Analyzing the “Photographic Evidence” of the Nanking Massacre

Little boys and girls were playing on a broken horse-cart with joyful voices.Some boys were playing a mock battle with a miniature tank—something thesepoor-looking children could not seemingly afford for—on a pavement. I do not knowwhere these children found that toy.On the street of Nanking. Only a few days after the Japanese entry into the city,peace has returned to the former battlefield, and the streets have scenes of childrenplaying with the Japanese soldiers.Both photographed 20 December 1937.” Shina-jihen shashin zenshū, vol. 2: Shanhaijihen [Complete Pictorial Collection of The Sino-Japanese War, vol. 2: ShanghaiIncident], p. 151.42