1938 Foreign Office Propaganda Bird's Eye View of Manchukuo

This is a c. 1938 bird's-eye view of the Japanese puppet state of Manchukuo in Manchuria. This document reflects growing sophistication of propaganda in support of Manchukuo, including English-language propaganda made purely for external consumption.

Manchukuo from the Air

This view shows the enormous territory that fell under the control of the new puppet government established in 1932. Rail lines, arteries running through the vastness of Manchuria, are shown in black-and-white alternating lines (solid black when continuing into foreign territory) while major air routes are shown in red. Several other features are evident, including cities, industrial facilities, the Great Wall of China, and the former summer palace of the Qing Dynasty at Jehol (Rehe, Chengde). The main line of habitation, economic development, and political control followed the route of the South Manchuria Railway, from Harbin through Hsinking (Changchun), Mukden (Shenyang) and Dairen (Dalian).

Verso and Cover Content

The verso touts the progress made in Manchuria since the establishment of the puppet regime in 1932. The first two items on the list were the most common themes of propaganda supporting the new government: peace and economic development. As in many other spheres, Manchukuo was a testing ground for propaganda that would later be employed throughout East Asia. The themes of pan-Asian unity, peace, (re)construction, and Confucianism were the basis for Japan's wartime propaganda, formalized in the concept of the 'Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere.'

The inside of the cover discusses in greater depth the concept of 'Wangtaoism' referred to on the verso. This vague ideology was rooted in an ancient Chinese concept of governance (the 'kingly way' 王道) but added elements of inter-ethnic harmony meant to appeal to non-Han groups of the former Qing Empire, replaced in 1912 by the fractured Republic of China, dominated by the Han Chinese ethnicity.

But the true purpose of this view is made clear by the bolded final paragraph on the back of the cover. Manchukuo had never gained international recognition and the state's creation was condemned by the League of Nations, leading eventually to Japan's withdrawal from that organization. The reference to Manchukuo's recognition by Italy, Spain, and Germany indicates that this undated view is from 1938 or later. Aside from these countries, only a handful of countries ever recognized Manchukuo, mostly likeminded military dictatorships and, after the start of World War II, fellow puppet regimes. That being said, foreign investors were more willing to work with the new regime than foreign governments, and it is likely that this propaganda was primarily intended for business travelers to Manchukuo, in the hope that they would return to their home country and exert political influence that would eventually lead to wider diplomatic recognition.

Historical Background

The Treaty of Portsmouth that ended the Russo-Japanese War (1904 - 1905) granted to Japan, among other rights, the southern section of the China Eastern Railway, from Changchun to Port Arthur (Lüshunkou, here as Ryojun), which became known as the South Manchuria Railway. The company created to manage the southern section, the South Manchuria Railway Company (南滿洲鐵道株式會社), soon developed into a mega-conglomerate, akin to the chartered corporations of early modern Europe. The company oversaw hotels, mines, mills, power plants, publishing, and much more, that expanded Japanese influence in Manchuria to the point that it became a virtual colony. By the 1930s, Mantetsu was the largest company in Japan and by itself formed a significant portion of the Japanese economy.

Although Japan already exercised an informal empire in much of Manchuria, the territory was still under the control of a group of Chinese warlords known as the Fengtian Clique led by Zhang Zuolin (referred to here as the Chang regime, warlords, or feudalistic government). Meanwhile, a sizable Japanese garrison occupied the southern portion of the Liaodong Peninsula, known as the Kwantung Army (or Kantō-gun in Japanese). The Kwantung Army was a hotbed ultranationalism, militarism, and anti-democratic secret societies, and produced several of Japan's future wartime leaders, including Tōjō Hideki. Although the Kwantung Army had initially supported Zhang Zuolin as a bulwark against Chiang Kai-Shek, who was seen as pro-Communist, he was assassinated in 1928 when a bomb exploded under his private train while it was traveling on the South Manchuria Railway. The plot had been hatched by junior officers in the Kwantung Army. Zhang was succeeded by his son, Zhang Xueliang, who was initially seen as a playboy and feckless military commander, but who later became a national hero for his opposition to Japanese imperialism.

Three years later, on September 18, 1931, a group of Kwantung Army officers staged a false flag incident (another bombing along the South Manchuria Railway) to provide a pretext for invading and occupying Manchuria. Although Japan's political leaders and likely even the military leadership was unaware of the invasion plot, they did not force the Kwantung Army to retreat despite international condemnation because the invasion was extremely popular domestically and was a convenient solution to Japan's long-term problems with resource constraints and overpopulation.

The Birth of Manchukuo

Rather than make Manchuria a formal colony, as with Taiwan, or annex it outright, as with Korea, a puppet regime was established, led by the last emperor of the Qing Dynasty, Aisin Gioro Puyi, who had been living in the Japanese Concession in Tianjin. Puyi had expressed his desire to be re-enthroned and had support from the now-minority population of Manchus, who felt discriminated against in China since the Qing Dynasty's collapse in 1912. After being denounced as a traitor by the Chinese government, Puyi was smuggled out of Tianjin in the trunk of a car and conveyed to Manchuria, where he became the nominal head of the new state.

A vast, sparsely populated region that was tremendously rich in resources, Manchuria became a wild, violent, multiethnic imperial frontier akin to the American Old West. Forced labor was employed on a mass scale under brutal conditions. As the verso mentions, all manner warlord troops, bandits, and rebels were present in Manchuria following Japan's invasion, and extremely harsh methods were used to suppress resistance. A special military unit (Unit 731) even engaged in horrific experiments on living subjects (often captured rebels and enemy troops, though also randomly selected civilians), such as biological weapons, chemical warfare, and vivisection.

Despite the creation of a government led by Manchus and other non-Han ethnic groups (or 'races' here) for Manchukuo, real power rested with Japanese military officers, bureaucrats, and the South Manchuria Railway. Manchukuo quickly became a steppingstone to further Japanese aggression throughout China, just as Korea had been a steppingstone to Manchuria. In the end, rather than being a showcase of rapid industrialization and a beacon of Japan's agenda of progress for Asia, or a bastion for the beleaguered Manchus and other non-Han ethnicities, Manchukuo instead became the archetype for the false promises and cruelty of Japanese imperialism.

Still, the physical infrastructure developed under the Japanese laid a basis for further industrialization under the Communists after the establishment of the People's Republic. Although Manchuria's industrial materiel had been pilfered en masse by Soviet troops at the end of World War II, the region remained the industrial core of China (along with Shanghai) until the economic reforms of the 1980s, including massive steel facilities at Anshan and mines at Fushun pictured on the verso.

Sketchbook Mailer Maps

Although in English and meant for a foreign audience, this view is an example of a sketchbook mailer (書簡圖繪), a style of bird's-eye view map that became very popular in Japan in the 1920s-1940s. Each map was designed to be folded and packaged for safe and easy mailing, and came with information about and photographs of the city on the verso, as is the case here. Although these maps are fascinating, beautiful, and educational, they also served a political function, informing Japanese (or in this case, foreign) audiences about the empire and providing a visual aid to understand places they would have read about frequently in the news.

Publication History and Census

This view was made by the Dairen (Dalian) Branch of the Manchukuo Foreign Office, likely in 1938 or soon after. It is only cataloged in the Manchukuo Collection at Harvard University, and it is very scarce to the market.