(of a sports competition or match) to commence / (of a war or battle) to break out / to perform acrobatic or choreographed fighting (in Chinese opera) / to brawl / to come to blows
New Armies (modernized Qing armies, trained and equipped according to Western standards, founded after Japan's victory in the First Sino-Japanese War in 1895)
War of Liberation (1945-49), after which the Communists 共產黨武裝|共产党武装 / under Mao Zedong 毛澤東|毛泽东 / took over from the Nationalists 國民政府|国民政府 / under Chiang Kai-shek 蔣介石|蒋介石
Lugou Bridge or Marco Polo Bridge in southwest of Beijing, the scene of a conflict that marked the beginning of the Second Sino-Japanese War 抗日戰爭|抗日战争[Kang4 Ri4 Zhan4 zheng1]
people's war, military strategy advocated by Mao whereby a large number of ordinary citizens provide support in a campaign
周作人
Zhōu Zuò rén
Zhou Zuoren (1885-1967), brother of Lu Xun 魯迅|鲁迅[Lu3 Xun4], academic in Japanese and Greek studies, briefly imprisoned after the war as Japanese collaborator, persecuted and died of unknown causes during the Cultural Revolution
对仗
duì zhàng
antithesis (two lines of poetry matching in sense and sound) / to fight / to wage war
Zhang Zizhong (1891-1940), Chinese National Revolutionary Army general during the Second Sino-Japanese War
霞飞
Xiá fēi
Joseph Joffre (1852-1931), leading French general at the start of World War One
化干戈为玉帛
huà gān gē wéi yù bó
lit. to exchange weapons of war for gifts of jade and silk (idiom) / fig. to turn hostility into friendship
淮海战役
Huái hǎi Zhàn yì
Huaihai Campaign (Nov 1948-Jan 1949), one of the three major campaigns by the People's Liberation Army near the end of the Chinese Civil War, considered the determining battle of the war
七七事变
Qī Qī Shì biàn
Marco Polo Bridge Incident of 7th July 1937, regarded as the beginning of the Second Sino-Japanese War 抗日戰爭|抗日战争[Kang4 Ri4 Zhan4 zheng1]
lit. sandpiper and clam war together (and the fisherman catches both) (idiom) / fig. neighbors who can't agree lose out to a third party
交兵
jiāo bīng
in a state of war
芦沟桥
Lú gōu Qiáo
Lugou Bridge or Marco Polo Bridge in southwest of Beijing, the scene of a conflict that marked the beginning of the Second Sino-Japanese War 抗日戰爭|抗日战争[Kang4 Ri4 Zhan4 zheng1]
Xiao Qian (1910-1999), Mongolian-born, Cambridge-educated journalist active during Second World War in Europe, subsequently famous author and translator
魏巍
Wèi Wēi
Wei Wei (1920-2008), novelist and poet, author of award-winning novel The East 東方|东方 / about the Korean war
师出无名
shī chū wú míng
lit. to go to war without just cause (idiom) / to act without justification
陈纳德
Chén nà dé
(Claire) Chennault, commander of Flying Tigers during World War II
白军
Bái jūn
White Guard or White Movement, anti-communist troops fighting against the Bolsheviks during the Russian Civil War (1917-1922)
zhàn