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At 8:30 am on June 2, the Memorial Hall held a “lights out” ceremony for Zheng Jinyang, a survivor of the Nanjing Massacre, in front of the photo wall composed of 100 survivors of the Nanjing Massacre. Zheng passed away on the evening of April 11, 2023 at the age of 95.

  “The Witness of Time”and Her Testimony

In 1937, the Japanese troops kept bombing Nanjing. Then we went to Jiangning. One of our relatives, an old woman with bound feet, was unwilling to leave. She was worried about one of her daughters who suffered from mental illness. One day, some Japanese soldiers broke into their house and shot her in the leg. To stop her leg from bleeding, she put the quilt to the wound. But unfortunately, the relative passed away a week later.

When we heard that the Japanese soldiers no longer killed the Chinese people as part of the move to “quiet the people”, we came back. Later we learned that the relative’s daughter (my father’s aunt) was raped many times by the Japanese soldiers.

I was very angry when I heard that Japanese right-wing forces had denied the Nanjing Massacre. I want to ask them: Were you in Nanjing in 1937? If you were not in Nanjing in 1937, you have no right to say that. How did my great-grandmother die? History is not made up by you!

History Is a Warning to Future Generations

Zeng Zhaorong, son of Zheng Jinyang

Zeng Zhaorong donates Zheng Jinyang’s certificate in honor of the 30th anniversary of her educational career to the Memorial Hall

After the founding of the People’s Republic of China, Zheng became a teacher. While imparting knowledge to her students for more than 40 years, she also shared her personal experiences during the Nanjing Massacre with them. Zheng deserves our respect for dedicating herself to education, and also for speaking for spreading the historical truth behind the Nanjing Massacre and calling on people to cherish peace throughout her life.

Heartwarming Memories of Zheng’s Students

In 1944, Zheng graduated from Nanjing Normal College (today’s Nanjing Normal University) and became a teacher at a primary school near Xinjiekou. Later, she worked at Nanjing Diaoyutai Elementary School until 1985 when she retired. Her students are now everywhere across the country.

A group photo of Zheng Jinyang (front row, first from left) and her students (courtesy of Wang Yihua)

 “Mrs Zheng was our class teacher. She was dedicated to her work and strict with us. She knew every student very well. Even the naughtiest student behaved well in front of her. Before we graduated, she always told us that we should be responsible for ourselves and our parents and focus on our studies,” Wang Yihua recalled.

 “Mrs Zheng taught Chinese very well and was strict with students. She was meticulous and would help us develop good learning habits and lay a solid foundation for acquiring knowledge according to the traits of each of us. We had benefited a lot. What Mrs Zheng taught us was helpful to me even after I graduated from primary school,” Mr Xu recalled.

After the Memorial Hall announced the passing of Zheng, many of her students left messages online. “Mrs Zheng was tall. She was very strict with us. When she circled some sentences on my composition book with her red pen, she was saying I wrote well. One night, there was a power cut and I was writing a composition under the light of a kerosene lamp after dinner. Suddenly, I heard a familiar voice. Mrs Zheng visited me in darkness. She told me I shouldn’t talk in class. She also encouraged me to work more on Chinese and math,” said a netizen called Hangong.

   “Mrs Zheng’s earnest instruction will benefit me for the rest of my life. I remembered I often went to her home to ask her for help when I had problems in primary school. She lived on Jiqing Road. Her son was about the same age as us. We were in the same grade, but not in the same class,” said a netizen called Uncle Pu.

  “Mrs Zheng was kind and amiable. She was the class teacher and the first teacher of my father when he was in primary school. She spent more than 40 years teaching,” said a netizen called Xingyun Shenzhu.

As the lightbox of Zheng was turned off, she has become a star in the sky. She will stay with us forever.

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