What is wrong with "Nanjing Massacre"?Zhang Baotong2016.12.14

The book "Nanjing Massacre" is a comprehensive record of the atrocities committed by the invading Japanese army in Nanjing, written in English by the Chinese-American Zhang Chunru on the occasion of the 60th anniversary of the Nanjing Massacre in 1997. www.biquge.info The reason why she wants to make this historical truth public to the world is that she wants to give justice to the 300,000 compatriots who died in Nanjing that year.

After its publication in the United States, "The Nanjing Massacre" topped the New York Times bestseller list for 14 consecutive weeks, and was reprinted 15 times, with a print run of nearly 1 million copies. The review of this book by Newsweek in the United States is that it is a bold review of the most heinous scene of World War II, which has changed the situation that all English-speaking countries do not have a detailed record of the historical event of the Nanjing Massacre, and aroused the attention of the entire Western world to the history of the Nanjing Massacre. The book has also been translated into more than 20 languages and distributed around the world.

In 1998, the Chinese American Women's Association awarded Zhang Chunru the "Outstanding Woman of the Year Award", and many universities and organizations awarded her various honorary certificates; As a young minority writer, Zhang Chunru's strong sense of justice and outstanding talent have established a good image of Chinese Americans in mainstream American society, and has become a true role model for Chinese youth around the world. Together with NBA sports star Yao Ming and famous pianist Lang Lang, she is known as the three most eye-catching Chinese young people in the United States at present.

After the publication of "The Nanjing Massacre", it aroused great repercussions in the West, China, Japan and other countries, allowing Western historians and people in Western countries to begin to understand this history, changing the situation of the Nanjing Massacre in Western society that few people are aware of, and letting more people know about the extreme thugs and ugly features of Japanese militarism in World War II. But there are also people who have different reactions to some of the narratives in the book, which are malicious and benign. To that end, I would like to share my views on these reflections.

As we all know, the forgotten background of the Nanjing Massacre is very complicated, and while this extremely serious work shocked the United States and the whole world, it also inevitably aroused some groundless doubts and rough accusations, especially for many Japanese who are unwilling to face history squarely, Zhang Chunru's book is undoubtedly a "blatant provocation." Under these circumstances, the book "Nanjing Massacre" also made Zhang Chunru a social activist who actively participated in the preservation of the historical facts of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, as well as a fighter against Japan's shameful acts of covering up history.

After the publication of "The Nanjing Massacre", Zhang Chunru was protested and threatened by Japanese right-wingers. In May 1998, Japan's ambassador to the United States, Kunihiko Saito, held a press conference in which he accused Zhang Chunru of making the contents of the book untrue, "very wrong descriptions," and misinterpreting Japan. He said that Japan had apologized and that it was also in the textbook. In this regard, Zhang Chunru and Kunihiko Saito had a head-to-head showdown on a news program in the United States. Kunihiko Saito said: "For the 'Nanjing Incident', we recognize that something very unfortunate happened, and that the Japanese army committed an atrocity. Zhang Chunru said: "I didn't hear the word 'apology'. If he had genuinely said that I was personally sorry for the behavior of the Japanese army during World War II, I would consider it an apology. But again, we hear the words 'regret', 'regret', 'something unfortunate happened'. She also reiterated her two basic points in writing "The Nanjing Massacre": First, the Japanese government has never made a serious apology for the Nanjing Massacre, and second, the Japanese government has always covered, distorted, and downplayed the Nanjing Massacre in school textbooks over the past few decades. Zhang Chunru said that only by admitting guilt can Japan become a better nation.

However, some kind-hearted scholars have pointed out that there are some fabrications and flaws in Zhang Chunru's "Nanjing Massacre," and have given Japanese right-wingers the pretext that the Nanjing Massacre was fabricated and fabricated, citing the number of victims, the description of the Nanjing Massacre in Japanese textbooks, and the identification of the facts of the Nanjing Massacre in Japan, and citing the research of some professionals for argumentation.

