On The Refugee-Relief Of The National Government During The Anti-Japanese War

The military aggression of Japanese forces brought China a serious refugee issue. The professions of the immigrant refugees were different mainly because they had different schooling and economic status. The refugee came from the enemy-occupied theatres and most of them were young people and adults. The moving routes of the refugees were related to the process of war. The immigrant refugees centralized in Wuhan , Chongqing and the near areas around the two cities in two phases. At that time, the relief suggestions and measures proposed by some celebrities obliged the government and society to further concern about and solve the refugee issue. The National Government, based on the social relief administration of the Beiyang Government, established a series of refugee-relief institutions suitable for the need of war, thus ultimately forming the refugee-relief system. The system centered on the Relief Committee, radiated around the relief areas and refugee-deployed (transported ) stations. It was aided by the ministries and committees of the National Government, the religion groups, the charity groups, and the province-fellow associations.After the Relief Committee was re-organized, the relief institution of the National Government mainly had three features梐uthority, specialization, and systematization. The policy about refugee-relief adopted by the National Government varied in different phases. During the early period of Anti-Japanese War, the central government ordered the local government to deal with the issue. After the establishment of the Central Relief Committee, the positive refugee-relief made up one policy of the National Government. The central relief organization directly supervised and deal with the refugee affairs. The positive policy of the NationalGovernment stressed on the co-operation of the government and non-government and strengthened the responsibility of government.In general, the refugee-relief of the National Government could be divided into two kinds梩he negative measures and the positive ones. The negative relief measures mainly included the first-aid housing, transporting and deploying, etc; the positive relief measures chiefly involved the refugee-training, employment-introducing, small sum of loan and cultivation of wasteland, etc. The efforts of the refugee-relief that the National Government made achieved a lot during the Anti-Japanese War, and played an important part in the victory of China over Anti-Japanese War. But the inadequacy of the refugee-relief was obvious , and its lessons can now be used as a reference.Its lessons lie in the following:To strengthen the system of the relief administration and to emphasize the effectiveness of the relief measures as well. The relief cause should have a all-round planning. The relief expense and the relief staff should be adequate to use.