#hankou

Propaganda posters in Wuhan, mid-1938. Found in an album that had belonged to Leslie Reginald Frederick Shrimpton RN (1910-1964), who served on the gunboat HMS Falcon in China waters from 1937 to 1939. All photographs and descriptions with translations from University of Bristol - Historical Photographs of China. 

1) The banner depicts Nationalist forces attacking the Japanese. The Chinese text on the banner urges viewers to join the military, fight the Japanese, and thereby defend China. Bi-s168

2) Anti-Japanese public hygiene banner. The slogans on the lower banner (depicting a fly with a Japanese Rising Sun Nisshōki emblem) read: 'We need to knock down our enemies with the world's sympathy on us'. 'We need to prevent cholera and kill flies; and if you want to survive, kill the Japanese soldiers'. 'If you don't kill it, it's going to kill you'. The higher banner depicts Japanese bombers attacking a train. A wall poster on the left reads: 'Build a new Great Wall with our heads'.

3) Banner by L'Association des Etudiants Chinois de Retour de FBS (France, Belgium and Switzerland Returned Students Association), Hankow (Hankou). The banner text provides explicit details that accompany the image of 'cruel massacre and rape never before heard of'. Bi-s163.

4) Propaganda banner featuring Chiang Kai-shek. The slogans on the banner read: 'War of Resistance to the end!' and 'Support the leader'. Chiang Kai-shek is depicted beside Hankou (Wuhan) on the map of war-torn China. This photograph was taken in Wuhan. 

5) The banner slogan reads: 'We demand that the Japanese repay their blood debt!' Photograph taken in Wuhan. Bi-s164. Photograph 3 shows the same building in a different location.. The actual term used here for 'Japanese' is 倭寇 'Dwarf pirates'. Bi-s167.

6) The main banner, showing charging soldiers and workers, bears the slogan: 'Defend Wuhan!' The Hankou (Hankow) bund is depicted in the banner - the clock tower is part of the Custom House. The banner was made by the 'Korean Youth Wartime Service Corps' (朝鲜青年战时服务团), founded in Wuhan in December 1937 by leftist Korean nationalists. Bi-s166.

7) Banner outside the headquarters of "L’Association des Etudiants Chinois de Retour de FBS", Wuhan. The banner was made by L'Association des Etudiants Chinois de Retour de FBS (France, Belgium and Switzerland Returned Students Association). The banner slogan reads 'Mobilize the power of the masses to defend Wuhan'. Sign on the window of the L'Association des Etudiants Chinois de Retour de FBS headquarters building at 69 Jianghan Road (江漢路六十九號) in Hankow (Hankou), in French: BUFFET & BILLIARD. Sign on the window in Chinese: Cold drinks / Coffee. Bi-s162

Une chinoise pleure dans les décombres après un raid aérien japonais sur l'agglomération de Hankou – Bataille de Wuhan – Guerre sino-japonaise –Wuhan – Chine – Septembre 1938

Photographe : Robert Capa