Analyzing the âPhotographic Evidenceâ of the Nanking Massacre

More documents

Recommendations

Info

convicted these two officers and had them shot to death in 1948. There was, however, noindication that Chinese authorities tried to obtain the identities of the four men in these twophotographs or even sought their custody after the war. Another dubious point of the photosis that these servicemen were underdressed for a December in Nanking.Photo C:A photo printed on theDecember 24, 1937,issue of the TokyoAsahi Newspaper withthe caption “PeaceBack in Nanking:Soldiers of the ImperialArmy Giving Cookiesto Children.”Photo D:“The Japanese ArmyDistributes Gifts inNanking.” NorthChina Daily News,December 24, 1937.8
Photos C and D, which appeared in the December 24, 1937 issue of the Tokyo AsahiNewspaper of Japan and the North China Daily News of China, respectively, were snapshots ofthe Nanking safety zone, where virtually all the remaining Nanking citizens were taking refuge.Uniformed Japanese men, who appeared to be either military policemen or members of thearmy’s special service, are seen giving out cookies to Chinese civilians. One cannot detectany sign of unnatural or dressed-up behavior of the Japanese military personnel or Chinesecivilians seen in these photos. Neither can one detect any facial expressions suggestive offear or a tense atmosphere on the Chinese in the photos, which should have been visible if thecity had been subjected to ongoing massacre, rape, robbery, and arson. One may also wonderwhether women and children would have ventured out to the street if the Japanese army wasactually conducting large-scale killing in the city.These questions prodded the team to collect and investigate as many photographs aspossible that were relevant to the Nanking incident. After reviewing 30,000 pieces of“photographic evidence” on a preliminary basis, some of which were identical to otherphotographs, the research group took out 143 photos which have been frequently used asevidence of the Nanking massacre and conducted thorough research to determine whether ornot each one of them is convincing evidence of the alleged atrocities. Members of the grouptried to pinpoint when each photograph was printed, the source and how it was used thereafter,and compiled a table and a flow chart to summarize the findings. In the end, the research,albeit unwittingly, successfully uncovered the whole truth of these atrocity photos.Outline of the photographic evidence “flow chart”The following is an overview, in five phases, of the major publications andphotographic “evidence” as they have appeared since the fall of Nanking in 1937 through tothe present.(1) 1937-38: Immediately after the fall of NankingThis period witnessed the publication of Timperly’s What War Means, its Chineseedition, and Rikou Baoxing Shilu compiled by the political section of the GMD government’smilitary commission. Timperly’s original English edition did not carry any photos, but theother two were published with quite a few photographs of unknown origin. Those samephotos have since been reprinted in publications of the later periods as proof of large-scalemassacre and rape in Nanking.Again, quite a few of these photos are of unknown origin, with a few exceptions, suchas the moving images captured by John G. Magee and those printed in the Life magazine of theUnited States.Japanese magazines like the Asahi Graph and Shina Jihen Gahō [Sino-Japanese WarPictorial Report] as well as major newspapers published photographs taken by Japanese warcorrespondents. They provided the readers with visual images that were useful inunderstanding aspects of the Japanese troops in China (e.g. uniforms, gear).In addition, there are some photographs that were not made public at the time, butbecame available for the first time after World War II. Most of photographs in this categoryhave been verified as to when and where they were taken.9
Page 1 and 2: Analyzing the “Photographic Evide
Page 3 and 4: List of AbbreviationsCCPGMDICNSZIMT
Page 5 and 6: heard about the Rape of Nanking. I
Page 7 and 8: Discovery of a “top secret” GMD
Page 9: only in the Chinese edition of Timp
Page 13 and 14: Nanking massacre was published with
Page 15 and 16: Chapter 1: Realities of the Battle
Page 17 and 18: August 12, the Chinese army’s for
Page 19 and 20: Crisscrossed runningcanals.” Mans
Page 21 and 22: “Death-defying aerial photograph
Page 23 and 24: Sunday, November 28: Wang Gupan, ch
Page 25 and 26: Zhonghua Gate. Viewphotographed fro
Page 27 and 28: Escape of garrison commander TangTh
Page 29 and 30: Soldiers shouting “banzai” on t
Page 31 and 32: soldiers from civilians. Again, thi
Page 33 and 34: For example, combatants who are cap
Page 35 and 36: Graph: Nihon no senreki [Mainichi G
Page 37 and 38: An important fact is that the Japan
Page 39 and 40: the city.Given the non-occurrence o
Page 41 and 42: Victory ceremony in front of the GM
Page 43 and 44: Nanking Citizens Relinquishes Anti-
Page 45 and 46: I heard a hymn accompanied by an or
Page 47 and 48: Children riding mules in front ofNa
Page 49 and 50: with Chinese staff members of the s
