My Grandfather and the

Nanjing Massacre

Bernie Shieh

P5 5/15/01

 

 

          300,000 humans were killed and 20,000 women raped within a period of six weeks.  Japanese soldiers laughed cruelly as they thrust bayonets into people’s chests and killed the Chinese by the masses.  The nicknames “Rape of Nanjing” or the “Other Holocaust” perfectly fit the description of Japanese cruelty and what happened after the fall of China’s original capital on December 13th, 1937.  The Japanese conquest for land and power made China fall to her knees.  The extreme brutality displayed in the Nanjing Massacre was so extreme, even today Japan denies of ever committing such a major act of violence.  The details are hidden from Japanese textbooks, ashamed of the militaries behavior.  Japan was victorious in previously encounters between China and Japan.  In the Sino-Japanese war from 1894 -1895, China was defeated and signed the Treaty of Shimonoseki.  In the treaty, China recognized Korea’s independence and gave Japan a small island of the eastern coast, Taiwan. 

 

          In the Taiwanese city of Tai Chung, my grandfather, Wen-chang Shieh, entered the world on October 25th, 1918.  He grew up under Japanese influence and Japanese rule.  He was born into a low-income family of farmers and they were in need of more money.  When he was 26 years old, he decided to help support his family by taking part in WWII.  He enlisted in the Japanese military and became an officer monitoring Japanese construction of railroads and military bases.  He was stationed in Hainan Island and traveled often.  Even in being part of the Japanese army, his views were like most Taiwanese, they hated Japan and the Japanese.  My grandfather decided not to heed any of the rumors and propaganda about Americans.  His overall opinions were neutral and indifferent.  He never believed the Japanese teaching that Americans were monsters and wanted to commit genocide on the Japanese race. 

         

The actual evil and cruel force was the Japanese.  To them, the Nanjing Massacre was just a “strategic” move.  The Japanese men influenced by the government were ruthless fighters, never accepting surrender or cowards.  Away from American reach, the soldiers burned down the former capitol of China and killed innocent civilians.  Cruel acts were committed.  Some of the civilians were taken to the Yangtze River, shot, stabbed, burned, and thrown in the river to make sure they were dead.  But on the other side of China within American reach, there were more and more American attacks. 

 

My grandfather may not have been in the military as a soldier, but he was definitely still subjected to danger.  He was riding back home to Taiwan on a passenger ship, guarded by two Japanese military vessels armed with anti air guns and several other defenses.  They traveled in an awkward but smart fashion, where the military crafts advanced in the day, and the passenger ship caught up with the other ships at night.  They did this to avoid encounters with American bombers and fighters.  The American Air Force had already created a reputation in Japanese territory.  They were greatly feared by civilians, including my grandpa, that were scared of unexpected attacks and death.  On his way back, an unexpected life-threatening event happened. 

 

Two American fighters glided over the Pacific waters, heading for the passenger ship on its way to Taiwan.  Radar was incapable of detecting the aircrafts so they stealthily advanced closer.  The military guard ships were a short distance away, not able to help the passengers immediately.  As the planes neared the boat, they leveled up so they were now visible.  The passengers cheered and clapped, thinking the planes were Japanese and telling them they were nearing their destination.

 

Then the planes open fired in the middle of the ship, denting the ships metal hull and deck.  The unexpected travelers quickly ran to shelter.  They were horrified and unprepared.  My grandfather said he was so panicked he used anything he could find to cover his head and then ducked in a small corner.  The ship slowly sunk below the water and only 40% of the 200 people aboard survived.  Anti aircraft guns fired at the planes, shooting down one of them while the other escaped.  Though it was all over, my grandfather said the survivors still faced several dangers in the water.  The surviving crew floated on wooden sheets or anything they could find.  They had ropes to help distract sharks and avoid being eaten while they waited for help. 

 

In the attack on Nanjing, people were murdered in large groups.  Civilians were lined up and overwhelmed with machine gun bullets.  Very few people survived the killings.  Those who did survive could never forgive the Japanese and told their story to the public.  The rivers were said to be red with blood from the mounds of dead bodies tossed into the water..  An estimated 57,000 people were killed in one of the mass executions.  Pregnant women were stabbed and children were killed.  Practices like beheading were very common in the six weeks.  As the army invaded the city, they shot any moving person, no matter what age or what sex.  The Japanese army had a “take no prisoners policy” so when Chinese soldiers surrendered, they simply lined them up and killed them one by one.

