Diana Lary - Professor Emerita of History Department, University of British Columbia
The eight-year war had many unintended consequences. One was the destruction or side-lining of some of the old elites, and the emergence of new ones. One of these is the impoverishment of the intellectual elites in Unoccupied China, and the compromised situation of intellectuals who lived under occupation. Another is the deeply compromised position of the rural elite in the Occupied Areas - labeled after the war by the CCP as traitors. The greatest rise in status during the war went to the military, both GMD and CCP. It emerged at the top of Chinese society. Other beneficiaries were less whole social strata than the sordid beneficiaries of war everywhere: profiteers, hoarders, and black marketeers.
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