China Slow to React to Japanese Nanjing Movie
If the Chinese Government is angry or displeased with the Japanese film being released this year called ‘The Truth about Nanjing”, then they are hiding it very well. This morning I read in Kyodo News and on Japan Today that the Chinese Foreign Ministry released a statement saying that there was plenty of evidence of the massacre and that this view of history was supported by the international community.
As I am sure you are aware by now, the Chinese people claim that in 1937 Japanese soldiers invaded the then capital of China Nanjing and killed as many as 300,000 civilians.Unfortunately, the Chinese Government is not exactly a reliable source of truth and there are many people, including me, who believe Chinese released figures have been greatly exaggerated.
I think it was last week that Japanese film director Satoru Mizushima along with the support of lawmakers and academics announced that was going to produce the above-mentioned film to as he says, “Correct the errors of history”.
The problem with this is that it is a well-known fact that Satoru-san subscribes to a right-wing view of politics and history. So instead of getting a film that will show both sides of the issue, I fear we’re about to get yet another helping of minimized numbers and historical amnesia.
I really wish the world could put politics aside and focus on the facts of the past. It is true that Japanese soldiers invaded and took the capital. And in wartime, it’s also true that people die. By accident or otherwise, war always affects the civilians the most so it can be no surprise that people died.
Just googling Nanking will reveal a host of horrible images of murder and depravity. But what those images are missing is a very important caption. Is that a civilian being decapitated? If so why? Oh because he shot two Japanese soldiers while they were putting bags of rice onto a cart to feed the hungry? Gotcha… War Time retribution I suppose.
But having said the above statement, it must be clear that there can be no doubt the Japanese soldiers committed in some degree murderous and terrible acts against the people of a fallen city.
But a massacre, a holocaust as some say, is very different entity all together. So for once can we set aside our political difference and work together to find the truth? Unlikely.
Unlikely because it is quite clear that both sides do not want the truth of it to be clear. They have far too much to loose. And that’s a very sad statement indeed.
hi zakiah
FRCKN GAY
What exactly do you mean by “slow to react”? The article you linked is dated January 26th, which is the day after “The Truth About Nanking” documentary made it into the international press. Seems like a speedy reaction to me.
February 1st, 2007 at 12:37 pmBy slow to react I mean they really aren’t reacting. They’ve put out a rather bland statement that has no direction about how indestructable their evidence is. Same reaction as always…
But wait for it, some minister somewhere in the government in a few days will use this as a anti-japan statement to prove a point and then the whole thing will explode in China … Waaaiiit for it…..
February 1st, 2007 at 1:17 pmHmm, I don’t know. There is this ‘joint history study’ thing they’ve got going on. I haven’t researched how significant or influential the “20 experts” are, but I think both Hu and Abe have staked quite a bit in this.
February 1st, 2007 at 1:47 pmAnd bearing in mind we won’t get to hear anything until the end of 2008, it would look like a lot of time and expense wasted if they came out of it without anything significant to say, particularly on this matter.
“By slow to react I mean they really aren’t reacting. They’ve put out a rather bland statement that has no direction about how indestructable their evidence is. Same reaction as always…”
I think it is rather more likely that you didnt know about the statement, since you initially wrote this –
“If the Chinese Government is angry or displeased with the Japanese film being released this year called ‘The Truth about Nanjing”, then they are hiding it very well.”
It is OK to admit when you have messed up. Human beings are known do to it.
February 1st, 2007 at 2:07 pmI think more recent research has put the figure of those killed at Nanjing to be closer to 40,000. The brutality however is not being contested.
February 1st, 2007 at 2:10 pm[...] Alexpappas from Japundit blogs about the history debate over the new Japanese movie “The Truth about Nanjing”. Oiwan Lam [...]
February 1st, 2007 at 5:08 pmI read the Iris Cheng book on the subject and was quite disturbed by the atrocities described. Cheng contests that what the Japanese did in Nanjing was one small piece of what was happening all over occupied China. She comes to the conclusion that the atrocities committed were worse than what the Nazis did.
February 1st, 2007 at 6:54 pmBe that as it may, I have found it difficult to find any other sources on the subject. I find it hard to believe there isnt more official literature out there, even if Japan wasnt ‘under the microscope’ like Germany was at the end of WW2.
