The Grain Crisis And Management Of Local Government Of Kuomintang Controlled Areas During The Anti-Japanese War (1937-1945)

"Grain should be prepared before the troops and horses during the war". This stresses the importance of food for the army, in fact, during the war, especially the large-scale war, food for the public is a particularly worthy of concerned problem. This article was based in Zhejiang province, it reviewed the situation of the food supply and demand of Zhejiang province before the Anti-Japanese War (1937-1945), discussed the phenomenon and the impact of food shortages in the region ruled by the Kuomintang in Zhejiang province, analyzed the various measure to solve the food shortage took by the local government.Since the establishment of the Republic of China, Zhejiang Provincial Government advocated improvement of the rice and wheat and agricultural extension, but as a whole, the grain of Zhejiang province could not be self-sufficient. Geographically speaking, the production and consumption of food in counties was different. So, Zhejiang Province formed some food markets before the Anti-Japanese War. Since the outbreak of the war against Japan, It not only upset the supply of rice markets but also rapidly increased food consumption of Zhejiang Kuomintang controlled areas. And, in the majority of the Japanese occupied areas, in order to achieve the goal of "raising war with war", the Japanese strictly controlled the rice of subsidence areas, on the other hand, the Japanese troops tempted people smuggling by high price, which resulted the food of the region dominated by the Kuomintang in Zhejiang province into predicament. In addition, the agricultural production environment also faced serious natural disasters during the Anti-Japanese War. As the "war" and "natural disasters", Zhejiang Kuomintang-controlled areas broke the food crisis everywhere, the prices continued to rise, which seriously impacted on the lives of ordinary people.To deal with these difficulties, the nationalist government in Zhejiang province conducted food management. First, it set up the food regulatory agencies to deal with war environment and gradually formed a more and more centralized management mode. Second, it fully controlled the food production, consumption, distribution. Third, on the basis of comprehensive control, the government focused on the "assessed land tax" and "limit the food price" as the main policies. The grain management of the nationalist government in Zhejiang province showed the basic characteristics. The government intervention was constantly increasing and market regulation was weakening. Priority was given to ensure the army, then the civil servants, finally the ordinary people. Although it was reasonable under war conditions, the imbalance made life more difficult for ordinary people. In addition, there were some drawbacks in the implementation of grain policies especially the corruption, which was seriously questioned the credibility of the local government of the Kuomintang of Zhejiang province.