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Kaitlyn Avitia

Ms. Harris

AP Seminar

29 October 2019

Holocaust for the Historians

The forgotten holocaust that was the death of millions, the Asain Holocaust. The Asian

Holocaust was a series of events where the Japanese shot, raped, tortured, and experimented on

mainly chinese people. In order to understand why the Asian holocaust occurred one must look

at the events that lead up to the Rape of Nanjing through a historical perspective. According to

the National Geographic society, a non-profit scientific and educational organization, “The First

Sino-Japanese War was instigated by Japan’s growing interest in Korea, a country then heavily

influenced by China. The interest sprang from Korea’s natural resources of coal and iron, which

Japan demanded be open for trade. After the Treaty of Shimonoseki, China was forced to

recognize Korea as an independent nation.” The first Sino-Japanese war lead to the Asian

holocaust as it was the Japanese taking away from China. The war, although over, still created a

bad relationship between China and Japan. Other events that lead to the Asian Holocaust include

the invasion of Manchuria, the invasion of Japan, the Japanese pirates, the Meji restoration, and

more. Most of these events portray the brutal acts both China and Japan inflicted upon each

other.The Asian Holocaust’s forgotten nature and it's ability to be repeated is the cause of it's

universality. Despite the lack of uniqueness, the Asian Holocaust needs to be advocated, and

Japan needs to acknowledge the things the Chinese had to go through. To accomplish this, Japan
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must be educated about the Asian Holocaust so that no more more brutal acts between Japan and

China should occur in the future.

There are numerous events that lead to the actions of the Asian Holocaust. Japan could not

of started the asian holocaust against china without the Meiji Restoration. China seemed strong

and great but they were actually weak, which allowed them to be brought down under japan.

According to the Weatherhead East Asian Institute at Columbia University, an educational

institute on world history, culture, and geography, “The Meiji system allowed Japan to rapidly

modernize and so provided a blueprint as to how an Asian country could catch up and take on the

European powers.” The rapid modernization of Japan increased their economic, social, and

political power. Japan was beginning to be seen as a threat to China and some European

countries. Japan wanted to succeed over China so they built up their military for the time of

attack. Japan had their own reasons for taking on China. The article on the history of China,

“History of relations between China and Japan” states, “Kublai Khan launched an invasion of

Japan in 1274. They were defeated by the violent storms at seas as much as by staunch Japanese

defense.” Japan did not instigate all the causes of the tension between the two countries. China,

under Kublai Khan at the time, tried to invade Japan. This lead to a bloody battle against the

strong Japanese. The two countries did not ever fully go to peace after the incident. The article

also states, “Ming dynasty 1550-1570 attacks from Japanese pirates along the south-eastern coast

caused widespread destruction, with the cities of Hangzhou and Ningbo set to the torch.” Japan

retaliated against the Chinese and caused mass destruction to them many years before the Asian

Holocaust. This may show that the Japanese were consistently brutal. Perhaps the Japanese were
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used to treating the Chinese brutally, which may be why they thought the Nanjing massacre was

acceptable.

The first Sino-Japanese War played a part in the reasoning behind the Asian holocaust. “In

1875 Japan, which had begun to adopt Western technology, forced Korea to open itself to

foreign, especially Japanese, trade and to declare itself independent from China in its foreign

relations.”(Brittanica) The Japanese wanting to free Korea from China made China and Japan not

be on the best of terms. Freeing Korea would mean that trade would open up and China would

not have dominance over Korea's resources. This would decrease the Chinese profit from Korea,

therefore, decreasing their economy. The Chinese became hostile to the Japanese due to this.

According to Dr. John Rickard, an author of English and historical writings, “The Japanese

carried out [a] series of attacks on the remaining part of the fleet, sinking both of the two Chinese

battleships. On 12 February Admiral Ting Ju-ch'ang surrendered the port and committed

suicide.” The Japanese attacked China so harshly that a Chinese admiral surrendered and

committed suicide. The first Sino-Japanese war showed how strong Japan's forces were. More

importantly, it demonstrated how weak China actually was. In the end, Japan was able to win

over China, which freed Korea from China and left China defeated. According to Kallie

Szczepanski, a writer with a Ph.D in history that studied in both America and Korea, “Treaty of

Shimonoseki, which ended the First Sino-Japanese War....Japan received war reparations of 200

million taels of silver from China. The Qing government also had to grant Japan trade favors,

including permission for Japanese ships to sail up the Yangtze River”. The treaty finally ended

the war in a seemingly fair way. However, the end of the first Sino- Japanese war did not make
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everything peaceful. It created tension between Japan and some european countries as they were

opposed to Japan taking the Liaodong Peninsula; it also eventually lead to the destructuralization

of the imperial rule in China.

