User:TheCoud'veBeenKing/Sandbox III

Japanese occupation of Shanghai
In 1932, the Chinese city of Shanghai was briefly occupied by the Imperial Japanese Army as tensions mounted between the Japanese and Chinese governments after the invasion of Manchuria.

History
After the Japanese invasion of Manchuria in 1931, which the Japanese had launched in order to gain control of the natural resources in the province, Shanghai imposed sanctions on the aggressor.

Japanese trade harmed by this action. In 1932, on the pretext of working to returning trade to the region for the good of both Japan and China, soldiers of the Imperial Japanese Army stationed in the Shanghai International Settlement were sent out into the city and overran the streets.

Amid the army's clashes with Chinese troops, the Imperial Japanese Navy and the Imperial Army Air Fleet also became involved. The aircraft carrier Hosho, just off the coast in the Pacific, launched aircraft which raided the city and destroyed large parts of it.

During the occupation, Sung-Chi Li, a Chinese policeman, was captured by Ishiguro Takashi and taken to be interrogated by Major Ryuji Matsu. Li was becoming disillusioned by the ability of the Kuomintang to defeat the Chinese Communists and restore order to China. Matsu convinced him that Japan could restore that order and convinced Li to become a double agent.

Western powers in the International Settlement eventually intervened to protect their own trading centres and the fighting ended before it escalated into full-scale war between China and Japan.

After the outbreak of the Second Sino-Japanese War in July 1937, the Japanese once again turned their attention to Shanghai by launching air raids against the city. The Fourth Doctor stated that they occasionally did this "just to prove that they can", despite the front lines being 400 miles north-east of the city. However, Woo, the new identity assumed by Ishiguro Takashi after he deserted the Imperial Army, knew the Japanese would eventually enter the city once more. Into August, he worked to created a united front in China to help repel them. (PROSE: The Shadow of Weng-Chiang)

Behind the scenes

 * In the real world, the confrontation is known in Chinese as the and otherwise as the Shanghai incident. The Shadow of Weng-Chiang gives no name to the confrontation in-universe, nor does it specify a date beyond the year it takes place. The text does state, however, that "the Japanese had briefly occupied the city in 1932".
 * The, a second and much larger engagement in the city began in August 1937. Shadow is set just before this event and makes some references to its preparation, but the story ends days before the battle opens.

1936 Tokyo revolt
In February 1936, a military revolt took place in Tokyo over the issue of Japanese policy towards China.

History
Tensions had been rising between Japan and China since the former power invaded the north Chinese province of Manchuria in 1931. After consolidating their gains into the puppet state of Manchukuo, factions of the Japanese government and the Imperial Army were divided on what course of action should be taken.

One faction, the Kodo Ha, favoured further expansion of the Japanese Empire into China. The other faction, the Tosei Ha, was also expansionist but thought it better to adhere to the formal rules of engagement, and was wary of the Soviet Union to the north.

With local commanders in Manchukuo sympathetic to the Kodo Ha, a series of political murders and assassinations took place between 1933 and 1935. Many government ministers, including prime ministers, were among the victims of this violence as the Kodo Ha sought to exert its influence on government policy.

Eventually, the Kodo Ha launched a revolt in Tokyo itself, which was engineered by the Sakura Kai. The First Infantry Division, in support of the Kodo Ha, deployed onto the streets, murdering many politicians and civil servants in a bid to assume power of Japan's military government.

The revolt was eventually put down by imperial order. As a result, the Tosei Ha remained largely in control of the army and government policy. However, the ideals of the Kodo Ha survived in the Manchukuo commanders. Their remaining influence was significant enough that the Tosei Ha were pressured to make changes to their policy. In July 1937, the commanders and the Sakura Kai provoked a fight against Chinese soldiers at Marco Polo Bridge. With their armies in action, the government was forced to move onto a war footing, bringing about the true beginning of the Second Sino-Japanese War.

Among the ministers killed in the revolt were the brothers of Ishiguro Takashi, a soldier in the army. The experience caused him to desert the army and flee to Shanghai, where he assumed a new identity as a Hong Kong-born nightclub owner named Woo, as well as the vigilante Yan Cheh. Woo sought to unite China to face the Japanese after war broke out between the two, and avenge the deaths of his brothers at the hands of the "traitors" in the Imperial Army. (PROSE: The Shadow of Weng-Chiang)

Behind the scenes

 * In the real world, the revolt is known as the, after the date on which it broke out. The text in The Shadow of Weng-Chiang gives it no name in-universe, nor does it explicitly date the coup as taking place on 26 February, though it does refer twice to the event as a "revolt".

Marco Polo Bridge Incident
In July 1937, fighting broke out between Chinese and Japanese soldiers in the area of Marco Polo Bridge in the north of China. The confrontation formally sparked the Second Sino-Japanese War.

History
Since the invasion of the north Chinese province of Manchuria by the Japanese in 1931, tensions rapidly rose between both powers. Worsened by the brief Japanese occupation of Shanghai in 1932, (PROSE: The Shadow of Weng-Chiang) fighting between the two sides escalated, with one engagement occurring in 1936. (PROSE: Doctor Who and the War Games)

In February 1936, the Kodo Ha, a faction of the Imperial Japanese Army, openly revolted in Tokyo, seeking to take control of government policy and expand further into China. Although the revolt was put down, many commanders in Manchukuo, the Japanese puppet state, remained true to their ideals.

In July 1937, those commanders, who had been responsible for numerous acts of political violence, provoked a fight between a handful of Chinese soldiers in the area. With their armies now engaged in ongoing action against the Chinese, the Japanese government was forced into a war footing, properly beginning the Second Sino-Japanese War.

The Japanese claimed that they had been attacked first. Woo, formerly Ishiguro Takashi of the Imperial Army, who deserted after the Tokyo revolt, was unconvinced, as the consequences were in line with what the Kodo Ha had wanted to happen. He claimed Japanese officers had no imagination.

For the first month of the war, however, the fighting remained in the north of China as the Japanese sought to further consolidate Manchuria. The front lines were around the village of Tai'an and the mountatin of T'ai Shan. Shanghai was almost 400 miles south-west, although the Imperial Army Air Fleet regularly raided the city, and Woo knew they would eventually enter Shanghai. (PROSE: The Shadow of Weng-Chiang)

Behind the scenes

 * The Shadow of Weng-Chiang does not explicitly name the confrontation in-universe, nor does the text refer to it as an "incident". It is clear, however, that the fighting discussed corresponds to the and so the article had been conjecturally titled as such.