The Japanese Supreme Court decided Thursday in a final ruling to reject an appeal by the Japanese author and the publisher of a book on the Nanjing Massacre to pay a total of 4 million yen, or about 40,000 US dollars, in compensation to Xia Shuqin, the Chinese plaintiff, for libel.

The Supreme Court upheld earlier judgment made by the Tokyo High Court and the Tokyo District Court. The earlier ruling noted the book, entitled Complete Investigation into the Nanjing Massacre, damaged the reputation of Xia Shuqin, a woman survivor of the massacre by leaving readers with the false impression that she was not a victim of the notorious mass homicide during World World II.

The book, written by rightist scholar Shudo Higashinakano, a professor of Asia University, was published by Tendensha in 1998.

Xia was 8 when her family were all slaughtered during the Nanjing Massacre. She was referred to in a document produced by an American priest. The book, however, denied the authenticity of her existence as a survivor.

On December 13, 1937, Japanese invading troops occupied Nanjing after fierce combats with the Chinese army, and then launched a six-week long massacre. Historical records showed that more than 300,000 Chinese people, not only disarmed soldiers but also civilian victims, were massacred in the holocaust.

(CRI February 6, 2009)