Woman detained for commemorating tablets to Japanese war criminals

A woman has been put under criminal detention for commemorating Buddhist memorial tablets of Japanese war criminals in Nanjing, Jiangsu province, which has angered numerous Chinese and led to heated discussion in the country.

The woman, Wu Aping, commemorated five Japanese war criminals and Wilhelmina "Minnie" Vautrin. The woman detained said she was trying to free herself from a nightmare that had haunted her since she learned of the atrocities by the invading Japanese army during the Nanjing massacre, according to the investigation team formed by the Nanjing government in a notice issued Sunday night.

Wu, born in 1990, came to live in Nanjing in 2000 and worked in a hospital in 2013 before she quit the job to become a layman of a local temple in 2019. She paid 3,000 yuan ($444) for commemorating the five war criminals and Vautrin at the Xuanzang Temple from 2018 to 2022.

Wu confessed to police that she had been haunted by nightmares for years after learning about the massacre, especially what the five Japanese war criminals had done to the Chinese people.

She therefore had developed the wrong idea of "relieving resentment" and "putting herself out of misery" by commemorating them at a Buddhist temple.

She also wanted to "help the soul" of Vautrin after learning of her kindness of saving Chinese during the massacre but who committed suicide for PTSD when she went back to the US.

The investigation team confirmed that Wu had visited the hospital three times for insomnia and anxiety since 2017 and took sedative and hypnotic drugs for treatment.

Wu was detained for suspicion of the crime of picking quarrels and provoking trouble on Friday.

The abbot of Xuanzang Temple, Li Yijiang, was replaced by the bureau of ethnic and religious affairs of Nanjing's Xuanwu district, and the operation of the temple has been suspended to correct its misconduct.

At least nine officials have been held responsible for the incident, including Party chief and director of the Nanjing Ethnic and Religious Bureau and two deputy directors of the bureau.

The Nanjing Massacre took place on Dec 13, 1937. The Japanese troops killed more than 300,000 Chinese civilians and unarmed soldiers over a six-week period, according to Chinese historians.

Of the five war criminals commemorated, Matsui Iwane was one of the Class-A war criminals held responsible for the Nanjing Massacre. Hisao Tani, a Class-B war criminal, committed hideous crimes during the massacre.

Takeshi Noda was a Class-C war criminal who participated in a "killing 100 people competition" with Mukai Toshiaki in Nanjing, and Tanaka Junyoshi killed more than 300 unarmed soldiers and civilians with a saber.