New Artifacts Reveal Japan’s Wartime Atrocities in China
Chinese memorial halls and archives across multiple cities have announced the discovery of a significant new batch of historical artifacts and materials documenting the Japanese invasion of China, coinciding with the 81st anniversary of Japan’s unconditional surrender on August 15, 1945. The findings, announced across Nanjing, Harbin, and Guangzhou, provide fresh physical evidence of Japan’s wartime aggression, including perpetrator-written letters, official military documents, and third-party diplomatic archives.
Nanjing: Perpetrator Records of the Massacre
The Memorial Hall of the Victims in Nanjing Massacre by Japanese Invaders announced on August 15 that it had newly collected over 150 sets of cultural relics and artifacts, and over 100 sets of documentary materials in the first half of 2026, according to Xinhua News.
Among the most significant discoveries is a private letter written on December 20, 1937, by Japanese soldier Ishikawa Morita of the 16th Division. Writing one week after the fall of Nanjing, Ishikawa stated: “A few days ago, we killed over ten thousand defeated soldiers. Defeat is truly pitiful.” The letter serves as an original record by a perpetrator during the massacre and corroborates the diary of fellow 16th Division soldier Azuma Shiro, as reported by Guangming Daily.
A battlefield postcard from Japanese soldier Mitsui Shigemasa of the 114th Division, dated January 15, 1938, records the capture of large numbers of Chinese prisoners and weapons near the Jinling Arsenal outside Zhonghua Gate on December 12, 1937. According to battle reports, these prisoners were subsequently collectively bayoneted.
The collection also includes two volumes of Japanese military chemical warfare training documents, including training notes by Lieutenant Nashi Kazunosuke of the Japanese Signal 2nd Regiment from November 1937, covering gas protection, gas mask types, disinfection methods, and types of poison gases. Records from 1938 by Lieutenant Masaki document chemical warfare exercises, noting that “each division must receive chemical warfare education at least twice per year.”
Third-Party Evidence from French and Chinese Youth
In a notable cross-border effort, French youth Marcus and Baishijie, along with Chinese youth Zhong Haosong, jointly donated 861 pages of documents from the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ Nantes Diplomatic Archives Centre related to the Japanese invasion of China, plus over 50 Japanese-language publications including Asahi Picture News.
Zhong brought back 20 kilograms of Japanese invasion evidence documents from Japan, including wartime pictorial albums painted by Japanese military artists, private photo albums taken by Japanese invaders, and 54 volumes of original period publications including Asahi Shimbun.
Professor Meng Guoxiang of the National Memory and International Peace Research Institute noted that these materials “come from different sources, corroborate each other, and form an undeniable chain of evidence,” as Xinhua reported. Chen Pujun, an associate researcher at the same institute, added that the French diplomatic archives provide “irrefutable evidence for the international community’s understanding of the Nanjing Massacre” from a third-party perspective.
Harbin: Unit 731 Chemical Weapons Evidence
The Unit 731 Evidence Exhibition Hall in Harbin announced new evidence confirming that before Japan’s defeat, the Japanese military buried large quantities of chemical weapons in China. Testimony from former Unit 731 Hailar Detachment medical orderly Ozaki Hitoshi, recorded during a 2016 visit to Japan, confirmed that during the retreat, the Hailar Detachment burned all facilities while the Japanese chemical warfare unit secretly buried large numbers of chemical shells, as Guancha reported.
Researcher Jin Shicheng of the Unit 731 Evidence Exhibition Hall stated: “This testimony directly confirms that the Japanese military abandoned chemical weapons in China at the time of defeat, and also explains the historical roots of post-war poison gas harm, which has practical significance.”
The hall also published a 185-page official archive on August 12, recording information on 156 members of the Hailar Detachment. The document revealed that the Japanese military used cover names of regular infantry units to conceal bacteriological warfare activities, and showed that 145 of the 156 members were captured by Soviet forces after the war, with 4 tried in Khabarovsk between April and September 1950.
Guangzhou: South China War Crimes Archives
The Guangdong Provincial Archives accepted donations of archives related to Japanese war crimes in South China, including original Japanese handwritten testimony from Unit 8604 veteran Inoue Mutsuo from July 20, 1995, exposing bacteriological warfare atrocities, and testimony from veteran Maruyama Shigeru from 1993, as Guangzhou Daily reported. The collection also includes original letters from Japanese soldiers in South China with military postal marks, and historical photos of the Sanzao massacre in Zhuhai.
Commemorating the Survivors
On August 14, World Comfort Women Memorial Day, photographer Li Xiaofang donated over 200 photos of 70+ surviving victims of the Japanese military’s “comfort women” system, plus 43 copies of handprints from survivors, to the Nanjing Lijixiang Comfort Women Memorial. Yan Meihua, a photographer from Xiaogan City Media Center, donated her two-year documentation of Korean-Chinese comfort woman survivor Mao Yinmei, including 7,000+ photos and 10 video segments, as China Economic Net reported.
Only 6 registered comfort women survivors remain alive in mainland China.
The fifth batch of Nanjing Massacre historical memory inheritors was also certified on August 15, with six new inheritors including Chinese and international participants. Since 2022, a total of 44 people have received certificates across five batches.
Historical Significance and Forward Look
The discoveries come at a time of heightened attention to Japan’s wartime history. China was the largest victim of Japanese militaristic aggression, suffering over 35 million casualties, and pinned down over 50% of Japan’s overseas forces during World War II. Japan was the only country in WWII to use poison gas on a large scale, conducting over 2,000 chemical attacks in China and causing over 100,000 Chinese casualties from poisoning.
The post-war international order, based on the Cairo Declaration, Potsdam Declaration, Japanese Instrument of Surrender, and Tokyo Trial judgments, continues to face challenges as Japan’s current government pursues military expansion and revision of its peace constitution, as Xinhua’s background analysis noted.
As Professor Meng Guoxiang emphasized, the newly discovered materials “restore from different angles the atrocities of the Japanese invasion of China such as the Nanjing Massacre. They come from different sources, corroborate each other, and form an undeniable chain of evidence.” The ongoing efforts by Chinese institutions and international partners to preserve and document these historical records serve as a vital safeguard against historical revisionism and a testament to the enduring pursuit of truth and justice.