I n Devils on the Doorstep , a Chinese war fi lm set in the Second Sino- Japanese War (1931–45), a Chinese interpreter, Dong Hancheng, 1 serves the Japanese forces but is captured together with a Japanese soldier by Chinese guerrillas and left in the custody of Chinese villagers for inter rogation. Th e interpreter, knowing that the Japanese soldier’s arrogance and his own collaboration with the Japanese forces will endanger his life, makes full use of his language abilities to mediate between the soldier and the Chinese villagers and to secretly pass a call for help to the Japanese troops stationed nearby. Despite a later clash between the Chinese villag ers and the Japanese forces, the interpreter manages to survive the vicissi tudes of the war. However, when the war comes to the end, the interpreter is accused as a traitor and publicly executed by Chinese Kuomintang (KMT) troops in front of both the Chinese and Japanese forces, as well as the Chinese public. Th e executioner says to him: “You have aided the enemy and tried to avoid punishment. Th is is the worst crime. Your hands are soaked with Chinese people’s blood. Only executing you can dispel the masses’ anger. Do you have anything to say?” 2 Although fi ction, this movie provides a glimpse into the important but little researched history of interpreting during the Second Sino-Japanese War. Th is confl ict began in 1931 with a clash between China and Japan in North China, but because of internal competition between the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and the Chinese Kuomintang (KMT) govern ment (also called the Nationalist or Republican government) as well as their respective allegiances to foreign powers during World War Two, it soon developed into an arena of national and international political and military powers (see the Appendix for a timeline 3 ). More specifi cally, the CCP’s growth threatened the KMT’s political dominance and diverted its attention away from the Japanese forces in the north. Although this inter nal confl ict halted temporarily in 1937 to form a united front against fur ther Japanese expansion beyond their previously occupied Manchurian area (Ienaga 1978 : 64), in terms of military operations, foreign policy, and control of geographical regions, the CCP and the KMT remained separate because of diff erent political and ideological values. Th is separa tion inevitably led to the presence of two resistance powers representing China’s interest against Japan. Th e interpreter depicted in the movie is situated in the nexus of these national and international power relationships. Captured by Chinese communist guerillas, detained by Chinese villagers, saved by the Japanese forces, and executed by the Chinese Kuomintang troops, this fi ctional character becomes the focus of the complicated wartime power relation ships, although what he cares about most is simple survival. Th is cin ematic representation of interpreting and interpreters is not the focus of this book, but it does raise several interesting questions about the actual history of the period which this book addresses, for example: What kind of interpreting tasks were involved in this international war? Who were the interpreters? How did the war aff ect the interpreters’ practices? Why were some interpreters targeted as traitors, and how did they respond to this accusation and its potentially extreme consequences?
