Analyzing the “Photographic Evidence” of the Nanking Massacre

The Japanese not only disemboweled, decapitated, and dismembered victimsbut performed more excruciating variety of torture. Throughout the citythey nailed prisoners to wooden boards and ran over them with tanks,crucified them to trees and electrical posts, carved long strips of flesh fromthem, and used them for bayonet practice. At least one hundred menreportedly had their eyes gouged out and their noses and ears hacked offbefore being set on fire. (p. 87)After gang rape, Japanese soldiers sometimes slashed open the bodies ofpregnant women and ripped out the fetuses for amusement. (p. 91). . . they “stuck a wire through his nose and tied the other end of the wire to atree just like one would tie up a bull.” (p. 94). . . one Japanese soldier who raped a young woman thrust a beer bottle intoher and shot her. Another victim was found with a golf club rammed intoher. . . . the Japanese raped a barber’s wife and then stuck a firecracker inher vagina. (pp. 94-95)Similarities between the descriptions of alleged Japanese atrocities in RON-I on theone hand and Chinese brutality recounted in Wild Swans and Hungry Ghosts on the otherhand are striking. One could speculate that the three photographs and RON-I’s (?)accounts were the result of the Chinese projecting their own past conduct onto the Japanesearmy .There is yet another example of blaming the Japanese of committing atrocious actswhich the Chinese have traditionally perpetrated. Photo 105, which shows a man placedin a cangue, made its debut as a Nanking-atrocity photograph in QINHUA, and has sincebeen included in other publications. On one hand, the Japanese people did not impose thiskind of punishment on criminals in modern times. On the other hand, the Chinese stillobserved this punishment even in the 20 th century, and the scene shown in Photo 105 wasnot rare. Photos Q and R were taken in Shanghai in 1907 and in Beijing in 1924,respectively. Owase Tatsuhiko sketches the origin of the cangue and the punishment thataccompanied its use in his Zusetsu Chūgoku kokukeishi [Pictorial History of Chinese CruelPunishments]:The cangue is a tool for punishing criminals by immobilizing their neck,hands, and feet. Originally modeled on an agricultural tool, it was alreadyin use at the time of the Shang and Zhou dynasties, but was not officiallyadopted until after the time of the northern Wei dynasty. The size, shape,and weight of the cangue varied, and the seriousness of criminal offensedetermined which type should be used. Although it was usually made ofwood, an iron version was also produced during the Sung dynasty period.174