Interactive Timemaps
As the geographic and temporal distribution in these timemaps indicates, USC's Republican China collections concentrate on Shanghai and its surrounding areas, including Nanjing, Hangzhou, Suzhou, and Ningbo. The majority of the items date from the 1930s, particularly the second half of 1937, when the Sino-Japanese War erupted with the Marco Polo Bridge Incident 盧溝橋事變 (七七事變) on July 7, 1937, following which Japanese forces attacked and occupied Shanghai. We have also included selected items relating to other countries in Asia, such as Japan and Russia, in the timemaps, demonstrating the breadth and diversity of USC's Republican China collections.
A substantial number of the items featured in the timemaps are photos, film clips, and intelligence reports and memoranda documenting significant historical events during the Republican era, including Northern Expedition 國民革命軍北伐 (1926-1928), Nanking Incident of 1927 南京事件, Shanghai Incident 一二八事變 (1932), Long March 長征 (1934-1935), Xi'an Incident 西安事變 (1936), the Japanese bombardment of Shanghai in 1937, and Nanking Massacre 南京大屠殺 (1937).