Sunday, December 6th, 2009
On Dec. 13, 1937 marked the beginning of the Japanese invasion of Nanjing, China. In the following six weeks approximately 300,000 people were slaughtered in some of the most horrific ways ever imagined. The 100,000’s of other people that were injured, raped and displaced. If not for the extreme efforts of a dozen expats that lived in Nanjing the numbers would be astronomically higher.
The Japanese marched into the city of Nanjing, both land and 
air assaults from the east. The Chinese troops fought back but to no avail. The invaders slaughtered everyone in their path: civilian, military, man, woman, elderly and infants. The bodies were left in the streets. The massacre is also referred to as the Rape of Nanjing. An untold number of females, I use females as opposed to women due to the ages of females effected were infant to elderly, were sexually assaulted and/or murdered.
During this time there were several expats, American, German, Australian. John Rabe, a German businessman who was a member of the Nazi Party, saved thousands by harboring them on his property. Several of the expats lived in the community as missionaries, businessmen and medical aide. The ones that were able to travel out of the area smuggled video, photos and letters to the various embassies looking for help for the citizens of Nanjing.
Much of the photo documentation that was present to the world was “souvenir” photos taken by the Japanese to bring back to Japan to boast to their countrymen. One story is of a young child who was not slaughtered and working in a photo printing shop. The Japanese would bring the shop film and the child would print copies and hide them till he could get them to one of the “safe” zones. If not for his bravery many of the horrific events would never have been brought to light.
The Japanese were eventually brought to trial, with several of them executed, however, the Japanese have not ever acknowledge the massacre as actually occurring and have stated that the atrocities have been greatly embellished by the Chinese.
I spent my afternoon wandering around the memorial this past Sunday. The memorial is located at one of the mass graves that the Japanese used to dispose of over 10,000 souls. The memorial started as a construction site when the bodies were being excavated, however, due to mass quantity of remains, removal was halted and the area was developed as a memorial to the events. There is a large museum on the grounds with many items found at the site and donated by the survivors. It is very graphic but very professional presented. Those of you that have never been to a Chinese m
useum need to know that many of them are well, tacky and amateurish. This is not but it is full of photos of the deceased and the atrocities committed. There are several statues around the grounds. Including two cast from two women that were survivors of the “sex clubs” and foot prints of other survivors. Two building are actually exposed areas of the burial pits. One is shaped like a Chinese coffin, which the Chinese rarely use any longer, cremation is the burial of choice or necessity, 
I am not sure. The larger of the two is a walkway around one of the excavation areas with dozens of remains exposed, from this room you walk back out into a courtyard with a prayer area and an eternal flame. Walk through the next doorway and you are in the
room of lights, it has mirrored walls and several hanging lights creating a massive space of 1000’s of lights – out the door way is a reflective pool with a large statue entitled Peace.
The walk into the memorial grounds is a bit complicated. It is full of modern statuary in a long reflective pool. There are a dozen of pieces each representing people affected during the Invasion.
I debated for several days on what or if to post anything here about the Memorial. I decided obviously to post. As we are remembering the Attack on Pearl Harbor and the Holidays are in full swing. I think it is important to remember the previous generations struggles and sacrifices. I am writing to tell anyone who reads this about the Nanjing Massacre. Previous to moving to China, I was ignorant to China’s struggles. Chairman Mao was a cartoon figure to my generation…one of the big bad Communist. Russians were evil, Cuba was evil and China - evil. Now, I have hosted exchange students from Moscow, I would love to hang out on a Cuban beach and I think I may be a little Chinese in my soul.
