2 Days in Nanjing- 4/1/23 - 4/3/23

The Exhibit hall

 The Memorial Hall of the Nanjing Massacre document the atrocities committed by Japanese soldiers against the civilian population during the occupation of Nanjing in 1937. They include pictures of actual executions, many taken by Japanese army photographers and a gruesome viewing hall built over a mass grave of massacre victims. Preserving the theme of victimization as a pivotal in China’s remembering of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, the Memorial Hall of the Victims in Nanjing Massacre serves as the main symbol of traumatic memory in China.  The Nanjing Massacre plays a big role in the Chinese people’s consciousness and is considered as one of the most debated historical issues between China and Japan.

We are  now entering the exhibit hall of the victims in the Nanjing Massacre.

Stairs leading to the main gallery.

Hall of the survivors.

Wall with photos of survivors during the Nanjing Massacre.

All these people survived the horror of Nanjing Massacre and able to tell their story.

After the Mukden Incident, People from all walks of life, patriotic officers and soldiers in the northeastern China organized themselves into armed forces such as  volunteer Army to bravely resist Japanese aggression. 

On the left, the picture on top shows a railroad and train destroyed by the Anti Japanese Volunteer Army.

On September 16, 1932 Japanese troops slaughtered more than 3,000 villagers in Pingdingshan village, Fushen. 2nd picture shows bones of victims unearthed from the site of the Pingdingshan Massacre.

The Marco Polo Incident.

On July 7, 1937 Japanese troops stage the Marco Polo Bridge incident by launching an all-out war of aggression against China.  Faced with the invasion by Japanese troops, the Chinese 29th Army wowed to share their fate with the Marco Polo bridge until victory or doom.

Picture od Chinese garrison troops fighting Japanese aggression at the Marco Polo bridge

Air Raid on Nanjing by Japanese aircrafts.

Re-enactment of Nanjing after the air raid.

The city is destroyed.

What is left of the city after the air raid.

Capital relocation and refugees flows.

On November 20, 1937, the Nationalist Government issued the Notice for relocating the Capital to Chongqing.  Shortly after, agencies of the Nationalist Government, and some of the university and factories in Nanjing moved westward and numerous refugees were force to flee their homes.

Japanese attack on Nanjing and the Chinese battle of Defense

Exhibit hall

Mass grave with skeletons in layers that was discovered in 1984.

This is the painting of Nanjing in December 1937 by the famous French oil painter Christian Poirot, who created the painting in 2015. 

The red is the blood of Chinese civilians and the yellow is the sin of Japanese invaders. However, between the red and the yellow, there is also some white, which is the peace dove turned into from the soul of innocent victims, representing freedom and "deliverance". The painting is 7.46 meters wide and 2.35 meters high.

"The Japanese people showed in the painting cannot be called Japanese soldiers, they are war criminals, because they are the aggressors and they killed innocent people," Mr. Poirot emphasized this point in explaining his painting, "I want to tell the world through this painting that we must remember the history and cherish peace."

This is a triple oil painting created in 1991 by Mr. Li Zijian, a painter living in the United States. On the left of the painting are two Japanese soldiers holding bayonets, which is to expose the massacre crime by Japanese army; on the top of the middle is a Chinese child with a silver collar and blood on his face, symbolizing life; and on the right is a monk burying the dead body, who is the incarnation of Buddha. This painting once was on a tour exhibition traveling two and a half around the earth, which received strong responses. Later it was donated by Master Xingyun from Taiwan to the Memorial Hall. Master Xingyun was formerly known as Li Guoshen, who followed his mother to Nanjing in 1938 in search of his father and witnessed the tragic scene after the Nanjing Massacre. He later became a monk at Qixia Temple. In the 1990s, he invited Mr. Li Zijian to create this painting and then donated it to the Memorial Hall in 2000

A farmer receiving treatment in University hospital after being burnt by Japanese soldiers at Molingguan, Nanjing

Tokyyo'd Nichi Shimbun newspaper published an article about the contest between two soldiers to see how fast they could kill people with a bayonet/sword.

You can see that the winner killed 106 and the 2nd soldier killed 105 (on the right).

