Nationalist China’s Difficulties Turning “Warphans” into Future Soldiers

Historians of childhood have noted a paradox in the concurrent rise of sentimentalizing childhood while also militarizing children in the twentieth century. During the world wars, children were called upon as both participants of war as well as representatives of national innocence and victimhood. A growing number of China scholars have especially focused on the changing status and roles of children due to the War against Japan. The Republic of China celebrated an idealized (but new) vision of the family and childhood happiness, but unlike Nazi Germany or Japan, China’s homes were no longer safe havens, as many civilian Chinese became refugees. Rather, with low manpower and difficulties with conscription, the government expanded upon long-term institutions to care for military dependents, which in turn also became arenas to funnel children back into the military.

Drawing upon pedagogical textbooks as well as archival letters and memoirs, this paper suggests that the Republic of China was largely unsuccessful in its efforts to encourage children, even military dependents in its own subsidized institutions, to join the war effort. Many such children became factory workers, but managers often found them maladapted and disruptive. Surprisingly, bureaucrats and teachers advocated for expanding protections for military dependents and childhood education, until the heads of these institutions themselves ultimately concluded that family environments were best for children. Thus, in the end, this social experiment reinforced the family-oriented ideology of the Nationalist state.