Nanking Massacre 1937(南京大屠殺)
The Nanking Massacre or Nanjing Massacre, also known as the Rape of Nanking, refers to a six-week period following the Japanese capture of Nanking, then capital of the Republic of China, on 9-12-1937. During this period, 20-80,000 women were raped and nearly 300,000 Chinese civilians were murdered by soldiers of the Imperial Japanese Army.
Eyewitness accounts of Westerners and Chinese present at Nanking in the weeks after the fall of the city state that over the course of six weeks following the fall of Nanking, Japanese troops engaged in rape, murder, theft, arson, and other war crimes. Some of these accounts came from foreigners who opted to stay behind in order to protect Chinese civilians from harm, including the diaries of German John Rabe and American Minnie Vautrin. Other accounts include first-person testimonies of the Nanking Massacre survivors, eyewitness reports of journalists (both Western and Japanese), as well as the field diaries of military personnel. An American missionary, John Magee, stayed behind to provide a 16 mm film documentary and first-hand photographs of the Nanking Massacre.
A group of foreign expatriates headed by John Rabe had formed the 15-man International Committee on November 22 and mapped out the Nanking Safety Zone in order to safeguard civilians in the city. Rabe and American missionary Lewis S. C. Smythe, secretary of the International Committee and a professor of sociology at the University of Nanking, recorded the actions of the Japanese troops and filed complaints to the Japanese embassy.
In 2007, a group of around 100 Liberal Democratic Party of Japan (LDP) lawmakers again denounced the Nanjing Massacre as a fabrication, arguing that there was no evidence to prove the allegations of mass killings by Japanese soldiers. They accused Beijing of using the alleged incident as a "political advertisement". Japan questions if the Rape of Nanjing even occurred; a Japanese produced documentary film released just prior to the 60th anniversary of the massacre, titled" The Truth about Nanjing", denies that any such atrocities took place. These disputes have stirred up enmity against Japan from the global Chinese community, including Taiwan.
The memory of the Nanking Massacre has been a stumbling block in Sino-Japanese relations since the early 1970s. Bilateral exchanges on trade, culture and education have increased greatly since the two countries normalized their bilateral relations and Japan became China’s most important trading partner. Trade between the two nations is worth over $200 billion annually. Despite this, many Chinese people still have a strong sense of mistrust and animosity toward Japan that originates from the memory of Japanese crimes such as the Nanking Massacre. This sense of mistrust is strengthened by the misconception that Japan is unwilling to admit to and apologize for the atrocity.
Chinese sources list the total number of military and non-military casualties in WW2, both dead and wounded, at 35 million. Most Western historians believed that the total number of casualties was at least 20 million. The property loss suffered by the Chinese was valued at 383 billion US dollars according to the currency exchange rate in July 1937, roughly 50 times the GDP of Japan at that time (US$7.7 billion).Attempt to erase history and war crimes in school textbooks: The PRC joined other Asian countries, such as South Korea, North Korea,and Singapore, in criticizing Japanese history textbooks that "whiten" Japanese war crimes in WW2. They claimed that the rise of militarism became evident in Japanese politics. Why want to erase the fact of history? their action revealed their long term strategy to brain wash their school children on justification of the war.
Visit and paid respect to war criminals by the nation's top leaders: Muchanti-Japanese sentiment has raised, and this has been exacerbated by burgeoning feelings of Chinese nationalism and former Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's visits to the Yasukuni Shrine(靖国神社) . Although Koizumi openly declared – in a statement made on 22-4-2005 in Jakarta- "deep remorse" over Japan's wartime crimes (the latest in a series of apologies spanning several decades), many Chinese observers regard the apology as insufficient and not backed up by sincere action. (source: wikipedia). The frequent visit to the WW2 war criminals proved that their apologies were not sincere.
The Japan denied the Nanjing Massacre(or Nanking Massacre) is an act of inhuman, and disrespect to the victim families, a total insult to the victim of their war crimes in WW2. An attempt to alter the history,in order to brainwash their school children is a reflection of their bad faith and non-sincere action of apology. The paying of respect to the war criminals at Yasukuni Shrine by the nation's top leader is adding salt to the pains of their war crime victims.There is ground for worry by the victim countries.
Yasukuni Shrine( 靖國神社)
Yasukuni Shrine (靖国神社 Yasukuni Jinja) is a Shinto shrine located in Chiyoda, Tokyo,Japan. It is dedicated to the Kami (spirits) of soldiers and others who died fighting on behalf of the Emperor of Japan.Of the 2,466,532 people contained in the shrine's Book of Souls, 1,068 were convicted of war crimes by a post World War II court. Of those, 14 are convicted Class A war criminals.
On 17 October 1978, 14 Class A war criminals (convicted by the International Military Tribunal for the Far East), including Hideki Tojo, were enshrined as "Martyrs of Shōwa" (昭和殉難者 Shōwa junnansha), ostensibly that they were on the war dead registry. They are listed below, according to their sentences:
- Death by hanging:
- Lifetime imprisonment:
- 20-year imprisonment:
- Died before a judicial decision was reached (due to illness or disease):
All imprisoned war criminals had commuted sentences, or released by 1958.
The enshrinement was revealed to the media on April 19, 1979, and a controversy started in 1985 which continues to this day.
