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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.

 

[Document reference for this set of slides: MSS.15B/5/1/2]