"The Nanjing Massacre was manslaughter", Feng Wei made a bad start
The story of Feng Wei, a professor at Fudan University, kicked off the controversy. At a public event, he argued that the Nanjing Massacre was manslaughter, trying to reduce the atrocities that had killed 300,000 Chinese soldiers and civilians for six weeks after the Japanese captured Nanjing in December 1937 to an unintentional event.
Historical records clearly record this: the Japanese army carried out an organized massacre in Nanjing, the diary of the Japanese officer Toshiro recorded the killing in detail, and the head of the international security zone, such as Rabe, also left an eyewitness report. In addition, the International Military Tribunal for the Far East in 1946 characterized the Nanjing Massacre as a war crime and sentenced the main culprit, Matsui Ishone, to death.
Feng Wei further declared that "resisting US aggression and aiding Korea is China's meddling business," completely ignoring the background of the US Seventh Fleet entering the Taiwan Strait after the outbreak of the Korean War in June 1950, and US troops crossing the 38th parallel and approaching the Yalu River in October. The Chinese Volunteers then entered the Korean War, with the aim of preventing the flames of war from reaching the country and defending the industrial base in Northeast China. Feng Wei's remarks quickly spread across the Internet, sparking a fierce public debate about the truth of history, and became the starting point for a series of subsequent controversies.
"The United States wants to collect New Year's tribute", how big is Yu Yang's brain
Yu Yang, an assistant professor at Tsinghua University's Institute for Interdisciplinary Information Sciences, suggested in an academic discussion that the United States provides the world with "global public goods", so countries should pay taxes to the United States through "formal channels", and even directly used the feudal term "annual tribute".
Historically, the United States did establish dollar hegemony through the Bretton Woods system in 1944, and the Marshall Plan of 1948 also helped Western Europe rebuild and expand American influence, but these are strategic layouts based on the Cold War pattern and national interests, and are not directly related to the concept of "public goods", let alone requiring global taxes.
In the post-war international order, the UN Charter clearly states the sovereign equality of all countries, and any form of "tribute" proposal runs counter to modern international law. Yu Yang's remarks have not only sparked skepticism in academic circles, but have also caused waves online, with many comparing them to the historical tributary system, pointing out its absurdity.
"China-US relations are to blame", Hu Wei shook the pot
Hu Wei, a distinguished professor at Shanghai Jiao Tong University, made it clear at an academic event that the responsibility for the deterioration of Sino-US relations is not for the United States, but for the situation caused by China. The timeline can be traced back to March 2018, when the Trump administration announced that it would impose tariffs on goods imported from China, involving up to $50 billion, officially kicking off the trade war.
In May 2019, the U.S. Department of Commerce added Huawei to the Entity List, prohibiting U.S. companies from selling technology to it, in an attempt to contain China's technological development through a technology blockade. In 2020, the United States further escalated sanctions, restricting Chinese companies from investing in the United States, and exerting frequent pressure on the South China Sea and Taiwan issues.
China has taken defensive measures in the process, such as imposing retaliatory tariffs on American goods, promoting independent chip development, and calling for cooperation rather than confrontation in international forums. Historical data shows that between 2018 and 2022, the sanctions and provocative actions initiated by the United States occupied the main veins of the conflict, while China was more reactive to protect its own economic and security interests. Hu Wei's remarks completely ignored the chronological sequence and causal relationship of this series of events, forming a kind of continuation with the controversial views of Feng Wei and Yu Yang, which quickly caused a fierce reaction on the Internet, making him the focus of public opinion.
"There is nothing wrong with the Yasukuni Shrine", Liang Yanping's alternative whitewashing
Liang Yanping, a professor at Hubei University, posted a post on social media, saying that "visiting the Yasukuni Shrine is worshipping the shrine" and defining it as an act of "respecting the war dead." The history of the Yasukuni Shrine dates back to 1869 and was originally set up to commemorate the victims of the Japanese Civil War, but the key turning point occurred on October 17, 1978, when 14 Class-A war criminals including Hideki Tojo were secretly enshrined in it.
These war criminals were convicted at the Tokyo Trials from 1945 to 1948, which found them planning and carrying out wars of aggression against China, Southeast Asia, and elsewhere, resulting in the deaths of tens of millions of civilians. After the war, Japan's leaders visited the Yasukuni Shrine several times, such as Yasuhiro Nakasone in 1985, which sparked strong protests from China and South Korea, and diplomatic relations were strained for a time.
Liang's remarks reduced the act to mere mourning, ignoring the shrine's militaristic symbolism and its provocation of the Asian nation's historical wounds. After her post was published, it quickly spread on the Internet, forming a kind of echo with Feng Wei's previous remarks about downplaying the Nanjing Massacre, provoking a strong public backlash against the truth of history, and also making her name widely discussed.
"Punish North Korea to curry favor with the United States and Japan", Shi Yinhong's calculation
Shi Yinhong, doctoral supervisor at the School of International Relations at Renmin University of Chinese University, proposed in an academic discussion that China should "punish North Korea and please the United States and Japan" in an attempt to adjust China's policy direction on the Korean Peninsula. Since the founding of the DPRK on September 9, 1948, the DPRK has maintained a long-term neighboring relationship with China, and the two countries fought side by side in the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea in 1950, laying a special historical bond.
