Any article in a particular category can be accessed via the corresponding category on the menu bar at the top of the page. Any article in a particular release can be accessed via the corresponding release on the right sidebar.

This website began in October 2006, and the website has been redesigned twice, once in October 2008, and the second time in November 2009.

We welcome comments from readers. Readers can directly submit their comments at the end of any article.

First, I want to point out that there are two polarizing camps in assessing China.  One camp thinks that China is a completely dictatorial country that internally treats its citizens with disdain and callousness, and externally treats its neighbors and other countries with aggression and unfairness.  Another camp thinks that China’s various shortcomings are just minor transitional problems from a country transforming itself from a semi-feudal rural society to a modernized industrialized society.  I first discuss the assessment of these two camps which I loosely called the “Essentially Totally Negative Camp” and the “Essentially Totally Positive Camp,” and then discuss the major problems that China must address and overcome if it wants to become a rich and powerful country.

“Essentially Totally Negative Camp”: This camp depicts China as a country with a government that ignores the needs and wishes of its citizens, with the welfare of its people far from the minds of the leaders making the decisions.  The reality is that China before 1949 was even backward compared with other Asian countries and was known as the “Sick Man of Asia.”  Since 1949 it has achieved not only national unity and independence, but during the last 60+ years it has achieved the highest rate of growth of any major economy in the world.  Furthermore, this progress was not made in just the last 30 years.  For example, the life expectancy of its people was already raised from 35 years in 1949 to 68 years in 1980 [1].   In addition, in spite of major mistakes such as the Great Leap Forward and the Cultural Revolution, it was during the first 30 years that the essential foundation of China’s industrial revolution was laid.  Land reform, introduced shortly after the 1949 revolution, eliminated the thousand-year gentry-landlord ruling class.  This not only provided land to the poor rural population, it laid the foundation to channel the agrarian surplus (i.e., the fruits of labor of the rural population) to financing state-sponsored industrialization. [2]

This camp also depicts China to have invaded Tibet and destroyed the livelihood of a minority.  The reality is that Tibet has been part of China since the Yuan Dynasty more than 700 years ago, and Tibet before 1949 was a theocratic, semi-feudal, and semi-slave society in which the very small ruling class of landlords and religious leaders (who were also the largest landlords) ruled over the very large class of serfs and slaves, with essentially little educational opportunity for the overwhelming majority of the people.  Furthermore, it is a well-documented historical fact that many Dalai Lama’s or Dalai Lama candidates died at a very young age due to poisons or outright murders by other scheming, power-hungry, competing religious leaders.  These were the types of religious leaders of the “Shangri-La” society often depicted as pre-1949 Tibet by Western movie stars, media, and government leaders.  The reality is that Tibetans are no longer serfs or slaves to the landowners and religious leaders; their life expectancy has more than double; they have much better healthcare, educational, and job opportunities. [3]  It is important to remind ourselves of the United Nations’ 1948 “Universal Declaration of Human Rights” that proclaimed that all people were entitled to enjoy a decent standard of living, have access to adequate medical care, and have an opportunity for a proper education.

Externally this camp depicts China as manipulative in its currency policy and blames the U.S.’s economic problems on the trade balance between the two countries.  In reality, the U.S. is a capitalist society, and capitalism seeks to maximize its profits.  If it can accomplish that by going oversea to manufacture due to lower cost, then that is the capitalist road.  Furthermore, it is very misleading to conclude that because a lot of the American consumer products are made in China, it is therefore losing a lot of jobs to China.  What one neglects to say is that many of the components that go into the products being assembled in China came from many other countries, including the U.S., and the profits from the large differences between the retail price and the wholesale import price create jobs for Americans and end up in the pockets of American companies. [5]  Furthermore, for a product like Apple’s iPhone, it is selling like hotcakes to the Chinese in China even though its price in China is $625 US (as compared to $500 in the U.S.).  However, because the iPhone is manufactured (i.e., assembled) in China, selling the iPhone to the Chinese in China is not considered as export from the U.S. to China.  If doing the trade deficit calculation properly, then one could get a much different picture of the trade deficit issue, and in some cases the trade deficit could even become a trade surplus for the U.S. relative to China! [6]  This camp also neglects to say that by constantly printing more money, the U.S. government is essentially reducing the debt that it owes China.  Instead of trying to address the root causes of the U.S.’s economic problems, it uses China as a scapegoat.

This camp also depicts China as a super aggressive country who wants to dominate and seize territories from its neighboring countries.  The reality is that China has not shown any actions in any way similar to the imperialistic aggressions that many, many foreign powers have inflicted on China for the past 170 years ever since the First Opium War in 1840.  With respect to disputes over territorial sovereignty on various islands in the Pacific Ocean and Southeast Asia, invariably China  has good arguments to support its claims that historically these have been Chinese territories, but often due to China being weak for so long and due to interference from foreign imperialistic powers, it has left some of these territorial disputes unsettled. [4]

It is unfortunate not only for China, but for the long-term welfare of the U.S. and for world peace, that the U.S. mass media and government leaders have consistently, and more so recently, been  firmly in this Essentially Totally Negative Camp, and have adopted a very antagonistic and confrontational attitude toward China.  There is no reason to believe that the U.S. mass media and government leaders do not know better, they purposely adopt this political expediancy to deflect the public’s attention from their failed policies to using China as a scapegoat.

“Essentially Totally Positive Camp”: This camp is just the opposite of the Essentially Totally Negative Camp.  When people point out about some of the bad things that have happened or are happening now in China, this camp’s advocates would invariably say that that is just a growing pain or transitional problem from China transforming itself from a semi-feudal, rural society to a modernized, industrialized society, and these problems will go away with time.  For example:

• If you point out the growing gaps between the rich and the poor, this camp’s supporters would say that because China is at the initial stages of industrialization, so the pace setters are bound to reap more profits, and as industrialization becomes more widespread, then more and more people will share in the profits and the rich-poor gap will diminish.
• If you point out the poor customer service attitude of the workers in various government agencies and the enormous bureaucratic red tape and corruption that people have to endure, this camp’s supporters would say that with more education and when the older workers are replaced by future generations of workers, then these problems will improve.
• If you point out that it is essentially impossible to fight the governing structure dominated by the Communist Part at all levels even when the people or office in power is wrong, this camp’s supporters would say that with the proliferation of the web, people can gather mass support to apply pressure to the people or office in power.
• If you point out that often the laws are not clearly stated or they are not strictly enforced so that the decisions are often at the discretion of the people in power, then this camp’s supporters would say that the move to a more legalistic society takes time and it will come.
• If you point out that there is no freedom to choose where you want to live or work, this camp’s supporters would say that an individual’s welfare must be secondary to the welfare of the society as a whole.
• If you point out the inefficiency of a governing unit and there is no mechanism for you to try to change that without suffering a severe backlash for your criticism and action, this camp’s supporters would say that the system will evolve and improve with time.
• If you point out the large environmental pollutions emanating from factories, towns, and industries, this camp’s supporters would say that as industrialization matures and as people’s environmental awareness increases, then the environmental pollution problems will be reduced.

No matter what you say, even if the problems are many and large, this camp’s supporters would always have excuses to minimize the problems, and claim that the problems are just growing pain or transitional problems, and the problems will diminish with time.  Although often there is some validity to their explanations, they would not admit that some of the problems may be fundamental, and these problems will not go away until some significant and fundamental changes are made.

Major Problems That China Must Address: Personally I think both the Essentially Totally Negative Camp and the Essentially Totally Positive Camp are wrong.  The supporters of the Essentially Totally Negative Camp are either being blindly led, or are purposely distorting the facts due to an ulterior motive to deflect people’s attention from our current failed policies to a policy of using China as a scapegoat.  The supporters of the Essentially Totally Positive Camp are too simplistic and idealistic so they have a tendency to just dismiss the problems.  Although people usually can not be identified to be associated purely with one camp or another, the above categorization does have a lot of truth and can help to understand the issue at hand.

I believe that China has made enormous strides since 1949.  It has achieved national unity and independence which it was not able to accomplish for over a hundred years.  It has transformed China from a semi-feudal society toward a modern industrialized society.  It has changed China from being “The Sick Man of Asia” to the world’s second richest country.  With its large resources of intelligence and a hard working ethic in the Chinese people, China has the potential to move up the industrialized value chain from manufacturing to creative design of innovative products and processes, which it must achieve as its standard of living increases and its labor cost is no longer low comparing with some of the other countries in the world.  However, for China to continue its meteoric rise and to maintain stability, it also must overcome many major problems.  Below we list some of these major problems that China needs to address:

• With China’s current system, the children of many of the top government leaders have become top executives of many large private or semi-private/semi-state-owned enterprises, giving rise to huge wealth for these descendants of party leaders.  It seems that the path to corporate success is to be a son or daughter of a top government leader.  This phenomenon must stop.  This is part of the problem of growing gaps between the rich and the poor and of corruption.
• The drive for money and power has become too dominant a theme, leaving by the roadside the drive to do good.
• A single party system with laws not always clearly stated or strictly enforced, coupled with tightly controlled mass media, makes it extremely difficult for different view points to be heard.  The country must be more tolerant of dissent and opposing view points.  For example, it should not be so paranoid about Falun Gong that a book on internal martial arts with the word “Qigong” in the book title is not allowed to be published.  Properly addressing this issue will allow multiple competing ideas to be floated and discussed, a prerequisite for advancement.  Furthermore, it can also go a long way to provide more freedom of religion and human rights protection [7].
• As the population ages, how can the growing number of senior citizens be supported by the shrinking working class who came mostly from single child families?
• Will the children who grew up in single child families be so pampered and spoiled that they cannot become effective team players?
• As the country drives itself to become industrialized and as people and companies drive themselves to maximize profits, very often corners are cut with respect to environmental protection, potentially leaving behind huge problems for future generations to solve.
• How can the country’s political, legal, social, and educational infrastructure transform to support the many changes as a result of solving the above problems?

