Japanese Invasion-of China Strategic Topographic Map Discovered in Tangshan

A Japanese-published strategic topographic map showing Japanese troops' invasion of China was recently collected from among the people by Kaiping District Archives in Tangshan, Hebei Province.

Experts of Hebei Archives confirm that it was a military strategic topographic atlas in pocket size which could only be possessed by officers at or above the captain rank during World War II. Marked with the words "Xikang Province", the map is deduced to be published after July 1938, because Xikang Province was established after that date.

Sources say, the original owner of the atlas is Zhao Xilun, 70, a citizen of Street No.1, Kaiping Town, Tangshan City. Zhao said that in 1939 when he was only nine years old, a Japanese group quartered somewhere just opposite his home. A dozen days later, the Japanese Army evacuated, Zhao found a gray-cover atlas in a heap of scrap paper discarded by the Japanese troops. He kept it for curiosity. As time went by, many people have thumbed iy through. So both the front and back covers have been lost and the folded area has split. Zhao said that some Japanese have invariably tried to deny their guilty history of invading China. He said he presented the atlas to Kaiping Archives because I believe it is an irrefutable evidence in exploding their lies.

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