What is the Relationship Between the Formation of a Modern Chinese Iden

From September 18th, 1931, the date of undeclared Japanese invasion into Manchuria, to August 14th, 1945 marking the end of the War of Resistance, China experienced unprecedented suffering and loss in its struggle for survival. Throughout this time, social, economic, and political conditions underwent severe changes. In the eyes of the world, the Japanese committed sins beyond repentance, and half a century later, no development is evident in this respect. Yet, the War of Resistance gave rise to an invaluable aspect of Chinese culture that defines the nation today. Dr. Sun Yat Sen talked of a nation divided, four hundred million people who shared customs, habits and race, but could not advance in the face of the international world without one truly essential attribute â€Å"...in the world today what position do we occupy?... we should †¦ be advancing in the front rank with the nations of Europe and America. But the Chinese people have only family and clan solidarity; they do not have national spirit. Therefore even though we have four hundred million people gathered together in one China, in reality they are just a heap of loose sand.† (Tamura, 1998, pp.148). It was the Opium Wars, where Western technological development exposed China's military weakness and the subsequent broken treaties of 1922 and 1928, when China’s Western allies failed to intervene in Japan's invasion of Manchuria in September 1931 (Lin, 1936, pp.368) that forced the issue of â€Å"nationalism† on China during latter half of the 19th century. In the decades following the humiliation suffered at the hands of the ‘barbarians’ during the Opium wars, influential and progressive thinkers such as Feng Guifen and Zou Rong, among others, threw themselves passionately into th... ... the history of modern China. Historical Journal, pp.523--543. Spence, J. (2013). The search for modern China. 3rd ed. New York: Norton, pp.137-387. Spitzer, K. (2012). Why Japan is still not sorry enough. [online] Available at: http://nation.time.com/2012/12/11/why-japan-is-still-not-sorry-enough/ [Accessed 1 May. 2014]. Tamura, E. (1998). China - understanding its past. 1st ed. Honolulu: Univ. of Hawai'i Press. Taylor, J. (2009). The generalissimo. 1st ed. Cambridge, Mass.: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press. The Economist, (2013). The Legacy of the Sino-Japanese War- An Interview with Rana Mitter. [video] Available at: http://www.economist.com/news/books-and-arts/21579797-how-struggle-against-japans-brutal-occupation-shaped-modern-china-start-history [Accessed 30 Apr. 2014]. Yeh, W. (2000). Becoming Chinese. 1st ed. Berkeley: University of California Press.