Nanjing Massacre
Why does the “Nanjing Massacre” remain such a contentious issue over seventy years on?
Introduction
The event at the origin of the contention
The rise of the contention over time: the massacre as an instrument to serve politics
The unsolved controversy on textbooks
Public opinion beyond control
Content of the contention
Conclusion
The Nanjing massacre during the winter of 1937-1938 has no parallel in either country’s history of external relations in terms of scale and brutality. China and Japan emerged traumatized in terms of human casualties, economic consequences, but also humiliation and nation pride. Nevertheless, for decades, the event was concealed and did not appear as a political issue in their post-war political and economic relations. The essay will tend to demonstrate why the history quarrel started in the 80’s and the role played by historical myths and nationalism. It will analyse why the textbook issue is crucial and how exacerbated anti-Japanese attitude among the public opinion developed. Finally we will examine the questions the two countries would have to address objectively, with no emotional and ethnocentric statements, to solve the problem of history.
The event at the origin of the contention
The ‘Nanjing Massacre’, also known as the ‘Rape of Nanjing’, is a six weeks rape and mass murdering that happened during the winter of 1937-38 in Nanjing, the former capital of the Republic of China during the Sino-Japanese war. According to the various sources, the Japanese imperial army killed between several thousand people to 300 000 Chinese civilians and unarmed soldiers and raped between 20, 000-80,000 women. The difficulty to evaluate the exact number is partly linked to the fact that information was released from the occupied city and transmitted mainly by the few foreigners living there; yet, the main cause lies in the definition of the massacre itself and the interpretation of the
Introduction
The event at the origin of the contention
The rise of the contention over time: the massacre as an instrument to serve politics
The unsolved controversy on textbooks
Public opinion beyond control
Content of the contention
Conclusion
The Nanjing massacre during the winter of 1937-1938 has no parallel in either country’s history of external relations in terms of scale and brutality. China and Japan emerged traumatized in terms of human casualties, economic consequences, but also humiliation and nation pride. Nevertheless, for decades, the event was concealed and did not appear as a political issue in their post-war political and economic relations. The essay will tend to demonstrate why the history quarrel started in the 80’s and the role played by historical myths and nationalism. It will analyse why the textbook issue is crucial and how exacerbated anti-Japanese attitude among the public opinion developed. Finally we will examine the questions the two countries would have to address objectively, with no emotional and ethnocentric statements, to solve the problem of history.
The event at the origin of the contention
The ‘Nanjing Massacre’, also known as the ‘Rape of Nanjing’, is a six weeks rape and mass murdering that happened during the winter of 1937-38 in Nanjing, the former capital of the Republic of China during the Sino-Japanese war. According to the various sources, the Japanese imperial army killed between several thousand people to 300 000 Chinese civilians and unarmed soldiers and raped between 20, 000-80,000 women. The difficulty to evaluate the exact number is partly linked to the fact that information was released from the occupied city and transmitted mainly by the few foreigners living there; yet, the main cause lies in the definition of the massacre itself and the interpretation of the
Bibliography: o www.cairn.info/revue-vingtieme-siecle-d-histoire-2007-2-page-11.htm • He Yinan, ‘History, Chinese Nationalism and the emerging Sino-Japanese conflict’, Journal of Contemporary China, 2007, 16(50), February, 1-24 • Yoshida Takashi, ‘The Nanjing Massacre. Changing Contours of History and Memory in Japan, China, and the U.S.’, 2006 o http://japanfocus.org/-Takashi-YOSHIDA/2297 • Weilu Tan, ‘The forgotten history: textbook controversy and sino-japanese relation’, 2009 o http://etd.library.pitt.edu/ETD/available/etd-05072009-211853/unrestricted/Tan_Weilu_BPhil.pdf • He Yinan, ‘National Mythmaking and the problem of history in Sino-Japanese relations, 2003 Websites: [1] http://www.princeton.edu/cwp/publications/HeJCCpublication.pdf Yinan He (2007) ‘History, Chinese Nationalism and the Emerging Sino-Japanese Conflict’ Journal of contemporary China (2007), 16(50), February, 1-24