Refugee Crisis in Shanghai – Terrorized Chinese Rush Frenchtown in 1937

This headline accompanied the photograph I posted yesterday of fighting in Chapei (Zhabei) in November 1937 as terrified Chinese outside the international concession flocked into Frenchtown to seek sanctuary from the Japanese bombardment.

For the record the French Concession authorities reported that the number of persons by April 1938 who had arrived and were seeking refuge in the International Settlements was 150,000, including foreigners and displaced Chinese. 80,000 refugees were registered in Settlement camps – mostly comprised of Chinese from the interior of the country displaced by the Japanese invasion.

Refugee Crisis in Shanghai – November 1937 – Chapei Burns as Japanese Attack

This picture appeared on the front pages of American newspapers in November 1937 – it was taken by an American cameraman close to the Japanese troops storming Shanghai’s Chapei (Zhabei) district after the August 1937 attack on the city. It shows clearly the level of total destruction wrought in the Chinese portions of Shanghai by the Imperial Japanese Army in the winter of ’37…..as a result 150,000 Chinese refugees crossed into the International Settlements in the ensuing six months….

Japanese Troops Scale the Soochow Creek Wall, January 1938

I think this is a rather remarkable picture – Japanese troops, brought to Shanghai as reinforcements after Tokyo’s attack on the city in 1937, arriving by boat and scaling the wall of the Soochow Creek (Suzhou Creek). It’s hard to work out exactly where this is on the Soochow Creek, but it must have been at low tide, and on the largely Japanese-controlled north side of the Creek (Hongkew side), with the Japanese commandeering sampans to take them from their troop ships to the bankside.

North Korea State of Paranoia Gets a New Edition and a Snazzy New Cover

Apologies for self promotion but a new edition (with a bit of updating as ever) of my North Korea: State of Paranoia is out in the UK (here) and USA (here). I rather like this cover and it’s slightly cheaper in this B-format…..

Highlights of History, 1930 – The Boxer Rebellion #10 – The Last Episode (in which Uncle Sam is shown is a glowing light)

Highlights of History, 1930 – The Boxer Rebellion #9 – Foreign Troops Control Peking

Highlights of History, 1930 – The Boxer Rebellion #8 – The Relief of the Legation Quarter

Highlights of History, 1930 – The Boxer Rebellion #7 – Foreign Troops Enter Peking