Cherry blossom in my home university—Wuhan University has blossomed out for several days. Like the past decades hundreds of thousands of people come to visit. My friends in Wuhan University told me that looking down from the class windows, all they saw were snow-white flowers and people’s heads.
These cherry blossom trees have a long history. When Japanese troops occupied Wuhan, they settled down at Wuhan University and built a sanatorium there. In order to alleviate soldiers’ homesick, they brought seeds of cherry blossom to Wuhan and planted around their abodes. Those are only a small portion of trees that visitors can see today. After the war, we Chinese planted more in order to build up our relationship with Japan as well as remind us of the history.
However, nowadays how many people still remember the reasons of planting these trees? Most people come only to see the beautiful scenery. It is reported that a mother and her daughter even dressed up in kimono and took photos under cherry blossom trees. Students and visitors were so furious with them that they drove them away. Maybe they just thought it was fun doing so and the photos would be very beautiful. However will they still do so if they have at least the slightest memory of what Japanese had down to Chinese in the past? Even administrators in the school may forget the history—it is not free to pay a visit. Everyone except for students and teachers in Wuhan University coming to see the scenery has to pay 10 Yuan. So the school has totally changed it into a means of earning money. If it really wants us to think of the history and ponder over our relationship with Japan, it should no longer charge any fees. Furthermore, display boards can be made to tell visitors about how these trees were planted, Japanese cultures, the history of the war between China and Japan, how is our relation today and so on. It will be much more meaningful than just enjoying the beautiful flowers.
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