Following the Mukden Incident and the Japanese invasion of Manchuria, China's call for an investigation of war crimes, resulted in the League of Nations probing the use of poison gas and "liquid fire" by Japan.

The international body ultimately did not intervene to end the Japanese aggression, allowing Japan as an occupying force to exploit the raw material resources of the region.

In political rallies, at schools, even in the fields, ordinary Chinese were coming together not only to stem the tide of Japanese attacks but also to address the economic and social needs that have bedevilled China.

Facing a new Chinese resolve, despite the Japanese victories and incursions deep into the interior territories, the stretched lines of the occupying forces resulted in the war in China deteriorating into an impasse.

[Note 2]Inside Fighting China was a compilation documentary that relied heavily on newsreel material, edited by Stuart Legg to provide a coherent story.

To ensure that Canadians from coast-to-coast could see them, each film was shown over a six-month period as part of the shorts or newsreel segments in approximately 800 theatres across Canada.

World War II, Communism, unemployment, the role of labour unions, and working conditions were all subjects featured by the NFB during the period from 1939 to 1946".

Sending home a familiar message on the need to overcome political differences, Legg cites the example of the Popular Front in China, where Nationalists and Communists joined together in the resistance against the Japanese invasion in the late 1930s.

In a phraseology that echoes those used in statements by leaders of Communist and Popular Front movements in Canada and around the world, the film affirms that to counter all kinds of oppression people need to 'organize and unite'.