The above list is by no means exhaustive.  But it is clear that the problems are many and large.  The solutions may not be those that have been adopted in the West, but could be solutions tailored to the historical, social, and cultural environment of China.  However, it will require a determined effort at all levels of the government and its citizens to address these issues.  How these issues are addressed will determine the fate of China.

—————————————————–

[1] For more information on this, read this website’s article “A Discussion of China’s Population Control Policy and Issues.”

[2] For an elaboration on this point, read the article “The Significance of the Chinese Revolution in World History” by Professor Maurice Meisner of “The London School of Economics and Political Science.”

[3] For a more detailed discussion of Tibet, read this website’s article “Some Thoughts on Tibet.”

[4] For a more detailed discussion of one such dispute, read this website’s article “Diao Yu Tai Student Movement:  Recollection 40 Years Later.”

[5] For more detailed explanation of this important and seldom mentioned point using Apple’s iPhone as an example, read the article “How the iPhone Widens the US Trade Deficit with China.”

[6] For an explanation of this even less seldom known fact, read the article “Apple’s China Sales Show Why US Trade Warriors Are Wrong.”

[7] This is not to say that Falun Gong is purely a religious issue and is devoid of ulterior motive.

Taiji and Wuji: The word Taiji (太極) in Chinese means “Great Poles” or “Grand Ultimate.”  The word Wuji (無極) in Chinese means “without pole” or “without opposite” or “the ultimate of nothingness.”  Taiji was invented as a martial art; so in this article I try to explain Taiji and Wuji from a martial arts perspective, instead of from a philosophical perspective.  In Taiji one tries not to oppose an opponent’s attacking force head on, because then whoever is bigger and stronger will win.  The opponent’s attacking force is called a Yang force, usually associated with a strong force.  Instead of opposing the opponent’s attacking force head on, the defender first deflects the attacking force by applying a small force at a small angle from the attacking direction; this can successfully deflect the attack (i.e., an effective defensive movement) because this small deflecting force has a component that is perpendicular to the attacking direction and the attacking force has no component along this direction [2].   This small deflecting force is called a Yin force.  Furthermore, the component of this Yin force that is along the direction of the attacking force, if enlarged, can use the attacker’s momentum to get him off balance (i.e., also an effective offensive movement).  The fact that the Yin force is a defensive movement that also can lead to an offensive movement means that there is a component of Yang in Yin (and vice versa).

In addition, Yang and Yin are not static, and they evolve into each other.  For example, in the above example, when the opponent senses that his attacking force has been deflected and he is being pulled off balance, he changes direction and tries to pull back and move his attacking arm in the opposite direction.  In that instance, he changes his attacking Yang force into a retrieving Yin force.  On the other hand, upon sensing that the attacker is trying to retrieve his arm and move in the opposite direction, the defender also changes direction and attacks with a Yang force along the direction of his opponent’s retrieving movement.  Thus, the original attacker now becomes the defender, and the original defender now becomes the attacker, with corresponding changes of Yang and Yin forces.

In the above discussion, the attacking Yang force of the opponent and the complementary Yin force of the defender can be considered as two opposite poles.  Similarly, the retrieving Yin force of the opponent and the now attacking Yang force of the original defender can also be considered as two opposite poles, except that the poles associated with the two people have reversed.  Furthermore, in order for each person to be able to change direction quickly, there has to be a small component of the Yin force residing in the Yang force.  Likewise, there has to be a small component of the Yang force residing in the Yin force.  The revolving nature of Yang and Yin and the fact that each contains a small component of the other are clearly illustrated in the traditional Taiji symbol:

The black and the white parts represent, respectively, the Yang force and the Yin force.  If you rotate the above diagram, the Yang force becomes the Yin force, and the Yin force becomes the Yang force.  Saying it in another way, the Yang force tapers to a Yin force, and the Yin force tapers to a Yang force.   Furthermore, residing in the Yang force (the black fish-like part of the diagram is a small Yin force (the white dot), and residing in the Yin force (the white fish-like part of the diagram) is a small Yang force (the black dot).

This simple discussion of a small set of movements already captures the essence of Taiji, and it is already reflected in just the second form, “Wild Horse Shakes Its Mane,” in one of the simplest Taiji form sets, the Simplified Yang Style 24 Form Set.

If “Wild Horse Shakes Its Mane” is Form #2 in the Simplified Yang Style 24 Form Set, what is Form #1 “Opening Form”?  The beginning part of “Opening Form” is when the Taiji practitioner just stands upright with hands by his side, with both his body and mind relax.  His weight is equally distributed between his two legs.  He is still, and not moving in any direction.  He is not in a defending position or an attacking position.  There are no poles associated with his body.  His mind is relax and empty.  He can be considered to be in a Wuji state, i.e., no poles and no opposites, in a state of nothingness.  So the beginning of the Opening Form corresponds to a Wuji state.  As the Taiji practitioner proceeds with the rest of Form #1 and into Form #2, he changes from a Wuji state to a Taiji state.  The rest of the movements in this Form Set has the Taiji practitioner moving from one Taiji state to another Taiji state, until he gets to the last form, “Closing Form.”  At the end of the Closing Form, he changes back to a Wuji state.  This transformation, from a Wuji state to a Taiji state then to various Taiji states and finally back to a Wuji state, occurs in every Taiji form set in every Taiji style.

Modern Physics and Cosmology: The transformation from a Wuji state to a Taiji state, or from a state of nothingness to a state with poles, actually has some analogs in modern physics and cosmology.  In modern physics, there is a concept known as “vacuum polarization.”  In quantum electrodynamics, the vacuum is no longer a simple concept, i.e., the nothing in the vacuum can be transformed into something.  In particular, the vacuum can be thought of as a sea of equal number of electrons and positrons.  The vacuum can generate a virtual electron-positron pair which can then annihilate each other.  Since the virtual electrons and positrons are charged, in the presence of an external charged particle or electromagnetic field, the existence of these virtual electron-positron pairs affects, actually reduces, the charge or electromagnetic field of the external charged particle.  Such effects have been experimentally observed, and the experimental results match the theoretical predictions.  When these virtual electron-positron pairs appear, the vacuum changes from a Wuji state (without pole) to a Taiji state (with poles).  When these virtual electron-positron pairs annihilate, the vacuum changes back from a Taiji state  to a Wuji state.

In modern cosmology today, the most prevalent theory is the theory of an “Inflationary Universe,” which is very similar, except for two differences, to the traditional Big Bang theory,  that states that the universe started from a small volume and then expands.  One difference is that very near the beginning of the Big Bang, the universe underwent an enormous expansion (thus the term “inflationary”) for a small fraction of a second.   Another difference is that unlike the traditional Big Bang theory, all the matter/energy of the universe did not have to be present during the original Big Bang, but most of the matter/energy can be created during the brief period of inflation or later during the expansion of the universe.  Even though this theory might seem ad hoc, it does provide an explanation of several experimentally observed phenomena which otherwise could not be explained.

Astronomical observational data during the last 20 years also strongly suggest that not only that the universe is expanding, but the rate of expansion actually increases with time, and that the energy density of our universe is approximately 20 times larger than the traditional energy density associated with normal matter like galaxies, stars, planets, asteroids, inter-galactic gases, etc.   To explain these surprising data, astronomers and physicists postulate that there is something called “Dark Matter” and “Dark Energy” that make up, respectively, approximately 25% and 70% of the universe’s energy density.  Dark Matter  interacts very weakly with ordinary matter.  Dark Energy is especially unusual in that it is gravitationally repulsive.  One possibility is that Dark Energy is a new kind of energy associated with the vacuum that is gravitationally repulsive.  As the universe expands, more space, or more vacuum, is created, and thus more energy can be created.  The vacuum is in a Wuji state, and when matter is created from the vacuum, it is in a Taiji state.  Currently we still know very little about Dark Matter and Dark Energy.  Hopefully with more theoretical and experimental advances, we can determine whether these postulates are valid.

Summary: Wuji means without pole or the ultimate of nothingness.  Taiji means great poles.  In Taijiquan, we usually start in a Wuji state, standing erect with equal weight on both feet, with body and mind relax; thus we are in a state with no pole.  Then we move from a Wuji state to various Taiji states.  In each Taiji state, weight is often non-uniformly distributed between the two legs, arms are usually raised or lower or extended, more emphasis is usually placed on exhaling or inhaling, and the mind is much more alert and focus.   We are either in an attack (Yang) mode, or a defense (Yin) mode, or poised to move directly to an attack or defense mode.  At the end of the form, we move back from a Taiji state to a Wuji state.

This has some analog in modern physics and cosmology.  The vacuum corresponds to nothingness (Wuji state), but it can transform into particle-antiparticle pairs (Taiji state).  In modern cosmology, the transformation of the vacuum to energy/matter (Wuji state to Taiji state) may hold the key to understanding modern cosmology in the form of an inflationary universe with accelerating expansion.

————————————

[1] Taijiquan is another name for Taiji.  When more emphasis is put on Taiji as a martial art, the term Taijiquan is often used instead of the term Taiji.  Taijiquan literally means the “fist of Taiji.”

[2] This is the meaning of the classic Chinese saying that “four ounces can deflect a thousand pounds.”

Early History of Alaska: As we all know, for a long time in the distant past Alaska in North America and Siberia in Asia were connected by land.  So wanderers from Asia traveled across the land connection from Asia into North America.  These early Asian explorers and settlers were the ancestors of today’s Native Americans.  There are three major groups of Native Americans in Alaska:   (1) Aleuts who live mostly in the Aleutian Islands, (2) Inuit (or Eskimos) who live mostly in the northern part of Alaska, and (3) Tlingit who live mostly in the southeastern part of Alaska.

Approximately 10,000 years ago, due to some major geological shift involving sea level changes, the land connection between Asia and North America was broken, and water, now known as the Bering Strait, separated the two continents.

