NANJING MASSACRE AND SOOK CHING MASSACRE: SHAPING OF CHINESE POPULAR MEMORIES IN CHINA AND SINGAPORE, 1945 - 2015

Abstract

This thesis seeks to assess and explain the differences between Chinese popular memories of the Nanjing Massacre in China and the Sook Ching Massacre in Singapore from 1945 to 2015, through the study of ethnic Chinese survivors? autobiographies, biographies, memoirs, and published oral history interviews or testimonies. The extent to which the Chinese people in both countries remember the respective massacre during this period shall also be examined. The nature of the relationship between Chinese popular memories of each massacre and the corresponding official memories in China and Singapore will be further discussed. In addition, this study shall explore how and why China?s and Singapore?s domestic politics and foreign relations with Japan between 1945 and 2015 shape Chinese popular memories of the respective massacre.