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Understanding history

(China Daily)
Updated: 2009-03-27 07:40

The debate is still raging. It is about two women dressed in kimonos posing for photographs under sakura trees in Wuhan University. And it is about some students driving them out of the campus because the kimono and sakura (flowering cherry) reminds them of the Japanese aggression in China in the 1930s and 40s.

It is not difficult to understand why the students were angry with the women. We have seen Japanese women dressed exactly the same way in too many Chinese movies on the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression (1937-45). Such a combination can become a painful reminder of the atrocities Japan's invading forces committed against the Chinese people.

But the sakura in blossom is beautiful, and perhaps Japanese women's charm blooms the best in their traditional dress. It is no fault of the sakura that it's the national flower of Japan, and it has nothing to do with Japanese atrocities or the war, nor does the kimono.

We hate the Japanese aggressors for the untold suffering they caused us, for their barbarity, for starting a war that did nobody any good. But that does not mean we should hate the Japanese people as a whole, for some of them were forced into the war by their leaders and they too suffered because of the war.

Yes, we should never forget what the Japanese aggressors did to our country and our people. But that does not mean we should hate the sight of some harmless objects which remind us of their aggression. Of course, we should protest vociferously if people dress in the invading military's uniform to take photographs under or against any tree. The Japanese invaders were dressed in similar uniforms when they committed war crimes and it would be an insult to China and its people.

It's true the Japanese planted the cherry trees in Wuhan University during those bloody years of aggression. But it's also true that the trees are nature's gift. And though some Japanese women still wear kimonos because it is unique to their culture, it does not serve any purpose to stop someone from wearing one and taking a photograph against the beautiful oriental cherry.

We will never forget the war and the Japanese atrocities because we don't want it to be repeated. We tell the Japanese not to forget it either because we want permanent friendship with their country in the true spirit of humanity.

Karl Marx has said history repeats itself "the first time as tragedy, the second as farce". It is this farce we want to prevent by learning from history, and making others learn from it too.

And the lesson the students who drove away the two women from the university campus have learnt is not the right lesson, for it cannot help improve ties with our neighbor.

(China Daily 03/27/2009 page8)