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[THE EARLIEST MILITARY RUSSIAN-CHINESE PHRASEBOOK PUBLISHED IN THE USSR] Voyennyy russko-kitayskiy razgovornik [i.e. Military Russian-Chinese Phrasebook]

Bark, V.

Item #2764

Moscow: OGIZ RSFSR, 1937. 152 pp. 13,3x17,9 cm. In original publisher’s cloth binding. Covers slightly worn, the rear cover with mild ink stains, but otherwise in a very good condition.

Scarce. First edition. Text in Chinese and Russian.
Compiled by V. Bark. Edited by Khu-Dzia.
An extremely rare Russian–Chinese military phrasebook issued by the State Institute “Soviet Encyclopedia” in Moscow in 1937. The pocket format of the edition suggests it was intended for field use, and the present copy likely belonged to a Red Army officer stationed along the Manchurian border or engaged in related frontier operations.
At the time this book appeared, the USSR faced an increasingly hostile border with the Japanese puppet state of Manchukuo. Though governed by Japan, the territory’s population was overwhelmingly Chinese, forming the bulk of the local labor force and the Manchukuo Imperial Army. The phrasebook functioned as a strategic tool for field intelligence and anticipated military operations, allowing the Red Army to bypass Japanese officers and speak directly to this “oppressed class.” By enabling Soviet personnel to identify anti-Japanese sentiment and locate anti-Bolshevik “White” Russian units during frequent border incursions, the manual aimed to transform the local population into a primary source of tactical information.
The edition opens with a brief grammatical overview, followed by the main phrasebook section. The material is organized around practical military and intelligence contexts, including commands and orders, prisoner capture, interrogation procedures, identification of personnel, and questioning of suspects. A substantial portion consists of structured Q&A models for interrogation, covering unit composition, troop deployment, positions, aviation, operational plans, political and moral conditions, class structure within units, “White Army” formations, and Manchukuo Imperial Army forces. The phrasebook concludes with a section titled “List of Geographical Names of Manchuria,” preceded by a note on the administrative division of Manchuria under Japanese occupation.
The practical vocabulary includes such field interrogation phrases as: “Are you an enemy scout?”, “Does the company commander have a Japanese adviser?”, “How many White Guards are in his unit?”, “Where are the planned strikes?”, and “Where are the Manchukuo troops located?”, along with corresponding expected answers intended for operational use.

Worldcat shows copies of the edition at the Harvard University, University of Hawaii, State Library of Berlin, and Bavarian State Library.

Price: $1,350.00