Pixeldawg Loc: Suzhou, China

How many Americans here have heard about the Nanjing massacre? I dare say not many of you, and that's OK because I had not prior to moving to China. It's not in the history books, but should be. Way back in the late 1930's, Japan attacked China and took control of the then capitol city of Nanjing (also called Nanking). Over 300,000 people were killed in a 6 week period and many Japanese soldiers were convicted of war crimes. These crimes included throwing babies into the air and "catching" them with bayonets and the rape of thousands of woman- many of whom were forced to be "comfort girls" for Japanese solders. These women were sexually assaulted as much as 4 times an hour for 16-20 hours a day for many months. Most died from the abuse or simply starved to death. Ironically, it was the Nazi's who set up safe zones for Chinese citizens and protected them. The Chinese often talk about this part of their history and speak with a reverence for the dead that is quite emotional and amazing all at the same time. There is a museum in Nanjing that tells this tale, which the Japanese still deny to this very day. The evidence of it happening is overwhelming though and is a fact that it did indeed happen. I liken this to people who deny the holocaust. A few years back, a Chinese survivor took a Japanese journalist to court (in Japan) because he called her a liar and claimed it never happened. She took him to Japanese civil court and requested damages for calling her a liar. The case went all the way to the Japanese Supreme Court, who found for the woman and awarded damages. And again, many of the soldiers and officers were convicted in war crimes tribunals after the war.


There is also a Chinese movie called "The City of Life and Death" that covers this even with a high regard for accuracy of the actual events. It is similar in style to "Shindler's List" and is shot in Black and White. Not much dialogue, so it is pretty easy to follow. I recommend it if you can find it.

The photos here are of a young woman making photos of victims of this crime and of the data collected regarding who was killed, raped or otherwise abused during this 6 week period. As you can see, the amount of information is staggering.

UTMike Loc: South Jordan, UT

Sobering!

justhercamera Loc: NW Michigan

Thank you for sharing. Atrocities denied/ignored are more apt to be repeated. Glad to hear of those working to bring the truth to light. Thank you for being a part of that.

blue-ultra Loc: New Hampshire

Which is why the US had a base in China during WWII. They were there to attack the Japanese mainland and protect the Chinese citizens. There is a movie about that also, although I cannot remember the name of it also shot in B&W. Too much suffering in this world!

Thank you for the reminder and the sharing of this history.

jaymatt Loc: Alexandria, Indiana

War, as they say, is hell.

Pixeldawg Loc: Suzhou, China

@jaymatt, I think this went a little beyond hell, if that's possible. When I first moved to China, a 90 year old man struck up a conversation with me in English- very, very rare. He told me that behind the shopping center near where I lived, there was a mass grave of people who were killed when the Japanese came through (about 100 miles from Nanjing). Supposedly still there.

tboro

An excellent book on the subject is THE RAPE OF NANKING by Iris Chang. Should be required reading for high school and college students.

An aside note: the death toll exceeded that of the atomic blast of Hiroshima and Nagasaki combined.

Pixeldawg Loc: Suzhou, China

Thanks! I am not familiar with that book, but will be looking for it now. I did not know that about the atomic bomb blasts, either. Do you have a source for that data?

tboro

The book, CBS News reports and Wikipedia. Most estimates I’ve researched says 70,000 to 126,000 (Hiroshima) and 39,000 to 80,000 in Nagasaki. The low number being those killed instantly.

Hal81 Loc: Bucks County, Pa.

Dropping those bombs ended the war and most likely saved about 50.000 American lives we would have lost due to an invasion.

Pixeldawg Loc: Suzhou, China

No doubt about what you're saying here. Regardless, a very sad situation. I have been to Hiroshima and visited the Peace Museum and the iconic burned out building that is near it. While it was a very sad thing to have happened, I was kind of amazed that the Japanese really don't take any of the responsibility for it. And in the museum, many of the displays center around children, which to me seems a bit unfair and is meant to draw an emotional response by the viewer. If they would have said "OK, in WW2 we acknowledge that we did x,y and z, and this helped to foster the American response to these situations..." I would have had enormous respect for them, but they present it as being the victims. When in the museum, there was a group of American tourists who were being shown around by a guide. One of the men in the group, an older man, but not of WW2 age, asked the guide "What about Bataan, China and the other countries that the Japanese people murdered, tortured and raped? Do you not think this all happened because of those and the fanatical nature of the Japanese people at that time?" The guide looked him straight in the face and said "Those things NEVER happened..." I was astounded and went into that museum with one mindset and came out with another. Anyway, it is what it is, and 70+ years afterward, the mindset has not changed.

Interestingly, I was reading a few weeks ago about a man who was actually in both cities when the bombs went off and survived. Talk about good fortune... get that guy to buy some lotto tickets.

starlifter Loc: Towson, MD

Most people who have read about the history of WWII would have read about what is refereed to as the " The Rape of Nanking".