A 23-minute documentary on China's World War II (1939–1945) days produced by Swiss journalist Walter Bosshard opened to the public for the first time in the city Tuesday at the Shanghai Municipal Archives' new building along the Bund.

Produced in 1938, the documentary features clips from Yan'an in Shaanxi Province during wartime, including vivid close-ups of Mao Zedong, then chairman of the Chinese Soviet Republic, young men singing nationalistic songs, soldiers in training and children playing ping-pong.

"The documentary has caught many precious moments from the revolutionary time," said He Fei, deputy director from Collection Department of Shanghai Municipal Archives, adding that it refills blanks in people's memory of that period in history.

To celebrate the 90th anniversary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) in July, the local archive authority is also displaying a series of precious historical documents that include the first Chinese version of the manifesto of the CPC, letters written by Mao Zedong's right-hand man Zhou Enlai in 1946, and the telegram sent by the Central Committee of the CPC on May 30, 1949, which liberated Shanghai.

Also featured are books written by foreign writers, including the first Chinese version of Edgar Snow's famous work Red Star Over China, which details the revolution and Chinese leaders from World War II.

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