The Contemporary and Modern History of Three East Asian Countries, a new book in three languages – Chinese, Korean and Japanese - that aims to "set the record straight" about the historical relations between these three countries, has been published, writes Hsiao-Hyung Pai.
Researched over three years and written jointly by Chinese, Korean and Japanese academics, the book sets to challenge Japan's official writing of imperialist history, particularly the atrocities conducted by the Japanese military during the second world war, which continue to have an impact on people's lives.
The book is the first historical publication independent of government intervention, and it has created an enormous interest across the three countries. The first print run of 20,000 copies of the Chinese edition sold out within two days. Xie Shouguang, the president of the Social Science Academic Press (SSAP) - the publisher of the Chinese edition - said that their conservative estimate for the total run is 100,000-200,000 copies.
Masahi Umeda of the Japanese publisher, Kohbunken, said that the book proves it is possible to reach consensus between the three countries about their interpretation of historical events. There has been extremely good feedback from Japanese readers and there is likely to be an English-language edition in future, the publishers say.
Some historical facts seem basic but they have taken decades of debate and research to reach an accurate and consensual understanding. An outstanding case is the number of victims during the Nanjing massacre which Japanese authorities have refused to recognise in their textbooks, leading to
public outrage in neighbouring China. The new book gives two numbers: 200,000, according to the Tokyo war crimes trial of 1946-48, when seven war criminals were sentenced to death and 16 to life imprisonment; and 340,000, according to the Nanjing trial of 1946-51, when 5,600 soldiers were prosecuted for non-Class A war crimes.
"In order to appreciate peace, we need to understand the wars," said Yoon Hwy-Tak, Korean professor of Chinese history at the East Asian university of South Korea. "Japan has to reflect on its war crime ... and compensate for the damage."