Maybe the Chinese government is doing the smart thing – not jumping up and down and screaming blue-murder, which is what many backers of the film will want to see.
Extremists (when engaged in legal & peaceful activities like this) are at their least threatening when they’re ignored and marginalised – they’re at their most dangerous when people start making a fuss over them.
February 1st, 2007 at 11:22 pmJust because China says something, doesn’t mean it ain’t so. Outside of Japanese Nationalist circles the Rape of Nanking is widely acknowledged as one of the worst atrocities of the 20th Century – a century not short of its share of atrocities. Your attempt to find some sort of moral equivalence beteween the Japanese troops and the Nanjing inhabitants does you no credit….
“It is true that Japanese soldiers invaded and took the capital. And in wartime, it’s also true that people die. By accident or otherwise, war always affects the civilians the most so it can be no surprise that people died.
Just googling Nanking will reveal a host of horrible images of murder and depravity. But what those images are missing is a very important caption. Is that a civilian being decapitated? If so why? Oh because he shot two Japanese soldiers while they were putting bags of rice onto a cart to feed the hungry? Gotcha… War Time retribution I suppose.”
That’s like saying, yeah the Germans killed a load of Jews, but hey it was wartime. There’s two sides to every story. And those pictures of Jews being loaded onto trains? We’re missing the captions. Maybe they were trying to save them from the horrible ghettos where they were living, give them a new start in the Polish countryside.
February 1st, 2007 at 11:49 pmI disagree totally.
That’s like saying, yeah the Germans killed a load of Jews, but hey it was wartime. There’s two sides to every story. And those pictures of Jews being loaded onto trains?
Sadly, war kills a lot of innocent people. I would simply point to the American bombings of Nagasaki and Hiroshima to make that point. The problem with the rape of nanking is that it is impossible to know what really happened because both parties involved have completely mishandled and distorted the facts. The Chinese and Japanese governments are both guilty of this. You’ve probably seen the same 100 photo’s that we’ve all seen. And as terrible as they are, that doesn’t prove a mass murder of 300,000 civilians.
I read Iris Chang’s book. And although some say its historically flawed, I think its quite well researched. But I keep seeing the same pictures and the same documents of evidence again and again. And frankly, I’m not sure I believe much of it anymore. But I don’t doubt for an instant that a massacre happened in one way or another.
In the case of the Jewish holocausts, the Americans did exactly the right thing. They brought people in and showed them the mess exactly as they found it. They showed it to the world in all its horrible detail.
The Communist Chinese Government for its part was so busy crushing Chiang Kai-shek and trying to be clever with what it showed and what it didn’t that it enabled the Japanese to come up with a litmus of stories that have stuck in some peoples mind to this day.
February 2nd, 2007 at 12:02 amThis guy’s a complete nobody and there’s no way his movie is going to be seen by anybody who doesn’t go to great trouble to seek it out. Well, unless this issue gets so overhyped that his camp can provoke a reaction by claim censorship (when it’s really just lack of a market).
February 2nd, 2007 at 12:05 amI also share Mick H’s disgust at some of the attitudes shown here.
“Unfortunately, the Chinese Government is not exactly a reliable source of truth and there are many people, including me, who believe Chinese released figures have been greatly exaggerated.”
Alex, are you kidding me? Don’t you know anybody from Indonesia or the Philippines? Even if Nanjing massacre was “exaggerated”, how do you explain the horrific stories coming out of the rest of Southeast Asia, which are synonymous with the Nanjing stories? My friend’s grandfather was buried alive by the Japanese in Indonesia.
If you have Chinese friends, why not ask them what their grandparents went through? They’ll have lots of stories, I promise you. And these were firsthand accounts by their grandparents, not some political propaganda coming from the Chinese government.
This is in no way a personal attack–I feel the need to bring this up because certain Western Japanophiles really hate to admit Japan committed genocide during WWII. I don’t know why it’s so hard to admit. Most of these Japan apologists are white–which astounds me. If you were Japanese, I could understand a personal investment in denial. But it makes no sense to me why you would do it if you were an expat.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Rape_of_Nanking_%28book%29
February 2nd, 2007 at 4:29 amVin, please don’t misunderstand!! I am not denying this AT ALL. I’ve mentioned it above that I do not deny this happened! I want to make that very clear.
