Bloody Saturday
The sad story behind an iconic historical photo.
The origin story of photography can be traced back to a French balcony. In 1826, the French inventor Nicéphore Niépce produced the world’s first ever known fixed photograph. The photo depicted the view from his balcony. Since 1826, the craft of photography has evolved significantly. Talented photographers have emerged in every generation since photography’s dawning days in the 1820s. Many of these photographers have been able to capture amazing high-quality images that have enriched the ever-growing historical record. Among the countless photos that have been taken since Niépce’s first photo, H.S. Wong’s 1937 photograph titled Bloody Saturday is one that has garnered a significant place in the historical record.
The History of Bloody Saturday
It was 101 years after the world’s first photograph was taken that another iconic image would be added to the historical record. On August 28, 1937, H.S. Wong captured a photo that would leave the world captivated. His iconic image, known as Bloody Saturday, depicts a wailing Chinese baby surrounded by the bombed-out ruins of the Shanghai South railway station. The bombing was apart of the Japanese air attack on Chinese civilians during the Battle of Shanghai during the Second Sino-Japanese War. It is believed that the child’s…
