Millet plus rifles explained

Millet plus rifles
Label1:Chinese
Data1:小米加步槍[1]
Label2:Literal meaning
Data2:a rifle with bags of millet

Millet plus rifles,[2] also known as "Millet and rifles"[3] or "a rifle with bags of millet",[4] was a phrase used by Mao Zedong to describe the materials and supplies of the People's Liberation Army (PLA).[5] The first recorded instance of Mao using this phrase is in a speech he gave at a party meeting in Yan'an. He was recalling a conversation with David D. Barrett, an American military officer sent to observe the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) forces fighting in WWII. When warned that the Americans would support Chiang Kai-Shek against the CCP if they refused to enter into a coalition government, Mao had responded:[6]

The phrase became well-known in the west after Mao repeated it in an interview with American war correspondent Anna Louise Strong on August 6, 1946.[7] He said:

It reflects Mao's view that the inferior equipment of the PLA was enough to defeat the well-equipped and well-supplied Kuomintang (KMT) soldiers in the Chinese Communist Revolution, since the people of China were behind the communist cause.[8] [9] Millet (along with wheat), was the main food source of the Eighth Route Army during the Second Sino-Japanese War, and was considered by the soldiers to have been a mediocre foodstuff.[2] Rifles, of course, were the main armament of the Chinese armies of that period, with the CCP mainly using those they acquired from the Soviet Union. The phrase was quickly adopted by the CCP as propaganda to heroize their underdog struggle against the KMT.[10] [11]

Evaluations

Some scholars attribute the PLA's military from the Chinese Civil War until the Korean War as a result of the "millet plus rifles" strategy.[12] Other researchers argue that "millet plus rifles" is merely a metaphor for the PLA's victory over the superiorly equipped Kuomintang army, and does not literally correspond to the realities of large-scale campaign, defensive, and urban offensive battles of the Civil War.[13] Some researchers also point out that the phrase "millet plus rifles" minimizes the importance of Soviet military aid during the Civil War. Although the importance of Soviet assistance was acknowledged by Chen Yun, Hu Qiaomu, and other CCP officials, academic circles in the Mainland China have minimized its impact.[14] Most historians widely agree that the PLA entered the war at a significant material disadvantage vis-à-vis the KMT's forces.[15] A few argue that the idea of "millet plus rifles" is a "self-made myth" by the CCP used to gain legitimacy.[16]

Notes and References

  1. Book: Chinese-English Glossary of Current Terms. 1964. Commercial Press. 417–.
  2. Book: Kent G Deng. China's Political Economy in Modern Times: Changes and Economic Consequences, 1800-2000. 4 October 2011. Routledge. 978-1-136-65513-5. 107–.
  3. Book: James Lilley. David L. Shambaugh. China's Military Faces the Future. 1 July 2016. Routledge. 978-1-315-50104-8. 44–.
  4. China's Military after the Sixteenth Party Congress: Long March to Eternity. Wei-Chin Lee. Journal of Asian and African Studies. October 1, 2003. 38. 4–5. 416–446. 10.1177/002190960303800406. 154639394.
  5. Book: Chinese Publications Service Center. Compilation of Important Historical Documents of the Chinese Communist Party. Service Center for Chinese Publications. 17–.
  6. Web site: Zedong . Mao . The Situation and Our Policy After the Victory in the War of Resistance Against Japan . Marxists.org . 1 March 2022.
  7. Web site: Talk with the American Correspondent Anna LouiseStrong on August 6, 1946. CCTV.com. 2010-09-15.
  8. Book: William Hinton. Fred Magdoff. Fanshen: A Documentary of Revolution in a Chinese Village. April 2008. New York University Press. 978-1-58367-175-7. 103–.
  9. Book: Mao Tse-Tung. Selected Works of Mao Tse-Tung: Volume 4. 18 May 2014. Elsevier Science. 978-1-4831-5434-3. 21–.
  10. Book: Ying-Mao Kau. Revival: The People's Liberation Army and China's Nation-Building (1973). 29 September 2017. Routledge. 978-1-351-71622-2. 58–.
  11. Book: Peter Van Ness. Revolution and Chinese Foreign Policy. 1973. University of California Press. 40–. GGKEY:966F0LCC9P2.
  12. Huo Jianshan. 2014-05-01. The term "Millet Plus Rifles" should not be misused. History Teaching. 56–58. History Teaching Agency. Tianjin. 0457-6241.
  13. Liu Tong. 2008-06-13. The Liberation War and the "Millet Plus Rifles". Education Journal for Senior Citizens. 12–13. Jinan. 1002-3402.
  14. Yang Kuisong. 2011. On the Issue of Soviet Military Aid in the People's Liberation War. Modern Chinese History Studies. 285–306. Beijing. 1001-6708.
  15. Book: Li . Xiaobing . China at War: An Encyclopedia . 2012 . ABC-CLIO, LLC . Denver, Colorado . 978-1-59884--416-0 . 1 March 2022.
  16. Web site: What is historical nihilism?. 2015-07-01 . BBC.com. 2015-12-21. https://web.archive.org/web/20151221001451/http://www.bbc.com/zhongwen/trad/china/2015/07/150701_cpc_and_xijinping. live.