A Japanese journalist wrote the following during the Rape of Nanking in 1937.
On Hsiakwan wharves, there was the dark silhouette of a mountain of bodies. About 50 to 100 people were toiling there, dragging bodies from the mountain and throwing them into the Yangtze River. The bodies dripped blood, some of them still alive, and moaning weakly, their limbs twitching. On the pier was a field of glistening mud under the moon's dim light. It was all blood.
After a while, the coolies had done their job of dragging corpses and the soldiers lined them up along the river. Rat-tat-tat machine-gun fire could be heard. The coolies fell backward into the river and were swallowed by the raging currents. An officer at the scene estimated that 20,000 people had been executed.
一九三七年南京大屠殺期間，一個日本記者有以下一段報道。
下關碼頭上，屍體堆積，黑壓壓的像座大山。五十到一百人正在那裏，辛辛苦苦，把屍體一一拖下來，拋進長江。那些屍體淌着血，有些其實還未斷氣，低聲呻吟，四肢抽搐。微弱的月光之下，碼頭上一大片泥土閃閃發亮。原來都是血。
過了一會，那些苦力完成了拖屍任務。士兵叫他們沿河邊站立。機關槍響起一陣「砰砰」聲。那些苦力往後便倒，落在江水裏，遭滾滾波濤捲去。現場一個軍官估計，他們處決了二萬人。