First Shanghai Incident

It was today in history, 1932, that the First Shanghai Incident occurred, also known as the January 28 Incident when forces of the Imperial Japanese Army and Navy (Shanghai Expeditionary Army) clashed with the Nineteenth Route Army, and later the Fifth Army of the Kuomintang faction of the Republic of China. Many people have a distorted and one-sided view of this incident. For them, the story is that the Shanghai Incident was orchestrated by the Empire of Japan in order to distract from the establishment of the independent state in Manchuria (best known as Manchukuo, which is actually just Manchuria in Chinese) but this explanation does not bear up to close scrutiny. In the first place, why would Japan need anyone to be distracted from Manchuria at all? No country and not the League of Nations were even thinking of taking any sort of action in response to the establishment of an independent Manchuria even though many opposed it for the example it set of peoples in Asia gaining their independence. Certainly no one forgot about Manchuria after the incident in Shanghai, so the reasoning does not make sense on the face of it. Secondly, we have the facts and the basic facts are that a group of Japanese monks were attacked by the Chinese near a factory and that after a mob disturbance this factory was burned down after which the Imperial Japanese forces intervened in Shanghai.

The usual, anti-Japanese explanation of this is that these monks were attacked by Chinese who had been paid to do so by a Japanese agent for the sole purpose of provoking an incident. However, again, this makes no sense and, if it matters to anyone, is also a totally unproven allegation. Even those who make this claim state that the five monks who were attacked were members of a very nationalistic sect, so what they are trying to argue is that the aggressively nationalistic Japanese military hired the Chinese (who they supposedly hated and looked down on) in order to attack their own "aggressively nationalistic" Japanese monks? It really stretches the limits of reason. It sounds somewhat similar to the modern-day "truthers" who claim that the President of the United States destroyed the World Trade Center in New York just to have an excuse to wage war against Islamic radicals. It is rather too incredible to be believed. However, if one cuts away the unsubstantiated rumors and allegations one is left with some simple facts: it was Japanese monks who were attacked by the Chinese and it was a Chinese reaction that prompted the public disorder which finally compelled Japan to intervene. Those are the facts and no one actually disputes them.

Five hundred Japanese marines were sent ashore to restore order and protect Japanese lives and property against the Chinese who had attacked them in the wake of the destruction of the towel factory. The local Chinese authorities then escalated the incident by declaring martial law and when the Chinese and Japanese forces clashed, more Japanese reinforcements were sent and both sides were pulled into an all-out battle for Shanghai. The Japanese forces were led by General Shirakawa Yoshinori (left) a veteran and distinguished officer. On the other hand, the Chinese 19th Route Army was not considered reliably loyal to the Kuomintang, had been trained by Soviet advisers and was considered radically leftist by even the Republic of China ruling faction. They were also aided by criminals of the notorious Chinese "Green Gang" that operated in the Shanghai underworld. Later, when they could not defeat the Japanese, they sent in better troops were trained and equipped by Nazi Germany. It should also be pointed out that, at the time, those neutral powers present in the international section of Shanghai were almost unanimously in support of the Japanese and blamed the incident on the Chinese for having provoked Japan and brought ruin down on the city. Remember also that these "neutrals" were mostly Europeans and Americans who were not well disposed toward Japan at the time and would not have been the sort to have given Japan the benefit of the doubt and yet almost as a whole, those who were there at the time and place that the incident happened believed that it was the fault of the Chinese and not Japan.

Finally, some have also said that the Japanese rejected efforts to make peace and end the fighting. This is, at best, a misleading half-truth. The Japanese forces rejected a demand to cease-fire from a delegation sent by the League of Nations which did not speak for China and which had nothing to do with the conflict. On the other hand, when the Japanese offered a cease-fire if the Chinese would withdraw their troops to a safe distance beyond the city it was the Chinese authorities who rejected it, ensuring the the destruction of Shanghai would continue. Finally, however, a peace was agreed to and Shanghai became a "demilitarized zone" with Chinese and Japanese armed forces withdrawn. Again, if this was all planned and staged by the Japanese, and they agreed to the peace, one would have to ask what Japan gained from it? Things went back to the way they had been before for the most part. Obviously, the facts show that the First Shanghai Incident was an unfortunate event that cannot be blamed entirely on Japan. If local Chinese groups and officials had acted differently there is no doubt that it never would have happened.