Shen-Kan-Ning

The Shen-Kan-Ning Border Region will serve as an example of political practice during the war years. This Border Region, with a population of about one and a half million people in the three provinces (Shensi, Kansu, and Ninghsia), was by no means a typical example of the liberated areas. As the original Northwest base of the CCP and the area in which the Party Center was located, it was actually a "model" area of CCP control. However, precisely because of its well-established Party presence and its relative security from Japanese attack, the Shen-Kan-Ning Border Region set the pattern of government for all of the liberated areas.

1967, James R. Townsend, “The Development of CCP Doctrine, 1921–1945”, in Political Participation in Communist China, Berkeley, Cali.: University of California Press, published 1969, →LCCN, →OCLC, page 58

In the summer of 1939, the Chungking Government began to enforce a strict military blockade of the Communist Shen-Kan-Ning Border Region. It had two objectives: first, the prevention of Communist military infiltration and elimination of Communist propaganda in Free China west and south of the Shen-Kan-Ning Border Region; second, the closing of any possible overland route between the Chinese Communist base areas in North China on the one hand, and Sinkiang and Soviet Russia on the other.

1968, “The "War Within a War," 1940–1945”, in Lyman P. Van Slyke, editor, The Chinese Communist Movement: A Report of the United States War Department, July 1945, Stanford, Cali.: Stanford University Press, →LCCN, →OCLC, page 71

By the summer of 1939, a stringent military blockade had been imposed on the Shen-Kan-Ning. In the winter of 1939–1940, the Nationalists launched an offensive against the outskirts of the Border Region. Thereafter, blockhouses were erected, 200,000 KMT troops were stationed around the Shen-Kan-Ning, and all economic aid to the Communists was suspended.

1971, Kenneth E. Shewmaker, “Closing the Door: 1939”, in Americans and Chinese Communists, 1927–1945: A Persuading Encounter, Cornell University Press, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, page 111