New Jersey Alliance for Learning and Preserving the History of World War II in Asia

新澤西州抗日戰爭史實維護會

 

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* Events *

Upcoming Event:  9/11/13 Special Exhibition and Presentation

 (free admission)


A special exhibition and presentation on "Japan's Biological and Chemical Warfare in China" will be held at the Student Life Center at Brookdale Community College (BCC) in Lincroft, NJ. A 50-panel display will be provided by Beijing's "Museum of the War of Chinese People's Resistance Against Japanese Aggression."  This event is co-sponsored with BCC's Center for WWII Studies and Conflict Resolution and BCC's Asia Society.

Exhibition:  Wed., 9/11/13, 10:00 AM - 9:30 PM

Presentation:  Wed., 9/11/13, 7:00 PM - 8:30 PM

  • Mr. Li Zongyuan (李宗远), Vice Curator of the Beijing Museum, "Japanese Imperial Army's Germ and Chemical Warfare in China:  Guilt and Responsibility" (侵华日军在中国实施的细菌战和化学战罪责)

  • Mr. Daniel Barenblatt, author of the book A Plague Upon Humanity

Come to learn more about this important but not widely-known part of history. This exhibition and presentation will be especially meaningful in light of recent developments in Japan in denying many of the things that happened during WWII in Asia.  It is also significant for the American people because of the U.S. government's tacit approval and involvement with Japan's post-WWII development, and has important implications for world stability and peace. To see the two flyers of this event, click flyer-1 and flyer-2.



Ongoing Event:  Implementing Five Year (2011-2015) Strategic Plan 

 

Recognizing that we have made significant progress along the direction of NJ-ALPHA's objective, we have formulated a five-year (2011-2015) strategic plan to expand our program.  To implement this expanded program, NJ-ALPHA needs about $160,000 over these five years, with about 55% of that to support the Peace and Reconciliation Asia Study Tour Program.

In the past, we have established several Asia Study Tour Education Fellowships:

  • The first one we established is called the "Chang Chu-Yeh Education Fellowship for Asia Study Tour" in honor of Mr. Chang Chu-Yeh, who is a Nanking Massacre survivor and eyewitness who has given many talks about his personal experiences during the Nanking Massacre.  Although each time giving such talk brings back extremely painful memory of the events that he and his family experienced, he nevertheless has continued to do so, because he believes that it is important not to forget that part of history.

  • Another is called the "Iris Chang Education Fellowship for Asia Study Tour," in honor of the famous late Iris Chang, author of the best-selling book The Rape of Nanking:  The Forgotten Holocaust of WWII.

  • Another one is the "Berkeley Chinese Center Education Fellowship for Asia Study Tour," in honor of the Berkeley Chinese Center that had a significant impact on the life of the anonymous donor when he was a student at the University of California at Berkeley.  See the next item "Fundraising Campaign" for additional information.

 

 

Ongoing Event:  Fundraising Campaign

We have started a major fundraising campaign soliciting contributions from individuals, foundations, and companies (for the Executive Summary of the Fundraising Campaign, click here). Anyone or organization who contributes $3,000 (or $15,000) can name a fellowship in honor of a loved one, a company, or a foundation for one year (or five years).   NJ-ALPHA is an established non-profit educational 501(c)(3) organization duly registered with the U.S. federal government (Federal Tax I.D. # is 73-1734843).  Your contributions are fully tax deductible.  Checks should be made payable to NJ-ALPHA, and mailed to NJ-ALPHA, P. O. Box 1121, Piscataway, NJ 08855.

In January 2013, we received two large contributions ($1,000 each).  One donation came from Victor Yung, a frequent contributor to NJ-ALPHA and a Co-Founder of NJ-ALPHA and a former President of NJ-ALPHA.  The other donation came from Albert and Lucia Yeh, who had also previously established an Asia Study Tour Fellowship with a $3,000 contribution.  Almost two years ago, we received the largest contribution commitment to date to NJ-ALPHA: A $15,000 donation over five years to set up a "Berkeley Chinese Center Education Fellowship for Asia Study Tour," which will support one teacher/educator per year to participate in the Asia Study Tour for each of the next five years beginning with 2012.  The donor wants to remain anonymous, but agreed that we can refer to him by his nickname "Sai Chung."  Click here for additional information on Sai Chung and the Berkeley Chinese Center.

Although we have had some success in getting donations, we are far from our goal as stated in our five-year strategic plan.

