Most of the people in the USAC program here are Americans, but there are two students from Spain and one from Japan. At dinner last night, the Japanese student told the rest of our group that he would not be coming with us on this trip because he was uncomfortable visiting the city where the Japanese army massacred 300,000 civilians in 1937. He was also fearful of being targeted for being Japanese since we needed our passports to check in at the hotel. Although I hold no animosity towards him or any of my Japanese friends, I can sympathize with the many Chinese who still resent the Japanese, especially those who experienced first hand the Japanese occupation of China. When I was in Wuhan with my grandmother, we watched a Chinese drama set in World War Two. The Japanese generals were all depicted extremely poorly, and my grandma called them huai ren, or bad people. She remembers when the Japanese occupied her neighborhood in Wuhan during her childhood. Unlike Germany, which has officially apologized and shown deep regret for its role in the Holocaust, the Japanese government has not offered any sort of apologies for invading China and the Nanjing Massacre. There is even a sect in Japan who refuses to believe the massacre even occurred. However, I do not think that the actions of those in the past should reflect poorly on a whole country. This trip will definitely be the most somber of those that we have taken, but I am interested in learning more about China's history.
We leave for our overnight trip to Nanjing tomorrow morning; it will take about 4 hours by bus. We will be visiting Dr. Sun Yat-Sen's mausoleum(中山陵) and climbing to the summit of Zijin Mountain (紫金山 ) tomorrow. Saturday, we will be visiting the Ancient City Wall in Nanjing (古城墙) and The Memorial Hall of the Victims of the Nanjing Massacre (南京大屠杀纪念馆). We will be back Saturday evening.
Most of the people in the USAC program here are Americans, but there are two students from Spain and one from Japan. At dinner last night, the Japanese student told the rest of our group that he would not be coming with us on this trip because he was uncomfortable visiting the city where the Japanese army massacred 300,000 civilians in 1937. He was also fearful of being targeted for being Japanese since we needed our passports to check in at the hotel. Although I hold no animosity towards him or any of my Japanese friends, I can sympathize with the many Chinese who still resent the Japanese, especially those who experienced first hand the Japanese occupation of China. When I was in Wuhan with my grandmother, we watched a Chinese drama set in World War Two. The Japanese generals were all depicted extremely poorly, and my grandma called them huai ren, or bad people. She remembers when the Japanese occupied her neighborhood in Wuhan during her childhood. Unlike Germany, which has officially apologized and shown deep regret for its role in the Holocaust, the Japanese government has not offered any sort of apologies for invading China and the Nanjing Massacre. There is even a sect in Japan who refuses to believe the massacre even occurred. However, I do not think that the actions of those in the past should reflect poorly on a whole country. This trip will definitely be the most somber of those that we have taken, but I am interested in learning more about China's history. Comments are closed.
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CHINA 2013
I am visiting China for 3 months this summer to visit relatives in Wuhan and study abroad at Shanghai University. Archives
August 2013
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