Nanjing #2: Massacre Memorial Hall and Museum


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Asia » China » Jiangsu » Nanjing
November 14th 2017
Published: January 25th 2018
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I hadn't been feeling too well during the night, so my plans to get up early and go explore were nixed. I stayed in bed to catch up on some sleep before finally getting ready to head out. When I was checking out, I was able to leave my backpack there, so that I didn't have to lug it around with me. My first stop was breakfast and I headed to the Starbucks near the subway station, so that I could get food and a caffeine hit. This place was tiny and really busy, however I was lucky to be able to snag a seat. I decided to have a slow start to my morning and spent some time reading my book. When I was finally ready to tear myself away from my book, I headed to the place that I was most interested in seeing in Nanjing, the Memorial Hall of the Nanjing Massacre. This is located at Yunjin Lu metro station and is just across the street from exit two. There were quite a few people there, when I arrived but luckily, it wasn't oppressively crowded.

The Nanjing Massacre or the Rape of Nanking, as it is also commonly known, was committed by troops of the Japanese Imperial Army, in and around the city of Nanjing. The city fell on the 13th December, 1937 and during the following six weeks, the Imperial Japanese army committed horrific atrocities; arson, looting, murder, rape and torture. The Memorial Hall and its grounds were built in 1985 by the Nanjing Municipal Government in memory of the 300,000 victims that lost their lives during the massacre. The Memorial Hall sets the sombre tone from the start, as you walk along the path towards the entrance, the path is lined with sculptures that depict people suffering from the massacre, trying to flee and help their family members. The sculptures are also accompanied by short texts in Mandarin and English describing the anguish people wet through. The walk down the path lead me to the memorial bell and a huge urn, like those found at the entrance of temples, where incense sticks are burnt.

I followed the crowd and went into the massacre memorial hall. This was filled with information about the massacre. Since I was pretty ignorant about the finer details, it was really interesting to read. Old black and white films that documented the horrors were also playing. I spent a long time inside, reading all the details and trying to take it all in. One thing I found really interesting was the foreigners living in and around Nanjing that helped the locals during this terrible time. There was one photograph of a German Nazi outside his property with a huge swastika flag being used to denote that it was a safe place. After all the atrocities that the Nazi Party committed, it was really strange to see the swastika being used for good.

I continued to follow the path around and saw the pits that contained the bodies of some of the victims of the Nanjing massacre. It reminded me of an archaeological dig, with the bodies laying uncovered, however no historians needed to guess how these people died. The eternal flame was also beautiful. I spent some more time wandering around the grounds, looking at the peace statue and other sculptures that were on display. The artwork doesn't shy away from showing the horrors that people endured. There was a also a statue of Iris Chang. She wrote a book called 'The Rape of Nanking', which details what happened during the massacre. I must have spent a couple of hours wandering around the Memorial Hall and its grounds trying to take in all the information.

I decided to walk along to the lake park that was only a couple of subway stops away. Since it wasn't far, I preferred to walk instead of taking the subway. I was getting hungry so I stopped off for a convenience store lunch. The walk took me about 30 minutes with the break. However, when I got to the park, you couldn't see anything because of the walls around it, and it looked like you had to pay to enter. Not knowing if it would be worth it, I decided to give it as miss. Also the pollution was really bad, the air was thick with smog, so I hopped on the subway and headed to the Nanjing Museum, thinking that an indoor activity would be better for my lungs. It was a pretty quick journey to reach the subway station for the Nanjing Museum, then about a ten minute walk to reach the museum. The museum is free to enter, but you have to take your ID and register at the ticket office. Big Brother is always watching in China. Although no one ever checked my ticket, so I am sure you can skip the whole process and just walk in. The grounds of the museum were nice and well kept. I liked seeing the autumnal colours that were on display.

The museum is spread over two buildings. I went to building that housed all the artwork first. I enjoyed looking around the art work and calligraphy. I have no idea what any of it says, but it is all really pretty. I really liked the lower floor, which has been made into a mock-up of an old style shopping street. There are loads of little shops and cafes to explore. It is really cute and I loved all the old advertisements from days gone by plastered on the walls. There were some cool, old cars and an old tram, too. I liked that people could actually go inside and sample life in the past at the little cafes and shops. I then headed over to the other building, which contained exhibits about the history of Jiangsu province, of which Nanjing is the capital. There were lots of old pieces of pottery, ceramics, tools, weapons and utensils on display. There were also some cool exhibits of animals bones, showing the animals that roamed the area long, long ago. After the museum, I headed back to the hostel to pick up my backpack and headed to the train station. I had enjoyed my quick trip to Nanjing. There is a lot to see and do there and I only managed to explore a small part of the city. It is definitely a place I intend to return to so that I can explore more of the area.


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