ABSTRACT
The First Stage The first shots that were heard near Lukouchia (Marco Polo Bridge), in Wangpinghsien near Peking at 11.40 p.m. on 7 July 1937 opened a new era in the history of the Far East. As has already been noted, those shots, though unexpected at the time, were not without precedent in the recent history of China’s northern territories.1 For the preceding period of nearly six years Japan had been encroaching on Chinese sovereignty.2 The process had started with the ‘Mukden Incident’ of 18 September 1931, which had paved the way for Japanese domination in Manchuria, the establishment of the puppet state of Manchukuo, and a growing Japanese influence over the northern provinces of China proper which were meant to serve as a buffer state between Manchukuo and the Nanking government.3 Yet the consequences of the Lukouchiao incident proved to be still graver than those of the clash at Mukden-they jeopardised the very existence of the Nanking régime.4
