orphaned Chinese baby, Shanghai, 1937, image by Wang Xiaoping, US National Archives
It was a vicious, bloody war—the Rape of Nanking, the indiscriminate bombing of cities, the deaths of 480,000 Japanese soldiers, three to four million Chinese soldiers and as many as sixteen million Chinese civilians. But it’s over, and it’s been over for a long time. On August 15, 1945, the Japanese surrendered to the Allied Powers and the Pacific War ended.
Yet now, almost seventy years later, the hostility between China and Japan continues to simmer. Every so often people with grudges and long memories or those hoping to gain a political or territorial advantage stir the fire of resentment. And that’s when I feel a twinge of unease.
You see, my novel, Tiger Tail Soup, is all about that war. And since my characters are Chinese, the war and the Japanese invaders are presented only from the Chinese point of view. Not surprisingly, my characters hate and fear the Japanese soldiers. They curse them and call them names. With their own eyes they view the terrible suffering caused by the enemy, and then they go to bed at night and have nightmares about worse atrocities they’ve only heard about.
There are no good Japanese characters in my novel. They don’t pass out candy or call a Christmas truce. They don’t fall in love with Chinese women and whisk them away to safety. My novel is not meant to be “fair and balanced.” It’s historical fiction, a story set in a particular time and place that attempts to be true to the experiences of fictional characters. That’s all.
So, when my worries rise to the surface, I wonder, will my novel fan the flames of hatred in some readers? Or will they be able to put this one terrible war into context, remembering all the other wars and massacres and atrocities committed around the world? Will they profile the Japanese people as warlike and violent? Or will they factor in the more peaceful times in modern Japan?
Cambodian monk, photo by Charles Roffey
In the early days of the Vietnam War, I read a book set in Cambodia. I don’t remember the name of the book, but I do remember that when I finished reading it, I thought that, surely, the Cambodian people were the most peaceful people on earth. A few years later the Khmer Rouge led by Pol Pot seized power in Phnom Penh. And so began the Cambodian genocide in which the Khmer Rouge killed more than twenty percent of their own population and left behind the infamous Killing Fields.
So much for “the most peaceful people on earth.”
Cambodian Killing Fiields, photo by Pigalle
We can look at the culture and history of a country and pick out that country’s warlike or peaceful tendencies. But let’s not kid ourselves. Under the right circumstances, every nation is capable of going to either extreme.
We have a tendency to stereotype people by their country of origin. The Germans are this way; the Italians, that way; the Koreans are this, Filipinos that. I suspect you could fill in the blanks with stereotypes you’ve heard or believe. Like all profiling, the stereotype may be based on facts … but on some facts only, on people you’ve known or heard of, on characterizations in literature, in the movies or on TV. There are people you haven’t met, though, stories that haven’t been told. And, as investment advisors are fond of telling us, “Past performance is no guarantee of future results.” People change. The world moves on.
So to the readers of my novel, may I suggest that not only is George Santayana’s warning true that: “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.”
But it’s also true that those who can’t let go of their history run the risk of stirring up trouble of another sort.
And don’t forget, historical novels may be based on truth, but they’re not necessarily “fair and balanced.”
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This holding-on-to-old-grudges mentality is certainly prevalent in the American South, and is part of the reason it’s so reactionary and backward. I’m a Yankee who moved south nearly half a century ago and still have a love-hate relationship with the region.
No one who fought in the American Civil War is still alive today, so it’s amazing to me that people can still hold grudges about that war. But, of course, there have been many cruelties and injustices committed by our country and by others. If we could only learn from history–from our mistakes and sins and those of others–without holding on too tightly and blaming and living in the past.
A teacher once told me this: “a historical story or figure is as right as the story teller’s perspective”.
“Genghis Khan may be portrayed as a cruel conqueror in China or in any lands he occupied; but for the Mongols, he was a heaven sent, righteous leader”.
I guess anything historical will never be “fair and balanced”. 🙂
Great post, and and I absolutely support the idea that a novel isn’t fair and balanced (my gosh, that sound so much like Fox News). I’d even take it a step further – a novel shouldn’t be fair and balanced. Every story is told from a character’s point of view, and getting inside a person’s mind, even a fictional person’s mind, means interpreting a story the way she would. We want readers to root for our protagonists, which means by default they must root AGAINST the antagonist, whoever or whatever it may be. Easier said than done, naturally, but the more emotion one can stir in a reader, the more success she can enjoy as an author. At the end of the day it’s still fiction, and hopefully you’ve published that disclaimer in your novel. 🙂
Hi Nicki 🙂 One of the things I love about blogging is the leap you make, all unsuspecting, into somebody else’s world. You never know quite what you’ll find and often it’s a disappointment. Not in this case. 🙂 It’s a pleasure to meet you.
