Collection Guide
Collection Title:
Collection Number:
Get Items:
Register of the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration. China Office. Records, 1943-1948
XX288
No online items
View entire collection guide
Search this collection
Table of contents
Title: United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration. China Office. Records,
Date (inclusive): 1943-1948
Collection number: XX288
Creator:
United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration. China Office
Collection Size:
39 manuscript boxes
16.3 linear feet)
Repository:
Hoover Institution Archives
Stanford, California 94305-6010
Abstract: Reports, manuals, bulletins, correspondence, and administrative orders, relating to social and economic conditions in China,
and to United Nations relief activities in China
Language:
English.
Collection open for research.
The Hoover Institution Archives only allows access to
copies of audiovisual items. To listen to sound recordings or to view videos or films during your visit, please contact the Archives
at least two working days before your arrival. We will then advise you of the accessibility of the material you wish to see
or hear. Please note that not all audiovisual material is immediately accessible.
For copyright status, please contact
the Hoover Institution Archives.
[Identification of item], United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration. China Office. Records, [Box no.], Hoover
Institution
Archives.
Acquired by the Hoover Institution Archives.
Materials may have been added to the collection since this finding aid was prepared. To determine if this has occurred, find
the collection in Stanford University's online catalog at
http://searchworks.stanford.edu/ . Materials have been added to the collection if the number of boxes listed in the online catalog is larger than the number
of boxes listed in this finding aid.
Chinese National Relief and Rehabilitation Administration
United Nations--Economic assistance
International relief
Reconstruction (1939-1951)--China
World War, 1939-1945
World War, 1939-1945--China
World War, 1939-1945--Civilian relief
China
China--Economic conditions--1912-1949
China--Social conditions
On November 9, 1943, the agreement establishing the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration (UNRRA) was signed
by 44 Allied Nations, including the United States, to provide supplies and services to areas under occupation by the Axis
Powers. The largest project undertaken by UNRRA was the China program which had a total estimated cost of $658.4 million dollars.
Approximately 72% of UNRRA's fund was contributed by the United States, or $474 million dollars for the China Program.
The China Office was opened in Shanghai at the end of 1944, and operated until the official termination of the office on December
31, 1947. Final work and responsibilities were finished by March, 1948. The four directors of the China Office from 1944 to
1948 were:
- Benjamin H. Kizer (Oct. 24, 1944 - May 15, 1946)
- J. Franklin Ray, Jr. (Acting director, May 16, 1946 - August 26, 1947)
- Major General Glen E. Edgerton (August 27, 1946 - May, 1947)
- Harlan Cleveland (May 1, 1947 - February 24, 1948).
In January, 1945 the Chinese National Relief and Rehabilitation Administration (CNRRA) was created by the Nationalist Government,
as a special agency to administer and coordinate UNRRA operations in China. Prior to the breakdown in the interparty peace
negotiations between the Nationalists and Chinese Communists in 1946, the Chinese Communists established the Communists Liberated
Areas Relief Administration (CLARA) which distributed UNRRA supplies delivered to Communist territories.
The 2nd Resolution on Policy of the First Session of the Council of the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration,
adopted in 1943, states the following:
That, in any area where relief and rehabilitation operations are being conducted through the employment, in whole or in part, of the Administration's resources, relief and rehabilitation shall be distributed or dispensed fairly on the basis of the relative needs of the population in the area, and without discrimination because of race, creed, or political belief.
The provinces of the North, which had been under the longest occupation by the Japanese, were also the areas of Chinese Communist
guerilla activity. After the Japanese surrender, these territories fell under Chinese Communist
control. Difficulties arose in the distribution of aid due to the reality of civil war. The official history of the Administration
estimates that 2-3% (by weight) or 4-5% (by value) of all UNRRA supplies were distributed to Communist-held territories.
The UNRRA program was conceived as a short-term program, but long-range goals to remove the causes of necessity in war-devastated
areas were also present. Food, medical supplies and clothing were distributed as relief, and projects undertaken as part of
industrial and agricultural rehabilitation were of great importance for long-range economic development.
The Recordsincluded in this collection were sent to the Hoover Institution by a U.S. Army Intelligence officer named Pardee
Lowe. Obtained from the Shanghai Office prior to its closing, the Recordsdo not constitute the complete office file of the
Administration. These Recordsare located in the UN Archives in New York City and occupy 8,500 linear feet. The most comprehensive
file in the collection at the Hoover Institution relates to the Agricultural Rehabilitation Division.
Sources: UNRRA:
The History of the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration, George Woodbridge (NY: Columbia U.P., 1950) 3 vol. and
UNRRA: A Case Study in Financial Assistance for Economic Development, Irving Barnett, Ph.D. Thesis, Columbia University, 1955.