Analyzing the “Photographic Evidence” of the Nanking Massacre

“evidence” of the alleged massacre in Nanking.Second, the research team’s analysis revealed that the so-called evidentialphotographs of the Nanking massacre that are available in the public today originatedfrom two Chinese publications—RBS and WMRB. As elucidated in Chapter 2, thesetwo sources featured wartime propaganda photos which GMD sources either fabricatedor re-captioned in order to inspire anti-Japanese sentiment in China and in foreign nations,the United States in particular.Third, the CCP initiated another propaganda war in the 1970s by drawing onthese photographs. In Sanshinianlai hua congtou, which was translated and publishedin Japan under the title of Pekin yo saraba [Farewell to Beijing], the author—a grandsonof Lu Xun—recounted his own experiences in China that illustrate the nature of CCPpropaganda activities with the use of photographs. The following is an excerpt:In 1976, the CCP published a pictorial book in order to commemorate theachievements of my grandfather. . . . Some photographs in which mygrandfather posed with other people were reprinted in that book. Prior toreprinting, the editors checked the identity of each person photographedwith my grandfather. If they found any “counter-revolutionary” orsomeone deemed inappropriate to be photographed with my grandfather,they made a point of erasing that person or replaced his/her head withsomeone else’s in the photo. . . . Although my father . . . asked the CCPauthorities to record my grandfather as he was, they did not heed hisrequest at all. Such retouching of photographs is a matter of commonand openly implemented practice on the Chinese continent. I myselfwitnessed such retouching work in progress many times when I workedfor Jiefangjun huabaoshe [Liberation Army Photo Publication Company].At an anniversary memorial service for Mao Zedong, one of thesnapshots of the ceremony captured the image of Jiang Qing and YaoWenyuan. Then, prior to the publication of the photograph, the Gang ofFour fell from the power. As soon as this news became known to us, thecompany head came to our workplace a little panicked in manner andinstructed us to remove the Gang of Four and all others who wereconnected with them in the photograph with the use of retouchingtechniques.In summary, the retouching of photographs for media usage was “a matter ofcommon practice” even under CCP rule, and is still true even today. According to areport by the Strait Times of Singapore on September 3, 2004, and Japan’s SankeiNewspaper on the following day, a photograph that showed Hu Jintao shaking hands withDeng Xioaping in the presence of Jiang Zemin, an image that was captured during Jiang’stenure as CCP general secretary, was published anew after Hu’s rise to the power withJiang being erased from the photo. Thus, as common practice, the Chinese authoritiesstill have photographs retouched and re-captioned.A notable example relevant to the theme of the research team’s work is the groupof photographs included in Honda Katsuichi’s Chūgoku no tabi, which was published in1972. The photographs were originally GMD’s propaganda photos and included some235