Translating the Occupation: The Japanese Invasion of China, 1931–45

From 1931 to 1945, Chinese citizens were subjugated to Japanese imperialism. Despite the enduring historical importance of the occupation, Translating the Occupation is the first English-language volume to provide such a diverse selection of important primary sources from this period. Contributors have translated Chinese, Japanese, and Korean texts on a wide range of subjects, focusing on writers who have long been considered problematic or outright traitorous. This volume offers a practical, accessible sourcebook from which to challenge standard narratives. It deepens our understanding of the myriad tensions and transformations at work in Chinese wartime society. Translating the occupation reasserts the centrality of the occupation to twentieth-century Chinese history, opening the door further to much-needed analysis Dedication Contents List of Illustrations Acknowledgments Introduction: Discarding Binaries and Embracing Heteroglossia • Jonathan Henshaw, Craig A. Smith, and Norman Smith PART 1: MANCHUKUO 1 Tales of Opening Manchuria • Ronald Suleski 2 Sakuta Shōichi, “The Light of Asia” • Bill Sewell and Norio Ota 3 Writings of Manchukuo’s Prime Minister Zheng Xiaoxu • Hua Rui 4 Education Policies and Theories in Manchukuo • Wang Yu 5 The Second Sino-Japanese War, Propaganda, and Medical Publications: Kaneko Junji’s “The China Incident from the Perspective of Psychiatry” • Janice Matsumura 6 An Inspection Report on Ideological Movements in Literature and Arts Activities • Xie Miya Qiong 7 Collection of Literary Selections by Each Ethnicity in Manchukuo-1, “Statements by Selectors” • Annika A. Culver 8 Open Letters from Women Writers of Manchukuo: Mei Niang and Wu Ying, Jia Ren to Yang Xu • Norman Smith 9 The Lives of Korean Women in Manchukuo • Jonghyun Lee PART 2: EAST CHINA 10 Xu Zhuodai, “Remarkable Soy Sauce!” • Christopher Rea 11 The Diary of Zhang Gang: An Excerpt • Weiting Guo 12 Two Indestructible Pillars of the Great Wall • Jennifer Junwa Lau 13 Uchiyama Bookstore: Sino-Japanese Cultural Exchanges in the Midst of War • Naoko Kato 14 Finding China’s “Asia” in Japanese Asianism • Torsten Weber 15 Collaboration and Propaganda: Yang Honglie and His Eight Speeches on Greater Asianism • Craig A. Smith 16 The New Citizens’ Movement and Wang Jingwei-ism • Craig A. Smith 17 The Diaries of Zhou Fohai: Selected Translations from 1938 • Brian G. Martin 18 Kiang Kang-hu, “Starvation Is a Serious Matter” • Jonathan Henshaw 19 Guan Lu, “How to Be a New Woman”: Shanghai, March 1942 • Norman Smith 20 Yuan Shu, “The Current Stage of the Chinese Revolution and the Problem of Constitutional Government” • Matthew Galway PART 3: NORTH CHINA AND BEYOND 21 Tang Erhe’s Educational Collaboration with Japan in North China, 1937–40 • David Luesink 22 The Transformation of Zhou Zuoren’s Thought and the Rhetorical Strategies Found in His Writing: “The Problem of Chinese Thought” • Xue Bingjie 23 Zhou Zuoren’s Letter to Zhou Enlai • Timothy Cronin 24 Lin Yutang: Non-Aligned Intellectual on the Japanese Occupation • Son Yoo Di 25 Struggles between Local Powers and Collaboration: Yan Xishan, the CCP, and the Western Shanxi Incident • Timothy Cheek 26 Tapping into the Premodern Work-Contracting System • Zhang Yuanfang 27 An Anarchist Popular Resistance: The Awakening and China’s Resistance War at Home and Abroad • Morgan Rocks 28 Resolutions on Preventing Hanjian Activities and Espionage • Yun Xia 29 Kishida Kunio and the Problems of Culture • Timothy Iles List of Contributors Index An authoritative source of primary texts from the Japanese occupation of China. From 1931 to 1945, as Japanese imperialism developed and spread throughout China, three regions experienced life under occupation: the puppet state of Manchukuo, East China, and North China. Each did so in a distinct manner, but making sense of experiences and decisions made during this crucial period has been an elusive goal for historians. Despite the enduring importance of the occupation to world history and historical memory in East Asia, Translating the Occupation is the first English-language volume to provide such a diverse selection of important primary sources from this period for both scholars and students. Contributors from six different countries have translated sources from Chinese, Japanese, and Korean on a wide range of subjects, focusing on writers who have long been considered problematic or outright traitorous. Each text is accompanied by a short essay to contextualize the translation and explain its significance. This volume offers a practical, accessible sourcebook from which to challenge standard narratives. The texts have been carefully selected to deepen our understanding of the myriad tensions, transformations, and continuities in Chinese wartime society. Translating the Occupation reasserts the centrality of the occupation to twentieth-century Chinese history and opens the door further to much-needed analysis. This book will appeal to scholars, students, and general readers of East Asian history and the history of the Second World War, and will find use in undergraduate and graduate courses. "From 1931 to 1945, Chinese citizens were subjugated to Japanese imperialism. Despite the enduring historical importance of the occupation, Translating the Occupation is the first English-language volume to provide such a diverse selection of important primary sources from this period. Contributors have translated Chinese, Japanese, and Korean texts on a wide range of subjects, focusing on writers who have long been considered problematic or outright traitorous. This volume offers a practical, accessible sourcebook from which to challenge standard narratives. It deepens our understanding of the myriad tensions and transformations at work in Chinese wartime society."-- Provided by publisher