Everything is Not What It Seems

Bodies in Nanking

To American’s World War II began on December 7^th, 1941, when the Japanese army bombed Pearl Harbor, forcing us to end our stage of isolation. For the rest of the world, World War II began for them at several different times, and for the Chinese and Japanese, World War II was called the Sino-Japanese War. Japanese Soldiers moved into Shanghai, China in December of 1937, where they rounded up several thousand men and brutally murdered them. This was just the beginning of the mass murder of over 260,000 Chinese citizens. The Rape of Nanking is unknown to so many people, especially people outside of Asia. “The Rape of Nanking should be remembered not only for the number of people slaughtered but for the cruel manner in which many met their deaths.” (Chang) So many people like to pretend that cruel things like this have never happened and that their country would never commit acts of violence like this toward another group of people. So why do people pretend like things like this don’t happen?

In the case of the Japanese, the Rape of Nanking is completely erased from their history, and many people don’t know about it. Chang says that this is why her parents told her of the horrible events and reminded her to never forget. She says her parent’s spoke of Nanjing Datusha, which she says is unspeakable evil. The Japanese refer to the Rape of Nanking as the Nanking Incident, and while Chang claims that there is no information in Japanese textbooks, an interview with the Japanese Ambassador, Kunihiko claims that they do talk about the Incident in Japanese textbooks. (Masaaki)

Masaaki writes about how upset he is with Chang for bringing these incidents to light, and I believe it is mostly to keep good relations between the Japanese and the American’s, he even makes a statement that “this book has succeeded in engendering the hatred of Japan and the Japanese in the hearts of Americans, though a great majority of them neither knew about nor were interested in the hostilities that took place in Nanking.” (Masaaki) I feel like many people like to deny that their country, or their race could do anything so cruel to another group of people, but we have events like the Holocaust, which was also hidden from the world and the Rape of Nanking to prove to us that not everyone is as perfect as they want to seem.

Masakki, Tanaka. “What Really Happened in Nanking.” The Refutation of a Common Myth.

Chang, Iris. “The Rape of Nanking” The Forgotten Holocaust of World War II.