Speaker:Chen Jian (陈兼教授), Michael J. Zak Professor of History for US-China
RelationsDiscussant: Naoki Sakai (酒井直樹教授), Goldin Smith Professor of Asian Studies, Professor of Comparative Literature, and Professor in the Graduate field of HistoryLocation: Hollis Cornell auditorium, Goldwin Smith HallTime: 4:00-6:00 p.m., December 5, 2012 (Wednesday)
Abstract December 13, 2012 marks the 75th anniversary of the “Rape of Nanjing,” a dark chapter in 20th-century Chinese, Japanese, and world history. During the Cold War, representations of history and memory of the Nanjing Massacre became heavily overshadowed by changing social and political environments—national as well as international—in East Asia and the world, making it an iconic event profoundly entangling such critical categories as ethics, “victim mentality,” legitimacy narrative, and historical/national identity. Towards the later phase of the Cold War yet especially in the post-Cold War era, conflicting narratives of Nanjing increasingly have emerged as an outstanding domestic and international political issue, with the potential of jeopardizing Chinese-Japanese or even Chinese-American relations and threatening the prospect of peace and stability in East Asia and the World. All of this, as Professor Chen Jian contends, helps understand the origins, implications, and meanings of the Diaoyu/Senkaku dispute between China and Japan.Sponsored by: Cornell East Asia Program