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A chorus group [sic]
From a collection of staged photographs produced under the title “Life at a Girls School in Peking”, and produced at the Peking Jiyu Gakuen in Japanese-occupied Beijing.
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Damin cover image, May 1940
This is the cover image of the magazine Damin 3.3 (May 1940), published by the Daminhui (Great People’s Association) in Nanjing. The Daminhui was a propaganda and mobilization organization established by the Japanese in 1938, which was later folded into Wang Jingwei’s Kuomintang (Nationalist Party). The Daminhui specialised in public expressions of support for the occupation, and employed a staff of Chinese organisers, artists, and writers. The sun-and-moon logo of the Daminhui can be seen on this magazine’s cover.
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Armed soldier of the Kampuchea United Front for National Salvation
This unattributed image of armed soldier of the Kampuchea United Front for National Salvation (KUFNS, also known as FUNSK) [Front or Renakse] at the entrance of Stung Treng Municipality (northeastern Cambodia) is taken from a low angle. It shows the head and upper torso of the soldier. The man firmly holds his rifle and looks extremely focused. The other half of the picture shows the sculpture-symbol at the entrance of Stung Treng, a dented circle on a pedestal. This image was featured in the publication (French and English versions) entitled The People’s Republic of Kampuchea (1979). This photograph is part of the collection held by the Agence Khmère de Presse (AKP) and Cambodia’s Ministry of Information. This collection, which documents the early years of the People’s Republic of Kampuchea as photographed by the Vietnamese and a small team of Cambodian photographers, has not yet been classified or indexed.
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Crowds visiting Angkor Wat
This unattributed photograph shows a group of Cambodians on their way back from visiting Angkor Wat. The temple is visible in the background. The visitors are mostly men, with a few children and teenagers, with the people at the front smiling at the photographer. This photograph is part of the collection held by the Agence Khmère de Presse (AKP) and Cambodia’s Ministry of Information. This collection, which documents the early years of the People’s Republic of Kampuchea as photographed by the Vietnamese and a small team of Cambodian photographers, has not yet been classified or indexed.
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Posters being distributed to villagers
This photograph shows soldiers distributing illustrated posters celebrating the Kampuchea United Front for National Salvation (KUFNS, also known as FUNSK) [Front or Renakse] to a group of villagers. It is part of a series that describes the same group of villagers and soldiers. This photograph is part of the collection held by the Agence Khmère de Presse (AKP) and Cambodia’s Ministry of Information. This collection, which documents the early years of the People’s Republic of Kampuchea as photographed by the Vietnamese and a small team of Cambodian photographers, has not yet been classified or indexed.
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Newly laid road in Sihanoukville
This unattributed photograph shows a car travelling on a newly laid asphalt road connecting Sihanoukville and Phnom Penh in the mid 1960s. The photograph is part of the collection that was donated to the National Archives of Cambodia from the Library of the Royal University of Fine Arts by Darryl Collins and Helen Grant Ross in 2003. The collection was used by Collins and Ross for their research into urbanisation. The images were probably originally used to mount the Sangkum Reastr Niyum Permanent Exhibition at the Exhibition Hall, Bassac area, Phnom Penh.
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Win-Win Monument bas-relief
This photograph provides a view of bas-relief on the 117-metre-long engraved base of the Win-Win Monument. This section celebrates the achievements of different ministries, in this detail the Ministry of Tourism. The ministry is represented by a carving of Angkor Wat on a Naga (a mythological part-human part-cobra creature). The Win-Win Monument complex – photographed here in January 2020 – was inaugurated in December 2018 to mark the twentieth anniversary of the end of the post-Democratic Kampuchea civil war, with the final defection of the remaining Khmer Rouge factions, thanks to the DIFID policy (“Divide, Isolate, Finish, Integrate, Develop”) also known as the “Win Win” policy of Prime Minister Hun Sen.
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Miniature monuments at the Win-Win Monument complex
This photograph shows a miniature reproduction of a four-faced Buddha statue at the Temple Bayon (Angkor Wat). A garden located on the northern side of the Win-Win Monument complex displays several miniature reproductions of iconic Khmer monuments. The Win-Win Monument complex – photographed here in January 2020 – was inaugurated in December 2018 to mark the twentieth anniversary of the end of the post-Democratic Kampuchea civil war, with the final defection of the remaining Khmer Rouge factions, thanks to the DIFID policy (“Divide, Isolate, Finish, Integrate, Develop”) also known as the “Win Win” policy of Prime Minister Hun Sen.
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Huanan huabao (South China Graphic) cover, January 1941
This cover image is taken from Huanan huabao (South China graphic) 3.1 (January 1941). The staged photograph deploys one of the standard tropes of Japanese propaganda in occupied China, i.e., that of a Japanese woman and Chinese woman fraternising with each other. This trope was derived from Manchukuo propaganda and the notion of “gozoku kyōwa” (“the harmony of the five races”), as well as attempts to feminise the image of an occupied China. Note how the Japanese woman is pictured as being slightly higher than her Chinese peer.
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Ertong zuopin (works by children), I
This is a selection of images (most being pencil drawings) contributed to the magazine Ertong huakan (Children’s Pictorial) 9.10 (April 1941) by readers. The images offer a fascinating insight into the ways in which official ideas about perceived notions of student behaviour in occupied China were reflected in the artwork of Chinese school children living in the RNG capital. Two of the drawings in this selection, for example, relate to the hardships of studying (in difficult weather, poor light, etc), while one depicts children playing in a classroom.
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Yaodi shengmiao jidian (Ceremony at the Emperor Yao Temple)
This poster was produced (almost certainly by the Japanese military) with the aim of advertising the re-opening of the Emperor Yao Temple (Yaodi shengmiao) in Linfen (Shanxi Province). This site was taken by the Japanese from communist resistance fighters, and was used by the Japanese as a symbol of the apparent iconoclasm and lack of religious sensitivity shown by the communists. The re-opening the temple to worshippers in the spring of 1938 by the Japanese was used to demonstrate the extent to which occupation supposedly included respect for Chinese religious traditions. The painted image of the female worshipper here was based on a photograph of a female worshipper at the same temple produced in other propaganda leaflets some months earlier.
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Qiantu wuliang (An immeasurable future)
Cover of a magazine which was published in Nanjing for children themselves during the Japanese occupation. The artist who created this image is not named. Publication details are: Ertong huakan (Children’s Pictorial) 9.10 (April 1941): cover image