Analyzing the âPhotographic Evidenceâ of the Nanking Massacre

More documents

Recommendations

Info

* Magee photo (4)MF: This entire family was massacred by the Japanese when they entered the city. Twoof the women were raped and then put to death—one of them was in a particularly horriblefashion.RON-YY (p. 186): Xia Shu-qin’s home after the catastrophe. Her family and a Muslimfamily, totaling 13 persons including babies and grandparents, lived there when Japanesetroops stormed in. Only she and her younger sister survived. According to John Rabe’saccount of the incident, the soldiers raped Xia Shu-qin’s mother and two older sistersbefore killing them. This scene was filmed by Rev. John G. Magee, a member of theInternational committee for Nanking Safety Zone.Photo C Photo 119Photo 119: One of the “Magee photos”Photo C: “The corpses of a family slain by a Japanese soldier.” A photograph in A GoodMan in Nanking, p. 184.191
This photograph has been cited as evidence to corroborate the story of 11 slainpeople in the family of Xia Shuqin and in the family of their landlord. The story wassupposedly recounted to Magee by Xia Shuqin—then an eight-year-old girl who hadsurvived an alleged Japanese atrocity—and by her uncle, as well as by an old woman in herneighbor, who first found the aftermath of the atrocity. According to the January 25, 1938,entry in the record of Ernest H. Forster, the earliest date when Magee could take the imageof these dead bodies was January 25, 1938—one and a half months after December 13,1937, when the incident is said to have occurred. On this day, the old woman guidedMagee to the site of the alleged carnage.Some 50 years later, a testimony of Wang Zhiru, who is said to have been Xia’sneighbor at the time, was quoted in a Rape of Nanking survivor account collectionpublished in 1995. According to the account of Wang, who was 72 years of age when shegave her testimony for the publication, she fled to a refugee camp and returned to her housemore than 20 days later to find the dead bodies. Wang said that she conducted funeralservice for them promptly. On the same book, Xia Shuqin, 55, identified Wang as heraunt.If these accounts described the truth, then 24-year-old Wang was the first to findthe people who had been massacred, and was the one who guided Magee to the scene.The woman shown on the photograph, however, does not appear to be 24 years of age. Inaddition, although Wang said that she had arranged the funeral service for them quickly, itwas one and a half months later that she supposedly brought Magee to the spot for him torecord these dead bodies on his film. If the photograph had truly depicted an aftermath ofa Japanese atrocity, Magee should have submitted it to the IMTFE. Again, he did not doso.(c) Another “Magee Film” emergedMagee did not submit any portion of the “Magee Film” as evidence of themassacre. Nevertheless, that Magee took these pictures in Nanking has been moreaccentuated, and this fact has added more credibility to this film as historical document.Such was possibly a background for the emergence of another version of the “Magee Film”in the United States in 1991.The film, which the Alliance in Memory of Victims of the Nanjing Massacreproduced under the title of “Magee’s Testament,” features accounts provided by DavidMagee—John G. Magee’s son—and contains the image of the dead bodies in a pond—aphotograph which a preceding chapter has examined—as well as the scenes of Japan andShanghai prior to the outbreak of the hostility. The film, however, does not contain anysegments that clearly show the massacre or other atrocious conducts perpetrated by theJapanese. In addition, it includes some scenes that were apparently not those of Nanking.For example, “Magee’s Testament” explains Photos 120 and 121, which appear in sequence,as scenes of the Nanking Safety Zone. Photo 121, however, shows a uniformed Westerner,who could never be in the Safety Zone in Nanking. Also, one can see a railway line in theback. Thus, this image is highly likely to have captured the scene of Shanghai.192
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 and 10:
only in the Chinese edition of Timp
Page 11 and 12:
Photos C and D, which appeared in t
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: * Magee photo (3)MF: Group of women
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

You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles

Delete template?

Save as template?

Analyzing the âPhotographic Evidenceâ of the Nanking Massacre