Page 211 - JOURNAL OF LIBRARY SCIENCE IN CHINA 2015 Vol. 41

210 Journal of Library Science in China, Vol. 7, 2015

Table 3. Examples of Japanese plundering books in different areas in China
Area Title Author Year
The evidence of Japanese aggressive activities against China: Dalian
Northeast China Wang Yuqin 2011
Library of South Manchurian Railway Company
Records on Japanese aggressive activities in north China: cultural Xie Zhonghou, Zhang 2005
aggression (volume No.10) Ruizhi, Tian Susu
North China
The activities of Japanese cultural aggression in Inner Mongolia Ren Qiyi 2006
between 1931 and 1945
Japanese invaders looting books and relics in Zhejiang Yue Min, Zhao Jianmin 2001
The book losses of private libraries in Zhejiang during Anti-Japanese Jiang Lihua, Yuan Yi 2002
War
East China A review of Japanese invaders’ crazily plundering of books in Nanjing Zhao Jianmin 2002
from Japan’s “Reports on the arrangement of stolen books”
Japanese invaders plundering books and cultural relics in Nanjing Jing Shenghong 2006
during Anti-Japanese War
The analysis of libraries’ damage in Guangxi Province during the war Qin Jing, Zhou Birong 2005
South China A preliminary study on the book losses of Guangxi Province caused
by Japanese invaders’ twice invasions Tang Xianming 2005
West China The anti-Japanese cultural history of west China during the war Tang Zhengmang 2004

3.2 Organizations of plundering

Study of Japan’s organizations that carried out the plundering also is an important topic.
Han (2012) has defined three different kinds of these organizations. The first kind is official
organization founded by the Japanese government, such as the Investigation Department of
SMR, and the “School of Oriental Studies” created by Japan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
The second kind is civil organization co-founded by the Japanese government, such as the
Society for East Asian Archaeology of Japan. The last kind is organization founded by puppet
government with the support of Japanese government, such as the Sino-Japanese Cultural
Exchange Association and other various Japanese civil organizations. The functions of these
organizations included: 1) plundering of book resources; 2) implementing enslavement
education; 3) playing a role of accomplice by helping the Japanese military plundering of
book resources; 4) giving advice for military invasion; and 5) providing military intelligence
(P. Y. Li, 2000). The most influential organization was “the Receiving Committee for Chinese
books and documents in occupied east China”. It was founded by a Japanese spy agency and
started plundering in Shanghai, Nanjing, and Hangzhou in 1932. In order to meet the changing
needs of aggression in different stages of war, this organization went through several phases of
reorganization and readjustment. Meanwhile, its responsibilities also changed from plundering
of books to extracting military intelligence. On August 25, 1938, it was combined with “the
receiving committee for academic materials” of Shanghai and became “the committee for
cultural relations between Japan and China”. To keep so many looted books in order, the new