Russian Occupation and Control of Alaska: The origin of European settlers to Alaska is not very clear, but many believe that the first European settlers to Alaska were Russians around the mid-17th century.  The recorded history of European contacts with Alaska began almost a century later.  Shortly before his death in 1725, the czar of Russia, Peter the Great, commissioned Vitus Bering, a Dane who served with the Russian navy, to conduct an expedition going north along the coast of Siberia to try to find where it is joined to America.  Men and material had to be transported 5,000 miles from St. Petersburg to the Pacific Coast of Siberia, and a ship (St. Gabriel) had to be built.  So this expedition didn’t take place until three years later in 1728.  Although this expedition never landed in North America, they did find out that Asia and America were not connected, and named the sea separating the two continents the Bering Strait.

In 1741, Bering launched a second and more ambitious expedition, called the Great Northern Expedition, with the intention to reach America and open trade between the two continents.  The Great Northern Expedition did not achieve its objective of opening trade between the two continents, and many of the expedition members including Bering, did not survive.  However, the expedition did discover large populations of sea otter in the Aleutian Islands in Alaska.  In the face of starvation, sea otters provided food to the sailors, even though they disliked the taste and texture of otter flesh.  More importantly, the sea otter pelts could keep them warm.  The Russian fur traders, known as promyshlenniki, knew that the sea otter furs could command enormous prices in the Chinese fur market.  As a matter of fact, they were considered to be so valuable that they were called “soft gold.”  Since the sea otter in Siberia had essentially been decimated, they were overjoyed to hear from the expedition members about the large number and ease of catching them.  This began a flourishing trade by the promyshlenniki.

Although not necessarily reflecting the attitude of the Russian government in St. Petersburg,  the promyshlenniki treated the native Aleuts as barely human, and slaughtered the Aleut men without provocation and enslaved the Aleut women and girls.  Even though the Aleuts tried to fight back, especially in 1762, they had no weapons to match the Russian muskets, and it triggered a reign of terror in the Aleutian Islands so that over the next four years, 3,000 Aleuts (men, women, and children), which was about 10-30% (depending on which estimate is used) of the total Aleut population at that time, were slaughtered.

It took about 20 years until 1784 before the first Russian permanent colony was established on Kodiak Island in Alaska, and it took about another 20 more years until 1804 before Russia set up a Russian-American Company to control all Russian activities in Alaska.  Since there was no attempt at conservation, as the sea otter population got decimated in one locality, the fur traders would move to another locality, thus moving farther east and south in Alaska.  Finally the Russian-American Company transferred its headquarter from Kodiak on Kodiak Island to Sitka (between Juneau and Ketchikan).

Since the main problem for the Russian settlers was a reliable supply of food, as it was very expensive to send supplies from Siberia to Sitka.  One solution was to trade with American traders.  Because the Russians didn’t want to become too dependent on the Americans as they were rivals to become a power in the Pacific coast, an interesting fact of history was that Russia tried to establish a Russian agricultural colony in Northern California.  In 1812, they constructed a fortified settlement, named Fort Ross (an old form of a word for Russia), just north of San Francisco.  The plan was to raise crops and animals that would be shipped to Sitka or other parts of Russian Alaska.  However, the Russian settlers and their native Alaska workers (Aleuts) were not good in raising crops or cattle.  As a matter of fact, the Aleuts, being sea hunters, had never even seen cattle.  Fort Ross was a total  failure to provide food for Russian Alaska, as it barely produced enough food to feed itself.

Economic Decline of Russian Alaska: The two problems of rapidly declining sea otter population due to over-killing and the huge cost of providing supplies to Russian Alaska and the failure of Fort Ross no longer made economic sense, at least in the short term, for Russia to continue its interest in Alaska.  Another interesting piece of history is that in 1841 Russia sold Fort Ross for $30,000 to the American John Sutter, the owner of Sutter’s Mill about 120 miles east of Fort Ross where gold was discovered in 1848.  Adding to these two problems was the fear that Russia was in no position to defend Alaska if another foreign power (e.g., Great Britain) wanted to seize the Alaskan territory.  So around the 1850s, Russia began looking to sell its unprofitable Alaska territory. [1]   This desire was enhanced when Russia was decisively defeated by the British and the French in the Crimea War (1853-1856). [2]  The U.S. was interested, and talks between the two sides continued until 1860 when the U.S. was immersed in its bloody and costly Civil War.

The Alaska Purchase: When the Civil War ended in 1865, the U.S. renewed its interest in purchasing Alaska.  There were several reasons for this interest:

• Alaska was full of potentially profitable natural resources, such as fish, whales, animal furs, minerals, forests
• To facilitate commerce between the U.S. and Asian countries such as China and Japan
• Vast amount of essentially virgin land
• To prevent Alaska from falling into the hands of an unfriendly power
• A relatively low purchase price for such a vast territory (586,400 square miles) [3] due to the great desire of Russia to sell

In a deal that was championed and orchestrated by the then U.S. Secretary of State, William H. Seward, the U.S. purchased Alaska from Russia on March 30, 1867 for $7.2 million, or less than two cents an acre.  It should be noted that even though the U.S. President (Andrew Johnson) and the U.S. Senate had to approve the purchase, there was very little interest in the U.S. government, besides Seward, or the American public to purchase Alaska, which was considered as a frozen and worthless wasteland.  As a matter of fact, the Alaska Purchase was known as “Seward’s Folly.”  To his credit, when Seward was asked a few years later what was the most important act of his career, he replied without hesitation “The Alaska Purchase.”  With hindsight, Seward was 100% correct.

———————————————

[1] Just like the Spanish claiming much of the land in Central and South America, or the U.S. claiming the land of  North America, Russia claimed the land of Alaska even though this land should really belong to the Native Alaskans.

[2] The Crimea War is also remembered for producing Florence Nightingale, who pioneered modern nursing practices while caring for wounded British soldiers.

[3] The Alaska Purchase is the second-largest land deal in the history of the U.S., second only to the 1803 Louisiana Purchase (828,000 square miles).

Early History

To understand the “918 Incident” that took place in the city of Mukden, Manchuria, China (currently known as the city of Shenyang, in Liaoning Province in northeast China), one needs to review the history of that part of the world from the 19th century and earlier. Dating back to several hundred years ago, historically Manchuria was the homeland of several nomadic tribes. In 1644, the dominant tribe at that time (the Jurchens) seized control of Beijing and overthrew the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644). Since the Manchus (as the people of Manchuria were called) had greatly acculturated the dominant Chinese (Han) culture and language, the Manchus and the Chinese were easily integrated. This gave rise to the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911). However, with a weakening Qing Dynasty, China was forced to cede to Russia part of Manchuria, north of the Amur River (or Heilong River, 黑龍江) and east of the Ussuri River, as the result of the 1858 Treaty of Aigun and the 1860 Treaty of Peking. Thus, Manchuria was divided into a Russian half known as “Outer Manchuria,” and a remaining Chinese half known as “Inner Manchuria.” In modern usage, Manchuria is usually referred to the “Inner Manchuria” or the Chinese half, and China usually refers to this region as China’s Northeast Region, or the Northeast Provinces of Liaoning, Jilin and Heilongjiang (東北三省).

For about two centuries until 1853, Japan adopted a foreign policy of Sakoku (or “locked country,” 鎖國) when except under certain allowed situations, no foreigner could enter nor could any Japanese leave the country on penalty of death. This policy ended when the American Commodore Matthew Perry and the American navy arrived in Japan in 1853 and forced the opening of Japan. This opened Japan’s eyes and made them realize that in many ways they were behind the West. This led to the Meiji Restoration (明治維新) in 1868 which restored the emperor system and also opened the gate for all kinds of Japanese to go abroad to learn from the West, especially the West’s science and technology and to modernize and strengthen Japan into a modern industrial state. With the opening of the country, Japan, being a small country with few natural resources, greedily lust over the territory and natural resources of its neighboring countries, especially Korea, China, and Russia. Thus, Japan also adopted the West’s expansion and imperialistic attitude.

The First Sino-Japanese War

The first country of Japan’s expansion was its closest neighbor Korea, which traditionally had been a tributary state to China, and with large coal and iron ore deposits. Japan wanted to annex Korea, or at least make it an independent state with a pro-Japanese government. A series of conflicts, too long to be described in this article, led to the First Sino-Japanese War (1894-1895) between China and Japan. This war was fought in Korea, Manchuria, and the Penghu Islands near the western coast of Taiwan. Japan won the war. The Treaty of Shimonoseki was signed on 17 April 1895. As the loser, China (1) had to recognize the independence of Korea, (2) had to cede the Liaodong Peninsula (遼東半島) to Japan, (3) had to cede Taiwan and the Penghu Islands to Japan, and (4) had to pay Japan 200 million Kuping taels of silver (or almost four times the Japanese government revenue), (5) had to sign a commercial treaty permitting Japanese ships to operate on the Yangtze River, to operate manufacturing factories in treaty ports and to open four more ports to foreign trade.

However, the ceding of Liaodong Peninsula that includes the ice-free Port Arthur was immediately objected to by Russia, France, and Germany (known as The Triple Intervention) because these foreign powers had their own ambitions to carve up part of China. Facing such strong oppositions, Japan, being a relatively new emerging strong nation, agreed to give up the Liaodong Peninsula in exchange for another 30 million Kuping taels of silver that China had to pay Japan.

