A long way from home

Part 20 of Laura Lam\'s series deals with Ho Chi Minh\'s role in China\'s Second Sino-Japanese War and Civil War.

It was late March 1939. The monsoon season had arrived in Hunan and Nguyen Ai Quoc felt homesick. He was anxious to be reunited with his compatriots, with whom he had lost contacts. While waiting for an opportunity to reach the Sino-Vietnamese border, he continued with his active role as Commander Hu Guang under General Zhu De.

Members of the 8th Route Army, by now included a large number of peasants, were trained to become highly adaptive and self-reliant guerilla units. Being mobile, they were to form close alliances with local villages and to gain support of the rural population. A set of strict rules was designed for combat troops, required them to show respect to people in villages - no taking of possessions from them, no damaging of their crops, no swearing or striking at them, no sexual contact with local women, and no mistreatment of the captives.

China was fighting both the Second Sino-Japanese War (1937-1945) and the Chinese Civil War (1927-1950). The war with Japan was the outcome of a long-term Japanese imperialist policy aiming to control Asia politically and militarily; Japan’s primary interest was to secure raw materials and other resources from the neighboring countries. The Chinese Civil War was orchestrated by Chiang Kai-shek to eradicate the Communists, with the United States emerging as a major actor in Chinese affairs.

Nguyen Ai Quoc in Kunming, 1940

Chiang Kai-shek would dominate the world’s stage for decades to come. His third wife, Soong May-ling, had been educated in the United States and she was the liaison between him and the US government. While giving Chiang Kai-shek massive financial assistance, the Americans praised Soong May-ling and hailed her as the Chinese “Joan of Arc”. The Chiangs would become immensely wealthy, with a lavish lifestyle.

Years later, President Harry Truman called Soong May-ling and her family “thieves, every last one of them. And they stole seven hundred and fifty million dollars out of the thirty-five billion that we sent…. And I don’t want anything to do with people like that.”

Shortly after Chiang Kai-shek assumed power, many members of the Kuomintang (KMT) were disenchanted with his undemocratic governing style, the lack of morale, and increasing corruption within the party. The bitter civil war began in April 1927, when Chiang ordered the Shanghai Massacre, killing between 5,000 and 6,000 people who were leftwing members of the KMT and his Communist allies.

General Zhu De shared with Quoc the horrific event before and during the Shanghai Massacre, and his own escape. While Chiang was denounced as a traitor, Zhu De led the deserters and defecting KMT army units to a retreat in the mountains of Jinggang, southwestern China. His force soon joined the discontent peasants and formed the Chinese Workers\' and Peasants\' Red Army. The army grew to become the Communist Red Army and a “Chinese Soviet Republic” was established in the provinces of Jiangxi and Fujian.

The Red Army and the Kuomintang fought relentlessly for seven years. The Kuomintang was a much larger force and appeared to be winning. In October 1934, Nationalist troops forced a massive Communist retreat to a barren and remote region in northwest China. This historic event would be known as the Long March, with 300,000 Communist troops struggling through the most difficult terrains of China, covering a distance of 12,500 km in 370 days. Cold, hunger, sickness, deaths, and other military casualties brought the troops down to 40,000 at the end of the Long March. The popularity of Mao Zedong was rising and he became the undisputed leader of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).

Political and military conflicts between the Communists and the Nationalists would never end. But Japanese aggression was escalating. To save China, the CCP and the KMT were forced to officially declare an alliance on July 7, 1937 - the eve of the Second Sino-Japanese War. While Mao Zedong and Chiang Kai-shek united their forces, hostilities between the two sides continued. They were fighting for control over regions not occupied by the Japanese, with the Nationalists establishing their “white zones”. Communist troops crossing a white zone would be subject to intense interrogation by the Nationalists, which often led to violent exchanges. Their harassment during Quoc’s journey with members of the PLA from Yan’an to Guilin in October 1938 continued to haunt him.

The presence of the Nationalists in his class was causing Quoc some discomfort. These cadres received generous financial support from Chiang Kai-shek and they often asserted their superiority. Quoc had to reckon with them, using his wisdom to gain access to their organization and hoping to influence the younger patriots. While Quoc continued to disguise his real identity, he also planned to organize his own base in southern China. A dear friend in the 8th Route Army, Chen Geng, would certainly help him.

