When we knew that we were going to China, one place that was a must on our list was the Nanjing massacre memorial in Nanjing.
Known as Nanking to many, Nanjing is the official "pinyin or "romanized" name and has become widely accepted as the official pronunciation effectively replacing Nanking.
In the late part of the 1800s and early part of the 1900s the colonial powers (British, French, American, etc) were busy carving up Asia for themselves with a great degree success. America had the Philippines and Guam. Britain had Hong Kong, India, Malaysia and Singapore. France had Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos. The Japanese really wanted in on this "carving up of Asia".
China offered the opportunity of a significant amount of land and natural resources. China was weakened by the efforts of of the colonial powers and internal divide over who and how the country should be governed.
Around 1931 Japan starts it's efforts to conquer and colonize China. At first its a small scale effort, fighting skirmishes with the Chinese but by 1937 (two years before the start of WWII) it escalates into full scale war.
Japan had taken the northeast corner of China, north of Nanjing (calling it Manchukuo) and had taken Shanghai, south of Nanjing. At the time, Nanjing was the capital city.
On December 13, 1937 Japan attacked Nanjing from the north and south. Their goal was to take the city so violently and horrifically that the rest of China would be terrified and capitulate to Japan.
What followed was a systematic rape, torture and killing of 200 000 to 300 000 men women and children over a 6 week period. Many people were buried alive while family members bore witness. Women were raped countless times a day, many murdered some gutted while alive. Children were not spared. The Japanese would have killing contests to see who could behead the most people with their swords...
The most striking part of all this is the very personal nature of the slaughter. This was not a mechanized effort to exterminate, it was very hands on to shock and terrorize. It would ultimately have the opposite of the desired effect by the Japanese, it would instead galvanize the Chinese into fighting and ultimately winning (with help from the allies) against the Japanese.
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| Buried alive |
Inside the Memorial Hall are photos, descriptions and artifacts including some of the excavated remains of victims. All descriptions are in Chinese and English, so no guide is needed. You will want to move at your own pace and you will not (can not) read every piece of information. It is a lot to take in and by the end of it, we were exhausted and drained, but it was worth every minute. We did not take any pictures inside the Memorial Hall as we felt awkward due to the nature of the exhibit. We walked through it reading and learning a lot and trying to absorb what was being said. We took the time to read only parts of every section, rather than every detail so as not to overwhelm ourselves, yet be able to read about every aspect.
The most difficult moments that had a profound effect was seeing the actual remains, the torture photos, and reading about survivor accounts (especially the story about the boy who saw his mother die and his baby brother trying to get milk from her).
Taking the time to visit is well worth it and something you will never forget. Following are a few photos of the outside area:
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| Statue of a mother holding her dead child |
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Statues of a few of the massacre victims
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| Mass grave of 10,000 corpses |
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| Footprints of the massacre survivors |
http://www.nj1937.org/english/default.asp
Getting to Nanjing and the "Memorial for compatriots killed in the Nanjing Massacre by Japanese Forces of Aggression" from Shanghai was easy. It's about an hour train ride.
How to get there:
From the Shanghai Railway Station take a bullet train to Nanjing Station (or Nanjing South Railway Station). Check the times of the trains, the 300km one way trip will take about 1 hour and 15 min depending on which train you take. Some will take longer depending on how many stops it has.
Once in Nanjing, hop on Metro Line 1 (connected to the train station) and transfer to Metro Line 2 westbound at Xinjiekou Statio. Alight at Yunjinglu Station, take exit 2. At the top of the stairs turn left, then cross a minor road and follow the statues on your right that lead to the entrance. The Memorial Hall is indoors and massive. After visiting it, you will exit outside to visit more of the Memorial site.
Entry is free, and plan to spend a few hours here. Washrooms are located near the end of the Memorial Hall building before you exit to the grounds (outside).
When you exit the grounds, you will be at the exact opposite end of the memorial. Turn left, then left again and follow the sidewalk in essence doubling back to return to the subway.
-Jason and Christine
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