i need a detailed time lines of the memoir so i could compare with other time lines from other memoirs.
i am in desperate need of maps.
i really need to have some knowledge of how finance and economics work.
the more languages i know the better. english, chinese, japanese, russians, french, and german really are necessity to study history around China in modern days.
sources from England was incredibly important. it's a surprise to me. but after some thoughts, it's really natural.
i need to know more about land lease act. what's the contents? what's the relation of it between china and england? how it was actually distributed, from the distribution's end, to the actual receiving end.
from the look of it, the most foundamental conflict between 蔣中正 和 Joseph Stillwell was "should we take on Burma or not?" So a detailed analysis of the strategic importance of Burma should be the most important thing on this subject. The capacity of Stilwell Road (Ledo) would be a good start in the analysis.
A detailed analysis on the results of Chennault's air force in China and China south sea is also a must.
Good and reliable Japanese Sources are in desperate need!
a neatly constructed timeline of China's 8 year war struggle against Japan is a must. the extension from 1931 918 to 1945 99 would be prefered but not in priority. because, 1931 918 could be a totally independent topic.
All the names in English sources should translated back into Chinese. It was a horror try to guess the English translation of Chinese names!
i felt that memoirs are always heavily biased. however, it's a great start point to ask questions, especially when the different memoirs have conflict point of views. these conflicts provides easy and quick questions to start researches!
hoover institute, yale collection
Saturday, February 28, 2009
Friday, February 27, 2009
Chennault's the way of a fighter
I finished Chennault's memoir about two days ago. It was a really great read. The style of Chennault's writing really showed what kind of a person he was. It was clear and direct with a very strong personality infused between columns. But most importantly, he spent most of his writing on his own experience. He kept all the hearsay at the minimal which is what I prefer. I consider this memoir to be incredibly important. There are stats to be confirmed. There are events due for further readings.
My feeling right after the reading was how come this was never put into a movie? Chennault was clearly a huge underdog! He was such a huge advocate on Pursuit tactics, but there's no mention of Chennault at all on any of Wiki's pages about Aeriel warfare! Remeber this, the reason he was retired early because he fervently argued for the Pursuit tactics against his superiors. For either his superior was a old army school who believed firmly that land infantry was everything, or his superiors believed an unpoved doctrine of bomber theory. A huge part of reason for him to come to China was a hope that he could prove his theory, which mainly was that bomber plane without fighter plane escorting was useless. He was proved totally correct. From AVG to Fourteenth Air Corp, he led US air force against a huge odd. Japanese air force had to abandon most of the offensive and concentrated on defense instead. Chinese was freed from being bombed again. Chinese army even got support from his superior Air force, which gave Chinese incomparable morale boost. This was all done by very little support from very meager supply, provided by the US CBI command center. Chennault was a man with a vision. He often argued fervently with his superiors, and it's no excpetions during the WWII. Stilwell hated it, Marshall hated, and Arnold hated it, plus many other people. Almost all his superiors hated him, and Chennault was ousted from China right at the time when the tide of war was turned around against Japan in July 1945! It is so easy to see how frustrated he could be! But after 6 months, he returned to China to help out the distribution of civil materials in China! This guy was amazing, tough and resilience.
Chennault's contribution to the Aerial warfare was not acknowledged. His war effort was minialized with Chinese Communist took over China and fictionalized the Chinese history. He was mistreated by his Country. What's more underdog than this?
My feeling right after the reading was how come this was never put into a movie? Chennault was clearly a huge underdog! He was such a huge advocate on Pursuit tactics, but there's no mention of Chennault at all on any of Wiki's pages about Aeriel warfare! Remeber this, the reason he was retired early because he fervently argued for the Pursuit tactics against his superiors. For either his superior was a old army school who believed firmly that land infantry was everything, or his superiors believed an unpoved doctrine of bomber theory. A huge part of reason for him to come to China was a hope that he could prove his theory, which mainly was that bomber plane without fighter plane escorting was useless. He was proved totally correct. From AVG to Fourteenth Air Corp, he led US air force against a huge odd. Japanese air force had to abandon most of the offensive and concentrated on defense instead. Chinese was freed from being bombed again. Chinese army even got support from his superior Air force, which gave Chinese incomparable morale boost. This was all done by very little support from very meager supply, provided by the US CBI command center. Chennault was a man with a vision. He often argued fervently with his superiors, and it's no excpetions during the WWII. Stilwell hated it, Marshall hated, and Arnold hated it, plus many other people. Almost all his superiors hated him, and Chennault was ousted from China right at the time when the tide of war was turned around against Japan in July 1945! It is so easy to see how frustrated he could be! But after 6 months, he returned to China to help out the distribution of civil materials in China! This guy was amazing, tough and resilience.
