Chunmei Du, "Everyday Occupation: American Soldiers and Chinese Civilians in the Aftermath of World War II" (Cambridge UP, 2025)

About this episode

Chunmei Du discusses her book on the interactions between American soldiers and Chinese civilians in post-WWII China and their implications for US-China relations.

Chunmei Du is an Associate Professor of History at Lingnan University. Her work focuses on the social and cultural history of modern China, specifically looking at cross-cultural encounters and the lived experiences of ordinary individuals during periods of profound political transition. In this New Books Network episode, we chat with Du about her latest book, Everyday Occupation: American Soldiers and Chinese Civilians in the Aftermath of World War II (Cambridge University Press, 2025). While many Anglophone histories about the “loss of China” focus on high-level diplomacy and grand strategy, Everyday Occupation zooms in the street-level micropolitics of a brief period between 1945–1949 when American troops were stationed in post-WWII China. The book explores the daily friction between American soldiers and Chinese civilians—from traffic accidents involving jeeps to the sensory shocks from urban odors—and their impact on Chinese sentiments towards the US. Du reveals how these everyday encounters helped pave the way for the communist takeover of China, and continue to cast a shadow over modern US-China relations. Anthony Kao is a writer who intersects international affairs and…

People in this episode

Guest: Chunmei Du

Topics covered

• American soldiers
• Chinese civilians
• post-WWII China
• cross-cultural encounters
• US-China relations
• social history
• political transition

Keywords

• World War II
• China
• American troops
• cultural history
• political transition
• urban experiences
• micropolitics

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Lingnan University, Cambridge University Press, Cinema Escapist, The Guardian, Al Jazeera, The Diplomat, Eater

Books & works: Everyday Occupation: American Soldiers and Chinese Civilians in the Aftermath of World War II

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