Nanjing Massacre remorse will secure world peace

WORLD peace can not be guaranteed if Japan does not show remorse for its crimes during World War II, said the parents of a late famous Chinese American writer whose book revealed to the West the holocaust by imperialist Japan in China.

Ying-Ying Chang and ShauJin Chang are the parents of Iris Chang who wrote the 1997 best-selling book “The Rape of Nanking.”

They said the annual memorial event for the more than 300,000 Chinese killed by invading Japanese troops in the Chinese city of Nanjing, formerly known as Nanking, in 1937 serves as a reminder that the appalling dark page in history should not be forgotten if “we want to prevent its recurrence in the future.”

“There are only a few survivors of the Nanjing Massacre living in the world and most of them are in their nineties,” said 78-year-old Ying-Ying Chang, Iris’s mother. “This means we have limited opportunities to hear their personal stories of what they have suffered at the hands of the Japanese.”

When she was a student, Iris found the massacre was little mentioned in American schools.

Then Iris happened to see a photo exhibition by the Global Alliance for Preserving the History of WWII in Asia, which featured many graphic pictures of the mass killing of Chinese victims by Japanese troops.

“This experience gave her an overwhelming urge to write a book on the Nanjing Massacre, so that more people, regardless of Westerners or Asians, can learn the history of Japan’s guilt,” said Ying-Ying.

Japan should follow the example of Germany, which won respect for addressing its WWII crimes, she said.

Unfortunately, the Japanese government led by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has refused to face history and make an official apology for the wartime atrocities committed by the Japanese troops, she said.

What’s worse, many politicians in Japan made repeated attempts to whitewash the militarists’ crimes and denied history, said the indignant mother.

“We hold memorial activities for the Chinese victims, not because we want to create hatred, but because we want the Japanese to face up to the evil of the war so that world peace can be preserved for ever,” she said.

The 2018 National Memorial for Nanjing Massacre Victims in China will be held today.