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Untitled

Title: Untitled
Artist: Unknown
Created: c. 1940
Media: leaflet (ink on paper)
Source: National Institute of Defense Studies, Tokyo
Notes:

This propaganda leaflet was produced for use in the Battle of Guangxi (November 1939 - November 1940), when Japanese troops fought to capture the city of Nanning, but were ultimately defeated by Nationalist Chinese troops. This Japanese-produced leaflets asks: 'The propaganda of the Military Commission [of the KMT] talks about a great victory in Nanning; but what is the other side of the story?', before listing the number of Chinese who lost their lives in the campaign.

Note the way in which Chiang is transformed into a monster in this depiction, complete with fangs and claws. While such dehumanisation was not rare, it was markedly different from many contemporary depictions of Chiang in Japanese propaganda, which tended to downplay the actual threat that Chiang posed to his own people.