Despite blockbuster receipts, "731" faces harsh Chinese reviews online. Experts decry the film's unrealistic scenes and warn it could mislead audiences.
Unit 731

People take commemorative photos with a poster for the film "731" at a movie theater in Beijing, September 18 (©Kyodo).

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Since its September 18 premiere, the Chinese film 731 has grossed more than ¥1.8 billion CNY (about $250 million USD). The movie dramatizes the former Imperial Japanese Army's Kwantung Army Epidemic Prevention and Water Purification Department (Unit 731).

Despite the box-office haul, Chinese social media is awash with scathing reviews. One expert on Unit 731 says the film contains "many depictions that could never occur in reality." He also dismissed it as "low quality" and warned it could mislead younger audiences about Japan.

Provincial Propaganda

Unit 731, based on the outskirts of today's Harbin in Heilongjiang Province during World War II, is alleged to have developed biological weapons and conducted human experiments. Detainees brought to the facility were allegedly referred to as maruta (or "logs" in Japanese). The film follows a Chinese detainee labeled maruta as he is taken into the facility and attempts to escape. His story is intercut with graphic scenes of bacterial infection trials, frostbite testing, and poison gas experiments.

Running about two hours, the film has drawn praise from the Chinese Communist Party's Heilongjiang provincial government.

Chinese officials claim it "portrays through careful historical verification and imagery the historical truth of the Japanese military's secret, cruel research into biological weapons."

They add that it "passes on the great spirit of the War of Resistance against Japan," inspiring "unity and the courage to strive for a strong nation and national rejuvenation."

Trash

Chinese audiences, however, have been unforgiving. On the review site Douban, top comments include "an extraordinary dud," "trash," and "turning tragic history into comedy." 

Such backlash is unusual for an anti-Japanese film, a genre that typically draws praise in China.

Aichi Gakuin University Associate Professor Issei Hironaka, author of The Sino-Japanese War and Unit 731 (Nana-san-ichi Butai no Nicchu Senso, PHP Shinsho, 2025), says he initially had high hopes. "It's the first film in a long time to confront Unit 731 head-on, since the 1988 Men Behind the Sun series." But he adds, "It's packed with unrealistic scenes, and the result feels cheap and disappointing."

Anachronisms and Bizarre Set Pieces

The Chinese government's Exhibition Hall of Evidence of Crimes Committed by Unit 731 of the Japanese Imperial Army in Harbin also cooperated on the film. 

A trailer for the film "731" shown at a movie theater in Beijing, July (©Kyodo).

Yet, Hironaka says that while the broad storyline may roughly track historical facts, the film clashes with the period context. For example, a female soldier in the unit speaking halting Japanese, and a geisha-led oiran (high-ranking courtesans) parade staged inside a detention facility.

He also points to other head-scratching choices. Japanese soldiers in loincloths and cloth headbands waving bayonets, and a festival with racing floats near the compound — unlikely for such a site. "This was a dangerous place conducting infection experiments with cholera and plague," Hironaka notes. "Having oiran pass through without protective gear in a facility with bacterial-infection risks is just implausible."

Villain at Any Cost

The portrayal of unit commander Shiro Ishii is also bizarre. He appears not in uniform but in a formal kimono jacket and pleated trousers, fashioned like a yakuza boss. 

In one scene, the film portrays balloon-borne bacteria tests, the so-called "balloon bombs," as successful. Ishii, the actor, then talks about spreading them worldwide in a bid for global domination.

"While Ishii was an elite military doctor with leadership, he wasn't plotting world conquest with biological weapons," Hironaka counters. He calls it domestic propaganda: "The film is directed to make Japan the villain at any cost." 

In addition, he says, while the aim may be to portray "the cruelty of the Japanese army," the film risks misleading young Chinese with little knowledge of history. "China tells Japan to 'face history,' but when a film like this is produced in China, those words lose weight," he explains.

Release Delays, Politics, and Cuts

First slated for release in 2024, the film was then postponed to July 31, 2025, and finally moved to September 18, the 94th anniversary of the Mukden Incident. That was a staged railway bombing by the Kwantung Army on September 18, 1931, near Mukden (Shenyang). It preceded Japan's move into Manchuria and the formation of an alternate Chinese government in Manchukuo. 

A commemorative ceremony marking the 94th anniversary of the Mukden Incident held at the "9.18" Historical Museum in Shenyang, Liaoning Province, China, on September 18 (©Xinhua via Kyodo).

Hironaka says the original cut ran about three hours, but roughly an hour may have been removed at the authorities' direction.

With China's economy slowing, some think Beijing may be reluctant to antagonize Japan, a key trading partner. At the same time, marking the 80th year of "victory over Japan," it wants to showcase the Chinese Communist Party's wartime achievements. Hironaka says this push-and-pull likely shaped the film through censorship, dulling its quality. "In a sense, the film is itself a victim, buffeted by the state of Japan–China relations."

Contested Numbers and Historical Caution

China's studies claim deaths from Japanese biological warfare ranged anywhere from 350,000 to two million. 

Hironaka urges caution, noting that "diseases like cholera were already widespread in China," and that it's now impossible to separate biological attacks from natural infections. The figures "diverge wildly and appear unnatural," he adds, arguing that claims such as "300,000 or more" for the Nanjing Incident should likewise be handled carefully.

He also notes that experiments conducted by Unit 731 likely fed into advances in modern epidemiology and vaccine development. "Eighty years after the war, both China and Japan should confront historical facts and recognize how the past connects to the present," Hironaka argues. "It may be time for bilateral relations to move to the next stage."

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(Read the article in Japanese.)

Author: Tomo Kuwamura, The Sankei Shimbun

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