 

My grandpa floated above the water, avoiding drowning and waiting for some assistance.  The large military ships finally passed by, throwing down rescue ropes.  But the danger was not over.  Holding on to the rope in the thrashing waves long enough to be hauled all the way up the humongous boats was a challenge itself.  It took some thinking in order to beat his next challenge.  He saw other crewmembers rushing to get out of the water and being thrashed off by the waves or losing grip and falling into their death.  Learning from other people’s mistakes, my grandfather tied the rope around his waist and held on top of the rope, surviving the long wait to get to the top.   He also helped another passenger by helping him tie the rope around his waist.   His close encounter with death was something he would never forget. 

Today, my grandfather stays in my home and sometimes tells me stories of his war experience.  Also today, there is a memorial set up for those who died in the massacre.  The memorial is very significant and has several sculptures of symbolic art.  It holds a few actual skeletons of the victims of the mass murder incident and some photographs taken after it happened.  Though the memorial is great, I don’t think anything could possibly make up for the loss of lives.  The best thing that could possibly come from this slaughter could be lessons for the future.  The soldiers that participated in this violent episode will never be forgiven.  Let us hope that people will learn and another such event will never occur.      

 

Even though I was not living to witness the war, I think it was something that helps teach everyone a lesson, the hard way.  I greatly respect all the people that fought for their nation and faced death everyday of their lives and fought for truth and honor.  The war taught a lesson because in the end, the evil force was defeated.  Even through dangerous times, people kept their hopes up.  I think it is important not to be overconfident either, as several nations were, such as Germany and Japan.  Overconfidence can sometimes be a weakness that made Germany and Japan destroy themselves.  Not only do I hate how Japan committed such a gruesome act of violence, but how even today Japan and some other people deny any accusation of the Nanjing Massacre.  I read several websites using insufficient math, logic, and evidence and claiming that the massacre never happened.  It really disturbed me when I read these articles and pages.  I’ve visited both the Nanjing Massacre Memorial in China, and the Hiroshima Bombing Memorial in Japan.  Sometimes I believe both of these mass killings could have been prevented.  What really surprised me is how little people have heard about the Rape of Nanjing.  I knew of the Holocaust, Hiroshima, and Pearl Harbor before I even heard of anything that happened at Nanjing.  Researching the topic and going to the memorial really gave me a perspective.  Before doing this project, I never knew anything could go so in-depth as the war and the “Other Holocaust”.  I think doing this project has taught me a lot about what it was like in the war. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

         

 

         

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

BIBLIOGRAPHY

 

 

 

Nanking Atrocities.  Masato Kajimoto. 2000.  

          <http://web.missouri.edu/~jschool/nanking/

Introduction/introduction.htm>

 

 

The Other Side.  March 30th, 1998.

          <http://members.tripod.com/~funkytomoya/

massacre/sample01.htm>

 

WWW Memorial Hall of the Victims in the Nanjing Massacre.

December 20th, 1994. <http://www.arts.cuhk.edu.hk/

NanjingMassacre/NM.html>

 

The Other Holocaust, Nanjing.

          <http://www.skycitygallery.com/

japan/japan.html>

 

Nanjing Massacre.  2000.

          <http://www.index-china.com/index-english/

Nanjing%20Massacres.html>

 

The Rape of Nanjing.  April 3rd, 2001.

          <http://www.virtualniche.net/nanjing/

rapeofnanjing.html>

 

Sino-Japanese War.  August 5th, 1996.

          http://www.sjwar.org/bground.htm

 

Sino-Japanese War 1894-1895.  December 16th, 2000.

          <http://www.onwar.com/aced/nation/kay/

korea/fsinojapanese1894.htm>

 

Alliance in Memory of the Victims of the Nanjing Massacre.

          1998. http://www.nanjing1937.org/

 

Kerr, George H.  Formosa Betrayed.  Taiwan Publishing Co., 1992.

 

Shieh, Wen-chang.  Personal interview.  15 May, 2001.