Analyzing the “Photographic Evidence” of the Nanking Massacre

Nanking Citizens Relinquishes Anti-Japanese SloganFriendly Atmosphere Grows Day by DayPleasantness Prevails over Enemy CapitalNanking, December 19, by correspondent Moriyama,Peace has returned to Nanking already. I took a walk on the China town streetsof Nanking, which the imperial force captured a week ago. It may sound strange thatthere is a China town within the Chinese city of Nanking. But since the Japanese troopswere quartered everywhere within the Nanking walls, the area where Chinese populationresided deserves that naming at the present.Initially, the Chinese residents tended to hide themselves at the sight of theJapanese. But by now, they have become so friendly that they approach Japanesesoldiers and propose to help them in some ways or the other. . . .In the make-shift markets that sprang up in this war time, I could see the vitalityof the Chinese population who are able to make adjustment to any environment. Priceswere extremely high. A match costs five sen [one-hundredths of one yen], and ahandful of salt was ten sen. These prices are ten times as much as the pre-war level.Soldiers out shopping.Photographed by correspondentKawamura, 17 December 1937.”Tokyo Asahi Newspaper, 20December 1937.A man in ragged clothes was selling manjū [Chinese pastry] placed on a clothspread on the street. Next to him was a man selling gingers, a woman displayingmatches and candles for sale, and an old man with salt and teas. At the square in therefugee zone, I smiled to see a Chinese barber shaving a long-grown beard of a Japanesesoldier, who looked to be a little sentimental in losing that beard.41