 San Francisco Chronicle staff writer Charles Burress wrote that Chang 's quote of a secret telegram sent by Japan 's foreign minister in 1938 was incorrectly cited as " compelling evidence " that Japanese troops killed at least 300 @,@ 000 Chinese civilians in Nanjing . According to Burress , the figure of 300 @,@ 000 Chinese civilians killed actually came from a message sent by a British reporter , concerning deaths not only in Nanjing but in other places as well . Additionally , Burress questioned Chang 's motivation for writing the book - whether she wrote it as an activist or as a historian , stating that the book " draws its emotional impetus " from her conviction to not let the Nanking Massacre be forgotten by the world . Burress also cited Ikuhiko Hata , a Japanese history professor at Nihon University , who argued that 11 photos in the book were misrepresented or fake . One particular photo shows women and children walking across a bridge with Japanese soldiers , and captioned as " The Japanese rounded up thousands of women . Most were gang @-@ raped or forced into military prostitution . " Hata stated that the photo originally appeared in 1937 in a Japanese newspaper as part of a series of photos that showed peaceful scenes of Chinese villagers under Japanese occupation . 
