Nanjing's Massacre Memorial
Renovating War Memory in Nanjing and Tokyo
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 7837255 |
|---|---|
| Authors | John Kingston (0000-0003-3869-9788, corresponding author), Jeff Kingston |
| Year | 2013 |
| Volume | 11 |
| Issue | S7 |
| Pages | 443-470 |
| Publication date | 2013-01-01 |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Japan focus (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1557-4660 • E-ISSN: 1557-4660 |
| Publisher | Cambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.1017/s1557466013026004 |
| OpenAlex | W4410183546, W4410183500, W4410182169 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 3 |
The Nanjing Massacre (also called the Nanjing Atrocity or Incident) is a much-contested historical event that has generated heated debates among historians and the general public on questions ranging from the validity of the reported number of victims to criticism of some documents as having been fabricated. (For a discussion of these issues, see Joshua A. Fogel, “Response to Herbert P. Bix, ‘Remembering the Nanking Massacre,’” Japan Focus). The Nanjing Massacre has become a site of “competing narratives” between China and Japan, since it was mobilized to legitimize an “official” history of each nation, and this is the underlying issue at stake. The Nanjing Massacre Memorial's (hereafter NMM) presentation of the victimization of Chinese people by Japanese militaries has been challenged by the Japanese government. By re-examining historical debates on the incident in the context of recent China-Japan relations, the author shows how the memory of war is constructed in the newly renovated NMM and how the memorial has further encouraged antagonistic attitudes between Japanese and Chinese citizens. The current conflict between China and Japan over the NMM, however, is not entirely shaped by a state invoking patriotism from its own citizens. It has also been influenced by small yet powerful interest groups who mobilize media to generate blatant nationalist sentiments among the public, sometimes more vigorously than the government wishes. By looking at the museum's display of artifacts, documents, and statistical data, this essay inquires into the way state patriotism and popular nationalism are entwined to produce monolithic views of history
Art history · Media studies · Sociology · History · Vietnamese History and Culture Studies
| Highly cited | No |
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