“Nanjing Photo Studio” a Box Office Hit – What Secrets Are Hidden Behind the September 3 Military Parade?

Many out-of-town students living in tents on Tiananmen Square died inside them. (Photo: DaJiYuan ImageLib / Dajiyuan)

[People News] China’s most eye-catching summer blockbuster this year is undoubtedly Nanjing Photo Studio. According to online platform data, since its release in China on July 25, in just 26 days, its box office shot up to 2.6 billion yuan. After stoking Chinese public anger against Japan and stirring up nationalist sentiment, Beijing’s September 3 military parade followed immediately.

So, what story does Nanjing Photo Studio actually tell?

The film uses the Nanjing Massacre as its backdrop. It portrays a 15-year-old apprentice at a Nanjing photo studio who, while developing two rolls of film brought in by a Japanese officer, discovers photographs showing the Japanese army’s atrocities—massacres, rapes, and looting. Risking his life, he secretly preserves dozens of these photos and compiles 16 of them into an album. This album later plays a key role in the 1946 trials of Japanese war criminals.

The Nanjing Massacre began on December 13, 1937, when the invading Japanese army captured Nanjing and carried out six weeks of bloodshed. According to both Chinese and international historical sources, more than 300,000 Chinese civilians were killed, countless women were raped, and the city was devastated by arson and looting.

But the film deliberately emphasises Japanese wartime atrocities with graphic and bloody imagery, leaving many mainland audiences feeling uncomfortable. Particularly among children, the impact has been severe—some lost emotional control and even exhibited hysteria.

Many parents reported that after watching the film, their children smashed images of Japan on Chinese maps with various tools, tore up their treasured Japanese anime cards, and even declared they wanted to “kill all Japanese.”

One netizen posted on X: “I saw videos of several children after watching Nanjing Photo Studio—some were crying, some were gritting their teeth in rage, some saying they wanted to kill all Japanese. Sigh, it’s heartbreaking. No one denies that Japan’s invasion of China was a colossal crime. But so is any form of invasion and slaughter. Haven’t generations been deceived by the CCP’s manipulation? Can’t we break this cycle in our generation?”

This hatred, deliberately cultivated by the film, quickly spilt into real life. On the afternoon of July 31, a Japanese mother and child were attacked in Suzhou.

Last year in Suzhou as well, a Chinese man had attacked a Japanese school bus with a knife, injuring another Japanese mother and child.

On August 5, veteran Japanese journalist Akio Yaita wrote on Facebook that although the film claims to be based on a true story, several Japanese historians pointed out glaring historical flaws and contradictions. While the Japanese army did employ wartime photographers, their task was to document heroic combat and the army being welcomed by locals, not to deliberately record acts of abuse against civilians. Moreover, these photographers carried their own developing equipment and would never hand over potentially sensitive military photos to a local Chinese studio for processing. Thus, Yaita concludes, the story is almost certainly fictional.

This year marks the 80th anniversary of the War of Resistance Against Japan. Besides Nanjing Photo Studio, several other war-themed films have been released: Dongji Island and Mountains and Rivers as Witnesses in August, and 731 is scheduled for release on September 18.

Why has the CCP chosen this particular timing to roll out this wave of anti-Japanese films?

On the morning of September 3, Beijing’s Tiananmen Square will host a massive rally to commemorate the 80th anniversary of China’s victory in the War of Resistance Against Japan and the world’s victory over fascism—including a military parade.

It is obvious that these films are part of the CCP’s standard propaganda playbook—first brainwashing the public, then using that emotional momentum to stage the so-called commemorations and military displays.

But did the War of Resistance actually happen the way the CCP claims—“that the Chinese Communist Party played the decisive role and was the backbone of the national struggle”?

After whipping up anti-Japanese sentiment with Nanjing Photo Studio, does the CCP truly hate Japan?

Let us dig into the historical reality of the CCP.

In 2015, Beijing also staged a September 3 military parade, marking the 70th anniversary of victory in the war. At that time, the PLA’s August First Film Studio produced the World War II movie The Cairo Declaration.

The real “Cairo Declaration” was signed in 1943 by Allied leaders—Churchill of Britain, Stalin of the Soviet Union, Roosevelt of the United States, and Chiang Kai-shek of China—pledging to defeat Japan together.

But in the film’s promotional posters, one of the four signatories, Chiang Kai-shek, was replaced by Mao Zedong.

Many in China and overseas were outraged. Some said: “What does Mao have to do with the Cairo Declaration, even half a cent’s worth?” Others remarked: “Distorting history, poisoning future generations.”

Did Mao Zedong really fight against Japan? Let’s see what Mao himself admitted.

In the 1995 edition of Selected Diplomatic Writings of Mao Zedong (p. 535), Mao wrote: “In fact, Japanese imperialism was our good teacher: first, it weakened Chiang Kai-shek; second, it allowed us to expand the Communist Party’s base areas and army. Before the war, because of our mistakes, we had been reduced to just over 20,000 troops. But during the eight years of resistance, our forces grew to 1.2 million. So wasn’t Japan helping us a great deal?”

