The Japanese were almost as unprepared for the responsibilities of occupation as the Nationalists were for governing in retreat. The invaders had not expected the events of July 1937 to turn into an all-out war, and they had few concrete plans in place to deal with the extent of their sudden new conquests. There were precedents, however. In particular, the occupation of Manchuria in 1931–1932 had forced the Japanese to find ways to deal with the politics and economics of occupation. Their general technique had been to find collaborators, preferably people of some standing, to run local
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