 

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Recent Events:

  • May 16, 2013: This program, held at the Monmouth County Library in Manalapan and co-sponsored by the Monmouth County Library, consisted of two items:

    • Showing the abridged (13 minutes) version of the documentary "Torn Memories of Nanjing," a documentary made by the award-winning Japanese teacher and journalist Tamaki Matsuoka who invested 24 years of her life to try to find out what happened during the Nanking Massacre.  She interviewed over 250 former Japanese soldiers who were stationed in Nanking in 1937-1938 and over 300 Chinese survivors of the Nanking Massacre.  This documentary summarizes the findings of her video-recorded interviews.

    • Ms. Sharon Dolled, a Special Education Teacher at the Memorial Middle School in Howell, spoke on "Good People Facing Atrocities."  Ms. Dolled participated in the 2012 Peace and Reconciliation Asia Study Tour sponsored by NJ-ALPHA, during which she visited China, South Korea, and Hong Kong.

  • January 3, 2013:  Genocide Panel Discussion at the West Windsor-Plainsboro High School North in Plainsboro, NJ.  It was a very successful full-school-day event for 300-400 10th/11th grade world history students.  The program started in the morning with the film "Schlindler's List." After lunch, the panel discussion chaired by Dr. Paul Winkler with five panelists: Jerry Ehrlich, M.D. (on Darfur), Dr. Vera Goodkin (on Holocaust), Eugenie Mukeshimana (on Rwanda), Dr. Nuran Nabi (on Bangladesh), and Dr. Don Tow (on Nanking).  The students were captivated for over two and a half hours by the discussion of genocides in five different parts of the world by this panel of survivors and activists. The students asked many relevant questions, including how they can contribute to stopping genocides from reoccurring. Everyone involved thought that this event not only increased the knowledge of the students on these historical events, but may also lead to some follow-on actions by these students.

    This event shows that with proper support from the teachers and school administrators, worthwhile events such as this could be held at other schools.  The event could range from a full-day or half-day program discussing multiple genocides to a one-hour program covering just one genocide. NJ-ALPHA plans to organize more events of this type in 2013 focusing on the Asian genocide.

 

 

  • December 7-8, 2012:  A major conference "75th Anniversary Commemoration of the Nanking Massacre" was held at Brookdale Community College (BCC).  It was co-sponsored with BCC's Center for WWII Studies and Conflict Resolution and the NJ Commission on Holocaust Education. For the complete program of the conference, click here. It received rave reviews by all participants.  Here are two written responses received: 

    - Jerry Iacangelo:  "It was fabulous. What a history lesson! Every speaker was brilliant. It was a thrill to meet the "Torn Memories of Nanking" filmaker Tamaki Matsuoka after the movie. I thanked her and applaud her courage. ... Robin Lung: A fascinating charismatic woman with a deep passion for her story. ... The comfort women: very touching how these women never lost their dignity or grace. You just want to climb into the screen and hug one of them. ... The teachers and the student: I'm very impressed with the teachers and even more so by Michael Carter who was very eloquent in his speech. ... Japan hurts itself by not acknowledging its evil past. Even Gorbachev ultimately admitted Russia's role in the Katyn massacre of the Polish military officers. That was good for Russia. ... With programs such as this, no one can deny what happened in Nanking."  

    - John McLaughlin:  "I am almost a a loss for words to describe my enthusiasm for this conference. What a tremendous amount of work and what great speakers.  Congratulations on a superb job.  I joined the Alliance and would love to play a part in its activities in some form.  I have a strong interest in Chinese history.  One of the strongest impressions of my research is that there are two countries that were poorly treated by the Allies in WWII, China and Poland."  

    One of the highlights of the conference was the showing of the film "Torn Memories of Nanking" and the talk by the film director Tamaki Matsuoka.  Ms. Matsuoka is a most remarkable woman who dedicated the past 24 years of her life to find out what happened during the Nanking Massacre.  She has interviewed over 300 Nanking Massacre survivors and over 250 former Japanese soldiers who were involved in the Nanking Massacre. For more information about her, click here." 

    Another highlight was the talk by our local 89 year-old Nanking Massacre survivor Mr. Chu-Yeh Chang.  In spite of the pain recalling that terrible part of his life experience, he was brave and gracious enough to give us another presentation on that subject.  The "Reference Information" page of this website contains both the English and Chinese transcripts of a similar talk he gave at the 70th Anniversary Commemoration of the Nanking Massacre.  
    To honor two people who have dedicated a large portion of their lives to reveal the truth and to educate the world about the Nanking Massacre, NJ-ALPHA presented two special recognition awards to Mr. Chu-Yeh Chang and Ms. Tamaki Matsuoka.
     
