Today is the 69th anniversary of the Nanjing Massacre (”Rape of Nanking”). Perhaps no other event in the Pacific Theater of World War II has been more controversial. Japanese accounts figure as few as 100,000 non-combatants were killed and there are those still in Japan, and elsewhere, who deny the incident ever took place. Contemporary Western observers (as well as Iris Chang’s The Rape of Nanking) put the death toll closer to 300,000 with as many as 20,000 women reportedly sexually assaulted. When lecturing, I’m forced to use a kind of waffling median, “150,000-300,000 killed, we may never know.”
150,000 dead either way is as precise as we can get? In the end, the body count really doesn’t matter. The actions of the Japanese army on December 13, 1937 and for several weeks afterwards will remain as one of the great atrocities from one of the bloodiest centuries of human history. The Japanese army was certainly not alone in committing acts of outrage against civilian populations during that war, but this in no way excuses what happened at Nanjing.
The CND site has a page devoted to the massacre, obviously with a certain pro-China nationalist bias. Nevertheless, the site contains a stunning collection of photographs as well as an on-line collection of documents related to the event. WARNING: the photograph collection contains very graphic images.
4 responses so far ↓
1 the UGLY Chinese Canadian // Dec 14, 2006 at 10:21 am
Thank you for the timely reminder. What I find interesting about this is that there is a large number of people who carries the memories of this most tragic and most horrific chapter of human history… despite the fact that many of us were born after the war.
The people who perished at the hands of the Japanese Imperial Army are people I never knew, and have no link to other… than the fact that they were human beings and had lives, families, hopes and aspirations like us, living today.
On the “Chinese in Vancouver” Blog by a respected editor, a piece had been written on the upcoming film on the Heroes who saved the fortunate few from the Japanese Imperial Army. Here is a comment I placed on that Blog:
Through the good work of ALPHA BC http://www.alpha-canada.org and many others, including the late Iris Chang, the Asian Holocaust is now coming to light. Yes, there seems to be a double standard… but I think the tide is changing, and the truth is coming out.
The shameful governments of the past had tried to hide the many wartime atrocities committed by the Japanese Imperial Army.
I lost many family members and have observed the wholesale whitewashing over the years. The internet now opens up the truth… stomach wrenching information describing many horrific stories - stories such as live vivisection of people, including the famous incident of the live dissection of American aviators and photos showing heaps of beheaded turbaned Sikh people.
It was not just the Chinese and Korean peoples who suffered the incomprehensible horror, but many people from other nations.
I am just glad that *finally* a “westerner” is now putting together a film documenting some of the heroes of the Nanjing holocaust http://nankingthefilm.com/ . It is now up to us to share the news and get the word out to all decent human beings of this upcoming film project.
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2 花崗齋之愚公 // Dec 14, 2006 at 6:53 pm
UCC,
Thanks for your comments and especially the links to other sites dedicated to remembering the events of the Nanjing Massacre.
I agree that–as horrible as these stories are–it is imperative to keep them fresh in our memory so that we might recognize such a horror unfolding before it is too late to intervene.
3 Anonymous // Dec 15, 2006 at 3:26 pm
As important as it is for us to remember such tragedies, I always wonder what good does it do?
In light of the horrors of such recent atrocities as Rwanda, and the ongoing killings in Darfur, how much of a difference do such proclamations as, “never again” or “learn from history,” make?
When I allow my pessism to take over, I just think, documenting such atrocities for history is important, but much of the accompanying rhetoric is just empty, feel-good hot air.
4 花崗齋之愚公 // Dec 16, 2006 at 11:03 am
Anonymous,
The key word there is “pessimistic.” I try to stay optimistic that the lessons of history can be valuable.
I wonder if Darfur and Rwanda would be easier to understand and there would be more outrage if people knew the history of those regions. Perhaps not, but somehow I’d like to think so.
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