Made in "occupied China"?

There is an old China figurine in my house that belonged to my grandmother. It says it was made in “occupied China.” What exactly is occupied China? Googling it brings up responses referring to Japanese-occupied China. Is that the same thing? There is a paper called “The Failure of Civil Control in Occupied China” from 1939, too. But, knowing exactly what “China” means during the 20th century is kind of difficult. Was it Taiwan? ROC? PRC?