Quoc and Chen had known each other in Canton since 1924, when Chen was attending courses at the Revolutionary Youth League. Chen was very popular among his friends and well liked by his superiors, including Mao Zedong. His sunny personality, his great sense of humor, and his mischievousness created a delightful atmosphere for the ground forces in Guilin. Quoc was most impressed with Chen’s leadership skill in combat and his loyalty to Chiang Kai-shek before Chiang’s betrayal*. Chen himself was very fond of Quoc, having admiration for his political knowledge and his determination to liberate Indochina.

Chen Geng, known in Viet Nam as Đại tướng Trần Canh.

As Commander-in-chief of the 386th Brigade, Chen Geng would lead his troops to several victories against the Japanese and later would command many major battles to defeat Chiang Kai-shek’s formidable army. Chen’s brigade, considered the best force in the PLA, would become the New 4th Army, with Chen as its commander and political commissar.

Chen Geng’s troops would enter Yunnan during the French War (1946-1954) in Indochina. He would help General Vo Nguyen Giap to launch a series of successful attacks on French bases along the Sino-Vietnamese border. The long- standing comradeship between Quoc and Chen, with Zhu De’s support, would help secure China’s continued commitment to Viet Nam to drive out the French.

In September 1939, after completing his last teaching assignment in Hengyang, Quoc returned to Guilin. Leaving behind his army uniform and dressed like a Chinese peasant, he went to Longzhou (Guangxi province), expecting to re-connect with Le Hong Phong and other compatriots. But they had already gone back to Indochina as the project had run out of money. He returned to Guilin, feeling despair.

In February 1940, Quoc traveled to Kunming (Yunnan province). With ten thousands Vietnamese living in Kunming, a secret network had been set up by some members of the Indochinese Communist Party (ICP). Quoc dressed in the European manner – white shirt and tie with dark trousers, and he carried the Hermès-bébé typewriter with him. He met Vu Anh, a young truck driver with revolutionary spirit, who became his companion. Through Vu Anh, he was reunited with the ICP.

While in Kunming, Quoc found out that German troops had marched into Paris and the French had surrendered to Hitler. He also learned that the Japanese government had formed an ally with Nazi Germany with their plan to occupy all of Indochina. The United States was alarmed by the Japanese moves and quickly increased military aid to Chiang Kai-shek. Given the major changes on the world’s stage, Quoc was most anxious to return to Chongqing to seek the advice of Zhou Enlai.

The Japanese started a campaign called the “Bombing of Chongqing” in February 1938, which would continue intermittently to August 1943. Traveling to the area with Vu Anh, Quoc disguised himself as a Chinese Buddhist monk. He spoke only Cantonese. They witnessed the destruction of a recent raid and the mourning of those who had lost their loved ones. The town people approached the monk and asked him to perform a funeral service for the most recent dead.

Nguyen Ai Quoc, in his saffron robe, bowed to the town people and made his steps to the Buddhist temple. The sanctuary was filled with coffins, food offerings, gallants of candles and flowers. Phung Chi Kien, a member of the ICP’s overseas committee, was introduced as the monk’s assistant. Kien received the instruction to walk up to the altar, kneel down, and open a Buddhist prayer book. The monk was at ease, calm, and serious. He conducted the ritual with dignity. The service continued with the chanting a revolutionary song, “…women and men prostrated themselves and no one was better or wiser….” The solemn audience burst into tears. The Master of Buddhist rites invited them to come forward. All were gathering around the altar and chanting…

>>Part 1: Paris, my two worlds
>>Part 2: A journey in search of freedom
>>Part 3: Nguyen the Patriot
>>Part 4: Indochina and little emperors
>>Part 5: The rise of patriotism
>>Part 6: Finding a compass
>>Part 7: Young Ho Chi Minh with Grand Chef Escoffier
>>Part 8: Young Ho Chi Minh in America
>>Part 9: Ho Chi Minh versus Albert Sarraut
>>Part 10: The path of destiny
>>Part 11: Moscow’s resolution on Indochina
>>Part 12: Lenin and Peoples of the East
>>Part 13: From Moscow to Canton
>>Part 14: A cross-cultural political training school
>>Part 15: Hong Kong, City without Gates
>>Part 16: "I’ll defend you because of honor, not for money"
>>Part 17: The Annamite prisoner is free
>>Part 18: Moscow and the razor’s edge
>>Part 19: Ho Chi Minh as Commander Hu Guang in China
>>Part 20: A long way from home