An anonymous person has donated 10,000 yuan (US$1,320) to allow
1,000 people to watch the United States documentary
Nanking that chronicles Japan's notorious 1937 invasion of
Nanjing and the massacre of its residents.
Two major theaters in the eastern Chinese city discounted ticket
prices from 25 yuan each to 10 yuan, so that more people could see
the film. All 1,000 tickets were handed out in just one and a half
hours.
Old people, middle-aged parents with their children and young
people who wanted to know the city's history went to watch the
film.
"As residents in Nanjing, we shall never forget the history," a
woman surnamed Li told her nine-year-old son at the gate of Heping
Theater.
Nanking (the old?spelling for Nanjing) features
interviews with Chinese survivors and Japanese soldiers, along with
pictures, letters, and diaries read by actors portraying westerners
who helped save more than 200,000 Chinese refugees in Nanjing in
1937.
Heping Theater in Nanjing has taken 100,000 yuan over the past
10 days, a record high for a documentary shown in the theater.
Nanking was first shown only on one theater screen
before being shown at major cinemas. Some scheduled 10 shows a
day.
Many enterprises have made block bookings for the film until
August.
The Nanjing Massacre occurred in December 1937 when Japanese
troops occupied the then capital of China. More than 300,000
Chinese were believed murdered and thousands of women raped.
"I felt that the massacre had largely been ignored by history. I
hope we can tell people the truth," said Bill Guttentag, who shot
the film with partner Dan Sturman, earlier this month in
Shanghai.
The idea came from Ted Leonsis, vice chairman of America Online,
who came across an obituary of a young writer named Iris Chang who
wrote the best-selling book The Rape of
Nanking.?
?
(Xinhua News Agency July 24, 2007)