10th Session of Purple Grass Peace Lecture Series | Eight-year Trudge of Documents of Nanjing Massacre into Memory of the World
The Nanjing Massacre has been recorded in words and photos by people from both home and abroad which have formed Documents of Nanjing Massacre with ironclad evidence. In October 2015, United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (abbreviated as UNESCO) announced that Documents of Nanjing Massacre was listed into Memory of the World. And history memory of Nanjing Massacre had been elevated from Chinese memory to memory of the world, becoming the memory heritage recognized by the globe.
In the afternoon on November 6th 2019, Xia Bei, director of Division of Historical Materials’ Development and Utilization of Nanjing Archives who had been engaged in the application of Documents of Nanjing Massacre to Memory of the World, came to 10th Session of Purple Grass Peace Lecture Series to be a lecturer. Xia Bei shared with the audience main content of the Documents, application process and significance of successful listing into Memory of the World.
Eight-year Trudge to Memory of the World Withstanding Deliberate Considerations
The project, Documents of Nanjing Massacre being applied to Memory of the World, kicked off in August 2008 and completed in October 2015, eight years in total.
Xia Bei said, “In August 2008, Carmen D. Padilla, chairman of Culture Committee of UNESCO, proposed that Documents of Nanjing Massacre should be listed into Memory of the World in order to be better protected when she visited the Memorial Hall, in particular when she saw the camera with 16mm films by American missionary John Magee and photos of Nanjing Massacre.”
In January 2009, Zhu Cheng-shan, former curator of the Memorial, and 9 other NPC members proposed to the 14th national people’s congress for Nanjing Massacre archives to be listed into Memory of the World. In April, after consultation, Memorial Hall of the Victims in Nanjing Massacre by Japanese Invaders, the Second Historical Archives of China and Nanjing Archives jointly applied to UNESCO for China’s history to be included, which marked the first step of the trudge.
In February 2010, Archives of the Victims in Nanjing Massacre by Japanese Invaders (Five Groups) passed domestic evaluation in China to be successfully listed into China Archives Heritage List. This was the first milestone of success.
On July 23rd 2012, Nanjing municipal government instructed to set up leadership workgroup for the application of Documents of Nanjing Massacre into Memory of the World, officially kicking off the application.
On March 5th 2014, National Archives Administration of China decided to apply for Memory of the World of UNESCO with Documents of Nanjing Massacre and Comfort Women Archives. In addition to the Memorial, the Second Historical Archives of China and Nanjing Archives, four others were included in the project i.e. National Archives Administration of China, Liaoning Archives, Jilin Archives and Shanghai Archives. By then, seven administrations were in charge of the application and they expanded application samples from five groups to eleven groups which included The Diary of Cheng Rui-fang, 16mm movie films, film cassette, camera and other relevant videos by American missionary John Magee.
On March 30th 2014, Memory of China Committee submitted eleven samples to UNESCO Memory of the World Committee, initiating the application for Memory of the World officially.
On October 4th 2015, Chinese delegation led by Li Ming-hua, director of National Archives Administration of China, went to Abu Dhabi of United Arad Emirates for the application. In the evening on October 9th local time in Paris, UNESCO released the list of Memory of the World of 2015 on its official website, among which Documents of Nanjing Massacre submitted by China was included which became the 10th Memory of the World in China.
Decision over Archives for Application after Deliberation
The biggest difficulty in the application was “what to select”. At that time, the Memorial, the Second Historical Archives of China and Nanjing Archives preserved abundant archives of Nanjing Massacre. It was impossible to include all archives. Then the question came: what archives should be included to apply for Memory of the World?
“Experts pondered over such a big volume of archives and they even had argument. But finally they came to an agreement that they would select the archives by strictly following the requirements of Memory of the World Program”, Xia Bei said.
After elaborative selection, Memory of China Committee submitted the following 11 samples to UNESCO Memory of the World Committee.
The Diary of Cheng Rui-fang, housemaster in Ginling College located within Nanking Safety zone;
Camera with 16mm films and its master film by American missionary John Magee;
16 photos taken by Japanese invaders themselves of killing civilians and raping women that were preserved by Nanjing citizen Luo Jin risking his own life;
Photos of Japanese invaders’ atrocities submitted to Nanjing Provisional Council by Chinese citizen Wu Xuan;
Verdict by Nanjing Military Tribunal in trial of Japanese war criminal Hisao Tani;
Testimony of American citizen Miner Searle Bates on Nanjing Military Tribunal;
Testimony of Li Xiu-ying, survivor of Nanjing Massacre;
Investigation form by Enemies’ Crime Investigation Committee of Nanjing Massacre under Nanjing Provisional Council;
Evidence of crime after investigation by Nanjing Military Tribunal;
Documents submitted by citizens in Nanjing Massacre;
Occupying Nanjing, a Narration by the Witness, diary of a foreigner
This batch of archives were generated from year 1937 to 1948 with a clear history and mutual complementation to form a complete chain of evidence. Atrocities by Japanese invaders in Nanjing from different angles were recorded including slaughtering, plundering and raping. Those archives, with significant historical value, were a strong response to Japanese right-wing forces who denied the history of Nanjing Massacre.
Activities after Success into Memory of the World
When Documents of Nanjing Massacre was successfully listed into Memory of the World, it was promised to the international community to publicize the archives in accordance with UNESCO regulations. How to effectively protect and reasonably utilize the archives?
Xia Bei introduced that after the success, Nanjing Archives built a storage hall for original archives of Nanjing Massacre. Seven institutions that had been part of the application jointly organized, digitized and compiled Documents of Nanjing Massacre and they also created a database.
In addition, National Archives Administration of China published Documents of Nanjing Massacre in 2017. Those authentic and precious historical archives attested atrocities by Japanese invaders in Nanjing
Memory of the World: Documents of Nanjing Massacre
In 2016, exhibition with the theme of Descendants of Hamburg: Humane in Nanjing was on display in Hamburg, Germany, presenting those Germans who helped protect Chinese people during Nanjing Massacre.
Exhibition of Nanjing Massacre had made its presence in over 30 countries and regions around the world. It explored and disseminated the narrations of descendants of survivors and foreign friends. Purple Grass International Peace School was opened in Nanjing. Four years after the success into Memory of the World, the Memorial had organized book writing, monument setting and ceremonial educational activities. And voice of remembering history and treasuring peace had been uttered to the world through public media and we-media.