Throughout our primary education we learn about history starting in elementary school with native Americans and Christopher Columbus to the Revolution followed by the Civil War, World War 1, World War 2 and ending with Bush being elected. In Middle school we learn more details about war and then Vietnam and Korea. By the time we reach high school our state government dictates that we must learn world history going back as far as Mesopotamian through Obama’s Presidency , Virginia History and government. The facts that are taught to us is very skewed and most the information is from a European historians point of view. It is not till we get to college and take History classes that Professors are passionate that we read about other perspectives and the true gore details and other stories that our text books neglect to teach us. One very neglected piece of history which goes by several names is the Nanking Massacres and Rapes.
During World War 2 Japan invaded China and within weeks thousands of women were raped and thousands were dead. According to Iris Chang’s The Raping of Nanking in the introduction “the raping represented one of the worst instances of mass extermination. (page 5)” Not only were soldiers raping women but they forced fathers to rape daughters, sons raped mothers and families were forced to watch (page 6). Not only were rapes happening but people tongues were placed on hooks, people buried alive, and their bodies being torn apart by German shepherds. Li Xiuying case was brought to recover the honor of a Chinese woman who was stabbed nearly forty times by three Japanese soldiers during the atrocities. The time line on the page goes over ever year in which Japan soldiers reeked havoc such as ‘On December 13, marching west from Shanghai, Japanese forces entered Nanjing, the national capital city of China. So began the Japanese “Rape of Nanjing.” ‘ 200,000 to 300,000 civilians were killed over the invasion of China.
The are several reasons why this incident is nor taught. Anything dealing with sex is taboo not only in our country but in Japan and China. The US censors it because rape is a heavy subject and many people can not handle it. The pictures above are from the Global Alliance For Preserving the History of World War 2 in Asia page to tell the facts, unbiased. Chang stated it was because the “silence was politics” (page 11). Not only is that topic not taught about but many government officials stayed in power (Chang page 12). Kajiyama Seiroku an government official stated that the women were not slaves but willing to engage in prostitution (Chang 204). Other catastrophes have happened such as the Holocaust and Germany has legally stated that it must be taught in their history classes. That has not happened in Japan; until 1994 children were taught that Hirohitot’s army killed 20 million Allied soldiers and Asian civilians (Chang 205). General Matsui, a prisoner at Sugamo Prison in Toyjo charged with war crimes stated that he had never heard of the Nanking massacres which shows that people will keep the massacre quiet (Tanaka Masaaki What Really Happened in Nanking page 5). What is taught often is not correct or true such as “Six out of seven junior history textbooks available in 1997 stated that the Japanese military killed between 100,000 and 200,000 Chinese during and after the Battle of Nanjing.” People lie to make it appear as if things are not as devastating as it could be.
After learning about the killing and raping of Nanking one wonders where to go from there. What needs to happen is over the world people need to know about what happened. Not only should they know what happened but the students should know all the facts, the correct facts.
This is another example of the government dictating what is taught. In primary schools, we are forced to learn to pass the test given by the state to show we are educated enough to be productive in society. It is not until we are out of this system that we are free to learn as we please and learn that the world can be even more terrible than we want to believe. In Japan and China, most students and professors are still trapped in a state-sponsored box that prevents them from learning more about the world and how it truly is. This is why I believe that neither the people for and against the claims that the evil of Nanking happened can be fully backed by facts and until both sides agree to open up a true story will not be available and students will never get the full picture.
I think your post raises an interesting question in education: are there legitimate reasons for leaving some material out of children’s curriculum? Also, when is the age that some material becomes appropriate for children to leave about? It would be difficult to argue that 11 year old children should learn about mass rape in history class, but it seems like it would be equally problematic to graduate students from public school without a knowledge that horrific crimes occurred across theaters in WWII.