1938 Japanese Propaganda Map of China, Northeast Asia; World War II

This is a scarce 1938 propaganda map of China published in the Japanese magazine King (キング) just after Japanese troops' captured Shanghai and Nanjing in the opening months of the Second Sino-Japanese War (World War II).

Presenting and Misrepresenting the Situation in China

This is a large map showing the provinces of China where battles between Chinese and Japanese forces would rage for much of the next decade. The legend includes symbols indicating administrative information, infrastructure, and geographic and maritime features. Japanese consulates and embassies are noted with flags, while airplane symbols are used to mark airfields throughout China. Rather distinctively, the name of the country or countries whose companies financed various railways are written next to rail lines (Chinese capital (支那資本), Japanese capital (日本資本), Japanese and British capital (日英資本), and so on).

An inset map at bottom-right presents the wider context of geopolitical powers in East Asia, dividing China into north and south (equivalent to areas under Japanese influence and those not), and illustrating Qinghai, Tibet, and Xinjiang as separate jurisdictions (which was effectively true in practice, though the Chinese government claimed these areas). Tibet is marked as having been 'invaded' by British forces, a wild exaggeration, though the British were unquestionably intent on having a say in the future status of Tibet. More accurately, Xinjiang is described as 'starting to turn red,' and indeed it was becoming a Soviet client under the leadership of Chinese warlord Sheng Shicai (盛世才), who aimed to enlist the Soviets to counterbalance the Chinese government and maintain the region's de facto independence (he later fell out with the Soviets and was forced to step down in 1944).

The prominence of both existing and planned railways on the inset map gives a sense of Japan's ambitious plans for the future of East Asia, in which railways would link the populated areas of eastern China with Central and Southeast Asia, a project realized in part in the Maoist period but which has been revived in recent years as China seeks to export high-speed rail technology and better integrate infrastructure with neighboring countries.

Verso Content

The back (verso) presents the 'Latest Detailed Map of the Manchukuo-Mongolia-Soviet Border Region' (滿蒙ソ聯國境大地圖, 1 : 3000000). Coverage stretches from Lake Baikal in the west to Sakhalin (Karafuto 樺太), which had been divided between Japan and Russia following the Russo-Japanese War (1904 – 1905), in the east. An inset map at top-left illustrates the wider scope of northeast Asia. Japan had increased its influence in Manchuria following the Russo-Japanese War, especially through its control of the South Manchuria Railway. In September 1931, Japanese troops invaded Manchuria under false pretenses, allowing for the establishment of Manchukuo, a Japanese puppet state, the following year. Manchukuo became a springboard for further Japanese advances in northern China and Inner Mongolia, undertaken with the pretense of protecting Japanese interests and opposing Communism.

Tensions between Japan and the Soviet Union were high throughout the 1930s, resulting in a number of clashes along the borders of Manchukuo. These would culminate the following year (1939) in a series of battles near Khalkhin Gol on the border of the Mongolian People's Republic and Manchukuo, where the Soviets eventually scored a resounding victory, leading to a Neutrality Pact with Japan and the end of a viable 'northern advance' (北進論) for Japanese imperialism.

Quotidian Militarism

A pamphlet that originally enclosed the map is included as well. On its back is an advertisement for a book that provides advice for gaining admission into the Imperial Japanese Army Academy (陸軍士官学校) and military preparatory schools (陸軍幼年学校) which fed into it (the preparatory schools began at age 13). Smaller advertisements for books about the navy and air force are at bottom. These publications were supervised by the Directorate of Education (教育總監部) and show how commonplace militarism was at this time, even when directed at children; a trend that would only increase with the National Mobilization Law and shift to a total war footing a few months after this map's publication.

The Battles for Shanghai and Nanjing

The Second Sino-Japanese War was fought between the Republic of China, led by Chiang Kai-shek and the Kuomintang (GMD / KMT), and the Empire of Japan. Some scholars trace the beginning of the Second Sino-Japanese War to the Mukden Incident and the September 1931 Japanese invasion of Manchuria. In the following years, Japan established a puppet regime in Manchuria and extended its influence into northern China through several other 'incidents,' to the extent that it directly or indirectly controlled much of northern China and Inner Mongolia by 1937.

