A display case containing military equipment used by Japanese soldiers in China during WWII Photo: Courtesy of New World Press

In this photo from WWII Japanese battlefield publication Japan China Pictorial, several Japanese soldiers are shown climbing the city walls of what is now Xinzhou, Shanxi Province. Photo: Courtesy of New World Press

Considering the scattered and limited nature of evidence from Japan about the country's aggression into China during WWII, such evidence is seldom seen in publications. Realizing the severity of this issue, many groups in China have begun collecting these historical documents before they disappear completely. The recently published Smoking Guns is the result of such work. The book is a collection of incriminating evidence that shows the stark reality of Japanese military aggression into China between 1937 and 1945. 

Including pictures from more than 400 issues of Japan China Pictorial, the official battlefield publication of Japan during WWII, Smoking Guns provides readers roughly 500 pictures and published articles from the war time publication.

These documents were collected by Wang Aifu, the researcher upon whom Feng Xiaogang based the character Gu Zidi for his 2007 WWII film Assembly, which was a big box office hit at the time. These pictures were a rare find for Wang. While Pictorial was the Japanese military's main vehicle to boost the morale of Japanese troops and publicize the country's military successes at the time, after the war ended remaining issues of the publication were pervasively destroyed within Japan. This makes issues that have survived in China precious historical documents.

Born in the Zuoquan county, Shanxi Province, the frontline of the CPC Eighth Route Army's fight against Japan in the northern part of the country, Wang began collecting historical documents and objects from WWII as a hobby after he joined the People's Liberation Army in the 1960s.

Today Zuoquan county has become famous for its role as a base for the CPC's fight against Japanese aggression. Wang has also built a name for himself in the area as a collector of historical items from the region. In an interview with the Shanxi Evening News earlier this month, Wang recounted the reaction of one old Japanese soldier who visited his home in 2005. The old veteran was very surprised to see so many copies of Pictorial since they were so rare in Japan. The images soon brought him back to his time as a young soldier in the Japanese army in Shanxi.

"Their senior officials asked them to gather money and food from local villagers. They ended up yelling at him because he only managed to bring back two small chickens," Wang told the Shanxi Evening News earlier this month.

In 2009, Wang built an exhibition hall in his hometown to exhibit the hundreds of thousands of items he had collected over the years. More than 400,000 visitors have come to the hall, including more than a few foreigners.

The 400 issues of Pictorial exhibited at the hall are undoubtedly some of the most shocking things on display. Featuring photos taken by Japanese battlefield journalists, Pictorial recorded the Japanese army's invasion into China in extreme detail, starting from the bombarding of Wanping city in 1937 in North China and following the war all the way south to Hainan Island.

"The techniques the Japanese used when it came to framing a picture, creating a layout and printing back then were top-notch. The photos themselves are very clear, but they also come with captions that provide concise background information. Journals from the magazine's reporters were also featured at the end of each issue," said Zhang Jixiang, the editor of Smoking Guns.

"Repeatedly appearing words such as 'bloody' and 'clear-out' expose the Japanese military's lies about their claims that they were seeking 'co-existence and mutual prosperity,'" Zhang told media at a press conference for Smoking Guns in late August.