Seeds of Destruction: Nationalist China in War and Revolution, 1937-1949

by Lloyd E. Eastman

The question "Who lost China?" has provoked political vituperation and academic controversy ever since the Chinese Communists drove the Nationalist regime of Chiang Kai-shek off the mainland in 1949. In this study based on a wide array of hitherto unused documentary sources, the author delves deeply into the inner workings of the Nationalist regime and concludes that the Nationalists collapsed largely as a result of their own failings. Most strikingly, he uses the records and memoirs of the Nationalists themselves to document the weaknesses of the Nationalist rule. For even Chiang Kai-shek said of the Kuomintang on the eve of its final defeat in 1949, "This kind of party should long ago have been destroyed and swept away!" To illuminate the factors that contributed to its ultimate defeat, the author examines the Nationalist government during the period 1937-1949 from several different perspectives. He carefully scrutinizes the relationship between the central and provincial governments, the plight of the tax-burdened peasantry in the Nationalist-held areas, the intraparty politics of the regime as expressed in the Youth Corps and the reformist Ko-hsin Movement, the deficiencies of the army during the wars against Japan and the Communists, the failure of the Gold Yüan currency reform of late 1948, and finally, Chiang Kai-shek's own assessment of his army and the civilian branches of his regime during the final phases of the war.

Genres: China, History

326 pages, Paperback

First published June 1, 1984

Reviews

[Carlos Wang · Rating 4 out of 5]

電影〈建國大業〉中有一段，「改革亡黨，不改革亡國」，我印象很深。其實與其說是黨，不如說是校長自身的權力。他依賴以成事的那批人也是腐朽其當前基業的，更可怕的是他完全沒有時間可以緩衝，內外交迫下進退失據。

個人是頗佩服“蔣公”的意志力，居然還能挺過來到島上堅持。對於怎麼丟光江山他心底多少也有譜，看之後的作為可知一二，可惜遲了，算他命不好，一山還有一山高，遇見了毛澤東，不然校長風采豈不如佛朗哥？

原書出的蠻早的，有點研究的人會覺得這本內容蠻“標準答案”，那是恰好正是因為其內容切中要害，所以廣為人所用，現下所見，自然略顯落伍，但對於新手來說，仍是不錯打底的讀物，翻譯跟文采俱佳。



HOI4畢竟只是遊戲，為了玩家還是把國民黨的處境簡化了，抗日，談何容易，剿共，難啊。拿著十九世紀的思維與體制去應付二十世紀的新戰場，志清落伍久矣。

[Kevin_Raccoon · Rating 4 out of 5]

A nice and short examination of KMT's weak rule.

[Amy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Thorough, well-organized, sound (in terms of scholarship), and historically important.

[寻找家园 · Rating 4 out of 5]

这本书相当于一篇对国民党政权垮台的检讨书，里面对国民党与三青团关系的研究令我联想到中共与共青团之间的关系。希望有学者研究中共党、团与中国政府的关系。