Public Memorial Day
National Memorial Day is a national commemoration event established by a country to commemorate the major ethnic disasters that have occurred. The decision passed unanimously at the Seventh Session of the Standing Committee of the 12th National People's Congress of the People's Republic of China: December 13 will be identified as the National Memorial Day for the Victims of the Nanjing Massacre.
Use this to mourn the victims of the Nanjing Massacre and all the victims who were brutally killed by the Japanese invaders, remember the revolutionary martyrs and national heroes who sacrificed their lives for the Chinese people's War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, remember the profound disasters caused to the Chinese people and the people of the world, and declare the firm position of remembering history, not forgetting the past, cherishing peace, and creating the future.
"Restoration from 1942" is the latest anti-time travel novel created by Nanjing writer Ryer. During the conception of this book, she visited the Nanjing Massacre Memorial Hall many times for visits and remembrance. In the book, she described the great harm caused to the Chinese people through the experiences and feelings of several Chinese and foreign college students in the memorial hall, and conveyed the firm belief that future generations will never forget the national humiliation.
On the occasion of the public memorial day, the relevant content in "Restoration from 1942" will be excerpted as follows. Let us remember history, commemorate our compatriots, pay tribute to heroes, and pray for peace!
Chapter 8 Waiting for an apology (selected)
Half an hour later, the five people went from tall to short to descending order, and stood in front of the gate of Jiangdongmen Memorial Hall : Roger Gail, Li Yixing, Ohashi Qingzhi, Lu Yunyun, and Zhou Shuisheng.
The small conflict in front of the coffee shop has become an opportunity for off-campus research. Lu Yunyun asked Zhou Shuisheng and Japanese student Kiyoshi Ohashi to visit the memorial hall with her. Roger Gale was the "golden retriever" who helped to do the questionnaire before. He was not interested in the big deal when watching the fun, and raised his hand on the spot to say that he would also participate. As for Li Yixing, he is not an international student, but a senior student in computer science and technology majoring. He is the same class as Lu Yunyun. He met the two before and had some connections, so he also took a taxi and followed him.
Standing at the entrance of the memorial hall, looking at it, the whole building is not tall, the facade is dark yellow of brick and stone buildings, like the deepest color of the earth's soil. Above that wall, the silver-gray words appear bright and dazzling under the sunlight:
Memorial Hall of the Victims of the Nanjing Massacre by Japanese Invaders
Under the Chinese, there is an English translation. Seeing the line "The Memorial Hall of the Victims in Nanjing Massacre by Japanese Invaders", Ohashi Kiyoto's face turned dark instantly.
"No," he first said a negative in English, and then stated loudly, "We, textbooks, explanations. You, forged. Numbers, not right." Although
is in plastic Chinese, the basic meaning is clear.
This time, Lu Yunyun sneered: "Yes, I know, your Japanese textbook says that the Nanjing Massacre was forged by us, saying that no 300,000 people died - then you can see for yourself, who is forging it?"
Her question made Ohashi Kiyoto's face even more ugly.
Lu Yunyun took a deep breath, calmed down her mood, and then continued: "Student Oqiao, since you have chosen to come to China and study in Nanjing, you must have a good impression of our culture. But, I want to ask you, you have been studying in Nanjing for a while, right? Have you seen it here? Have you understood it?"
Oqiao Qingzhi was silent. He does like Chinese culture, and after he came to Nanjing, he did know the existence of this memorial hall, but he didn't believe it and didn't want to see it.
As long as you don’t read it, it doesn’t exist, and he can continue to believe in those textbooks, those textbooks he learned since childhood and stated “forged” content.
The cognition that has been educated since childhood, and the real buildings in front of him, the two emotions were torn and fought in the chest of Kiyoshi Ohashi's chest. He suddenly asked loudly: "Eighty years, you, don't let it go, why?"
"You want to say, why has the Chinese been letting go of this matter after more than 80 years have passed?"
