Under a mercury sky, the five-star red flag flames at average temperature. Hundreds of people dressed in darkness wait in perfect formation like an army of shadows. Among them are soldiers, police officers, students from prestigious schools and young pioneers with breadsticks in their hearts. They all wear a white flower clinging to their chest like an open, pale heirloom. Standing and silent, only a muscle moves while a voice repeats the instructions over the loudspeaker to ensure the “solemnity” of the “national commemoration ceremony”, which will be broadcast. The act is about to begin. The voice asks us to maintain “a recognized attitude, an appropriate attitude”; who applauded “after the speech of the leading comrades”, never before; who sings the national anthem “out loud”; which remained called for a minute in memory of the “victims of Nanking”.
It is Saturday, December 13 in the ancient capital of China. The cold is likely similar to that same day in 1937―exactly 88 years ago―when Imperial Japanese troops, under Commander General Matsui Iwane, entered Nanjing and began one of the most brutal episodes of the 20th century. For six weeks, Japanese soldiers massacred the defenseless civilian population, executed prisoners of war, raped women, and reduced the city to rubble. The estimates of those murdered were recorded in several languages on the black walls of the museum dedicated to the massacre, where the ceremony: “Victims: three thousand” is celebrated. Nanjing celebrates the massacre every December 13 so that it does not fall into oblivion.
The episode is also one of those legacies which continue to poison relations between Japan and China. The recent diplomatic rift between Beijing and Tokyo stems from these historical fears. Tensions between the two months escalated after Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi – an ultraconservative, nationalist and advocate of a Japan with a greater military buildup – suggested that an attempt by the Asian giant to block the takeover of Taiwan could imply “an existential threat” to her country, which would justify the deployment of the Japan Self-Defense Forces (the Japanese army).
The autonomous island, which China considers a rebel province, constitutes a red line for communist leaders. Beijing responded angrily, with measures of economic and cultural pressure, to what was added this week to the most dangerous military terrain. China has deployed maritime and air maneuvers in sensitive areas for Japan; The Chinese fighters flew alongside nuclear-capable Russian bombers, to which Japan responded by deploying its fighter jets alongside American planes also prepared for atomic war.
On Saturday, a day of mourning in China for the massacre, the state press censored the government’s behavior, saying: “As we deeply mourn the loss of our fallen compatriots, we must clearly recognize that the specter of Japanese militarism has not disappeared and that we are now showing dangerous signs of resurgence,” read an editorial in the nationalist newspaper. World Times, linked to the Chinese Communist Party. The text compares “the agony of Nanjing” to the massacre of Jews at Auschwitz.
The ceremony for the Chinese Holocaust begins at 10:00 a.m. with the crowd singing the national anthem. At 10:01 a.m. the minute of silence begins while the air raid sirens sound like a signal for a duel throughout the city. The coaches are also forced to stop and make their voices heard, the echo of which reaches the memorial like a complaint.
In 1937, this city which was home to several imperial dynasties was the capital of the Republic of China and the seat of the Nationalist government of Chiang Kai-shek. Japanese troops launched a first bombardment in August. In fact, sometimes it was a brief harassment. These were the first compasses of what is known in China as the Second Sino-Japanese War (some historians place its beginning in 1931), a conflict that intertwined with World War II and ended in August 1945, with the Japanese surrender.
Chinese suffocation in this conflagration is almost unimaginable and little known in the West: not only has Hollywood taken care of it, but several too conscious films have come out of China, such as City of life and death (2009). It killed some 35 million people during the war, according to calculations by Chinese academics.
In Nanjing, you can disappear into this tunnel of horror. The place where the commemorative act is celebrated every year is a museum that receives thousands of visits: the stairs descend, as if entering a crypt, and the surroundings become darker and darker. The dark galleries are filled with people holding white flowers in their hands. The panels gradually introduced the Japanese invasion; if you hear the sound of guns, planes and bombs; Leisure activities are crossed by a revamped corner of the city.
The epicenter of the museum is a mass grave. The remains of those executed have been partially unearthed. Views stop before views. “It’s real,” says a man who takes his brother away. What follows is a succession of disturbing photographs: victims burned, decapitated, buried alive, shot, skulls straightened, bodies and more bodies carried away like rags.
There’s a cluster of people in the “sexual atrocities” section, where elderly survivors recount how they were raped until the end and used as “femmes consuelo”, that euphemism with which the Japanese army called a refined slavery machine intended to satisfy the soldiers. In the city there is another museum specifically dedicated to the approximately 200,000 Chinese forced during the invasion; This other exhibition is very detailed: it presents examples of condolences used by the Japanese.
The massacre museum reserves a panel to criticize Japan which denies the scale of the massacre. It also reports the trial of the International Military Tribunal established in Tokyo in 1946 which convicted several Japanese officers for war crimes. Commander General Matsui Iwane was sentenced to death on the spot.
“Forgetting history is an act of betrayal, and denying a single crime will cause it to repeat itself,” says a sign at the end of the memorial. Another point is that the objective for which the commemorative act is celebrated every year is to remind that people “of good hearts” believe in peace: “We do not intend to prolong hatred. The cities of China and Japan must live in friendship”, he emphasizes.
Outside, a table serves coffee in vases reminiscent of the Chinese Victoria, with the title of a periodical printed at the time: “¡Japan se ha rendido!” “. Guo Yuzhen, a 29-year-old engineer, and Ren Chenji, a 22-year-old student, take photos of the containers they carry by hand. “This episode in history brings us an enormous and deeply painful cost, which is why we must remember it forever,” he said. He repeats a phrase that, as the saying goes, has become popular: “Compatriots, keep moving forward, without looking back; at the exit there is light, the warmth of daily life and a country in peace and prosperity. But I do not forget that along the way there are aggravations against the nation and the suffering of the people.” I believe that in Japan, we will certainly want to forget this “stain”. “We can’t do it in China.”
In recent years, Beijing has demanded greater recognition of its role on the Asian flank of the so-called “global anti-fascist war,” against the Japanese. Last September, we celebrated the 80th anniversary of “Victory in the Chinese Pueblo War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression” with a gigantic military parade. This type of closure took center stage after Xi Jinping came to power in 2012, as one of the biggest threats is the “historical nihilism” that has consumed the Soviet Union. In 2014, the president presided over the first memorial ceremony for the Nanjing Massacre. “Anyone who tries to deny the massacre will not be tolerated by history, the souls of 300,000 deceased victims, 1,300 million Chinese and all the people who love peace and justice in the world,” I said then.
“This atrocious crime against humanity is a historic event that cannot be erased,” Shi Taifeng, a member of the Politburo, one of the most powerful organs of the Communist Party, said on Saturday. The leader is responsible for delivering this year’s speech in Nanjing. He asserts that the cruelty of the Japanese aggressors “trampled underfoot the foundations of human civilization”, but awakened the spirit of struggle in the country. “The great victory of the Chinese people in the War of Resistance against Japan has also made an enormous contribution to safeguarding world peace.” He quotes Xi “We must strengthen historical awareness” and highlights the development of the Asian giant, which recalls one of the lessons learned: “We will be defeated if we fall behind.” Already a politically charged message: “Any attempt to revive militarism, to call into question the international order after the war and to undermine global peace and stability will never be accepted.” There is applause behind your words.
Luego, a choir made up of dozens of young people, recites a poem dedicated to peace: “The Japanese invaders ravaged the land / pillaging, burning and killing / corpses covered the fields / blood stained the Yangtze”. The act ends with a cluster of hundreds of palm trees lost in the northern sky of Nanjing.
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