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“On Protracted War”, A Legacy For China’s Past, Present and Future
Wang Ziren
A0116224U
China is one of the world oldest civilizations with five thousand years of rich
history and independence (BBC, 2014). However, in the turbulent 20th century,
the nation had almost been subjugated by the foreign colonizers. To defend its
land from the aggressors, China was embroiled in an eight-year war against
Japan from 1937 to 1945. In 1938, when China was on the verge of collapse,
Mao Zedong, the Chairman of China’s Communist Party, delivered “On
Protracted War” (1938) at Yenan, the headquarter of the party. His address is
widely regarded as one of the most important speeches that formed China’s
military strategy during the wartime and led to China’s final victory against the
invaders. This speech clearly analyzed China’s situation, accurately compared
China’s strengths and weaknesses with those of Japan, wisely pointed out the
military strategies that China should adopt and realistically predicted three
stages of the war. In this article, I will analyze this speech in terms of its
structure and language to show how this speech had a great impact on
Chinese people during the war and how this address is still influencing the
mindsets of the Chinese leaders who make policies to overcome the new
challenges in the 21st century.
One of the most significant features of Mao’s speech was his clear and logical
