NANJING

We visited the Memorial Hall of the Nanjing Massacre with Josh, an Alabama native who teaches English here, and two of his friends.  The museum documents the atrocities committed by Japanese soldiers against the civilian population during the occupation of Nanjing in 1937.  Incidentally, Chinese government officials abandoned Nanjing immediately before the Japanese invaded, barricading the city walls behind them and trapping 500,000 Nanjing residents inside the city.  As these hypocrites fled, they proclaimed that all Nanjing residents (other than themselves, of course) should be “broken as jade rather than remain whole as tile.” At any rate, the Japanese brutally killed over 200,000 Chinese during the occupation, and this—along with the fact that Japanese textbooks dramatically downplay Japan’s brutality during the invasion—helps explain Chinese animosity towards, and recent protests against, Japan.  They really don't like Japan here.  Come to think of it, maybe it's a good thing China isn't a democracy, or else the candidate who promised to immediately invade Taiwan and Japan would likely win in a landslide.

I was quite surprised when the authorities didn't intervene as we bowled three balls per frame (in rapid succession).