Study the Enemy-Occupied Areas
(October 1, 1939)

The problem of the enemy-occupied areas in China is a matter of life or death for
Japanese imperialism. In the present stage, to concentrate all its strength for the
invasion of China is the set policy of Japanese imperialism.
As for the pattern of the enemy invasion of China during the present stage, a
frontal military attack or a large-scale strategic offensive (as distinguished from
offensive campaigns of a certain magnitude), such as the attack in force on Wuhan,
is no longer very probable. Basically, the enemy's mode of aggression has already
come to take the two forms of political and economic attacks. By political attack,
I mean splitting China's united front for resisting Japan, causing friction between
the Guomindang and the Communist Party, and enticing China to surrender. By
economic attack, I mean managing the occupied areas of China and developing
the industry and commerce there, and using it to undermine our economy geared
to the War of Resistance.

To achieve its goal of an economic attack, the enemy must necessarily launch
"mopping-up campaigns" against our guerrilla warfare, set up a unified puppet
régime, and eliminate the national spirit of our people in the occupied areas.
Therefore, the question of the occupied areas has become an extremely grave
problem in the second stage of our War of Resistance—the stage of a stalemate
between the enemy and ourselves.

The stage of a stalemate is, for the enemy, a stage in which to secure the territory it has occupied and prepare for the final conquest of the whole of China; for
China, it is the stage for securing the territory which has not yet fallen and getting
ready to recover the lost territory. The enemy is managing the occupied areas in
such a way as to create the conditions for securing these areas and conquering the
whole of China. In order to secure the territory which has not yet fallen, and recover the territory which has been lost, we have no choice but to make preparations in every domain. To support most actively the guerrilla war and to reform
domestic politics are the two main political orientations for disrupting the enemy's
plans and carrying out our own plans.

In conditions like these, the study of the problems of the enemy-occupied areas
brooks no delay. The question involves two sides, our side and the enemy side. On
our side, it is a question of how to sustain the guerrilla war, and, needless to say, it
is extremely important to study this question. On the enemy side, it is a question of
what the enemy has done, and will do in the future, in the occupied areas. This is
in fact the starting point for the study of the previous question, for, without sufficient knowledge of the enemy's circumstances, there can be no discussion of methods for coping with him.

And yet nine cadres out of ten who are fighting the War of Resistance have
made no study, or have made no systematic study, of the problem of what the
enemy has done and will do in the future in the occupied areas. This shows clearly
that it is important and necessary to call attention to this problem.
"The Association for the Study of Current Affairs" has been organized in Yan'an
for the purpose of studying all important problems of current affairs. Apart from
study and discussion, the comrades there have also set about editing a Current
Affairs Series. For purposes of research, they have divided up the work into four
topics: problems of Japan, problems of the enemy-occupied areas, problems of
world affairs, and problems of China in the War of Resistance. They are gathering
information for this reference collection, which will be published in the form of
digests for reference purposes. Japanese Imperialism at War, published last July,
can be considered the first study of conditions in the homeland of Japanese imperialism and was also the first volume of the Current Affairs Series. Japanese
Imperialism in the Occupied Areas of China (Japan in the Occupied Areas for
short) is the first study of conditions in the enemy-occupied areas and the second
volume of the Current Affairs Series. The studies of the other two problems will
soon be published one after the other.

It is truly necessary and important to carry out such systematic research on current problems, and to provide materials for all the cadres engaged in the War of
Resistance. The work-style of closing one's eyes and talking groundlessly, like those
"blind men groping for fish," must be abandoned. "Without investigation, there is
no right to speak,"¹ or, to put it another way, "in order to study current affairs, one
must first possess detailed information" is a minimum requirement for scientific
methodology, and in no sense constitutes what is called "narrow empiricism."
Last, it must be pointed out that such a current affairs series is nothing but a
collection of materials. They are important materials, but they are only materials,
and incomplete materials at that. They do not solve the problems. To solve the
problems, research is necessary, and conclusions must be drawn from the materials. This is a different kind of work, which is not dealt with in the present series.

Our source for this document is Mao Zedong xinwen gongzuo wenxuan, pp. 44-46, where
it is reproduced from Shishi wenti congsu, no. 2, in which it was originally published in
1939.
1. Mao had first put forward this maxim in May 1930. See "Oppose Bookism," in Volume III, pp. 419-26.