‘Sweetheart’ silk panel, Shanghai 1927-28

British military embroidered ‘sweetheart’ silk panel and black and white photographic portrait Second Battalion the Suffolk Regiment, Shanghai Force 1927, ‘Defence China 1928. The Second Battalion, Suffolk Regiment, was ordered to China from Gibraltar in late 1926. The unit became part of the Shanghai Defence Force, an international force intended to protect the International Settlement during a period of unrest in China. It was a frenetic time – Chiang Kai-shek’s Northern Expedition and the Shanghai Massacre of 1927. After their time in Shanghai, the Second Battalion was sent to India in 1929.