Regarding the actual number of victims of the Nanjing Massacre, the Japanese said it was 140,000, the Tokyo trial determined that it was 200,000, and the Chinese said it was 300,000. Who can say an accurate number of tens of thousands? At that time, the Japanese military did not make statistics, and the Chinese government at that time could not count them. Some of the Chinese killed were shot en masse, and some were killed sporadically; who can count the hundreds of thousands of Japanese soldiers who killed so many Chinese in such a big city? The Japanese soldiers either dug up and buried the people they killed or burned their bodies with gasoline, so whether it was the Japanese, the Chinese, or the Tokyo Trial Court had an approximate estimate of the number of victims. It is simply impossible to come up with evidence to prove exactly how many people were killed. This was because it was not possible to count the number of people to the smallest extent of error, as is the case with a national census today. The data of the Japanese are based on their estimates, the data of the Chinese are calculated based on the survey of the Chinese, and the Tokyo Trial Court is a combination of the data of the Japanese and the Chinese. Therefore, the most controversial issue about the Nanjing Massacre now is the number of people. Whenever we suggest that 300,000 people were killed in the Nanjing Massacre, Japan vigorously claims that the number of victims was not 300,000, but 140,000 or 200,000. He also said that the number of residents in Nanjing at that time was less than 300,000. However, we cannot help but ask, how did the Japanese know that the number of inhabitants in Nanjing at that time was less than 300,000? Could it be that the Nanjing government did not know how many people were in Nanjing?

Zhang Chunru spent about two years writing "The Nanjing Massacre", and much of that time was spent interviewing and collecting evidence. Because books and works on historical subjects can only be done through interviews, evidence collection, and collection of materials. Therefore, it is impossible for Zhang Chunru to count the number of victims of the Nanjing Massacre, and as a Chinese-American, she can only stay in China for a short time, and it is impossible for her to have so much time to shuttle back and forth between China and Japan to argue back and forth about the number of victims. It can be said that it is even more difficult to accurately figure out this number than it is for her to complete the book, in fact, let alone a weak woman like her, it is extremely difficult for any professional organization to spend a lot of time to complete this task. Therefore, blaming Zhang Chunru for being problematic in terms of the number of victims is extremely far-fetched and nitpicking. The number of victims of the Nanjing Massacre is engraved in front of the Nanjing Massacre Memorial Hall, and it is very eye-catching. If anyone disagrees with this figure, they can discuss it with the Nanjing Massacre Memorial Museum or relevant Chinese scholars. Zhang Chunru just adopted this number.

In addition, some people think that Zhang Chunru's description of the attitude of Japanese society towards the Nanjing Massacre is very unobjective, and he cites various Japanese textbooks that have special descriptions of the Nanjing Massacre. However, all Japanese textbooks describe the Nanjing Massacre only in a few words, and they cannot be shorter, such as "After the capture of Nanjing, the Japanese soldiers carried out massacres and killed hundreds of thousands of captured soldiers and civilians." Think about it, what kind of impression does such a passage leave on a middle school student?

Although there are some scholars in Japan who have seriously studied the Nanjing Massacre, how much repercussions have their achievements and voices? How powerful are they compared with those right-wingers who are loud and murderous and funded by many large corporations? How loud are their voices? Moreover, the phenomenon of right-leaning in Japanese society today is very serious. They denied the Nanjing Massacre, and even the history of invasion of China in World War II. For example, a Japanese in the United States openly claimed that the Nanjing Massacre was a myth and fabrication, and that it was propaganda from the Chinese government. When someone asked him to watch the pictures and videos, he said it was all deception and propaganda and that the victims in the pictures and videos had been trained. If you put this kind of right-winger who carries the head of a bull and does not admit his stolen goods, he will not admit that it is true. There were hundreds of thousands of Japanese soldiers who participated in the Nanjing Massacre, but how many of them confessed to the heinous crimes they committed?