Chennault's contribution to the Aerial warfare was not acknowledged. His war effort was minialized with Chinese Communist took over China and fictionalized the Chinese history. He was mistreated by his Country. What's more underdog than this?
Friday, February 20, 2009
league of nations
league of nations was not all useless after all... before 九一八, it actually did something to stop the wars from Italy v. Greece, Greece v. Turkey, and some other conflicts!
my info came from "九一八事變史述, 梁敬錞"
my info came from "九一八事變史述, 梁敬錞"
Thursday, February 19, 2009
the longest journey my view
it's a PC point-click adventure game. i bought this game and sold it last time without finishing it. i was frustrated by the fact that i constantly needed to use walkthroughs for the game. but there were just so many places mentioned this game. they all claimed how wonder the story was. eventually, i broke down and got another copy. to my surprise, i was able to complete it with much less trips to the walkthroughs! i am happy about this fact...somehow.
it's a very wordy adventure game. There were a lot of conversations from the non playable characters. most of these conversations were wonderfully acted out by the voice actors. There're times that i skipped some of the dialogues. however, most of the time, i enjoyed them quite a bit! i loved the Alatian's part. Alatians were the winged people who were the best storytellers in the world. i loved most of the tales from them.
there're still some nuinces in the, of course. for example, the character had to to be guided through the background without doing anything else. i could not stand that. the background might be pretty, but i had absolutely no patience for them. most of the story line was fine, however, the ending was really underwhelming! they left many loose ends.
this my second comletely finished point and click adventure games. the first one was still life. although i still feel that this kind games are just a collection of puzzles, the way developer put those puzzles together to build a story is quite interesting!
it's a very wordy adventure game. There were a lot of conversations from the non playable characters. most of these conversations were wonderfully acted out by the voice actors. There're times that i skipped some of the dialogues. however, most of the time, i enjoyed them quite a bit! i loved the Alatian's part. Alatians were the winged people who were the best storytellers in the world. i loved most of the tales from them.
there're still some nuinces in the, of course. for example, the character had to to be guided through the background without doing anything else. i could not stand that. the background might be pretty, but i had absolutely no patience for them. most of the story line was fine, however, the ending was really underwhelming! they left many loose ends.
this my second comletely finished point and click adventure games. the first one was still life. although i still feel that this kind games are just a collection of puzzles, the way developer put those puzzles together to build a story is quite interesting!
Tuesday, February 10, 2009
two very interesting books
i just finished a very interesting book, called the Vladimirov diaries. 這是一個叫做 Vladimirov 的蘇聯 TASS 社的記者, 同時也是國際共產駐延安的代表所寫的日記. 時間涵蓋 1942~1945. 有另一本書叫做, thunder out of china, 作者是 Theodor White. 這位美國記者是美國 time 雜誌和其他像 Life 這樣的媒體特派員. 他在中國從 1939 待到 1945. 我為啥說這兩本書很有趣呢?
第一, Vladimirov 因為是國際共產的特別代表, 在如此特殊的身分下, 他對中共內部有很深刻的觀察. 觀察的結果是, 中國共產黨很糟糕, 罪魁禍首就是毛澤東. White 是 time 雜誌的特派員. 他長期待在重慶觀察國民政府. 雖說他很親共. 但是他還是極力想保持他的中立立場. 但是無論他多用力, 他對國民政府的觀察和 Vladimirov 對中共的觀察幾乎如出一轍. 國民政府很糟糕, 罪魁禍首是蔣中正.
第二, 他們兩人對他們所觀察的對象在深刻表示厭惡後. Vladimirov 認為中國正在向著內戰前進, 而且他親眼看到中共是如何用力朝著這個方向前進. White 也認為中國戰後一定會有革命, 也就是內戰. 他認為內戰的無法避免, 都是因為國民政府的無能.
第三, 這兩本書一本是美國人的觀察, 另一本是俄國人的觀察. 這是很有趣的. 因為俄國人對中共的所作所為看的清清楚楚, 而美國人卻始終對共產黨存著一絲偏好. 這個美國人對國民政府當時的無力看的非常清楚. Vladimirov 卻在他的日記裡提到中共是如何的利用 White 左傾的態度來達成自己的目標. Vladimirov 認為中共當時是有奶的就是娘. 他的認知和當時美國大使館的一部分人是相同的.
第四, White 對於國民政府所給的資料, 處處存疑. 他似乎對中共的資料存疑較少. 而且, 在他的回憶錄裡, 他雖然坦承他的一大堆資料都是周恩來給的, 他對之仍然信之少疑. 只要是國民政府提到的大戰, 他通通一概認為是誇大不實. 但是他在 thunder out of china 裡, 寫共軍的地方卻是榮褒過甚.