The Russo-Japanese War

With its victory over China on the First Sino-Japanese War and the establishment of a pro-Japan government in Korea, Japan had its eyes on expanding further north and west into Manchuria. Russia already controlled Outer Manchuria and would love to own the ice-free port of Port Arthur in Inner Manchuria beyond leasing it from China. The port of Port Arthur, unlike the port of Vladivostok, can be used year round even during the winter months. That was precisely the reason for the Triple Intervention mentioned in the previous paragraph, to keep Russia from gaining this strategic military strength. This mutual imperial interest in Manchuria, was part of the conflict between Russia and Japan. Russia was an established imperial power, while Japan was just an emerging power. Since the British imperial power also wanted to keep Russia from competing with them as a naval power in the Pacific, Britain was willing to side with Japan, which appeared to be a weaker power. So in 1902 Britain and Japan signed the Anglo-Japanese Alliance. This alliance meant that if any nation allied itself with Russia during any war with Japan, then Britain would enter the war on Japan’s side. This also meant that Russia could no longer count on receiving help from either Germany or France in a war with Japan, because of the danger of British involvement in the war. With such an alliance, Japan felt bold enough to commence hostilities with Russia even when the two countries were negotiating a treaty to try to recognize and protect Japan’s primary interests in Korea and Russia’s primary interest in Manchuria. Japan declared war on Russia on February 8, 1904. Even before the war declaration was received by the Russian Government, the Imperial Japanese Navy already attacked the Russian Far East Fleet at Port Arthur.

To the surprise of Russia and everyone else, Japan easily won this war, defeating both the Russian navy and army. This greatly diminished Russia’s prestige, and greatly elevated Japan’s statue as a modern power, and fanned its appetite for more imperialistic expansions. The war ended with the signing of the Treaty of Portsmouth on September 5, 1905. Among other things, Russia recognized Korea as part of the Japanese sphere of influence [1], and agreed to evacuate Manchuria and to sign over to Japan its 25-year leasehold rights to Port Arthur, including the naval base and the peninsula around it. [2]

With two major military victories (first against China in 1895 and then against Russia in 1905) in a short span of only 10 years, Japan became even more aggressive and hungrily eyed all of China and other countries in Asia. In the absence of Russian competition and with European nations occupied with World War I, combined with the Great Depression which followed, the Japanese military set about to dominate China and the rest of Asia, thus eventually leading to the Second Sino-Japanese War and World War II.

Germany’s Sphere of Influence in Shandong Province and Japan’s Twenty One Demands

In the 19th and early 20th centuries, the Qing Dynasty was incompetent and weak.  Almost all of the world powers carved out many kinds of concessions and spheres of influence over various parts of China.  The 1842 Treaty of Nanking that ended the First Opium War between Great Britain and China was one of many unequal treaties that China was forced to sign.  For this treaty, among other concessions, China ceded Hong Kong to Great Britain as a crown colony.  In the case of Germany, the concession was in the Shandong Province , in particular in 1898 the Jiaozhou Bay (膠州灣) near the port city of Qingdao was transferred to Germany on a 99-year lease, and Qingdao became a German colony, and it was the base for the Imperial German Navy’s Far East Squadron.  During WWI, Japan joined forces with Great Britain and attacked this German colony.  After a month-long seige, Qingdao fell in late 1914 and was occupied by Japanese and British forces.

China declared war on Germany on 14 August 1917.  As an ally of the victors, China expected that the former German colony would be returned to China.  However, the 1919 Treaty of Versailles, the main treaty from the Paris Peace Conference ending WWI, assigned all confiscated German Pacific territories and islands north of the equator to Japan, including Jiaozhou Bay.  This resulted in major China-wide protests known as the May Fourth Movement, initially organized by students and quickly spread to all segments of the Chinese population.  As a result, the Chinese government refused to sign the Treaty, and the “Shandong Problem” was not resolved until February 1922 when its sovereignty returned to China.

Also during the time of WWI, in January 1915 Japan issued to China the infamous “21 Demands” which among other concessions:

• Confirm Japan’s recent acquisition and expanded Japan’s sphere of influence over the whole Shandong Province
• Extend to Japan into the 21st century the original Russian 25-year lease over parts of Manchuria, and expand it to include Japan’s South Manchuria Railway Zone,  and expanding Japan”s sphere of influence  in southern Manchuria and eastern Inner Mongolia
• Bar China from giving any further coastal or island concessions to foreign powers except for Japan
• Give to Japan the right to appoint foreign advisers to the Chinese central government and to administer the Chinese police force

The Chinese population strongly objected to these demands, but on May 25, 1915 the Chinese government agreed to a reduced set of demands with the removal of the last item that severely intrudes on Chinese sovereignty.  This shameful act was agreed to by General Yuan Shikai who was the head of the Chinese government at that time, because he wanted to become an emperor and was willing to pay the price in exchange for Japan to recognize him as the emperor of China.  However, during the May 4 Movement of 1919, the Chinese population did not forget this ugly part of history, because one of the main slogans of this movement was “externally resist foreign powers, and internally rid traitors.”

918 Incident and the Second Sino-Japanese War

It is clear from the above review of the history of China and Japan from around the middle of the 19th century to the 1920′s that Japan adopted a foreign policy of  imperialistic expansion, and its main target was China.  After annexing Korea, its next target was Manchuria to pave the way to all of China.  As a matter of fact, a Japanese slogan of that time was “to conquer the world, you must first conquer China, and to conquer China, you must first conquer Manchuria.”

As discussed earlier in this article, Japan in the 1920′s already had control of some parts of Manchuria, e.g., the area around Port Arthur and South Manchuria Railway Zone.  But that was just like an appetizer.  Japan wanted more, much more.  Japan wanted all of Manchuria, and then all of China and beyond.  Since there were other foreign powers who also had concessions and spheres of influence in China, Japan did not want their imperialistic actions to immediately raise the eyebrows of the other foreign powers, so they made it appear as though China started some incident, and they had no other choice but to respond to it.

On the evening of September 18, 1931, an explosion occurred close to a railroad owned by Japan’s South Manchuria Railway in the Liutiaohu (柳條湖) village in the city of Mukden, now known as Shenyang (瀋陽) in Liaoning Province, Manchuria.   This was not a huge explosion, and the railroad was not destroyed.  However, accusing the Chinese of the act, the Japanese Imperial Army launched a full invasion that led to the occupation of all of Manchuria.  Shortly after that, Japan established a puppet state Manchukuo, headed in name only by Puyi, the last Qing emperor.  Manchuria became the launching ground for Japan’s invasion of the rest of China.  Thus the Chinese consider September 18, 1931 as the beginning of the 14-Year War of Resistance against Japan, and also essentially as the beginning of WWII, even though China did not formally declare war on Japan until December 9, 1941, two days after Pearl Harbor.

China lodged a protest to the League of Nations on this Japanese invasion of Manchuria.  Japan said that it was an act of self defense.  The League of Nations did not accept Japan’s explanation and concluded that there was not sufficient reason to support Japan’s actions.  Japan did not agree and decided to leave the League of Nations.

Even if it were the Chinese who were responsible for the explosion in Mukden, did it warrant an immediate full-scale invasion of another country?  Another theory said that the Mukden Incident was planned and executed by lower-level Japanese officers and did not have the approval of the Japanese high command.  If that were the case, why didn’t Japan launch an investigation of the incident, instead of launching a full-scale attack on another country?  Furthermore, even if it was started by lower-level Japanese officers, the Japanese high command did not reverse course but proceeded to take advantage of it.  I think it is very clear that the only possible explanation is that the 918 Incident was part of a plan by the Japanese government to provide an excuse for their invasion and occupation of Manchuria and then the rest of China.  That is why all peace loving people of the world should not forget the 918 Incident.

918 Eighty Anniversary Commemorative Event

NJ-ALPHA (New Jersey Alliance for Learning and Preserving the History of WWII in Asia), the Chinese Consolidated Benevolent Association (CCBA) of New York, and about 20 other community organizations will sponsor a “918 Eighty Anniversary Commemorative Event” in New York City on September 17-18, 2011, at the CCBA building at 62 Mott Street, New York City.  The two-day event will include a 200+ photo exhibit, a brief memorial ceremony, favorite WWII songs by well-known singers, talks by two invited speakers (one from Taiwan and one from Mainland China), and several excellent films about the 14-Year War of Resistance.  The program is in Chinese and is free, and everyone is invited.  To see more information about the program, click here.

________________________________

[1] A few years later in 1910, Japan annexed Korea.
[2] American President Theodore Roosevelt mediated this treaty. Because the U.S. didn’t want Japan to become too strong and compete with the U.S.’s interests in the Pacific region, Japan did not get as much as normally expected with such a clear victory. As a matter of fact, there was a lot of dissatisfaction in Japan, including riots in major cities, that Japan did not receive more, such as financial compensation. It is clear that Japan got much less from the Russo-Japanese War than from the First Sino-Japanese War. In spite of the fact that Roosevelt was essentially just trying to protect America’s imperialist interests in the Pacific, nevertheless, for his mediation role, Roosevelt was awarded the 1906 Nobel Peace Prize.

Whether the combat is between one army and another army or between an individual fighter and another fighter [1], it is important that you know yourself and your opponent.  Sun Tzu wrote “One who knows the enemy and knows himself will not be endangered in a hundred engagements.  One who does not know the enemy but knows himself will sometimes be victorious, sometimes meet with defeat.  One who knows neither the enemy nor himself will invariably be defeated in every engagement.” [2]  In Taiji Push Hands, the most critical technique (and the most difficult technique to master) is to relax your body and mind.  By relaxing your body, you can better sense [3] your opponent’s intentions and movements (know your enemy), which you can then counter with suitable moves (know yourself).  By relaxing your body, you also make it difficult for your opponent to sense your intentions and movements (your opponent will not know you), thus making it more difficult for your opponent to defend against you.  Relaxing mind allows the Taiji practioner to process the information received and choosing the appropriate response quickly and almost automatically (again, know yourself).

Knowing your opponent also means that you are capable of recognizing a weakness or potential weakness of your opponent, sometimes in real time.  Then you can immediately respond with the right attack to take advantage of that weakness.  An example in Taiji Push Hands is when you are pushing your opponent’s arm toward his body, and he is a little slow in defending by letting your push get close to his body before he redirects your push to the side, then you immediately increase the speed and strength of your push directly toward his body.  He will most likely not have enough time to redirect your push before your push is onto his body.

