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HUAQING SHI: I'm Huaqing Shi. I'm a visiting professor at Loyola University in New Orleans. I'm teaching Chinese and Japanese history

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in the History Department. My research focusing on the living experience of Chinese and Japanese children in the long 20th century, and how they are depicted in the propaganda.

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My current research is focusing on the changing memories of World War II and the anti-Japanese sentiment in China, and how children was used in the propaganda and how children play different games

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and play different toys over the time. I look at the time period from 1920s and all the way to today. The education system in China in the early 20th century has a huge shift.

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Before this early 20th century China, in the Qing dynasty and the dynasty before it, the Chinese children will spend many years to study classics of Confucian tradition.

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And then they will take the exam. And once they pass the exam, they will become officials in the government. And the Confucian classics is the only major thing

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that they learn. And this kind of education are reserved for men. But in this new system, in the early 20th century, we start to see lots of missionaries coming to China

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and establishing church schools. There is lots of evangelical efforts in those days. Also, we see lots of reforms from the government. This starts back to the late Qing dynasty.

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But in the early Republic, this reform has been pushing for children to accept Western education, including introducing more subjects like math and science.

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We also see lots of newly established girls schools, so we have a better gender balance about this new education. But the KMT's education and missionary schools

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are usually limited in big cities. And the rural areas, the children from villages, they did not have the access for this kind of education. Many of them still going through the old way of education,

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and it's very hard for them when they grow up to find a job. Also, in this time period, we see those factories building up. Now China starts to experience this blooming economy of capitalist society.

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And with more factories building up, we have not only lots of adults go to work, many of the children in the cities become child labourers. And for the child labourers, their life is very difficult.

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They work long days and they don't have the access to education and even the things to play with. KMT was doing lots of reforms in the education system. They want to help the children to be

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ready to become good citizens and good soldiers so they can serve the country. However, those reforms are still very much limited in the big cities.

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And, too, those things are usually targeting the rich families. So for the child labour in the cities and the rural area children, the CCP, the Communist Party,

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they are the ones who actually go in there to talk to them and offer education and opportunities, and also even provide games that they can play with. Many of those children grow up to become communists.

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So we have this harsh difference. The different realities between the childhoods in those rich families who have more connections to the Western influences, where we

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have those families in poor rural areas, working as poor labourers in the city. When Japanese came in, this is actually helping both parties. The Communist Party and Guomindang, the KMT,

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started picking up lots of propaganda efforts towards children. Because Japanese, when they come into China, they start to use children's image as we do propaganda,

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and they would use this kind of a more peaceful image and innocent images of children to tell the whole world that Japan's invasion is not very much as an invasion. It's actually, they come here to help Chinese people.

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And China has to counter back that image. So starting from World War II, we start to see both the Guomindang and CCP start to use more of the children's image

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to tell the whole world what they are pursuing. And also, they emphasise more on the children's education, trying to make them more nationalistic and prepare them to be better citizens and soldiers to defend

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the country. Chinese children's image were widely used for propaganda purposes in the early 20th century, and different parties have different ways to use Chinese

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children's image. Many of those images are used in the form of image or the posters, rather than making films. Because films are relatively inaccessible for much

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of the Chinese population at the time. Different parties-- for example, the Japanese. When they make propaganda about children, they usually use children's images

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to humanise their invasion. They would depict children as happy children playing in the fields with Japanese to show that their invasion is not about to defeat China, but to help China.

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Then we have a Nationalist Party. The Nationalist Party at the time, as a ruling party of China, they try to defend the country, especially

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against the Japanese invasion. And they want to promote this idea of anti-communism as well. As a result, their depiction of children more focusing on the preparation for them

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to be the future soldiers to serve the country. And they really emphasise all the good habits children should have. Then we have the communists.

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The Communist Party in China, they want to emphasise the bad experiences the children have that would help them to fight against the Nationalists. But at the same time, they want to develop very strong

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anti-Japanese propaganda. So they use children's image to create some heroic images to show that even children are willing to stand up to fight against Japanese.

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Then we have Western filmmakers. In the early 20th century, the Western filmmakers, they made most of those propaganda films about children in China.

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But when they come to China, usually they just come to China as a researcher, or as a traveller, or as a missionary. So they have mixed interests there.

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Many of them want to promote evangelical purposes, so they would depict children in the church. They would talk about the change in China. And many of them want to gather collections

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for the Nationalist Party so they can help China to fight against Japanese. So they would have lots of depictions about the people under the Nationalist rule, talking about the Westernisation

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of China and how children start to have new system of education. They enjoy their life. China seems to have a brighter future under the rule of the Nationalists.

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So these are some ways the different parties depict children differently in their propaganda efforts. Western filmmakers came to China for different reasons. Some of them come to China because they have

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this fascination about China. They think that China is very different. They want to go, and they want to have travel. But we also have foreigners come to China

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because they are missionaries. They want to build up a church, and they want to know what is the best way to spread the gospel? We also have people who come to China to do research.

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And we also have people feel like they are on a mission to help the Western world to understand China more. So based on those different intentions come to China,

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those people have different things that they want to communicate through their films. For example, some people want to talk about the modernization of China.

