Settler colonial propaganda: Yiwen Xia, ‘Man’ei film in China 1937–1945: The Ideological Weapon of Japanese Settler Colonialism’, Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television, 2025 | settler colonial studies blog

Settler colonial propaganda: Yiwen Xia, ‘Man’ei film in China 1937–1945: The Ideological Weapon of Japanese Settler Colonialism’, Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television, 2025

23May25

Abstract: Man’ei, established in 1937 by Japan’s Kwantung Army in the occupied northeast region of China, was Japan’s core cultural propaganda institution overseas during World War II. This study systematically examines the origins and developmental background of Man’ei, with a particular focus on the colonial policies promoted by the Kwantung Army, such as the ‘Twenty-Year Million-Household Sending Plan’ and the ‘Essentials of the Japanese Language Popularisation Policy’. It then investigates Man’ei’s production methods and, through a textual analysis of Winter Jasmine (1942), explores how the Kwantung Army employed entertainment films to further its expansive colonial propaganda agenda. Unlike colonial films from other imperial powers, Man’ei’s productions idealize the colony, Manchukuo, as part of a positive response to the Kwantung Army’s immigration and related policies, reflecting Japan’s broader strategic ambitions in China. This research draws on archival materials from the Northeast China Martyrs Memorial Hall and online digital repositories, combined with a historical literature review and film textual analysis, thereby revealing Japan’s overlooked colonial practices and contributing to discussions on imperial colonialism as well as the interplay between cinema, power, and national identity formation.

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