The person who responded to him was not Lu Yunyun, but Li Yixing. The senior boy looked at his friend and said in a deep voice: "Qingzhi, this question should not be asked us, you should answer it yourself. Please read this exhibition and answer me - this is my only request as your friend."
Kashi Ohashi still did not recognize him, and he did not have the courage to step into the memorial hall. Until Roger Gail smiled and slapped the Japanese youth on the back:
"Let's go, just go and see. You said you are the victim, I am the 'perpetrator'," while saying, Roger raised his left and right hands, bent his index and middle fingers, and made an action representing "quotation", "I also want to see how cruel we are and what is the truth."
Don't look at Roger Gail's Chinese sayings are quite good, he is actually an authentic American, an American youth who likes Chinese Kung Fu and likes to eat Kung Pao Chicken . He and Li Yixing are good guys. When they met on TikTok, Li Yixing repeatedly advocated that Roger "scam" to study abroad in Nanjing, China.
So, on Pacific battlefield , those who provoked the war, those who were invaded, and the first person in the world to launch nuclear weapon attacks, gathered in front of the exhibition hall.
Li Yixing, who has a great relationship with international students, took the lead in taking the lead, followed by Roger Gail, and Ohashi Kiyochi who was reluctantly following behind. Lu Yunyun turned around and looked at Zhou Shuisheng, wanting to call him to follow him, but saw the young man standing in front of a sculpture, silent.
Zhou Shuisheng, who should have been indignant, angry, and fought hard with Daqiao, was silent at this time. He quietly looked at the towering black statue, looking at the image of the humiliated woman.
Her body is rugged and vicissitudes, her hands are hanging down weakly, and the one holding it in her palm is her dead child. Her head was raised high, as if she was crying silently at this God.
On the base with a black pattern, a line of poems is engraved:
The murdered son will never be reborn,
The buried husband will never be reborn,
The sadness is left to the wife who was raped by the devil,
Oh my God...
The top of the poem is the theme of this statue - four words, which are the most familiar words Zhou Shuisheng - the family is destroyed and the people die.
He raised his eyes and looked at the row of group sculptures standing in the water from near to far away, called "Escape". It was the most realistic depiction of the Chinese people at that time:
The skinny old man stumbling and staggeringly fleeing; the panicked mother led his child to run away with her child; the starving child was sitting on the ground crying helplessly; the thin middle-aged man carried his mother on his back, and every step he ran to escape seemed to be about to break his back...
It was the people of Nanjing on December 13, 1937. Although Zhou Shuisheng had not experienced this tragedy, in his hometown, Yixing , he had witnessed the Japanese army's "mopping up" and he had seen the same escape situation as the people in his hometown. At that time, the expression on their faces was the same panic, fear, pain, numbness as the statue showed...
black group portrait came alive in front of his eyes. People began to flee in panic, smoke ignited everywhere, Japanese bombers roared in the sky, bombs were thrown one by one... People in the sea of fire sent the most tragic wails, and no one was spared - that was the China where he was.
"Zhou Shuisheng."
Suddenly, a gentle call pulled him back to reality from the sea of fire and the blood and tears that splattered everywhere.Zhou Shuisheng turned his head and saw Lu Yunyun looking at him with a worried look on her face:
"You..." She paused, and the sadness between her eyebrows became deeper, "Are you okay?"
"It's okay." Zhou Shuisheng shook his head, he took a deep breath, and it took a long time to take a step, "Let's go."
...
The first exhibition hall is the "Nanjing Massacre Historical Facts Exhibition". The name of the exhibition is written in Chinese, English and Japanese languages. Looking at the Japanese of the "Nanjing Damage and Killing" , Ohashi Kiyoto turned his head unhappily - but he did not retreat. In order to make an agreement with his friend, he still gritted his teeth and walked in.
This is a sunken staircase passage, with dark black walls as deep as ink on the left and right, with a row of simplified books on it. If you look closely, you will find that the spine of those archives is engraved with names - those names, so simple that it is rustic. What are the "roots" and "dagong", there are many "Chen" and "Li", as well as the "Anonymous" who cannot report their reputation.