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And they are trying to contrast the traditional China in which children go through very traditional training. Girls did not have the educational opportunity. And they want to emphasise all this new change,

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that children would be able to access to the Western education. Girls can go to schools, and they can have Western toys to play with. They want to emphasise those kind of changes.

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We also have people who want to talk about this new hope of China, because they would introduce gospel there. So they want to have depictions of children in the church

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and how happy they are to see that evangelicalism would be the new hope of China. And during World War II, and even before World War II-- right before World War II, we have Western film makers

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coming to China trying to emphasise the importance for the Western world to support Chiang Kai-Shek, and more to support China to fight against the Japanese.

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So they would depict Chinese people as hard working, kind people. The children, they would have a bright future if we help them. So they would depict children with some of the difficulties

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that they face. But at the same time, they also want to emphasise that those children have a brighter future, and they have lots of potential and we should help them.

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So these are some of the ways that film makers want to communicate through their films. Children are depicted in very different ways in the database called China on Film.

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In this collection, most of the films are made by Westerners, and they come to China using their own personal connections to make those films. Because the limitation of their personal connections,

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most of those images are captured in Christian schools and in their friend's house. So we can see lots of children playing around near the family and in the playground.

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But we also see children who are going through education. Some sports classes. And we see some classes happening in the Sunday school. But many of those Westerners also travel through China,

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and they go to different places to look at the different situations of children. Many of them set up their cameras on the street and capture the children walking around.

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We also have many of them go to very remote areas and be able to see children who's actually attending a course and ships. We also have children who's actually

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working in the factories. So from these resources, we can see the different realities that children are facing in both rich China and also the poor rural China as well.

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There are so many limitations by using those films. The first limitation would be the intention of those filmmakers. Many of them want to do the film because they

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want to promote certain political agendas, and we have to keep it in mind that what they want to talk. But other than what they want to talk, we also need to think about what they can say,

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because they have to go through certain censorships in their own system. Even foreigners live in their own back country. They need to go through certain ways of censorship.

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So we have to do extra research to understand what people want to see. But what people can see. That would be one of the limitations.

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Another limitation would be that those films usually would romanticise children, and they would depict children in a way that is very idealistic that even reinforce our certain stereotypes about children.

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Many of them would depict children as innocent victims. Many of them would depict children as obedient subjects. But all those things are not necessarily true. We have to keep an eye on the things

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that what actually there is that actually reinforce some stereotype. Another problem is that we have those film makers talking about children because they have some personal connections

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with local families. They go to rich families and talk to those rich people having those images. But it's very hard for them to go to those poor families

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and to find some underrepresented groups. For example, the children in the rural areas. Actually, we see lots of girls in the rich families in those films, but it's really hard

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to understand those poor girls in the rural areas. Then also we have this problem of having those producers. Usually they are unprofessional producers. They produce something just out of their hobby.

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So many of those films are actually difficult to watch. We have lots of films that all the scenes are shifting very quickly. It's hard to track.

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So we have to pay extra attention to the things that we are seeing. Also, we have this very limited accessibility to the films, and for this kind of research.

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Most of the films are located in archives in major museums or libraries, and you have to go there and have very specific equipment to look at those films. So that is one of the difficult parts-- for us to look at it.

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And last, film itself can be manipulative. It can have emotional manipulation in our mind to let us thinking about children in certain ways. So when you watch those films, we

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have to pay more attention about what they want to see and what they want us to think. So we need to jump out of the box to not be manipulated by the film itself.

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To explain further about what kind of films are present in the China on Film series, I picked two films. One is called China Today. That was made in 1936.

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Another is called Half an Hour in China. That was made in 1941. Both films were made by Lady Hosie. And I picked up those films to talk about

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because those films can actually depict a different childhood in China. The author, Lady Hosie, travelled around China during her research trip in 1936, and she went to different places

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and observed children. Not only those children who are in church schools in rich families, but also children working in the factories and helping in the fields.

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So in that way, I think that film can demonstrate some things that how can we use those films to do our own study? And also, Lady Hosie, she's making those films just by being a traveller.

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She's travelling around, and she would set up the camera on the street and capture whatever, whoever passed through. And in that way, I think this access, the way she do,

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actually makes this film less biassed. And that's why I picked those two films. Lady Hosie was born in China in Ningbo in 1885. She's from a Methodist missionary family,

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and she was a Briton. And for the major part of her life, she was an educator and also a writer, and also an nonprofessional filmmaker.

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One of her research projects at the time was to help China to gain support from the Western world. To help Chiang Kai-Shek to fight against the Japanese. In 1936, she was going through a research trip in China,

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and that's where she made this film. And she wanted to make this film because she wanted to use it as a way for the Westerners to see this new China.

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People are happy under the leadership of Chiang Kai-Shek, and they are united to defend the invasion from Japan. She later published the Brave New China in 1938, in which she further talks

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about why we should support China to fight against Japanese. She's talking about that China is united as new China under the strong leadership of Chiang Kai-Shek. So that is why she was making those films.