    Photo of Mr. Chang receiving award from NJ-ALPHA President Don Tow:  
    Chang Award-Crop2 
     
    Photo of Ms. Matsuoka receiving award from NJ-ALPHA President Don Tow:  
          Matsuoka Award-Red-Crop
     
    For the wordings (both Chinese and English) of the awards, see below:       
    - For Mr. Chang's plaque, Chinese words, click Chang-Chinese  
    - For the English translation of Mr. Chang's plaque, click Chang-English  
    - For Ms. Matsuoka's plaque, Chinese words, click Matsuoka-Chinese  
    - For the English translation of Ms. Matsuoka's plaque, click Matsuoka-English

  • July 6-21, 2012:  Three NJ teachers/educators participated in the "2012 Peace and Reconciliation Asia Study Tour" that visited Shanghai, Nanjing, Harbin, Seoul, and Hong Kong.  They were Barbara Boyer, Barbara Hadzima, and Sharon Dolled.  Their testimonies can be found in the Study Tour page.  They joined with a larger group from Canada, and the Study Tour was organized by Toronto ALPHA.

  • April 17, 2012:  "The Doolittle Air Raid":  Featured Paul J. Frisco,
    WWII Navy Veteran, feature writer, coordinator of Center for World War II Studies and Conflict Resolution’s Veterans History Project. Don Tow, President of NJ-ALPHA, also presented a talk "Doolittle Raid:  Its Impact on China" (click here for his presentation). Co-sponsored with Brookdale Community College (BCC)'s Center for WWII Studies and Conflict Resolution, at BCC's Student Life Center.
  • January 29, 2012: Four interesting presentations on the topics "Unit 731", "Jewish-Chinese Connection During WWII", "Japan's Slave Labor During WWII," and "Slide/Video Show of 2011 Asia Study Tour" were presented at East Brunswick's Public Library.  For more information, click here.

  • December 6, 2011:  "The American Volunteer Group:  The Flying Tigers,", an event endorsed by NJ-ALPHA and sponsored by ookdale Community College's Center for WWII Studies and Conflict Resolution, at the Student Life Center.

  • September 17-18, 2011:  NJ-ALPHA, together with the Chinese Consolidated Benevolent Association (CCBA) of New York and about 20 other community organizations, sponsored a "918 - 80th Anniversary Commemorative Event" in New York City on 9/17-18/2011 at the CCBA Building. This two-day event included a 200+ photo exhibit, a brief memorial ceremony, classic WWII songs performed by well-known singers, talks by two invited speakers (from Taiwan and Mainland China), and several excellent films about the 14-year War of Resistance.  The program attracted more than 300 people.
  • July 13-28, 2011:  We completed the 2011 Asia Study Tour. Two teachers/educators and two NJ-ALPHA staffs participated (a third teacher/educator was unable to go due to an accident a couple of months before the trip). This year's tour visited Beijing, Harbin, Nanjing, Shanghai, and Seoul, South Korea.  It was the first visit to the infamous Unit 731, Japan's massive biological and chemical weapon research laboratory and factory in Harbin.
  • July 6, 2011:  British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) recently broadcasted to the world the complete Chinese talk of our own eyewitness and survivor of the Nanking Massacre, Mr. Chu-Yeh Chang.  Click here to hear the broadcast.  In 2011, Mr. Chang was an 88-year-old resident of Middletown, NJ, and was a 14-year-old boy living with his family in Nanking during the Nanking Massacre.


 

  • December 12, 2009:  Commemorative Event in Memory of Iris Chang in East Brunswick, NJ:  The film "Iris Chang:  The Rape of Nanking" was shown, together with a photo exhibition of the atrocities that occurred during the Nanking Massacre.  This event was sponsored by NJ-ALPHA, together with the following co-sponsors:  Chinese American Librarian Association Northeast Chapter, Huaguang Cultural Association, New Jersey Chinese American Book Club, New York Cory Graphics Publisher, and Rutgers University East Asian Library.  The Chinese-American media company icepn.com covered the event.
    •   
  • June 30-July 15, 2009:  2009 Asia Study Tour.  One NJ middle school teacher and one NY college professor were educators sent by NJ-ALPHA.  For the first time, the China Study Tour visited Yunnan Province, site of many historical and critical battles where the U.S. military played a critical role in winning this part of the war.  The U.S. role is widely recognized and appreciated by the Chinese, especially in Yunnan Province.  We also interviewed several eyewitnesses and survivors of the massive biological/chemical warfare that the Japanese military inflicted on the Chinese in Yunnan, Besides Yunnan, the tour also visited Shanghai interviewing former sex slaves and Nanking interviewing eyewitnesses and survivors of the Nanking Massacre.  A representative of NJ-ALPHA also participated in this tour.