The Asian Holocaust wouldn't have been able to happen if China was strong. According to

Scholastics,“The 1929...economic depression. Japan was hit especially hard. With practically no

natural resources, the nation had to import oil, iron, steel, and other commodities to keep its

industry and military forces alive.” The 1929 economic crisis in Japan made Japan look for

resources that they were lacking. Military forces and the government were under scrutiny as the

people were starving and lacked commodities. Japan was weakening and didn’t have much

means to stop it as they did not have many natural resources. The Japanese were looking for

ways to bring up the people’s views of the government and obtain the resources and land that

they needed. Chris Trueman, a writer with a bachelors in history, “believed in Japan that

Manchuria was rich in minerals, forestry, and rich agricultural land. With the problems that

Japan was experiencing at home, Manchuria seemed an obvious solution to these problems.”

This provides the reasoning of why Japan chose to invade Manchuria. Manchuria seemed to have

the resources that Japan was desperately in need of at the time. Invading Manchuria would

provide the resources to get Japan out of the great depression they faced, and boost their military

forces. Due to China, more specifically Manchuria, not having a strong military to retaliate

against Japan it seemed like an easy takeover. According to “Office of the Historian”, a group of

professional federal historians under the United States government,“ The Japanese, who owned

the railway, blamed Chinese nationalists for the incident and used the opportunity to retaliate and
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invade Manchuria.” Since the Japanese were after Manchuria, they used the incident as an

excuse or a cover of why they tried to invade Manchuria. Japan invading the Chinese land lead

the already hostile nations to attack one another. The invasion of the state of Manchuria lead to

the acts of the asain holocaust.

The lack of uniqueness of the Asian holocaust can be seen as there is a possibility if the

events being repeated. In order to prevent the repeating of the Asian Holocaust both Chinese and

Japanese citizens need to be taught details about the massacre. Due to the Japanese already

having a history of treating the Chinese brutally there may be a higher chance at the holocaust

being repeated. This can be seen with not only Japanese pirates destroying and burning two

Chinese cities, but also with their brutal invasion of Manchuria. Educating the Chinese and

Japanese may lead to discussion and potentially a conclusion over the Nanjing . The discussion

may loosen the tension between the two countries and may lead to the making of a stronger

treaty to further reduce the possibility of the holocaust being repeated. Knowing what caused the

Asian Holocaust to occur in the first place can help when trying to solve problems caused by the

events that led to the holocaust. Solving the problems that caused the holocaust can help resolve

the events of the holocaust itself.

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Work Cited

Augustyn, Adam. “Relations between China and Japan.” History of Relations between China and

Japan, Brittanica, Accessed on 2 October 2019, ​https://www.chinasage.info/japan.htm​.

Chinasage, 'History of relations between China and Japan', Accessed on 20 October 2019,

http://www.chinasage.info/japan.htm​.

Crooks, Mary National Geographic Society. “End of First Sino-Japanese War.” ​National

Geographic Society​, Accessed on 28 Oct. 2019,

https://www.nationalgeographic.org/thisday/apr17/end-first-sino-japanese-war/​.

C N Trueman "Manchuria 1931"historylearningsite.co.uk. The History Learning Site. 21 Oct

2019.

Duus, Peter (1998). ​The Abacus and the Sword: The Japanese Penetration of Korea​. University

of California Press. Accessed on 12 October 2019, ​ISBN​ ​978-0-520-92090-3​.

Scholastics. “Pearl Harbor Timeline: 1929: Great Depression Begins.” Pearl Harbor Timeline |

1929: Great Depression Begins, Accessed on 17 October 2019,

http://teacher.scholastic.com/pearl/timeline/time4.htm
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Szczepanski, Kallie. “The First Sino-Japanese War of 1894 to 1895.” ThoughtCo, ThoughtCo,

Accessed on 17 Oct. 2019, ​https://www.thoughtco.com/first-sino-japanese-war-1894-95-195784​.

The Historian of the U.S. Department of State. “The Mukden Incident of 1931 and the Stimson

Doctrine.” U.S. Department of State, U.S. Department of State, Accessed on 14 October 2019.

https://history.state.gov/milestones/1921-1936/mukden-incident.

Weatherhead East Asian Institute at Columbia University. “The Meiji Restoration and

Modernization: Asia for Educators: Columbia University.” The Meiji Restoration and

Modernization | Asia for Educators | Columbia University, 2009 Asia for Educators, Columbia

University, Accessed on 15 November 2019,

http://afe.easia.columbia.edu/special/japan_1750_meiji.htm​.
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