"These are the names of the victims in the Nanjing Massacre tragedy. However, people generally had low cultural level at that time. Due to historical customs, many women did not leave their full names," the commentator accompanied the five people, explaining while walking, "They were all victims under the Japanese butcher knife. These names, whether big names or nicknames, or even nicknames and unknown names, are historical evidence that we cannot forget."
This is not the first time Lu Yunyun has come here, but every time she set foot on this road, she feels that her mood will move forward step by step, sinking little by little, as if she has stepped into a quagmire without bottom, deeply trapped in it, unable to extricate herself, only heaviness and grief.
She looked at the dense names, the small characters of regular script in a square inch, those simple and unpretentious, even incomplete names were all lively lives. Especially when she saw a name, a different surname, but the same "Shuisheng", she couldn't help but secretly look at Zhou Shuisheng's face - she knew that like them, he was a pitiful person in this troubled world.
However, at this time, Zhou Shuisheng had a expressionless face, as if he was forbearing and numb, just slowly walking on this quiet passage.
Passing through the passage, the lights gradually dimmed, and the vision gradually became dark, and everyone walked into a gloomy black hall. I saw stars on the sky, and there were hundreds of photo frames with portraits hanging on both wide walls.
The mysterious hidden in the photo frame, and some are equipped with background lights to illuminate the face of the portrait. But unfortunately, most of the lights have gone out, and even the faces in the photo frames have dimmed. There are only a small scattered part, on this dark wall, illuminating like a lonely star left behind.
"These people are all survivors of the Nanjing Massacre tragedy... By the way, do you need my bilingual explanation?" The narrator noticed the blonde and blue-eyed Roger Gale, so he asked him.
"No, we are all international students and we all understand Chinese." Roger made an "OK" gesture to the commentator while speaking.
"As you can see, as time passes, there are only sixty-one survivors on the book now, including centenarians--"
The narrator raised his hand, pointed to the lighted photo frames, and said to Ohashi Kiyoto with a smile:
"...So, our archives have been racing against time, doing oral history recording for these survivors."
She smiled politely and her tone was very gentle, but somehow, Lu Yunyun heard the smell of the accusation: Why do the staff of the archives race against time? Because when all these survivors left, there were no witnesses. By that time, the Japanese could say "justice": "We did not launch the Nanjing Massacre, it was you who forged it!"
Lu Yunyun looked at those portraits, and under her old face, her names were marked.That is the most ordinary and innocent Nanjing citizen. Although they survived, in that tragic massacre, they lost their homes, their relatives, and everything... There is a heavy rock in the center of the exhibition hall. On the gray and black rock, there is no carving, only a row of deeply imprinted and indelible words:
Victory
VICTIMS 300000
Victory
Any language is powerless before this line of text. Under the leadership of the narrator, everyone bowed their heads to the dusty photo frame on the wall.
Then, bypassing the big stone, he entered the exhibition hall of historical materials: the full page pictures and text, the weapons and book pages in the exhibition cabinet, and the original newspapers issued by the Japanese army that year, all of which proved four words - the iron evidence is as strong as a mountain.
Perhaps the lights were dim, and Ohashi's face turned completely dark. The narrator not only turned a blind eye, but also tried hard to "find" there. She introduced in a crisp and firm voice:
"This exhibition hall is the preface of our entire exhibition. In the second half of the 19th century, Japan gradually embarked on the road of militarism, launched wars of aggression against China many times, and committed countless war crimes. In 1931, Japan deliberately created the "September 18th" Incident and launched a local war of aggression against China. July 7, 1937..."
Before she finished her words, she rushed out alone.
is not the only Japanese in the team, Ohashi Kiyoto, but Zhou Shuisheng.
In the ears of others, this is the war of the past and the painful history. They listen and look, sigh and sigh.
