Nagoya incident Nagoya incident

The cause of the incident

Nagoya Mayor Takashi Kawamura held talks with Liu Zhiwei, member of the Standing Committee of Nanjing Municipal Committee of CPC, and others on the 2th. When referring to the Nanjing Massacre, he said that there was indeed conventional fighting, but he thought that the massacre had never happened, and said that the Japanese army was given preferential treatment in Nanjing.

For Japan, only by sincerely acknowledging that period of history can we gain understanding; For China, only by trying to restore that period of history can we comfort the dead

On the morning of February 2th, Mayor Takashi Kawamura of Nagoya, Japan, publicly doubted the authenticity of the Nanjing Massacre in a meeting with a delegation of the Nanjing Municipal Government. Since the early morning of the 21st, the Nanjing Municipal Government has issued two statements, and on the evening of the 21st, it announced that Nanjing will suspend its official contacts with the Nagoya Municipal Government, which is unique among China cities that have always taken "China-Japan friendship" as their diplomatic criterion. China's Foreign Ministry held a press conference on the afternoon of the 22nd. When talking about the denial of the Nanjing Massacre by the mayor of Nagoya, Japan, Hong Lei, a spokesman for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said that China has made solemn representations to the Japanese side on this matter and expressed its understanding and support for Nanjing's decision to suspend its contacts with Nagoya.

According to the practice of similar incidents in the past, hackers attacked the website of Nagoya city government at the first time, and a website homepage of the city zoo was even posted with the slogan "Nanjing Massacre must be acknowledged". Takayuki Kawamura's subsequent attitude is puzzling: on the one hand, he said his words and deeds were rude and inappropriate, but on the other hand, he stressed that he would not withdraw or modify the relevant remarks. Both China and Japan are shouting from a distance. Although they know that there is no real chance to fight each other, Takashi Kawamura said, "I want to hold an open debate in the local area, and I will go there myself." Zhang Sheng, a professor of history at Nanjing University, made a statement at the Weibo. "I challenge Takashi Kawamura, the mayor of Nagoya, to openly debate the basic historical facts of the Nanjing Massacre on any occasion, at any time and with any number of spectators!"

A word used by Takayuki Kawamura when meeting with the Nanjing delegation is probably correct: prickles. The Nanjing Massacre is indeed an unavoidable thorn in Sino-Japanese relations that will soon usher in the 4th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations.

History cannot be obliterated

Zhang Xianwen, director of the Center for the Study of the History of the Republic of China at Nanjing University, told China Newsweek that he was confident of any public debate on the Nanjing Massacre. Zhang Xianwen is the editor-in-chief of Historical Collection of Nanjing Massacre, which has been published in 72 volumes, exceeding 4 million words, but the original information he has in his hand exceeds 5 million words, and it is expected that it will eventually be published in 8 volumes. "These are the most direct evidences of the Japanese massacre against civilians in Nanjing. If this is a lie, who has the ability to create a lie of 5 million words?"

What's more, these historical materials are not only from China, but also from the United States, Japan, Germany, Russia and Italy. There are not only government documents but also folk records, including the Japanese army's own diaries and letters, reports written back to China by foreign journalists in Nanjing at that time, observations by foreign missionaries and so on. Zhang Xianwen emphasized that these materials "have both victims, perpetrators and third parties, and all kinds of evidence can confirm each other".

Professor Zhang Sheng also keeps posting all kinds of original evidence on his Weibo, such as a photo of the China people's remains slaughtered by Japanese troops at Gulin Temple (near Gulin Park in Nanjing today). This photo was taken by Foster, an American missionary in Nanjing at that time, and is now in the library of the Theological Seminary of Yale University. His new book "A Study on the History of the Nanjing Massacre" will be published in April this year, and various original materials can be found everywhere.

At first, Takashi Kawamura took his father's "being treated well in Nanjing" as evidence that the Holocaust did not exist. However, at the press conference on the 22nd, Takashi Kawamura said that the reason why he made such a statement was "because of the recent new research results, there are also various opinions". Zhang Sheng explained to China Newsweek that in recent years, there have been some new changes in the composition of the Japanese right wing, and some university scholars have joined in. Among them, the famous ones are Professor Dong Zhongye of Asia University, and Nakamura, the representative of Showa Institute of History. Their way of denying the Nanjing Massacre is different from the traditional way of total denial, but they focus on denying one of the evidence chains. "For example, an American experienced the Nanjing Massacre and left some original evidence. Zhang Sheng said that the right wing is rich in money, so it has achieved a wide range of results. The published books and papers have not had a great impact on Japanese society, and it is probably because of its deep influence that Takashi Kawamura has these confident statements.

