The Denial and Its Cost
- Reflections on Nanking Massacre 70 years ago and beyond
Tianshu Zhang
High school student
Fuzhou, Fujian, P. R. China
Standing
in front of the gate of Nanking Massacre Memorial Hall in a humid
summer morning, I felt like crying, but with no tears. There was
a huge marble crucifix with two dates carved "1937.12.13~1938.1”.
Staring at the marble, I saw the scar of one nation bleeding.
It seemed that my heart stopped beating.
The
Memorial Hall was closed to visitors due to renovation. I could
only let my thoughts fly inside, where one of the darkest pages of
human history, the atrocity committed by the Japanese Emperor Army to
the people of Nanking during WWII, is recorded.
Although
Japan launched the war of aggression against China two years prior to
Germany’s intrusion into Poland, the fact is hardly known to many
people, especially Westerners. The horror of Nanking massacre and
the suffering of Chinese people are barely covered by any Western
writers’ work, and became gradually revealed only after the
publishing of THE RAPE OF NANKING.
Description
of the catastrophe is chilling, and the cruelty was beyond imagination.
One cannot help but wonder how fragile humanity may be and how
vulnerable the civilization of human kind may be. It seems unreal
to have the painstakingly established destroyed in a flash, and the
destruction is done by human kind itself.
People
may not be willing to believe that such atrocities ever existed, but we
must face the truth no matter how painful it may be. The facts
having been ignored for such a long time, and the concern is we may not
learn the lesson as we should have. Even more alarming is that
Japanese right-wingers have been defending the Japanese Emperor
Army’s invasion of China and other Asian countries. They
have also attempted repeatedly to deny Nanking massacre and accused
China and other countries of making up the Massacre. But history
cannot be distorted.
The
tragedy was not just to the Chinese people, it was also one for the
Japanese. People are fallible, and so are nations. One will
not lose his dignity by admitting his wrongdoings. It is the
courage to confront one’s own dark side and the willingness to
learn from the past that make it worth. We can recall that Willy
Brandt, the former premier of the Federal Republic of Germany knelt
down in front of Warsaw Jewish Martyrs Monument on December 6th, 1970
for his country’s guilt of mistreating the Polish people as well
as for waging the war against humanity during WWII. The great
courage and strong sense of responsibility he demonstrated shocked the
world and one of the brightest moment in history. The German
government has also committed to compensating war victims for the
suffering they had endured, which has won the respect of the world.
As
compared with Germany, the attitude of the Japanese government toward
its role as war aggressor is disappointing. Lenin said, “Forgetting the past means betrayal.”
The denial and even twisting of historical facts by certain
Japanese right-wingers are insulting and more worrisome. What
lies behind is their nationalism. Nationalism is distinctly
different from patriotism. Patriotism is the love for one’s
motherland and his people, but nationalism is about collective
egocentrism, strong willpower, and violence. The distinctions
have been articulated by Iikolay Aleksaidrovich Berdyaev, “Nation
and people are absolutely two different things. To love their own
people shows a good feeling; nationalism needs to despise and hate
other people. Nationalism is a potential war.”
Everyone who loves his or her country wants to preserve the
dignity of their motherland. But the Japanese right-wingers’
words and action lead just to the opposite. Dealing with
historical issues with the right attitude is the key to improving the
relationship between Japan and those countries who suffered from
Japanese invasion. Unfortunately, this denial has become an
obstacle in the course.
Stunned
by the unspeakable cruelty of war, one shall look beyond the war itself
for soul searching. War is only a violent means to obtain
benefits. The people who waged wars were all well-educated, and
those who kill have their families in their own country. The duty
of soldier is to obey the order. Fighting in a battle is their
work, and losing life for their country is a great honor. We can
accept the fact that death cannot be avoided in war. But what we
cannot understand is that why they tortured the civilians and even put
them to death in such a horrible way. One should ask how the
ordinary soldiers turned to beasts, or what may be responsible for such
a sudden change in human nature? Was it just an accident or a danger
that has been hidden broke out in a sudden?
As
far as I know, Japanese have the greatest esteem for bushido - an
extreme spirit of devotion. Bushido transformed into militarism
step by step during the world’s Great Depression period. In
order to shake off its economic crisis, the Japanese government chose
external expansion. Leaving home, bleeding in nowhere, and
uncertainty of future is a difficult text to every soldier. So
the policy makers need a more powerful volition to control their army
better. With the strong will is training in cold blood. The
stronger the body can be, the firmer the mind can be. As I
learned more by literature search about the details of Japanese
military training, I cannot help sympathizing with those Japanese
soldiers who destroyed one of the richest and most beautiful cities of
my nation. They were instilled the idea of war. At a tender
age, they were controlled tightly and brain-washed. They were
under tight control. Through bitter and even inhuman military
training, soldiers were forced to suppress their desires and emotion.
However, like temporarily dormant volcanoes, stifled hate and
anger will break out sooner or later. Unfortunately, war became a
way of venting. Killing and committing other war crimes became
the only and most gratifying way to serve their animal desire.
Their acts are despicable, but they are also the victims of war,
physically and emotionally.
We
should not only remember the wonderful gift, but also the evil we
suffered……forgetting is the abandonment of memory,
betrayed memory, is the perfidy of history. In other words, forgetting
is to take the risk of war.
- Elie
Wiesel
Soul
searching is not at all easy. People tend to opt to forget for
various reasons. For the right-wing Japanese, they may have
chosen to forget, to deny, and to twist that particular piece of
history for political reasons or out of their nationalism. If I
am offended by the Japanese right-wingers’ behavior, I am
saddened by that of many forgetful Chinese, teenagers in particular.
When asked about their view of Japan, most of them will cry for
Japan carton, pop stars, and fashionable clothes and hairstyle.
Only a few would mention the painful past. Several years
ago, a host of a popular entertainment program, when asked about the
number of the death in Nanking massacre, her first response was,
“I don’t know.” Being told by her co-host the
number of victims, she uttered out, “how few!” She
may be just ignorant of history, but what she showed may be a
reflection of the current mindset of many Chinese teenagers.
Maybe looking at the miserable past is too heavy to bear, but we
should never forget what our predecessors have gone through to fight
for the course of great country. If we do not respect history
ourselves, how can we expect an apology from the Japanese government
and those who have committed the heinous crime?
As
a developing country, China will play a more important role in the
world. For Japan, building on its economic strength, enhancing
its international reputation is its ambition. The best direction
for both China and Japan is to face up the historical issues and to
take proper actions to improve bilateral relations. In the recent
past, the communication between China and Japan appears to be in a
strange situation, the so-called cold in political and hot in economy.
The foot-setting on the wrong side of history by the Japanese
right-wingers and the ambiguity of the Japanese government should be
responsible. We are not suggesting hatred and revenge that may
lead ourselves to nationalism. But it is high time for all
parties involved to face up the issues and to prepare us for the
future, prosperous and peaceful.
Only
not forgetting the past, can we be the masters in the future.
Only by remembering the darkness and evil, can we be away from
them.
