Chris Magee, his heroic family and the old and new stories about Nanjing

World
Europe

This year marks the 80th anniversary of the 1937 Nanjing Massacre, and Wednesday marks the fourth National Memorial Day in remembrance of the victims. As one of the descendants of the foreigners who helped China during the resistance war against the Japanese, Chris Magee, the grandson of John Magee, attended the ceremony.

Like his grandfather, Magee is also a professional photographer and the trip to Nanjing inspired him to take pictures and videos like his grandfather did before him.

Chris sits down with CGTN for an exclusive interview. /CGTN Photo

Magee attended the Zijin Grass International Commemorative Medal of Peace award ceremony on August 14, and decided to make a movie about Nanjing, inspired by the work of his grandfather.

At the invitation of the Memorial Hall of the Victims in Nanjing Massacre by Japanese Invaders, Chris completed the first two stages of filming in the last few months.

Chris said it’s very important and meaningful that he could take part in Wednesday's ceremony as his grandfather recorded part of this period of history. He said he wanted to join the people in Nanjing and China once again, to go back to that time and remember those who have died and the people who survived.

Chris Magee’s grandfather John Magee /CGTN Photo

John Magee, Chris’s grandfather was an American pastor, and recorded the Japanese atrocities in Nanjing with his camera, preserving many precious historical films for the later generations during the Nanjing Massacre.

Chris said he knew how great his grandfather hearing stories from his parents. As he got older, he learnt about the Nanjing Massacre more, and eventually when he saw some of the films that his grandfather had shot, he began to think what kind of man he was.

John Magee’s camera and video films of the Nanjing Massacre /CGTN Photo

Unlike his grandfather’s filming, Chris has his new ways to capture the contrast of the present and the past in the same places in Nanjing.

Magee said he wants to reflect the changes and developments of Nanjing during the past 80 years and express the idea of remembering history and cherishing peace. He decided to use a high-tech 360-degree panoramic camera in shooting so as to render a more all-round picture.

After filming is completed, the memorial is planning to publish the Magee Photography Collection at home and abroad in 2018, and hold the Magee photographic exhibition in the temporary exhibition hall of the Memorial Hall in Nanjing.