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Life and Death in the Garden : Sex, Drugs, Cops, and Robbers in Wartime China

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Title: Life and Death in the Garden : Sex, Drugs, Cops, and Robbers in Wartime China
Description: This compelling book provides a rare glimpse into the heart of wartime China. Kathryn Meyer draws us into the perilous world of the Garden of Grand Vision, a ramshackle structure where a floating population of thousands found shelter from the freezing Siberian winter. They had come to the northern city of Harbin to find opportunity or to escape the turmoil of China in civil war. Instead they found despair. As the author vividly describes, corpses littered the halls waiting for the daily offal truck to cart the bodies away, vermin infested the walls, and relief came in the form of addiction. Yet the Garden also supported a vibrant informal economy. Rag pickers and thieves recycled everything from rat pelts to cigarette butts. Prostitutes entertained clients in the building's halls and back alleys. These people lived at the very bottom of Chinese society, yet rumors that Chinese spies hid among the residents concerned the Japanese authorities. For this population lived in Manchukuo, the first Japanese conquest in what became the Second World War. Thus, three Japanese police officers were dispatched into the underworld of occupied China to investigate crime and vice in the Harbin slums while their military leaders dragged Japan deeper into the Pacific War. While following these policemen, the reader discovers a remarkable and unexpected view of World War II in East Asia. Instead of recounting battles and military strategy, this book explores the margins of a violent and entrepreneurial society, the struggles of an occupying police force to maintain order, and the underbelly of Japanese espionage. Drawing on the author's years of rediscovering the historical trail in Manchuria and research based on top-secret Japanese military documents and Chinese memoirs, this book offers a unique and powerful social and cultural history of a forgotten world.
Authors: Kathryn Meyer
Resource Type: eBook.
Subjects: Prostitution--History--20th century.--China, Drug traffic--History--20th century.--China, Crime--History--20th century.--China--Harb
Categories: HISTORY / Asia / China, HISTORY / Wars & Conflicts / World War II / General, HISTORY / Modern / 20th Century / General
Database: eBook Collection (EBSCOhost)
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Header DbId: nlebk
DbLabel: eBook Collection (EBSCOhost)
An: 850752
RelevancyScore: 1057
AccessLevel: 6
PubType: eBook
PubTypeId: ebook
PreciseRelevancyScore: 1057.36352539063
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  Data: Life and Death in the Garden : Sex, Drugs, Cops, and Robbers in Wartime China
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  Data: This compelling book provides a rare glimpse into the heart of wartime China. Kathryn Meyer draws us into the perilous world of the Garden of Grand Vision, a ramshackle structure where a floating population of thousands found shelter from the freezing Siberian winter. They had come to the northern city of Harbin to find opportunity or to escape the turmoil of China in civil war. Instead they found despair. As the author vividly describes, corpses littered the halls waiting for the daily offal truck to cart the bodies away, vermin infested the walls, and relief came in the form of addiction. Yet the Garden also supported a vibrant informal economy. Rag pickers and thieves recycled everything from rat pelts to cigarette butts. Prostitutes entertained clients in the building's halls and back alleys. These people lived at the very bottom of Chinese society, yet rumors that Chinese spies hid among the residents concerned the Japanese authorities. For this population lived in Manchukuo, the first Japanese conquest in what became the Second World War. Thus, three Japanese police officers were dispatched into the underworld of occupied China to investigate crime and vice in the Harbin slums while their military leaders dragged Japan deeper into the Pacific War. While following these policemen, the reader discovers a remarkable and unexpected view of World War II in East Asia. Instead of recounting battles and military strategy, this book explores the margins of a violent and entrepreneurial society, the struggles of an occupying police force to maintain order, and the underbelly of Japanese espionage. Drawing on the author's years of rediscovering the historical trail in Manchuria and research based on top-secret Japanese military documents and Chinese memoirs, this book offers a unique and powerful social and cultural history of a forgotten world.
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RecordInfo BibRecord:
  BibEntity:
    Classifications:
      – Code: 306.0951
        Scheme: ddc
        Type: prePub
    Languages:
      – Code: eng
        Text: English
    Subjects:
      – SubjectFull: Prostitution--History--20th century.--China
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Drug traffic--History--20th century.--China
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Crime--History--20th century.--China--Harb
        Type: general
    Titles:
      – TitleFull: Life and Death in the Garden : Sex, Drugs, Cops, and Robbers in Wartime China
        Type: main
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      – PersonEntity:
          Name:
            NameFull: Kathryn Meyer
      – PersonEntity:
          Name:
            NameFull: Kathryn Meyer
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      – BibEntity:
          Dates:
            – D: 01
              M: 01
              Type: published
              Y: 2014
            – D: 25
              M: 09
              Type: profile
              Y: 2014
          Identifiers:
            – Type: isbn-print
              Value: 9781442223523
            – Type: isbn-electronic
              Value: 9781442223530
            – Type: isbn-electronic
              Value: 9798216285373
          Titles:
            – TitleFull: Life and Death in the Garden : Sex, Drugs, Cops, and Robbers in Wartime China
              Type: main
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