on thanotourism
Genocide is out of our limited comprehension of human nature, and its trauma is too overwhelmed to describe. Beyond descriptions, the material facts – the architecture of the concentration camp, the instrument of torture, remnants of the body – become the main stress of many genocide museums. Photos and the list of names of the victims strongly bring out a sense of authenticity of a specific history, more authentic than any other cultural tourism can present. In seeing those photos, or hearing the testimonies of the survivors, the time seems to be crystallized in the museum or website space – a ritualistic space of confession, witnessing, understanding, transformation, and perhaps love.
However, the thanotourism can be dangerous too. Take the Nanking Massacre for example, in seeing the brutal photos of tortures and killings, the grief and indignation and hatred for Japanese arises in many Chinese rather than love or forgiveness or piece. The Japanese Government still denies the massacre, claiming the history never existed. When I browsed the websites of the Massacre, there were still words such as "remeber the hatred." People’s anger needs a way out, another race becomes the target. The dark history of the genocide is constituted mainly of these thrilling images and stories of tortures, but can these images and stories transform the hatred into love or war into piece? Nevertheless, compared to the the thanotourism, which is powerful and efficacious in many ways, The museum of love seems pale. Is there any other museums about forgiveness or love?
** A Wall in the Exhibition of the Facts of the Nanking Massacre -- why do we emphasize so much on the piles of the dead body? I saw similar images in Holocaust films too. 
** Some clips:
1) Rape of Nanking (1) (2) -- a documentary by Rhawn Joseph
2) Japanese denies the massacre: (1) (2) (3)
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
P.S. The vocal of the theme song of the clip “March of the Living I: Promotional Video 2005” – Return to Innocence – was sang by Difang Duana, who used to be a Living Treasure of Taiwan (he passed away in 2002 at the age of eighty-two.) The vocal was originally named “The Old Men Drinking Song.” The Living Treasure was first found by the ethnomusicologist. Following is a brief instruction of him and his Ma-Lan Choir, a choir made of five indigenous Ami elders who were all over sixty at then, including his wife.
During the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta the official song by Enigma – “Return to Innocence” – included a short section sung by Kuo Ying-nan and the Ma-Lan Choir (in 1999, a copyright lawsuit ended with an out-of-court settlement establishing Kao Ying-nan of the Taiwanese Amis tribe as the righteous owner of the song.) With their beautiful sonorous voices, the Ma-Lan Choir has touched the hearts of millions worldwide. When he was young, Kao Ying-nan (or “Difang” in his aboriginal dialect ) used to hang around with his friends of the Ma-Lan Choir. Who thought that playing around would foster their interest in singing. With their amazing voices and vivid body language, they have made the polyphonic singing style of the Amis aborigines known throughout the world. (http://www.ignitefire.com/a_malan.html)
