Today, in 1938, xinhua daily sponsored by the Communist Party of China was launched in Wuhan. The Nanjing Massacre continued at this time, and from January to May 1938, the Xinhua Daily repeatedly reported on the atrocities committed by the Japanese army in Nanjing with eye-catching headlines.
Looking at the media reports 84 years ago, we can still smell the bloody storms of that year, feel the barbarism and brutality of the Japanese army, and the suffering and humiliation suffered by the Chinese people.
Reported by Xinhua Daily on January 23, 1938
Reports of massacres
On January 25, Xinhua Daily reported on the massacre of Chinese civilians and prisoners of war by the Japanese army in Nanjing:
(Slide to see all)
When the Japanese Kou entered and occupied Nanjing, the Chinese refugees who did not have time to escape, unarmed, all gathered in one place, and died with machine gun fire, and in the area occupied by the Japanese Kou, except for those who were forced to carry objects, there were no prisoners, all of them were killed, that is, the Chinese army was also killed after handing over their weapons, and those in strong clothes in the refugee area, also referred to as soldiers, were shot and killed by a whole batch, such an atrocity can be described as a terrible crime.
The Japanese army is burying the citizens of Nanjing alive (from the July 1938 edition of the "Record of Japanese Atrocities")
The methods of the Nanjing Massacre of the Japanese army were extremely cruel and tyrannical. In addition to stabbing, shooting, burying alive, burning, and drowning, there are also killing competitions and killing entertainment, which are cruel and despicable, which is rare in ancient times.
On January 25, Xinhua Daily reported on the Japanese killing competition (reported by The Tokyo Ilbosch Shimbun) under the title of "Nanjing Purple Mountain Killing Competition", and reported on the infamous "Hundred People Chop":
In our country, the Japanese Kou even went so far as to compete with the number of people killed, and these two Japanese Kou, one Xiang Xiong and one Noda, met to win who killed a hundred people first, and after occupying Nanjing, the two Kou each held a bloody blade and saw each other in front of the Sun Yat-sen Mausoleum under the Purple Mountain... Naruto said, "I have killed one hundred and five people, what will happen to my feet", Noda replied, "I killed one hundred and six", the two laughed at each other, Noda won by killing one more person, but who killed one hundred people first, there is no way to decide, but it is agreed that killing one hundred and fifty people will be contested.
Reported by Xinhua Daily on January 25, 1938
A report in Japan's Tokyo Ilbo Shimbun titled "100 Men Cut Records Towards The Well: 106 - Noda: 105 Two Lieutenants Conduct an Extended War"
On March 9, xinhua daily, in a report titled "The Japanese Kou's Beastly Behavior in Nanjing," recorded the massacre of Chinese soldiers and civilians by the Japanese army in Xiaguan and other places in Nanjing:
In Shimonoseki, there were about 10,000 people killed on the spot, the roads turned red, the corpses blocked the river, more than 4,000 people were captured in the Area of Qilin Gate, there was no food or drink, there were 400 or 500 people who fell every day, and now there are countless corpses of the souls of the loyal souls of Shen in the area of the Sanfen River, there are a large number of security forces in the city, about 4,000 people, and the prime-aged people who are considered to be warriors, there must be thousands of people every day, all of whom are escorted to Shimonoseki, so that they are bound to each other, and then they are strafed with machine guns, and the undead throw grenades or stab them with knives into the cellar. Or accumulate into mountains, gather and burn, all the ponds and empty houses in the city, all of them have the bodies that have been killed, and there are tens of hundreds of them in each place, and between the ten days and the day, there are sixty or seventy thousand dead, although the ten days of Yangzhou at the end of the Ming Dynasty, the slaughter of the city in Jiading, is not too much.
On March 9, 1937, Xinhua Daily reported entitled "Japanese Kou In Nanjing Beastly Behavior"
Corpses piled up in Shimonoseki on the banks of the Yangtze River (selected from the "Murase Shouho Photo Album Private の從軍 China 戦線」)
Reports of sexual violence
After the Japanese army invaded and occupied Nanjing, it wantonly raped Chinese women, forcibly recruited "comfort women" and established comfort stations, and its degree of brutality and brutality was rare in human history.
On March 9, 1938, Xinhua Daily, in its article "The Japanese Kou's Beastly Acts in Nanjing", recorded the atrocities of the Japanese army in Nanjing, day and night, as well as the tragic experiences of Chinese women who were killed, committed suicide or committed suicide due to the violence of the Japanese army:
Our nation believes that the most humiliated and the most heartbroken, adulterers, and the enemy is desperate to do everything, in addition to burning and plundering, repeating wanton adultery, those who have a slight posture, almost none of them are spared, even naked, openly proclaiming adultery in the daytime, repeatedly being denounced as beasts on the spot by foreigners, quietly escaping, shameless, because they are ordinary difficult women, but retreating into the golden golden women's shelter for protection, and although the day is a little safe, but when it gets dark, drilling holes over the wall, it is still inevitable, or rapes the back shelf, or never returns, or although it returns, the illness cannot get up. Recently, there are old women in their fifties who are in their enemies who want to forcibly insult them, and there are two sons and two people who rise up to resist, and the whole family is killed.