Page 51 and 52: One week after the fall of Nanking.
Page 53 and 54: Peddlers wishing to trade withJapan
Page 55 and 56: My mission was to visit the office
Page 57 and 58: Chapter: The First “Photographic
Page 59 and 60: Analyses of Group A photographs1. S
Page 61 and 62:
Contemporary Japanese publications,
Page 63 and 64:
Of course, the image of a lone infa
Page 65 and 66:
Photos D and E are in a booklet ent
Page 67 and 68:
(c) Bombing of the USS PanayRBS lis
Page 69 and 70:
Photos C and D: The Panay sinking i
Page 71 and 72:
about-to-take-place beheading was a
Page 73 and 74:
(a) Four military personnel at the
Page 75 and 76:
of a living person posing for the c
Page 77 and 78:
Apart from this speculation, anothe
Page 79 and 80:
8. Apparently, no one in uniform ha
Page 81 and 82:
the quote above makes it clear that
Page 83 and 84:
Photo A: A clip of Photo 13 as prin
Page 85 and 86:
Photo 15: “Shatou.” The first a
Page 87 and 88:
Formation of thegroundPhoto C: “P
Page 89 and 90:
Four identical individuals are show
Page 91 and 92:
As for Chiang Kai-shek and his GMD,
Page 93 and 94:
3. Still Images of Dead BodiesIf th
Page 95 and 96:
Timperly may well have selected thi
Page 97 and 98:
According to the RBS’s caption,
Page 99 and 100:
Photos 26-28:RBS was the first sour
Page 101 and 102:
One can easily point out difference
Page 103 and 104:
Shanghai. Several photos I saw when
Page 105 and 106:
In 1998, however, Hata Ikuhiko unea
Page 107 and 108:
Photo E: Asahi Graph, 10 November 1
Page 109 and 110:
Photo I: The original of Photo 36 w
Page 111 and 112:
Photo J: This is the original of Ph
Page 113 and 114:
however, stated that the girl in th
Page 115 and 116:
Group B photographs: Photographs th
Page 117 and 118:
WMRB introduces Photo 45-51 as scen
Page 119 and 120:
Photo 48Photo 49117
Page 121 and 122:
According to the caption of Photo 5
Page 123 and 124:
Agnes Smedley describes how the Com
Page 125 and 126:
Photo 58Photo 59Photo 60123
Page 127 and 128:
The RBS caption of Photo 62 says,
Page 129 and 130:
Conclusion: Composite, Play-up, Rep
Page 131 and 132:
The following sources made referenc
Page 133 and 134:
Horizontal and vertical ratio of th
Page 135 and 136:
Photo 133
Page 137 and 138:
have not been seen by anyone else u
Page 139 and 140:
137
Page 141 and 142:
The same background as the “origi
Page 143 and 144:
Photo G Photo F Photo CPhoto C: RON
Page 145 and 146:
“Courtesy of Marion Fitch”RON-Y
Page 147 and 148:
some 50 photographs which he had ta
Page 149 and 150:
Fitch Photos -(21)Photo 93 Photo 91
Page 151 and 152:
Photo B Photo A Photo 84Photos 84 a
Page 153 and 154:
Photo 88Photo 88: An identical phot
Page 155 and 156:
and 90, one may assume that the pho
Page 157 and 158:
Forty-five years later, however, Na
Page 159 and 160:
Japanese side. But [the unearthed m
Page 161 and 162:
(2) Alleged murder of childrenAmong
Page 163 and 164:
It is Carl Mydans, an American in C
Page 165 and 166:
inspired anti-Japanese sentiment am
Page 167 and 168:
Another notable fact is that a sold
Page 169 and 170:
military have appeared in several N
Page 171 and 172:
Photo 102Photo 102: One of the phot
Page 173 and 174:
Photo PPhoto OPhoto O: Watashi no j
Page 175 and 176:
In one case a [Communist] Party mem
Page 177 and 178:
In view of such a Chinese tradition
Page 179 and 180:
army’s conduct after its entry in
Page 181 and 182:
Photo 108Photo 108: “[C]hildren b
Page 183 and 184:
Photo UPhoto U: Type-94 light armor
Page 185 and 186:
Army rose near Zhonghua Gate.” Ju
Page 187 and 188:
(11) Images of Shanghai re-captione
Page 189 and 190:
Chapter 4: Misleading use of the Ph
Page 191 and 192:
* Magee photo (1)Magee’s film (MF
Page 193 and 194:
* Magee photo (3)MF: Group of women
Page 195 and 196:
This photograph has been cited as e
Page 197 and 198:
(d) Ulterior motive behind the incl
Page 199 and 200:
discrepancy between the realities i
Page 201 and 202:
Photo 126Photo 126: RON-YY, which f
Page 203 and 204:
Images Photographed by the Westerne
Page 205 and 206:
As for Photo 130, RON-YY said, “O
Page 207 and 208:
Photo A Photo 131Photo 131: Second
Page 209 and 210:
and she found the following passage
Page 211 and 212:
Images Photographed by the Japanese
Page 213 and 214:
Photo 134Photo 134: Zusetsu Shōwa
Page 215 and 216:
Photo FPhoto DPhoto EPhotos D and E
Page 217 and 218:
much larger number POWs obeyed a sm
Page 219 and 220:
Photo IPhoto 136Photo I: Fukyoka sh
Page 221 and 222:
As for Nihon no shinryaku: Chūgoku
Page 223 and 224:
Shanxi Province, and Nomonhan durin
Page 225 and 226:
half open. Since Murase most likely
Page 227 and 228:
Map 2Map 2: “Assault on Nanking.
Page 229 and 230:
Photo N: A photograph among the rec
Page 231 and 232:
emoved them away from the shore to
Page 233 and 234:
find an old man lying on the ground
Page 235 and 236:
spring or summer time—as illustra
Page 237 and 238:
correspondents who assisted in the
Page 239:
e-captioned pieces. This publicatio
show all

Analyzing the âPhotographic Evidenceâ of the Nanking Massacre

Create successful ePaper yourself

Delete template?

Save as template?

Analyzing the âPhotographic Evidenceâ of the Nanking Massacre