Records show that from 1956 to 1964, during seven visits to China, Japanese representatives offered oral apologies directly to Mao Zedong. Mao, however, was so moved that he responded with gratitude, thanking the Japanese army for invading China, because without it, the CCP could never have grown strong and seized power.

Overseas scholar of the War of Resistance, Xin Haonian, in his speech “Long Live the Victory of the Great Patriotic War,” revealed that on August 25, 1937, the CCP convened the Luochuan Conference near Yan’an. At this meeting, the CCP adopted a “let Japan and Chiang Kai-shek fight it out” strategy. That is, during the war, the CCP should avoid fighting, let the Nationalist government in Nanjing be destroyed by Japan, and then the country would naturally fall into Communist hands.

Mao’s former secretary, Li Rui, in his 1999 memoir, recalled Mao’s remarks at the Tenth Plenum of the Eighth Central Committee: “At that time, I told you (he was speaking to Liu Shaoqi and others), don’t fight Japan. You didn’t believe me at first. But now, isn’t my view correct? After the war began, there were three forces in China: the KMT, the CCP, and Japan. What should the CCP do? The CCP should let the KMT and Japan fight! Once they’ve fought it out, the country will naturally be ours.”

In fact, Japan invaded China on September 18, 1931. Chiang Kai-shek then led a 14-year-long War of Resistance, which finally secured victory. The toll was immense—35 million Chinese soldiers and civilians killed or wounded.

Japan’s invasion and atrocities must never be forgotten. But how many of their own people has the Chinese Communist Party killed?

Research shows that since the CCP seized power and imposed its dictatorship over the past 80 years, countless political campaigns have caused the unnatural deaths of 80 million Chinese citizens—more than the combined death toll of both World Wars—inflicting unspeakable suffering on tens of millions of Chinese families.

“Suppression of Counterrevolutionaries” – Killing by Quota

In a 1954 report, then–Vice Minister of Public Security Xu Zirong stated that during the “Suppression of Counterrevolutionaries” campaign, 2.62 million people were arrested nationwide, of whom 712,000 were executed.

Land Reform Campaign – At Least 2 Million Landlords Killed

Scholars estimate that the land reform campaign killed at least 2 million “landlord elements.” One American scholar even suggested that as many as 4.5 million people may have died during land reform.

Korean War – 1 Million Chinese Lives Lost

Declassified Soviet documents reveal that the war the CCP glorifies as the “War to Resist America and Aid Korea” was in fact an aggressive war fought to support the North Korean dictatorship. According to these records, Chinese “volunteer” forces suffered 1 million deaths.

“Three-Anti, Five-Anti” Campaign – Capitalists Driven to Suicide

Yang Kuisong, professor of history at East China Normal University, disclosed: “According to incomplete statistics from Shanghai, between January 25 and April 1, 1952, 876 people committed suicide due to the campaign—an average of over 10 per day. Many capitalists chose to end their lives together as couples, and some even took their children with them.”

Anti-Rightist Campaign – More than 2 Million Intellectuals Disappeared

Records show that by 1978, 550,000 people had had their “Rightist” labels removed. This means that during the Anti-Rightist Campaign, more than 2.62 million intellectuals had “disappeared.”

Great Leap Forward – Tens of Millions Starved to Death

From 1959 to 1961, mainland China experienced a catastrophic famine during the Great Leap Forward. Declassified CCP documents later revealed that between 1959 and 1962, 37.56 million people died of starvation nationwide.

At the end of 2009, Yuan Longping, China’s famous rice scientist, stated for the first time in an interview that 40–50 million people starved to death during that famine.

Cultural Revolution – 20 Million Deaths

At the closing session of the Central Work Conference on December 13, 1978, then–Vice Chairman of the CCP Central Committee Ye Jianying revealed: “After two years and seven months of thorough investigation, the Central Committee concluded that the Cultural Revolution caused 20 million deaths, while over 100 million people suffered political persecution—one out of every nine Chinese. The country also squandered 800 billion yuan.”

June Fourth Massacre – At Least 10,000 Killed

In 2017, newly declassified British documents revealed that during the Tiananmen Square Massacre, the CCP military killed at least 10,000 people.

How Many Falun Gong Practitioners Were Killed?

In July 1999, Jiang Zemin and the CCP launched the persecution of Falun Gong. Twenty-six years later, the persecution continues. Over these years, millions of practitioners have been illegally detained, tortured, and killed, with many victims subjected to forced organ harvesting. Because of the CCP’s deliberate cover-up, the true number of Falun Gong practitioners who have been killed remains a mystery.

In addition, how many Uyghurs, Tibetans, Christians, Catholics, and others persecuted by the CCP have died at its hands?

The frenzy around the movie Nanjing Photo Studio—which drives Chinese audiences to tears, rage, and hysteria—serves to conceal the truth of who the real culprit is. This is the CCP’s true purpose.

The CCP has now existed for 104 years. Shouldn’t a film titled The CCP Photo Studio be made? One that pulls back the veil on the history the Party has tried to hide—documenting the bloody truth of how this alien spectre invaded China and killed tens of millions of its own people. Only by facing this truth can such crimes ever be repeated. This is the historical responsibility we, as children of China, must bear.

(First published by People News)