Historical convention in both East and West dates the Second Sino-Japanese War as beginning in 1937. From the Chinese Communist Party point of view, this dating emphasizes that the Nationalist armed resistance to Japan began only in 1937 – contemptibly late in the game. From the Nationalist Party point of view, the dating emphasizes the Japanese campaign to occupy its capital and the bitter fighting between its conventional forces against those of Japan. From the Japanese point of view, the conventional dating implies that Manchuria was not a part of China, and therefore the hostilities emanating from Manchuria were separate from the war between Japan and China, so Japan was not so bad after all because Manchuria was up for grabs. Yet both the Nationalists and Communists agree that Manchuria was and is an integral part of China, and, since World War II, Japan has also recognized this fact. If so, then basic logic reveals a war that began in 1931, not 1937.

In 1931 Japan invaded Manchuria and fought against local resistance that it did not largely suppress until 1933. While Japanese and Chinese historians referred to these events as the Manchurian Incident, the facts on the ground fit the narrowest definition of a war even if the parties involved were too polite to call it such. Although Nationalist troops did none of the fighting, other Chinese did, mainly Manchurians, most of whom were ethnic Han Chinese, not Manchus. The occupation of Manchuria did not sate the Japanese, who continued to expand their zone of occupation in North China from 1933 to 1936, what I impoliticly call the North China Campaign. Again, although the Nationalist armies did not fight the Japanese, North Chinese did. So again even under the narrowest definition of warfare, war continued between Japanese main forces and Chinese insurgents from 1933 and 1935, and the battlefield was located on Chinese territory.