Chapter 194 The Japanese Army’s Public Opinion War
The Japanese government has a huge budget fund, which it uses to buy influential media people in the United States, make propaganda in favor of Japan in mainstream newspapers and TV stations in the United States, and produce pro-Japanese brochures and leaflets, etc.
During the Jinling Massacre, the Japanese used this trick to cover up the truth. Instead of thinking about how to improve the discipline of the army, they tried every means to spend more money and resources to launch a large-scale
propaganda campaign in an attempt to cover up to some extent this bloodiest massacre in world history.
In the face of public opinion in China, the Japanese military media spread overwhelming propaganda, saying that everything was fine in Jinling City.
At the same time, the Japanese news agency Domei News Agency reported that residents of Jinling City have begun to return home one after another, and everything in the city is normal.
Dr. Robert Wilson, who witnessed the heinous crimes committed by the Japanese army in Jinling City, wrote: "If this is all the reports about the ban, when the true situation is revealed, it will definitely cause an uproar."
Next, the Japanese Emperor approved the carefully arranged trip to Jinling for Japanese tourists.
After the Allied News Agency's report was published, a merchant ship full of Japanese tourists arrived in Jinling from Shanghai.
George Fitch recorded this visit in his diary: “They were carefully led through the few streets where corpses had just been cleared, and sweets were elegantly distributed to Chinese children, and even the shocked ones were patted.
The child’s head.”
Some women accompanied Japanese business representatives on a tour of Jinling.
Fitch noticed that these women seemed extremely complacent, and at the same time they were happy and inspired by Japan's victory, but they knew nothing about what was happening in Jinling City.
Just a few hundred meters away from the street where they were sightseeing, a street was filled with piles of corpses that were piled up and twisted into a ball, and even more of the corpses were mutilated.
In January 1938, Japanese journalists came to take pictures of Jinling for distribution in Japan and other countries around the world.
On New Year's Eve, the Japanese Embassy convened a meeting with the Chinese managers of various refugee camps and told them that a 'spontaneous' celebration would be held in the city the next day. They ordered the Chinese who participated in the celebration to make thousands of Japanese
The national flag was carried in street parades to show the residents of Jinling cheering and welcoming the Japanese army, and the images were taken.
Japanese photographers also captured footage of Chinese children receiving treatment from Japanese military doctors and receiving candies from Japanese soldiers in Jinling.
As everyone knows, when the Japanese army attacked Songhu and Jinling, their field hospitals could not even treat their own people.
As for those staged shots, the children's faces were full of fear, and even their smiles looked extremely stiff and weird.
Lewis wrote to a friend: "Without the presence of a camera, this scene would never have been possible."
The most shameless case of Japanese false propaganda is an article published in the Japanese-controlled Shanghai "Xinsheng Daily" on January 8, 1938. The article was titled "The atmosphere in Jinling is harmonious, and the situation is progressing gratifyingly."
It was claimed that after the imperial army entered the city, they sheathed their swords, extended their hands of mercy, examined and healed the sick, brought food to the hungry, and provided medical services to the sick.
"Men, women, and children all knelt before the imperial army to express their admiration... A large number of people surrounded the Japanese soldiers under the flag of the sun and the red cross, shouting 'Long live' to express their gratitude...
...Japanese soldiers and Chinese children get along well with each other and are happily playing on the slide. Jinling has become the most benign place in the world and is filled with the atmosphere of peaceful coexistence and contentment."
In the face of public opinion within China, Japan attempted to cover up the truth of the Jinling Massacre through deception.
This aroused suspicion among some missionaries.
James McCarron wrote in his diary on January 9, 1938: "Now the Japanese are trying to discredit our efforts in the safe zone by intimidating and threatening the poor Chinese so that they refuse to believe us.
...Some Chinese are even willing to prove that all the looting, raping and burning was done by their own compatriots and had nothing to do with the Japanese. Sometimes I feel like we are dealing with lunatics and idiots, and it surprises me
What’s amazing is that all of us foreigners withstood this ordeal and survived.”