Sexual atrocities: Neither young or old, not even pregnant women were spared from the outrageous sexual violation by Japanese soldiers.  According to the adjustment of the International Military Tribunal for the Far East, nearly 20,000 cases of rape were perpetrated in Nanjing within the first month of the Japanese occupation.

Robbery:The Japanese grabbed whatever they wanted however they wanted even the rations for the refugees, the clothing and quilts of the hospitals and the properties of the foreigners.

The memories of Survivors.

On the left is a photo taken by John Magee show Li Xanying being treated in University Hospital

The 2md photo is a 16 years old Babhubg girl fell ill after being gang raped by Japanese soldiers.

Locals leaving Nanjing.

Japanese troops perpetrated arson within and outside Nanjing,  About on third of buildings were destroyed and the bustling commercial streets of Taiping Road and Confucius Temple are were razed to the ground.

Faced with the atrocities of the Japanese army, some of the foreigners who stayed in Nanjing risked their lives to rescue the refugees in various way.

They will always be remembered by the Chinese people for their humanistic spir8it and fearless charity.

After the Japanese occupation of Nanjing, John Rabe took advantage of his identify as a German citizen to do what he could to help the refugees.  He turned his residence at No. 1 Xiafenqiao into a refugee camp, sheltering over 600 refugees. He was called the Living Buddha by the refugees.

Born in Hamburg, Germany, John Rabe worked in Nanjing as a Siemens executive and local Nazi party leader.  In November 1937 as the Japanese advanced, Rabe along with 22 other Americans and Europeans, organized the Nanjing Safety Zone, a two square mile area housing 250,000 Chinese civilians in colleges and foreign embassies. In Berlin in 1938, Rabe lectured about the massacre.  But, after sending a 260-page report to Hitler, Rabe was interrogated by the Gestapo.  The Führer had signed an alliance with Japan in 1936.   Rabe was forbidden to lecture or write further about Nanjing.  

Story about John Rabe and his cobbler neighbor.

False Propaganda from Japanese Authority. After the fall of Nanjing, over 100 Japanese journalist, writers and critics were dispatch to the city.  According to the wartime media censorship exercised by Japanese authority, report and photographs on Japanese atrocities in Nanjing were labeled "forbidden", and publication was prohibited, in order to cover up the criminal behavior of the Japanese army.  Under their pen and lenses, Nanjing was a peaceful city filled with merry songs and dances.

On April 1, 1938, The Japanese journal World Pictorial published a photo entitled "Nanjing in Spring" in an attempt to present a deceptive image of peace.

After WWII an International Military Tribunal for the Far East was set up to pursue war criminals.

Trial of Japanese War criminal Matsui Iwane by the International Military Tribunal for the Far East.

Survivors testifying and providing evidences in court.

On November 12. 1948, Matsui Iwane was sentenced to death by hanging at the International Military tribunal for the Far East.

Remembrance by Mankind for a Vision of Peace

The Nanjing Massacre is a catastrophe for all mankind.  It should be remembered by the entire human race, to inspire everyone with a kind hear to year for and safeguard peace, increase the awareness o building a human community with a shared future, abandon prejudice and discrimination, eliminate hatred and war, and promote mutual respect, equality, peaceful development and common prosperity.  A better future should be the vision of mankind

On March 20, 2003, Li Xiuying, a survivor of the Nanjing Massacre, recounted to students her suffering during the massacre.

Name of victims on the wall.

After WWII, many Japanese solders who had invaded China were in state of historical amnesia by repeating sentences lime "I don't want to say" and " pleas go back".  But the denials did not discourage Matsuoka Tamaki, a Japanese teacher , from investigating the truth.  She finally recorded the confessions of 250 former Japanese soldiers who invaded China.  In 2006, Matsuoka Tamaki donated to the Memorial Hall the audio and video recordings.

Conclusion: History will not change with time, nor will facts disappear due to malicious denial.  With ironclad evidence that can not be tampered with, the Nanjing Massacre has become the shared memory of Mankind.

For our shared memory, let us firmly build up our historical memory and take up the mission of the times by preserving and remembering these collections to contribute to the peace of mankind

NEXT...outdoor exhibition