Chaos in Asia

This is a 1939 book which deals Japan's presence and activities in China centering, of course, on their military activities. My own impression of this book, trying to read between the lines, so to speak, is that the author is sort of pro-Japanese. Although he mentions how many Chinese were made homeless, for example, he doesn't address the Nanjing Massacre, for example. He doesn't really seem to take much of a stance on the fact that it was basically wrong for the Japanese to be in China, period. It was a military invasion that they carried out, done in bits and pieces, but with the end goal being to take over the area of Manchuria first (which became Manchuko), and then the rest of China.

The author talks about the bombing of the Chinese cities.

The author points out that saying you occupy an area does not mean that you are totally in control of it.

The author talks about problems in Japan.

At this point, the army was being fed very well. The author also points out that people in Japan don't really know what is going on in China.

The author goes into why the Japanese don't know what is going on.

He notes the army is undisciplined, but doesn't seem to connect this to what happened at Nanking. The author notes that there is a shortage of workers in some agricultural districts in Japan, and children just out of elementary school are being put to work in munitions plants.

What kind of shape Nanking is in then.

He says that most of the damage done to the city of Canton was actually done by the Chinese.

Refugees from the fighting in China are dying in alarming numbers.

Chinese soldiers are ravaging the countryside.

He writes about Chinese propagandists.

The authors pro-Japanese slant is shown in this statement about the Marco Polo bridge, with his claiming the Japanese had a legal right to be there.

He also talks about how many good things Japan has accomplished in Korea and Manchuko, but the inhabitants still hate them. Not the best book that I have seen on the subject.


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