This is one of the historical documentary photographs taken during the Second Shanghai Incident that erupted in 1937. It dates from the period after August 1937, when fierce urban combat raged between Japanese and Chinese forces. It is believed to be the “Zhaobei” district within Shanghai, where residential homes were densely packed, or a surrounding residential area. The bamboo fence in the background was a common enclosure for private homes in Shanghai at the time.
As part of photographs taken by foreign correspondents present in Shanghai at the time, Japanese military photographers, or Chinese recorders, some are still preserved in historical archives both domestically and internationally. The reason for so many bodies piled together is that indiscriminate bombing and shelling during the Shanghai Incident involved bomber attacks and naval gunfire directed at urban areas, resulting in the simultaneous deaths of large numbers of civilians who could not evacuate in time.
Alternatively, some view these as records of sites where residents accused of “spying” or similar charges in areas turned into battlefields were gathered by the Japanese military and killed. In fierce alleyway combat, people trapped in the narrow lanes (li-long) frequently became caught in the crossfire of gun battles. These photographic records reveal the horror of modern warfare, where the city itself becomes a battlefield, not just a conflict between soldiers. The people lying on the ground were civilians living their daily lives there, and these images continue to convey how war can destroy individual lives in an instant.