South Asia and Philippines as well… I don’t deny any of it and have no reason to at all! Please let me make that clear.
February 2nd, 2007 at 5:23 amAll I am asking for is for real proof from the Chinese and the Japanese Governments so we can get a REAL and conclusive evidence to a civilian body count of what happened in the Rape of Nanking.
I don’t trust Chinese Government figures and I don’t trust the Japanese ones either. I am not an apologist for the Japanese. I think frankly both countries are incompetent when it comes to telling a real story of what happened. And with films like the one mentioned in the above its just going to get worse and worse.
I’m simply asking for real evidence from both sides instead of this stupid He Said – She Said thing so we can all have a CLEAR idea as to what the truth of that whole debacle is.
“I feel the need to bring this up because certain Western Japanophiles really hate to admit Japan committed genocide during WWII.”
This is a misrepresentation if I’ve ever seen one. You China apologists love your strawmen.
February 2nd, 2007 at 6:12 amIf you haven’t, please check out this documentary The Emperor’s Naked Army Marches On(1987): http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0092963/
February 2nd, 2007 at 6:49 amwhere Japanese ex-WWII soldeiers talked about the atrocities and war crimesdone in WWII, including Nanking, in their own words.
you can also read about it here:
February 2nd, 2007 at 6:52 amhttp://www.villagevoice.com/film/0705,halter,75685,20.html
Thanks for the link Melody! I’ll check it out !
February 2nd, 2007 at 7:28 amIris Chang’s book is notoriously bad history. She had an ax to grind and she ground it. Her main source is a conspiracy theory book. There are now plenty of well researched books and articles on the massacre by credible experts and scholars. If you take her spin and cut it in half, you’ll be closer to good history. An atrocity and war crime? Yes. An Asian Holocaust? No.
February 2nd, 2007 at 9:49 am“And in wartime, it’s also true that people die. By accident or otherwise, war always affects the civilians the most so it can be no surprise that people died.”
I’m concerned with this kind of language; your statement sounds remarkably happy-go-lucky to me. We have to be careful to acknowledge responsibility for the death of civilians in wartime. The people of Nanking did not simply “die” they were the victims of a brutal and unjust war perpetrated by the Japanese government. And I also believe it was undoubtedly a massacre, whether the number was 40,000 or 300,000, according to the following definition: “the unnecessary, indiscriminate killing of a large number of human beings or animals, as in barbarous warfare or persecution or for revenge or plunder.”
February 2nd, 2007 at 11:14 amWell stated. I could have worded my statements better no doubt. Thanks for pointing it out. I’ll refine my language a bit better in the future.
February 2nd, 2007 at 11:17 am[...] China Slow to React to Japanese Nanjing Movie “If the Chinese Government is angry or displeased with the Japanese film being released this year called The Truth about Nanjing , then they are hiding it very well. … [D]irector Satoru Mizushima … announced that was going to produce the … film to as he says, ‘Correct the errors of history’.” [...]
February 2nd, 2007 at 9:32 pmYou can always check out the Documentary ‘Japanese Devils’(Riben Guizi):
http://www.midnighteye.com/reviews/japdevil.shtml
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0286923/
It’s a documentary. Just the straight recollections of ex solders and officers who were in China during WWII.
‘I don’t recall seeing such a documentary on Nazi war criminals’
February 7th, 2007 at 7:40 amAll I am asking for is for real proof from the Chinese
We don’t need proof. We are Chinese. We are exempt from proof, didn’t you realize that? Basically, to us Chinese, everything that that Chinese do or what is taught in China is absolutely true and no one better challenge that. For example, we Chinese are genetically superior to all other Asians and Japanese are the worst people in the world. It’s a proven fact. However, if you ask us for proof, we will not give you any because we do not need to. Just the fact that we are Chinese is enough to prove that it is true.
On the other hand, if any news comes out of Japan, it is without a doubt a lie. That is what we learn in our Chiense schools and as you know, China is always right and Japan is wrong.
This is the Chinese way of thinking. Thank you.
