Oxford exhibition highlights nations' shared wartime experience

Debris littering the streets, children in orphanages, and citizens sleeping inside underground stations to avoid bombings – these iconic images of the London Blitz have long colored British people’s understanding of World War II.

But few may know that similar scenes were being played out in the Chinese city of Chongqing when the Japanese air force rained bombs on it.

To highlight the shared experiences of London and Chongqing during World War II, the University of Oxford’s China Center and Chongqing Library have created a photography exhibition, which opened in Oxford on Monday.

Twin Cities under Attack: London and Chongqing during World War Two (1937-1945) features 73 pictures that capture bombings, destruction, and rare moments of relief, friendship, and love.

One optimistic picture shows a little boy planting a union flag in a pile of rubble, the remains of his home, after an air raid on London. Another picture shows a group of children enjoying a cup of tea, and each other’s company, at the John Keble Church, in Mill Hill, London.

Elsewhere, a young woman brings light relief to an air raid shelter in North London by playing music on a gramophone while others chat to pass the time.