The Japanese army in North China : problems of political and economic control, July 1937 to December 1941
Abstract
This is a study of the problems of occupation. It is not intended as a chronological narrative of Japanese
rule over occupied North China. It is, rather, an analysis of the problem of the consolidation of power and control
by an occupation army. Although the study is centred on the Japanese military occupation of North China, it is not concerned with the military history of the Japanese Army
in North China. Military occupation was simply the initial step of establishing Japanese military dominance in the area under study, while it is the problems of
consolidation and control subsequent to military occupation that the present study is concerned with. I do not presume to deal with all the problems consequent upon the
Japanese occupation, but aim rather at bringing out some of the major problems of occupation which confronted the Japanese Army in North China, how solutions were attempted, and how the nature of these problems changed with the development of events within and without the North China
theatre of war. This study on the problems of political and economic control is therefore an attempt to illustrate the basic nature of the problems with which the Japanese Army in North China had to deal.