Screen Archive South East is a public sector moving image archive serving the South East of England. The archive's collections of magic lantern slides, films, videos and associated materials capture the many varied aspects of life, work and creativity from the early days of screen history to the present day and serve as a rich and invaluable historical resource.
This film is part of Free
At Home in Shanghai and a Trip to Hong Kong
Chinese junks and British battleships appear together in this film depicting the 1928 Armistice Day in Hong Kong.
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Overview
This remarkable film shows the filmmakers, William and Charlotte Simpson, posing in their Shanghai garden before they are seen playing shuffleboard aboard the S.S. President McKinley en-route to Hong Kong. Chinese junks can be seen jostling alongside British battleships and liners. The film then shows the wreath laying ceremony at Hong Kong's Cenotaph on Armistice Day. The final scenes show the Simpsons at home and William is seen wearing his Remembrance Day poppy.
The carrier seen in this film is quite possibly HMS Hermes, the world's first purpose-built aircraft carrier, though not the first to be commissioned. Until 1938 she spent many years on patrol in Chinese waters before becoming a training ship in the Home Fleet. Recommissioned into the Eastern Fleet she was eventually sunk by Japanese dive-bombers near Sri Lanka in April 1942.
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