"Yangtsze I." February-March 1928

This is the first of a a series of three films labeled "Yangtze I-III," part of a collection of motion picture films that John Van Antwerp MacMurray shot during the time he served as American Minister to China (1925-1929). The three "Yangtsze" films were shot during a six week trip along the Yangzi River in February and March 1928, when MacMurray visited consulates and ports between Tsingtao (Qingdao) and Chungking (Chongqing) with a staff member and naval attaché.

"Yangtsze I" starts with footage in Tsingtao (with Chao Chi, Administrator General of Kiaochow 1:39). From there MacMurray traveled on the USS Noa to Shanghai, and on the USS Isabel to Chinkiang (Zhenjiang) and Anking (Anqing). In Chinkiang he filmed a visit to Silver Island (Jiao Shan 4:34) as well as a Standard Oil house boat, which represented, according to MacMurray's notes, the "American Consulate at Nanking, temporarily at Chinkiang."(3:55). In Anking the party boarded SS Kungwo to Hankow (Hankou). The journey between Hankow and Chungking was traveled on river gunboat USS Guam with Admiral Yates Stirling, commander of the Yangtze Patrol. After passing Shashi and the Tiger's Tooth Gorge, the film ends with harbor and street scenes in Ichang. The film is continued in "Yangtze II".

For the John Van Antwerp MacMurray Papers at the Seeley G. Mudd Manuscript Library see http://arks.princeton.edu/ark:/88435/wh246s13m . For more information or to comment on this video, visit the library's blog "The Reel Mudd:" http://blogs.princeton.edu/reelmudd/2010/08/a-diplomats-trip-along-the-yangzi...

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Education

Tags:

• John Van Antwerp MacMurray
• Yangzi
• China
• Yates Stirling
• Chao Chi