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Zong fenqi (Uprising)
This woodcut, by an artist called Tie Ying (lit. “iron eagle”), was reproduced in Zhonghua huabao (Chinese Pictorial) 2.2 (March 1944). The importance of the muke (woodcut) form to artistic practice in occupied China has been almost entirely overlooked in the literature. The muke form has hitherto been associated with the art of resistance in China, despite being an important part of “occupation” visual cultures as well. In this case, the image of Chinese men, dressed in their “New Citizens Uniforms” (Xin guomin zhifu) and waving the ROC flag as they run into battle against enemies unseen, looks almost identical to early wartime resistance muke.
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Drum major
Photograph of an RNG brass band led by a drum major in front of the Executive Yuan in Japanese-occupied Nanjing. The “occupation state” put great store in military parades.
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Subhas Chandra Bose in Nanjing, November 1943
Lin Baisheng, RNG publicity minister (second from right) and Chu Minyi (second from left) accompany a uniformed Subhas Chandra Bose (far left) (leader of the Indian National Army) during his visit to Nanjing in November 1943. Both Wang Jingwei and Bose had attended the Greater East Asia Conference in Tokyo in the same month, and Bose’s visit to Nanjing was celebrated by an administration which had few opportunities to welcome prominent international leaders to its capital.