Nanking

is a Japanese documentary film released in the year 1938. It was composed of footage shot inside and outside the walls of the city of Nanking just after the end of the Battle of Nanking during the Second Sino-Japanese War. The movie was planned out in conjunction with the documentary Shanghai on the Battle of Shanghai in anticipation that the advance on Nanking would follow. After the shooting of Shanghai wrapped up the equipment used for that movie was passed on to Nanking'''s camera crew who departed for Nanking before dawn on December 12, 1937. They arrived on December 14 the day after the city's fall, spent New Year's there, and continued shooting until January 4. Considered for a long time as a lost film, it was discovered in Beijing, China, in the year 1995, though about ten minutes of footage is missing. A DVD copy has been released by Nippon Eiga Shinsha. Contents Nanking includes commentary on the locations of each military confrontation during the battle interspersed with footage of Japanese soldiers giving cigarettes to Chinese POWs, the Japanese Army's victory parade through the city, a joint service for the war dead, the refugee area set up by the International Committee known as the Nanking Safety Zone, rebuilding by the Japanese Army and residents of Nanking of battle damage to the city, civilians returning to their homes, the work of nurses from the Red Cross, the Japanese Army's issuing of identification papers to the Chinese they deemed to be law-abiding citizens, preparations for the new year and New Year's Day in the Japanese Army, Chinese children playing with firecrackers on New Year's Day, and the inaugural ceremony of the Nanking Self-Government Committee.