February 7th, 2007 at 1:07 pmFirst , I am chinese ,no doubt
February 12th, 2007 at 1:34 pmi knew there is a Documentary Naking ,so I came to http://www.aol.com and searched some informations about this ,occassionally i came here and saw some comments ,i think i have to say something about the rape of Na Jing(actually Naking’s pronunciation is Na Jing)
As my poor history about WW2,i knew Japan troop invaded Nan Jing city at 1937,12,13(so now, every year 13th Dec,air alarm will be hold for several minutes and for memory in Nan Jing city) and killed MORE THEN 300,000 citizen and soldier without weapon and for 6 weeks,and atrocities Japanese soldier crmmited that every conscionable chinese cant forget,and till today ,there are some people in Japan can not face the history and some dominion problems.So that is the reason chinese can not forgive Japan.
i dont want to comment alexpappas’s attitude,but i believe there are some misunderstanding between you and china. but i hope you can come to china someday,come to Nan jing so you can get the first hand informatins about that massacre.and i not sure chonko is a chinese or not ,but i want to say you are disgraceful!
i can give you all a websit but it is chinese ,sorry, you can get a lot of object infromations from there.
http://neverforget.sina.com.cn/
thank!
Croco, the problem is that, being in China, you do not have easy access to information that contradicts what your government is saying. A site called “neverforget” is obviously not going to provide objective information. Maybe you should come to the West some day, and spend your time getting the information that is blocked on Chinese servers.
In fact, many more comments like this, and Japundit may be blocked.
February 12th, 2007 at 8:45 pmghoti,i gree with you about you are not so easy cant get some sensitive information from china tradition media.but except the rape of Nan king,because the rape of Nan king is a truth everyone knows in the world.and you know china become more and more open today. you can get a lot informations from a lot of methods ,for exmaple,internet.and you can get any informations if you want,actually i have worked for a German company now ,and have some real good german friends ,we talked anything including WW2,and actually in west the people knows really a little about that massacre japensed soldiers did.so i think communication is really important just like this.
February 13th, 2007 at 12:32 amthe website i gave you, i am thinking about this ,it is not so objective ,there are some emotion in it,but i want to tell you, all of the materal are real.
and i konw japanese will take a movie the truth of nan king,i dont think in germany someone will take a movie and say the truth of Auschwitz Concentration Camp.so i think chinese’s angry is reasonable
Here’s the casting call for “The Truth about Nanking”:
http://www.angryasianman.com/angry.html (for 06-25-07).
So… the filming will be in San Jose and the stars are gonna be caucasian and the plot sounds like it’s a US documentary being made about… .
Oi.
June 26th, 2007 at 11:22 pmwell, it seems like u kept saying the truth can only be found out when politics are put aside. But have you ever try to hear the real chinese cilivans’ stories who suffered thru. those cruel times. Ok, maybe u r questioning these stories aren’t quite all true because they were released thru. chinese media so u will likely assume they are under goverment control. I can tell u this, maybe PRC can control the figure, speech and all sorts of other things u tried to add on ..there is one thing that it cann’t possibly control, the heart of millions of Chinese people during the time. How they lost their love ones, their angers and hatres. I don’t think any people could just simply act those feelings. plus there are more than hundreds of stories were told in the media worldwide including foreigners.
July 11th, 2007 at 3:57 pmTo this point u probably think i am questioning your understanding of history and denying the massacre. u know what, i really do think in this article u r denying the whole thing about rape of nanjing!
first of all, you said “in wartime, it’s also true that people die. By accident or otherwise, war always affects the civilians the most so it can be no surprise that people died.” Let me tell you that WAR itself is NOT an accident so does “the accidents happened within the war”! The most horrible thing can happen to humanity is try to forcely take over another country in conspiracy.
second, it sounds to u that 300,000 is a misleading number and the rape of Nanjing is just simple a massacre like many of other ocurred in WW2. u know that 300,000 was calculated on accessable sources and it’s the most preserved figure. If to let what japanese so-called trust agency and i bet it’s going to be one of Americans’ research, the figure would come out way more. I won’t be surprised if it is to be doubled. And let me ask u this..What seems to be a RIGHT numberd of dieing people for ur understanding to be enough to be called a HOLOCAUST!!!
And Third, u said u just googling Rape of Nanjing images, and i really don’t think u can use that as your excuse. The TRUE stories behind these photoes is not one thing u can joke about. Go WATCH 40min video of Rape of Nanjing instead if u got time search google images!