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Lady Hosie herself is an educator, so she has this natural interest in children. And also, because she's coming from a missionary family, as part of the missionary work she's

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also interested in children. Other than that personal interest, she also has lots of personal connections in China. She worked with many friends in China,

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and visited their friends' house and schools. In those places, there's lots of children. The way Lady Hosie was doing her film, it usually is just setting up a camera and capture

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whoever walked by. And in all those places, if she's doing that on the street, that's become an attraction. Lots of children never see a camera in China,

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so they would gather around and see what's going on. And it's become natural for her to capture lots of children. Also, for her purposes, because she wants to promote evangelical purposes,

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she also wants to promote this idea that Western power needs to support Chiang Kai-Shek's China to fight against Japanese. Because of those purposes, she also needs children to be shown in the field.

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For example, back to the end of the 1941 film, we see two blind children walking along the street. Then we see Lady Hosie and another white guy coming along the way, and tell the children

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where they should go. The film end up with a sentence saying, "is this the hope of China?" So as you can see, it's actually telling two different things.

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The first thing is that China is blind like those children, and we need the guidance from the Western power and we need to help them to working through this difficult situation.

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One other thing is that we have those two blind children, and they need the gospel. China was blind before, but now, once they got the gospel, they would no longer be blind.

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So in this way, she has to have children in her field to achieve the purpose she's pursuing. There's many different children depicted in her films, especially in the 1936 film.

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She travelled across China all the way from the East to the West. So from her film, we can see different children depicted from different backgrounds.

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We have very rich children who have Western connections, who go through Western educations. For example, around the 30 minutes of the film, we have Lady Hosie reach out to a very good friend of her

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in Tianjin. And those people live in very big houses, and their daughter very much educated. And you can see her dressing in very modern ways.

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But moving to the West, we have to see the different reality that we have children, for example-- in minute of around 16, we have children, young girls, working in factories.

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And around minute 36, we have young boys carrying wood and trying to help the family by selling the wood. So we have very different realities depicted in her film. And also, because she is moving around and capturing children

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playing, then we can see the different things children play at the time. We have children playing more modern toys. We also have children playing traditional games.

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From there, we can see the different reality and different education and different groups, and how it can help us to see many different things in her view.

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The difference between these two films-- one is China Today in 1936. Another is Half Hour in China, 1941. There's many differences.

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But for the major part, surprisingly, the later film, the Half Hour in China, they use lots of materials from China Today earlier. So it's a repackaged film that does not really

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add lots of new things from this old film. So actually, the old one is longer and contains much more information that we can use for the research.

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The earliest film, this 1936 film, is more like a travel journal, and she just goes to a place and basically publish everything she sees and whatever she captured in the camera.

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The later one, she would organise things in a more-- have a narrative, and she want to use that as a way to collect support for Chiang Kai-Shek to express that Chinese people are extremely peaceful and happy under Chiang Kai Shek's rule.

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But also, she wants to use that for evangelical purposes. And towards the end of the film, she is trying to say that Chinese people need gospel. That they are blind, and we need to help them

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using the image of children. So from there, these two films have different purposes. But for the major parts, the pictures are very similar to each other.

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These two films have many limitations. First of all, those films are-- they're just being there, and there's no context to help us to understand what's going on.

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So you have to do some extra study to understand what those films are about, and under what context they are made. And there's no sound in those films

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either, so it's really hard to grasp some of the things presented in the film. For example, in some cases, we will see people are reading, and people are actually talking to the camera.

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But we don't know what they are talking about. And that became some of the limitations. Also, in those films, Lady Hosie is moving around to make this film.

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She really based on her own connection in China. So there's very limited places she can go. And usually, all those places are under the direct control of Chiang Kai-Shek.

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So we still only see a very limited representation of children in very limited places. And those two films also have very unique limitations. For example, the earlier film, the 1936 one, is less biassed.

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But at the same time, lots of things are very random, so it's really hard to be able to concentrate on the things that we are watching about.

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And we need extra skills and attention when researching that film. For the other film in 1941, that one is more organised and easy to watch.

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But same time, it's presenting more bias, and her personal intention is more clear than the earlier one. Our collection of these digitalized films would be useful for researchers in many different ways.

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And first, we will have provided lots of visual materials for researchers. For a long time, historical studies are more focusing on written materials.

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But by having the visual materials, we would be able to not only have more material to study, but also to introduce different methods like interdisciplinary approaches.

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For example, we will be able to introduce media studies into historical studies. Then, other than that, by having all those films digitalized, we will have them be available for researchers.

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For a long time, it has been a headache for people who want to study films, because you have to go to some certain archives, have certain equipment, or even have certain permissions

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to look at them. But by searching them online, it's making it much more accessible. It's also making research much easier,

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because we put them into collections, and we have finding aids. And through those finding aids, researchers would be much easier for them to find the kind of films

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they want to have. And because we have many different searching tools and finding aids, it also makes it much easier for historians to do some quantitative studies based on what we have.

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And because we have all kinds of films made by various film makers, all those films can provide context to each other. So it would be much better to have all those films being one collection, rather than making them

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into the individual things that people have to travel around the world to look at. So in those ways, I think this would be super helpful for researchers.