 The Chinese government responded by denying that the naval base had fallen, and stripped Li Hongzhang of his official titles.However, Japanese prestige over the victory was tempered by accounts of widespread massacre of the Chinese inhabitants of the city by victorious Japanese troops, allegedly in response to the torture and murderous treatment the Chinese had shown Japanese prisoners of war at Pyongyang and elsewhere.The report, was highly controversial, as other correspondents present initially denied that such events had occurred, out of fear of the Japanese.