Bates Family visit Nanjing

by Global Ministries | published on Oct 10, 2014

70 years ago, his father and another fourteen foreigners protected Chinese civilians while witnessing the atrocities of the Japanese soldiers. Their compassionate and courageous actions saved thousands of people from death and hunger (detailed reports on Dec 13); 70 years later, he brought his family of three generations to Nanjing to look for their ‘roots’ and celebrate his 80th birthday and New Year’s Day, praying for peace . Together with his family, the son of Dr. Searle Bates (Chinese name Bei De-shi) who was one of the members of Nanjing International Safe Zone Committee, Mr. Robert Bates visited Nanjing Massacre Museum.

(Dr. Robert Bates was Area Executive for East Asia and Pacific)

“Actually Mr. Robert Bates can be called a senior Nanjing folk.” Mr. Zhu Cheng-shan, Director of the Massacre Museum introduced that Mr. Robert Bates stayed at Nanjing until 12 years old and studied at Wu Tai Shan Primary School. This time, he came back to Nanjing to search for his roots with the hope of having his children and grandchildren see the places where he used to live and visit the museum. “The younger they are, the easier to tell them the truth.”

In the reception room, Director Zhu took out some materials from the archive of the museum. These materials are copies of documents left by Dr. Searle Bates from Yale University Library. Mr. Robert Bates was excited when seeing these materials. He read the materials page by page, telling the people around him the familiar names in the document. “This is my neighbor…” “This is my teacher, Mrs. Sone, who was in the same church with us…”

Seeing the correspondence of his father and Mr. Timberly, the journalist of Manchester Herald in U. K., Mr. Robert Bates was quite excited, saying that the documents collected by the museum are far more than what he has collected. His father once told him that he gave Mr. Timberly a lot of information when Mr. Timberly wrote the first book in 1938 about the Terror of Japanese Soldiers. That book was the earliest book that reported the true situation of Nanjing Massacre. Mr. Robert Bates was happy to see the letters that confirmed what his father had told him.

As to the courageous and just behavior of Dr. Searle Bates, not only did Mr. Robert Bates feel proud, his two daughters also cherish this heritage. When they got married, they kept their grandfather’s family name. “It is for this reason the children’s family names of the two daughters are very long (such as Bates-Scott)”, said Zhang Jing, the translator from Nanjing Union Theological Seminary. 　　

Two Daughters Cried at the Museum

The Bates visited the museum accompanied by Director Zhu. At the entrance, when seeing the wall with thousands of names of those who died in the massacre, the two daughters of Mr. Robert Bates could not help crying. His elder daughter Karen told the reporter that she had heard her father talk about the massacre and also had read books about this part of history, but the number of 300,000 could not make much sense until she saw the wall of names and the pictures of the dead persons. Every 12 seconds a picture disappears, symbolizing the loss of one life. (To kill 300,000 people within six weeks meant that a person was murdered every 12 seconds during the massacre.)

Mr Robert Bates lingered longer in front of the portrait of his father, the picture of “competition of killing one hundred persons”, and the exhibition of Rev. Magee’s video. The pictures presented a history that saddened the hearts of the Bates. All of them were silent and sad.

At the end of the exhibition, there was a special square on the floor. When one walks on it, there will appear the blossom flowers, and on the wall, doves will start flying upward. This surprised everybody. Director Zhu explained that the museum and exhibitions in the museum are not for hatred but for peace in the future. Therefore, at the end of the exhibition, they set up this scene. Whenever a human being walks on the scene, flowers and doves will show up, reminding people of hope and peace. After hearing the explanation, Mrs. Bates walked on the spot again. Mr. Bates praised the design and focus on peace. Though his father and others had experienced a most terrible thing, what they had done was for peace and love in the world. His father lived a healthy life after returning to the States but always paid attention to peace in the world. Mr. Bates also gave high praise to the sufficient materials, artistic design and excellent service of the museum.

Donating the Bed

On Dec 13, Yantze Evening News reported the presence of Mr. Robert Bates for the International Conference of Nanjing Massacre. Dr. Dai An-Bang’s relatives called us and shared with us the stories of Dr. Dai and Mr. Searle Bates. Dr. Dai was a former academician and professor of Nanjing University who passed away several years ago.

According to the introduction of the Dais, the two families were neighbors and they could see each other’s porch easily. Dr. Bates passed Dr. Dai’s door every day. Before Dr. Bates and his family left China, Dr. Dai received a double bed from the Bates.

Mrs. Dai cherished this bed very much and took good care of it. She never allowed the kids to jump on the bed. In the Cultural Revolution, the Dais were forced to live in one room with limited space so they could only put the bed in a dorm building where it was very humid. Mrs. Dai tried to lift the bed to keep the bed from humidity. No matter how difficult their circumstances, they sold other household items, but kept the bed. Half a century had passed since they received the bed from the Bates. When they heard that the son of Dr. Searle Bates came back to Nanjing, they took the bed out and sent us a picture.

Yesterday, the reporter brought the picture and the greetings of the Dais to Mr. Robert Bates. Mr. Bates was very surprised to hear the story. He wanted the reporter to thank the Dais for taking such good care of the bed of his parents and was willing to donate the bed to the museum for a historical witness.

Mr. Bates offered the epigraph to the Yantze Evening News

Yesterday evening, the Nanjing Massacre Museum offered a banquet for Mr. Robert Bates for his 80th birthday. Mr. Bates and his family were very touched and grateful. His birthday is in September, but as the New Year is approaching and knowing that the Chinese have the custom of having one more year after the New Year’s Day, he hoped to celebrate the birthday in China in a Chinese style. The banquet was held in Nanjing Hotel, which is meaningful according to Director Zhu. Nanjing has a close relationship with the Bates because of the courageous behavior of Dr. Searle Bates. The museum also received other important guests who have contributed to the witnesses and testimonies of Nanjing Massacre.

Mr. Robert Bates wrote an epigraph for the newspaper, shown in the photo at right.