The winter of 1937 has been definitely the coldest in Nanking, China in history. Amid that winter, in December, the ancient city felt icy wind, saw the chilling bayonets of Japanese troops and the blood of virtually all Nanking residents, old and young, men and women, and heard the harrowing cry of Chinese civilians mixed with gruesome laughter of Japanese soldiers, all for six weeks. That was a humiliation of the Chinese nation, and indeed of human nature itself: the Nanking Massacre, or in the words of the great writer, truth seeker and human rights defender Iris Chang, the Rape of Nanking.

 

Nanking Massacre 70 years ago was merely an episode among a long list of atrocities by the Japanese aggressors in China during 1931-1945, or in a larger view, throughout Asia during the World War II. Apart from it, other major Japanese atrocities in China included the 731 Unit germ and chemical experiments on humans, the sexual enslavement of women (“Comfort Women”), and countless “Pits for Tens of Thousands of Bodies” (pits containing enormous numbers of murdered or tortured Chinese people, many of whom were buried alive by Japanese soldiers.)

 

 

Considering the very fact that all those acts with their horrible details, not to be seen in beasts in wild nature, were factually done by humans, it is reasonable enough to believe that, given circumstances, humans, apart from the well proven Japanese soldiers, may commit evils more perverse than an ordinary person’s wildest imagination. This insight is probably painful yet indeed important. It prompts us to examine what atrocities humans have done in history, and to remember such history to prevent it from happening again.

 

George Santayana argues that “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it”. His choice of the word “condemn” is meaningful in that he regards the “repeat” of the past as a punishment. As I consider it, the punishment is, on the surface, for forgetting the past, but in the root, for underestimating the possibility of human evil. The perpetrators of historical atrocities, unless demonstrating true, real, authentic remorse, are most likely to commit those evils time and time again, to the same victims and others. The victims, then, have to remember those atrocities they suffered to warn themselves against the perpetrators’ future acts; if not, the victims are subject to the ruthless condemnation in Santayana’s argument.

 

The winter 70 years ago saw the unimaginable evil of the Japanese aggressors and, in a sense, of any aggressors. As Chinese people, if we do not wish any place to be massacred by the Japanese or by any foreign forces, we have to remember the dark, cold winter of 1937. In the same logic of avoiding being “condemned to repeat it”, if we do not wish our daughters, sisters and wives to be forced into sexual slavery, we have to remember that the Japanese enslaved over 200,000 Chinese, Korean and other Asian women as prostitutes. If we do not wish any of our fellow citizens to be tools for germ warfare experiments, we have to remember that the Japanese army had the special 731 Unit to systematically kidnap Chinese people for such inhuman experiments.

 

Farces of the Japanese Denial

 

The Massacre of over 200,000 Nanking civilians, and the sexual enslavement of over 200,000 Asian women, among other atrocities by Japanese troops, took place over decades of years ago, and Japan as an aggressor was defeated in 1945. In a sense, however, even today, the massacre and the enslavement still do not completely end. The reason is that, the Japanese government, until today, has not made a definite, formal, open apology, nor reparations for its atrocities; on the contrary, from time to time, the Japanese Government, especially its right-wing politicians, jump out to deny the historical existence of the Massacre and the sexual enslavement. As Elie Wiesel, the Nobel Laureate put it, “... to forget a holocaust is to kill twice.” In a similar vein, I would state that, to deny those atrocities is to continue them right now and to prepare for new atrocities under conspiracy.

 

 

Costs of the Denial

 

Japanese politicians might take pleasure in performing the farces of denying Japan’s past atrocities. However, they do have to pay for playing the game. The denial will put Japan as a nation in a position to bear a series of costs.

