The Nanjing Massacre is back in the headlines after a Chinese student at university in Canada used his graduation ceremony as a stage to protest the lack of an official apology from the Japanese government for the atrocities committed 84 and a half years ago.
Dalhousie University in the city of Halifax in Canada concluded its graduation ceremony, the first in-person Convocation for 3 years, on 3 June. Among those donning gowns for the service was Chinese student, He Junyi, who had more than mortarboards on his mind that day.
A live video broadcast of the graduation ceremony showed Junyi holding a red cloth going on stage to receive his degree. He then greeted his teacher, walked to the centre of the stage and unfurled said cloth.
Holding it up for all to see, the cloth read, “Nanjing has been waiting for an official apology from the Japanese Government for the Nanjing Massacre. 300,000 victims”. Junyi had capitalised the word “Apology”.
After the short display which lasted less than 5 seconds, Junyi quickly put away the red cloth and stepped down.
According to The World Journal, Chinese media has reported that the student’s move was met with enthusiastic applause.
It won’t come as much of a surprise that Junyi was studying Political Science and Economics at Dalhousie. It is also far from the first time that he has chosen to speak out about the Nanjing Massacre.
Every year since 2017, on the anniversary of the Massacre on 13 December, the student has used his Instagram account to post photos of the remembrance service being held at the Nanjing Massacre Memorial Hall.
Junyi‘s actions during his graduation ceremony have been a significant draw online. To those posting comments questioning his actions, Junyi’s reply was that he was just doing the little things that a Chinese should do.
Over on Chinese social media, the official Weibo account of the Communist Youth League reposted the video of Junyi’s protest and commented, “Young people of today use their own methods to let the world hear China’s voice!”.
