As someone who actually grew up in China in 1980s, I can actually talked abt how commemoration of Nanjing Massacre changed inside China. I will make a thread

I was born in Oct 1976. 1 month after Mao died. I went to elementary school in China in 1982. my 1st to 4th grade was during honeymoon period btw Japan and China. We learn abt horrors of Hiroshima bombing and how Japan was a victim of US Imperialism

1985 was a pivotal year in Sino-Japanese relations. On the 40the year of Japanese surrender, Japanese PM Yasuhiro Nakasone visited Yasukuni shrine for the 1st time after WW2 Japanese war criminals had been enshrined there in 1978.

Another development was discovery in 1980s of 1 the most notorious Japanese war crime: Unit 731, biological and chemical weapon research unit of Imperial Japanese Army that performed lethal live human experiments on Chinese and Allied prisoners in China

In 1986, the 1st mainland China film on KMT fighting Japan, 血战台儿庄abt Battle of Tai'erzhuang, 1st major Chinese victory over Japan immediately aft Nanjiang Massacre came out. I learn abt Nanjing Massacre that year, I was 10.

Another point to note is that I am the 1st Post-Cultural Revolution generation. During CR, schools were closed, Chinese people on mainland China had other more immediate things to worry about than commemorating Nanjing massacre. That’s the context of its rediscovery in 1980s

The details abt Nanjing massacre are so horrific that calls into question why not MORE attention was paid this earlier. Truth is China had been in turmoil frm collapse of Qing Dynasty til I was born in 1976. Civil Wars, WW2, Civil War, Great Leap Forward, Cultural Revolution...