The Webmaster's Translation of the Preface


        In 1945 CE, Germany and Japan surrendered to Allied Forces one after another.  Thus ended the Second World War (WWII).  For more than half a century into the post-war era, Germany has been courageous enough to admit the guilt of war crimes committed by Nazi Germany.  It had also apologized for the Holocaust with great sincerity.  Conversely, Japan has chosen to gloss over its invasion of China and downplay or deny committing atrocities such as the Nanjing Massacre and forced comfort women, leaving the majority of today’s Japanese youth without proper knowledge of this chapter of history.  After entering the 21st Century, many in the West have viewed China’s rise in peace as a threat to the Western-led world order.   Some Western countries are therefore trying to hinder China’s efforts in seeking the reunification of different parts of its territory as well as to contain China by winning over the support of some of its neighbouring countries.  Whether such measures will pave the way for the resurgence of militarism in Japan has yet to be seen.

        In the aftermath of WWII, Chiang Kai-shek’s nationalist government waived China’s right to receive war reparation from Japan and shielded Yasuji Okamura, commander-in-chief of Japan’s China Expeditionary Army, by granting him a not-guilty verdict at the war crime tribunal as well as appointing him as an advisor.  Chiang might have thought that such acts would earn him Japan’s firm backing for his anti-communist stance but, ironically, Japan adopted a policy in the 1960’s to separate economy and politics and engaged in trade with mainland China while maintaining full diplomatic ties with Chiang’s Nationalist government, which then had already retreated to the province of Taiwan as a result of the civil war.  In 1972, Japan went even further to normalize diplomatic relations with the government of the People’s Republic in Beijing and to recognize it as the one and only one legal government of China with Taiwan being an inalienable part of China’s territory.  It is from these valuable lessons of history that the children of China should never sacrifice national interests for one’s own.

        The year 2025 marks the 80th anniversary of China’s victory in the war against Japanese invasion.  The writer has respectfully composed a poem to reflect the current circumstances and has prepared it for upload with another one of his poems written 10 years ago to mark the 70th anniversary of the same event.  The accompanying image is an edited version of a photo of the Great Wall taken in the 1930’s by an unknown photographer.  The original photo is now in the public domain, available through Wikimedia Commons.

 

回主頁 Return to Home Page || 回詩頁 Return to the Poem Page


本頁初載日期 / Date of first upload (this web page)：2025-12-29

本頁更新日期 / Date of last upate  (this web page)：N/A