NOT TODAY, EBAY (25)
By:
July 7, 2025
One in a series of posts via which Josh Glenn will share recent examples of stuff that he was tempted to purchase from eBay… but, heroically, didn’t.
’60s Hong Kong Chinese comics guerrilla against Japanese invasion
US $129.99
In the basement of my father’s house, I once came across several heavily illustrated Chinese Communist Party pamphlets that provided instructions to rural peasants on how to wage guerrilla warfare against (Japanese, I think) invaders. As I understand it, the Chinese harbored concerns about potential Japanese invasion after the end of World War II and the rise of the People’s Republic of China. This was due to the ongoing tensions in the Taiwan Strait, the legacy of Japanese occupation during WWII, and the broader context of the Cold War.
These pamphlets demonstrated how to dig (awesome) tunnels, make booby traps, and kill with one’s hands. I was riveted. It was like D.C. Beard’s Shelters, Shacks, and Shanties plus bayonets. And then, somehow, I lost track of these pamphlets. And I’ve never been able to even confirm that they once existed. Did I dream them up?
Am I misremembering important details? Were the invaders not Japanese, but perhaps forces of the ROC (Republic of China), which in 1945 captured Taiwan from Japan, and in 1949 retreated to Taiwan after the PRC defeated the ROC on the mainland? Were the pamphlets created by the CIA to stir up anti-Maoist sentiment? I’d love to find out.
The 1965 Chinese movie Tunnel War, about a small town that defends itself from the Japanese by use of a network of tunnels during the Second Sino-Japanese War, sounds like the sort of thing I’m talking about. It was the highest-grossing film in China…
I can recall both cartoon pamphlets and photo-illustrated pamphlets. The example here is not one of the pamphlets I remember. But it’s the closest I’ve ever come (so far) to solving this mystery via eBay.
MORE FURSHLUGGINER THEORIES BY JOSH GLENN: SCHEMATIZING | IN CAHOOTS | JOSH’S MIDJOURNEY | POPSZTÁR SAMIZDAT | VIRUS VIGILANTE | TAKING THE MICKEY | WE ARE IRON MAN | AND WE LIVED BENEATH THE WAVES | IS IT A CHAMBER POT? | I’D LIKE TO FORCE THE WORLD TO SING | THE ARGONAUT FOLLY | THE PERFECT FLANEUR | THE TWENTIETH DAY OF JANUARY | THE REAL THING | THE YHWH VIRUS | THE SWEETEST HANGOVER | THE ORIGINAL STOOGE | BACK TO UTOPIA | FAKE AUTHENTICITY | CAMP, KITSCH & CHEESE | THE UNCLE HYPOTHESIS | MEET THE SEMIONAUTS | THE ABDUCTIVE METHOD | ORIGIN OF THE POGO | THE BLACK IRON PRISON | BLUE KRISHMA | BIG MAL LIVES | SCHMOOZITSU | YOU DOWN WITH VCP? | CALVIN PEEING MEME | DANIEL CLOWES: AGAINST GROOVY | DEBATING IN A VACUUM | PLUPERFECT PDA | SHOCKING BLOCKING.