World War II was a devastating, brutal war in which around 3% of the world’s population perished. It was especially costly for China, which became the country with the second-highest WWII casualties behind the Soviet Union as 20 million Chinese died countering the Japanese invasions. World War II, known to the Chinese as the Second Sino-Japanese War, was a national peril, whose terrors are remembered by the Chinese people to this day. Modern Chinese cultural creations such as plays usually depict the Japanese negatively, as evil, barbarous, and ugly perpetrators of war crimes. These negative portrayals often lead to cultural disgust toward Japan, creating and maintaining a cultural atmosphere of hostility.

My grandparents were born in Central China, once the frontline of fighting in WWII, and they often tell me stories about their youth during the war. However, despite Chinese hatred for the Japanese war crimes, my grandparents retain respect and friendliness toward the Japanese, as they learned a lesson from a life experience during the Second World War: it is wrong to maintain a negative stereotype of the Japanese, as not every soldier committed war crimes, including slaughtering and robbing. Even under imperial Japan’s command to invade and annex Central China, both peoples could still maintain humanity and care.

By 1938, Japan had already occupied Korea and Manchuria. With a base in mainland China, Japan started to further annex the Chinese territories. Soon, the battlefield extended to Henan Province in Central China. My great-grandmother, a many-ways typical Chinese woman born in 1908 at the end of the Qing Dynasty, had her feet bound and never left her village. Experiencing the political change from Qing to the Republic of China, my great-grandmother adapted to the changes, and she worked as both a merchant and a sugarcane farmer to sustain the family and my ill, weak great-grandfather, who was unable to farm. Although illiterate, she taught herself how to count and calculate. Even though she experienced foot-binding, she endured the pain, and she toiled and ensured the family’s adequate food and clothing. She gave birth to my grandfather in 1930. The family became richer and happier with the wealth my great-grandmother amassed until 1938, when Japanese soldiers reached Henan and, unfortunately, my grandfather caught malaria.

Because of my grandfather’s illness, he was unable to move. In addition, due to their village’s poverty and lack of communication with outside, nobody in the village was able to cure my grandfather. When everyone learned the arrival of the Japanese, they fled from their homes and migrated to safer places; however, my family was unable to move because of my grandfather’s illness. Hopeless, my great-grandmother sat on the doorstep in front of her house and cried day after day with my grandfather sitting on her lap until the arrival of Japanese soldiers. A Japanese medical officer noticed my crying great-grandmother and identified my grandfather’s illness. Subsequently, he selflessly provided my great-grandmother with medicine for malaria. Eventually, my grandfather was cured. Then, the medical officer aided my family to flee into a safer zone where the war could not reach.

The Second Sino-Japanese War lasted until 1945, when the United States dropped two nuclear bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki and the Japanese surrendered. By then, the Soviet Union had also come to Manchuria, expelled the Japanese from the region, and returned the land to China. After 8 years of war, happiness and cheers of victory spread all over China, except amongst the Japanese soldiers, who were too poor to go back to Japan. The Japanese had to sell their possessions to Chinese merchants, who would take advantage of the soldiers’ desperation to buy their high valued products and jewelry at low prices. My great-grandmother, who was also a merchant, seized the opportunity and decided to trade with the Japanese. However, different from the other Chinese merchants, she insisted on paying a fair price for the Japanese soldiers’ possessions. My great-grandmother believed in mutual kindness and trust among peoples, and she continued to teach this value to her offspring.

My great-grandmother also wished her offspring to receive better education and to experience the world beyond China one day, as the cultural exchanges brought by war convinced her of the importance of knowledge and horizons. With mainland China finally achieving its peace from World War II and the Chinese Civil War, my grandfather grew up and became the first person in his family to attend college. He studied meteorology and biology, and researched pathogens such as the one that caused his illness. My grandfather had 5 daughters, all of whom went to college, a phenomenon still not prevalent in China at the time. His youngest daughter gave birth to me, and she made the decision for me to study abroad, finally realizing my great-grandmother’s wish. Throughout the years, my family has continued to visit foreign countries worldwide, learning about different cultures and traditions. My family passed on my great-grandmother’s teachings to me, showing me the importance of mutual kindness among people. Although the negative portrayals are mostly true, they could never by themselves represent the entire story. We must not cling to a fixed mindset that refuses to accept stories of humanity.