Essay On The Nanking Massacre

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Introduction

This essay is going to be about the Nanking massacre. I have always been interested in history and especially war. During a history class in high school we briefly came across the Nanking massacre and it sparked my interest. When the assignment was given I knew pretty quickly that it was going to be about an event during a war. There were multiple topics that could be the focus of my essay but eventually the Nanking massacre won due to the lesser knowledge about this topic. In this essay the question that should be answered is: “What is the effect of the massacre of Nanking on the social relationship between Japan and China in present day?”

What is a massacre?

Before we can discuss the Nanking massacre we have to understand what a massacre is. A massacre is a specific incident in which a military force, mob, or other group kill many people, and the perpetrating party is perceived as in total control of force while the victimized party is perceived as helpless or innocent. There is no clear line or criteria which defines when a mass killing is a massacre. The public perception during and after the event plays a big role in this defining, also the way a nation or culture wants to hold on to the memory.

What happened during the Nanking massacre?

On December 13, 1937, Nanking, the capital city of Nationalist China, fell to the Japanese. For Japan, this was to have been the decisive turning point in the war, the triumphant culmination of a half-year struggle against Chiang Kai-shek’s armies in the Yangtze Valley. For Chinese forces, whose heroic defence of Shanghai had finally failed, and whose best troops had suffered crippling causalities, the fall of Nanking was a bitter, perhaps fatal defeat. When the city fell...

... middle of paper ...

... be ended by one of the countries giving in, either in dropping the demand of an apology or admitting to their wrongdoing

Conclusion:

All in all we can say that the war has had an impact on the social relationship between China and Japan. Of course with time passing by old wounds will slowly dissolve, but I think the Chinese will never completely forget what happened at Nanking. Here in the Netherlands we still make fun of Germans quite a bit, even the younger generation. I can imagine that the younger generation in China also still gets to hear the stories and will develop a prejudgment about the Japanese. China and Japan will continue to trade and interact with each other, just like we do normal business with the Germans. Their relationship might not be warm, but it is still there, however they both will never forget what happened in those six weeks in Nanking.

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