A Research On The Nationalist Government's Military Service Propaganda In The Stalemate Period Of The War Of Resistance Against Japan

After the Battle of Wuhan and the Battle of Guangzhou in 1938,the War of Resistance Against Japan in China entered a phase of stalemate.Due to serious loss of soldiers,changes of battlefield situations and military strategies,the Nationalist Government regarded recruiting soldiers as an important issue which needs immediate solution in this period.However,the traditional concept of military service as“a good man does not become a soldier”,and various drawbacks in draft board before the war had become the major hindering factors of conscription.For this reason,the Nationalist Government emphasized and strengthened the propaganda of military service in this stalemate period,trying to promote people's active recruitment through propaganda,so as to successfully carry out the military service work.A number of measures had been taken by the Nationalist Government to form a relatively complete system of military service propaganda.The Nationalist Government had promulgated a series of guiding decrees related to the propaganda of military service,standardized the specific implementation of the propaganda of military service;set up a complete set of military propaganda agencies from the central to the local level,defined the responsibilities of each department,and mobilized a large number of students to participate in the propaganda.The modes employed by the Nationalist Government's military service propaganda could mainly be divided into word propaganda,oral propaganda and art propaganda.The word propaganda included propaganda slogans,publications,posters and correspondence etc..The oral propaganda included interviews,visits and speeches.The art propaganda included pictures,dramas,films,songs,etc.The cooperation of these different ways had enhanced the effect of propaganda.In the stalemate of the War of Resistance Against Japan,the propaganda of military service led by the Nationalist Government had achieved certain results.To a certain extent,it changed people's traditional concept of serving the army,enabling people to understand and identify their responsibilities and obligations as soldiers,thus promoting thedevelopment of conscription.However,some problems still existed in the Nationalist Government's military service propaganda.Certain defects showed up in the methods of propaganda,some agencies in the local level attached little attention to this.More importantly,the still existing drawbacks in the conscription work countered the effect of the propaganda.Therefore,the military propaganda effect was limited,it could not fundamentally meet the need of conscription in the war.