Page 200 - JOURNAL OF LIBRARY SCIENCE IN CHINA 2015 Vol. 41

A review on the studies of Japan’s plundering of books

and literatures from China 1①

2 ∗
Mikun MA, Gang LI & Jianhua WU
School of Information Management, Nanjing University, Nanjing 210023, China

Abstract
During the Sino-Japanese War since 1894, Japan destroyed and plundered large numbers of Chinese
books. Based on the analysis and summary of related literatures, this paper discusses the damage and
destruction from those aggressive wars, and emphasizes the importance of illuminating the destructive
nature of Japan’s cultural aggression. Our project has gathered relevant historical materials, including
news reports, manuscripts, diaries, records of cultural institutions, and government records. Relevant
historical materials have been classified: the history of colleges and universities or local chronicles,
the history of libraries, and the history of cultural education during the Anti-Japanese War. Articles that
document how many books belonging to public libraries, school libraries, cultural institutions and the
libraries of private bibliophiles were lost, and how those books were destroyed and plundered by the
Japanese have also been studied. This project identifies five significant issues: time and territory of
plundering, organizations carrying out the plundering, methods of plundering, preservation activities
for books, and the losses of books. This paper traces the history of Japanese cultural aggression, creates
a three-step framework, and studies the characteristics and functions of different kinds of historical
materials and ways to use them, which provides a firm foundation for ongoing studies and facilitates
further studies.

Keywords
Japan’s plundering of books and literatures, Cultural aggression, War-crimes, History of Sino-Japanese
relations

1 A review of Japan’s plundering of books and literatures from China

Japan began to plunder Chinese literary resources since the first Sino-Japanese War in 1894. Japan
stepped up its cultural aggression while carrying out its “continental policy” against China during
the early 1930s. Finally, the theft and destruction of books reached climax during the Anti-Japanese
War.
The first stage of Japan’s cultural imperialism was from the first Sino-Japanese War to the end
of 19th century. Ryuichi Kuki, the royal counselor and chief curator of the museum of Imperial
Japan, drafted a report The methods of collecting Qing’s treasures during the war, as strategic
guidelines for Japanese army to plunder China’s great works of art and ancient books (Matsumoto
① We greatly appreciate Dr. Richard L. Pifer’s kindness and patience to read over the paper and carefully revise it. Dr. Pifer is the
director of the Reference and Public Services Library-Archives Division, Wisconsin Historical Society.

* Correspondence should be addressed to Gang LI, Email: lamligang@163.com