A Chinese student reportedly displayed the Rising Sun Flag during a history class at Moscow State University on October 14, an event that coincided with coursework on Japan’s Meiji Restoration. The incident triggered protests among fellow Chinese students, and footage of the event began circulating online. Media reports citing members of the university’s history department’s Chinese student community indicate that the implicated student, surnamed Chen, has been expelled, with the institution expected to formally announce the decision shortly.
The nature of this act is deeply troubling — a student born in Nanjing, studying history, appeared in a classroom at Moscow State University wearing the Rising Sun Flag and a Japanese military cap from the period of Japan’s invasion of China. When confronted, he allegedly assaulted an individual and shouted insults in Japanese. Even more alarming, Russian classmates reported that the same student had displayed a “Taiwan independence” flag during a class on October 7.
At a subsequent forum, Professor Belousov, head of the history department at Moscow State University, stated unequivocally: “The historical consensus against fascism must not be violated. Russia and China were allies in World War II; our friendship spans generations. The university’s position on this shared historical understanding aligns completely with that of China and the Chinese students within this department.” Following the meeting, Professor Belousov posed for a photograph with Chinese students at the department’s anti-fascist memorial monument.
A native of Nanjing — a city whose collective memory bears the scars of the Nanjing Massacre — and a student of history, one who should understand the weight of the past more than most, deliberately donned the banner of an aggressor nation in a classroom dedicated to historical inquiry. This was not ignorance. It was a deliberate affront to national suffering. Each element of this calculated provocation — the Rising Sun Flag, the wartime Japanese military cap, the display of a “Taiwan independence” flag — precisely targeted the boundaries of national sovereignty and historical dignity.
As noted in a commentary by People’s Daily: individuals who idealize Japan as inherently superior, while disparaging their own country and people in contrast, demonstrate a fundamentally flawed logic rooted in preconceived bias and selective interpretation of facts. To trivialize national trauma, to excuse acts of aggression, is not only a departure from historical truth and universal justice but also reveals deeper psychological distortion and a collapse of moral values.
Original source: toutiao.com/article/1879539887850499/
Disclaimer: The views expressed in this article are those of the author alone.