By staff reporter AN XINZHU
In August of every year, the Japan-China Friendship Association organizes a touring exhibition around Japan themed “Expose War for Peace.” Exhibits include historical photos and objects relating to the Japanese war of aggression against China.
The 2014 three-day exhibition started on August 10 and concluded on August 12 at the Nagoya Civic Assembly Hall. Thirty-nine non-governmental organizations provided extensive historical WWII exhibits. Curator of the Nanjing Private Museum of the Chinese War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression Wu Xianbin is the first representative of a Chinese NGO invited to participate in the exhibition.
One Person’s Museum
The Nanjing Private Museum of China’s War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression sits in the southern suburbs of Nanjing. At the museum entrance is an inscribed aphorism by Tian Han, lyricist of China’s national anthem. It reads, “A nation without a sense of crisis is hopeless and incurable.”
Wu, founder and curator of the museum, told China Today that most of the museum’s 3,700 exhibits are related to the Nanjing Massacre, and to the battles that took place in the city during the War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression.
Wu is among the first batch of entrepreneurs to emerge after the reform and opening-up policy came into effect in China. Manager of a home refurbishment materials factory, Wu started to collect war-related items in 2004.
“Despite publicity provided by the government, I had only a general, abstract understanding of that period of history. Out of curiosity, I started to collect objects originating in that epoch, and officially founded the museum in 2006,” Wu said.
Like many other cities around the country, Nanjing is site of several famous memorial halls and museums. Compared to public museums, however, the Nanjing Private Museum of the Chinese War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression has more distinct features. “My intention is to record history through the memories of the people. I want to collect stories from anyone who personally experienced that period of time,” Wu said.
Admission to the museum is free of charge. During the eight years since its opening it has received 160,000 visitors.
In addition to the daily routine during the month before he set off for the exhibition in Japan, Wu received visits from groups of a dozen or more Japanese NGO representatives. Experts and scholars from domestic colleges and universities and research institutes also came by almost every day.
“I am neither an offspring of the victims of the Nanjing Massacre nor a descendant of soldiers that participated in the war. My family moved to Nanjing after the war was over,” Wu said, adding, “However, I was born and raised in Nanjing, so I am a descendant of Nanjing City.”
Memories of Ordinary People
All exhibits in the museum come from people who lived there, and every item has its story.
One is an old, yellowed business card. It shows the name and title: Chen Zhongzhu, Commander of the Fourth Column of Guerrilla Forces on the Border Area of Shandong, Jiangsu and Anhui Provinces. General Chen excelled in guerrilla warfare against Japanese invaders. He died in early 1941 after taking six bullets.
“The back of the card bears the general’s sole extant handwriting. As soon as it came into our possession, we started looking for his relatives,” Wu said. In August 2012, Chen’s daughter, having heard about the card, made a special trip from Australia to the museum. She wrote in the visitor’s book: “Dear father, seeing your handwriting and seal today reminds me of the past, as if I saw you again.”
The exhibits are not intended to highlight the cruelty of war, but rather the life and destiny of the people of that time. They include letters and bills, armbands of the neighborhood team members who buried the dead during the Nanjing Massacre, more than 300 maps that the Japanese army used during the war, and Chinese soldiers’ daily-use articles.
Chinese American writer Iris Chang filmed much precious video data during her interviews in 1995 with survivors of the Nanjing Massacre when doing research for her book The Rape of Nanking. After her death, Chang’s parents donated it all to Wu’s museum, so signifying their trust and confidence in him.
Wu’s museum also serves as a platform for people-to-people communication. It receives many foreign visitors every year, the majority of them Japanese, with Americans and Germans a close second. “Many Japanese NGOs make a point of including my museum on their itineraries when visiting China,” Wu said. “During exchanges in the past few years, I have found that overseas NGOs are noticeably mature compared with their relatively inexperienced Chinese counterparts. But I think Chinese NGOs should have their voice with regards to historical issues between China and Japan.”
First Trip to Japan
In March 2014, the Aichi Prefecture Federation of the Japan-China Friendship Association officially invited Wu to participate in the annual exhibition. After serious consideration and careful selection, Wu brought 28 photos that reflected the Nanjing Massacre, 24 of which were exhibited in Japan. This marked the first time exhibits from Wu’s museum went on display in Japan.
The exhibition covered more than 1,000 square meters on the fourth floor of the Nagoya Civic Assembly Hall. The 24 pictures of the Nanjing Massacre Wu provided were displayed in a separate room.
“Those photos were published in Japan, but this exhibition lets Japanese people know the kind of photos that are exhibited in China,” Wu said.
However, the exhibition did not achieve its expected effect. Although there were many visitors, most were middle-aged or elderly. Young people were sparsely represented. Wu expressed his understanding of why this should be to the Japanese sponsors. As right-wing forces in Japan these days are alarmingly active, most ordinary Japanese people have only a vague understanding of that period of history.
“I asked the young Japanese people I met why they weren’t interested in the history of the Nanjing Massacre. They replied that it was because there are still disputes between the governments of Japan and China on the issue. That is a very dangerous signal. This blinkered view of history by the Japanese youth will widen the gap between China and Japan, and so seriously jeopardize the foundation of China-Japan friendship,” Wu said.
During the exhibition, Wu also noticed another phenomenon. Although various Japanese media were present, only one of them, the Asahi Shimbun, included a brief narrative in its report. It mentioned that the curator of a private museum of China’s war against Japanese aggression had come to Japan to talk about the Sino-Japanese war, and expressed his desire for peace.
Wu said he felt dissatisfied with the article, but that he could understand why it said so little. In the past there were limited channels of communication with Japan. Consequently the Japanese people now find it difficult to acknowledge the Nanjing Massacre when anyone makes direct reference to it.
“As a non-governmental organization, we proceed from the facts and are scrupulously impartial,” Wu said. The Nanjing Massacre is an event of global impact – a term that was both raised and authorized by the International Court of Justice. From an objective perspective, therefore, the Nanjing Massacre indeed occurred, and can be verified by proof and evidence scattered throughout the world.
“Based on the communication I had with Japanese historians, giving Japanese people a clear understanding of that historical event is not a problem. However, since right-wing forces hold such great sway in Japanese society, they have generated within public opinion a plethora of disputes between the Chinese and Japanese governments about the reality of the Nanjing Massacre. This leads to a distorted view of history by both Japanese youth and everyday Japanese people,” Wu said.
Wu would like to go to Japan again if he gets opportunity, but would, he said, make more preparations for any future trip, such as through dialogues with Japanese media and historians. He is highly appreciative of the efforts of the 38 Japanese NGOs that participated in the exhibition. It was their encouragement that made it possible for a Chinese non-governmental organization to take part.
A Descendant of Nanjing
