Nanjing, Part 4: Memorial to a Massacre

Dear reader, please be sure to read part 1, part 2, and part 3 before continuing!

With the presidential palace fully explored, I caught a cab to the final attraction I wanted to see in Nanjing, "The Memorial to the Victims of the Nanjing Massacre" (南京大屠杀纪念馆). 

In the west, this event is often called 'The Rape of Nanking,' which was a 6-week long period of mass murder and rape of Chinese civilians by Japanese soldiers after the the Japanese army captured Nanjing on December 13, 1937. 

Estimates of the actual number of casualties vary anywhere from 20,000-300,000, and remains an extremely contentious political issue for Chinese-Japanese relations. The Chinese government insists that the number is 300,000, and you can see the number on countless walls throughout the memorial.

There was an extensive underground museum on the memorial grounds, which went into great detail about the massacre and the context surrounding it. The museum was divided into several sections, which included  sections about the 'imperialist powers' - which mostly meant Japan, individuals involved in the massacre, and even a section solely devoted to the still nasty issue of 'comfort women.' Taking photographs was not allowed in the museum, and there were guards all over the place to enforce that, so I had to clandestinely take photos where I could.

There were lots of little nooks and crannies throughout the museum devoted solely to single survivors, where a recorded interview about their experiences played on a constant loop - though only in Chinese and without any subtitles.

"Do not forget the experiences of the past, for they shall guide you in the future"

An interesting theme the museum kept up with was the need for 'peace' surrounding the whole idea of the massacre, and that people should take the massacre as a lesson to better both themselves and humanity. I found this rather ironic considering how often the Chinese government uses the Nanjing Massacre as a political tool in both domestic politics and in their relations with Japan.

The memorial did an outstanding job of enforcing a mood onto its visitors. In addition to the guards I mentioned above that stopped people from taking photos in the museum, there was also a constant 'funeral chorus' being pumped in through speakers that could be heard everywhere around the memorial, as well as signs all over the place that kept reminding you to be quiet and respectful.

Despite the heavy-handed - and often annoying - enforcing of mood, the entire memorial was remarkably well-done, and well worth the trip and the free-entrance cost.

Thoroughly explored out, I caught a cab to Nanjing South Station (南京南站), and was on my way back to Suzhou.

When I got back to the university, I ran into one of the university guards I'd befriended, and mentioned that I'd been touring Nanjing that day. As it turns out, Nanjing was his hometown, and he eagerly talked with me about the places I'd been on my extremely long - but extremely entertaining - day in Nanjing. 

Until next time!