 

First, the denial undermines Japan’s national morality. Diverse forms of denial may help to produce large quantities of Japanese children ignorant of history, finally giving rise to a deceived and self-deceiving generation of Japanese. The Japanese politicians, by denying facts, are leading Japanese children to a perilous path. If absorbing those distorted “facts”, the Japanese students will have difficulty in living in harmony with people in the rest of Asia. Moreover, for successful denial, Japanese government has to play the model in telling lies and compromising moral integrity. In so doing, it helps to promote a culture of dishonesty and deception in Japan, and that definitely detracts from Japans’ national morality building.

 

Second, the denial humiliates Japan in the international community. Constant denial has partly ruined Japan’s national profile worldwide. The denial of Nanking Massacre and the Comfort Women issue serves only to build Japan as a state showing no remorse in its past atrocities. In other words, the rest of the world, especially those countries invaded by Japan, in light of Japan’s lack of remorse for its past atrocities, always have reason to believe that Japan will commit those evils again, given chances. Today, Japan chooses to deny its past crimes, and tomorrow, the possibility is that it may commit new crimes and again simply denies them. Japan has been seeking the status as a standing member of the UN Security Council. However, it would be hardly possible that world security should be entrusted on a country which committed inhuman crimes but always refuses to acknowledge and apologize.

 

Third, Japan’s denial serves to demonize itself. Some Japanese may argue that exposure of the Nanking Massacre with its heinous details is to purposely demonize the Japanese race as a whole. Yet exactly who is demonizing the Japanese? In truth, it is nobody else but those Japanese politicians that have most effectively demonized Japan. If Japan’s aggression war along with its atrocities, including Nanking Massacre, was launched by Japan when it was possessed by a demon, but today Japan loudly denies those atrocities and even glorifies the war itself, then we can gain the insight that, the demon has never been dead but still alive inside Japan, ready to rise, roar, and run amok again. Therefore, nobody is demonizing Japan, except the truth-denying Japanese politicians, who successfully enable the world to see Japan as a “demon” with no remorse.

 

Finally, Japan’s current denial will incur long-term rancor of people in those invaded countries. Today, as I know it, more and more Chinese people, especially youngsters develop a strong anti-Japan sentiment because of Japan’s denial of the Nanking Massacre, the Comfort Women issue and other atrocities. Many people even start to boycott Japanese products. Unless Japanese Government comes up with a definite, formal, open apology and makes reparations, the rancor towards Japan as a whole nation will never diminish. However, a lamentable phenomenon may be that, because Japan has so far already been so reluctant and unwilling to apologize, on that day when Japan cannot but apologize in future circumstances, the Chinese rancor will still continue for decades.

 

Outlook of the Future

 

In December 2004, LI Xiuying, a survivor of the Nanking Massacre passed away at the age of 86 in Nanking. She was among the last few witnesses of the Massacre. On 19 December 1937, she, pregnant for seven months, fought against Japanese soldiers tying to rape her, and hence received 37 sword cuts. She was finally saved by a U.S. doctor Mr. Robert Wilson, but the expected baby died. As time goes by, more and more Nanking Massacre witnesses like LI Xiuying are leaving us. Meanwhile, Japan still has not made a sincere and formal apology for its past atrocities and provided compensation. In the near future, we seem to be unable to hear the coming footsteps of the day of Japanese apology.

 

The outlook for a Japanese apology seems gloomy. However, even in the darkest days for American Blacks in the 1960s, Martin Luther King still had a great dream; later, his dream came true. Similarly, I also have a dream today. I have a dream that one day the Chinese and the Japanese may fully resolve all historical problems, and restore Tang Period (618-907)-like friendship, whereby both countries have sincere, authentic respect for and trust in each other.

 

Rabindranath Tagore, the Nobel Laureate uttered the famous message: “Man's history is waiting in patience for the triumph of the insulted man.” Coldly, I watch Japan performing farces of denial in the international community; calmly, I see Japan paying all the costs of its denial; and confidently, I wait for the triumph as prophesized by Tagore and the day of Japanese apology and reparation, as well as the day of true China-Japan friendship.