The filmmaker moved between the Republican, Communist, and guerrilla forces of the Chinese resistance to Japanese invasion.
[1][2] The title refers to the population of China,[1][2] estimated from the highly untrustworthy official censuses.
[3] The film begins with the carnage left by Japanese bombing in northeastern China, describing it as an unprovoked act of aggression.
It discusses the modernization undertaken by the Republic and suggests that nascent development provoked Japan's attack.
Japan's history of aggression is detailed, with the United States's continuing exports of iron and steel to the country pointedly noted.