About the Book

Human Enclosures provides a rigorous documentary reconstruction of the “no-man’s land” policy implemented by the Imperial Japanese Army in Kuancheng County, Hebei. This volume investigates one of the most devastating yet under-researched depopulation campaigns of the twentieth century, where thousands of villages were razed to create a vast, uninhabited buffer zone.

Drawing on a decade of fieldwork and interviews with over 360 survivors, Zhang Mingyun synthesizes oral testimonies with rare visual archives and official wartime documents. The book offers a meticulous analysis of the following:

• The “concentration settlement” policy: The systematic forced relocation of rural populations into fortified enclosures.
• Socio-economic impact: Statistical data on the destruction of local communities and the systematic violence against civilians.
• Archival evidence: Inclusion of primary source materials and historical photographs that document the “Thousand-Mile No-Man’s Land.”

As a vital contribution to Holocaust and Genocide Studies, this work fills a significant gap in the historiography of the Second Sino-Japanese War. It serves as an essential primary resource for academic libraries focusing on military history, human rights, and the social impact of total war.

About the Author

Zhang Mingyun is a historian and researcher specializing in the wartime history of the Great Wall region. Since 2013, he has led extensive field investigations into the “no-man’s land” along the Great Wall, documenting wartime atrocities. His seminal works include The Evil of the Human Pens. Zhang’s scholarship, recognized by the People’s Daily, bridges the gap between archival records and oral history.