After another 24 hour train ride we made it back to almost the East Coast. Nanjing is three hours from Shanghai by train but it is definitely part of the more developed East Coast region. The reason we stopped was to go to the museum dedicated to remembering the event know as the "Rape of Nanjing" that the Japanese perpetrated in 1937 and 38 here.

Since coming to Japan we have gotten to know quite a bit about Asian history and one thing that stands out, even in current events, is the mutual dislike that Korea and China share for Japan and vice versa. The reasons for these suspicions goes back a long ways, longer than the events of the Japanese takeover preceding WWII. But the Rape of Nanjing was a particular cruel example of disrespect for a people and must be remembered. In Japan there are various opinions on what happened including some who say it is all a hoax invented by the Chinese. So with this a background we went there.

In many ways the museum wasn't that shocking. We had read the stories and seen the pictures before. But it was quite something to be standing in the place where the terrible events actually happened. The museum itself is set upon, what was at one time, a mass burial site for the massacred Chinese. In the bottom picture is a part of the museum that has been excavated and the remains of Chinese killed by the Japanese are on display. The museum also has a section that tells the events leading up to the takeover and how exactly the massacre unfolded. Click here to read about one incident that occurred.

After visiting the museum and seeing the devastation Nanjing went through during the war it was quite a contrast to walk the main drag in the afternoon where people carry on and where none of the marks that must lie beneath are exposed. But it is important to remember history and to get as accurate a perspective as possible on what happened so that relations in the present can be based on reality.

Nanjing is a real center for foreign students studying in China and because of that has a bit of a cosmopolitan feel. We enjoyed Korean food made by Koreans at a restaurant where most of the clientele seems to be Koreans studying in China. Also, there seem to be quite a few Americans studying here as we ate at a restaurant that served fajitas, a long missed taste of home.

The next day we took the train back to Shanghai and met up with Ting and her family again. They were quite interested in our adventure and said that we were fortunate to have seen so much of China. They said most Chinese don't have such a chance even though it is their own country. We definitely agreed that it had been quite the opportunity.

We spent the last day with Ting and her high school friends. We went to church in the morning and went bowling in the afternoon. Ting's mom's business partner, Mr. Wong, insisted on taking us out for dinner one last time. So for the last time we had a feast fit for a king. Then next day we headed to the airport with Ting and got on our plane for Fukuoka. And when we got off the plane we were glad to be in the place that now feels familiar to us. We enjoyed the clean bathrooms, liked that we could understand most everything, and laughed when we saw the people around us bowing and bowing. Isn't it interesting how different countries are so unique??

On to Final Reflections page