Chinese duo now behind bars after dressing up as Japanese soldiers at Nanjing battle site
When cosplay goes horribly, horribly wrong
A pair of men who shocked the Chinese internet earlier this week after appearing in photos dressed in imperial Japanese military uniforms at a battle site in Nanjing have been arrested and sentenced to 15 days detention.
The two have been identified as a 25-year-old surnamed Tang from Sichuan’s Dazhou city and a 22-year-old surnamed Zong from Nanjing. When photos of the blurry-faced pair first turned up online, it was unclear if they were Japanese tourists or Chinese nationals.
Police say that the two men took their uniforms and equipment, including a saber and rifle with a bayonet, to a place on Purple Mountain where Chinese defenders died trying to hold off Japanese invaders more than 80 years ago, and set up a camera with a tripod to take some photos, which they later uploaded to a QQ group.
After these photos went viral, Nanjing police quickly began carrying out an investigation, tracking down Tang in Dazhou and Zong in Jurong county, Jiangsu province. They have been placed in administrative detention for 15 days. Police said that the pair have expressed “regret” for the photos and will use their time behind bars for “self-examination.” Their motives behind the photo shoot were not made clear.
The two men bought their uniforms and equipment online and were well-aware of the site’s historical significance, police say, adding that there actions had “severely hurt the Chinese people and created a bad influence on society.”
At this time, it’s not clear if other charges will follow, however, Weibo users are calling for the pair to be harshly punished.
Last August, two Chinese guys were also detained by police after dressing up as imperial Japanese soldiers and parading around in front of a Guangxi train station, waving a samurai sword and mumbling in fake Japanese. Later, they admitted that they were trying to become internet celebrities by uploading a video of their antics to Kuaishou.
Earlier that August, photos also went viral on the Chinese internet showing four men wearing imperial Japanese military uniforms posing in front of the Sihang Warehouse War Memorial Hall in Shanghai.
The memorial commemorates the sacrifice of a group of Chinese soldiers who staged an heroic last stand inside the warehouse against invading Japanese forces in October 1937, holding out against numerous waves of attackers for six days, allowing the main force of the Chinese army to retreat.
The four men and the photographer were all tracked down by the end of the month by police. They turned out to Chinese out-of-towners.
Of course, more than a month after retreating from Shanghai, Chinese forces were also forced to abandon their capital at Nanjing. In the six weeks after Japan captured the city on December 13th, 1937, China says that 300,000 people were killed in a brutal massacre that has been etched in blood in the country’s collective memory ever since.
Last December, China marked the 80th anniversary of the Nanjing Massacre with a state memorial ceremony that was attended by Xi Jinping and broadcast live by state media outlets.
