New York – A+E Networks has signed a deal with China’s Jiangsu Broadcasting Corporation to co-produce Scars of Nanking, it was announced by Edward Sabin, Executive Managing Director of A+E Networks International.
Marking the 80th anniversary of the brutal massacre by Japanese invaders during World War II, the one-hour docu-drama will premiere December 13, 2017 on History in the U.S., History Asia and simultaneously on Jiangsu Satellite TV in China.
“Over the past few years, Jiangsu Broadcasting Corporation has built strong awareness of these horrible events with a number of impactful documentaries. Now, as we approach the 80th anniversary, we are honored to be joining the effort to create a production that tells the story with a western perspective and narrative to be shared with a much broader audience,” said Alan Hodges, Managing Director, Asia Pacific, A+E Networks.
“We are excited to be working with A+E Networks, whose reputation for providing impactful, disruptive content clearly places it among the top providers of both factual and scripted content around the globe. A+E provides the perfect combination of talent and demonstrated acumen required to tell this important story to a mainstream global audience,” said Cao Haibin, General Manager of JSBC Documentary Media Co., Ltd
Sabin added, “Our Asia team has done an incredible job in this collaborative opportunity to work with one of China’s most influential media operators and produce a show of significant regional importance. This is a premiere project that is certain to lead to a long and fruitful collaboration with Jiangsu.”
In Scars of Nanking, American missionaries struggle to save Chinese civilians from war crimes at the hands of Japanese invaders and to smuggle out evidence of the infamous Nanking Massacre of 1937. During the invasion of China in 1937 by Imperial Japanese forces, tens of thousands of civilians and prisoners of war were murdered and women raped in the city that was then the Chinese capital.
Today it is commonly referred to as “The Rape of Nanking.” Many fled before the invasion. But 22 foreigners did not leave Nanking. This is the story of some of those who chose to stay in the face of grave personal danger—American missionaries, some of them educators, others doctors or ministers, all determined to do what they could to help safeguard a quarter of a million Chinese civilians. Not only do they put themselves directly in harm’s — these Americans play a key role in bringing evidence of the Nanking Massacre to the rest of the world. One missionary, Father John Magee, films the aftermath of atrocities, while another, George Fitch, risks everything to clandestinely spirit the films out of the city. Dr. Robert Wilson saves countless lives as the only remaining surgeon in Nanking, and a heroic teacher, Minnie Vautrin, prevents hundreds of rapes singlehandedly. Their stories come to life through the letters and diaries they actually wrote during that terrible time.
The Docudrama is also supported with a feature length documentary called Scars of Nanjing: 80 Years After. In this 90-minute special, the traumatic events of Nanking are remembered through Chinese students, massacre survivors, and their descendants, as well as powerful insight from experts and renowned historians Ian Buruma, Daqing Yang, Alexis Dudden and Academy Award nominated filmmaker Christine Choy.
