Documentary Screening followed by Q&A
Monday, 18 May 2026, 12pm to 1.30pm
In 1940 the Religious Society of Friends, or the Quakers, decided to send ambulances and men to China to help the Chinese suffering under the Japanese invasion. It was known as the China Convoy. Their motto was ‘Go Anywhere, Do Anything’. The average age of the members was 22 and few had been abroad. The convoy was responsible for the distribution of over 80% of all medical supplies sent to China between 1942 and 1946. Convoy members also set up inoculation programmes and local clinics to conduct surgical procedures. The members were pacifist, so did not take sides nor allow soldiers or weapons on the convoys and their declared aim was to provide aid to whoever needed it, regardless of race, nationality, religion or political beliefs. Between 1941-51 over 350 volunteers served from the UK, USA, Canada and New Zealand, including over 50 Chinese students and several hundred Chinese staff as interpreters, drivers, mechanics, blacksmiths, carpenters, cooks and secretaries.
Dr Janet Harris is a nominated documentary producer/director, having worked for many years at the BBC and as a freelancer with experience of working in Iraq in war and in post war. She filmed in Iraq as an embedded director with the British military for the BBC series Soldier, Husband, Daughter Dad (2005) and for the BBC series Fighting the War (2003). She also worked in post conflict Iraq for the series Saddam’s Iraq for ITV & Middle East Broadcasting (2004). In 2013 she made a documentary for the 10th anniversary of the invasion of Iraq for the BBC This World strand, ‘Did My Son Die in Vain?’ (2014). She obtained a PhD from Cardiff University in 2012 and was a senior lecturer at Cardiff University on the MA International Journalism course and course director for the MA Digital Documentaries. She left Cardiff in 2024 and is now co-directing a documentary in Croatia.
Speaker(s): Dr Janet Harris (Documentary producer/director)
Series: China Centre Screening
Venue:
Dickson Poon Building, Oxford China Centre - Kin-ku Cheng Lecture Theatre (lower ground floor)
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Kin-ku Cheng Lecture Theatre (lower ground floor) Dickson Poon Building Canterbury Road Oxford Oxfordshire OX2 6LU United Kingdom
Department: Asian and Middle Eastern Studies (Department)
Host: Professor Todd Hall