Another illustration in Taiji Push Hands of the concept of keeping your opponent from knowing you is to keep your upper body vertical, and you move forward and backward by shifting your weight on your feet (of course, if you need to move a large distance, then you also have to take a step or two with your feet).  Your opponent’s eyes are normally focused on your upper body, and so it makes it more difficult for your opponent to detect your motion if you keep your upper body straight.

Sun Tzu wrote “Warfare is the Way (Tao) of deception.  Thus although [you are] capable, display incapability to them.  When committed to employing your forces, feign inactivity.  When [your objective] is nearby, make it appear as if distant; when far away, create the illusion of being nearby.”  What Sun Tzu meant is that we have to confuse the opponent by feeding him false information.  For example, we may fake a retreat, and when the opponent pursues you, you lead the opponent into a trap and counter attack.  An example from Taiji Push Hands:  You may purposely soften your resistance; when your opponent thinks there is an opening, he attacks you by pushing hard.  But you are prepared and anticipated this attack, so you implement a lu (捋) motion to pull your opponent in the direction of his push but slightly to the side, thus leading your opponent to losing his balance.

Sun Tzu wrote “It is essential for a general to be tranquil and obscure, upright and self-disciplined, and able to stupify the eyes and ears of the officers and troops, keeping them ignorant.  He alters his management of affairs and changes his strategies to keep other people from recognizing them.  He shifts his position and traverses indirect routes to keep other people from being able to anticipate him.”  What Sun Tzu meant is that you should not do the same thing all the time, then your opponent can easily anticipate your next move.  Instead, you should vary your moves, and vary them not in any pattern.  In Taiji Push Hands, this means that even though your general movement may be determined by your opponent’s previous movement, you can still vary that general movement by changing the movement’s force strength, speed, extent of the movement, and its direction, etc.  Not seeing any pattern, then it will be more difficult for your opponent to anticipate your next move and therefore choose his response.

The above example of varying your movements not in any set pattern is also related to another quote from Sun Tzu “The location where we will engage the enemy must not become known to them.  If it is not known, then the positions that they must prepare to defend will be numerous.  If the positions the enemy prepares to defend are numerous, then the forces we engage will be few.”  Because there are many positions that your opponent needs to defend, your opponent cannot concentrate their defense against one or two positions, thus their defensive forces will also be weaker.

In summary, even though Sun Tzu’s classic “The Art of War” was written primarily for an army commander to lead an army to fight against another army, parts of the classic are also relevant for individual combats.  In particular, it has direct relevance to Taiji Push Hands from a martial arts perspective.

_________________________

[1] In the rest of this article, combat refers to both combat between one army and another army, or between an individual fighter and another fighter, although our discussion will be on the latter only.

[2] These quotes are from the English translation “Sun-tzu:  The Are of War” by Ralph D. Sawyer, published by Barnes & Noble, Inc. by arrangement with Westview Press, 1994.

[3] Here we are assuming that the Taiji practitioner is in physical contact with (i.e., touching) the opponent.  For more discussion on Taiji Push Hands, see two previous articles in this website:

• “The Essence of Taijiquan Part 1: Perspective from Taiji Push Hands”
• “Taiji and Martial Arts

Sai Chung was a good and hard-working student who had finished his engineering Bachelor degree in three years and one quarter [2], which normally would have taken four years, while supporting himself with scholarships and working part-time during the school year and full-time during the summer [3]. He then continued at UCB to study for his engineering Ph.D. degree [4]. After one year and two quarters, he basically had finished all his Ph.D. course work. Due to his plans to start the new initiative discussed below, in spite of doing extremely well academically, he left UCB in the summer of 1970. Had he stayed on a little longer and completed a required project, he would have received an engineering Masters degree.

Such a bright and hard-working student obviously had a nice future and could have found an interesting and good-paying technical job in the U.S. and then eventually obtained permanent residency in the U.S. He left all of that and went to Tai O (大澳), a small fishing village on the southwestern shore of Lantau Island (大嶼山), about a 3-hour ride by ferry from Hong Kong Island. Since public education there ended at 6th grade, he went there to offer to the Tai O young students free classes at the junior high level. There was nothing there waiting for him, no place reserved for him to sleep, no school to hold his classes, and no salary to support himself or pay for the school material.

But he did have the moral and financial support of many students in the San Francisco Bay Area and in the Boston-Cambridge Area; most like him were foreign students from Hong Kong. Many would contribute $10 per month to help him start this school. In his first year back, he did not tell his parents in Hong Kong, who actually partially relied on Sai Chung to help support his younger brothers and sisters. While he was studying at Berkeley, in spite of taking a heavy course load, Sai Chung worked at various odd jobs and saved enough money so even after he went to Tai O he could still meet his commitment of each month giving his parents $100 U.S. He wrote regular letters to his family, but these letters were mailed back to his close friend at Berkeley who then mailed the letters to Hong Kong.

Besides receiving moral and financial support from his friends in the U.S., equally important was the fact that he also found some like-minded young college graduates in Hong Kong, as well as later a couple other UCB graduates, who joined him as teachers or helpers at this school. As a matter of fact, after he returned to Hong Kong and before he made the final decision to start the Tai O project, he found a friend who recently graduated from the Chinese University of Hong Kong and was then teaching high school, and this friend told Sai Chung that he was committed to go to Tai O to start the project together. This was crucial to the project for at least two reasons. First, it doubled the number of full-time committed people. Secondly, through this person’s contacts in Hong Kong, many college students from the Chinese University of Hong Kong as well as young professionals (including doctors, engineers, and college instructors) would come to Tai O during the weekends to help out. Sometimes on weekends there were as many as 20-30 people helping out. Besides working to develop a curriculum for the school, these people would help in various kinds of community projects such as constructing a small fish reservoir, repairing roads, as well as helping them to construct their building (discussed later).

Initially the two full-time teachers would rent a small place to sleep, and borrowed facilities from various local religious organizations as their class rooms. They taught only in the evenings since these facilities were used by the religious organizations during the day. Their free school was welcomed by the locals, and quickly they had as many as 30-40 students.

After the first year, they started to build a small simple concrete building [5] where they could live, cook, and also use as their office, as well as their factory as discussed later. With very limited funds and resources, it took them about two years (to 1973) to complete this simple building. Before this building was completed, there was no running water and no bathroom. They connected a long hose from a small stream on a nearby hillside to their building. This provided them with water for cooking, drinking, bathing, and washing clothes. They took cold showers outside even during the cold winters. I remembered visiting them in the summer of 1971 and I took a cold shower from this hose. The drainage from this building was by a long hose that drained to the sea. [6]

These students, besides needing help with education, came from poor families. So Sai Chung and his colleagues decided to start a small business to assemble various electronic components for radios and other simple electronic devices. Initially they were a subcontractor for another contractor who sold the assembled products to wholesalers. Later they became a contractor and sold their products directly to the wholesalers. This provided part-time jobs for some of the students during the day, as school was only in the evening, as well as providing a small amount of income to support those students, as well as the school [7].

To start a business, even a small business, requires capital, e.g., to buy the electronic components. No bank would lend you the money without some collateral. Fortunately, the father of another Berkeley student [8] from Hong Kong was willing to provide the collateral. Shortly after starting their business in 1973, the world-wide recession hit Hong Kong near the end of 1973 and lasted for about a year and a half. For a while, they had borrowed a lot of money but there was not enough demand for their products, and they owed a lot of money. So they stopped their business for about half a year. Fortunately, the economy in Hong Kong improved, and they were able to pay off their debts after two-to-three years.

They continued with their school until the latter part of that decade, when Tai O announced that they planned to add a public high school providing junior high and senior high education, thus removing the original motivation for starting their school in Tai O, and led to a phasing out of their school.. As the economy in Hong Kong continued to improve, many Tai O youths were able to find jobs in Hong Kong, thus removing their original motivation for starting their business in Tai O, and led to a phasing out of their business near the end of the 1970 decade.

Besides facing financial issues, they also had to face several other issues. For example, initially there was a lot of suspicion, from both the left and the right of the political spectrum, on what they were doing and why. They had to earn the confidence of their students and parents. They also kept running into problems with the Hong Kong Education Department with respect to required certifications, which led to pressure from the government on the religious organizations that provided facility for their school. So they had to move from the building of a Protestant church to the building of a Catholic church, and then to the building of a Buddhist temple. And at the end, classes were held in the pig-raising facility of the house of one of the students. Although their school was not certified, the education received by the students was still useful to the students.

What motivated Sai Chung and others to do this project? I am sure that they did not do a detailed plan identifying all the problems they might face, and the risks that they might encounter, and work out a mitigation plan. I am also sure that they did not prepare a business plan for their business. They just had a feeling that deep in their hearts they wanted to do something to contribute to the world, and that what they wanted to do was not the traditional career path. They knew that they would encounter a lot of problems, expected and unexpected. They didn’t know how those problems would be solved, but they had the courage and the confidence that when those problems arise, they would rise up to the challenge of solving those problems.

To understand that kind of mentality, we have to go back to that period in history and the environment they were in. Sai Chung attended UCB from 1965 to 1970. This was the period immediately after the Free Speech Movement of 1964-1965, and in the middle of the Anti-Vietnam War Movement and the Third World Movement that occurred in the second half of the 1960 decade. A common denominator of these movements was that students should not live in ivory towers, but should be involved and contribute to improving the welfare of the community and the outside world at large. At the same time, the Cultural Revolution in China began in 1966. Although with hindsight, the Cultural Revolution was not as idealistic as it might have appeared. But based on the information the students had at that time, many of the students believed that they should try new ways of doing things, and they should not just follow the traditional way of their parents and grandparents.

