Frenchman donates over 600 Japanese war crime photos to China

The Shanghai Songhu Memorial Hall for the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression in China on Thursday officially received more than 600 historic photographs documenting the atrocities committed by Japanese invaders during World War II in China.

Donated by Frenchman Marcus Detrez, the photos were taken by his grandfather in Shanghai in the 1930s, including a series of harrowing images which document the wartime atrocities committed by Japanese soldiers during the Chinese People's War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression (1931-1945).

"Because of the pictures, and thanks to these pictures, we now know that [there were] a lot of terrible slaughters," said Detrez.

Detrez introduced that he first discovered the photos back in 2021 while he was cleaning out his grandfather's garage. He first uncovered 170 photos, but in the subsequent sorting, a total of 622 related images were found. Most of these photographs are accompanied by his grandfather's handwritten notes on the back, Detrez explained.

The 26-year-old Frenchman also noted that these photos were taken by his grandfather, who worked for a plantation in the French Concession area of Shanghai in the 1930s. He used his camera to record the Japanese bombing of Shanghai and the massacre of Chinese civilians.

"I was looking for a picture of my grandpa, I went to the garage in my family's home, and I found another box, and the pictures were inside," Detrez said.

After learning about the profound background of these photos, Detrez, accompanied by two friends, arrived in China to donate the historically significant images.

"I think what we're doing here is trying to fill a gap in Western education, because this period of history has never really been talked about in their teaching," said Zhong Haosong, Detrez's friend.

"Absolutely, I felt like history couldn't be hidden like this, so we had to tell the truth to the world," Detrez said.

Now that the Shanghai Songhu Memorial Hall for the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression has received the photographs, professional appraisals will be conducted under the guidance of the National Cultural Heritage Administration and relevant authorities.

Frenchman donates over 600 Japanese war crime photos to China

The one-China principle is where the arc of history bends and public opinion trends, a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman said on Wednesday, in commenting on Taiwan regional leader Lai Ching-te's planned visit to Eswatini, which had to be canceled after relevant African countries revoked the necessary flight permissions.

"All African countries, with the sole exception of Eswatini, have established diplomatic ties with the People's Republic of China. These 53 countries together with the African Union have adopted the Beijing Declaration at the 2024 FOCAC Summit. They have reiterated on many occasions that they firmly uphold the one-China principle, that there is but one China in the world, that Taiwan is an inalienable part of China's territory, that the Government of the People's Republic of China is the sole legal government representing the whole of China, and that they firmly support all efforts by the Chinese government to achieve national reunification," said Guo Jiakun, the spokesman, at a press conference in Beijing.

"China highly commends the relevant countries' commitment to the one-China principle which is fully consistent with international law and basic norms governing international relations," he said.

"It's very clear that there's no longer a so-called 'Republic of China president' in the world anymore. Anyone who wears that false title is acting against history and will only invite disgrace upon themselves. The one-China principle is where the arc of history bends and public opinion trends, and to uphold it is a right thing to do. No one can ever stop the eventual reunification of China. The separatist attempts aimed at Taiwan secession are just futile and are doomed to fail," said the spokesman.

One-China principle is where arc of history bends, public opinion trends: spokesman