引子:
下周讲东亚各国民族主义的诞生,其中的一篇读物是有关南京大屠杀的。
我选出的不是有些人认为的中国人的祥林嫂式的哭诉,而是1937年一个美国记者在中国的亲身经历和记载。
我的学生主要来自美国,也有来自日本、印度、中国和中东的,我想传递给他们的,是战争的罪恶,是日本军国主义给中国带来的灾难。
至于有些人可能又要借此羞辱中国人如何当了汉奸,中国政府如何腐败,中国士兵如何无能,以及所有所有当时的中国人如何如何自作自受,我不想也没有太多时间辩论。我只想提醒一些人:如果当时,你是官员,你会做出何种选择?如果你是士兵,又如何选择?如果被挑在刺刀上的是你的儿孙,你会如何?如果生殖器上被塞刺刀或瓶子或、、、的女人是你的姐妹,或你的妻子,你又该如何想?有时,我甚至希望那些人就是当时的一个中国官员,一个士兵,就是那个被挑在刺刀上的幼儿,那个生殖器上被塞刺刀或瓶子女人、、、。
还有,我是个有点迷信的人,前几年,我的一个研究日本殖民时期中国“汉奸”问题的同学死于意外,当时,有人传言说南京大屠杀是一个充满诡异的课题,几个知名和不知名的研究者,都莫名地英年早逝了。从那以后,每每听到谁侮辱本来已经受尽屈辱的中国人,隐隐地,我便期待着那些无辜死去的同胞们真地能够彰显魂灵,把他们无辜的躯体所承受的屈辱转送到那些把他们的屈辱蹂躏在裤裆里的人。
愿历史不再重演!
引文
The Nanking Massacre,
1937
he Japanese occupation of Nanking, the capital
of the Republic of China,
lead to one of the greatest horrors of the century . This eyewitness report was
filed by a New York Times reporter.
Aboard the U.S.S. Oahu at Shanghai, Dec. 17 [1937].
Through wholesale atrocities and vandalism at Nanking the Japanese Army has thrown away a rare
opportunity to gain the respect and confidence of the Chinese inhabitants and
of foreign opinion there....
The killing of civilians was widespread.
Foreigners who traveled widely through the city Wednesday found civilian dead
on every street. Some of the victims were aged men, women and children.
Policemen and firemen were special objects of
attack. Many victims were bayoneted and some of the wounds were barbarously
cruel.
Any person who ran because of fear or excitement
was likely to be killed on the spot as was any one caught by roving patrols in
streets or alleys after dark. Many slayings were witnessed by foreigners.
The Japanese looting amounted almost to
plundering of the entire city. Nearly every building was entered by Japanese
soldiers, often under the eyes of their officers, and the men took whatever
they wanted. The Japanese soldiers often impressed Chinese to carry their
loot....
The mass executions of war prisoners added to
the horrors the Japanese brought to Nanking.
After killing the Chinese soldiers who threw down their arms and surrendered,
the Japanese combed the city for men in civilian garb who were suspected of
being former soldiers.
In one building in the refugee zone 400 men were
seized. They were marched off, tied in batches of fifty, between lines of
riflemen and machine gunners, to the execution ground.
Just before boarding the ship for Shanghai the writer
watched the execution of 200 men on the Bund [dike]. The killings took ten
minutes. The men were lined against a wall and shot. Then a number of Japanese,
armed with pistols, trod nonchalantly around the crumpled bodies, pumping
bullets into any that were still kicking.
The army men performing the gruesome job had
invited navy men from the warships anchored off the Bund to view the scene. A
large group of military spectators apparently greatly enjoyed the spectacle.
When the first column of Japanese troops marched
from the South Gate up Chungshan Road toward the city's Big Circle, small knots
of Chinese civilians broke into scattering cheers, so great was their relief
that the siege was over and so high were their hopes that the Japanese would
restore peace and order. There are no cheers in Nanking
now for the Japanese.
By despoiling the city and population the
Japanese have driven deeper into the Chinese a repressed hatred that will
smolder through tears as forms of the antiJapanism that Tokyo
professes to be fighting to eradicate from China.
The capture of Nanking
was the most overwhelming defeat suffered by the Chinese and one of the most
tragic military debacles in the history of modern warfare. In attempting to
defend Nanking the Chinese allowed themselves
to be surrounded and then systematically slaughtered....
The flight of the many Chinese soldiers was
possible by only a few exits. Instead of sticking by their men to hold the
invaders at bay with a few strategically placed units while the others
withdrew, many army leaders deserted, causing panic among the rank and file.
Those who failed to escape through the gate
leading to Hsiakwan and from there across the Yangtze were caught and
executed....
When theJapanese captured Hsiakwan gate they cut
off all exit from the city while at least a third of the Chinese Army still was
within the walls.
Because of the disorganization of the Chinese a
number of units continued fighting Tuesday noon, many of these not realizing
the Japanese had surrounded them and that their cause was hopeless. Japanese
tank patrols systematically eliminated these.
Tuesday morning, while attempting to motor to
Hsiakwan, I encountered a desperate group of about twentyfive Chinese soldiers
who were still holding the Ningpo
Guild Building
on Chungahan Road.
They later surrendered.
Thousands of prisoners were executed by the
Japanese. Most of the Chinese soldiers who had been interned in the safety zone
were shot in masses. The city was combed in a systematic housetohouse search
for men having knapsack marks on their shoulders or other signs of having been
soldiers. They were herded together and executed.
Many were killed where they were found,
including men innocent of any army connection and many wounded soldiers and
civilians. I witnessed three mass executions of prisoners within a few hours
Wednesday. In one slaughter a tank gun was turned on a group of more than 100
soldiers at a bomb shelter near the Ministry of Communications.
A favorite method of execution was to herd
groups of a dozen men at entrances of dugout and to shoot them so the bodies
toppled inside. Dirt then was shoveled in and the men buried.
Since the beginning of the Japanese assault on Nanking the city presented a frightful appearance. The
Chinese facilities for the care of army wounded were tragically inadequate, so
as early as a week ago injured men were seen often on the streets, some
hobbling, others crawling along seeking treatment.
Civilian casualties also were heavy, amounting
to thousands. The only hospital open was the American managed University Hospital
and its facilities were inadequate for even a fraction of those hurt.
Nanking's streets
were littered with dead. Sometimes bodies had to be moved before automobiles
could pass.
The capture of Hsiakwan Gate by the Japanese was
accompanied by the mass killing of the defenders, who were piled up among the
sandbags, forming a mound six feet high. Late Wednesday the Japanese had not
removed the dead, and two days of heavy military traffic had been passing
through, grinding over the remains of men, dogs and horses.
The Japanese appear to want the horrors to
remain as long as possible, to impress on the Chinese the terrible results of
resisting Japan.
Chungahan
Road was a long avenue of filth and discarded
uniforms, rifles, pistols, machine guns, fieldpieces, knives and knapsacks. In
some places the Japanese had to hitch tanks to debris to clear the road.
From F. Tillman, "All
Captives Slain,'' The New York Times, December 18, 1937, pp. 1, 10.