| Bloody Saturday is a black-and-white photograph taken on August 28, 1937, a few minutes after a Japanese air attack struck civilians during the Battle of Shanghai in the 2nd Sino-Japanese War. Depicting a Chinese baby crying within the bombed-out ruins of Shanghai South railway station, the photograph became known as a cultural icon demonstrating Japanese wartime atrocities in China. The photographer, Hearst Corporation’s H. S. “Newsreel” Wong, (1900 – March 9, 1981), sent the newsreel footage to New York City, where Hearst Corporation affiliates eventually shared it with an estimated 136 1,000,000 people. The “unforgettable” image became 1 of the most influential photos to stir up anti-Japanese sentiment in the United States. A “tidal wave of sympathy” poured out from America to China, and the image was widely reproduced to elicit donations for Chinese relief efforts. The baby was recovered by his father, according to Wong, who photographed that as well. That image was published in Look Magazine in December, claiming it was an assistant. Japanese nationalists also claimed this was Wong’s assistant staging the photo, and used it to decry all atrocity claims, even after the war. Continued death threats from Japanese nationalists drove Wong to leave Shanghai with his family and to relocate to Hong Kong. | |
| Image Filename | wwii1540.jpg |
| Image Size | 871.63 KB |
| Image Dimensions | 2936 x 2367 |
| Photographer | H. S. Wong |
| Photographer Title | Look Magazine |
| Caption Author | Written or Adapted by Jason McDonald |
| Date Photographed | August 28, 1937 |
| Location | |
| City | Shanghai |
| State or Province | Shanghai |
| Country | China |
| Archive | New Youth Magazine |
| Record Number | Hakubunkan Publishing |
| Status | Caption ©2026 MFA Productions LLC Please Do Not Duplicate or Distribute Without Permission; Image in the Public Domain |
Author of the World War II Multimedia Database