In July 1937 a serious clash between Chinese and Japanese troops at the Marco Polo Bridge near Beijing precipitated a full-scale, though undeclared, war between the two countries. The threat posed by Japan temporarily united the Kuomintang (KMT) and the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) in an uneasy political truce. The Chinese were hampered by their lack of industrial bases and well-trained army officers and enlisted men. The Japanese quickly captured the major cities in northern China, including the KMT capital of Nanking. In 1938 the Japanese also seized Hankou (now part of Wuhan) in central China and Guangzhou in the south. KMT leader Chiang Kai-shek led his armies westward into the interior and established the new wartime capital at Chungking, in Sichuan province. The Japanese were able to cripple the Chinese economy and isolate Chiang's forces by capturing the entire coastal strip of China and cutting off communications with the interior. The Chinese, however, continued to resist the Japanese.
See also:
Sino-Japanese War, Second (1937-1945)
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