 The ninth hour of the ninth day of the ninth month was chosen in echo of the Armistice of 11 November 1918 (on the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month) and because "nine" is homophone of the word for "long lasting" in Chinese (to suggest that the peace won would last forever).In 1945, China emerged from the war nominally a great military power but economically weak and on the verge of all-out civil war.The economy was sapped by the military demands of a long costly war and internal strife, by spiraling inflation, and by corruption in the Nationalist government that included profiteering, speculation and hoarding.