''Don't Cry, Nanking'', also known as ''Nanjing 1937'' (), is a 1995

Chinese film The cinema of China is one of three distinct historical threads of Chinese-language cinema together with the cinema of Hong Kong and the cinema of Taiwan. Cinema was introduced in China in 1896 and the first Chinese film, '' Dingjun Mountain'' ...

about the 1937

Nanking Massacre The Nanjing Massacre (, ja, 南京大虐殺, Nankin Daigyakusatsu) or the Rape of Nanjing (formerly romanized as ''Nanking'') was the mass murder of Chinese civilians in Nanjing, the capital of the Republic of China, immediately after the ...

committed by the

Imperial Japanese Army The was the official ground-based armed force of the Empire of Japan from 1868 to 1945. It was controlled by the Imperial Japanese Army General Staff Office and the Ministry of the Army, both of which were nominally subordinate to the Emperor o ...

in the former capital city

Nanjing Nanjing (; , Mandarin pronunciation: ), alternately romanized as Nanking, is the capital of Jiangsu province of the People's Republic of China. It is a sub-provincial city, a megacity, and the second largest city in the East China region. T ...

, China.

Plot

Set in late December 1937, the story focuses on a family, a Chinese doctor, his pregnant Japanese wife and their two children, who escaped 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 The also ...

hoping to seek refuge in the capital where the doctor was born. Being Japanese, the wife must hide her origins to the Chinese citizens, but soon upon their arrival, the city is invaded by the

and this time, it is the father who tries to hide his identity as the family tries to reach the safety zone established by the

International Committee for Nanking Safety Zone The International Committee was established in 1937 order to establish and manage the Nanking Safety Zone. Many Westerners were living in the city at that time, conducting trade or on missionary trips. As the Imperial Japanese Army began to app ...

. Among historical characters such as

John Rabe John Heinrich Detlef Rabe (23 November 1882 – 5 January 1950) was a German businessman and Nazi Party member best known for his efforts to stop war crimes during the Japanese Nanjing Massacre (also known as Nanking) and his work to prot ...

and Minnie Vautrin, the film also features an out-of-context excerpt of the infamous

Contest to kill 100 people using a sword The was a contest between Toshiaki Mukai (3 June 1912 – 28 January 1948) and Tsuyoshi Noda (1912 – 28 January 1948), two Imperial Japanese Army, Japanese Army officers, which took place during the Second Sino-Japanese War, Japanese invasion ...

between Toshiaki Mukai and Tsuyochi Noda. There are some painful and brutal scenes such as the execution, by machine gun, of thousands of Chinese prisoners of war. Being produced before the publishing of such books like

Iris Chang Iris Shun-Ru Chang (March 28, 1968November 9, 2004) was a Chinese American journalist, author of historical books and political activist. She is best known for her best-selling 1997 account of the Nanking Massacre, ''The Rape of Nanking'', and ...

's '' The Rape of Nanking'' and Herbert Bix's ''

Hirohito and the Making of Modern Japan ''Hirohito and the Making of Modern Japan'' is a book by Herbert P. Bix covering the reign of Emperor Hirohito of Japan from 1926 until his death in 1989. It won the 2001 Pulitzer Prize for General Non-Fiction The Pulitzer Prize for General N ...

'', the movie shows General

Iwane Matsui was a general in the Imperial Japanese Army and the commander of the expeditionary force sent to China in 1937. He was convicted of war crimes and executed by the Allies for his involvement in the Nanjing Massacre. Born in Nagoya, Matsui chose ...

giving the order to "kill all the captives" and omits any reference to

Prince Asaka General was the founder of a collateral branch of the Japanese imperial family and a general in the Imperial Japanese Army during the Japanese invasion of China and the Second World War. Son-in-law of Emperor Meiji and uncle by marriage of E ...

Cast

* Chin Han - Shing Yin *

Rene Liu Rene Liu Ruo-ying (; born 1 June, 1969) is a Taiwanese singer-songwriter, actress, director and writer. In the Sinophone world, Liu is widely known by her affectionate nickname "Milk Tea". Her music often focuses on love stories and has built an ...

- Shu Qin * Cho Yuet - Lui Oi * Ulrich Ottenburger -

* Michael Zannett - John Magee * Rebecca Peyrelon - missionary Miss Hua

Reception

Upon its release in 1995, the movie grossed HK$2,102,915 in Hong Kong. The film was not released in Japan until December 1997, nearly two years after its completion.

References

External links

*
''Don't Cry, Nanjing''
from the Chinese Movie Database

on director Wu Ziniu Nanjing Massacre films Second Sino-Japanese War films 1995 films 1990s Mandarin-language films Chinese war drama films Films set in the 1930s Films directed by Wu Ziniu Films scored by Tan Dun 1990s war drama films 1995 drama films Chinese World War II films {{war-drama-film-stub

Plot

Cast

Reception

See also

References

External links