And in Zhou Shuisheng's ears, every word and sentence describes his life, the real hell on earth where he lives.
rushing through the long passage, Zhou Shuisheng could not see the carefully arranged exhibition, nor could he see the weapons used as evidence. He just ran all the way until he escaped from the exhibition hall and fled to broad daylight, and his mood was surging, and he was slightly calmer.
raised his head and it was a blue sky. The cold wind blows, whirling the green branches of pine and cypress . It was not until this moment that he recovered from the extreme suffocation. He breathed heavily, his chest fluctuated violently, and he finally got through the breath.
Gradually, the illusory images in front of you drift away like smoke and clouds with the cold wind blowing on your face. His vision returned to the clear light. He looked at the open and spacious memorial park and listened to the whispers of the people around him, and then gradually realized that he had returned to this "safe" world as Lu Yunyun said.
Zhou Shuisheng, who had never retreated on the battlefield, bowed his head silently and sat down on the steps weakly.
When Lu Yunyun chased him to the square, she saw this scene: the young soldier hung his unyielding head. Through his thin back, from afar was the " Wailing Wall " to pay tribute to the deceased, with the names of tens of thousands of victims engraved on it. He sat there alone, as if facing the tens of millions of dead, those people of the same era as him...
"Sorry," Lu Yunyun apologized sincerely. She walked gently to Zhou Shuisheng and sat down beside him, "I thought... that's all in the past, but I didn't expect you to be so sad..."
She thought it too simply and was too outrageously wrong. Of course, they can say "the past" lightly because they have never experienced those painful history. But what about Zhou Shuisheng? He, a "post-1920s", is a witness and a survivor in that sea of blood.
Thinking of this, Lu Yunyun's heart was sore, and it seemed that an invisible big hand twisted her heart into a ball. The deep self-blame made her unable to say a word anymore, and she could only sit quietly by his side.
The cold wind blows, sending the sound of bells in the distance. The pine branches trembled slightly, and the white flowers tied to the branches also swayed. Through a long waterway, in front of the memorial hall in the distance, several young men were bowing to the deceased and giving a bouquet of white chrysanthemums.
Looking at their solemn and silent movements, Zhou Shuisheng took a deep breath and finally broke the silence:
"It's good."
Lu Yunyun was still worried and could not understand these two words at all. She could only make a meaningless sound: "Ah?"
"It's good," Zhou Shuisheng repeated again. He finally turned his head and looked at her heavily, "It's not uncomfortable, that's a lie. But think about it carefully, I should be happy."
"Ah?" Lu Yunyun was even more confused. She suddenly felt a little trembling in her heart, afraid that Zhou Shuisheng would be overstimulated and started talking nonsense.
read a small panic in her eyes. Zhou Shuisheng raised the corners of his lips slightly and outlined a complex smile. He turned his eyes to the young people in the distance who worshiped mourning and offered white flowers, and said softly:
"It's time to be happy. We won. We defeated the invaders, we retained historical evidence. Everything here..."
He raised his head and turned his eyes to a farther place, as if he was going to pass through this memorial hall, this solemn park, looking to a wider place, wishing he could see this peaceful and peaceful city:
He raised his head and turned his eyes to a farther place, as if he was going to pass through this memorial hall, this solemn park, looking to a wider place, wishing he could see all this peaceful and peaceful city:
He raised his head and turned his eyes to a farther place. He seemed to be walking through this memorial hall, this solemn park, looking to a wider place, wishing he could see all this peaceful and peaceful city:
"...The existence of all this is a proof of our victory. Moreover, so many years have passed, and people still remember it, it's good."
He tried to maintain a calm tone, but when he said the last sentence, he was betrayed by a trembling voice:
"...We have so many soldiers, it's good that we didn't die in vain."
...
More than half an hour later, three familiar figures appeared at the exit of the exhibition hall. Lu Yunyun saw from afar that Li Yixing said goodbye to the interviewer, led Roger Gail and Ohashi Kiyoshi and walked slowly towards the stairs where they were sitting.
Their pace was extremely slow, mainly because Ohashi Kiyoto was dragging behind, his legs seemed to be unable to move, dragging and slowing like a snail. Li Yixing and Roger Gale had to wait for him patiently. He dragged it for about ten minutes in just a short section of the road.
