Why were the Japanese so brutal to the Chinese?

[Ypurbo1]

During the .... of Nanjing, the Japanese were described to being inhuman with the treatment of the other asians? Don’t they not consider the Chinese people the same as them since the original Japanese people came from China?

 

[Pruitt]

Because they could act like that. Some of the settlers of Japan came from China and Korea. They found the Ainu and took their land.

Pruitt

 

[DingBat]

I'm reading a bit about that now.

Contrary to the general view, there were actually some decent quality Chinese formations in their armies. In particular, the Nationalists had some German trained divisions. That said, they were few and not fully trained or equipped to the standard of a western division.

Still, prior to Nanjing, there's been a couple of battles where the Chinese had put up some surprisingly stiff resistance. For example, the battle for Shanghai took a couple of months and cost the Japanese about 40,000 casualties (dead and wounded). This was a bit of a nasty surprise to the Japanese who were used to weak resistance from the militia level units they normally encountered in Manchukuo.

Finally, the fighting in Nanjing was particularly nasty: close quarters fighting in an especially cramped urban environment. By then some Japanese units had suffered severely and were in foul moods. There were cases where Japanese officers maintained strict control of their men and these units behaved properly, but a lot of officers let their men take their revenge on the civilian population.

So I read the Japanese treatment of the Chinese as:
- One part chauvinism/racism
- One part anger over battle losses
- One part poor discipline
- One part surprise/anger that there was any resistance at all

More learned members here may correct me.

 

[Ypurbo1]

Ma

I'm reading a bit about that now.

Contrary to the general view, there were actually some decent quality Chinese formations in their armies. In particular, the Nationalists had some German trained divisions. That said, they were few and not fully trained or equipped to the standard of a western division.

Still, prior to Nanjing, there's been a couple of battles where the Chinese had put up some surprisingly stiff resistance. For example, the battle for Shanghai took a couple of months and cost the Japanese about 40,000 casualties (dead and wounded). This was a bit of a nasty surprise to the Japanese who were used to weak resistance from the militia level units they normally encountered in Manchukuo.

Finally, the fighting in Nanjing was particularly nasty: close quarters fighting in an especially cramped urban environment. By then some Japanese units had suffered severely and were in foul moods. There were cases where Japanese officers maintained strict control of their men and these units behaved properly, but a lot of officers let their men take their revenge on the civilian population.

So I read the Japanese treatment of the Chinese as:
- One part chauvinism/racism
- One part anger over battle losses
- One part poor discipline
- One part surprise/anger that there was any resistance at all

More learned members here may correct me.

Makes sense I suppose since japans pride was damaged by their lost the Chinese. But why do they consider themselves as a different race from the Chinese. The Japanese remarks on other Asians is similarly to the Europeans remarked on the Africans.

 

[The Elephant]

The phenomenon of blood lust

 

[Vaderfan]

During the .... of Nanjing, the Japanese were described to being inhuman with the treatment of the other asians? Don’t they not consider the Chinese people the same as them since the original Japanese people came from China?

Why did Germans murder Poles, they were European too, right?

First, let's not forget that "Asian" is an european nomenclature. For Europeans they all were Asians and this has stuck, but Japanese, Chinese, Koreans didn't think of themselves as the same. Certainly not during the heyday of nationalism. Not to mention that Japan has been promoting Japanese indiginous culture and beliefs since Tokugawa period and downplaying what came from China.

Indeed, while there were some ancient ideas to link Japanese to Wu Taibo, or some Japanese clans claiming descent from Chinese imperial families or famous people, Japanese or rather Pre-Proto-Japonic people were possibly living in China 4000 years ago. It's hardly a recent history.

Even the idea of the East Asian Co-Prospherity Sphere, while sounding egallitarian, it still meant to have Japanese as the first among equals.

 

[Naomasa298]

Ma

Makes sense I suppose since japans pride was damaged by their lost the Chinese. But why do they consider themselves as a different race from the Chinese. The Japanese remarks on other Asians is similarly to the Europeans remarked on the Africans.

Why, do they all look the same to you or something?

 

[Zip]

Japanese contempt for the Chinese combined with a ferocious and bloodthirsty Japanese military culture.

 

[The Elephant]

Japanese contempt for the Chinese combined with a ferocious and bloodthirsty Japanese military culture.

There is a perception that the Japanese military were very cruel at this time in their history. They also had that Unit 731 which was very much on a par with Nazi behaviour.

 

[Ypurbo1]

Why, do they all look the same to you or something?

Well yeah phenotypes wise they are the same people, but culturally the Japanese language borrows a lot of China including their architecture. So it does not make sense why the Japanese would consider the Chinese subhuman when culturally speaking they came from the Chinese.

 

[Naomasa298]

Well yeah phenotypes wise they are the same people, but culturally the Japanese language borrows a lot of China including their architecture. So it does not make sense why the Japanese would consider the Chinese subhuman when culturally speaking they came from the Chinese.

Oh geeze.

THREAD CLOSED.