Areas of China not under the control of the invading Imperial Japanese Army
The term Free China, in the context of the Second Sino-Japanese War, refers to those areas of China not under the control of the Imperial Japanese Army or any of its puppet governments, such as Manchukuo, the Mengjiang government in Suiyuan and Chahar, or the Provisional Government of the Republic of China in Beiping. The term came into more frequent use after the Battle of Nanking, when Chiang Kai-shek evacuated the government of the Republic of China to Chungking (modern Chongqing). It was also sometimes referred to as the Chungking Government or simply "Chungking,"[1] such as in the surrender speech of Hirohito to the Japanese military.[2][3]