Australian
Screen

Teacher’s notes

provided by

This clip shows the fall of the Chinese city of Guangzhou (Canton) to the Japanese forces in October 1938. Artists Huang Miaozi and Yu Feng were based in the city as part of a team producing anti-Japanese propaganda cartoons. The clip uses archival footage of the advancing Japanese troops, the aerial bombardment of Guangzhou and the mass exodus of refugees from the city. The scenes of Huang and Yu in the propaganda office are re-enacted using actors (Nathan Young and Vina Lee) and a minimal stage-like set with a backdrop. The director, Christopher Tuckfield, provides the narration.

Educational value points

• Japan’s invasion of China in July 1937 initiated the second Sino-Japanese War, which lasted until Japan’s surrender at the end of the Second World War in 1945. The conflict began after a skirmish between the two armies on Lugou Bridge near Beijing and was part of Japan’s expansionist plans to extend its empire in Asia. Japan used Manchuria, a territory it seized from China in 1932, to launch the invasion and occupy territory in northern China, the coastal regions and parts of central China.

• The clip depicts the fall of Guangzhou, a port city in southern China, in October 1938. The city provided the only port entry from overseas for munitions, which were sent to the Chinese army in the interior via the Guangzhou–Hankou Railway. The Japanese subjected the city to a sustained aerial bombardment campaign that killed a huge number of people and reduced much of the city to ruins. When Japanese tank corps entered Guangzhou on 21 October about half of the city’s population of 100,000 had fled.

• As indicated in the clip, huge devastation was caused by the second Sino-Japanese War. Estimates vary, but between 20 and 35 million Chinese people were killed during the War, of whom at least 17 million were civilians. In addition, 95 million people became refugees. Widespread atrocities were committed by Japanese troops, the worst of which was the Nanjing (Nanking) massacre, during which about 300,000 people were killed and about 20,000 women raped. The War left China’s economy decimated and many of its cities in ruins. It is estimated that 1.1 million Japanese troops were killed, wounded or went missing.

• China adopted a policy of destroying key facilities such as factories, transport, roads and dams in areas about to fall into Japanese hands and this 'scorched earth’ policy is referred to in the clip. Before the Japanese entered Guangzhou the Chinese blew up the Pearl River bridge and utility plants and factories, causing fires that raged through the city for days. After the fall of the then capital of China, Nanjing, in December 1937 the Nationalist government withdrew to Chongqing, and key industries and professionals were relocated there.

• The clip depicts calligrapher Huang Miaozi and painter Yu Feng, whose work is represented in major collections around the world. The two married in 1944, but were separated for lengthy periods by war, revolution and repression. Both were jailed during the Cultural Revolution (1966–76), a period of chaos ordered by the Chinese leader Mao Zedong, when much of China’s cultural heritage was destroyed, and intellectuals and artists persecuted. They left China after the death of Mao Zedong in 1976 and eventually settled in Australia where they continued to produce art. The image of the cat shown repeatedly in the clip represents Huang, who adopted 'Little Cat’ as his signature.

• After Japan invaded China, Huang Miaozi, Yu Feng and many other artists produced work that reflected their opposition to the occupying forces. A group known as the National Salvation Cartoon Propaganda Corps was created to produce cartoons that would stimulate patriotism in China and inspire resistance to Japan. Cartoons were effective tools of communication in a country where illiteracy was widespread. The group also drew cartoons that were designed to alert a foreign audience to the plight of the Chinese.

• A Breath is an example of a film made in the performative documentary style. Such documentaries emphasise the subjective and emotive qualities of memory and experience in shaping our understanding of the world. The film views the turbulent history of modern China through the experiences of Huang and Yu. Using Huang’s subjective narration and a highly stylised and theatrical integration of archival footage, music, re-enactments and images of the artists’ work, the film addresses viewers on both an emotional and an expressive level.

• The documentary makes use of actual and imagined representations. In the clip, the movement in the archival footage, which shows the advancing troops and exodus of refugees, correlates with the movement inside the office as it is shaken by bombs and as people flee. This device works to heighten the drama and bring the outside historical world of the footage into the imagined space inhabited by Huang and Yu.

This clip starts approximately 18 minutes into the documentary.

There is a blue filter/hue throughout the clip. The clip uses archival footage of the advancing Japanese troops, the aerial bombardment of Guangzhou and the mass exodus of refugees from the city. The scenes of Huang and Yu in the propaganda office are re-enacted using actors (Nathan Young and Vina Lee) and a minimal stage-like set with a backdrop. The scene shows the panic of the workers having to leave during a bombing raid. Yu continues to illustrate while Huang watches on from the background. We hear traditional string music with a dramatic bass melody.

Christopher Tuckfield, director By mid ‘38, Japanese bombers were devastating southern China. In Guangzhou, I helped Feng with propaganda cartoons. By October ‘38, the Japanese entered Guangzhou. We were ordered to evacuate. I was to go to Chang Ping with the government, whilst Feng was to stay on in the south. 40 million people took to their heels to escape. To frustrate the enemy, they destroyed everything behind them. Feng was still getting over the news of her father’s death. As a judge, he had refused to obey the invaders.