第五, Vlaidmirov 對於共產主義似乎有很深度的研究. 雖說我對他一再批評中共已經把毛澤東當成神很好玩. 因為他似乎也早已是列寧主義的信徒了, 和中共成為毛的信徒實在沒啥兩樣. 但是之後他不僅僅是引列寧的話, 他還引恩格斯的節錄. 都很恰如其分. 很有趣.
第六, Vladimirov 和 White 分別批評中共和國民政府的用詞裡, 幾乎有很多都可以互換著用... 也就是說, Vladimirov 批評中共的用語和 White 評擊國民政府的辭彙很像. 譬如說, 他們分別說中共和國民政府消極抗日. 他們都認為他們所觀察的主要對象都企圖誤導外國人.
雖說 Vladimirov diaries 被認為是蘇聯的宣傳手段, 但是我覺得是一本寶貴的書. 我是很希望有一天他的原本可以真正的出現! 他對於他所親眼目睹的東西有很深刻的描述. 他本人雖說對於共產黨有一種教徒式的信仰, 但是對於分析中共的政治和軍事不盲目. 我還沒有看完 White 的書. 雖然如此, 我覺得他親身所見的資料是非常珍貴的. 他的文筆流暢易懂, 讀起來很舒服. 但是我對他非親身經歷的描述抱持著疑問的態度. 因為在我看來, 他太親共了. 他對共產黨的那份情感在我看是深透了. 他不斷的提到國民政府的消極抗日, 並對其大為不滿. 甚至認為在武漢陷落後, 中國戰場上就再沒有啥巨大衝突了. 其他的小衝突, 都是日軍拿國軍來訓練自己的軍隊用的. 這在我看來是很大的問題. 他在 thunder out of china 裡把幾乎所有的國民政府人員通通罵的狗血淋頭. 這一方面, 我覺得很具有研究的價值. 到底有多少真的, 有多少假的, 有多少是他聽人家說的, 有多少是他自己看到的? 有沒有其他的佐證, 其他人是怎麼說的. 我覺得因該要仔細的就他的書去做研究.
在看完 Vladimirov's diaries 後, 更加強我對中共資料的不信任. 這是一件可怕的事情! 試想, 在日記裡, Vladimirov 提到說 White 把中共那個不正確的數字寫到 Life 雜誌上, 結果其他的各大報紙也跟進... 像中共這樣隨便造假, 我覺得真是可怕! 而要如何從他的資料裡得到真實的數據, 恐怕需要大量的參考對照才有可能! 這不是一個人所能做的... 但是這應該也不是沒以人或著團體在研究... 還得大量的參考日本資料和蘇聯資料才行... 其實, 還有韓國共產黨和日本共產黨的資料...
第一, Vladimirov 因為是國際共產的特別代表, 在如此特殊的身分下, 他對中共內部有很深刻的觀察. 觀察的結果是, 中國共產黨很糟糕, 罪魁禍首就是毛澤東. White 是 time 雜誌的特派員. 他長期待在重慶觀察國民政府. 雖說他很親共. 但是他還是極力想保持他的中立立場. 但是無論他多用力, 他對國民政府的觀察和 Vladimirov 對中共的觀察幾乎如出一轍. 國民政府很糟糕, 罪魁禍首是蔣中正.
第二, 他們兩人對他們所觀察的對象在深刻表示厭惡後. Vladimirov 認為中國正在向著內戰前進, 而且他親眼看到中共是如何用力朝著這個方向前進. White 也認為中國戰後一定會有革命, 也就是內戰. 他認為內戰的無法避免, 都是因為國民政府的無能.
第三, 這兩本書一本是美國人的觀察, 另一本是俄國人的觀察. 這是很有趣的. 因為俄國人對中共的所作所為看的清清楚楚, 而美國人卻始終對共產黨存著一絲偏好. 這個美國人對國民政府當時的無力看的非常清楚. Vladimirov 卻在他的日記裡提到中共是如何的利用 White 左傾的態度來達成自己的目標. Vladimirov 認為中共當時是有奶的就是娘. 他的認知和當時美國大使館的一部分人是相同的.
第四, White 對於國民政府所給的資料, 處處存疑. 他似乎對中共的資料存疑較少. 而且, 在他的回憶錄裡, 他雖然坦承他的一大堆資料都是周恩來給的, 他對之仍然信之少疑. 只要是國民政府提到的大戰, 他通通一概認為是誇大不實. 但是他在 thunder out of china 裡, 寫共軍的地方卻是榮褒過甚.
第五, Vlaidmirov 對於共產主義似乎有很深度的研究. 雖說我對他一再批評中共已經把毛澤東當成神很好玩. 因為他似乎也早已是列寧主義的信徒了, 和中共成為毛的信徒實在沒啥兩樣. 但是之後他不僅僅是引列寧的話, 他還引恩格斯的節錄. 都很恰如其分. 很有趣.