Seeing Ohashi Kiyoshi coming up dejectedly, Lu Yunyun didn't urge him. When someone arrived in front of her, she just asked softly: "Are those faked by us?"
Ohashi Kiyoto did not answer, but just shook his head slowly. Those documents, the oral files of the survivors, the official reports from Japanese newspapers, those human bones buried under the loess, the mass graves that were excavated and displayed... He saw with his own eyes that he could not deny it.
Seeing that he didn't speak, Lu Yunyun also knew that he was mixed with feelings: this visit can be said to have subverted Ohashi Kiyoto's long-term "three views", and brought back all the words he believed in since childhood to the original form of a naked lie.
In fact, she didn't want to force him, and she didn't ask this Japanese student to do anything. She just felt that he should know the truth - many Japanese people should know the truth.
For a moment, Lu Yunyun started from nowhere. At this moment, she caught a glimpse of a few primary school students in the distance and was taken to visit the memorial hall by her parents, which suddenly reminded her of something:
"I was born in Nanjing, and I am a native of Nanjing. But my parents are not. They both settled in Nanjing from other places. I remember when I was in elementary school, our class teacher did a live survey for us in class. She said at the time: 'Our Nanjing classmates, stand up.' - Then the whole class stood up."
, and Li Yixing, who is a student in Nanjing, had never heard of this survey. Everyone looked at Lu Yunyun and listened to her continue saying:
"... Then, our teacher said: 'Mom and Dad are also classmates who grew up in Nanjing. Please stand, and other classmates please sit down.' - So, including me, many students sat down. There were less than half of the people standing there, only twelve or three, and I can't remember exactly."
When she heard her talk about this, Li Yixing seemed to be touched, and her expression seemed a little dim. Roger Gail and Ohashi Kiyoshi had not yet understood Lu Yunyun's intentions, so they could only continue to listen:
"... At this time, our teacher said again: 'Grandpa and grandma are also classmates who grew up in Nanjing. Please stand, and other classmates please sit. ’——At that moment, all the classmates sat down. There were no students standing in the whole classroom. "
Lu Yunyun took a deep breath, her eyes locked on Ohashi Kiyoshi and said softly:
"From the ancestral home, we are not natives in Nanjing, do you know why? "
Seeing that Ohashi Kiyoshi had not reacted yet, Lu Yunyun stretched out her hand and pointed at the "wailing wall" and said in a deep voice:
"Here, that's the reason. "
In an instant, Ohashi Kiyoto's body stiffened. He suddenly understood what she said: The locals in Nanjing were killed by the Japanese army back then!
Those entangled moods that were unwilling to believe and had to believe were finally "breaking the defense" in front of this sentence. Ohashi Kiyoto bent down deeply and bowed to everyone:
"Shen しing りません, I'm sorry. "
No one can forgive the deceased. Everyone present fell into silence. Only Zhou Shuisheng sighed long, as if he had exhausted the stuffiness in his chest.
The bell sounded again. The white chrysanthemum swayed lightly in the cold wind, as if he was nodding slightly.
Seeing that Ohashi Qingzhi was still unwilling to look up, Lu Yunyun reached out to support him and pulled him up. Facing Ohashi Qingzhi's red nose and looking at his shameful expression, the heavy and invisible lump in Lu Yunyun's chest disappeared completely. She smiled softly and suggested to him and everyone:
"Go and drink! Hexi has many Qingbas, let’s find a place to watch the live broadcast of the Winter Olympics together. "
This proposal attracted Roger Gael to cheer with his hands up. Li Yixing nodded in agreement, but Zhou Shuisheng looked serious and said, "Comrade Lu Yunyun, how could you..." before he finished speaking, he intercepted and interrupted by her:
"Apart from you," she smiled sly, full of teasing, "You are underage and can only drink juice." ”
—Excerpt from "Restoration from 1942"
Writer Publishing House in December 2022 Published
