Page 202 - JOURNAL OF LIBRARY SCIENCE IN CHINA 2015 Vol. 41

Mikun MA, Gang LI & Jianhua WU / A review on the studies of Japan’s plundering of books and literatures from China 201

Nanjing were so severely diminished that the theft could be called “cultural massacre” paralleling
the Nanjing Massacre. Under instructions from the “Books & Materials Receiving Committee
in Occupied Areas”, Japanese soldiers robbed and destroyed books utilizing plans and specific
targets. Chinese cultural and educational organizations as well as government agencies, such as
schools, research institutes, libraries, and publication houses suffered heavy losses with books
stolen or destroyed. Academics often consider the theft and destruction of books between 1937
and 1945 as the worst disaster for China’s literary heritage because of the longest duration and the
greatest book losses (P. Y. Li, 2005).

2 The arrangement of historical materials

Historical research is closely connected with records and historical materials because the
collection, verification, systemization and utilization of historical materials provide a window
through which we can study the past. If there are no historical materials, there is no historical
research either. Original records, such as news reports, manuscripts, diaries, records of cultural
institutions, and government records contain the necessary details about how and how many books
were destroyed or plundered by Japan, and offer great research value to investigators. So collecting
records is the fundamental work for historical research. We think, from a broader perspective, the
arrangement of historical materials is also part of the whole research process, and the compilations
of historical materials should be treated as research achievements. Therefore, this paper relies on
analysis of relevant historical materials.

2.1 A brief introduction of traditional historical materials

The advantage of news reports is that they often provide detailed information about what happened
and how it happened. Newspaper accounts informed people of Japanese actions almost as soon as
things happened. As an example, Central Daily News reported that Japan had bombed the Nankai
University on July 31 of 1937 (Sun, 2011). In addition to the domestic newspapers, similar reports
could be read in foreign press. In order to show off its successes in the battle, Japanese journalists
published numerous photographs which depicted the bombing of libraries and theft of books and
relics by the Japanese army. The Sino Front Graph was one representative example of this kind
of pictorial (Meng, 2007a). In January 1939, Jugoro Hayashida and Chio Okami, two journalists
of Asahi Gurafu, collaborated on a report called We are protecting the culture—A tough battle
of collecting scattered books and samples in turbulent times which clearly recorded how the
Japanese army “received” books and relics in Nanjing (Meng, 2011). The China Weekly Review,
also known as Millard’s Review, was founded by an American and published in English. Its news
article—Chinese institution for blind bombed by Japanese (Nov. 13, 1937) reported that Japan had