Our lived experiences, far from existing in a vacuum, are perceived according to our past and the context of our conditions. There is no present; there is simply the past, the promise of the future, and above all, a continuum of happenings shooting by us in a high-speed, infinite loop. We construct societies, and base our schools of thought, on the perception of our ancestors' legacies. In a less than completely accurate example, the American psyche has been molded by our forefathers' legacy of egalitarianism and freedom for all. What happens when you construct a legacy of suffering, when you paint a monument of colossal and irrevocable anguish?
That is what the Nanjing Massacre Museum does. It consolidates all the testimonies and evidence of the Nanjing Massacre, a six-week bloodbath, to leave an indelible mark on the mind of whoever walks through the museum, a mark that cannot easily be forgotten. That is how history is remembered, how legacies are created.
The main section of the Massacre Museum is a timeline of events from the First Opium War to the 21st century. This timeline recounts the story of China's colonial past, of yet another country brought under British imperial subjugation. It recounts the countless humiliations of China's downfall, from being one of the earliest and greatest civilizations of humankind, of the great dynasties' biggest advances, to the fall of the Qing and being used as a tool for British and Japanese imperialism. The bulk of the timeline focuses on 1937-1938, the year of the Massacre. The leading up to, and the aftermath, immediate and otherwise, are just as relevant.
In case you do not know about the Nanjing Massacre, I will try to explain it as succinctly as I can. It was a tragedy that occurred in the context of an ongoing conflict between Japan and China, the Second Sino-Japanese War. The Imperial Japanese Army occupied Nanjing, then the capital of China, in December of 1937, and proceeded to commit acts of mass terror among the civilian population. An estimated 200,000 Chinese civilians were killed in the six weeks of the Massacre.
The Museum was actually constructed at one of the execution and burial sites discovered in the aftermath of the Massacre. These sites were used by the Japanese Imperial Army to execute mass numbers of civilians and bury their corpses. This particular site became known as the The Mass Graves of 10,000 Corpses. Besides the display of the burial site, they also show artifacts from the time period, such as newspapers and army uniforms. However, the most powerful aspect of the museum was the personal testimonials. After the Massacre, various people in power (from both the PRC and Japan) tried to keep the extent of the atrocities under wraps. For a long time, few people outside of Nanjing had heard first-hand eye witness accounts of those six weeks. Once researchers started collecting stories, however, people could no longer deny the scale and validity of those experiences. These eyewitness accounts from people who lived through, and survived the Massacre to tell their tales, are truly haunting.
There was Minnie Vautrin, an American missionary living in Nanjing, who guarded thousands of local Chinese girls in Ginling College during the Massacre. There is a memorial to her in the Museum, including a statue, to commemorate her work. Apparently, she was so revered by the girls she saved, she was referred to by them as a 'Living Goddess.'
Minnie wrote about the Massacre in her journal:
That is what the Nanjing Massacre Museum does. It consolidates all the testimonies and evidence of the Nanjing Massacre, a six-week bloodbath, to leave an indelible mark on the mind of whoever walks through the museum, a mark that cannot easily be forgotten. That is how history is remembered, how legacies are created.
The main section of the Massacre Museum is a timeline of events from the First Opium War to the 21st century. This timeline recounts the story of China's colonial past, of yet another country brought under British imperial subjugation. It recounts the countless humiliations of China's downfall, from being one of the earliest and greatest civilizations of humankind, of the great dynasties' biggest advances, to the fall of the Qing and being used as a tool for British and Japanese imperialism. The bulk of the timeline focuses on 1937-1938, the year of the Massacre. The leading up to, and the aftermath, immediate and otherwise, are just as relevant.
In case you do not know about the Nanjing Massacre, I will try to explain it as succinctly as I can. It was a tragedy that occurred in the context of an ongoing conflict between Japan and China, the Second Sino-Japanese War. The Imperial Japanese Army occupied Nanjing, then the capital of China, in December of 1937, and proceeded to commit acts of mass terror among the civilian population. An estimated 200,000 Chinese civilians were killed in the six weeks of the Massacre.
The Museum was actually constructed at one of the execution and burial sites discovered in the aftermath of the Massacre. These sites were used by the Japanese Imperial Army to execute mass numbers of civilians and bury their corpses. This particular site became known as the The Mass Graves of 10,000 Corpses. Besides the display of the burial site, they also show artifacts from the time period, such as newspapers and army uniforms. However, the most powerful aspect of the museum was the personal testimonials. After the Massacre, various people in power (from both the PRC and Japan) tried to keep the extent of the atrocities under wraps. For a long time, few people outside of Nanjing had heard first-hand eye witness accounts of those six weeks. Once researchers started collecting stories, however, people could no longer deny the scale and validity of those experiences. These eyewitness accounts from people who lived through, and survived the Massacre to tell their tales, are truly haunting.
There was Minnie Vautrin, an American missionary living in Nanjing, who guarded thousands of local Chinese girls in Ginling College during the Massacre. There is a memorial to her in the Museum, including a statue, to commemorate her work. Apparently, she was so revered by the girls she saved, she was referred to by them as a 'Living Goddess.'
