The Nanking Massacre: Following the Flow of Information
Thomas Park
CTY distance education instructor
Graduate student of educational technology,
Johns Hopkins University
Baltimore, Maryland, USA
After
the occupation of Nanking in December 1937, the Imperial Japanese Army
conducted an eight-week campaign of death and destruction, unleashing
unthinkable acts of cruelty upon the local Chinese populace. Hundreds
of thousands of prisoners-of-war and civilians were raped, tortured,
and murdered, alternately with ruthless caprice and with systematic
efficiency. Seventy years have passed since this dark event, yet the
Nanking Massacre remains an unresolved issue. Despite an abundance of
eyewitness accounts and primary sources, historical interpretations of
the incident vary considerably, bending to political influence and
succumbing to a haze of misinformation. The Nanking Massacre remains a
point of contention between China and Japan, tensing international
relations and threatening the stability of the region. To successfully
resolve this tragic chapter, a close examination of the flow of
information before, during, and after the Nanking Massacre is required.
There
is no greater illustration of the maxim "knowledge is power" than the
rise of Japan in the 1800's. In centuries prior, the rulers of Japan
adopted an isolationist policy, repulsing any attempts at interaction
by Europe, even as the latter underwent the Industrial Revolution. It
was not until Commodore Matthew Perry, in a show of technological
superiority, sent a flotilla of steam-powered "Black Ships" into
present-day Tokyo Bay in 1853 that Japan opened its borders and
established diplomatic relations with the United States and the rest of
the world. "As we are not the equals of foreigners in the mechanical
arts, let us have intercourse with foreign countries" (Chang, 1997)
became a familiar refrain among the nation's advisers. Japan quickly
capitalized on its forced membership into the global community by
sending its best students to study science abroad, infusing the nation
with the latest advances in research and technology. Students were also
sent abroad to study the British Royal Navy and the Prussian Army, and
in exchange, European advisers were invited to organize and train the
Japanese military.
Thanks
to this new flow of information, the Japanese experienced unprecedented
economic success, modernizing its infrastructure and developing
industries in textiles, steel, and foreign trade. With the economy
expanding and the population booming, Japan set it eyes on the arable
land, coal and iron ore, oil, and other natural resources that its
neighbors possessed. In 1876, a small naval fleet dispatched from Japan
coerced Korea into accepting an unequal treaty, echoing what occurred
in Tokyo just two decades earlier. Some in the Hermit Kingdom hoped
that the treaty, which opened three Korean ports to Japanese commerce,
would result in the influx of new technologies that could help them too
defend against European imperialism. Japan's embrace of education and
technology paid dividends in China and Russia as well. 1895 saw the
Japanese triumph in the First Sino-Japanese War and gain the Liaodong
Peninsula, Formosa, and the Pescadores Islands, in addition to
unimpeded control of Korea and access to China's ports and rivers.
Japan added Manchuria and half of the Sakhalin Islands to their spoils
following the Russo-Japanese War in 1905.
Right-wing
ultranationalists, buttressed by the military, choked the free flow of
information within Japan by securing control of its government and
educational system during this time. Under the pretext of Peace
Preservation Laws, the government censored the media, filtered public
opinion, spied on its citizens, and arrested dissidents (Yoshida,
2006). The government promoted the ideals of the emperor as a deity,
Japan as a sacred land, and the Japanese as a master race. It instilled
in the populace contempt for the Chinese people through skewed news
reporting and propagandistic education, setting the stage for the
atrocities in Nanking. In the late 19th century, the Ministry of
Education declared that the primary objective of Japanese education was
not the edification of students, but the good of the nation. The
Imperial Rescript on Education issued by the Emperor in 1890 emphasized
unconditional obedience to the Empire. Students were required to
memorize the 315-word code of ethics and recite it each morning in
class. Schools operated like military academies and brutal pecking
orders were established. Teachers and students alike were subjected to
harsh discipline and continuous indoctrination. A 1928 British War
Office report noted, "During these impressionable years, they have been
walled off from all outside pleasures, interests, or influences. The
atmosphere of the narrow groove along which they have moved has been
saturated with a special national and a special military propaganda"
(Chang, 1997).
Textbooks
on history, geography, ethics, and language were transformed into
propaganda tools, distorted to reinforce the notion of the Japanese as
a superior people and justify the expansionist policy of the
government. A single narrative, chosen by the government to reflect
whatever distorted reality it desired, was distributed to the schools.
After the Japanese invasion of Manchuria and installation of a puppet
regime, the 1936 edition of the sixth-year geography textbook stated,
"Our country endorsed Manchukuo's independence as soon as it became
independent... and has been making a substantial effort to develop this
nation and to maintain peace in Asia" (Yoshida, 2006). The 1941 edition
of the sixth-year national history textbook summarized aggressions in
China with, "In July 1937, at the Marco Polo Bridge near Beijing,
Chinese troops fired on our army, which was conducting maneuvers. In
addition, some even assaulted our residents. Therefore, in the interest
of justice, our country decided to send the military to rectify China's
mistaken ideas and to establish eternal peace in the East" (Yoshida,
2006). By controlling the flow of information in such a manner, the
government manipulated the Japanese public into not only condoning, but
endorsing, barbarous acts by the Japanese military in Asia.
Seventy
years have passed since hundreds of thousands of civilians were
tortured and mutilated in Nanking, and the haze of misinformation
surrounding the event has not yet lifted. Many leaders in Japan have
subsequently whitewashed the Nanking Massacre and other atrocities
committed by Imperial Japan. The Ministry of Education, responsible for
screening and approving all textbooks for use in schools, has played a
recurring role in this "second tragedy." In 1965, the Ministry rejected
the textbook New Japanese History
by Saburo Ienaga, claiming it contained "too many illustrations of the
'dark side' of the war, such as an air raid, a city left in ruins by
the atomic bomb, and disabled veterans" (Masalski, 2001). The
Ministry's recommendation that Ienaga soften descriptions of Japanese
wartime activities in his 1982 textbook submission was much-publicized,
resulting in an outcry among the victimized nations and formal
diplomatic protests by the Chinese and South Korean governments.
In
2000, a coalition of conservative scholars named the Japanese Society
for History Textbook Reform received approval by the Ministry of
Education for its New History Textbook,
which offered a revised view of Japanese history that downplayed the
severity of the Nanking Massacre and interpreted Japanese imperialism
in Asia as liberation from European powers. A passage from the 2005
edition simply stated, "[Japan] occupied [Nanking] in December... Note:
At this time, many Chinese soldiers and civilians were killed or
wounded by Japanese troops (the Nanking Incident). Documentary evidence
has raised doubts about the actual number of victims claimed by the
incident. The debate continues even today." The approval of the New History Textbook once again sparked protests and further contributed to strained relations between Japan and its neighbors.
The
obscuring of history is not limited to textbooks. Within the academic
community, the Nanking Massacre remains a stifled area of study that
many scholars avoid due to an atmosphere of intimidation. Yet others
actively tamper with historical documents, such as Masaaki Tanaka, who
made approximately 900 manipulations in Iwane Matsui's wartime diary
before publishing it in 1985 (Chang, 1997). Those who do scrutinize the
atrocities risk threats on their careers and even their lives. For
example, in 1988, Nagasaki mayor Hitoshi Motoshima was asked to speak
on the Emperor's role in World War II, to which he replied,
"Forty-three years have passed since the end of the war, and I think we
have had enough chance to reflect on the nature of the war. From
reading various accounts from abroad and having been a soldier myself,
involved in military education, I do believe that the emperor bore
responsibility for the war" (Buruma, 1994). Reaction to this statement
was fierce. Motoshima was removed as advisor to the Liberal Democratic
Party Prefectural Committee and many conservative organizations took to
the streets in protest. In 1990, Motoshima was shot by a member of a
radical right-wing group in retribution.
