More than 80 years ago, Malaya fell into one of the darkest chapters of its history.
After the Japanese invasion in 1941, mass arrests, massacres and brutal military rule swept across the peninsula. Villages were destroyed, civilians were executed, and fear became part of daily life. In places like Titi, what now appears to be an ordinary bridge still bears silent witness to atrocities that claimed thousands of innocent lives.
But this story is not only about suffering.
In the face of occupation and terror, ordinary people chose resistance. Led largely by local Chinese communities and joined by Malays, Indians, and indigenous peoples, a guerrilla force emerged from the dense jungles of Malaya. Poorly equipped and with little formal training, they relied on popular support, intimate knowledge of the terrain, and a shared determination to survive and fight back.
For three years and eight months, they waged a relentless struggle against the Japanese forces, turning the forests into a battlefield and demonstrating the power of unity across ethnic lines.
This documentary revisits that forgotten resistance — not to glorify war, but to remember the people who stood up when there was no way back, and to ask how history should be remembered today.
Planning | Huang Can
Coordinating | Zhao Yang, Xie Miaofeng
Script: Xie Hongzhou
Text: Xie Hongzhou
Narrator: Xie Hongzhou
Director: Qin Shaolong, Xie Hongzhou
Videographer: Qin Shaolong
Video Editing: Qin Shaolong
Interview: Xie Hongzhou, Qin Shaolong
Design: Lai Meiya
Coordination: Yuan Zixiang, Wu Caiqian
English Editor: Yuan Zixiang, James Campion, Ouyang Yan, Liu Lingzhi
Interns Yao Jingsen and Huang Yuhan also contributed to this story
Part of the archives provided by Kwong Tong Cemetery Management Kuala Lumpur, and the Malaysian Chinese Museum.
Special thanks to Yong Pock Yau (Kwong Tong Cemetery Management Kuala Lumpur), Lee Chun Kong (Kwong Tong Cemetery Management Kuala Lumpur), Junxin (Kwong Tong Cemetery Management Kuala Lumpur), Lin Jiahao (Malaysian Chinese Museum), Zhang Zhiqin (Jawatankuasa Pengurusan Kubur Kaum Cina Titi Jelebu), Danny Wong (Universiti Malaya), Ho Kee Chye (Universiti Malaya), and George Yong (Persatuan Sahabat Warisan Kuala Lumpur dan Selangor).
