Today was the last Sunday in Nanjing. It’s hard to believe that we’re up to our “lasts” but sure enough, five weeks have passed since we departed the US. Thankfully, this week provided some excellent opportunities for me, so I now feel as if I’ve really taken advantage of the city.
Tuesday – it seems so long ago – we all went to the Nanjing Massacre Memorial. The memorial remembers the 300,000 civilians and soldiers who died when Japanese troops raided the city in late 1937. From mid-December through January 1938, the Japanese killed, looted, and raped anyone they could find. They forced civilians to line up in front of mass graves, where they were shot one after the other. People were killed in every way possible: burned alive, beheaded, stabbed, bayoneted, and others. In the end, over 20,000 cases of rape were reported. It was an inhumane slaughter.
The memorial had two parts. First, guests were led through a comprehensive museum of accounts, artifacts, and descriptions from the massacre. It was amazing to read so many accounts of what happened- from locals who escaped (one was at the bottom of the pile of corpses when they burned them with kerosene to hastily) to Japanese soldiers to international witnesses who set up a refugee zone. Two things particularly stuck out to me in this museum. After reading about the deaths of all the innocent civilians, I can only wonder what the Chinese think of the atomic bomb. We in the United States like to say that it saved lives in the long run, but who were we to destroy the lives of so many innocent people? The other aspect that made an impact was Nanjing’s source of international aid. Within the city, Dr. John Rabe set up a zone for Nanjing refugees. Many fled there, seeking medical and emotional aid. Along with Dr. Rabe, several embassies and the League of Nations also contributed support. It seems like a great and noble effort until one realizes that Dr. Rabe was a German ambassador with Hitler’s support! How could the Germans condemn the Japanese-inflicted genocide immediately before committing their own holocaust! The world is upside down. Wednesday’s shooting at Washington’s Holocaust museum proves that as a fact.
The other part of the memorial was a mass grave. We walked around the circumference of the grave – a “field” of tan, baseball-sized granite stones – before entering a climate controlled room that showed an archeological excavation. Skeletons were mixed and piled close together. Signs showed readers where victims had been bludgeoned, stabbed, and carelessly buried. I will definitely never forget it.
Just as I was feeling bitter towards the Japanese for the atrocity they had committed, I read a quote from someone I cannot remember: “What we must remember is history, not hatred.” Indeed. Like the holocaust, we must never let such suffering fade from our memory, lest history repeat itself.
After finishing at the memorial, I desired to reflect on what I had seen, so I walked to nearby Mochou Lake Park. I wandered amongst the ponds filled with lily pads and along the walkways that surrounded the lake. A dragonboat team was practicing about 70 yards off shore while families and couples meandered about carelessly. It was very peaceful; just what I needed.
On Wednesday and Thursday I wandered aimlessly after class. It was good to get out and see parts of the city with no particular destination! I also studied for my Friday test, which went very well.
On Friday, we went to see the Presidential Palace, originally constructed in the Ming Dynasty but since occupied by many heads of state. The complex included many buildings joined by covered walkways, some ponds and fountains, some gardens, and plenty of rocks. Most notably, the palace was occupied by Dr. Sun Yat-Sen and the Nationalist Party until the Communists moved the capital to Beijing in 1949.
I thought the best part of the palace was a museum to Dr. Sun. It followed the story of his life and how he fought so hard for democracy. He went to school in Hawaii but used Chinese populations in San Francisco, Japan, Taiwan, and China to build a revolution strong enough to overthrow the Qing Dynasty in 1911. Following the successful revolution, he established a constitution and resigned from the presidency to show he was not another power-hungry dictator. Unfortunately, his successor reverted to old ways by 1914, and Dr. Sun was forced to mount another revolution. Unfortunately, the second revolution failed and he spent the rest of his life campaigning for unity between the north and south and for democracy as a whole. He died of liver cancer in 1925 in Beijing. In his will, he wished to be buried in Nanjing, so his body was reinterred at the current mausoleum on June 1, 1929 (80 years and 2 weeks ago).