In
contrast, Takami Eto, a senior member of Japan's ruling party, claimed
in 2003 that the estimate of 300,000 dead during the Nanking Massacre
was a "fabricated lie" and chastised past prime ministers who
apologized for Japan's actions in China and Korea. His beliefs are
reflected by many other people in positions of power. After publishing
a cartoon that depicted Japanese soldiers massacring Nanking civilians
in a 2004 issue of a weekly magazine, Japanese publisher Shueisha bowed
to pressure from forty conservative assemblymen, issuing an apology and
striking it from the book version (Gamble, 2004). Unfortunately,
coerced censorship such as this occurs frequently in the private sector
as well. In 1988, Shochiku Fuji Distribution removed from the Japanese
release of the Last Emperor
thirty seconds of film depicting the Nanking Massacre, claiming the
scene was "too sensational." Film critic Takehiko Nakane speculated, "I
believe the film's distributors and many theater owners were afraid
these right-wing groups might cause trouble outside the theaters. Some
of these people still believe that Japan's actions in China and during
the war were part of some sacred crusade" (Chang, 1997). In 1999,
publisher Kashiwashobo canceled its contract to translate Iris Chang's the Rape of Nanking
and bring it to Japan because the author refused to add notes and
remove photographs as requested specifically for the Japanese edition.
The Japanese publisher's editor-in-chief declared, "It's biased, prejudiced and like wartime propaganda" (Carvajal, 1999).
Time
and time again, the truth is threatened by a campaign of disingenuous
claims and baseless denials. Unimpeachable facts, photographic
evidence, and primary accounts from Chinese victims, Japanese soldiers,
and third-party witnesses are suppressed. This censorship shares a
continuity with the propaganda that enabled the Japanese to perceive
their victims as subhuman and describe their path of calamity as divine
destiny. In order to regain the trust of its neighbors and give this
tragic chapter a dignified resolution at last, the Japanese government
must free the flow of information into Japan and promote open discourse
among the media, academia, and general public. No longer can details of
the Nanking Massacre be cut from films and sanitized in books.
Courageous individuals, like Saburo Ienaga and Hitoshi Motoshima, and
conscientious organizations such as the Center for Research and
Documentation on Japan's War Responsibility must be celebrated, not
vilified. Schools must educate future generations of Japanese about the
true Nanking Massacre and the lessons that can be learned from it.
This, even more so than an official apology from the Japanese
government, will prove beneficial to East Asia. While an apology may be
merely a reactive diplomatic measure from a government figure, opening
discourse on the Nanking Massacre demonstrates genuine acceptance that
permeates all levels of Japanese society.
Those
outside of Japan must also raise awareness of "the forgotten holocaust"
and keep it in the global consciousness. Not only does the Nanking
Massacre mark a significant event in our past, but it serves as a sober
warning of what becomes possible when the flow of information into and
within a nation is restricted. The Rape of Nanking
has acted as a catalyst in bringing the issue to the foreground
throughout the world, and all people can contribute to this momentum.
Prior to the Rape of Nanking's
publication, no full-length nonfiction narrative of the massacre
existed in English. Since 1997, over a dozen books have reached the
English-speaking market, and several films are in production as well.
After reading Iris Chang's work, Ted Leonsis was inspired to produce Nanking
(Heath, 2006), which won a documentary film editing award at this
year's Sundance Film Festival. Educators should follow the lead of
schoolteacher Graeme A. Stacy by incorporating the Nanking Massacre
into their social studies curricula. Stacy's resource guide, entitled Human Rights in the Asia Pacific 1931 - 1945: Social Responsibility and Global Citizenship,
was created in conjunction with the British Columbia Ministry of
Education and made available to teachers throughout British Columbia,
Canada, in 2003. We do the victims of the Nanking Massacre the ultimate
honor by remembering what occurred in those bleak winter months so many
years ago and passing the history onto others in this way. The Nanking
Massacre offers lessons from which, regardless of nationality, we can
all learn.
References
Buruma, I. (1994). The wages of guilt: Memories of war in Germany and Japan. New York: Farrar Strauss Giroux.
Carvajal, D. (1999, May 20). History's shadow foils Nanking chronicle. New York Times.
Chang, I. (1997). The rape of Nanking: The forgotten holocaust of World War II. New York: Penguin.
Gamble, A. (2004, December 4). Japan, media still deny Nanking massacre. Chicago Sun-Times.
Heath, T. (2006, July 31). Ted Leonsis takes a sharp turn. Washington Post.
Masalski, K. (2001, November). Examining the Japanese history textbook controversies. Japan Digest.
Yoshida, T. (2006). The making of 'the rape of Nanking': History and memory in Japan, China, and the United States. New York: Oxford University Press.