George Fitch wrote in his diary: "We read several Japanese newspapers published in Songhu and two "Tokyo Daily News". These newspapers told people: As early as December 28, the store in Jinling had
It opened quickly and resumed normal business; the Japanese cooperated with the foreigners staying in Jinling to jointly relieve the poor refugees; the Chinese who looted the city have been eliminated; peace and order have been restored in Jinling! If it were not for the tragedy of the whole incident,
These lies are so ridiculous that they are typical lies that the Japanese have been trying to spread to the outside world since the war began."
However, among the many diaries recorded by George Fitch, "Reader's Digest" only reproduced another of his diaries:
"In 1938, a government radio station in Tokyo released this news to the world, 'The thugs who caused heavy casualties and property damage in Jinling have been captured and executed. They are dissatisfied Chinese soldiers in Chiang Kai-shek's army. Now everything has been
Back to normal, the Japanese army is rescuing 300,000 refugees.'"
In a letter to his wife on March 8, 1938, Lewis Smythe wrote half-jokingly: "The latest news from the Japanese newspaper is that they have discovered 11 Chinese armed bandits. They are the culprits of all the bad things in Jinling City.
! Alas, if each of them could rape 100-200 women day and night for two weeks and escape with a reported US$50,000, then these Chinese would be too tough...
..."
The Japanese army didn't just use newspapers to publish it.
They even dispatched planes to drop countless leaflets on the refugees in the safe zone.
Above it reads: "All good Chinese people who return to their homes will receive food and clothing. Those Chinese who have not been fooled by the devils of Chiang Kai-shek's army, Japan is willing to be your good neighbor."
These leaflets not only wrote such tempting slogans, but also printed colorful pictures: a handsome Japanese soldier holding a Chinese child in his arms. The child's mother knelt at his feet and thanked him for sending him a few gifts.
Bag of rice.
On the day the leaflets were distributed, thousands of Chinese people left the refugee camps and returned to their homes, which had become ruins.
The Japanese army didn't just spread false leaflets.
They even announced to the refugees in the safety zone that all fighting in Jinling City was over, the streets were cleared, and peace was waiting for them.
Use lies to coax refugees in safe zone camps to leave the safe zone.
As early as after the fall of Jinling City, the Japanese army used the same method to coax the refugees in the safety zone. These refugees who walked out of the safety zone were quickly massacred by the Japanese army. Women were taken away by the Japanese army, and their fate was obvious.
The Japanese army also posted colorful posters on or near the exterior walls of houses where they had caused tragedies. Most of the contents painted on the posters were the same.
A handsome Japanese soldier picked up a Chinese child and handed a bucket of rice to the child and his mother, and handed candies and other foods to the child's father.
The upper right corner of the poster reads: "Come back to your hometown! I will give you food! Trust the Japanese army! You can get help!"
At the same time, Japan also held receptions and media events in Jinling and Shanghai to divert people's attention from the Jinling Massacre and give the soldiers in Jinling City time to dispose of the bodies.
In early February 1938, a Japanese general invited representatives of diplomats from other countries to attend a tea party held by the Japanese Embassy in Jinling. The general boasted at the tea party that the Japanese army was famous for its strict discipline. During the Russo-Japanese War and September 1,
During the Eighth Incident, there was not a single incident of disciplinary violations in the military.
He said that even if the Japanese army committed atrocities in Jinling City for some reason, it could only be because the Chinese resisted the Japanese army under the instigation of some foreign citizens.
This is an allusion to members of the International Committee for Safe Zones.
But strangely, the general's words contradicted those he had given in the same speech, in which he had previously admitted that during the advance to Jinling, the Japanese had expressed their anger because they could not find anything to eat or use.
Take it out on the Chinese.
The diplomatic corps of other countries were not fooled by the tricks of the Japanese media. They were not ignorant of the crimes committed by Japan in Jinling.
This is a war of public opinion, and the Japanese side has indeed succeeded. Many domestic people believe the reports of the Japanese army, and most of these people do not know the truth.
Xia Yuan comes from the future and is very clear about the future direction of Jinling City. Even if he makes this matter public, nothing will be changed.
He could only keep the evidence and hope to let the Chinese have more key evidence in future post-war trials.
