Dozens of university students in Nanjing, the capital of east
China's Jiangsu Province, are collecting an oral history from
survivors of the Nanjing Massacre.
Worried that elderly survivors, like veterans of World War II,
are dying off rapidly, the Jiangsu Youth League organized groups of
university students to talk with victims and record their memories.
Four universities are taking part in the project: Nanjing
University, Nanjing Normal University, Hehai University and Nanjing
Aeronautics and Astronautics University.
"Originally we planned to have fewer than 20 students from each
university, but so many volunteered," said a committee worker
surnamed Zhang. "Finally, each university had to choose the most
qualified from hundreds of volunteers."
After receiving training on June 26, the students began
collecting materials over a two-week period.
Their main target is the Nanjing suburbs, which have generally
been neglected when such research is conducted.
Sixteen students from the History Department of Nanjing
University have interviewed people, made recordings, taken notes
and then collated all the materials collected for more than a week
in 11 towns in the Pukou District.
In Xige Village, Yongning Town, an 86-year-old man surnamed Ge
said he clearly remembered his younger brother being killed by
bombs "thrown from a Japanese fighter plane."
When the plane had gone, he could only find a single leg of his
younger brother.
In the same village, a man surnamed Zhang told the students that
more than 30 people in his small factory were burnt by "the savage
Japanese army."
In Dingshan Town, an elderly man who refused to give his name
recalled that Japanese soldiers invaded the village, locked more
than 20 villagers in a small house on the top of a nearby mountain
and set the house on fire. Fortunately, the villagers were able to
escape through a back door and hide in the mountains. When the
man's uncle later went out to see whether the Japanese had gone, he
was shot and killed. The man's father died during the period as
well, of causes the old man attributes to fright.
When the students have collated their materials, they will pay
return visits to their interview subjects and ask them to confirm
the accuracy of the written statements. The affirmed statements
will be notarized.
Chen Dahai, a college senior, said that he had learned many
things that no book could possibly relate.
"Although we were very tired doing the interviews in such a hot
season, we hope to contribute our share to the protection of these
oral historical materials, and leave no regrets for posterity," he
said.
Professor Zhang Sheng, of Nanjing University's History
Department, said, "As each day passes, there are fewer survivors of
the Nanjing Massacre. We should spare no effort to protect these
precious memories and show them to the public. . . . History must
be remembered."
In December 1937, Nanjing fell to the invading Japanese troops,
who committed atrocities including horrific rapes and the murders
of some 300,000 people, mostly civilians.
However, some Japanese right-wing forces still deny the massacre
took place.
(China Daily July 7, 2004)