Last but not least u know want to know why chinese officals react SLOWLY because they don’t want tension diplomacy relationship with Japan in Today’s such ecomonic trading based world. Like i said u totally forget to mention chinese civilian, if the movie was put on online view for ordinary chineses to react I bet my life it’s going to recieve at least 1000 replies per day if not more.
At very last, u want to know why cann’t chineses move on with this history even though it’s almost been a century. It is because there is NOT A SINGLE Japanese offical ever said “Sorry” to chinese people after WW2. NOT a simply APOLOGY! Furthermore, japanese govermeners kept WW2 crimials in their highly praised temple and pray them at least twice a year. It only hurts people to suffer more. Not only chinese but all other asian people whose land was invaded by Japanese.
Now i can tell u “Yes, I am a CHINESE”, as for us now it doesn’t matter how big the figure and how brutal the things were, the TRUTH is that Japan did INVADE and KILL chinese people all over China 70 yrs ago, all we want is an APOLOGY, not form some returning soldiers but Japan as a country need to commit that it did a horrible thing to the world in which China suffered the most.
p.s. i’m pretty sure Alex u r a japanese (correct me if i’m wrong) may i ask u one last question, when u eagerly trying recommend a way to find out the “REAL TRUTH” of Rape of Nanjing have u been consider the people who got stabbed to death, raped to death and buried alive to death? Does figure really that important? Are all these just simply an ACCIDENT???
As a REAL chinese, i can totally tell that “chonko” guy is a fake one.
July 11th, 2007 at 4:13 pma chinese will never name himself/herself “chonko” if chineses were so much hating japanese like “chonko” said in his/her comment!
by the way, nowadays the new generation is very open minded. we buy japanese cars, read japanese mangas and into johnny’s juniors. we just don’t like how Japanese goverment tries to deny the history and misleading their new generation.
fly_away, Please Read my COMMENT #7.
http://japundit.com/archives/2007/06/26/6342/
Behind “the history recognition” problem there is existing gap of democratic maturity in many Asian countries in contrast with Japan. Even Japan is facing many problems today, this society is more mature in culture and scholarship compared with most other Asian countries.
In China as well as in Korea, people have been taught again and again what evils Japan and Japanese military had done before August 1945. For them Japan is a destiny enemy. If some Japanese right-wing politicians behave ethnocentric, insist some positive opinion about Japanese imperialism or deny wartime wrong doings like “Rape of Nanking” or “Comfort Women” case, then Chinese and Koreans will be so convinced as if they are 100% right and Japanese are 100% wrong.
Of course they know today’s Japan is not the same as old-time imperial. But every time something inconvenient occurs, they tend to be easily upset about Japan. They have certain prejudices against Japanese people who are now not that evil like some 65 yeas ago.
I am pretty critical about Japan’s wartime crimes and modern-history education and so on. But at the same time I cannot completely contradict that Chinese or Koreans are so small minded or mentally twisted against Japanese. It’s unfortunate enough and embarrassing for Japan.
July 11th, 2007 at 5:05 pmso to TofuUnion…it is easy for u to just simply say that chineses and koreans should move on with history. And why is everybody here keeping saying chinese and koreans are so narrow minded?! u know china is probably one of the largest export country to Japan. If chinese were THAT all against Japan I sure don’t think they want any asscoiation of Japan in their life. Japanese elders probably feel the same way toward Americans who competely wiped out their land. Those memories are hard to move on with except Americans DID apologize for what they did. Furthermore, We tried to move on and we DID…in a very harsh way, in the way that people who gave us pain now only cares about their embarrassment and unfortunate because we are not forgiving. When Japan offical ever said “sorry” how do u propose chinese or koreans to forgive.
July 12th, 2007 at 1:50 amIn the meantime, when japanese media keep blaming how chinese goverment limited peoples’ thoughts. There are over a billion chinese, 1/4 of world’s population. And they all don’t know how to think? ya, u just think chinese are plain stupid.
Well, we are trying to not narrow minded, fly_away. Japan had been(and will be) helping China(and Korea) economically and technologically in post war era, despite they hadn’t been that thankful. Besides, most Japanese are feeling sorry for having been invaded China.(Killed more than 10 millions).
