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Paper short abstract:

Both China and Japan made intensive use of radio propaganda during the war of 1937-45. Long thought lost, documents on the contents of broadcasting have recently reemerged from the archives. The paper discusses these contents and points at the legacy of propaganda in the postwar era.

Paper long abstract:

After the Sino-Japanese War broke out, both countries made strong propaganda towards East Asia and beyond. Both of them resorted to short-wave/long range radio broadcasting to direct propaganda to the enemy. Radio was recognized as a "weapon", as testified by the expression "radio war" in use at the time. Some recent studies have explored the development of facilities for radio stations, the policies concerning radio broadcasting and the everyday schedules of radio programmes. However, the contents of those programmes have remained unclear until now.

Materials that included the contents of radio propaganda to the enemy were lost on both sides during and after the war. Both countries, though, managed to preserve materials relating to propaganda from the enemy. Research in Japan has first brought to light a large documentaton on intercepted KMT radio propaganda. More recently, KMT archives in Taipei have revealed similar documents on the interception of Japanese radio propaganda to China. Thanks to these documents, our knowledge of the contents of propaganda has increased sharply. Interestingly, contents on both sides have several traits in common. Both Japan and China stressed their own legitimacy and just reasons for war, and crafted narratives that supported such viewpoint. "Fake news" were a common weapon to disturb the enemy, while "friendly messages" were also aired regularly to persuade soldiers to surrender.

This presentation outlines the contents of both Chinese and Japanese documents, discussing their characteristics and pointing out controversial aspects. Furthermore, it explains the process of message transfer as a form of mass communication in wartime. Lastly, the analysis suggests that propaganda left a problematic legacy in the postwar era. Japan, being the loser, denied and basically abandoned the narrative of propaganda. As the winner, instead, China could not deny those messages and went on using them after the war. The influence of radio propaganda on the collective memory of the people was therefore greater in China.