Analyzing the “Photographic Evidence” of the Nanking Massacre

Photo I Photo 99Photo 99: “A Japanese soldier using a Chinese national as a guinea pig for bayonetpractice.” Zhongguo Kagzhani Tuzhi, p. 280.Photo I: A part of Photo 99 enlarged. The soldier’s uniform has a turned-up collar. Theuniform is without the long vertical shoulder loop typically seen in the Japanese army.Photo 99 is one of the photographs which the Associated Press distributed in thefall of 1937 as photographic proof of alleged Japanese massacre of Chinese nationals. Itappears to be the same image as printed in the September 30, 1937, issue of the DailyMirror.Also, Hara Keiji wrote an article entitled “Kokusai senden no gakuyaura”[Behind-the-scene realities of international propaganda] to discuss the same topic in theNovember 1939 issue of Keizai chishiki [Knowledge on Economics]. Hara said in thearticle:Depending on the newspapers, the caption [of the photograph] varied suchas “A Japanese soldier in bayonet practice using a Chinese tied to a pole,” or“A Japanese soldier’s bayonet practice with the use of Chinese dead body asa guinea pig.” . . . This photograph was the product of the Chinese who162