H. S. "Newsreel" Wong (1900March 9, 1981) was a Chinese newsreel

photojournalist Photojournalism is journalism that uses images to tell a news story. It usually only refers to still images, but can also refer to video used in broadcast journalism. Photojournalism is distinguished from other close branches of photography (such ...

. He is most notable for '' Bloody Saturday'', a photograph of a crying baby in Shanghai that he took during the

Second Sino-Japanese War The Second Sino-Japanese War (1937–1945) or War of Resistance (Chinese term) was a military conflict that was primarily waged between the Republic of China and the Empire of Japan. The war made up the Chinese theater of the wider Pacific Th ...

. Wong was also known as Wang Haisheng () or Wang Xiaoting (). He owned a camera shop in Shanghai. For capturing moving images he used an Eyemo newsreel camera, and for still photography he used a Leica.

Career

In the 1920s and 1930s, H. S. Wong worked in China and provided photographs and films for various newspapers and agencies, such as

Hearst Metrotone News ''Hearst Metrotone News'' (renamed ''News of the Day'' in 1936) was a newsreel series (1914–1967) produced by the Hearst Corporation, founded by William Randolph Hearst. History Hearst produced silent newsreels under the titles of ''Hears ...

and '' Shanghai News''. Wong's most famous photo, "Bloody Saturday" or "Shanghai Baby", was taken during the

Battle of Shanghai The Battle of Shanghai () was the first of the twenty-two major engagements fought between the National Revolutionary Army (NRA) of the Republic of China (ROC) and the Imperial Japanese Army (IJA) of the Empire of Japan at the beginning of th ...

in the Second Sino-Japanese War. It shows a baby sitting up and crying amid the bombed-out wreckage of Shanghai South Railway Station. Within a year of its publishing, the photo was seen by more than 136 million people. In 2010, Wong was honored as a pioneering Asian-American journalist by the Asian American Journalists Association. Wong filmed more newsreels covering Japanese attacks in China, including the

Battle of Xuzhou The Battle of Xuzhou was a military conflict between the Empire of Japan and the Republic of China (1912–49), Republic of China forces in May 1938 during the Second Sino-Japanese War. History In 1937 the North China Area Army had chased Song ...

in May 1938 and aerial bombings in

Guangzhou Guangzhou (, ; ; or ; ), also known as Canton () and alternatively romanized as Kwongchow or Kwangchow, is the capital and largest city of Guangdong province in southern China. Located on the Pearl River about north-northwest of Hong Kon ...

in June. At times, he placed himself in danger to get a photo; once was subjected to bombing and strafing by Japanese aircraft. After angering the Japanese by documenting the violence of their attacks, the Japanese government put a

bounty Bounty or bounties commonly refers to: * Bounty (reward), an amount of money or other reward offered by an organization for a specific task done with a person or thing Bounty or bounties may also refer to: Geography * Bounty, Saskatchewan, a g ...

of $50,000 on his head. In China, he operated under British protection, but continued death threats from Japanese nationalists drove him to leave Shanghai with his family and to relocate to

Hong Kong Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China ( abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delt ...

Later life and death

Wong retired to

Taipei Taipei (), officially Taipei City, is the capital and a special municipality of the Republic of China (Taiwan). Located in Northern Taiwan, Taipei City is an enclave of the municipality of New Taipei City that sits about southwest of the n ...

in the 1970s and died of diabetes at his home at the age of 81 on March 9, 1981.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wong, H. S. 1900 births 1981 deaths 20th-century Chinese journalists Diabetes-related deaths Artists from Shanghai Chinese photojournalists Writers from Shanghai War photographers