Dear Teacher,
In 1943 I returned to Hangzhou from school in Shanghai.
Until this time I had just seen Japanese soldiers. They were not a terrible image. They were highly disciplined and never infringed on common people.
Of course, the people of Nanjing felt differently after the massacre, but Hangzhou lived a calm life and nothing so terrible happened in our city.
In 1945, one night, suddenly a large group of soldiers playing The Double Eagle March came onto the street. Jubilant crowds surged towards them. The troops were divided in two with Chinese troops on the left and American troops on the right. They marched from west to east. People warmly applauded them. The war of resistance against aggression seemed already over.
These eight years of my life seemed like they were actually half a century long. It was the Japanese who injured us—all of China had been damaged and especially my family and my home. Then the Japanese were driven away.
Sincerely, Robert
It is obvious still today that the Chinese hate the Japanese and I believe they always will. But, what bad can really be said about foreigners, when your own people create even greater tragedies?