THIS PAGE IS LEFT BLANK CATALOUGE OF MATERIALS RELATED TO MODERN CHINA IN THE NATIONAL ARCHIVES OF INDIA First published in 2015 By Institute of Chinese Studies, Delhi 8/17 Sri Ram Road Civil Lines Delhi 110054, India Ph.: +91-11-23938202; Fax: +91-11-23992166 Email: [email protected] Website: www.icsin.org © Institute of Chinese Studies, Delhi All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. *The views expressed in this study are the personal views of the authors and not necessarily those of the Institute of Chinese Studies or its sponsors. CATALOUGE OF MATERIALS RELATED TO MODERN CHINA IN THE NATIONAL ARCHIVES OF INDIA MADHAVI THAMPI AND NIRMOLA SHARMA Institute of Chinese Studies 2015 THIS PAGE IS LEFT BLANK CONTENTS Preface ix 1. Introduction 1 2. Materials on China in the National Archives of India 28 3. Index 226 THIS PAGE IS LEFT BLANK Preface This work is the second product emerging from a project sponsored by the Institute of Chinese Studies, New Delhi, to catalogue materials related to modern China in the National Archives of India. The first publication 1 catalogued materials related to China in the Special Collections of the NAI. Like the earlier publication, this one too has the primary objective of bringing to public notice the wealth of material on modern China in India which has remained unutilized or at least greatly underutilized. Undoubtedly, some of the material would also be found in other collections around the world, and particularly in the India Office archives in London. However, the task of comparing the holdings in these two places is beyond the purview of this project, and in our estimation, materials can be found here that will not be duplicated elsewhere. Moreover, the catalogues are primarily intended for researchers in India working on China, and on subjects related to China. It is particularly hoped that young Indian scholars will find material here that will inspire them to delve deeper into aspects of India-China relations and produce original work. The files catalogued here are from the proceedings of the External Affairs Department of the Government of 2 India from the years 1939-1945, corresponding to the period of World War II. The National Archives has 3 yearly indexes of the files transferred to it by different government departments. Files related to modern China are to be found mainly (but not exclusively) in the proceedings of the Foreign & Political Department, which was renamed the External Affairs Department in 1937, and subsequently again renamed the External Affairs Ministry in 1947. Any student or scholar who has sought to use these files for research on China or India-China relations knows that it is a tedious process to comb through these indexes year by year for the span period of one’s subject of research, looking for the relevant files which may be listed under several different headings. The tedium is compounded by the fact that a large proportion of the listed files may not be accessible for various reasons – something which is known only when someone asks to see those files. This time-consuming process and the difficulties involved have probably deterred many researchers from consulting the materials on China in the Archives. Yet for those who have persisted and trawled through the files related to China in the Archives, the rewards are many and often unexpected. One can come across official reports, letters, intelligence briefs, news clippings, and even maps and photographs, that throw light on little known aspects of the relations between India and China. There was a time not so long ago when there was a blanket ban on access to holdings related to China from the period of the Simla 1 Madhavi Thampi and Nirmola Sharma, Catalogue of Materials Related to Modern China in the National Archives of 2 India: Part One (Special Collections), New Delhi: ICS Occasional Paper No.3 (January 2013). Of course, for China the War began earlier, with the Japanese occupation of eastern and central China in 1937, and even earlier with the Japanese invasion of Manchuria in 1931. India was officially declared a belligerent in World War II by the British 3 Government in 1939. The practice of compiling yearly indexes unfortunately was discontinued after 1954. Convention of 1914 onwards. Thankfully, that ban has been lifted, and although access is not completely open, researchers on China face far fewer difficulties now. This relative freedom of access should be utilized by scholars. To make the task of the researcher easier, we have, first of all, identified a little under one thousand files related to China for the seven years from 1939 to 1945. Secondly, we have ensured that each and every one of the files listed here is actually available for consultation. Thirdly, each file has been personally looked over and the gist of each file has been given, and not just the title as listed in the annual indexes. Occasionally, if there is a particularly interesting quote, or a map or photo, from a particular file, this has been noted as well. Fourthly, the list of files has been rearranged thematically, according to broad categories, to make it easier for researchers to identify those files that may be more relevant to their work. Within each category, the files are arranged chronologically according to the year. Finally, after giving the number of each file as listed in the Archives, we have given the reference numbers of other files which are related to the file in question. We found that many files belonged to more than one category, and often had to make a rather arbitrary choice about which category a particular file should be listed under. To lessen the confusion, we have given each listing a unique number and, at the end of each category, we have given the numbers of those files that are listed in another section but that may be of interest to someone searching through this particular category. For example, a file concerned with Soviet influence in Sinkiang may be listed under “Sinkiang”, but a reference to it should be found at the end of the category on “Russia/Soviet Union”. Apart from this system of cross-referencing, we have included an index of around 750 entries to facilitate locating files of interest to a researcher. An introductory essay on “India, China and World War II” seeks to place the material to be found in the Archives from this period within a broader context and interpretive framework. It also provides a very broad summary of the different aspects of the India-China relationship in this period as they emerge from a perusal of this set of archival materials, and highlights findings which we found to be of particular interest. Needless to say, the references to “India” in this catalogue are to what was then British India. The “Government of India” refers to the then British colonial government of India. A word of explanation about the spelling of names is also in order. We have retained the spelling of names according to the usage of those times. This refers not only to the spelling of Indian names, like “Calcutta”, “Bombay”, “Simla”, etc, but also to the romanization of Chinese names, which followed the Wade-Giles system rather than the now widely used pinyin system. We know that in a work of this scope, many errors would still remain, and we would be happy if these are brought to our notice. It remains only to thank those persons and organisations who have contributed greatly to this project. We would first of all like to express our deep gratitude to the Institute of Chinese Studies, New Delhi, for its generous support for the project, and its patience in awaiting this final product. The Director, Prof Alka Acharya, and other members of the Institute showed consistent enthusiasm for the project, which helped us to persevere at times when we felt swamped by the enormity of the task we had set ourselves. We would also like to express our appreciation to the National Archives of India, New Delhi, and its staff who assisted us in various ways over the many months of work we carried out there. Mrs Jaya Ravindran was particularly helpful and encouraging. A very major contribution to this project was made by Shilpa Sharma who worked hard and persistently as a research assistant combing through the files in the Archives. Sayantani also helped us enthusiastically with the research in the last stages. Madhavi Thampi Nirmola Sharma April 2015 Introduction India, China and World War Two There is a strong case to be made for the argument that the modern era of relations between India and China, began during World War II. The objections that can be raised against this argument are of course obvious: India was not yet independent, and China itself was preoccupied with an all-consuming war and its territory was divided amongst contending political forces. A formalist view would be much happier dating the commencement of modern relations between the two countries to the establishment of diplomatic ties between the Republic of India and the People’s Republic of China. Nevertheless, there are compelling reasons why we should regard the World War II years as the crucible of modern India-China relations. If the concept of ‘uneasy neighbours’ has been and continues to be a characteristic feature of Sino-Indian relations in contemporary times, we can trace its origins to World War II.