The purpose of this paper is to examine one aspect of exchange history of geography between Japan and China in the first half of the 20th century,especially in 1920s to 1940s,by paying attention to returned Chinese students from Japan and their influence on geography in China.Although previous research has studied the influence of returned students from Western countries,especially the United States,little is known about that of Japan.However,in fact,a number of Chinese students went to Japan to study geography,and many books and articles written by Japanese geographers were translated into Chinese.Therefore,in this paper,I hope to clarify their role and meaning at the time regarded as the period of institutionalization of modern geography in China,conducting a case study on a first Chinese graduate of Department of Geography at Imperial University in Japan,that is,Wang Mo (王謨,1895-?).Wang was born in 1895 in Sichuan province and went to Japan to study geography.After graduated from Tokyo Higher Normal School (東京高等師範學校),he entered Department of Geography at Imperial University of Tokyo (東京帝國大學地理學科).He received Naomasa Yamasaki (山崎直方,1870-1929)’s guidance,and got a Bachelor of Science in 1922.After return to China,he became the first Professor of Geography at National Wuchang Normal University (國 立武昌師範大學).Moreover,he established the Department of Geography at National Beiping Normal University (國立北平師範大學) and took part in the restoration of the Chinese Geographical Society (中國地學會) in 1928.He served the editor of some academic geographical journal,including The Geographical Journal (地學雜誌),and published articles and textbooks concerning geography education of elementary and secondary school.Therefore,it is reasonable to suppose that Wang was one of the founders of modern geography in China.According to Mutsumi Hoyanagi (保柳睦美,1905-1987) who visited Wang in Beiping (or Beijing) many times,he was able to speak Japanese very well.Wang kept in contacts with Japanese geographers,especially graduates of University of Tokyo,after return to China.Japanese governors and geographers evaluated him highly,and expected him to act a go-between for Japan and China.Wang also considered that the promotion of friendly relations between China and Japan was the best way for both countries.Therefore he continued to stay in Beijing even after the Japanese occupation in 1937,and actively cooperated with Japanese authorities.He visited Japan several times as a Chinese member of cultural mission.Moreover,he assumed the Minister of Education (教育總署督辦) of puppet regime,that is,the “North China Political Council” (華北政 務委員會) in 1943.As a result,Wang was arrested as “Hanjian” (漢奸) after the defeat of Japan in 1945.The track of Wang Mo suggests (1) the worsening relation between China and Japan put returned Chinese students from Japan in an awkward position,and (2) the role of them were less important than that of Western countries.However,his track also suggests (3) the variety of geographers’ activities and positions in China during the period of institutionalization,(4) the way and possibility of international exchange on the other hand.Therefore I conclude that Wang was a geographer who was not worth admiring but worth memorizing in order to write the history of geography in East Asia in the first half of the 20th century.