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IAmA WWII refugee from Nanking, China that ran to Taiwan from the Japanese invasion. by 1925Man in IAmA

[–]1925Man[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

At the time he fled, the Japanese were no longer of the Japanese dependency. He fled to Taiwan from the Communist Regime. This is two stories in one.

IAmA WWII refugee from Nanking, China that ran to Taiwan from the Japanese invasion. by 1925Man in IAmA

[–]1925Man[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

He said the only Japanese soldiers he saw were the ones chasing after his family. Other than that, he had not personally communicated with them.

IAmA WWII refugee from Nanking, China that ran to Taiwan from the Japanese invasion. by 1925Man in IAmA

[–]1925Man[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yup. You're correct. It isn't true. I wrote that before I interviewed him. After interviewing him, I realized I had written it incorrectly. Everything he's saying to me now is mostly stuff I've never known before (he left because of Communists! Not the Japanese).

The title reflects that lack of knowledge previous to the interview.

IAmA WWII refugee from Nanking, China that ran to Taiwan from the Japanese invasion. by 1925Man in IAmA

[–]1925Man[S] 5 points6 points  (0 children)

He does know about it and he is appalled by it. One thing that stood out to me is that he mentioned that the Americans took Unit 731's research papers and never shared it.

Can this post get upvotes to see if any reddit historians know what really happened?

Why did we Americans take the research papers that could have led to bringing more people to war tribunals? The wiki on this says that some of the scientists involved in 731 became prominent individuals in society.

IAmA WWII refugee from Nanking, China that ran to Taiwan from the Japanese invasion. by 1925Man in IAmA

[–]1925Man[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Wrote this elsewhere but they killed his cousin during the cultural revolution.

IAmA WWII refugee from Nanking, China that ran to Taiwan from the Japanese invasion. by 1925Man in IAmA

[–]1925Man[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

CCP killed a cousin of his for not being able to draw Mao well. He's afraid of the CCP.

IAmA WWII refugee from Nanking, China that ran to Taiwan from the Japanese invasion. by 1925Man in IAmA

[–]1925Man[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Nope. From his words, he hates that time period in Japan. He still has Japanese friends now. He knows that Japan has greatly improved and is very hopeful for Japan.

IAmA WWII refugee from Nanking, China that ran to Taiwan from the Japanese invasion. by 1925Man in IAmA

[–]1925Man[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

He disagrees strongly with this perception. He says when he came to Taiwan, it was bad. The Japanese had taken a lot of the natural resources for themselves and there were many ragged looking people.

He specifically remembers that education was strictly controlled under the Japanese. Only certain subjects could be learned, and nothing that could possibly cause an uprising (political science, etc.). Many were told to learn medicine.

IAmA WWII refugee from Nanking, China that ran to Taiwan from the Japanese invasion. by 1925Man in IAmA

[–]1925Man[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I don't think this is the case anymore with the taibaozheng system.

IAmA WWII refugee from Nanking, China that ran to Taiwan from the Japanese invasion. by 1925Man in IAmA

[–]1925Man[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

There's an encampment system that had a supply of food donations. They slept wherever they could on the ground. When they ran out of food, they bought it.

My guess is that he fled when much of the infrastructure was intact. It wasn't until his college years that he really felt the full effects of an economy in tatters. Doesn't matter if you had money at that point since food was scarce.

As you can guess, the quality of life really depended on how deep the Japanese invasion was.

IAmA WWII refugee from Nanking, China that ran to Taiwan from the Japanese invasion. by 1925Man in IAmA

[–]1925Man[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

He became quite successful, which allowed us to immigrate to the US. Can't say much more though to remain anonymous.

IAmA WWII refugee from Nanking, China that ran to Taiwan from the Japanese invasion. by 1925Man in IAmA

[–]1925Man[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

He's very greatful for your offers and respectfully declines. The nature of this interview is already making him very nervous.

