#Qiunan Li

[tianshiisdead]

the school uniforms of boys schools in manchukuo resembled the army uniform, with dark green fabric and caps and the number of the class/year on the collar. unlike in taiwan where the schools were a symbol of japanese modernity, the schools in manchukuo were unstructured, messy, and generally ineffective. In later years as the war began, the schools became increasingly militarized and abandoned teaching curriculum in favour of forcing the students into labour to fund the war effort. racial inequality was rampant, with the japanese students dining separately and eating separate (and fuller) meals. violence and abuse was common, not only from the teacher to the chinese students but also among the students, as fighting and bullying was encouraged as a show of martial strength. In later years as military training became mandatory, officers who’d fought in the chinese mainland were brought in to train the students - which largely backfired as the teacher’s rampant abuse and tendency to conflate their students with the chinese they had fought in battle only further pushed the students to turn away from state ideology. it seems that school was the place where the pro state ideology was disseminated most successfully, however the abuse and militarization in later years undid a lot of the work from early years. despite many of the major cities having a japanese colonial presence for longer than the 14 official years manchukuo existed, the schools were only established after the takeover resulted in a new direction for japanese imperialism in the region. even in dalian, the only city formally colonized in the 1910s and 20s (and not simply a concession/part of the railway zone), before 1932 the number of schools established for chinese students were quite limited, and the form of colonialism was primarily economic.

girls schools also existed but it seems the english language research on the topic is limited

[jieqionq]

JIEQIONG by qiunan li for vanityteen