Student Demonstrations and Mass Propaganda in the 1948 Movement Opposing the US Rehabilitation of Japan

This study analyzes the 1948 student movement opposing U.S. support for Japan’s reconstruction in postwar China, focusing on the demonstrations in Shanghai and Beiping. Unlike earlier protests that demanded famine relief or an end to the civil war, these movements reframed the U.S. policy reversal toward Japan—seemingly a distant foreign affairs issue—into an urgent national crisis. In both cities, students used May commemorations to build inter-school alliances and establish federations that laid the groundwork for collective action. The June 5 demonstration in Shanghai was suppressed by government encirclement and armed repression, yet its failure became a turning point that informed the tactical shift of the Beiping protest. On June 9, Beiping students adopted strategies of dispersed departure and urban convergence, combining street theater, slogans, and civic engagement to carry out the protest. Meanwhile, Shanghai students responded to official denunciations of “treason” by convening a gongduanhui (public adjudication assembly) on June 26, redefining their actions as patriotic and autonomous while securing support from intellectuals and professional groups. This study demonstrates the autonomy and strategic characteristics of student activism under the late Nationalist regime, while also contributing to an understanding of how anti-American sentiment spread in postwar Chinese society.