John Magee photographs young women raped by Japanese troops (from Rabe's Diary)
On May 30, xinhua daily, in an article entitled "Compatriots in Nanjing Brutally Ravaged by the Enemy," reported many examples of perverted and lascivious behaviors committed by the Japanese army in Nanjing, such as gang rape, incest, rape and murder, and persecution of prostitution:
After the Wokou entered the city, the military uniforms were not unloaded, that is, they crashed into the residents and merchants, and searched for women, all women over the age of nine and under the age of forty-five were gang-raped, and a widow outside the Shuixi Gate, there were three women, eighteen years old, the second daughter was thirteen years old, the girl was nine years old, all of them were gang-raped, the young girl died on the spot, the eldest and second daughters were unconscious, one day the beast soldiers entered a people's home, encountered a young girl who forced her to take off her clothes, forced her parents to hold a foot, and then took turns to rape, that is, to force her father to undress, forced to have sex with her daughter, and the father did not allow it. The beast soldier stabbed his father in the buttocks with a bayonet, the father and daughter were killed at the same time, the average girl, because the body was not yet developed, could not satisfy the desire of the enemy beast, first with her hand to tear a certain part, and then gang rape, after the adult women gang rape, most of them stabbed to a certain part with bayonets to death, another pregnant woman, who was pregnant for several months, was gang-raped by the beast soldiers, bleeding non-stop, the death of the pawn, and the beast soldiers often raped everywhere in the square, rape everywhere, one day, the consul of a certain country witnessed the three beast soldiers gang-raping a woman, came forward to gently persuade, the beast soldiers criticized her cheeks with palms, and threatened them with guns, and a certain consul had no choice In short, the women of Nanjing, whose young and beautiful people, were either appropriated by the enemy officers and men, raped arbitrarily, or forced to serve as military prostitutes, or forced to serve as military prostitutes.
On May 30, 1938, Xinhua Daily reported entitled "Nanjing Compatriots Brutally Ravaged by the Enemy."
Reports of burning
In the process of capturing Nanjing, the Japanese army organized arson and destruction to cover up the traces of looting.
On March 5, 1938, Xinhua Daily reported on the horrific and miserable scene of Nanjing after the disaster, with the title of "Nanjing Meteorological Misery":
Although the enemy allowed the refugees from the four townships to return to the city, the search was very strict, without asking for soap, that is, arrested, the number of people who were brutally killed was still more than 100 people, the shops in the area around the new street entrance of Taiping Street were still closed, and the enemy merchants took the opportunity to come to Beijing to operate, like the tide, and the enemy shops opened in the commercial area around Taiping Street reached as many as one hundred and forty, most of them were hotels, restaurants, cafes, taverns, and brothels, to daily commodity stores and makeup shops, and there were many, but the customers were enemy soldiers. It is said that this merchant used to be a businessman in Hankou, Changsha, and Yichang.
South of Nanjing after the disaster (Yale Theological Seminary Library)
On March 9 and 11, xinhua daily, in a report entitled "Japanese Kou's Beastly Behavior in Nanjing," recorded in more detail the atrocities of the Japanese burning:
From the day the enemy entered the city, it was set on fire, and every day it was seven or eight, and at the beginning all the tall buildings, except for those occupied by them, were burned out, and those who could not be burned were also destroyed, and then ordinary houses were not spared... It is said that the houses in Xinhuamen since the mouth of Xinjiekou have not been left in one hundred, and it is said that in other places, the buildings are simple, especially the burning, so most of the 200,000 people in the refugee areas protected by German and American people are homeless and pitiful.
After plundering the enemy into the city, groups of three or five people searched from house to house, and even more in the refugee area, that is, the embassies and the residences of foreigners were also treated equally, and those who should be late in the door, that is, shots and knives, first robbed money and money, searched the body, and then turned over boxes and cages, although the bucket crypt, they must also be inspected, no matter day and night, each household must search seven or eight times, if it is a wild raid, that is, up to twenty years, although it is now a little, it is still heard from time to time, and the large utensils of the official offices such as private houses have long been transported, and the total number of killings, burning, rape and looting after the enemy army enters the city, the book is not exhaustive, And our people are in the depths of the sea, they can seek protection and a little comfort, but the International Committee is Lai, all the foreigners in Beijing, all of them try to save our people, quarrel with the enemy, and humiliate those who are killed, from time to time, and we have heard of them, and our twenty thousand refugees have been able to rescue them, otherwise they may not be left behind, that is, recently since the establishment of the puppet-style autonomous association, the victims still cry to the International Committee from time to time to complain about the atrocities of the enemy, and there are forty or fifty cases a day, and the news is recorded in detail, and it is broadcast around the world, and the enemy only feels that it is difficult to deal with, and regards the International Committee as a thorn in the eye. It is a lot of difficulties, deliberate obstruction, so that the refugee area is dissolved and then quickly, but the foreigners will never move, and work harder, such a spirit, the heavens and the people, not only my refugees worship as the Buddha of all families.
On March 9, 1938, the Xinhua Daily reported entitled "Japanese Kou In Nanjing Animal Behavior"
Between January and May 1938, Xinhua Daily reported more than 10 articles on the atrocities committed by the Japanese army in Nanjing. Through this window, Xinhua Daily presents the basic situation of the Nanjing Massacre and leaves an unforgettable historical memory.
Historical sources: Central Archives, "From the Report of the "Xinhua Daily" to see the Nanjing Massacre"
Editor: Pan Linna
Reviewer: Li Ling, Zhao Yihan
Producer: Ling Xi