MIT Visualizing Cultures


Throwing Off Asia – Lesson 07

American Newspaper Narratives of the Sino-Japanese War


Handout 07-A | Printer-friendly Word doc

American Journalists Cover the Sino-Japanese War

Student directions
In this activity, you will adopt the role of a third-party interested in the Sino-Japanese War—that is, an individual or group who is not directly involved in the war as Japan and China were, but who has an interest in the outcome of the war. Your teacher will assign you the role of one of the American newspaper or magazine correspondents outlined below. Each one has a particular lens through which he wants to report the war back home. 
 
Your task is to create a newspaper story on the war that captures the point of view of your assigned role. To write and illustrate your story, you can use any four woodblock prints from Throwing Off Asia.
 
Your article should contain each of the following:
   • A minimum of four paragraphs detailing your story
   • Answers to the news questions: Who? What? When? Where? Why?
   • Four woodblock prints or details from prints, with your own captions
 
Role #1
You are a reporter for an American news magazine with sympathies for the “backward” people of China, whom Americans charities, educational groups, and missionaries have been trying to help. Your headline reads “Chinese People Victimized by Japan’s Uncivilized War Tactics.”
 
Role #2
You are a reporter for an American news magazine with a primary audience of American business interests that have invested heavily in Asia. Your article focuses on China with the headline “In Its War With Japan, China a Victim of its Own Incompetence and Backwardness.”
 
Role #3
You are a reporter for an American news magazine with a primary audience of American business interests that have invested heavily in Asia. Your article focuses on Japan with the headline “Japan Learns the Lessons of the West, Wins the War Against China.”
 
Role #4
You are a reporter with sympathies for both China and Japan. Your headline reads “In a War Against Neighbors, Japan Saves China From Itself.”
 







Massachusetts Institute of Technology © 2008 Visualizing Cultures