The Ugly History of Treason and Betrayal

This anonymous political pamphlet from the War of Resistance era was written in the later years of the Republic of China. In a documentary style, each chapter exposes the names and deeds of collaborators. It names Wang Jingwei's faction and its key figures, including Zhou Fohai and Chen Gongbo, as well as secret police chiefs such as Li Shiqun and Ding Mocun. It traces their ties to the puppet New Government in the occupied areas and the Provisional Government of North China, and includes the puppet regime under Puyi in the same network. It depicts how they raised funds for the invaders, won people over, conscripted men, and carried out “pacification” campaigns, while using propaganda to whitewash their atrocities. The book also compiles indictments and brief commentaries on current events, including cases such as “The Joke When Chen Gongbo Took Office as Mayor of Shanghai” and “Expert at Plunder: Zhou Chang, Puppet Mayor of Nanjing.” Its details are petty and biting, giving readers a glimpse of how the treasonous network operated and tracing the origins of social trauma. The book is impassioned, yet its wealth of evidence amounts to a dual moral and legal indictment. It is both an archive of wartime public opinion and a gateway to understanding politics in the occupied territories and the collaborators who populated them.