First stop: Nanjing!
Though Nanjing is really not that far from Changzhou, we haven't really had the opportunity to explore it yet. But it is a great connecting city that will take us to Beijing in a couple of days, so we thought it was a fitting place to start.
We learned today that we can leave our luggage at the train station, so we dropped off our luggage after the quick bullet train ride here, and were off to the Nanjing Massacre Memorial and Museum.
I really didn't know much about the Nanjing Massacre (also known as the Rape of Nanking) until I started researching it this week. But oh my gosh it was terrible! Basically, Japanese troops in 1937 marched from Shanghai to Nanjing, looting, killing, and raping all along the way. Shanghai to Nanjing... that includes CHANGZHOU! I just learned that today so it hit especially close to home! Anyway, the worst of it was in Nanjing and I'll let you do your own research on the extent of inhumanity that went on. But overall, it was a nightmarish and terrible event.
Today was an emotional day because the memorial/museum was done so well! The first thing you see after you go through security are these ragged looking statues. They were beautiful and horrifying at the same time. Mothers holding their dead babies, children dragging their dead grandparents, all sorts of things that make you feel. Each statue was accompanied by a little poem that really made you experience the fear that they felt. I didn't feel right about taking pictures but here's some from off the internet!
After that we were lead through the museum which gave a timeline of the events of the massacre. There were also artifacts here and there, and tons of large pictures all over the walls. It was all pretty graphic, especially some film clips that were taken during the time. The scariest part for me was probably the section where it talked specifically about the rapes that went on, because the girls in the pictures were so young! Of course it is so sad and terrible that adult women were raped, but I can't believe that such young girls were also targeted. It was so messed up.
There was also a section about the foreigners who helped hide and rehabilitate refugees. Many Americans were praised in that section and Bailey and I were proud!
By this point I was thinking "yeah, I probably wouldn't bring my little kids here", surprised by the presence of a couple of children. But the next part confirmed my decision when we were lead to a pit of SKELETONS! Like the actual skeletons of actual victims! Not sure if that would fly in America. But then again, America has Body Worlds and I don't know if anything is more shocking than that. The pit of bones was pretty terrifying, especially to see how the heads weren't always attached to the bodies (in the case of decapitation), or the nails driven through the skulls of women who were alive to experience the pain, or the tiny little baby skeletons, or skeletons with ax gashes.
We thought we were done at that point as we left the facility. We were somber as we walked back outside. We followed the crowd to what we thought was an exit, but we got a little surprise when we were lead through another museum! A whole museum about the rest of World War II, which they called "The War Against Facism" (which we found ironic, but we won't say anything).
I'd actually just finished reading The Hiding Place, which is about a brave woman who helped lots of Jews during World War II. I definitely recommend that book - it was very interesting and inspiring! Because of that, my mind has been on the subject lately, so it was cool to learn a little bit more about the war overall, and more about the Asian side which I know very little about. Bailey and I are huge museum nerds, and were so happy to be in a museum with excellent English translations. So after spending a ridiculous amount of time at the massacre museum, we also spent quite a bit of time here at this second museum! It was quite good!
Bailey and I aren't very good at keeping on top of eating. By then it was 3pm, we were just leaving the museum complex (for real this time) and we hadn't eaten anything since we'd left home. So we were STARVING! We walked around a little bit to find food when Bailey had a good feeling about a certain street. So we headed down there and lo and behold! A Muslim noodle place, just like our favorite one in Changzhou! We ate a ton and felt so much better.
With newfound energy we headed toward Dr. Sun Yat-sen's Mausoleum. We knew we wouldn't make it to the actual Mausoleum in time before closing, so we just wandered the grounds/park/garden and enjoyed the peaceful nature. It was gorgeous!
The evening ended with some seriously cheesy dinner. We looked up the best Western restaurant in Nanjing and it was definitely like home! I ordered fried mozzarella sticks and Bailey ordered cheese fries. On top of that, we split a pepperoni pizza! So heavy! I can't believe I used to be able to eat a whole bunch of pizza for a meal and feel fine! My body is so accustomed to rice and boiled greens these days. Though it was heavy, we enjoyed it and called it a date. It was fun!
We are now in our Airbnb (which we wandered around for like a half hour trying to find!! Oh language barriers) trying to decide what rating to give our host because the shower is ice cold.
Goodbye for now!
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