For me(and many), it doesn’t look desirable for Chinese(and Koreans) themselves that they keep bashing Japan, especially when they have domestic political issues. I know there are more than 15 thousands riots a year in China for hundreds of unjust reasons. And they have their own history revisionists trying to rewrite their modern history.(Examples: Cultural revolution or 天安門事件 in China, 光州事件 in South Korea, and so on). Why don’t you try progressing in democracy in your own society. That is exactly what the world is blaming for China.
Take a look at relation between Taiwan and Japan. Taiwanese aren’t twisted at all against Japanese, even Taiwan had been Japanese a colony for so many years. They are more liberated people. And I don’t expect you wouldn’t insist they are not Chinese people, would you ?
July 12th, 2007 at 7:56 amwell, i’m not trying to be unkind here. i just don’t like how some japanese officals kept denying the history and blame us or PRC exaggerating the figure. They never tried to see what happened in WW2 was wrong. We are not trying to against some culture here. We just want to tell our kids remember the history and learn from it. And I doubt about how much new japanese generation even knows about what happened to China in WW2. What they got to remember were the date Japan attacked pearl harbor and the date japanese surroundered. How many of them really know 7.7 is the date japanese troop began to invade china, all they probably know is 7.7 just a lunar lovers’ day.
July 12th, 2007 at 12:29 pmBesides, I don’t think Taiwanese were so much generous to Japan than people in mainland China. I have some Taiwanese friends and met many elders who competely despite Japanese culture. Furthermore, the way that u compare chinese governing issues including Taiwan problem, Tian’anmen square event and riots in modern china with Rape of Nanjing is far more unreasonable. Yes, PRC is not such a great perfect goverment. But to control over 1 billion cilivans I believe now PRC is the most stable and safe power. There is no such government in world without riots and problems. It also gives me a feeling u try to turn the focus here. Don’t u think what japan did was wrong and don’t the chinese people and many others who still alive from WW2 at least deserve an apology?
I keep saying the main reason for the anger of chinese or korean is because they never recieved an offical apology from Japan. With many still try to competely denying what happend don’t they have a right to be angry?
At last, my very personal understanding is if Japan keeps trying to prove “THE TRUTH” they think is right, it only slow down the healing progress and limit its own good.
fly_away: Actually, some kinds of official apologies from Japan are done dozens of times. But they had never been eventually accepted as apology. Why ? Seemingly, there is still a psychological obstacle in Japan which makes elder generation hard to accept WW2 in Asia was Japanese crimes. I personally regard this psycho problem as symbolically “Emperor System”. This is the same as Yasukuni Shrine issue. Though does it really matter ? Please read COMMENT #7, #8, #9, #10.
http://japundit.com/archives/2007/07/06/6416/
Maybe Mr. Overthinker is right. I’m none of the experts in this field and don’t want to get into it too much. Anyway we wish Chinese(and Korean) people to understand that it’s more Japanese domestic problem rather than bilateral(international) issue. Or, if you want we could establish “The China – Japan wartime history recognition conference”.
And what more important to understand is that the wartime victims are equally miserable whether it’s in Dresden, 重慶 or Hiroshima(Those victims were mostly civilians by indiscriminate mass bombings). The evil isn’t certain nationality nor ordinary citizens, but vicious militarism. This idea had been the one after WW2 for a while being maintained by former PRC. But after a certain time point thing has changed (also in Korea), when so called “patriotic education”policy has started in both countries.
“There is no such government in the world without riots and …” ??? Well, where do you live ? If you are living in mainland China you couldn’t understand Chinese people have a Communists Traumatic psycho problem, that hinders reform and democratization. As China has huge population, any problem there could become global issue, which isn’t someone else’s fault, but China’s.
July 12th, 2007 at 5:44 pmIf we want to consider the issue on “control” (a very suggestive word in itself, of course) over a billion people, we can always compare China and India.
The issue won’t go away as long as people on both sides can make political capital out of it: China plays the victim card, Japan plays the unfairly-harassed card. More people need to realise that this type of political hatred is just that: political. Sure, there are a lot of old Chinese and Koreans and so forth who have personal reasons to hate, but it should only be if it truly IS personal. And even then it would be good to direct it only at the persons or organisations responsible (and no, “Japan” is not an organisation).
