Bloody Saturday (photograph)

For other uses, see Bloody Saturday (disambiguation).

Bloody Saturday, by H. S. Wong

Bloody Saturday (Chinese: 血腥的星期六; pinyin: Xuèxīng de Xīngqíliù) is a black-and-white photograph taken on 28 August 1937, a few minutes after a Japanese air attack struck civilians during the Battle of Shanghai in the Second Sino-Japanese War. Depicting a Chinese baby crying within the bombed-out ruins of Shanghai South railway station, the photograph became known as a cultural icon demonstrating Japanese wartime atrocities in China. The photograph was widely published, and in less than a month had been seen by more than 136 million viewers.[1] The photographer, Hearst Corporation's H. S. "Newsreel" Wong, also known as Wong Hai-Sheng or Wang Xiaoting, did not discover the identity or even the sex of the injured child, whose mother lay dead nearby. The baby was called Ping Mei.[2] One of the most memorable war photographs ever published, and perhaps the most famous newsreel scene of the 1930s,[3] the image stimulated an outpouring of Western anger against Japanese violence in China.[4] Journalist Harold Isaacs called the iconic image "one of the most successful 'propaganda' pieces of all time".[5]

Wong shot footage of the bombed-out South Station with his Eyemo newsreel camera, and he took several still photographs with his Leica. The famous still image, taken from the Leica, is not often referred to by name—rather, its visual elements are described. It has also been called Motherless Chinese Baby,[6] Chinese Baby, and The Baby in the Shanghai Railroad Station.[7] The photograph has been denounced by Japanese nationalists who claim that it was staged.[8]

  1. ^ Van der Veen, Maurits (2003). Uriel's Legacy. Trafford Publishing. p. 262. ISBN 1-55395-462-9.
  2. ^ Bradley, James (2016). The China Mirage - The Hidden History of American Disaster in Asia. New York: Back Bay Books / Little, Brown and Company. pp. 176–177. ISBN 9780316336178.
  3. ^ Doherty, Thomas (1999). Projections of war: Hollywood, American culture, and World War II (2 ed.). Columbia University Press. p. 105. ISBN 0-231-11635-7.
  4. ^ Tuchman, Barbara W. (1972). Stilwell and the American experience in China, 1911–45. Bantam Books. p. 214. ISBN 0-553-14579-7.
  5. ^ Dower, John W. (2010). Cultures of War: Pearl Harbor / Hiroshima / 9-11 / Iraq. W. W. Norton & Company. pp. 158–159. ISBN 978-0-393-06150-5.
  6. ^ Cameron, Mrs. Richard; Malcolm Rosholt (January 21, 1972). "Letters to the Editors: The Child". Life. Vol. 72, no. 2. Time, Inc. p. 27. ISSN 0024-3019.
  7. ^ Cite error: The named reference Faber1978 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  8. ^ Cite error: The named reference Nobukatsu1999 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).