There are generally three types of people in Japan: First, right-wing pretending to be sleepers who swear to the death and refuse to admit their evil deeds, who deny the existence of the Nanjing Massacre and the 300,000 victims; second, those who are indifferent to history and politics and do not eat the fireworks of the world, and they do not care about whether the "Nanjing Massacre" existed; and third, those who avoid talking about it with shame, who are ashamed of Japan's cruel acts and avoid talking about it. They didn't want the world to know what the barbaric factor was like in the minds of the Japanese. They wantonly paid respects at the Yasukuni Shrine and openly denied the war of aggression. Some people have even adopted the methods of funding and bribery for institutions and individuals who study the history of World War II, so that they can be silenced in order to cover up the ugly history of aggression and acts of aggression. Some right-wingers even threaten and intimidate those who expose the scandal of Japanese aggression.

Zhang Chunru did not write "Nanjing Massacre" to promote populism and hatred, she wanted the world to remember history. If writing this book is to promote populism and hatred, then we must not only ask, did the Chinese invade Japan, or did the Japanese invade China? Did the Chinese massacre the Japanese, or did the Japanese massacre the Chinese? and it was extremely ugly and brutal. From September 18, 1931 to September 15, 1945, during the 14-year war of aggression against China, the Japanese invading army implemented the three-light policy of "killing, robbing, and burning", killing more than 30 million Chinese, plundering countless resources, reducing many villages and cities to ashes, destroying the country, displacing people, and causing great disasters. However, more than 70 years have passed, have the Japanese ever reflected on it? Have they apologized? The Chinese have not even asked Japan for war reparations, but 93 percent of the Japanese people today hate the Chinese, think that the Chinese are unfriendly, and always hold on to their history. In fact, what they really worry about and hate is that China is getting stronger day by day, catching up with and surpassing them. China is a big country, and in thousands of years of history, China has never invaded Japan because of its own strength, and Japan invaded China twice in 120 years, in 1894 and 1931, causing China to fall into the abyss of being bullied and enslaved twice. They caused great disasters and committed heinous crimes against the Chinese people, but because Zhang Chunru wrote a book exposing their crimes, "The Nanjing Massacre", it became a propaganda of hatred and populism. Therefore, we should not be naïve to think that the Japanese arguing with us about the number of victims is respecting objectivity, in fact, whether it is 140,000 or 300,000, the Japanese government will not apologize to the Chinese people. Japanese soldiers killed more than 30 million Chinese in World War II, did they apologize?

Japan is an island country, with a small territory and limited resources, which makes them have a strong sense of distress, and the spirit of bushido and the superior Yamato nation are very suitable for breeding fanatical militaristic thoughts. They worship the strong and despise the weak, so they believe in strength, not justice. The Americans had knocked them to the ground and cleaned them up with atomic bombs, so they saw that the Americans were obedient and respectful. On the contrary, the Chinese were their ancestors and have always been kind to them, but the first thing they invaded was China, because China is rich in resources, because China is weak and can be bullied. Therefore, the bullying personality makes many Japanese people despise themselves when they encounter difficulties, and they commit suicide to save themselves. This is a very quirky characteristic of the Japanese people. Therefore, if the Japanese want to apologize for their criminal history in the war of aggression against China, unless China is strong enough for them to be afraid.

For years, the Nanjing Massacre seemed to be a matter of Chinese and Japanese debate, as if no one else's business was concerned. When it comes to Pearl Harbor and Auschwitz, Americans and Europeans are almost household names, but when it comes to the Nanjing Massacre, almost no one is known in the United States and Europe. Because of the Cold War and ideological problems, the US government and certain European countries have been using Japan to contain China, so they have also been helping Japan conceal its history and aggression in World War II. This is also the reason why the Japanese government cannot reflect on and apologize for launching the war of aggression and the Nanjing Massacre. Instead of deep introspection, they are trying to cover up and bleach. Zhang Chunru's "Nanjing Massacre" has opened the door of memory that has been sealed for more than 70 years for the world, enabling more people to understand the historical truth of the Nanjing Massacre. Last year, the Nanjing Massacre Archives were successfully inscribed on the World Heritage List and became the memory of mankind and the world, and we would like to thank many people like Zhang Chunru who seek truth and pursue justice.

Today, on a quiet hillside in California, that tombstone still watches over Zhang Chunru's stubborn soul, and may all Chinese remember her name. (To be continued.) )