Culture
15:44, 11-Dec-2017
The Last Witness: Nightmares never fade away
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The Nanjing massacre has left people with memories of suffering, and pain that resists healing. Yu Changxiang, one of the survivors of the massacre, spent years living in sorrow, torment, and agony.
The wound of the 90-year-old man is reopened every time the nightmare in Nanjing is mentioned.
In 1937, Yu escaped the massacre after hiding in a cave with his uncle’s family, without having a chance to say goodbye to his father.
"My father didn't run away and chose to stay at home guarding the house. The Japanese invaders broke in and stole everything," recounted Yu. "They dragged my father outside and forced him to carry the items. When he finished, they killed him immediately."
Yu heard about his father from others, and the childhood tragedy left him with a deep emotional scar that time has refused to heal.
It was not until recent years that he dared talk about it and expose his trauma to the public. Yu said he will never forget the bloodshed.
"I feel that whenever I tell the story, it always strikes a chord within me, because my father was so brutally killed by the Japanese," he noted.
"My father never mentioned the Nanjing massacre to me when I was a child. He was unwilling to do so because it made him heartbroken," said Yu Huixia, the daughter of Yu Changxiang.
The man began to tell his story after staff members from The Memorial Hall of the Victims approached him, asking him to share his experience as a witness of the Japanese aggression.
Several years ago, Yu even went to Japan at the invitation of Japanese peace organizations to tell his story to locals in Nagasaki and Fukushima.
He was happy to attend such gatherings. However, something he noticed during his visit surprised him.
"When I asked the local children about the massacre, they all shook their heads and said they didn’t know anything about it, and nobody had told them the story before," said Yu.
This made Yu feel it was necessary to continue his efforts, so people wouldn't forget what happened in the past. He also expressed hope Japanese leaders can respect the history and recognize the facts.
Time has passed, but for Yu Changxiang, the history and memories will not fade away.