UK premiere of WWII atrocity documentary showing China-UK friendship

Chinese-made documentary The Sinking of the Lisbon Maru had its UK premiere on Monday night in London.

Among the audience at Regent Street Cinema were more than a hundred relatives of British prisoners of war who had been aboard the ill-fated ship. 

The film documents a World War II atrocity in which some 800 British prisoners of war died at sea after the Japanese vessel they were on was torpedoed.

It's a human story about suffering and bravery under terrible circumstances, including potential war crimes. It's also a film about selflessness, showing how several hundred prisoners were rescued when Chinese fishermen risked their lives to pull them from the shark-infested East China Sea.

The documentary included testimonies from the last two surviving POWs and the one remaining Chinese fisherman involved in the rescue, all of whom have since died. As well as photos, reconstructions and artist's impressions, the film includes interviews with relatives, many of whom attended the screening.

What is the Lisbon Maru story?

The Lisbon Maru was a Japanese cargo ship converted to an armed troop carrier.

In October 1942, it was carrying 1,816 British and Commonwealth prisoners of war from Hong Kong to Japan when it was hit by a torpedo from an American submarine. The Lisbon Maru was not showing Red Cross signs or other signs that it was a prison ship, as stipulated under international law; seeing the guns on deck, the American submariners assumed it was a troop ship. 

As the boat started to sink, the Japanese troops were evacuated but locked the prisoners below deck, in three separate holds. Many managed to escape from two of the holds but were then shot at as they jumped into the sea. Those in the final hold went down with the ship.

An estimated 828 prisoners died, whether trapped on board, shot dead or drowned at sea. Hundreds more might have died were it not for a flotilla of poor Chinese fishermen from a nearby island, who came to the rescue in their tiny sampans. The Chinese risked their lives amid the shooting and managed to take almost 400 survivors back to their small island.

Most of the troops were recaptured the following day by the Japanese and ended up in prison camps, but the kindness was never forgotten. The islanders did successfully hide three of the POWs, who eventually made their way back to England to spread the news.

READ MORE: How Chinese fishermen saved British POWs from a torpedoed WWII warship

Audience reaction

Among those watching the premiere were family members of PoWs on the Lisbon Maru.

"I couldn't stop crying, I was a sopping mess," said Lindsey Archer, whose uncle died on the ship. "So emotional, so beautifully made, the individual stories that really make the film." 

Ken Salmon's father survived Lisbon Maru, rescued from the sea by Chinese fishermen. He wore his father's medals to the screening.

"The thing that comes across is that despite the politics, despite the aggravation that's in the world, when you get right down to it, people are friendly," he said.

The film's producer and director Fang Li first learned of the incident almost 10 years ago. Fascinated that no one he knew had ever heard about it, Fang launched a search for the sunken ship and then set out to find any survivors and relatives – which is when the idea of the documentary took shape.

In 2019 he invited some of the families of those who died aboard the Lisbon Maru to come to Dongji Island for a remembrance ceremony, and then a boat ride out to the sunken wreck.

Fang Li found making the documentary to be emotionally difficult at times.

"We all should remember between people to people, no matter if they are British or Chinese, they are all civilians and friends," Fang said. "And I would say people should remember during wartime, during World War II, we were allies."

Military representation

The first draft of the documentary was completed two years ago and shown at British military bases, regimental headquarters of those units which had prisoners aboard the Lisbon Maru.

Retired Major Alastair Goulden, from the Queen's Regimental Association, was invited to the premiere. Some of the worst losses on the Lisbon Maru were suffered by the Middlesex Regiment, which has since been absorbed into the Queen's Regiment.

"Regimentally, of course this is a very important event so we are delighted to be recognized at long last," he said.

Colonel Andy Smith was also in the audience.

"We live in a chaotic world, we can all recognize that, so I think it's always important to remember some of the factual human stories are where we have come together and where there is humanity," he said after seeing the film.

With a UK distributor now secured for the film, The Sinking of the Lisbon Maru will go on general release in cinemas around the country later this week.