Remember Nanjing Massacre

On December 13, 1937, the Imperial Japanese Army stormed the Chinese city of Nanking. During the following six weeks, they murdered and tortured countless civilians whose only crime was being Chinese. Over 300,000 people were killed and over 20,000 women were brutally raped.

This year 2009 marks the 72th anniversary of the Nanking Massacre. Despite its far-reaching implications, much of the world remains unaware of the events which took place in the Chinese city of Nanking in December 1937. The war left a legacy of distrust, which even today,still tarnishes relations between Japan and the other countries of East Asia. Japan still did not provide official apology for her crime to the people and country of China, and Nanjing. And worst, over the decades, the Japanese began to deny that this massacre ever occurred. They tried to erase the history from their memory and brainwashed their children, that it is just a normal war....

City mourns Nanjing Massacre
(China Daily)
Updated: 2009-12-14 07:40

NANJING: Sixteen more items giving evidence of the Japanese invaders' atrocities during World War II have been donated to the Memorial Hall of the Victims in the Nanjing Massacre.

The donation came as the city marked the 72nd anniversary of the massacre yesterday.

The items were donated by a Japanese man surnamed Ohigashi, who has given the memorial hall more than 1,000 items in the past, local sources said over the weekend.

The new items include a copy of the Japanese newspaper Osaka Mainichi Shimbun dated Sept 20, 1937, which carries a report of the Japanese aircraft bombing Nanjing, capital of Jiangsu province.

An introduction by the Japanese army recorded the battles they fought in Nanjing.

The most valuable pieces, according to Zhu Chengshan, curator of the memorial hall, were 13 photos and an envelope.

"The photos were shot by a military officer in February 1938 and sent to his daughter, Yamazaki Yonego," Zhu said on Saturday.

The photos were of scenes of the damaged city and slaughtered citizens in Nanjing, Zhu said.

Pointing at a photo showing scattered bodies, he said, "they are the best evidence of history, in which Japanese troops committed atrocities in Nanjing".

Invading Japanese troops occupied Nanjing on Dec 13, 1937, and launched a six-week massacre. Chinese records show that more than 300,000 people, not only unarmed soldiers but also civilians, were murdered.

A series of activities, including a religious assembly by Chinese and Japanese monks, a ceremony to release lanterns of peace and a vigil for the dead, will take place, to "remind people of the history and encourage them to strive for peace", Zhu said.

Thousands of Chinese and foreigners gathered in the city yesterday to mourn people killed by invading Japanese troops 72 years ago during the Nanjing Massacre.

A siren sounded at 10 am as 5,000 people gathered on the square in front of the Memorial Hall of the Victims in the Nanjing Massacre, mourning the dead in silence and presenting wreaths.

Later, the bell tolled as the those in the crowd prayed for world peace.

Chinese and Japanese monks also held a religious assembly yesterday in Nanjing to mourn victims of the Nanjing Massacre.

Similarly, about 30 Japanese monks, 50 Chinese monks, believers of Buddhism and 30 survivors of the massacre prayed for world peace at the assembly.

"It's a very sad day," said Zhao Bin, a survivor.

"On the anniversary each year, I miss very much my relatives and others cruelly killed by the Japanese invaders," the 72-year-old said.

"History should not be allowed to repeat."

(source: Xinhua-China Daily, http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2009-12/14/content_9167576.htm)

China has published the names of 13,000 people who were murdered by Japanese troops during the 1937 Rape of Nanking. The list was published in response to Japanese unwillingness to acknowledge the severity of their crime. Over 300,000 people were brutally slaughtered in the massacre.

Today, we remember the victims of Nanjing Massacre, and prayed that the genocide of this nature will not happen again, in the world. We also remember the victims of other genocides, especially Armenian Genocide at the same time...... where Justice has not be given to the victims of the massacre.

Japan officially acknowledges the massacre, it says the scale of killing and rape was much smaller than the Chinese claim and that such things happen in war.

In 2005 there were angry protests in China after Japan published school text books which China claimed played down the country's war time atrocities.

Japanese politicians have also sparked anger in China by visiting the Yasukuni shrine - which honours fallen Japanese soldiers, including 14 convicted war criminals.

Earlier posting:
Monday, August 10, 2009, Nanking Massacre 1937(南京大屠殺)

Related websites:
1. http://library.thinkquest.org/07aug/00520/yuen/sitemap.html
2. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nanjing_Massacre_Memorial_Hall
3. http://www.nj1937.org/english/default.asp
4. http://humanum.arts.cuhk.edu.hk/NanjingMassacre/NM.html
5. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nanjing_War_Crimes_Tribunal
6. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nanjing_Massacre

Related books/artickes:
1. They were in Nanjing: the Nanjing Massacre witnessed by American and British(2004),by Suping Lu, published by Hong Kong University Press
2. Nanking 1937: memory and healing(2002), by Robert Sabella, Feifei Li, David Liu, published by M.E. Sharpe
3. Documents on the rape of Nanking(1999), by Timothy Brook, published by University of Michigan Press
4. Eyewitnesses to massacre: American missionaries bear witness to Japanese(2001),by Kaiyuan Zhang, published by M.E. Sharpe
5. The Nanjing massacre: a Japanese journalist confronts Japan's national shame(1999), by Katsuichi Honda, Frank Gibney, published by M.E. Sharpe