Chinese Century’s Anti-Epidemic History
by Jianqiang, Xiaoyu, Min, Yijin, Lei, Dongpeng, Shanghai Media Group – Shanghai Audio-Visual Archives
Novel Coronavirus starts to spread globally since January 2020. Shanghai Audio-Visual Archives, through collecting, processing and studying historical moving images of China’s fighting against all kinds of plagues and major infectious diseases from 20th century, has built a Chinese historical image database of anti-epidemic rapidly.
Key aspects of the work for the project “Chinese Century’s Anti-Epidemic History.”
The moving image Database of Chinese Anti-Epidemic History, through the production and dissemination of documentaries and short videos, popularizes the knowledge of pandemic prevention during the critical period of the epidemic, increases public’s confidence of overcoming the coronavirus and preserves the complete video records of the epidemic period in China and in Shanghai region. These records have become a unique component of Shanghai’s memory of city image. We do and carry forward the following work:
- Global collecting: Cooperating with foreign well-known audio-visual archives, archives and libraries, we have established global collection channels and have continuously discovered newer and more authoritative historical images of anti-epidemic.
- Documentary program supporting: To satisfy the demand of SMG programs, we have offered content planning, consultation, compilation and callback services to the frontline’s historical images of anti-epidemic. Meanwhile, we collaborate with the documentary center and complete the project “Safe Mountains and Rivers—Archives Affecting China’s Pandemic”, rendering services of full planning and information director. During the pandemic, the database has provided over 300 pieces of audiovisual materials of all types which are more than 450 minutes in length for various channels.
- Society-oriented services: According to the different demands of various social film and television institutions of production and files, we are offering epidemic images resources from raw materials to completed films or newsreels. That firstly satisfies domestic and Shanghai local archives’ requirements of collecting historical images and secondly meets various archives and museums’ exhibition requirements through providing short video and documentary production. Currently, 4-5 archives and production institutions in cities, districts and universities have put forward clear intention of cooperation and specific needs.