Zhang Xianwen recalled that in 25, when the Historical Collection of Nanjing Massacre was first published, the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs ordered the vice consul of the Shanghai Consulate to accompany Japanese military representatives to Nanjing to interview various experts including himself. This interview finally affected the consultation and defense of the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs in the Cabinet on this issue, and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs subsequently issued a statement on the official website: According to the existing information and evidence, the existence of the Nanjing Massacre cannot be denied. Zhang Xianwen said that although Japan and China have always had different views on the number of victims, Japan has long acknowledged the principled fact that Japanese troops killed non-combatants and soldiers who laid down their weapons and were captured in China.

Wu Xianbin, director of Nanjing Folk War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression Museum, emphasized to China Newsweek that all the audio-visual materials and photos he collected so far that the public can see were actually not taken by China people themselves, but by foreigners who stayed in Nanjing at that time, or by the Japanese themselves to show off their military exploits. Zhang Sheng also said that the concept of Nanjing Massacre was not even put forward by the Chinese side at the earliest, but came from Dr. Bida of the German Embassy in Beiping on December 3, 1937. He quoted Stier, a reporter from Chicago Daily News, and used this word to describe the situation in Nanjing and reported it to the German Embassy in China. The original German used was "Nankinger Massacre".

Silence is not gold

After the Nagoya incident, a Weibo was widely circulated: "On January 23, 25, nearly 7 people relayed the list of Jews killed in the Auschwitz concentration camp in Amsterdam, and it took five days to read 12, names. The memorial wall of the atomic bomb victims in Hiroshima Peace Park, Japan is engraved with the names of 237,62 victims? The Holocaust "wailing wall" is only engraved with 1,324 names, of which 3, are from the investigation files in 1946. "

where did the figure of 3, come from, and why can China only provide more than 1, names? It is the most common problem faced by researchers of the Nanjing Massacre. Both Zhang Sheng and Zhang Xianwen warned with some dissatisfaction that this kind of question is exactly what the Japanese right wing wants to see, because their thinking is: If you can't name it, the Holocaust won't exist.

Zhang Sheng said that the Nazi massacre of Jews was completely an industrialized way of killing. Jews were held in concentration camps and had detailed lists and brochures, so it was easy to restore more names. However, at that time, in China, the household registration system was very incomplete. Moreover, under the Japanese occupation, it was impossible for non-governmental organizations to conduct any investigation. In addition, the Japanese massacre mode "even Germans laughed at their cruelty in the Middle Ages, preferring to use bayonets in order to save bullets". For a long time after the war, because of the cold war, China had an important political expression that "the Japanese people were also victims", that is, "it was mainly a handful of militarists who invaded China at that time. Even so, this figure of 3, did not come from China at the earliest, but was mentioned in a secret telegram sent by then Japanese Foreign Minister Hirota Hiroshi to Japanese diplomatic agencies in the United States. This document is now in the National Archives of the United States. As circumstantial evidence, British journalist Chancellor provided his British colleague Tian Bolie with a news report sent to London. The report quoted Father Rao, a Frenchman who was in charge of the refugee area in Shanghai Nanshi, as saying, "He was very sure that the figure of 3, civilian victims in China was correct". Zhang Xianwen said that after the victory of the Anti-Japanese War, the National Government actually set up several committees to investigate the atrocities committed by the Japanese army. "We made door-to-door investigations and made clear various ways of being killed by the Japanese army. These questionnaires conform to the norms of oral history." But in fact, this work was only done for two years. In 1948, when the civil war further escalated, the investigation stopped, and these materials were kept in the archives. After 1949, various movements continued on the mainland. It was not until June 1982 that the Japanese Ministry of Education revised the textbooks that China hastily restarted the research on the Nanjing Massacre. "Most of the survivors left Nanjing and died gradually. Now we can only investigate two or three hundred survivors, so it is impossible to restore a list of 3, people."

In addition, many people are disappointed with the performance of the Nanjing Municipal Government this time, because no one stood up and protested at the scene where Takayuki Kawamura said these words. Tong Zeng, the first Japanese folk claimant against China and the president of the Japanese Folk Fishing Association, told China Newsweek with emotion that such a situation could not have happened between South Korea and Japan or between Israel and Germany. The Jews stubbornly kidnapped Eichmann back to Israel for trial, but we used the principle of "repaying evil with good" under the premise of "China-China friendship". Shintaro Ishihara supported Takayuki Kawamura in this incident. He never admitted the Nanjing Massacre, but China invited him to attend the opening ceremony of the 28 Olympic Games as a VIP. "Is this courtesy a connivance?"

After such a big wave, the Nanjing delegation did not return to China immediately, but then went to Europe to continue its visit. Zhang Sheng forwarded the news in his own Weibo and said meaningfully, "Silence is sometimes not gold." (Reporter Li Jingrui)