An English-language sign at the shrine describes Japan as being "forced" into World War II by deliberate strategy of the US President Roosevelt, using trade embargoes to force resource poor Japan into war. A big lie by Japan, America become involved in WW2, was because of the unannounced military strike by Japanese navy planes against USA naval base at Pearl Harbor on 7-12-1941, Sunday morning. An evidence that Japan intentionally erase their involvement in WW2 and war crimes.
(Photo credited to Jeff Windham in 2007).
The Pearl Harbor Attack
Warning Note: This documentary film on Nanking Massacre is purely documentary, unlike the early documentary film " Nanking" which I saw in DVD. Initially I was undecided whether to post this in the blog. But The Nanking Massacre is a true story that no human being will deny the wrongdoing and the crime committed. They are very cruel.......If you are under 18 , or cannot stand the seeing of human violation, please avoid watching this film.
.........大批日本右翼份子前來鬧場，與反靖國人士險些爆發衝突。
街頭有眾多日本右翼團體來抗議當晚舉行的“為黑暗的靖國點上和平燭光”遊行，並高舉日本國旗和西藏雪山獅子旗????。.......WHAT IS THEIR ACTUAL AGENDA?
日本‧媒體指聯手“抗日”‧兩岸團體促取消靖國神社
（日本‧東京）台海兩岸團體連手抗議靖國神社！
中國大陸、台灣、韓國和日本的部份日軍戰死者遺屬及市民，上週六在東京要求取消靖國神社合祀。
日本媒體指出，中國大使館是這場儀式的後援單位之一，這變成兩岸人民聯手“抗日”。
中日兩國上週六首次聯合為在日殉難的中國勞工舉行“在日殉難中國勞工慰靈祭”，中國六首度派出70人團體赴東京參加法會；中國駐日大使崔天凱也出席儀式。
與此同時，台灣立法委員高金素梅亦率領50人“還我祖靈”隊赴東京本久寺，參加法會，並在東京舉行一系列反靖國神社的活動，要求靖國神社不要隨意地把他們的祖先靈位放在神社內。
她強調：“台灣原住民的心，是與被日本強擄勞工苦難者永遠聯結在一起的……希望與強擄勞工受難者一起手攜手、心連心，共同向日本政府發聲，要求恢復歷史正義，努力爭取世界和平。”
高金素梅對“抗日”說法不以為然。她表示，她從2002年起就發起“還我祖靈”運動，希望台灣原住民祖先從日本的靖國神社除名，亦希望日本政府能道歉、反省、賠償。
她指出，往年有韓國、琉球人士參加，今年確實首度有中國人參加，但亞洲人都可參與，她不希望被泛政治化。
日右翼險與反靖國人士衝突
大批日本右翼份子前來鬧場，與反靖國人士險些爆發衝突。
街頭有眾多日本右翼團體來抗議當晚舉行的“為黑暗的靖國點上和平燭光”遊行，並高舉日本國旗和西藏雪山獅子旗。
在重重警力戒備下，右翼團體與高金素梅率領的反靖國人士，多次差點爆發衝突。
日本右翼人士及部份路人高喊：“中國人滾回去、台灣人不要傻傻被中國利用”、“沒有日本，台灣現在就是沒自由民主的中國的一部份”。高金素梅等人也多次比出“大拇指朝下”加以反擊。
有日本人士表示，現在兩岸關係改善，高金素梅8月也將率團前往北京、雲南，背後有政治因素存在。但高金素梅反駁，她這次率團到日本或是將前往中國，都是從事文化活動。
靖國神社是位於日本東京都千代田區九段北的一座神社。該神社供奉自明治維新以來為日本帝國戰死的軍人及軍屬，其中絕大多數是在中日戰爭及太平洋戰爭中陣亡的日軍官兵及殖民地募集兵，性質上類似華人社會的忠烈祠。靖國神社在第二次世界大戰結束前一直由日本軍方專門管理，是國家神道的象徵；在二戰後，遵循政教分離原則，改組為宗教法人。
由於靖國的祭祀對象包括了14名甲級戰犯，使得該神社被東亞各國視為日本軍國主義的象徵而備具爭議性。(source:wikipedia)
We can only prayed that there will be no genocide or massacre in any time, in any part of the world in this modern era. We remember the victims of Nanking Massacre, and Iris Chang in our prayer.
1. Nanking Massacre, by www.wikipedia.org.
2. Documentary film/DVD: Nanking(2007), directed by Bill Guttentag and Dan Sturman, that makes use of letters and diaries from the era as well as archive footage and interviews with surviving victims and those involved in the massacre.
3. The Rape of Nanking:The Forgotten Holocaust of World War II (1997), by Iris Shun-Ru Chang(張純如).
4. Nanking Massacre memorial Hall(侵华日军南京大屠杀遇难同胞纪念馆) official website: http://www.nj1937.org/english/default.asp
5. Yasukuni Shrine, www.wikipedia.org.
6. http://www.nanking-massacre.com/
7. Nanking 1937, http://www.princeton.edu/~nanking/html/history_of_the_nanking_massacre.html
8. http://www.nj1937.org/english/default.asp
9. Iris Chang, http://www.irischang.net/
10. http://www.leekianseng.com/seJapaneseHistoryMuseum.htm
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