2008 Photo Contest, People in the News, 3rd prize
Photographer

Oded Balilty

The Associated Press

01 January, 2007

Doves are released during the 70th anniversary commemoration ceremony of the Nanjing Massacre. In December 1937, Japanese troops captured Nanjing, then capital of China. A period of violence ensued, in what has become known as the Nanjing Massacre. As people gathered to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the event, there was still no consensus as to numbers of victims, the extent of atrocities, or duration of the massacre. China maintains that some 300,000 people were killed, with thousands of others raped and tortured. Japan disputes the figures, saying the scale of killing and rape was considerably smaller. As the two countries become increasingly close trading partners, some effort is being made to avoid flaming antagonisms over what remains a delicate issue.

About the photographer

Oded Balilty

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