Yesterday was my last full Saturday in Nanjing, so I wanted to take full advantage of it. Thus, I set myself three goals: spend an entire day in town, touch the Yangtze River, and visit the Jinghai temple. Thus, I decided to walk an 11.2 mile loop of the north-west part of the city. If you’d like to see my route, go to this link: http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=2912437. As you can see from the map, I began by walking due west on Beijing Road. I passed the Jiangsu Provincial Government building and the Nanjing Institute of Art before reaching the Qinhuai River. From there, I followed “the mother river of Nanjing” northward. The sun beat down, but the river walk was pleasant (even with no one around). Finally, about 4.5 miles into my trip, I reached the junction of the Qinhuai with the Yangtze. The coast of the Yangtze was lined with private docks – low scale fishermen who were not fishing at all. There was no water access and it was very quiet. Unfortunately, I had to cut in a block because the road on the water’s edge ended. Seeing high rises being constructed all around, I was confident in my location, but as I cut northward again (4.7 miles to 5.4 miles on the map), I realized I was in a completely different part of Nanjing. Gone were the clean streets and fashion stores of downtown. Gone were the VWs and Audis. Here, there were a few taxi cabs, a couple buses, and an otherwise sketchy neighborhood.
Now, I should say here that I never felt in danger while walking this stretch of road. I got plenty of stares and I felt really out of place, but people seemed to go about their normal business. As I said, the street was dirty. A row of really run-down 2-floor concrete shacks lined each side of the street and dingy laundry seemed to be hanging everywhere. The curbs were often filled with murky liquid (it hasn’t rained in a week) and people were sitting around outside cooking food, playing games, and talking with neighbors. I wanted to take a picture, but you couldn’t have paid me to take my camera out of my backpack on that street. It was… a cultural experience.
Finally, I got back on the road following the river. Immediately, the surroundings improved, and normal civilization was back. Go figure! This time, there was a wall between the river and the road, but from what I could tell, the other side was home to some small scale industry, perhaps manufacturing. After a bit, I reached the intersection where I had to turn and I was about to give up, but I saw the next gate was actually open. I neared the gate, thinking I might quickly duck in to take some pictures and duck out. Thankfully, it was a yacht club and restaurant! Imagine that! So sure enough, I got a couple pictures of me touching the Yangtze. The third longest river in the world. One Saturday mission accomplished.
Cutting away from the river, I made my way toward the Jinghai Temple. The Temple was also built in the Ming Dynasty, to recognize and honor the famous Chinese explorer Zheng He. Almost a century before Columbus, Zheng He set out from Nanjing with China’s first naval fleet. He traveled to many adjacent countries via the Philippines and around the Indian Ocean. Most significantly, his friendly tidings toward foreign nations resulted in many international exchanges for China. It was truly a cultural and economic highlight. So it makes sense that a temple would be built to honor such a worthy explorer.
Yet that is not the only history lesson to be learned from the Jinghai Temple. Moving ahead a couple centuries, the British had dominated the world’s waterways and the opium trade was high (pardon the pun) in China. When Chinese leaders decided to ban opium, however, the British resorted to military force to reopen the trade. Finally, after two years of one-sided battle, the British marched into Nanjing in 1842. The Chinese settled for a “treaty:” 2.1 million silver Yuan and Hong Kong. The treaty was signed in the Jinghai Temple and consequently, the temple was also a central point of celebration in 1997 when Hong Kong was returned to China.
All this fun is actually making me much more interested in East Asian history – much more than when I was taking it in AP World History. Mrs. Hoisington would be so proud. Haha.
Well, from there, it was pretty much a straight shot back to the hotel. Straight shot for four miles, of course, but straight none-the-less. Oh yeah, I also came across several consecutive shops that must have been seafood wholesalers. One had a million shellfish. In the next, a half dozen guys were dragging huge ice blocks around. In the third, roughly 20 bins were filled to the brim with water… and EELS! Well, maybe they were water snakes, but they looked like eels to me. Millions of them. Squirming everywhere. It was glorious. I took a few pictures and smiled with one of the guys there.
So, that was Saturday. All three missions were a resounding success. It was a fantastic day.
Today was a normal Sunday. Church was great once again, and I went back to the Confucius Temple market with a bunch from the group. It was a good day.
Anyway, three days of class and an exam are all that’s left. That begins tomorrow! In the next episode, I’ll probably wrap up Nanjing with some general comments and observations. Bye until then!
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