Reconstructing a Spatial Knowledge in Northeast Asia: Rehe Through the Eyes of the Japanese Army in the Early 1930s

This paper examines the expansion of imperial Japan in Rehe/Jehol in the wake of the founding of Manchukuo in the early 1930s, and it presents an array of texts and strategies used by Japanese propaganda to transform perceptions of Asian spaces and solidify Japanese empire-building by redefining the human geography and history of parts of China. The production of knowledge geared towards political goals is an important aspect of ethnographic and geographic writings produced in a military context. Utilizing travel logs, operational reports, liaison records, and soldiers’ diaries of the Japanese army in Rehe as a lens, this chapter demonstrates the relevance of travel writings as sources not only for medieval and early modern history but also for the study of intra-Asian modern imperial gazes.