The Coca-Cola Ad

The photos on this page all have the same basic motif: Japanese soldiers engaged in battle in front of a giant Coca-Cola ad. They are from the same spot in … Continue Reading →

Quest Ends After 76 Years

For years Sarah Moran had tried to find out where her uncle was buried. She knew he had been killed in Shanghai during the Sino-Japanese battle in 1937, but she … Continue Reading →

‘The Chinese Baby’

The photo of a Chinese baby crying after a Japanese air raid on the Shanghai South Station in late August 1937 is one of the iconic images of the Second … Continue Reading →

Crisp Footage from Shanghai, 1937

The start of the Second Sino-Japanese War in 1937 resulted in some of the most dramatic footage of the 1930s. The belligerent parties, and especially the Japanese, took great care to document the … Continue Reading →

Inside the Mind of a War Criminal

The Japanese commander of military operations in the Shanghai area in late 1937 was the 59-year-old General Matsui Iwane. Today he is mainly remembered as a war criminal, because he … Continue Reading →

Gaming the Sino-Japanese War (II)

History is pretty much set in stone (although it’s open to constant re-interpretation), but for those who experienced the events of the past first-hand the future was still undetermined, and … Continue Reading →

Gaming the Sino-Japanese War (I)

Since World War II ended in 1945, historians and laypeople alike have strived to make sense of the event, place it into a larger context and grasp its lasting significance. They … Continue Reading →

Woman Seeks Uncle’s Shanghai Burial Site

By Sunday, October 24, 1937, the battle for Shanghai had lasted for more than two months, and much of the city and the surrounding countryside had been marked by war. … Continue Reading →

Impressions of Shanghai, 1937 (III)

Best Overend (1909-1977) was one of thousands of foreigners living in Shanghai on the eve of battle in 1937. He left a memoir of great expressive powers, describing the atmosphere of one of … Continue Reading →

Impressions of Shanghai, 1937 (II)

Best Overend (1909-1977) visited Shanghai in 1937, just before the city descended into war and chaos. He encountered an alien, millennia-old Chinese world, but with elements of a much more familiar … Continue Reading →