Why did this institution located in Geneva, Switzerland widely promote and support the Chinese Anti Japanese War? After the July 7th Incident, literature | career | incident
During the Anti Japanese War, the vast number of intellectuals used education, news, literature, music, painting, movies, and other weapons to launch a cultural resistance war without gunpowder. They used their knowledge and talent to record the suffering of the country and unite national strength. The resistance of the China International Library in Geneva is a wave in this magnificent current.
The China International Library was initiated by Li Shizeng, Cai Yuanpei, and others. It was established on July 1, 1933, at 5 Laoseng Street, Geneva, Switzerland, where the League of Nations was located at that time. Dr. Hu Tianshi was the director of the library. Through collection reading, exhibition display, publishing and printing, and contacting international figures, the China International Library actively disseminates Chinese culture, introduces China's national conditions, and promotes academic research.
After the July 7th Incident, the museum focused on promoting and supporting the domestic resistance war through compiling and publishing materials, displaying pictures, collecting books, and holding speeches. For example, searching for important journals and newspapers from various countries, cutting and pasting news comments related to China's resistance war for display, making it easy for readers to browse at any time, and making detailed cards, compiling and printing books, magazines, clippings, and Chinese and Western language catalogs on Sino Japanese issues for easy reference by readers.
Starting from August 1938, the China International Library held an exhibition of photos of the Anti Japanese War. Hundreds of frames of photos of generals and civilians fighting against Japan and cities being bombed were annotated with Western language explanations, along with an invasion timeline, map, anti Japanese slogans, and other exhibits. At the request of the outside world, the exhibition has been repeatedly postponed for three months.
The Japanese invasion of China caused particularly severe damage to the cultural and educational undertakings, with countless universities, museums, and libraries reduced to ashes in the flames of war. The China International Library will provide explanations and comments on relevant news and photos, supplemented by statistical figures, and publish them in various Western newspapers. It will also actively contact major news agencies for publication.
At the same time, relevant memorandums will be submitted to the International Library Association and distributed on the spot during the meetings of the World Cultural Cooperation Council of the League of Nations, or short articles in English and French will be compiled and distributed to people from all walks of life, so that the atrocities committed by the Japanese army in destroying culture cannot be concealed.
In gratitude for the damage of materials in domestic cultural and educational institutions, the library has also sent letters to bookstores, libraries, universities, and other cultural and academic organizations in various countries, requesting them to donate books and materials to help revive the Chinese library industry. After the letter was sent out, a magazine published the full text of the library's appeal, and more and more books were sent as gifts.
The Swiss Library Association also sent the Director of the Library of the University of Geneva to inquire about which books are most urgently needed in China? Afterwards, the association passed a resolution to donate relevant copies of major libraries in Switzerland to China. The Director of the Library of the International Labour Office also personally visited and agreed to send the relevant copies of the office to the Chinese Library Association.
In addition, the China International Library also held speeches to drum and shout for the Anti Japanese War. At the request of Swiss parliamentarians, Director Hu Tianshi made a special trip to a city in central Switzerland to give a speech. More than a thousand listeners expressed sympathy.
Year after year, the seasons flow like a stream. In that era of blood and fire, the cultural resistance activities of the China International Library emitted a strong and indomitable voice of China's resistance, which is worth a special book.