The Beginning and End of the Gaotao Incident

Author: Tao Hengsheng
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2004-02-01
Features: "The Gao Tao Incident" is a significant historical event that occurred during the War of Resistance against Japan. Its main characters, Gao Zongwu and Tao Xisheng, initially followed Wang Jingwei in advocating for the "Peace Movement" at the beginning of the war and fled to Hanoi with Wang in 1938. They later participated in the organization of the Wang government and the so-called "peace" negotiations with the Japanese. During the negotiations, Gao and Tao gradually realized that Japan's ultimate goal was to destroy China, and Wang Jingwei's "peace" movement was a complete surrender and betrayal. Thus, on January 3, 1940, they fled Shanghai together and arrived in Hong Kong, where they exposed the Wang-Japan secret agreement, the "Outline for Adjusting the Sino-Japanese New Relationship," and its appendices in the Hong Kong newspaper Da Guang Bao under their names. At a critical moment in Chinese history, they came to their senses and, through their actions, exposed Japan's policy of (luring surrender), delivering a heavy blow to Wang Jingwei's traitorous tide and offering a profound warning to those who remained in the resistance camp—seeking peace is a dead end! The author of this book, Tao Hengsheng, is the son of Tao Xisheng. In the book, he strives for fairness and a factual approach, combining documentary evidence, oral history, and his own personal experiences to present the entire "Gao Tao Incident" as clearly as possible. Through his own childhood experiences, he depicts the hardships and joys of his family during the War of Resistance against Japan. The book includes chapters such as: "A Scholar Discussing Politics but Still a Scholar"; "Japanese Aggression Before the July 7 Incident"; "The Full-Scale Outbreak of the War of Resistance"; "Peace Activities in the Early Stages of the War"; "Wang Jingwei's Departure"; "Shanghai Negotiations and the Separation of Gao and Tao"; "Exposing the Wang-Japan Secret Agreements"; "Revisiting the Wang-Japan Negotiation Conference"; "Two Years in Hong Kong"; and "A Second Escape."