Minnie wrote about the Massacre in her journal:
"Oh, God, control the cruel beastliness of the soldiers in Nanking tonight, comfort the heartbroken mothers and fathers whose innocent sons have been shot today, and guard the young women and girls though the long agonizing hours of this night. Speed the day when wars shall be no more. When thy Kingdom will come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven."
"There probably is no crime that has not been committed in this city today. Thirty girls were taken from language school last night, and today I have heard scores of heartbreaking stories of girls who were taken from their homes last night—one of the girls was but 12 years old. Food, bedding and money have been taken from people. … I suspect every house in the city has been opened, again and yet again, and robbed. Tonight a truck passed in which there were eight or ten girls, and as it passed they called out "救命!救命! Jiuming! Jiuming!"—save our lives. The occasional shots that we hear out on the hills, or on the street, make us realize the sad fate of some man—very probably not a soldier."
Minnie Vautrin returned to the United States in 1940, suffering under severe stress from her experiences. After attempting suicide once (by sleeping pills), she killed herself by carbon monoxide poisoning.
The memory of the Massacre affected those who were not present as well. Iris Chang, an American born Chinese, grew up hearing hushed snippets about the Massacre from her parents. As a historian, she was surprised that people outside of the Nanjing/Chinese community were not aware of the atrocities that took place. She set out to expose them herself, and traveled around China to collect testimonials and conduct research for her book, 'The Rape of Nanking: The Forgotten Holocaust of WWII.' Her book was published in 1997, becoming an instant bestseller, and helped put into motion various initiatives that would bring the massacre international attention. Various witnesses were to say that researching and writing about the Massacre became an obsession for Chang, the end goal being bringing the Massacre the attention it deserved. On that end, her efforts were a success, but after hearing countless stories of trauma and suffering, it was little solace to both Chang and her colleagues. She became one of the most well-known historians in America. In 2004, she put a revolver in her mouth and committed suicide.
This is not to say that Vautrin's nor Chang's suicides were directly caused by the Nanjing Massacre. However, one cannot deny the indelible mark of such unforgettable atrocities, personally witnessed by Vautrin, and only imagined by Chang. The thought of 200,000 innocent civilians and unarmed soldiers being brutally murdered is just another testament to the fragility of the human conscience. What makes some people good, and what makes others monsters? Is it greed, power, or something else?
How do we, the descendants, deal with the legacy of our violent pasts, whether we're talking about the Massacre, the Holocaust, American slavery, or the past and ongoing genocide of indigenous peoples? For the People's Republic of China, the Massacre is being used as a testament to the resilience of their people, and a reminder of the country in its weakest state, under the physical and economic subjugation of various stronger powers. It is a legacy with a reminder, in the vein of the Cultural Revolution and the Tiananmen Square Protests of 1989. It is a much needed memorial to every single lost life, to every broken bone and every family torn apart. It is a torch lit aflame in the darkness, in the conundrum of daily life, to remind us of what cannot happen again. At the end of the timeline, there is a note, an epilogue to the chronicle:
The memory of the Massacre affected those who were not present as well. Iris Chang, an American born Chinese, grew up hearing hushed snippets about the Massacre from her parents. As a historian, she was surprised that people outside of the Nanjing/Chinese community were not aware of the atrocities that took place. She set out to expose them herself, and traveled around China to collect testimonials and conduct research for her book, 'The Rape of Nanking: The Forgotten Holocaust of WWII.' Her book was published in 1997, becoming an instant bestseller, and helped put into motion various initiatives that would bring the massacre international attention. Various witnesses were to say that researching and writing about the Massacre became an obsession for Chang, the end goal being bringing the Massacre the attention it deserved. On that end, her efforts were a success, but after hearing countless stories of trauma and suffering, it was little solace to both Chang and her colleagues. She became one of the most well-known historians in America. In 2004, she put a revolver in her mouth and committed suicide.
This is not to say that Vautrin's nor Chang's suicides were directly caused by the Nanjing Massacre. However, one cannot deny the indelible mark of such unforgettable atrocities, personally witnessed by Vautrin, and only imagined by Chang. The thought of 200,000 innocent civilians and unarmed soldiers being brutally murdered is just another testament to the fragility of the human conscience. What makes some people good, and what makes others monsters? Is it greed, power, or something else?
How do we, the descendants, deal with the legacy of our violent pasts, whether we're talking about the Massacre, the Holocaust, American slavery, or the past and ongoing genocide of indigenous peoples? For the People's Republic of China, the Massacre is being used as a testament to the resilience of their people, and a reminder of the country in its weakest state, under the physical and economic subjugation of various stronger powers. It is a legacy with a reminder, in the vein of the Cultural Revolution and the Tiananmen Square Protests of 1989. It is a much needed memorial to every single lost life, to every broken bone and every family torn apart. It is a torch lit aflame in the darkness, in the conundrum of daily life, to remind us of what cannot happen again. At the end of the timeline, there is a note, an epilogue to the chronicle: