"Shina" in early Japanese war films

[Jen Wei Ting]

Dear All,

After much procrastination and persistent prodding by Martin from Eigagogo, I've published my Master's thesis from 2006 online. I left academia a while back, but I hope my research will be of use to other scholars out there and that's why I thought to put it in the public domain. Link is here:

http://eigagogo.free.fr/en/shina-in-wartime-japan.php

It's on the cinematic portrayal of "Shina" (i.e. China as an idealistic construct) during the early war years, based on my research of many news eiga and other war films produced from 1937-1940.

Feel free to ask me for the bibliography/sources if interested.

On a different note, while moving house recently I found a whole box of VHS cassettes, all war era films. They include most of the titles covered in my thesis, e.g. Mud & Soldiers, Nanking, etc. A few of them may need some restoration work (Singapore's climate is just too humid!). I'd like to donate them to an institution, preferably to someone who would really take care of these films and possibly digitize them. They are a pretty valuable resource and I spent considerable effort collecting these films for my thesis. Let me know if you know of anyone who'd be interested.

Best regards,

Wei Ting