Nanjing Massacre Memorial Hall

Nanjing Massacre Memorial Hall,
by ..AikiDude in China...

That was a touching moment of our weekend in Nanjing.

A memorial for never forget the people that died for nothing, died only because of the madness and the brutality of the invading Japanese army. A place to keep alive the memory of not necessary atrocities that nobody can just sign of as war crimes. These were crimes against humanity. Against reason.

300thousand reasons for hoping in peace..

Unfortunately also a memorial to the hate that many Chinese still feel against Japan and everything Japanese.

A place that touch me deeply: I love Japan for many reasons, but inside this place one can only hate what humans manage to do when they have no limit, when they have no reason, when they decide to behave as animals.

And I got so angry seeing how young Chinese students (early 20) behaved: taking smiling pictures in front of the extremely touching sculptures telling stories no one would want ever hear or an idiot Chinese talking at the phone and counting the number of skulls he could see in a mass grave area… Teenagers are idiots everywhere..

The memorial is worth visiting but be ready to feel strong emotions.

A girl, a tree and soap balls

A girl, a tree and soap balls,
by ..AikiDude in China...

From Nanjng trip, visiting Dr. Sun Yat-sen’s Mausoleum, I stole this very Zen image, a girl enjoying herself making soap balls under a nice tree, just on the side of the mausoleum.

A pity the picture was not so good..

But the feelings were great..

Weekend in Nanjing

Finally a not Aikido related trip in China. Not a very long trip (less than 1 hour by train), but Saturday morning Veronika and I will go to Nanjing. First time for me to visit this city, even if I have had an MSN friend from there for a very long time. Unfortunately she is busy this weekend.. but I know I will have other chances to visit Nanjing, so close to Hefei!

I have heard and read about the city: it is the symbol of what the Japanese army did during the occupation, in War World II. Atrocities and abuses equal only to the Nazi against the Jews. On Dec. 13, 1937, the invading Japanese army occupied Nanjing and launched a six-week massacre. Approximately 300,000 people lost their lives in this second Japanese-Chinese war. This is one of the main reason that Chinese people have an old and deep hate against Japan, and everything Japanese.

I really want to visit the memorial museum: I read already a bit about this and I think it will be important and special for a person like me, in love for Japan and "with some feelings" for China as well. I remember the kind of emotions I felt in Tokyo when I visited a small open air museum of pictures of the American nuclear bomb attach on Japan. Slightly different since I do not have any special good feelings about USA as a country or national power!

I have not a Japanese passport, but I can imagine that for me it would be almost like for a German to visit Auschwitz. In Nanjing like in Germany the atrocities were mainly against civilians, and that is the worst aspect. Among the political aspects, there are more differences between the behavior of Germans after the war and the Japanese, and this is also among the problems between China and Japan.

But I want to enjoy Nanjing too and I got already suggestions about other places to see. This is meant to be a relaxing and discovering weekend! And tonight another good friend I hope will suggest us something about Nanjing night life 🙂 That will be for sure more interesting than the common Hefei night life!!!

I am still unsure if taking with me the good camera, but worst case, there will be iPhone pictures!

Interesting links:
http://www.nj1937.org/english/default.asp
http://nanjingexpat.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&catid=36:nanjing-news-media&id=873:the-nanjing-massacre&Itemid=52
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nanjing_massacre