Controversy is brewing over a woman wearing a traditional Japanese kimono taking a commemorative photo at a Buddhist temple in Nanjing, China.
According to Jimu News on the 21st, a photo of a woman wearing a kimono at Keimyungsa Temple, a temple outside Nanjing, taking a commemorative photo under cherry blossoms was shared on Chinese social media Weibo.
Keimyungsa Temple, built in 527, is the first temple of the Southern Dynasties and one of the oldest temples in Nanjing. Every year at this time, tens of thousands of tourists visit this place to see the cherry blossoms in full bloom.
The woman wearing a kimono and holding a parasol in one hand is known to be a Chinese woman in her 20s.
At the time, tourists and residents who saw the scene pointed their fingers and criticized it, but the woman was said to have continued filming anyway.
Tourists and residents alike criticize this woman because the Japanese army carried out a massacre in Nanjing in 1937.
On December 13, 1937, the Japanese army occupied Nanjing, the capital of the Nationalist Government, and carried out massacres, sexual violence and arson until February 1938. Although the exact number of victims cannot be ascertained, it is known that 200,000 to 300,000 Chinese were u brutally killed by the Japanese army for about six weeks, and that 20,000 to 80,000 women were raped.
Netizens who came across this photo criticized the woman, saying, “This is Nanjing, it’s embarrassing,” “It’s inappropriate to wear a kimono in a place where there was a massacre,” and “If you like kimono, go to Japan and wear it.”
Some netizens defended the woman, saying, “So, shouldn’t we watch Japanese food, Japanese cars, and Japanese movies?”
Some residents also reported to the local police station.
In fact, an employee at the local police station said he reported to Jimu News that “someone was wearing a kimono and taking pictures at Keimyungsa Temple.”
