China's Vulnerability to Japanese Imperialism: The Anti-Japanese Boycott of 1931–1932

In retrospect, the 1931-1932 Chinese boycott of Japanese goods seems eclipsed by the cannonade in Manchuria between Chinese and Japanese forces. But this boycott, the eighth one since 1915, did at least represent the potential for national action that was rising within the Chinese people. Even more significant for history was the boycott's revelation of the persistent divisions in the Chinese body politic and the weakness of the modern sector of the Chinese economy.