HOME MOVIES: POST WWII

Genre: home movie

Year Published: 1953)

Format: 16mm

Description: Shot by an unknown American, who apparently was in China working for a humanitarian organization in the immediate post-war period, this 16mm silent home movie contains rare footage of Beijing from the air. The time of year appears to be the winter, and many major Beijing landmarks (with the city looking somewhat empty and covered with snow) can be seen including Beihai, Nanhai, Tiantian, and Summer Palace Parks, the Kunming lake, the Summer Palace, the Forbidden City, and the Tiantian Temple of Heaven (both from the air and on the ground), the mountainous Xiangshan district with the Great Wall, the Beijing City Wall and some of its gates (dismantled in 1953), and some footage of the Thirteen Tombs of the Ming Dinasty in the Changping district north of Beijing. The film ends with a 4-minute duck hunt undertaken from a riverboat. 0:05-0:25 A US Army C-47 Skytrain, airframe number 476258 (airframe fate unknown), a couple of U.S. airmen having a chat, dressed in winter uniforms. 0:34 A C-54 Skymaster landing, the camera follows it to the left, to reveal the same US airmen and more parked C-54s 0:41 Boarding the C-47 0:55-1:12 In the cockpit 1:15-1:18 Beihai (Northern Sea) Park, Beijing 1:19-1:37 Old Summer Palace park and buildings, Beijing 1:42-1:49 Nanhai (Southern Sea) Park. 1:49 The Forbidden City, Beijing. 2:11-2:28 Temple of Heaven and sacrificial grounds, Tiantian Park (south-west off Forbidden City), Beijing 2:28-2:55 Heaven Center Stone and Central alley through West annex hall and towards the Temple of Heaven. 2:56-3:40 Flying approach towards the Summer Palace over Kunming lake 3:40-4:03 Overfly of the Seventeen-arch Bridge, Hanxutang island etc. in the Kunming lake4:08-4:26 View backwards (as flight direction), East-south-east under wing, towards the mountainous Xiangshan district, Yangtaishang natural park (currently) of Beijing, while overflying the North-North-Eastern Beijing district of Xibeiwang. 4:29-4:47 Low-altitude flyby of the Beijing city wall (dismantled in 1953), northbound by Western wall, near the Zuoanmeng – the Left Gate of Peace. 4:47-4:55 The Forbidden City again 4:55-6:29 The Great Wall 6:29-6:54 The Thirteen Tombs of the Ming Dinasty (十三陵) in the Changping district of Beijing. 6:54 Low-level fields/paddies and dikes flyby. 7:14-7:22 Approach towards one of the Thirteen Tombs 7:22- More aerial footage of a city, fields parcels and gates, Beijing (but it's so empty!) 7:59 Rectangular end of the city wall, with a circular barbican entrance structure in the middle, possibly southern central gate Yondingmen (永定門 ). 8:03-8:32 Flyby of what is possibly Youndigmen 8:33-8:44 Inside of a building, lots of small vertical signs in traditional Chinese - prayer hall  ? A woman and a Chinese Republic of China military man. 8:44-9:12 Panorama of the central court of the Palace of the Heavenly Purity, Forbidden City, Beijing 9:12 Palace of the Heavenly Purity 9:24-9:47 Temple of Heaven from the back outside the gates, Tiantian Park 9:50 Entrance to the Temple of Heaven temple ensemble. 10:25-10:45 Pan towards the Summer palace over Kunming lake, now from the ground, view of the mountains of the Xiangshan district. 10:45-11:24 Inside the Old Summer Palace central place. 11:24-11:44 Posing next to a toppled(?) turtle statue 11:44-11:52 Group of US servicemen in winter uniforms next to a hangar and a radio mast 11:52-end of the film. Duck hunt off a riverboat 12:12 Massive flocks of geese or ducks on the water and in the skies.

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