Memorial Hall of the Victims in Nanjing Massacre by Japanese Invaders

The Memorial Hall of the Victims in Nanjing Massacre by Japanese Invaders is a museum to memorialize those that were killed in the Nanjing Massacre by the Imperial Japanese Army in and around the then-capital of China, Nanjing, after it fell on December 13, 1937. It is located in the southwestern corner of downtown Nanjing known as Jiangdongmen (江东门), near a site where thousands of bodies were buried, called a "pit of ten thousand corpses" (simplified Chinese: 万人坑; traditional Chinese: 萬人坑; pinyin: wàn rén kēng).

The Memorial Hall of the Victims in Nanjing Massacre by Japanese Invaders
Simplified Chinese侵华日军南京大屠杀遇难同胞纪念馆
Traditional Chinese侵華日軍南京大屠殺遇難同胞紀念館
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Nanjing Massacre
Main article: Nanjing Massacre

On December 13, 1937, the Japanese Army occupied Nanjing (then spelt Nanking) – then the capital city of the Republic of China. During the first six to eight weeks of their occupation, the Japanese Army committed numerous atrocities, including rape, arson, looting, mass executions, and torture. China estimates that approximately three hundred thousand civilians and unarmed soldiers were brutally slaughtered. This estimate was made from burial records and eyewitness accounts by the Nanjing War Crimes Tribunal and included in the verdict for Hisao Tani. Corpses littered the streets and were seen afloat in rivers for weeks, and many structures in the city were burned down. Countless shops, stores, and residences were looted and sacked.[1]

Japanese soldiers were also reported to have conducted killing competitions and bayonet practice using Chinese prisoners. Approximately twenty thousand cases of rape occurred within the city during the first month of the occupation, according to the "Judgement of the International Military Tribunal".[2] Even children, the elderly, and nuns are reported to have suffered at the hands of the Imperial Japanese Army.[3]

Memorial Hall

The Nanjing Memorial Hall was built in 1985 by the Nanjing Municipal Government in memory of the three hundred thousand victims of the massacre. In 1995, it was enlarged and renovated. The memorial exhibits historical records and objects, and uses architecture, sculptures, and videos to illustrate what happened during the Nanjing Massacre. Many historical items were donated by Japanese members of a Japanese–Chinese friendship group, which also donated a garden located on the museum grounds.

It occupies a total area of approximately twenty-eight thousand square meters, including about three thousand square meters of building floor space.

The memorial consists of three major parts: outdoor exhibits, sheltered skeletal remains of victims, and an exhibition hall of historical documents.

Admission is free. Visitors should prepare themselves for large crowds of people at all times of day.

Outdoor exhibits

The outdoor exhibit include statues, sculptures, relief carvings, tablets, and a large wall listing the names of victims, as well as an atonement tablet and memorial walkway. The memorial walkway displays footprints of survivors, some of which were impressed as recently as 2002.

  • Nanjing Massacre Memorial
  • Iris Chang statue
  • Yanziji Nanjing Massacre Memorial in 2004

Skeletal remains
Skeletal remains

The skeletal remains of massacre victims, now exhibited in a coffin-shaped display hall, were excavated from Jiangdongmen in 1985; 208 more were uncovered in 1998.

Exhibition hall

The tomb-like exhibition hall, half underground, contains more than 1000 items related to the massacre, including an immense collection of pictures, objects, charts, and photographs. Paintings, sculptures, illuminated display cabinets, multimedia screens and documentary films serve to demonstrate to visitors the crimes committed by the Japanese military.

Transportation

The memorial hall is accessible within walking distance west of Yunjinlu Station of Nanjing Metro. Take Line 2 to Yunjinlu Station. Use Exit 2. The entrance to the Memorial Hall is right across the street from the subway entrance.

References
  1. John E. Woods, The Good Man of Nanking, the Diaries of John Rabe, 1998 pp. 275–278
  2. "Nanjing Massacre Memorial Site 200". Archived from the original on 2010-12-05. Retrieved 2009-05-13.
  3. John E. Woods, The Good Man of Nanking, the Diaries of John Rabe, 1998 pp. 275–278, 281

Kirk A. Denton, Exhibiting the Past: Historical Memory and the Politics of Museums in Postsocialist China (University of Hawaii Press, 2014), pp. 143–49.

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