It’s a pleasure to meet you too, Jo.
Interesting perspective. As you pointed out, sometimes we can develop a prejudice from being exposed to one side of the story. It’s always good to remember that historical fiction is just that. It’s some facts interpreted by the characters. There have been many atrocities in many countries. As time goes on, they seem so distant and we are condemned to repeat. Very good post.
Sometimes you wonder if an author is trying so hard to be fair that he or she ends up being untruthful. A novel I read last year, The Girl Who Played Go by Shan Sa, is not that kind of book. She tells what I thought was a historically accurate story of a Chinese girl and a Japanese soldier caught up in the 1930s Japanese invasion of Manchuria. (Spoiler alert:) This tragic tale, which is told from both points of view, is often compared to Romeo and Juliet.
The story should have a life of its own and not need to be fair or offer all perspectives unless like your example, that’s what the story is about.
Of course it is sometimes nice to read a novel in which everything is working out perfectly and everyone is happy. However that is not how life is so novels which show the harsh life are much more realistic and in the end also the ones you will remember.
Sure some novels might create a feeling of hate or similar towards the “bad” characters but no one should apply them to the real world as they are fiction, even if inspired by real events.
I certainly look forward to read your novel once I have managed my move to Germany so I can order a nice copy 🙂
Timo, I hope after you move to Germany and are able to read my novel that you will find my characters and their world realistic and memorable. Although Tiger Tail Soup takes place during wartime and the characters suffer a lot, I think you will find that but they also have some happy times.
I read Iris Chang’s Rape of Nanking: The Forgotten Holocaust of WWII. A very difficult subject for a novel. Yet, there are many stories of courage and resilience during dark and evil times. You have a wonderful and compassionate way of discussing complex narratives. I wish you every success.
Thank you for your good wishes. It’s interesting that you call the Rape of Nanking “The Forgotten Holocaust.” Although I didn’t read Iris Chang’s book, I read another, less well-known book called The Good Man of Nanking, an account taken from the diaries of John Rabe. Rabe was a German working for Siemens in China who was also a nominal member of the Nazi Party. He is sometimes compared to Oscar Schindler and is said to have saved tens of thousands of Chinese, more people than Schindler saved. It’s a shame his story is not more well known.
That would be an very interesting book. John Rabe was an exceptional man. I think that you would appreciate Iris Chang’s book. It came as a recommendation from my professor mentor. It was a difficult read; Unfortunately, Iris Chang was deeply disturbed by much of the subject matter of her research. She left us far too early.
http://www.irischang.net/about/
Good post, Nicki. Readers of fiction do need to remember that the perspective of characters is based on the way they are facing.
You have a way with words, Nancy.
Unfortunately majority of the people do not aware what is going on and they do not remember the past — our media especially in the USA and Japan do not report what are not politically correct. For example: Abe administration changing or re-interpretation an article of the peaceful constitution. Abe administration seemed to want to go back to pre-WWII position or capability and American is going along without knowing the future consequences. How much our news media reported the oppositions in that region? How can a man set fire on himself in protest of the change was not in the front news? Majority of the people in Japan feels that their past 70 years of piece and prosperities were due to the peace constitution. To be kind, US government is incompetent in foreign policies at the current time.
Howard
Howard, I agree: there’s not enough news about Asia in print and on TV in the United States. The Administration talked about a pivot to Asia, but it hasn’t happened. Most reporters are accustomed to writing about Europe and the Middle East. They’re not as familiar with Asia and its history. Neither are their readers and viewers. I’m glad to see that Mandarin is being taught in our high schools. I wonder if the history courses have improved to include history of the whole world, not just of the West.
You made very good points. I think this entry is extremely useful – and healthy for readers to see.
Sheila
Thank you, Sheila.
Nor should they be….fair and balanced. I think it is dangerous to add a dollop of political correctness to the horrors of the past. Atrocities Happen. And the stories of the victims need to be told. I’ve been haunted by a photo I saw accidentally on Pinterest of a Japanese soldier decapitating a Chinese woman as she held her baby during the Rape of Nanking. How do you sanitize that? For her and her baby, you do not.
I, too, have seen some of those haunting images on Pinterest. For the sake of my novel, in fact, I’ve collected some of them. It was a cruel war. When I was writing Tiger Tail Soup my only consideration was to tell the story accurately from the point-of-view of my characters. They may have escaped some of the worst most dramatic atrocities of the war. But, looking at the statistics, it’s clear that the quieter suffering of civilians led to the most deaths. In the United States, we haven’t experienced that kind of situation since the Civil War.