The newly released movie “Nanjing Photo Studio” in Mainland China has been accused of key plot points that contradict historical facts! These are the truths you must know!
The recently popular film “Nanjing Photo Studio” has garnered many tears from the audience with its novel perspective and touching plot. However, as an author who has studied the Defense of Nanjing for eight years, I must point out: many key plots in this movie seriously violate historical facts, especially the central theme—the feat of “sending out the negatives”—which involves grafting stories and erasing the real heroes!
I. Misleading Beginning: Tang Shengzhi Did Not Flee before the Battle
At the beginning of the movie, a soldier claims that “Tang Shengzhi and other high-ranking generals fled in advance.” This is completely a malicious smear of history!
The truth is: Tang Shengzhi, the Commander of the Nanjing Garrison, was determined to “live or die with the city” when he took office. Most of the troops under his command were remnants withdrawn from the Shanghai battlefield (Battle of Shanghai); some new recruits had just learned how to shoot, and their weapons and equipment were far inferior to those of the Japanese army.
On December 11, 1937, Chiang Kai-shek (styled Jieshi) issued three orders to retreat. Tang Shengzhi did not hold an emergency meeting to deploy the breakout until the afternoon of the 12th.
After the retreat order was issued, only a few units, such as the 83rd Army, strictly followed it. Most were stranded on the riverbank because communication was cut off or boats had been withdrawn. The claim that “high-ranking generals fled” is pure nonsense!
What’s more ironic is that this year’s “September 3rd” parade also invited veteran National Revolutionary Army (NRA) soldiers who fought in the anti-Japanese war, yet the screenwriters and directors are still “smearing” them on the screen. How can we bear this?
II. Japanese Siege: Tanks and Planes Are Completely Fictitious
The grand war scene in the movie where “the Japanese army sent planes and tanks to bomb down the city walls on December 13” is a complete fabrication of history!
The historical fact is: Before dawn on December 13, the defenders at positions such as Zhonghuamen and Guanghuamen had basically withdrawn. What the Japanese army faced was an empty city.
They encountered only sporadic resistance and entered the city easily, without using heavy weapons at all. The roads connecting the city gates had been dug up by the defenders, making it impossible for tanks to enter. The so-called “intense siege battle” is merely the erotic imagination of the filmmakers for dramatic effect!
III. The Tragedy of Yijiang Gate: Machine Gun Fire Is a Lie
The scene in the movie where “the defenders madly shot at retreating soldiers” made the audience in the theater curse “the National Revolutionary Army is beastly,” but they didn’t know that this was a second injury to the martyrs!
The real history is: After the retreat order was issued, due to the interruption of communication, some troops on duty did not receive the orders to allow passage in time. This led to physical conflicts and isolated shootings between them and the retreating soldiers, but there was absolutely no machine gun fire. Later, when the duty troops learned of the order, they allowed passage. The so-called “internal mutual slaughter” is purely the dark imagination of the filmmakers!
IV. Core Distortions: Who Are the Real Heroes of the Evidence?
The most indignant part of the movie is that the merit of “sending out the negatives of Japanese atrocities” is attributed to the fictitious character Ah Chang. This is an open robbery of history!
1. The True Story: The Silent Protection of Luo Jin and Wu Xuan
In 1938, Luo Jin, a 15-year-old apprentice, found photos of Japanese atrocities in the East China Photo Studio. He risked his life to develop 16 extra copies and made them into an album. The cover was painted with a bleeding heart and a knife, symbolizing “remembering the pain with bloody evidence.”
In 1941, the album was discovered by his classmate Wu Xuan, who hid it in the base of a Buddha statue for eight years. Eventually, in 1946, it became the “Capital character Number One Ironclad Evidence” in the trial of Hisao Tani. However, they never sent the negatives out of Nanjing, let alone expose them in international media.
2. The Real Heroes: The International Feat of Fitch and Magee
In 1937, American missionary John Magee used a 16mm camera to secretly film 105 minutes of Japanese atrocities, which remains the only dynamic record to this day.
In February 1938, George Fitch, the General Secretary of the Nanjing Safety Zone, sewed the film into a camel hair coat and risked death by taking a Japanese military train to send it to Shanghai.
These images shocked the world after being published by Life magazine and directly pushed the international community to support China. In the Tokyo Trials, Magee’s footage was listed as Evidence No. 324—ironclad evidence!
V. Why the Filmmakers’ “Patriotism” Became a Historical Poison?
Perhaps the filmmakers wanted to portray an image of “Chinese people’s heroic resistance against enemies,” but this practice of “grafting stories” is essentially a desecration of history!
Be aware that Luo Jin and Wu Xuan’s perseverance and Fitch and Magee’s righteous actions are all part of the Chinese nation’s history of struggle. Erasing the contributions of Western friends not only contradicts historical facts but also exposes a narrow nationalist mentality.
As revealed by the inclusion of Magee’s footage in the Memory of the World Register: The Nanjing Massacre is a tragedy for all mankind. Any attempt to split history is a betrayal of the truth!
Conclusion: Respecting History Is True Patriotism
The controversy of “Nanjing Photo Studio” reflects the predicament of current history-themed creations: Can historical facts be tampered with at will for the sake of box office and “Main Melody” themes?
We do not oppose artistic processing, but the bottom line of history is not to be crossed. When the “heroes” on the screen rise to prominence by stepping on the shoulders of real martyrs, we don’t need this kind of “patriotism”!
Remembering history is not to perpetuate hatred, but to prevent tragedy from repeating. Only by respecting everyone who fought for the truth can we truly console the spirits of those who passed away on the night Nanjing was breached.
Note: The original article was first published on the WeChat public platform and has since been taken down (censored).
