The Chinese Revolution, 1927

These slides were produced using photographs taken and purchased by Henry Sara during his visit to China in April or May 1927, together with images copied from some earlier publications.

Henry Sara's visit to China, to attend the 5th Congress of the Communist Party of China at Hankow, coincided with the beginning of the civil war between Kuomintang government forces, led by Chiang Kai-shek, and the Communist Red Army. The slides include images of city streets (including Shanghai and Hankow), prominent individuals, public meetings, Chinese and British troops, and war atrocities. The sequence also includes two informal photos of the British and US Communists Tom Mann and Earl Browder, presumably taken whilst they were attending the CCP Congress. Four slides haven't been reproduced on this website - they show images of severed heads on public display and a decapitated body.

Unfortunately we do not have Henry Sara's notes for this talk, but we have been able to add some captions taken from Sara's source material, including press cuttings, photographs and postcards. A flier or leaflet for this talk, to be held at the Tottenham Trades Club on 13 October 1927, is also reproduced below [document reference: MSS.15B/7/1]. Whilst in China, Henry Sara wrote a short article on British policy towards China for Chinese Correspondence, the weekly journal of the Central Executive Committee of the Kuomintang - this has also been reproducedLink opens in a new window (please contact us if you are unable to access the information in pdf format) [document reference: MSS.15X/1/40/2].

Reproduction for any purpose (publication, exhibition, web display, commercial use, etc.) is only permissible with the consent of the Modern Records Centre. Please contact us for more information.

Leaflet for lantern lecture
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Sampans in Whangpoo River, Shanghai
The port of Canton, closed in March 1926 by order of the Commissioner of Customs as a sequel to the strike. This picture shows some of the junk traffic laid up in the Pearl River.
Shanghai
'Chinese wheelbarrow', Shanghai
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Selling food on the street, Shanghai
Food seller, Shanghai
Group of beggars, Shanghai
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Tientsin: An incident in the Chinese Civil War, 1926. Disarmed police watching the 'Christian' General's [Feng Yuxiang] 'Red' soldiers training Russian-made machine guns on to the Italian concession.
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Map of China, highlighting the cotton growing districts
Sun Yat Sen
Sun Yat Sen with his wife
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General Feng Yuxiang
Chang Tso-lin [Zhang Zuolin]
Chinese protestors shot during anti-foreign riots in Shanghai, 1925
'The Chief of the Shanghai police returns to the scene of danger and sees two of the casualties', 1925
Poster by students at Peking National Normal University, protesting against the British after the shooting of protestors
Posters of 'The Student Movement'
Poster protesting against the shooting of protestors
'Five of the Chinese workers killed by British police fire at Shanghai'
'Posters which appeared on the day following the shooting [of Chinese protestors during anti-foreign 'riots' in 1925]. They were pulled down wherever found in the foreign settlement.'
'Sun Koo'
Map of China and neighbouring countries
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Entrance to British concession in Hankow
Entrance to British concession in Hankow
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USS Chaumont
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US military camp?
Chiang Kai-shek
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Members of the Kuomintang army
Kuomintang aeroplane, with members of military sitting in shade of the aircraft's wings
Entrance to British concession in Hankow
Entrance to British concession in Hankow
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Group with Kuomintang flag
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British soldiers at checkpoint
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Group of US infantry (marines?)
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British soldiers with machine gun
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British or US soldiers
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Tank on the streets
Troop movements
Artillery on the streets
Movement of artillery
Building barricades
Organisation chart of the Kuomintang
Foreign control in China
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Earl Browder and Tom Mann
Tom Mann and Earl Browder
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Tang Shengzhi
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[Document reference for this set of slides: MSS.15B/5/1/2]

Leaflet for lantern lecture

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Sampans in Whangpoo River, Shanghai

The port of Canton, closed in March 1926 by order of the Commissioner of Customs as a sequel to the strike. This picture shows some of the junk traffic laid up in the Pearl River.

Shanghai

'Chinese wheelbarrow', Shanghai

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Selling food on the street, Shanghai

Food seller, Shanghai

Group of beggars, Shanghai

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Tientsin: An incident in the Chinese Civil War, 1926. Disarmed police watching the 'Christian' General's [Feng Yuxiang] 'Red' soldiers training Russian-made machine guns on to the Italian concession.

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Map of China, highlighting the cotton growing districts

Sun Yat Sen

Sun Yat Sen with his wife

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General Feng Yuxiang

Chang Tso-lin [Zhang Zuolin]

Chinese protestors shot during anti-foreign riots in Shanghai, 1925

'The Chief of the Shanghai police returns to the scene of danger and sees two of the casualties', 1925

Poster by students at Peking National Normal University, protesting against the British after the shooting of protestors

Posters of 'The Student Movement'

Poster protesting against the shooting of protestors

'Five of the Chinese workers killed by British police fire at Shanghai'

'Posters which appeared on the day following the shooting [of Chinese protestors during anti-foreign 'riots' in 1925]. They were pulled down wherever found in the foreign settlement.'

'Sun Koo'

Map of China and neighbouring countries

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Entrance to British concession in Hankow

Entrance to British concession in Hankow

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USS Chaumont

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US military camp?

Chiang Kai-shek

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Members of the Kuomintang army

Kuomintang aeroplane, with members of military sitting in shade of the aircraft's wings

Entrance to British concession in Hankow

Entrance to British concession in Hankow

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Group with Kuomintang flag

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