Discussion:  The Tormented Alliance:  American Servicemen and the Occupation of China, 1941-1949

with Zach Fredman, Professor, Duke Kunshan University

China is often left out of mainstream histories of the Second World War in the United States, yet after the “Big Three” Allies – the United States, the United Kingdom, and the Soviet Union – China was the most important belligerent on the anti-Axis side, battling against Japan’s Imperial Army virtually alone for several long years. The war in China both started earlier and finished later than in many other parts of the world, and U.S. troops retained a presence there until 1949, when the outcome of the Chinese Revolution dashed American hopes that the country would serve as one of “four policemen” to ensure peace and stability in the post-war liberal-capitalist world order. In his new book exploring this history, Zach Fredman documents the tormented and turbulent relationship between China and the United States during and after the Second World War, and finds that issues of race, gender, nationalism and, ultimately, imperialism dogged the American “occupation” of China, with important consequences for Sino-American relations during the Cold War and up to the present day.