is an important part of American diplomatic relations with China and the fruit of the economic and technical cooperation between China and the U.S. America had played an important role in preparation, establishment, successful operation and termination of the WPB. The relationship between the U.S. and the WPB is the main theme the thesis expounds.The main body of this thesis contains the following parts:I. Introduction. This part first introduces the Chinese War Production Board very briefly to give the readers a general idea. Then it clarifies the current and academic significance of the thesis based on the incentives in selecting the topic and the review of the previous studies on this subject respectively. It has also illustrated the difficulties and methods of the research.II. Chapter One. This Chapter discusses the whole process of the arrangement and establishment of the WPB under the guidance of America. With the world situation as well as the domestic conditions and diplomatic policies of the two nations as the starting point, the activities of Donald M. Nelson who played a decisive part in the process as the thread, this chapter expounds against what kind of background, after what kind of preparation and how the WPB became a reality from imaginaton step by step systematically and in detail. The reactions of the influential American medias to the establishment of the WPB are also included in this chapter.HI. Chapter Two. This chapter exhausts the relations between the U.S. and the established WPB. After the WPB was established, with the vigorous support ofNelson Mission, the organic law of WPB and other basic regulations based on it were formulated, the working plan was devised, the Joint Sino-American Production Committee was set up and much efforts had been made to win the support of various social circles. The WPB began to work effectively and every related work had been put into practice gradually. As time went on, the economic and technical cooperation between the U.S. and the WPB was developed in depth: Large quantities of American experts came to China in succession. In accordinance with the WPB's plan, they had taken effective measures to improve the war production of China. As an agency in charge of the economic and technical assistance from America, the WPB also shouldered such responsibilities as coordinating the application of the Lend-Lease Act, receiving American specialists, sending or recalling the Chinese experts studying in the U.S. and helping purchase commodities for American war production. After the war, the WPB also applied to the Executive Yuan for decorating the American specialists. This chapter is the main content of the whole article.IV. Chapter Three. This chapter elaborates the termination of the WPB. Shortly after the War, President Truman sent Edwin A. Locke to China on a diplomatic mission, which heralded the end of the WPB. Afterwards American specialists left China for the U.S. one after another and the WPB set about its termination in obedience to the decision made by the Supreme Economic Council of the National Government. The WPB officially declared its termination by the end of March 1946.V. Concluding remarks. This part evaluates the WPB and the role America played in it from both positive and negative perspectives. It further analyzes the diplomatic ideas and strategies of both China and the U.S. based on the evaluation. This part is the distillation of the thesis.hi addition, the appendices in the article strongly support and replenish the main body. Not only can they energetically support the arguments set forth in the main body as grounds, but also they can further improve the value of the thesis as historical materials.