The missionary who documented the Nanjing massacre

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02:43

If it weren't for his grandfather, 60-year-old Chris Magee probably would have never come to the Chinese city of Nanjing. However now, everything has changed for him.

Chris Magee gives an opening speech at a photo exhibition of Nanjing by him and his grandfather John Magee, on the 81st anniversary of the Nanjing Massacre. /CGTN Photo

On December 13, 1937, on the eve of the World War II, Nanjing, the former Chinese capital, fell into the hands of Japanese invaders, and in the following six weeks, mass murder, rape, and torture took away more than 300,000 lives, the atrocities known today as the Nanjing Massacre.

A set of photos taken by John Magee, picturing the aftermath of a murder scene (L) and two children survivors (R). /CGTN Photo

Prior to the fall of Nanjing, American Episcopal priest John Magee and a few other Western expatriates had helped set up a safety zone which at its height, accommodated more than 200,000 civilian refugees. At the peril of his own life, Magee also secretly filmed atrocities of the Japanese soldiers with a 16mm movie camera. The film reels later became the only surviving motion picture documentation of the Nanjing Massacre.

The original 16mm movie camera that John Magee used to film is exhibited in the Memorial Hall of the Victims in Nanjing Massacre by Japanese invaders. /CGTN Photo

"I really want to walk in my grandfather's footsteps. I want to go where he went, and see what he saw," said Chris Magee who visited Nanjing for the first time in 2017 and photographed the modern-day city to contrast its past captured by his grandfather.

A combined photo shows John Magee (R in the 1st photo) and Chris Magee (in the 2nd photo), taken at the same spot. /CGTN Photo

That is the account of how John Magee's 28 years of life in Nanjing inspired his offspring's search.