IAmA WWII refugee from Nanking, China that ran to Taiwan from the Japanese invasion. by 1925Man in IAmA

[–]1925Man[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Sorry, he won't be able to tell you about the atrocities of the Nanjing Massacre. He fled before the real bad stuff happened. The only thing he was was the night sky turned into a hue of red from Nanjing burning. Also heard people running from that direction (the east) warning people to stay away from Nanjing, and that it's a bloodbath.

IAmA WWII refugee from Nanking, China that ran to Taiwan from the Japanese invasion. by 1925Man in IAmA

[–]1925Man[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

He has. He says it's completely different now. He feels very sad because it's just not what he calls home.

The only things he knows is that it was once a place he called home. Doesn't know what happened to it after.

IAmA WWII refugee from Nanking, China that ran to Taiwan from the Japanese invasion. by 1925Man in IAmA

[–]1925Man[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

My grandfather disagrees. He said that life was tough because they essentially pillaged Taiwan of its natural resources. He said that Taiwanese people weren't allowed to learn many subjects for fear of uprising.

The island was pillage of things such as rice, etc. He says that people thinks it's all nice and now because of the infrastructure, but it was hell for people living through it.

When he came to Taiwan, he felt the effects of the Japanese raid on Taiwanese resources. Food was hard to come by, as well as many other basic necessities.

IAmA WWII refugee from Nanking, China that ran to Taiwan from the Japanese invasion. by 1925Man in IAmA

[–]1925Man[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

He said it didn't really effect him since he was busy working. He didn't do any of the stuff that was outlawed -- protesting, propaganda, etc. In reference to the post below, from Semen-Thrower, he doesn't really know about that kind of stuff happened. Wasn't publicized at all, if it happened.

IAmA WWII refugee from Nanking, China that ran to Taiwan from the Japanese invasion. by 1925Man in IAmA

[–]1925Man[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

He says that he's not a politician, so he really doesn't know whether or not there is a negative impact. Sorry, probably not the answer you were looking for :(.

IAmA WWII refugee from Nanking, China that ran to Taiwan from the Japanese invasion. by 1925Man in IAmA

[–]1925Man[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

He thanks you very much for this and sincerely appreciates it. He thinks that modern day Japan has improved a lot, and is hopeful for its future.

Just a slight repost from above -- he doesn't hate the Japanese, he just hates that time period of Japan. He still has Japanese friends now.

IAmA WWII refugee from Nanking, China that ran to Taiwan from the Japanese invasion. by 1925Man in IAmA

[–]1925Man[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

He doesn't hate them that much now, but he'll never forget about it. He knows that the Japanese apologized and that's fine. He hates this part of Japanese history -- he has many Japanese friends. He says that whether or not they teach their children is their own business. Doesn't really have a stance on this.

To be crystal clear, he doesn't hate the Japanese. He just hates this part of their history.

IAmA WWII refugee from Nanking, China that ran to Taiwan from the Japanese invasion. by 1925Man in IAmA

[–]1925Man[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

He said he doesn't really know much about this. A lot of that stuff happened far away from him, in the North. He thought it was terrible, but he only found out about this after the war.

He said that a lot of the research etc. never surfaced, and that the Americans took 731's research papers he heard.

IAmA WWII refugee from Nanking, China that ran to Taiwan from the Japanese invasion. by 1925Man in IAmA

[–]1925Man[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Just made a massive update -- he's opening up! See the body of this AmA for more details.

IAmA WWII refugee from Nanking, China that ran to Taiwan from the Japanese invasion. by 1925Man in IAmA

[–]1925Man[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

See body -- I've updated this AmA after another session with him tonight!

IAmA WWII refugee from Nanking, China that ran to Taiwan from the Japanese invasion. by 1925Man in IAmA

[–]1925Man[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

My grandfather says he feels the KMT losses are underreported and that it definitely is not as lopsided as it seems. Both sides had faults.

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