Same thing.
While Xia Yuan was working hard to collect evidence and attack the Japanese army.
The members of the International Committee in the safe zone did not stop taking action either.
The International Committee of the Safe Zone did its best to fight back against Japan's intensive propaganda offensive. In the first few days of the massacre, the person in charge of the safe zone, with the help of some foreign journalists, shot and interviewed many videos of the victims, as well as the Japanese soldiers.
After the scene of the massacre, he was expelled by Japan, and the things he photographed were also confiscated by the Japanese.
After that, the Japanese government began to ban journalists from other countries from entering Jinling.
For example, Max Kopenin of the Chicago Tribune was once blocked from Jinling City and was not allowed to enter Jinling.
When the Japanese discovered that their actions were no longer subject to the scrutiny of the world's media, the Japanese army carried out atrocities even more unscrupulously.
However, the Japanese still underestimated the ability of the International Committee for Safe Zones to carry out propaganda activities.
One of the common characteristics of the leaders of the safe zone is that they have received excellent training in written expression, and almost without exception they are writers and speakers who are good at analyzing language.
There are many missionaries in the International Committee of the Safe Zone who have been educated in the best universities in the United States and Europe. They have devoted most of their adult years to preaching, writing articles and giving Christian lectures. Many professors of the International Committee have also served
Published his own works.
In addition, as a group, they are very good at working with the media.
Long before the fall of Jinling, they gave speeches on Jinling's radio broadcasts or wrote articles about China in popular newspapers.
These missionaries also have an unexpected goal for the Japanese. They have been pursuing the true meaning of "hell" and the truth of "hell" throughout their lives.
After the fall of Jinling, the Japanese army massacred Chinese people in Jinling City. The streets were full of corpses, the blood-red scenes, and broken walls were exactly the same as the hell scene they imagined.
What they have been pursuing all their lives has been realized in Jinling.
They used sharp words and sufficient evidence to describe the "hell" scenes they witnessed in Jinling City. They vividly recorded the descriptions of hell in their diaries, and also appeared in the letters they sent to friends and relatives.
, and in the reports sent to superiors.
These letters and reports were copied and printed many times, and were reported by the media and caused waves abroad.
And these contents are without any signature.,
The members of the International Committee of the Safety Zone knew very well that if the Japanese army discovered that they had conveyed what happened in Jinling City in the form of letters, they would inevitably be retaliated and expelled by the Japanese army, so they sent letters and reports to their homes.
above, recipients are kindly requested not to disclose their names or information.
This chapter is not over, please click the next page to continue reading! Pastor Magee wrote in a letter to his family: "Please do not handle this letter with caution. Once it is published, we may be expelled from Aurous Hill. This is very important to us."
It will be a disaster for the Chinese in Jinling."
The reason why the safe zone can maintain normal operation basically relies on the identity of these international committee members. The Japanese are afraid of their identities, and the indirect intervention of other countries makes this safe zone exist.
I can't imagine how the Chinese refugees in the safe zone will be treated if these people are expelled by the Japanese.
I'm afraid it will be like the civilians of Jinling City who were massacred.
Although the Japanese army's strict defense was effective, many of the items recorded by reporters were confiscated by the Japanese army, but not all of them were confiscated.
This includes the diary of George Fitch, which was the first to be taken out of Jinling and caused a "sensation" in Shanghai. This diary and other people's stories were soon published in "Times" and "Reader's Digest"
" and "Far East" and other mainstream magazines, arousing the indignation of the majority of American readers.
The stories recorded in the diary have also been included in some books.
Although the diary was successfully published and some results were achieved, compared to the Japanese army's generosity and the help from the United States, their counterattack was much less powerful.
As expected, the report of the International Commission on Safe Zones has aroused doubts from many American people.
Especially after an article "The Jinling Disaster" was published in Reader's Digest, a subscriber wrote to the editor, saying: "It's incredible that you actually believe this kind of thing. This is obviously poor propaganda.
It reminds one of the false information fed to the public during the last war."
Other subscribers also made similar comments, most of which questioned the authenticity of this article.