In a sea of bitterness : refugees during the Sino-Japanese War / R. Keith Schoppa.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

The thousand-person pit -- A world where ghosts wailed -- Confronting the refugee crisis -- Veering into the ravine -- Days of suffering -- The kidnapping of Chinese civilians -- Government on the move -- Playing hide-and-seek with the enemy -- Guerrilla education -- Wartime business -- Scorched earth -- Trading and smuggling -- Bubonic bombs -- Remaking homes.

The Japanese invasion of Shanghai in 1937 led some thirty million Chinese to flee their homes in terror, and live--in the words of artist and writer Feng Zikai--"in a sea of bitterness" as refugees. R. Keith Schoppa paints a comprehensive picture of the refugee experience in one province--Zhejiang, on the central Chinese coast--where the Japanese launched major early offensives as well as notorious later campaigns. He recounts stories of both heroes and villains, of choices poorly made amid war's bewildering violence, of risks bravely taken despite an almost palpable quaking fear(from inside front flap).