China Plans “Rape of Nanjing” Film
Signonsandiego reported that China is planning a film version of the book "Rape of Nanjing."
In 1937 Japan did horrible things to the Chinese. China says that Japanese troops killed as many as 300,000 men, women and children – one by one – more than the bombs of Hiroshima or Nagasaki combined in one big BOOM.
The 1948 Tokyo war crimes tribunal put the number at 155,000.
In any event, it was a lot of innocent people that were killed. It is also foundational to the bad blood between China and Japan.
When the Japanese PM visits Yasukuni shrine to honor war-criminals it doesn’t help in soothing the relationship either.
A Hollywood entertainment company is investing $20 million into a film budgeted at $25 million on the "Rape of Nanking" based on Iris Chang’s book of that title.
Next year will be the 70th anniversary of the Nanjing Massacre. Plans are to have the movie ready for release by then. Zhang Ziyi and Michelle Yeoh are on the wish list of the investors.
"It is not to stimulate hatred, but to let the lessons learned from the past to serve the future," says Li Xiangmin, Chinese investor based in Nanjing.
Yeah, um, right.
To be sure, it will/could stir up passions much like "Schindler’s List" did…but most likely, only in China.
In any event, the bad blood between these two Asian powerhouses still boils beneath the surface only to spill over into politics and business from time to time.
What will it take for Japan and China to be friends?
What do you think?
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