During the Second Sino-Japanese War, the Commercial Press in Shanghai was commissioned to print publications on behalf of the IHP. Research Fellow Shih-feng Yang (1905–1989), who was responsible for proofreading, began thus began his travels from Kunming, Yunnan, to Shanghai on March 29, 1939. Regular routes, however, were largely inaccessible due to the turmoil of war, and Yang was forced to travel overland via Vietnam, then take a boat in Haiphong to Hong Kong, where he stayed for several days, and finally transfer to another ship to Shanghai, arriving on May 7. In 1940, it once again took almost a month for Yang to return to Kunming from Shanghai via the same route.
The Archives is in possession of the complete records of Yang’s journey, including receipts for accommodation, transportation, purchases, and money exchanges. Moreover, while Yang stayed in Shanghai, his assignment also involved buying books and research instruments for the IHP. Despite the war, several IHP publications, such as the Bulletin of IHP, The Chung-hsiang Dialect, the Chinese translation of Études sur la phonologie chinoise, and others, were remarkably still able to be printed, which in large part should be attributed to Yang’s efforts.