This is a tough one to write about because it invokes all the horrors of war and the brutality that humans can inflict on others. It’s especially difficult having great friends – both Chinese and Japanese – and trying to stay out of the controversy about what really happened. Today I toured the Memorial to the Nanjing Massacre. It is a massive complex that was constructed on the site of one of the mass burial grounds discovered near one the ancient gates that was leveled during the invasion. It is a massive museum. It took about two hours to go through the whole thing and that was skipping some parts that were just too crowded to get close to read the inscriptions on the displays. It takes you through the invasion and subsequent destruction and atrocities – very vividly through displays, dioramas, photos – a lot of first hand accounts. In fact while laying foundation for one section of the museum, more skeletons were discovered so one area of the floor has been removed to show the scattered bones that lay under the museum. Of course, the number 300,000 is everywhere – that is the number of victims that the Chinese has decided is correct. I have to say that there is a lot of proof given for close to that number since there are records of burials by the charity organizations – Red Cross and Red Swastika (that’s right, red swastika) that number in the 100’s of thousands.
There is a lot of information about the Safety Zone set up by the foreigners living here – the area surrounding my school and apartment were in that zone – In fact the home of John Rabe – the German who helped form the Safety Zone – is right across the street from my apartment – you can see if from my window. One interesting story is that of Minnie Vautrin who was harboring women and children in the campus of the girls’ college – very near my school. Hers is a sad tale.
Wow! A sudden summer thunderstorm has started – a nice break in the heat tonight!
The museum was flooded with people today – and there were banners about next week’s celebration for the end of World War II. More controversy – the current government wants to say it was responsible for the overthrow of the Japanese – wheareas the government of the republic in Taiwan says they were responsible. Of course there is no mention of how the dropping of the two atomic bombs may have had something to do with Japan’s surrender. Once you exit the museum and pass through the mass gravesite, you are let out into the brightness of the peace garden with a huge statue of a woman and child with the word Peace in big letters. I was surprised how many people were there with children – even toddlers – wondering how they were explaining the atrocities – some showing children being killed.
One section which was not as well visited but was very interesting was basically a depiction of Japanese “atrocities” in all of Asia. Unfortunately, it did little to try to examine the causes for such actions – the dangers of nationalism and leader worship. No self reflection. Plus they kept depicting Japanese government as fascistic – as if other forms of government don’t have the same tendencies.
