[SINO-JAPANESE WAR] Map. Kitai [i.e. China]
Item #1746
[Moscow]: Gos. izdatel’stvo politicheskoi literatury, 1939. 70x106 cm. Tears of edges, handwritten title on rear side, otherwise very good.
Mostly in Russian.
A folding map of China with Russian supplementing texts. They outline the country’s geography, population, international relations, agriculture, industry, transport and economy.
The last and the largest text is devoted to the Second Sino-Japanese War that had started in 1937. Against the backdrop of increasing Japanese military attacks, China restored diplomatic relations with the USSR in 1932. The Soviet Union consented to restore relations and stopped supporting the Xinjiang independence movement. Distancing the country from the war, the Soviet authorities decided to sell to Japan its share in the Chinese Eastern Railway on the territory of Manchukuo – and this aggravated relations with China. Negotiations on extensive military assistance to China were being delayed – the USSR didn’t want to be drawn into war in the East as well. Countries were restrained in relations until active hostilities of Japan began in 1937. Since then, large-scale military deliveries went by land through Xinjiang and by sea from Odessa to ports of Indochina and further by road to central regions of China. Over 5,000 Soviet military officers and soldiers were also sent to China. In addition, in 1938 the countries signed a trade agreement favorable to the USSR.
The map indicates lands under Japanese rule, including the territory of a puppet state Manchukuo. It was formed in 1932, after the Japanese invasion of Manchuria, but the territories were transferred to Chinese administration after the Soviet invasion in 1945. The map also displays French and British colonies in Asia, Also, naval bases (Japanese and British) and Chinese port cities
open to international trade.
Price: $1,200.00