Spiritual Resistance

Although the Great Unity Herald was the Manchukuo State Council's official newspaper, hundreds of works of resistance literature were published in four supplements, where intellectuals wrote their history and expressed a spirit of resistance via literary channels. Supplements to the Great Unity Herald demonstrate strong deviations from political and cultural identities fostered by the Manchukuo state. This study excavates and analyses supplements and works of resistance literature, finding that Manchukuo authorities oppressed at least 49 editors, journalists, and authors, resulting in arrest, execution, or forced exile for the majority. With support of resistance organizations, and despite official oppression, a prevalent phenomenon of divergence from state narratives developed in supplements within Manchukuo's Chinese newspapers.