Also, Sai Chung and many of his friends lived in Berkeley’s Chinese Center, an inexpensive residence house that housed about a dozen foreign students from Hong Kong [9]. These students formed a very close relationship [10], and they willingly helped each other. For example, if one of the students did not have enough money to pay for next quarter’s tuition, one of the more well-off students would give him some money. When one of the residents received a package of goodies from home, the whole group would share in the goodies. This type of comradeship and willingness to pool financial resources was actually critical at Tai O. Some of the teachers with no or very little income still had to support their families. Some of the teachers also taught at Tai O’s public school and they would contribute their salary to the pool to help run the school and the business. If it weren’t for that environment that they were immersed in during several of their formative years, the Tai O project would have never taken place, and definitely would not have sustained for that many years.

The Tai O project started with a vision: to help educate the poor children of Tai O whose education normally ended at 6th grade. Sai Chung and his collaborators sacrificed a few years of their normally most productive years to achieve this vision. To a large extent they succeeded. They offered free classes at the junior high level to the Tai O students, and continued doing so until Tai O established a public high school. They also established a small business that provided part-time jobs to some of the students and helped to provide some financial support to these students’ families. Even though they “lost” many of their most productive years, all the people who worked on this project had successful careers post Tai O.

In 1976 Sai Chung married one of the local Tai O girls. In 1978 Sai Chung collaborated with several young professionals in Hong Kong as co-founders of a new electronics manufacturing company, and served as the General Manager of this company as he had practical experience working in manufacturing. For a while, he worked at this company in Hong Kong during weekdays, and went back to Tai O during weekends to do work for the school and the business. This electronics manufacturing company became a very successful company, and Sai Chung hired some of his former Tai O students, as well as additional Tai O youths, to work at this company, thus continuing to help the Tai O youths financially.

———————–
[1] This person wants to remain anonymous, but agrees that we can refer to him by his nickname “Sai Chung.”
[2] UCB changed from a semester system to a quarter system during the period (1965-1970) when Sai Chung was there.
[3] At that time, it was legal for a foreign student to work during the summer as well as during the school year. His family provided him only enough money to pay for the tuition of Sai Chung’s first semester at UCB.
[4] It is possible to go directly from a Bachelor degree to a Ph.D. without first getting a Masters degree.
[5] At that time in Tai O it was actually cheaper for them to build a concrete building than a wooden building, especially when they could mix rocks found on the hillsides with cement.
[6] It was legal in Tai O at that time to connect the drainage pipe for a small building like theirs to the sea.
[7] For those oversea students who agreed to financially support this project, Sai Chung requested a commitment for only one year. So after a couple of years, Sai Chung and his co-workers were basically on their own financially.
[8] This student, after finishing at UCB, also went to Tai O and worked there for 3-4 years.
[9] The Chinese Center was established by a Protestant church, although most of the students residing there were non-religious.
[10] The close relationship that was established during those years at Berkeley carried over to the next 40+ years. They have remained among each other’s best friends all this time.

What are these great concerns?

National Debt: The first and most obvious is the great debts owed by the U.S. federal government and various state governments.  For example, the total debt of the U.S. government [1]  was over $14 trillion at the end of 2010, which is about 95% of the U.S.’s annual gross domestic product (GDP) of $14.7 trillion for the calendar year 2010. [2]  This translates to a debt of about $46,170 per person for the 310.8 million people living in the U.S.  The  interest on this debt for 2010 was about $414 billion, or 2.8% of the GDP. [2]  Since interest rates are expected to rise from their currently abnormally low levels and the national debt is expected to continue to increase, the projection is that the interest alone on the U.S. federal government’s total debt could rise to about 4% of the GDP in 2020.  This means that a significant portion of the U.S. government’s income will be used to pay just the interest owed on the debt, not even counting the debt itself.  The situation in many states is at a similar predicament.  For example, New Jersey’s net tax-supported debt in 2008 was $31.4 billion, which was higher than its state tax revenue of $26.6 billion.  New York’s net tax-supported debt in 2008 was $56.9 billion, which was higher than its state tax revenue of $55.7 billion. [3]

The above situations obviously cannot be allowed to continue on any extended basis.  It is just simple arithmetic that in order to solve the problem, we must consistently spend less than what we earn.  Yet, year after year during the last 10 years, the government always spent more than what it took in.  The politicians are advocating policies that may gain votes for them or their party in the short term, e.g., tax cuts or maintaining tax cuts, and more spending, but often disastrous in the long term.   Instead of working cooperatively on a long-term realistic plan of reducing the debt, they are sticking to their traditional party agenda and unwilling to compromise, or arguing on a partisan basis how to raise the debt ceiling or the value of that debt ceiling.  Similarly, corporations and various constituent groups continue to seek profits or benefits for themselves even if it is at the expense of the country as a whole,  or various constituent groups fight hard to keep or even expand their benefits even though their benefits may already be better than the large majority of the other constituent groups.  There seems to be a total lack of concern that we are in an overloaded, sinking boat together.  Instead of working together to reduce any unnecessary load on the boat, to bailout the water in the sinking boat, and to plug up the leaks, each one is interested in only keeping all his/her possessions on the boat or even bringing more possessions on the overloaded boat.

Global Competitiveness: To be able to compete and beat the competition in the global economy, a country can produce the products less expensively, can produce better quality products, or produce newer and more innovative products.  Since the standard of living in the U.S. is higher than most countries, and significantly higher than countries like China, Korea, Vietnam, Philippines, and other countries in Asia, Africa, or South America, the U.S. is not going to compete successfully by producing less expensive products.  So to compete successfully, the U.S. must move up the production (manufacturing) chain by producing better quality or newer and more innovative products.  This means that our students must be more and better educated than our competitors.  Unfortunately, that doesn’t seem to be the case.

The Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) is an international standardized test for 15-year-old students designed to measure not just whether they know basic facts but whether they can use them in practical situations.  The test measures “skills necessary for deeper learning that prepare students to graduate from high school and college with the capacity to know and understand core academic content, think critically and solve problems, communicate effectively, work collaboratively and continue learning throughout their lives, i.e., skills necessary to succeed in a global economy.” [4]  In the most recent PISA test of 2009, the U.S. ranked 17, 31, and 23 respectively in reading, math, and science, behind countries like China, South Korea, Singapore, Japan, New Zealand, Australia, Canada, and many other countries.  Furthermore, compared with earlier PISA tests, the U.S.’s rankings seem to have slipped somewhat. [5]  Unless the U.S. improves significantly in this area, how can she move up the production chain and compete successfully by producing better quality products and newer and more innovative products relative to the global competitors.

Unwillingness to Address the Roots of Problems: When anyone or any country is faced with a problem, that person or country must understand and address the root cause of the problem.  Only if the root cause of the problem is removed will the problem be solved.  If one just addresses the symptoms (or manifestations) of the problem, then the problem will remain.  We illustrate with several examples.

Drug, Alcohol, and Cigarette Use by Youths:  People recognize that this is a serious problem.  It affects not only the individuals involved, but also affects and is very costly for the society as a whole.  It costs the society in terms of increased medical costs, increased road casualty and insurance costs, lost productivity, decreased personal safety and increased crimes, increased costs of police, courts, and prisons, more gangs and smuggling and other crimes across our borders, etc.  This problem was discussed in an earlier article in this web site “Some Thoughts on the Youth Substance Abuse Issue”:  http://www.dontow.com/2008/06/some-thoughts-on-the-youth-substance-abuse-issue/.  As discussed in that article, various methods have been proposed to solve these problems.  However, those methods focus only on the youths, and it seems that there is one important factor that is not addressed by those methods. Children and young people observe and copy the behavior of adults, especially their adult family members. It is not what the adults say that is important, but what is most important is what the adults do. As long as there are serious substance abuse problems among the adult population, and there are, it will be essentially impossible to solve the youth substance abuse problems.  Therefore, the root cause of the substance abuse problems is that adults have substance abuse problems. and we should find solutions to the adult substance abuse problems, i.e., attack the root cause of the problem.

If we can significantly reduce the demand for illicit drugs among the people living in the U.S., then we can also significantly reduce drug trafficking and various related crimes across our borders, because the root cause of this problem is the demand within the U.S.

Excessive Sexual Activities Among Youths:  This is similar to the previous problem.  Again, youths copy adults.  If we can significantly reduce the amount of extra-marital activities among adults, especially among our politicians, actors and actresses, athletes, and other public figures, then there will be a similar reduction of excessive sexual activities among our youths.

Trade Deficit:  We all agree that the U.S. has a large trade deficit, due to imports significantly exceeding exports.  But the economic system that the U.S. advocates is supposed to be a free enterprise system.  This means that economics is driven by competition, and a corporation is free to seek the cheapest parts and the cheapest labor, anywhere in the world.  As a matter of fact, it was precisely this economic system that propelled the U.S. to become the richest and most powerful country in the world, resulting in a standard of living in the U.S. that is significantly higher than almost all of her competitors.  A natural consequence of this result is that U.S. corporations will go oversees more and more to seek cheaper parts and labor.  As mentioned earlier in the “global competitiveness” section of this article, the U.S. must move up the production chain to become competitive as it can no longer compete based on price.  Imposing protectionism measures at this time is like supporting the rules of a game when you are winning and changing the rules of the game when you are losing.  As a matter of fact, China which is projected to be the next economic power is expected to experience the same fate 30, 40, or so years down the road.  As its standard of living continues to increase, China in the future will no longer be able to compete based on price as some of the countries in Southeast Asia or Africa improve their production  infrastructure.  Therefore, a generation or two from now, China will also have to move up the production chain in order for China to stay competitive.  Instead of complaining that work is moving overseas, the U.S. must look at the root cause of the problem, which is that as the U.S.’s standard of living keeps on increasing, it can no longer be competitive on price.  As work migrates overseas, the U.S. must focus and invest in areas, such as education [6], that can make the U.S. competitive higher in the production chain, i.e., produce better-quality products, and better or more innovative products.