I think we should also note that to a limited extent the Chinese did get their revenge on the Japanese. After the Soviets invaded and Japan began vacating Manchuria, many many civilians indeed were killed by Chinese as they tried to flee. Japan and the Japanese didn’t get off entirely scott-free.
July 12th, 2007 at 10:04 pmFirst, there’s no alternative interpretation on fact and especially by the nation who commit it. It will be OJ Simpson making his own movie about the fact.
Second, there were no seven samurai in this event. There were only an Asian military made the holocaust with guns. They only pull out their swords when victim is defenseless. The intention in using the analogy of samurai is trying to inject false influence that these men might be noble.
I believe younger generation in Japan is not responsible for war debt, but as a country should be have the heart to acknowledge the mistakes. With due respect.
October 30th, 2008 at 1:39 pmJapan and China are a couple of neighbors never friendly to each other. why? because japan feels afraid of a strong china, jealous with its massive of everything. china, the country used to be japan’s teacher, was beaten by his student humiliatingly in history. let’s presume china government is a government full of lies, and it is understandable that china would lie for the number of death directly caused by china government like the affair in 1989; however, why would china lie for the death number of a massacre which is seen as a huge national disgrace to itself?! logically speaking, the number released by china is more likely to be believed as the truth.
you don’t trust the figures from both china and japan? whose else figure can be convincing to you? as the murder of Rape of Nanking, japan is so eligible to get the most precise features, because his soliders were playing the killer’s game and counting for it. china as the victim of Rape of Nanking, had released enough historical photos/docs/etc to prove the correctness of 300k+ death. are you expecting a photo with caption for every death out of 300k+?
i know some japanese know what is the truth in heart, but they just don’t want to face it. maybe you are one of them? sometimes, it is meaningless to accommodate the need of a blind person in order for him to “see” the evidence!
April 26th, 2009 at 3:30 pmits smart to divert attention to numerical detail rather than the gruesome brutality and cruelty that led to the exaggeration of numerical data
April 29th, 2009 at 2:57 amWhat the Japanese Imperialists did in Asia in general and China in particular, was abhorrent. Whether they are responsible for the genocide of 10,000 people or 300,000 people, it remains genocide. However it happened 70 years ago and today Japan is one of the more civilized and democratic societies in the world, with an advance welfare state that is also the World’s largest donor of aid to the developing world.
May 15th, 2009 at 2:36 amChina on the other hand remains one of the most totalitarian and unjust societies in the world where even the parents of the victims of last year’s earthquake are prevented from publically mourning their deaths because it might embaress the government, where a so-called socialist state does not even have socialized/free medicine for its impoverished masses, where millions of people have been disposessed by corrupt government officials because “economic development”.
Marx said that “religion is the opium of the people”. In China, Japan bashing is the opium of the people. Better that these literate and intelligent Chinese intellectuals concentrate on the present many injustices taking place in China rather than harping on what happened 70 years ago.
go straight to hell.
May 25th, 2009 at 10:42 amThats what you call an intlligent and well reasoned response from someone who is not brainwashed.
May 27th, 2009 at 11:23 pmI want to wish all of our Chinese friends my deepest condolences on the commemoration of the massacre at Tiananmen Square 20 years ago when the benevolant People’s Army and Government brutally snuffed out the nascent democracy movement. While much economic progress has been made since then in China, thee is no doubt that had that movement been successfull and the present corrupt cryptofascit regime replaced, China would be a better, happier place, taking on its new mantle of power in a far more responsible and democratic way.
June 4th, 2009 at 10:55 pmLets hope that the people of China eventually prevail…
Im sickened at the mere audacity they have to produce a film to in some way “???justify???” the Nanking massacre. Its like trying to say the Holocaust wasnt “that bad”. Its even harder to accept the fact that the youth of Asia are becoming ignorant of these things that happened so close to out generation. And dont even say that a massacre is not the same as a holocaust. Is it not taking a life? This statement is not meant to spread hate against Japan, I just want to say that creating a film to deny a world wide known event is simply bull.
We started as close nations, sharing and learning. Contempt came in and spread its disease throughout our people.
July 5th, 2009 at 12:20 pmNo matter what it is said, every movie is subjective. The massacre was a real event, though, and to see one side of the story should be interesting.
September 23rd, 2009 at 5:53 am