Nationalist Army Logistics and Army Food Provision in Republican China, 1926-1937

In the Nanjing Decade (1927-1937), the Nationalist government undertook a series of state-building policies. Facing Japanese threats since 1931, the Nationalist government furthered its steps to build the state to prepare itself for a potential war with Japan. One important concern of the Nanjing government was military provision and wartime food problems. The paper investigates the plans envisioned by different groups of people to solve these problems. The paper studies three groups of people: quartermaster and logistical military officers, war economists, and public figures represented by Feng Yuxiang. Based on publications of these people in the 1930s, the paper demonstrates a general state of mind in the Nanjing Decade about civilian and military food conditions. The paper shows that the military officers did not prioritise the food problem in their writings. The war economists, noticing the existence of a shortage of food in China, advocated for planning policies before and during the war to feed civilians and soldiers. Feng Yuxiang, the ex-militarist, proposed a radical reform plan and studied zaliang pancake that he believed can serve as the best military provision. In analysing their works, the paper highlights nutrition and planned economy as commonly referred ideas by different authors. This paper concludes with a brief assessment of these pre-war plans and asks further questions in the light of comparing China with other countries in the wartime.