Although determined to resist the Japanese, Chiang was eager to eliminate the domestic threat from the Communists first while also buying time to modernize his armies and gain better control over his generals, most of whom were semi-independent warlords. These plans were disrupted when Chiang was kidnapped by one of his own generals in December 1936 and forced to enter a united front with the Communists. Now compelled to turn his attention towards a war with Japan, it was a matter not of if but when a war with Japan would come.

The July 7, 1937, Marco Polo Bridge Incident has traditionally been considered the start of the war, when Chinese and Japanese troops began exchanging fire at the Marco Polo (Lugou) Bridge, along a main access route to Beijing. This exchange of fire escalated to an all-out battle leading to Japanese forces capturing both Beijing and its port city of Tianjin. As the conflict expanded, Chiang aimed to deliver a knockout blow before Japanese reserves could be thrown into the fight. He launched an assault on Shanghai in the autumn of 1937, hoping to throw the Japanese garrison there into the sea, but was unable to completely drive them out. Chinese-administered parts of the city, particularly Zhabei and Wusong to the north and east of the International Settlement, and Hongkou, the Japanese neighborhood of the International Settlement, saw extensive bombardment and house-to-house fighting.

Even the non-Japanese neighborhoods of the foreign concessions were not spared, most notoriously in the 'Black Saturday' incident, when a Chinese aircraft attempting to bomb a Japanese battleship on the Huangpu released its payload early, right into the most heavily-populated part of the International Settlement, killing some 3,000 civilians.

Despite the valiant efforts of Chinese troops, Japanese forces had naval, air, and artillery superiority and were able to receive sufficient resupply and reinforcements. They held their ground against Chinese attacks until a counterattack was prepared, which threatened to encircle the Chinese troops. With his forces severely weakened and with many units in disarray, Chiang retreated from Shanghai and arranged a hasty defense of Nanjing while planning to rally his forces in Chongqing, deep in the Chinese interior. Although the Japanese had won the battle for Shanghai, it had taken longer and come at a higher cost than anticipated, setting a tone for the entire war, where Japan was able to win pyrrhic battlefield victories but unable to crush the will of the Chinese to resist.

Facing demoralized and disorganized Chinese troops, the Japanese were able to take Nanjing in less than two weeks in early December 1937. During the battle and soon afterwards, Chinese troops and civilians alike were shown no mercy, and it was assumed that Chinese men of fighting age were deserting Chinese soldiers or partisans. In the weeks after main combat operations ended, Japanese troops massacred tens of thousands of Chinese prisoners of war and civilians and raped thousands of women in one of the most notorious war crimes of the Second World War.

King Magazine and Kōdansha

King (キング) was a monthly general interest magazine published from 1924 through 1957 by Dai Nippon Yūbenkai Kōdansha (大日本雄辯會講談社, now known simply as Kōdansha). It was one of the most important magazines in Japan in this period, and its wide range of material combined with a readership that cut across typical class and geographical divisions meant that King was an important contributor to the birth of mass culture in Japan. Along with King, Kōdansha published a number of other magazines including Women's Club (婦人倶樂部) and Boy's Club (少年倶樂部) and had become a major shaper of Japanese culture and public opinion by the 1930s, controlling 70% of the magazine market.

Founded by the dynamic Noma Seiji (野間淸治), Kōdansha suffered difficulties during the war period, due to both intense censorship and the death of both Noma Seiji and his son, Noma Hasashi (野間恒), within weeks of each other in 1938. Still, the company survived the wartime era and, after a period of difficulties during the U.S. Occupation due to Kōdansha's endorsement of militarism, benefitted from a postwar publishing revival. Although King and other magazines ceased publication in the postwar period, Kōdansha branched into other areas, including manga and music recording, and is now the largest publisher in Japan.

Publication History and Census

This map was published as an addendum to the 1938 New Year's edition of King. It was printed on December 3, 1937 (Showa 12) and published on January 1, 1938 (Showa 13). Employees of Kōdansha, the company that published King, were responsible for its publication, with Fuchida Tadayoshi (淵田忠良) listed as editor and Hashimoto Motome (橋本求) as publisher. The map was printed by Yokota Shūji (橫田秀治) of the Dai Nippon Printing Co. (大日本印刷株式會社). It is held by the National Museum of Japanese History, the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum, the Gifu Prefectural Library, and the National Repository of Cultural Heritage (國家文化資料庫) in Taiwan. It is scarce to the market.