ABSTRACT
This chapter looks at how a demand for military interpreters emerged following the beginning of China’s all-out War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression on 7 July 1937. It also considers the origins of how China began to meet this demand, which is explored further in the following chapters. The chapter discusses the mass migration of universities, factories and cultural organisations from East to West China, with Chongqing as the centre. Many renowned cultural, educational and intellectual elites joined this migration, and it was this influx of intellectual resources, especially university students and teachers, which paved the way for training the much-needed military interpreters for the Pacific Theatre and the Allied campaigns in China.