第六, Vladimirov 和 White 分別批評中共和國民政府的用詞裡, 幾乎有很多都可以互換著用... 也就是說, Vladimirov 批評中共的用語和 White 評擊國民政府的辭彙很像. 譬如說, 他們分別說中共和國民政府消極抗日. 他們都認為他們所觀察的主要對象都企圖誤導外國人.
雖說 Vladimirov diaries 被認為是蘇聯的宣傳手段, 但是我覺得是一本寶貴的書. 我是很希望有一天他的原本可以真正的出現! 他對於他所親眼目睹的東西有很深刻的描述. 他本人雖說對於共產黨有一種教徒式的信仰, 但是對於分析中共的政治和軍事不盲目. 我還沒有看完 White 的書. 雖然如此, 我覺得他親身所見的資料是非常珍貴的. 他的文筆流暢易懂, 讀起來很舒服. 但是我對他非親身經歷的描述抱持著疑問的態度. 因為在我看來, 他太親共了. 他對共產黨的那份情感在我看是深透了. 他不斷的提到國民政府的消極抗日, 並對其大為不滿. 甚至認為在武漢陷落後, 中國戰場上就再沒有啥巨大衝突了. 其他的小衝突, 都是日軍拿國軍來訓練自己的軍隊用的. 這在我看來是很大的問題. 他在 thunder out of china 裡把幾乎所有的國民政府人員通通罵的狗血淋頭. 這一方面, 我覺得很具有研究的價值. 到底有多少真的, 有多少假的, 有多少是他聽人家說的, 有多少是他自己看到的? 有沒有其他的佐證, 其他人是怎麼說的. 我覺得因該要仔細的就他的書去做研究.
在看完 Vladimirov's diaries 後, 更加強我對中共資料的不信任. 這是一件可怕的事情! 試想, 在日記裡, Vladimirov 提到說 White 把中共那個不正確的數字寫到 Life 雜誌上, 結果其他的各大報紙也跟進... 像中共這樣隨便造假, 我覺得真是可怕! 而要如何從他的資料裡得到真實的數據, 恐怕需要大量的參考對照才有可能! 這不是一個人所能做的... 但是這應該也不是沒以人或著團體在研究... 還得大量的參考日本資料和蘇聯資料才行... 其實, 還有韓國共產黨和日本共產黨的資料...
Thursday, February 05, 2009
歷史二
最近一直在看有關中國二戰的東西. 看的相關書籍都是屬於傳記或回憶錄, 譬如說魏德邁報告, 馬歇爾傳記, T 懷特的回憶錄, Vladimirov 的延安日記, 還有前天才借到的陳納德回憶錄. 另外直接和戰爭有關的有, 中國抗日戰爭大畫史, 蔣緯國等人主持的紀錄片一寸河山一寸血, 再加上一些辛灝年的影片. 還有一個很有趣的是日本的紀錄片, 在 youtube 上!
這些都很有趣. 目前是希望可以由中國抗日戰爭大畫史的紀錄畫出一個時間表. 因為我對於這八年的紀錄很有興趣. 尤其是對國軍的紀錄. 希望可以由此有一個更清晰的輪廓, 至於裡面細節上的對錯, 則可以一邊看其他的紀錄, 一邊對照. 必要的時候可以修正. 對共黨的紀錄也有興趣. 但是我對於共黨的紀錄是非常沒有信心! 尤其現在正在看 Vladimirov 的日記... 不過有一點很好玩, 我一開始以為這本日記是純粹在罵毛澤東的. 但是在我看來, 他更是在笑美國... 因為這個記者對毛的看法和 john S. Service 的看法很像...
我現在面臨的無力感卻不是說有太多的資料. 而是我很希望可以看到很專業的相關研究... 無論是任何文字的相關資料. 另一方面也很希望有人可以予以指導, 也很希望有人可以討論... 網上是無論如何無法進行類似的討論的...
這些都很有趣. 目前是希望可以由中國抗日戰爭大畫史的紀錄畫出一個時間表. 因為我對於這八年的紀錄很有興趣. 尤其是對國軍的紀錄. 希望可以由此有一個更清晰的輪廓, 至於裡面細節上的對錯, 則可以一邊看其他的紀錄, 一邊對照. 必要的時候可以修正. 對共黨的紀錄也有興趣. 但是我對於共黨的紀錄是非常沒有信心! 尤其現在正在看 Vladimirov 的日記... 不過有一點很好玩, 我一開始以為這本日記是純粹在罵毛澤東的. 但是在我看來, 他更是在笑美國... 因為這個記者對毛的看法和 john S. Service 的看法很像...
我現在面臨的無力感卻不是說有太多的資料. 而是我很希望可以看到很專業的相關研究... 無論是任何文字的相關資料. 另一方面也很希望有人可以予以指導, 也很希望有人可以討論... 網上是無論如何無法進行類似的討論的...
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