1937 was an unforgettable year for every Chinese. On July 7, the "Lugou Bridge Incident" broke out, and the Japanese began to invade China in an all-round way, and the Chinese people began an eight-year nightmare. Shanghai, as a ten-mile ocean field, has not escaped the trampling of the Iron Hooves of the Japanese Kou.
This group of pictures depicts the situation in the first half of 1937, when the Japanese devils had not yet arrived and the local children were living a poor but relatively stable life.
Small laborers
In Shanghai in the spring of 1937, a group of people were clearing weeds from the park's lawn, and everything seemed to be the same as in previous years. There are many children among the people who work, and they do it very seriously with a small shovel.
Street children
A group of children playing in the street, a broken grass rope can become a toy. The coat of the child on the right in the front row was a velvet fir, which was a luxury among the poor of the year.
Before the window
In the window are portraits of King George VI and Elizabeth II, and next to the portraits of father and daughter are some high-end foreign goods. In stark contrast, a teenager in tattered clothes is helping his hunched grandmother past.
Kids on the street
Apparently, the group was drawn to the camera in the photographer's hand, and everyone was looking in the same direction with a relaxed, friendly smile on their faces.
Children in the slums
In the old Days of Shanghai, in addition to high-rise buildings, there were such low thatched houses. Judging from the clothes on the children's bodies, their lives are still passable. Two wheelbarrows were erected in front of the huts, indicating that the man in the house was a transport worker. On the ground next to the wheelbarrow, there was a wooden toilet, which was a must-have item for the low-level people in Shanghai at that time.
Suzhou Riverside
Some people live on the water all year round, dragging their families and mouths, driving wooden boats through the Suzhou River and the Huangpu River. Their connection to the land is a narrow springboard.
Shanghai kids
A group of children gathered next to the photographer, watching the photographer point at his lens, and the little boy in the middle of the flower coat had a very distinctive hairstyle. Some people are different from others from childhood.
In front of the bank
In a very interesting photo, the father was interested in the bronze lion in front of the Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation, and was stopping to look at it carefully. The son stood next to him with a helpless face, showing a look of disappointment at his father's rare and strange performance.
Lunchtime
A little girl was standing at the bow of the boat eating, and the boat behind her was full of dried dried fish, which were caught from the Huangpu River. Behind her is the tall building in Shanghai, which seems to be very close, but in fact it is very far away from her, and the little girl who grows up does not know whether she has the ability to walk into this building.
Boatman's son
The children of these boat people have followed the adults' wooden boats from childhood to the north and south, and have seen countless faces in the world. At the moment, they were eating on the deck, facing the photographer's lens with a relaxed and natural look.
Refugee mother and child
At this time in North China, the Invading Japanese Army was running amok. The poor mother and son who fled to Shanghai could only get a moment of peace, because it wasn't long before the Japanese bombs came.
Small refugees
These were rescued refugees, and the labels on their bodies indicated that they had the name of the relief agency and the refugee number. The mother sitting next to her looked depressed, deeply guilty for not being able to give her child a stable home.
Child labor at work
On the construction site, a frail child, who is using a wooden drill to punch the eyes on a wooden board, is probably only about ten years old, but he does the same work as adults, and is paid much less than adults.
Little sisters
The photographer pointed his camera at the pair of little sisters sitting on the dock and took many pictures without hesitation. At first, the sister on the left was very shy and hid behind her sister, but later, with the encouragement of the photographer, the little sister could finally snuggle up to her sister calmly and accept the camera lens calmly.
Close-up of my sister
In the face of a strange foreign photographer, the little girl's smile is relaxed and natural, making people feel like a spring breeze. At this time, less than a month before the fierce Battle of Songhu, it is hoped that the little sisters will survive this catastrophe.
Sandbag filling yard
At that time, the sky over Shanghai was already overcast, and the iron hooves of the invading Japanese army were approaching this prosperous place step by step. This is a sandbag filling yard in Shanghai, where there are many sandbags ready to build simple fortifications. The children didn't know what these sand-filled bags meant and were running and playing in the sandbags.