A group of about one hundred Japanese lawmakers has said the Chinese estimate of the death toll in the ‘Rape of Nanking’ massacre has been grossly inflated. This disagreement has led to increased friction between the two countries. The Japanese lawmakers compiled a study indicating the deaths to be 20,000. China has estimated the number to be over 300,000 deaths. Historians, however, have generally agreed that at least 150,000 civilians were slaughters and thousands of Chinese women were raped in the 1937 attack in Nanjing, then called Nanking.
When the Japanese seized the city of Nanjing in 1937, they raped thousands of Chinese women and killed thousands in what came to be known as the ‘Rape of Nanking.’ Many Japanese conservatives are now angry over what they call exaggerated stories of Japanese brutality during World War II.
Amid this new friction between China and Japan, anti-Japanese feelings over the Nanjing attacks among the Chinese have remained strong. In its 70th anniversary, an American movie about the mass slaughter will open in China next week. “Nanking” will premiere in Beijing and be released across China. The movie mixes archival footage with actors’ readings of witness accounts from those who protected Chinese refugees.
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