Keep Calm and Carry On: Airmindedness and Mass Mobilization during the War of Resistance
Japanese air raids and the Chinese response to them have been studied primarily in the context of Chongqing, the wartime capital, but air defense was a nationwide project, which is best understood in relation to interwar ideas about airmindedness. The combination of pre war attempts to spread foreign ideas about air defense with the experience of Japanese attacks had a great impact on mass mobilization. The Nationalist government used successful air defense in domestic propaganda as an example of the success of the Chinese war effort and in international propaganda as proof of both the sufferings of the Chinese people under Japanese imperialism and China's viability as a modern military ally.