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Good. Wear along original fold lines. Some loss at two fold intersections. Verso repairs to fold separations. Infill to margin not effecting printed image. Size 20.25 x 30.5 Inches. This is a 1939 pictorial map of East Asia prepared by S?ma Motoi as a supplement to the Tokyo Nichi Nichi Shimbun . Focusing on the resources of various countries in the region and published after Japan's full-scale war in China had been underway for more than a year, it can be seen as a popular reflection of Imperial Japan's strategic thinking at the time. A Closer Look This visually rich map covers the entire Republic of China, Manchuria (Manchukuo), the Japanese Empire (Japan, Korea, Taiwan), Nepal, Bhutan, and portions of the Soviet Union, British India, Thailand, French Indochina, and the Philippines. Cities, provinces, rail stations, waterways, and other features are labeled throughout. Rail, air, and maritime lines (including unfinished rail lines, such as one between Mandalay and China's Yunnan Province), underwater cables, roads, mountains, and terrain are indicated according to the legend at the bottom-left. Countries and Chinese provinces are color-shaded for easy distinction. Resources for Empire The main focus of the map is resources, illustrated and noted in red, ranging from petroleum (??), iron (?), and gold (?) to rice (?), tea (?), and tobacco (??). Along the frontiers of China, exotic goods and animals are recorded, including camels (??), Tibetan yaks (??), and civets (???, presumably for their use in traditional medicine). At the bottom-right is a series of tables, graphs, and charts discussing China's economy and resources, often comparing the production of certain goods to Japan and other countries, as well as the production of certain Chinese provinces against others. The not-very-subtle implication of these statistics and the map overall is that these resources ought to be overseen and utilized by the Japanese Empire, which would make best use of them as part of an autarkic Japanese-led sphere in East Asia (referred to in the title as 'New East Asia' ???, a precursor to the later Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere). Ephemeral Regimes The map also reflects Imperial Japan's viewpoint through its depiction of territory. Unsurprisingly, the Japanese puppet state of Manchukuo is displayed as independent of the Republic of China. Flags also represent similar Japanese puppet 'reform' governments in northern and eastern Chinese cities and provinces, which would be incorporated into a general collaborationist Reorganized Nanjing Government led by Wang Jingwei (1883 - 1944) and the Mongolian puppet state of Mengjiang (??) in 1940. Notably, both Tibet and Outer Mongolia are displayed with their own flags while also appearing as part of the Republic of China, reflecting their ambiguous status at the time, especially in the case of Tibet. Outer Mongolia's status was, in fact, not very ambiguous, having been ruled by a Soviet-aligned Communist regime since 1924. This reality was the opposite of the interests of Imperial Japan, which did not recognize the new government (the flag used here is also equivocal, somewhat resembling both the flag of the Mongolian People's Republic and the preceding Bogd Khanate without exactly matching either). Most curiously is the recognition of the 'un-reformed' Republic of China, that is, the government led by Chiang Kai-shek (1887 - 1975), which was Japan's enemy at the time, recorded here for some unknown reason at Guiyang instead of its actual location at Chongqing. Verso Content Despite appearing under a title referring to Manchuria ('The Truth about China's 'Manchuria'' ????????????), most of the verso content relates to the various Chinese provinces, with a skewed discussion of Manchuria only occupying the box towards the bottom-center. As with the flags on the front, information on the Republic of China government currently fighting a war against Japan is referred to alongside Japanese-puppet reg.
Seller Inventory # EastAsiaResources-soma-1939
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