China’s Good War

How World War II Is Shaping a New Nationalism

By: Rana Mitter

Narrated by: Dennis Kleinman

Chinese leaders once tried to suppress memories of their nation’s brutal experience during World War II. Now they celebrate the “victory” - a key foundation of China’s rising nationalism.

For most of its history, the People’s Republic of China limited public discussion of the war against Japan. It was an experience of victimization - and one that saw Mao Zedong and Chiang Kai-shek fighting for the same goals. But now, as China grows more powerful, the meaning of the war is changing. Rana Mitter argues that China’s reassessment of the World War II years is central to its newfound confidence abroad and to mounting nationalism at home.

China’s Good War begins with the academics who shepherded the once-taboo subject into wider discourse. Encouraged by reforms under Deng Xiaoping, they researched the Guomindang war effort, collaboration with the Japanese, and China’s role in forming the post-1945 global order. But interest in the war would not stay confined to scholarly journals. Today public sites of memory - including museums, movies and television shows, street art, popular writing, and social media - define the war as a founding myth for an ascendant China. Wartime China emerges as victor rather than victim.

The shifting story has nurtured a number of new views. One rehabilitates Chiang Kai-shek’s war efforts, minimizing the bloody conflicts between him and Mao and aiming to heal the wounds of the Cultural Revolution. Another narrative positions Beijing as creator and protector of the international order that emerged from the war - an order, China argues, under threat today largely from the United States. China’s radical reassessment of its collective memory of the war has created a new foundation for a people destined to shape the world.

©2020 Rana Mitter (P)2020 Blackstone Audio, Inc.

Educational, informative and thought provoking

The book was very informative about China’s involvement in World War II and beyond. From a western perspective, my sense is we have seen Asia largely through our study of World War II from an American/Japanese perspective. Very thought-provoking in terms of national use of months history not to inform or educate but to indoctrinate.

Incisive text undermined by fumbling performance

Rana Mitter is a modern historian and public intellectual, and you can often find him in venues like Sinica or In Our Time offering sharp, clear commentary on China's modern journey. This is the first book of his I've read, and I wasn't disappointed - in the text.

Unfortunately, the voice actor chosen for the performance systematically mispronounces every single Chinese name in the book. This includes people, places, films, and texts. There are many actors without this disability which should have been used instead. Though Chinese can be a difficult language to master, the basic pronunciation rules of pinyin are not. That is literally the first lesson of any intro Chinese course. Even Duolingo is right there, for free. As an encore, in a section on Chinese political memes, the actor even manages to mispronounce the Lord of the Rings character Gollum. He also has a self-important, stentorian tone somewhat at odds with the author's nimble analysis and occasional humoruous asides.

Read the book instead. For the next audiobook, Mitter should perform it himself.

Scholarly work

A very in depth look at China’s approach to its WWII and post WWII narrative. A must read for anyone who wants to understand China today.

Excellent

Very engaging book overall but you have to get past the first chapter which is a bit like a long lit review. Really picks up from there. Narrator was good except when pronouncing Chinese book titles.

Convincing

China is poorly understood by lay people, and judged by standards that shouldn't be applied to them, considering their very long and unique history. They deserve better respect.

hire competent readers

try getting someone who can speak Chinese to read it, who cares if the reader has a posh accent