Jiang Dongping | do not forget the suffering and move forward with courage

Don't forget the suffering, move forward with courage

——Written on the National Day of Commemoration for the Victims of the Nanjing Massacre in 2021

Jiang Dongping

"The National Sacrifice, the Statute of Laws." Cast Zi Baoding, worship our country' death. "The quaint and solemn national memorial hall is quietly placed on the memorial square of the Compatriots Killed in the Nanjing Massacre of the Japanese Army invading China, and the 160-word inscription tells people about the history of the Nanjing Massacre and the establishment of the National Memorial Day. The national sacrifice is a painful remembrance of national suffering, a profound solidification of the country's memory, and a solemn declaration of safeguarding peace.

History, not faded by the passage of time, but appeared brighter and brighter in the awakening of memory again and again. Opening the 1937 calendar, the sound of gunfire on the side of the Lugou Bridge opened the prelude to the national war of resistance, and the artillery fire on the Songhu battlefield broke the dream of the Japanese army 'march to die in China'. In the smoke of the Nanjing defense war, the defenders sang the lamentations of Jinling, vowed to coexist and die with Nanjing, and fought to defend Nanjing to the last moment. On December 13, Nanjing fell, and 300,000 lives were trampled and killed, forever in the Nanjing Massacre, which lasted more than six weeks. The fear of children, the crying of women, the despair of the elderly... It became the most heart-wrenching page of this dark history.

Do not forget the suffering, but strengthen the inheritance and transmission of historical memory. At the scene of the family sacrifice of the victims of the Nanjing Massacre, representatives of the survivors of the Nanjing Massacre, accompanied by their children, presented flowers to the wall of the list of compatriots killed. The 98-year-old Xie Guiying could not help but cry about the unforgettable past of 84 years ago, he had escaped from death three times, the scars on his head were still clearly visible, and the experience of being brutally attacked by the Japanese army was buried deep in his heart for more than 80 years before he plucked up the courage to expose the atrocities of the invaders, which was a pain that could not be touched, and there was no broken thought of the relatives who were killed. In the memorial hall, the names on the wall of the list of compatriots who were killed, the files of more than 10,000 boxes of historical witnesses on the archives, and the 1213 pairs of eyes on the wall of survivors' photos are a just condemnation and profound warning of all acts of aggression and atrocities that violate human civilization, trample on human dignity, and challenge the bottom line of human nature. Chinese people will never forget all the heroes, martyrs, and innocent compatriots who were brutally killed by the invaders during Japan's war of aggression against China, and have been transformed into the memory of the city, the memory of the nation, and the memory of the country in the process of passing on the historical memory from generation to generation.

Do not forget suffering, but feel the profound meaning of cherishing peace. "War is a mirror that can better understand the preciousness of peace." Peace, harmony and harmony are the concepts that the Chinese nation has been pursuing and inheriting for more than 5,000 years, but after the Opium War in 1840, the country was humiliated, the people were embarrassed, and the civilization was dusted, and China gradually degenerated into a semi-colonial and semi-feudal society, and the Chinese people were ravaged by wars of aggression. Until the founding of the Communist Party of China, it united and led the Chinese people to fight bloody battles and perseverance, created the great achievements of the new democratic revolution, established a new China in which the people were the masters of their own affairs, and realized national independence and people's liberation. Remembering the history of suffering and safeguarding the hard-won peace is a profound conclusion drawn by the Chinese people from the history of humiliation and blood and tears in modern times. Having personally experienced the pain of war, we are more aware of the preciousness of peace, and we must maintain a high degree of vigilance and resolute opposition to any words and deeds that deny and beautify the history of aggression.

Don't forget the suffering, we must forge ahead with the ambition to create the future. History is the best textbook and the best sobering agent. Only when we are sober can we have the consciousness of not forgetting the national shame; only by educating future generations can we inspire the responsibility of realizing the dream of China. The Chinese nation has experienced many tribulations, but it has never been crushed, but has become more and more courageous, constantly growing in tribulations and rising from tribulations! Today's China has built a moderately prosperous society in an all-round way and embarked on a new journey of comprehensively building a modern socialist country; today's Nanjing is gathering the power of innovation, taking advantage of the momentum of opening up, taking the road of common prosperity, and advancing toward the goal of comprehensively building a model city of socialist modernization that the people are satisfied with. Only by constantly satisfying the people's new expectations for a better life, constantly pushing forward the great historical cause of the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation, completely destroying all delusions of bullying, oppressing, and enslaving the Chinese people, and making all attempts to hinder China's development and progress completely fail, is the best consolation for the heroic martyrs of the war and the compatriots who died.

Eighty-four years later, and now it's a step from scratch. In the world of great changes and China in the new era, we need to take history as a mirror, create the future, always have far-sighted considerations, think of danger in times of peace, and gather the majestic power of home and country feelings. Let us not forget yesterday's suffering and glory, worthy of today's mission, live up to tomorrow's great dream, with the lofty attitude of "a strong country has me", bravely move forward on the kangzhuang avenue of the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation, cherish the time, work hard, and struggle again!

Author: Jiang Dongping, commentator of the National Institute of Memory and International Peace

Editor: Zhao Yihan

Reviewer: Li Ling

Producer: Ling Xi