  • April 27, 2009:  Program on "Violence Against Women: Sex Slaves in Asia during WWII" at Brookdale Community College (BCC) in Lincroft, NJ.  Program co-sponsored by BCC's "Holocaust, Genocide and Human Rights Education Center," BCC's "Center for WWII Studies & Conflict Resolution," and NJ-ALPHA.
    • "Sex Slaves - Almost Forgotten History of WWII": ul>
    • Talk by Frances Flannery - Social Studies and History Teacher at South Plainfield High School in South Plainfield, NJ, and 2008 China Study Tour participant
    • Talk by Rosemarie Wilkinson - Social Studies Teacher at Raritan High School in Hazlet, NJ and Adjunct Professor at Kean University in Union, NJ, and 2008 China Study Tour Participant
    • Show new and historical video clips on the "Sex Slaves" issue
    • Photo exhibit of atrocities in Asia during WWII

 

  • October 31-November 2, 2008:  Global Alliance and ALPHA Biennial Conference in Toronto, Canada.  Among many other very educational presentations was the presentation by Maryann McLoughlin and Rosemarie Wilkinson (two of the NJ participants in the 2008 China Study Tour), who gave an excellent summary of the history of the NJ Commission on Holocaust Education, Brookdale Community College's "Holocaust, Genocide and Human Rights Education Center," and Richard Stockton College of NJ's "Holocaust Resource Center."  Their presentation can be found via the following link:  McLoughlin-Wilkinson_Toronto_Presentation.  Because this is a large (almost 5 MB) Adobe Acrobat PDF file, it may take several minutes to access the whole presentation.  This presentation can also be found in the "Reference_Information" page of this website.

  • September 6, 2008:  NJ Participant Readouts of 2008 China Study Tour in Holmdel, NJ.  All the participants gave an extremely enthusiastic assessment of the China Study Tour.  All said that they have already started using the knowledge and experience gained in their teachings, and all recommend highly the China Study Tour to other teachers and educators (see the "Study Tour" page of this website for some of their testimonials).

  • July 1-14, 2008:  2008 Asia Study Tour in China (see the "Study Tour" page for the 2008 participants' testimonials)

  • December 18, 2007:  Nanking Massacre 70th Anniversary Commemorative Event at Brookdale Community College (BCC), co-sponsored by BCC's "Center for WWII Studies & Conflict Resolution" and NJ-ALPHA.  Program included (1) a talk by Nanking Massacre eyewitness Mr. Chu-Yeh Chang (his talk can be found in the "Reference Information" page of this website), (2) a talk by Mr. Doug Cervi (2006 China Study Tour participant and coauthor of "Curriculum Guide" (see next item), and (3) the premier showing in NJ of the newly released full-length documentary film "Iris Chang - The Rape of Nanking".  The program attracted a full-house audience and received extremely positive feedbacks.

  • November 2007:  Publication of "A Curriculum Guide for Secondary Teachers: The Nanking Massacre and Other Japanese Atrocities Committed During the Asia-Pacific War - 1931-1945."  A joint-project between NJ-ALPHA and the NJ Commission on Holocaust Education.  The latter has distributed copies of this Curriculum Guide to all high schools in NJ, and many schools have started to use this Guide and include this part of history in their social studies and history courses.

  • November 8, 2007:  Special Session on "The Nanking Massacre" at the NJ Education Association's Annual Convention at Atlantic City, NJ.  Speakers included Mr. Doug Cervi, Mr. Bob Holden, and Mr. Chu-Yeh Chang.  The first two were NJ participants of the 2006 China Study Tour and coauthors of the Curriculum Guide (see previous item).  The third person is an eyewitness of the Nanking Massacre (see two items before this item).  Copies of the Curriculum Guide were also distributed to the teachers attending this session.

 

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