Currency Revaluations:  An issue very much related to the previous issue of trade deficit is currency revaluations.  As the U.S.’s trade deficit with China continues to rise, the U.S. government has repeatedly pressured China to reevaluate its currency Renminbi (RMB) upward relative to the U.S. dollar.  With such upward revaluation of the RMB relative to the U.S. dollar, China’s exports to the U.S. would become more expensive and therefore Americans would buy less Chinese exports, and at the same time, U.S.’s imports to China would be less expensive and therefore Chinese would buy more imports from the U.S.  Not only that the U.S. is urging the Chinese government to do this, but it is accusing the Chinese government of purposely manipulating the Chinese currency.  First of all, haven’t the U.S. been manipulating the U.S. dollar by printing more and more money.  Since China owns $895 billion in U.S. Treasuries, or 32% of the total U.S. Treasuries outstanding ($2.8 trillion), by printing more and more money means that the debt owed by the U.S. to China has effectively been reduced.  Actually, the RMB has been increasing in value relative to the U.S. dollar, about a 15% increase from January 2007 to January 2011.  Although it may be a legitimate argument that the RMB should increase in value even more relative to the U.S. dollar, accusing China of purposely manipulating the valuation of its RMB as the main cause of the massive U.S. trade deficit is once again not addressing the root cause of the problem, which is the reduced competitiveness of the U.S.

It is very important to point out that just looking at the trade deficit numbers could be very misleading, because the price of an export product is counted toward China’s export total, but often only a small fraction of the profit from selling that product goes to Chinese companies who were involved in producing that product.  For example, the overwhelming majority of the profit from selling within the U.S. an iphone or ipad that is made in China goes to Apple, and not to the companies involved in manufacturing the parts or producing that product.   This could greatly distort the interpretation of the trade deficit and mask the root cause of the U.S.’s economic woes.

Other Root Causes of the U.S. Economic Problems:  In the last three-four years, we have experienced one of the worst economic disasters in history, the housing loan bubble and various investment and loan derivatives that have no economic foundation but kept getting bigger and bigger until they crashed.  This not only caused millions of Americans to lose their homes or their investments, it had adverse ramifications around the world.  Yet not only that many of the leading executives and companies who were leading such investment junkets were not punished, they were rewarded with huge bonuses, stock options, or leave packages.  Two examples are the companies of Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley and their executives.  There is no way that these people and companies did not know what they were advocating and selling, the risks involved, and the long-term consequences.  This is not a problem associated with just the Republican Party or the Democratic Party, because it started under the Bush administration and “so called” resolved under the Obama administration by essentially the same type of people.   There was (and still is) unabashed greed that permeates a large part of the American infrastructure, including (1) financial companies at Wall Street, (2) Washington, D.C.’s government leaders and agencies who purposely reduced the amount of regulations that could have stopped such misadventures, and (3) top academics at leading business schools and universities who were guns for hire.  The root cause of the problem is such unabashed greed and yet not much is done about it.  An excellent documentary film about this period and the misguided adventures before, during, and after the crisis is the 2010 film “Inside Job” made by Charles Ferguson: http://www.sonyclassics.com/insidejob/.

Another example of a contributor to the economic problem of ordinary citizens is the high cost of gasoline.  Even after the recent drop in gasoline prices, their prices are about $1 (or 40%)  more than same time last year.  At the same time, almost all of the major oil companies are enjoying huge profits.  For example, Exxon’s profit in the first quarter of 2011 was $11 billion, about 69% higher than its profit one year earlier.  The only company among the big five oil companies [7] that did not have a large increase in profit from a year earlier was BP because of the expenses they incurred related to the 2010 oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.  Their executives with the exception of the CEO of BP each earned more than $10 million in 2010 with Exxon’s CEO making $21.5 million.  Even BP’s CEO made $6.8 million in 2010 while causing a great catastrophe in the Gulf of Mexico.  Furthermore, these oil companies actually produced less oil in 2010 than 2009 even though their profits were significantly more.  It seems that the rise in gasoline prices is not due purely to oil shortage or the rising prices of crude oil.  One of the root causes of rising gasoline prices is again the unabashed greed of the big oil companies, while federal government legislators continue to give tax incentives to oil companies.

Foreign Policies: One of the grave concerns related to the future of the U.S. is its frequent misguided foreign policies.  Such misguided foreign policy, especially one that leads to wars, has grave implications for its citizens from both a safety and economic point of view.  An obvious example is the U.S. invasion of Iraq in 2003 on the pretense of destroying Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction (WMD).  Not only that no WMD was found, but after toppling over the Saddam Hussein regime, the U.S. had no well-thought-out plan on what to do next.  Instead of listening to the advice of various professional diplomats and military leaders with experience in Iraq, the people who made the decision (basically Vice President Dick Cheney and Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, and with President Bush behaving as the de facto absent Commander In Chief) made one of the greatest blunders in military history by not providing enough troops to maintain order after the military victory and deciding to disband the Iraqi army.  The latter cut loose 500,000 former Iraqi soldiers with no jobs to support themselves but with all kinds of weapons, and left a security vacuum in Iraq.  This led to the collapse of the government bureaucracy and army, and led to total chaos with massive looting and bombing.  This allowed the Islamic fundamentalists to move in to fill this void, and their ranks swelled with many disillusioned Iraqi people.  Furthermore, it changed the Iraqi citizens’ perceptions of the Americans from friends to fools or foes.  The war also affected the Americans in the pocketbook to the tune of about $3 trillion, with the troubling additional question if we had not invaded Iraq, would we be stuck in Afghanistan as we are now. [8]  An excellent documentary film about the U.S.’s invasion of Iraq and its aftermath is the 2007 film “No End in Sight” made also by Charles Ferguson:  http://www.noendinsightmovie.com/.

Every country’s first priority should always be to take care of themselves, but that should not be at total neglect of the welfare of other countries, and more importantly not at the expense of other countries.  It seems that our foreign policy with respect to Iraq, Vietnam in the 1960s and 1970s, China from 1950s to now, and the Middle East from the end of WWII to now has always had a flavor of imperialism and a condescending attitude that other people’s lives are not worth as much as the lives of Americans.  Again this is not just a Republican Party issue, or just a Democratic Party issue; it is an issue of both parties.  It is this kind of mind set that is the root cause of many of our foreign policy problems.

Summary: We are concerned that our country can no longer continue to be the richest and most powerful country in the world.  We identify several major issues facing the U.S. today:  National debt, decreasing global competitiveness, unwillingness to address the root causes of problems, and failing foreign policies.  These are huge and fundamental issues.  They cannot be solved by twigging our traditional ways of doing things.  They can be solved only if our government and our citizens first acknowledge that such problems exist, and that we are in an overloaded, sinking boat together.  We must work together to reduce any unnecessary load on the boat, to bailout the water in the sinking boat, and to plug up the leaks.  We must always have in mind the best interests of the whole country, and not just what is best for ourselves or our particular group.  Unfortunately, this kind of mind set is not something that we have been willing to do in the past.  Perhaps as our boat continues to sink, more and more people will realize the seriousness of our problems and that we no longer have the luxury of putting off these problems for our children or grandchildren to solve.  Perhaps then we as a whole nation will be willing to make this paradigm shift.

It is also important to point out that even if the U.S. is no longer the richest and most powerful country in the world and China is rapidly gaining grounds financially, we are not necessarily saying that China will become the richest and most powerful country in the world, because in many respects there are still large gaps between the U.S. and China. Furthermore, China also needs to solve its own problems.

________________________

[1] The total debt of the U.S. federal government is the sum of the federal debt securities held by the public (people, business, and foreign governments) and the federal debt securities held by various U.S. government agencies (e.g., Social Security Agency).

[2] “The U.S. National Debt and How It Got So Big”:  http://useconomy.about.com/od/fiscalpolicy/p/US_Debt.htm.

[3] “Interactive:  Is Your State A Debt Disaster”:  http://www.forbes.com/2010/01/20/states-debt-pensions-interactive-map.html.

[4] “Can Deeper Learning Improve American Competitiveness?”:  http:///www.hewlett.org/newsroom/newsletter/can-deeper-learning-improve-american-competitiveness.

[5] “Programme for International Student Assessment”:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Programme_for_International_Student_Assessment.

[6] By investing in education, we do not necessarily mean just putting more money in education.  We mean that we need to reevaluate our whole education system, including the effectiveness of our teaching  and how teachers are evaluated.

[7] The big five oil companies are Exxon, Chevron, Shell, ConocoPhillips, and BP.

[8] “The true cost of the Iraq war: $3 trillion and beyond”:  http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/09/03/AR2010090302200.html.

Even though good health should also be of great interest to youths, we know that in general health is not a topic high on the priority of youths.  Rightly or wrongly, youths take their health for granted.  They just assume that they will have good health and they will live a long life.  However, youths (both boys and girls) are interested in self-defense.  Self-defense has practical value, and it is something fun and exciting to do.  Taiji was invented as a martial art.  That is why Taiji is often referred to as Taijiquan, or the Fist of Taiji.  For several hundred years, it was practiced in China to protect one’s family and village against thieves,  robbers, and outside invaders.  It was part of the skills learned by many professional bodyguards who provided physical protection for both travelers and goods in transit during the days when people traveled by foot and goods were carried on one’s back, horses, or horse-drawn carriages.  Therefore, traditionally Taiji was taught as both a martial art and a good exercise for health.  It was only during the last 50 years or so,  especially after the opening of China with all the media coverage associated with the Nixon visit to China, that Taiji has become synonymous with a health exercise, especially for older people.