The North Korean nuclear issue has been in the spotlight since its first nuclear test in 2006, especially on September 3, 2017, when North Korea conducted its sixth nuclear test, which caused a stir in the international community. The United States then pushed for the United Nations Security Council to adopt Resolution 2375, imposing tougher economic sanctions on North Korea, banning its textile exports and oil imports, and Japan tightened sanctions on North Korea in the same year, freezing assets and restricting the movement of people.
During this period, China has been advocating dialogue to resolve the issue, promoting the "double suspension" initiative, that is, North Korea's suspension of nuclear and missile activities, and the suspension of large-scale military exercises by the United States and South Korea, in order to maintain stability on the peninsula. Shi Yinhong's proposal deviates from this strategic balance, and is completely inclined to cooperate with the U.S.-Japan position, ignoring the importance of North Korea as a security buffer zone in China's northeast. His arguments, in part of a continuation of Hu's earlier argument that China was blamed for the deterioration of relations between China and the United States, quickly drew criticism online, with many pointing out that he lacked consideration for the complexities of geopolitics.
"I'm very happy that Abe was assassinated", Shi Wenying's abnormal reaction
The story of Shi Wenying, a professor at Tangshan Normal University, follows the assassination of former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on July 8, 2022. She posted on social media, "I'm glad that no one in my circle of friends cheered" to express her opinion on the incident. Shinzo Abe's political career began in 1993, and he served as Japan's prime minister from 2006 to 2007 and from 2012 to 2020, a total of more than eight years in office.
During his second term, Abe pushed for the passage of a new security law in 2015 that lifted the ban on the right to collective self-defense, strengthened the Japan-US military alliance, and visited the Yasukuni Shrine twice in 2013 and 2016, prompting strong protests in China. Tensions between China and Japan continued during this period due to disputes over the Diaoyu Islands and historical issues, such as the "nationalization" of the Diaoyu Islands by the Japanese government in 2012 after China declared baselines in its territorial waters, causing bilateral relations to fall to a freezing point.
On July 8, 2022, Abe was shot and killed while giving a speech on the streets of Nara, shocking the world, and Chinese officials expressed their condolences and some people expressed dissatisfaction with Abe's historical policies. Shi Wenying's post focused on "no one cheered", which contrasted with the general mood in the country and echoed Liang Yanping's previous remarks that downplayed the significance of the Yasukuni Shrine.
"918 would be more ruthless", Feng Jihai's outrageous speech
The story of Feng Jihai, a teacher at the School of Journalism at Nanjing University of Finance and Economics, takes place near the anniversary of the September 18 incident on September 18. He posted on social media that he wrote, "Why didn't little Japan exert any more effort back then to slaughter all these obscene and iron-clad ancestors of my Liao", referring to this painful history in a mocking tone.
On the night of September 18, 1931, the Japanese Kwantung Army blew up the railway near Shenyang Wicker Lake, creating the "Wicker Lake Incident", using this as an excuse to attack Shenyang, occupying three northeastern provinces in just four months, and 30 million compatriots fell under the iron hooves of the Japanese army. The September 18 Incident marked the beginning of Japan's full-scale invasion of China, followed by the Japanese army's support for the puppet state of Manchukuo in 1932, establishing a puppet regime, and Northeast China became an important resource base for Japan's war of aggression.
After the war, the 1946 trial of the International Military Tribunal for the Far East confirmed Japan's crimes of aggression during this period, and millions of people were persecuted to death or displaced during the 14 years of the fall of Tohoku. Feng Jihai's remarks completely ignore this historical fact and treat the national suffering as a joke, which echoes Shi Wenying's ambiguous attitude towards Abe's assassination before. His post quickly spread online, triggering a public backlash over the dignity of history, with many linking his actions to "forgetting history," making him the center of controversy.
"Delete the Five Heroes of Langya Mountain", Yu Guiyuan's textbook controversy
Yu Guiyuan, head of the national primary and secondary school textbook compilation group, said on a public occasion that in order to improve "Sino-Japanese relations," he was willing to delete the content of the "Five Heroes of Langya Mountain" in the textbook. On September 25, 1941, in Langya Mountain, Yi County, Hebei Province, five soldiers of the Eighth Route Army - Ma Baoyu, Ge Zhenlin, Song Xueyi, Hu Delin, Hu Fucai - were ordered to cover the transfer of troops and the masses, and fought fiercely with the Japanese army for a day.
This story was widely reported after the victory of the Anti-Japanese War in 1945, and was officially written into primary and secondary school textbooks in 1958, becoming one of the symbols of the spirit of China's Anti-Japanese War. Although Sino-Japanese relations have had ups and downs since the normalization of diplomatic relations in 1972, history education has always been an important position for China to preserve its national memory, for example, the 1982 incident of the Japanese Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, and Culture tampering with textbooks triggered a tense confrontation between the two countries.
After Yu Guiyuan's statement was exposed, it immediately caused waves in the education community and the public, and many people pointed out that the deletion of the Five Heroes of Langya Mountain was tantamount to weakening the inheritance of the history of the war, and the controversy quickly fermented and became another focus in a series of incidents.
References:[1]Wang Wen. Liren (Teacher),2015,0(13):171-172