Extraordinary Events: Firsthand Accounts

During the Republican era, there were countless extraordinary incidents. The oral history accounts collected in Extraordinary Incidents cover major events related to Japan’s invasion of China, offering a glimpse into the themes and trajectory of modern Chinese history.

In this book, dozens of people, including Dong Wenqi, He Guoguang, Lei Fachang, Li Wenbin, Jiang Yi, Qi Shiying, Zhang Qun, He Cheng, Yoshizawa Kenkichi, Wang Yuting, Wang Tiehan, Kang Ze, Xiao Zicheng, Cai Mengjian, Liu Fei, Zhou Fohai, Lei Xiaocen, and Chen Meiquan, recount events they witnessed firsthand. Beginning with the May 3 Jinan Incident of 1928, they describe the bombing that killed Zhang Zuolin, the Fujian Rebellion, the June 1 Incident in Guangdong and Guangxi, the Xi’an Incident, the Nanjing Massacre, Wang Jingwei’s defection to the enemy, the air-raid shelter disaster in Chongqing, the Great Fire of Changsha, and other events.