Nanjing Artist Zhang Yubiao’s Decade-long Effort: 112 Paintings Etching the Memory of the Nanjing Massacre
87 years ago, the lives of 300,000 Chinese were ruthlessly ended under the iron hooves of the invading Japanese army, and many of them left no photographs behind. For the surviving families, this is a lifelong regret. In 2007, the Nanjing-born artist Zhang Yubiao used sketches to depict some of the victimized relatives of the Nanjing Massacre survivors, completing a total of 33 portraits. When the survivors saw the portraits of their loved ones drawn by him, they couldn’t help but shed tears. Over the following decade, Zhang Yubiao continued to create 50 portraits of Nanjing Massacre survivors, 24 pen-and-ink drawings of the Memorial Hall’s architectural landscape, 1 oil painting titled The Peace Commemoration - The Spiritual Light of Nanjing Massacre Survivors, and 1 large-scale oil painting titled The Nanjing Trial of Japanese War Criminals. Persisting in his work, he later drew three additional portraits for the victimized relatives of survivor Shi Xiuying in 2017. He condensed his passion and dedication into these 112 artworks, presenting the history of the Nanjing Massacre to the world. The Memorial Hall Media Convergence Center launched the twelfth episode of the “What Does the Nanjing Massacre Have to Do with Me” series, narrating Zhang Yubiao’s story and his Nanjing Massacre-themed artworks.