A Study on Hiroshima and Nagasaki Peace Declaration 1999, as Seen through Inquiries, for Chinese Students in Chiba Institute of Technology

In August 1999, Hiroshima and Nagasaki observed the fifty-forth anniversary of the atomic bomb dropping. As usual, the Mayors of Hiroshima and Nagasaki each delivered the Peace Declarations at the Peace Memorial Ceremonies. Needless to say, Hiroshima and Nagasaki have appealed for the total abolition of nuclear weapons and the creation of lasting world peace since that fatal day. The purpose of this paper is to verify how Hiroshima and Nagasaki's appeals which are showed in the ""Peace Declarations 1999"" move the foreigner on the results of inquiries for 35 Chinese students in Chiba Institute of Technology. The findings of our survey are as follows: [1] Only 8.6% of students were in favor of both of them. [2] one-fifths were for Hiroshima Peace Declaration. [3] 37.1% were for Nagasaki Peace Declaration. [4] Over 30% of students (34.3%) were in favor of neither of them. This time, among students, 28.6% ( [1] + [2] ) rated Hiroshima Peace Declaration ""good"" or ""excellent"", while 45.7% ( [1] + [3] ) rated Nagasaki Peace Declaration in this way. Certainly, Nagasaki's rate was superior to Hiroshima's rate, however, the Hiroshima's point is the second hightest in the last five surveys (49.5% in 1991). By cotrast, the Nagasaki's point was the lowest in the past (down 25.7% from 1998). Most striking of all, 34.3% of Chinese students were in favor of neither of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. This point is the worst in the last surveys. Why they were against Hiroshima and Nagasaki Peace Declaration in 1999 ? The reasons are as follows: (1) These Peace Declarations didn't mention of Japan's War Responsibility. They believe that Japanese should not victimize oneself just because of atomic bomb, and they demand that Japanese should remember ""Nanjing Massacre"" and other sad incidents occured during Sino-Japanese war(1931-45) . (2) They question whether the total abolition of nuclear weapons equals to a peace of the world. They hope Hiroshima and Nagasaki will appeal to all nations states not only to abolish nuclear weapons b