Whenever we teach Taiji to youths, we should always illustrate the martial applications of each of the forms that we are teaching.  There are two reasons for doing this.  One is that the students will have a better understanding of the origin of the forms and the reasons for doing that form.  The second reason is that seeing the martial applications of the form allows the students to understand better the correct way to do a particular form.  They will have a better understanding of the underlying techniques and philosophy of Taiji.  For example, why waist rotation is important, why we take “cat steps” where we step down on the heels first, why relaxation is so critical in Taiji, how four ounces can deflect a thousand pounds.   This is not to say that in an introductory Taiji class, the emphasis should be on martial applications. What we are saying is that even in an introductory Taiji class the instructor should illustrate to the students how the various forms can be used in self-defense.  To actually learn and practice the self-defense techniques should be left for a follow-on Taiji course.  I can speak from personal experience that no matter the age of my students, ranging from teenagers, college students, to senior citizens, including people in the 80s, illustrating the martial applications of the Taiji forms can help to generate more interest in the course and help the students to do the forms more correctly.  And if the Taiji course is for youths, then illustrating the martial applications of the Taiji forms will be even more critically important. For an illustrated discussion of the martial applications of Taiji, see the article “Martial Applications of Taijiquan” in an earlier issue of this website: http://www.dontow.com/2008/12/martial-applications-of-taijiquan/.

The above conclusion is independent of the Taiji style that we teach.  Whether it is the Chen, Yang, Sun, Wu, or some other style, we should always illustrate the martial applications of the  forms that we teach.  Speaking of different Taiji styles, I do have a preference for a style to teach to youths in a first course on Taiji.  I prefer the Chen style.  The Chen style combines a mixture of slow and fast movements, and a mixture of soft and hard movements.  Comparing this with the most practiced style in the world, the Yang style, whose movements are essentially all slow and soft, I think the Chen style will be more appealing as a first Taiji course to youths.  However, in subsequent courses, the Yang and other styles can be just as appealing to youths.  I want to add that relatively speaking, it is more important to incorporate in the course the illustration of the martial applications of the forms than which particular style is chosen to be taught in the first Taiji course.

What about the form set to choose for a first course on Taiji?  Independent of the Taiji style, I think it is important to choose a reasonably short form set that can be learned in a matter of a few months even if the class meets only once per week for one hour. [1]  For example, for the Chen style, I would choose the Hunyuan 24 Form [2], which I call the Simplified Chen Style 24 Form.  I think choosing the traditional Chen Style First Form with 83 forms would be too long and complicated to teach in a first course.  Even the Chen Style Competition Form with 56 forms would be too long and complicated for a first course.  Similarly, for the Yang style, the Simplified Yang Style 24 Form would be a suitable candidate for a first course.  Teaching the traditional Yang Style long form of 108 forms is way too long and complicated for a first course.  Even the Cheng Man Ching 37 Form that is based on the Yang Style is too long and complicated for a first course.  The mixed style 42 Form is also too long and complicated for a first course, although it can be an ideal candidate for one of the subsequent courses.

During the first Taiji course, the instructor should also mention other aspects of the art of Taijiquan.  Besides illustrating the martial applications, the instructor should also mention:

• Push Hands:  A set of two-person exercises that utilize and practice the martial applications of Taiji
• Qin Na:  A set of grappling  techniques that control or lock an opponent’s arms, legs, joints or muscles/tendons so he cannot move, thus neutralizing the opponent’s fighting ability
• Qigong:  A set of breathing, physical, and mental exercises to control and circulate the Qi (or internal energy) within the body to cure illnesses and increase martial prowess. [3]

Each one of these techniques can help to generate among the youths additional interest and excitement on Taiji.  They see that the art of Taiji is more than just a set of slow and soft movements for senior citizens to do, but a sophisticated art that challenges the body and mind, and is good for self defense and health.  At the same time, it is also something that is fun, interesting, exciting, and challenging to learn and to practice.  The introductory course is just the first of a set of courses on Taiji.

Summary: Taiji is generally known as a good health exercise for senior citizens.  Its focus in recent times, especially in the West, has been mostly on older adults.  In this article, we remind people that as in the origin of Taiji, it is also a good self-defense art.  If the introductory course can illustrate the martial applications of Taiji, as well as touching upon other related subjects such as Push Hands, Qin Na, and Qigong, then Taiji can have general appeal to youths.  In addition, if we choose properly the Taiji style and the specific form set to be taught in an introductory Taiji course, then even youths will find Taiji to be fun and exciting to learn and to practice.  One of the reasons that some of the instructors of Taiji courses, especially those taught in the U.S., do not illustrate the martial applications of Taiji, is because they themselves had never learned Taiji as a martial art.

————————————————

[1] How fast s group of students can learn a particular form set depends of course on the age of the students.  A class of college-aged students can of course learn it much faster (and also better) than a class of senior citizens.

[2] The Hunyuan Chen Style was developed by Grandmaster Feng Zhejiang.

[3] For an introduction to Qigong and a modern analysis of Qigong, see the article “Modern Scientific Analysis of Medical Qigong”:  http://www.dontow.com/2010/08/modern-scientific-analysis-of-medical-qigong/.

Actually, Japan’s invasion and occupation of China began even earlier when it occupied Manchuria, the northeastern part of China, starting on September 18, 1931 (known as the 918 Incident), and then set up the puppet government in Manchuria known as Manchukuo.  What was special about the July 7, 1937 incident was that it triggered the large-scale war between China and Japan, which during the eight years of 1937-1945 resulted in the huge casualty previously mentioned.   Between 1931-1937,  there were also intermittent fighting against the Japanese invaders from various Chinese segments, including the regular army of the Chinese Nationalists, the guerrilla army of the Chinese Communists, or various Chinese insurgent fighting forces.  That is why sometimes the War of Resistence is known as the Fourteen Year War of Resistance from 1931-1945, and the Second Sino-Japanese War can sometimes be thought of starting in 1931.  [1]

After the invasion and occupation of Manchuria in 1931, in the following years Japan had expanded its invasion and occupation of the northeastern part of China, essentially controlling all areas north, east and west of Beijing.  Marco Polo Bridge is a bridge just outside of Beijing in the southwest direction next to the town Wanping.  It has strategic importance because the Pinghan Railway that links Beijing and the Chinese Nationalist-controlled parts of China south of Beijing passed by this bridge.  Prior to 1937, Japan had repeatedly demanded that all Chinese military forces be withdrawn from this area even though this is territory belonging to China!  Japan had also attempted to purchase nearby land to build an airfield.  All these attempts were refused by the Chinese, because if Japan had control of this bridge and the nearby area, then Beijing would be completely isolated from the Nationalist-controlled south.

Shortly before July 7, 1937, Japan had carried out intensive military training exercises in the vicinity of Marco Polo Bridge.  These exercises were held every night, and these exercises greatly alarmed the local Chinese forces.  On July 7, the Japanese army telegraphed the Chinese Nationalist forces stating that a Japanese soldier was missing and believed to be hiding inside the town of Wanping, and demanded that the Japanese army be allowed to enter the town of Wanping to search for the missing soldier. [2]  This request was denied by the Chinese army, although China responded that Chinese troops would conduct a search with an attached Japanese officer.  Then Japan sent an ultimatum that Japanese troops must be allowed to enter the town within the next hour or the town would be fired upon.  Around midnight, Japanese artillery started bombarding the town and shortly afterward, their infantry with tanks marched across the bridge.  After a seesaw battle of advances and retreats, the two sides agreed to negotiate.  After several days of negotiation but before the two sides were able to reach an agreement, Japan launched a full-scale attack on Wanping and Beijing.  Just before they were surrounded by the Japanese army, the Chinese Nationalist army retreated from Beijing to the south.  Beijing fell to the Japanese on July 29, and the nearby city of Tianjin fell on July 30; this led eventually to the control by the Japanese of the North China Plain by the end of 1937.

The exact details and sequence of events of the Marco Polo Bridge Incident may be subject to some debates, e.g., was a Japanese soldier really missing, who fired the first shot, when and how did the negotiation break down?  However, there should not be any ambiguity in understanding why it happened and the motive behind it.  After all, Japan had invaded and occupied a large part of China and set up various puppet governments.  Japan had demanded and obtained all kinds of concessions from China, including stationing in China a significantly larger number of troops than granted to any other foreign power, conducting threatening, large-scale military maneuvers on Chinese soil, and demanding that Chinese forces be withdrawn from strategic Chinese territories. If one takes into account this background information, then it should be crystal clear that the Marco Polo Incident was nothing more than an excuse to invade further into China, including occupying Beijing, Tianjin, and south of those cities.

After the Marco Polo Bridge Incident, major fighting began on a continuous basis between China and Japan.  This continued for eight painful and horrifying years, including the Nanking Massacre, and the deaths of over 20 million Chinese, more than 75% of these were civilian deaths, and the additional wounding of over 10 million Chinese, again with the large percentage being civilians.  This Eight-Year War of Resistance also weakened significantly the Japanese army, killing more than half a million and wounding several hundred thousands.  It was also a morale booster, because Japan had claimed that they would be able to conquer China in three months.  The fact that more than a million Japanese soldiers were tied down in China for many years definitely affected in a negative way the ability of the Japanese to carry out its war in the Pacific and other parts of Asia, thus helping to shorten WWII.

It is important to remember this part of history, especially when the conservative segments of Japan deny many of the happenings of the Second Sino-Japanese War and try to position Japan as being the victim, rather than the aggressor.   We should keep in mind the quote from the Spanish American philosopher George Santayana “Those who cannot learn from history are doomed to repeat it.”

This is why all peace-loving people of the world should remember the Marco Polo Bridge Incident, and understand its true significance, not only with respect to the Second Sino-Japanese War, but also with respect to the larger perspective of WWII and world peace.

___________________

[1] The First Sino-Japanese War took place between China and Japan in 1894-1895, with Japan being the winner.  This led to (1) the independence of Korea from being a traditional tributary state of China, (2) China ceding Taiwan and Penghu Islands to Japan, (3) China paying Japan three billion Yen for reparation, and (4) several other Chinese concessions.

[2] This soldier was later found unharmed.