December 13, 1937, was the
beginning of a terrible, terrible time for the Chinese people living in Nanking
(now Nanjing), China. That day was the beginning
of the Nanking Massacre, which is also known as the Rape of Nanking.
Nanking (literally:
Southern Capital) first became the capital of China in 229 A.D. and was the
capital of the country many times over the next eighteen centuries. In 1912 it was made the capital of the new Republic of China and then was re-established there in 1927 under Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek.
Exactly 75 years ago, from 12/13/37 and for the
next six weeks, perhaps as many as 300,000 Chinese people in Nanking were murdered, and it is estimated that around 20,000 Chinese women and girls were raped by soldiers of the
Imperial Japanese Army.
Iris Chang (1968-2004) was
a Chinese-American woman who wrote The
Rape of Nanking: The Forgotten Holocaust of World War II, a powerful book
that was a bestseller in 1997. Ten years later, “Iris Chang: The Rape of Nanking,”
a documentary starring Olivia Cheng, a Chinese-Canadian actress, was released.
Two years ago Miss Cheng was in Japan and spoke in Chapel at Seinan Gakuin
University (where I taught for thirty-six years). It must have been hard
for the Japanese students, and especially for
faculty and staff members, to hear the details about such an atrocity. This is a part of
history that most Japanese would like to forget—and they have fairly successfully kept it under cover.
Since the 1970s, though, there has been a gradual recognition in
Japan that the Japanese people have not only been victims (especially of the
atomic bombing) but also victimizers (as in the case of the Nanking Massacre).
Two outstanding artists, Toshi and Iri Maruki (a married couple whom
I have had the privilege of hearing speak), are mainly known for their
paintings about the bombing of Hiroshima. But in 1975 they painted “The Rape of
Nanjing,” a 13 x 26 feet black and white panel.
.jpg)
This fall I read the highly acclaimed novel Nanjing Requiem (2011) by Ha Jin (b. 1956 in China). Although
a novel, Jin’s work is based partly on the diaries of Minnie Vautrin, an
American missionary who was the acting dean of Jinling College in Nanking in
1937. Through her efforts, some 10,000 girls and women were admitted to the
relative safety provided at the college.
Earlier
this week, June and I watched “Nanking” (2007), a very well done documentary.
The film is a blend of actual movie clips taken at the time (in 1937) and
contemporary actors telling the story of the main foreigners who exerted
extraordinary effort to save perhaps as many as 250,000 lives. (Mariel
Hemingway told Minnie Vautrin’s story of valor.)
Toward
the end of Nanjing Requiem, one of
the American men in the devastated city avers, “Men can be more vicious than
beasts of prey if they’re put in the extreme situation of war. No rules will be
followed, and all kinds of evil will be unleashed. War is simply the most
destructive force we human beings can produce, so we must make every effort to
prevent it” (p. 273).
Those were profound words for the people in Nanjing in 1937—and
for us today, 75 years later.
----
According to yesterday’s SouthChina Morning Post, about 10,000 people gathered in Nanjing on Thursday to
mark the 75th anniversary of the Massacre. The Japan Times reported that there were 9,000 people there, including
around 100 Japanese.
.jpg)