Grains of Conflict
The Struggle for Food in China's Total War, 1937–1945

The first in-depth examination of Nationalist China's military grain provisioning as the heart of its total war against Japan.

Jennifer Yip (Author)

9781009601320, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 31 July 2025

290 pages
22.9 x 15.2 x 1.8 cm, 0.583 kg

'The publication of Grains of Conflict, a study of logistical institutions during China's War of Resistance, has generated considerable interest not only in English-language scholarship but also among scholars working in Chinese. For decades, historians writing in Chinese and Japanese have explored various dimensions of wartime grain circulation and military provisioning. The significance of this book lies in its ability to engage and synthesize these diverse bodies of scholarship - without privileging one linguistic tradition over another - while simultaneously situating China within a global comparative framework … by decoupling total war from industrial capacity, the author significantly reshapes how China's wartime experience can be understood in global perspective.' Sioumeng Syu, Journal of Chinese History

China's war against Japan was, at its heart, a struggle for food. As the Nationalists, Chinese Communist Party, and Japanese vied for a dwindling pool of sustenance, grain emerged as the lynchpin of their strategies for a long-term war effort. In the first in-depth examination of how the Nationalists fed their armies, Jennifer Yip demonstrates how the Chinese government relied on mass civilian mobilization to carry out all stages of provisioning, from procurement to transportation and storage. The intensive use of civilian labor and assets–a distinctly preindustrial resource base– shaped China's own conception of its total war effort, and distinguished China's experience as unique among World War Two combatants. Yip challenges the predominant image of World War II as one of technological prowess, and the tendency to conflate total war with industrialized warfare. Ultimately, China sustained total war against the odds with premodern means: by ruthlessly extracting civilian resources.

Introduction: China's total war
1. The militarization of a river: the Yangzi's cardinal role in grain provisioning
2. The institutions and individuals behind wartime grain management and military supply
3. Wartime granary networks and the 'science' of storing grain
4. Carrying 'the nation's thousand-JIN burden': YIYUN, China's wartime relay transport system
5. The three way tussle for food: blockades, guerrilla warfare, and the everyday struggle for survival
Bibliography
Index.

Subject Areas: Asian history [HBJF]