JAPANESE EMPIRE.

Inquire · Offered by Peter Harrington

Moko gaikan ("Map of the Mengjiang United Autonomous Government"). Rare first edition, first printing, of this map of the Japanese puppet state of Mengjiang, one of the three collaborationist regimes established in China during the Second World War. We have traced a single copy at the National Diet Library.Mengjiang, which roughly corresponds to present-day Inner Mongolia, was set up in September 1939 by the Japanese military as a buffer state and a safe zone for opium production, as well as to facilitate the extraction of the region's abundant natural resources. The Mongol prince Demchugdongrub was installed as head of state, and a four-colour, seven-stripe flag was chosen as a symbol of ethnic unity between Chinese (yellow), Mongols (blue), Hui (white), and Japanese (red).Like other Japanese propaganda maps from the period, this example (and the text and images on the verso) tells a story of stability, productivity, and harmony. It is dated to the 736th year of the Mongol empire - a reference to Mengjiang's calendar which slotted the region into a non-Chinese political history dating back to the election of Ghenghis Khan in 1206.

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