Nanjing is a city that I have wanted to visit since I first started studying China. It's a city that has served as the capital for multiple Chinese empires; some of the first Asian sites of human habitation were located in Nanjing. When the last dynasty was overthrown by the Xinhai Revolution in 1911, the newborn Republic of China chose Nanjing as the capital. The mausoleum of Sun Yatsen, the Republic's first president, is located just outside the city limits, along with the mausoleum of a Ming emperor (which says a lot about how revered Sun Yatsen is by the Chinese people).
I visited these mausoleums with two hostel mates. One was a Korean working in Shanghai, and the other was a Shanghai native. Exploring with the Shanghai native, we two foreigners got a great history lesson about Sun Yatsen and the Ming Emperor. Visiting the mausoleums took an entire day; the next day, the Shanghai native and I explored the Nationalist Government's offices and the Yuhuatai Memorial to the Revolutionary Martyrs. It wasn't really clear whether the Martyrs were from the Communist Revolution or the Xinhai Revolution. Either way, it made for a great walk!
Nanjing was also the site of modern China's greatest tragedy--the 1937 Nanjing Massacre. During the 2nd Sino-Japanese War, Japanese troops invaded then-capital Nanjing. The Nationalist government of Chiang Kai-shek had already relocated, but a few thousand untrained Chinese soldiers were left behind to defend the the city "to the last man standing". As the Japanese approached Nanjing, defeated Chinese troops from previous battles fled through Nanjing. Those soldiers left to defend Nanjing were soon fleeing themselves. On December 10th Japanese troops invaded the city. The only "safe" area was the International Safety Zone set up by 15 foreigners who refused to flee on their own, and even that walled section was periodically invaded by Japanese soldiers.
Before Nanjing, the Japanese were already known for their brutality towards the Chinese; however, the atrocities are said to have reached a new level in Nanjing. According to a contemporary news report by an imbedded Japanese journalist, two Japanese officers engaged in a race to behead 100 Chinese before the battle reached Nanjing. The contest was viewed as a sport, and the newspaper headline read, "Incredible Record [in the Contest to] Behead 100 People--Mukai 106 - 105 Noda--Both Lieutenants Go Into Extra Innings". Inside Nanjing, Japanese soldiers wantonly looted, raped and killed. There is no accurate death toll estimate; the Chinese government estimates 300,000, while most historians' estimates range around 200,000. Some Japanese deniers claim there was no massacre, such as 2012 Tokyo governor Shintaro Ishihara.
There are multiple reasons given for the Japanese soldiers' actions: Prince Asaka's supposed order to "kill all Chinese"; the Japanese view of Chinese people as "sub-human"; fear that their manhood or loyalty to the Japanse Emperor would be questioned if they did not participate in the killing; Japanese soldiers' frustration at the duration of a campaign that was supposed to be easy victory; the lack of any viable defense by the Chinese military; and the problem of separating fleeing civilian from fleeing soldier.
It's an incredibly sad story, and the museum and memorial dedicated to the event evoked very potent emotions from me. Leading up to the museum is a shallow river running over cobblestones, and standing in the river are a series of dull black statues. Each statue has an inscription, as if the figures are still speaking to the passerby. Then, you enter a large, walled courtyard. Except for the foot path, everywhere is a sea of gravel. Walking down the footpath through this lifeless courtyard, you arrive at two large doors. On either side of the doorway, there is a single handprint. Its size and shape are ubiquitous--it could be a seven year old daughter's handprint, or it could be a father's. This is the entrance to the museum, and as you look in, all you see is a dark stairway down into carnage.
Reaching these doors, I was already too distraught to enter. For the next several minutes, all I could do was stare at those handprints and cry. Even writing this now, the thoughts and emotions well up in my throat. Finally, I was able to restrain my emotions and enter. For the next two hours, all I saw were pictures of the massacre, and all I read were names, age, how and where they were killed.
Luckily for me, I was not visiting the memorial on my own. Two nights before, I had met two new hostel mates (the Shanghai native and Korean had already left). With them and a few others, we were visiting a series of sites together. When I finally made it out of the museum, my hostel mates were waiting for me, and they helped me put aside my thoughts for later reflection. Visiting this memorial reminds me a great deal of the time I visited Dacau, a Nazi concentration camp. For both experiences, I am sincerely grateful that I had someone by my side.
Despite all my tourist activities and the depressing history, I did manage to have a great time in Nanjing. With the second set of hostel mates, I ended up learning and teaching card games, speaking a great deal of Chinese, and best of all, I left Nanjing with a set of friends who are all awesome.
On to Guilin!!!