To remember Nanjing Massacre is to promote global peace
By Zhong Sheng from People’s Daily
Photo taken on Dec. 13, 2017 shows the scene of state memorial ceremony for China’s National Memorial Day for Nanjing Massacre Victims at the memorial hall for the massacre victims in Nanjing, east China’s Jiangsu Province, Dec. 13, 2017. (Xinhua/Pang Xinglei)
Eighty years ago on Dec. 13, the Japanese invaded Nanjing and brutally murdered about 300,000 civilians and Chinese soldiers. Eighty years later on the 4th National Memorial Day, China mourned Nanjing Massacre victims and all those killed by Japanese invaders.
The Chinese people will never forget the Nanjing Massacre and will safeguard peace with people who love peace and justice in the world.
On Dec. 9, The Boston Globe published an article entitled “Saving Nanjing from the forces of forgetting” to commemorate the event. Eighty years have passed, and people in the world with justice are still remembering the victims in different ways.
In October, the legislature of Canada’s province of Ontario passed a motion recognizing Dec. 13 as “Nanjing Massacre Commemorative Day.”
In November, a library in San Diego, California held an event to discuss the Nanjing Massacre.
In Los Angeles, people offered flowers after a launch of Dr. Robert Wilson’s memorial tablet, to show respect for the US doctor who was the first to testify on the Nanjing Massacre during the Tokyo Trials.
Earlier this month, some 400 Japanese high school and university teachers proposed to write “Nanjing Massacre” and other phrases related to Japan’s war crimes in Nanjing into their textbooks.
Their efforts have shown that the Nanjing Massacre will never be forgotten.
However, in sharp contrast to the peace-loving efforts, Japan’s right-wing activists are still denying the existence of the Nanjing Massacre.
Some radical forces even fabricate “evidence” to whitewash the brutality of the country’s past and revise history textbooks to stop conscientious Japanese citizens from knowing the truth.
The APA Group, a Japanese hotel chain, came under fire earlier this year for offering books in its guest rooms that openly deny the slaughter in Nanjing.
The latest instance was after San Francisco accepted a memorial honoring “comfort women” in September, the mayor of Japan’s Osaka City announced an end to sister city ties with San Francisco.
Right-wing activities, including denying Japanese militarism atrocities, distorting history, whitewashing war crimes, confusing right and wrong, and attempting to revive militarism through constitutional revisions are against history and people’s conscientiousness.
These acts are intolerably ugly when the number of Nanjing Massacre survivors reduced to fewer than 100 globally.
History will never change along with the times and the facts will never disappear despite any denial. The more stubborn Japan’s right-wing forces become, the more vigilant people who love peace and justice will become.
In November, the organizer of an international disarmament conference in Geneva cancelled the speech of a Japanese representative.
In the same month, the UN Human Rights Council slammed Japan’s attitude on “comfort women.” On 218 recommendations on the country’s human rights record, the council urged Japan to respect history and pass it on to future generations.
The Nanjing Massacre has become a collective memory of all just people, and any right-wing force attempting to wipe it out from history will fail.
“Countless robberies, widespread rape of women and slaughter of civilians, the Japanese has turned Nanjing into a city of horror,” The New York Times wrote on Dec. 18, 1937.
In September, 2017 Nanjing became China’s first International City of Peace.
- Fred Arment, executive director of International Cities of Peace, said Nanjing is among the cities that felt the greatest pain in World War II. As an International City of Peace, Nanjing will present more of the Chinese people’s long-term love for and pursuit of peace.
From a city of horror to a city of peace, the change in Nanjing’s fate makes people more aware of the significance of peace. China, a country strong enough to let its people live a peaceful life, is determined to safeguard global peace.
With strong determination to protect peace in the world, China will always bear history in mind, honor all those who laid down their lives, cherish peace and open up the future.
