Beijing Review: How a young voice spreads the truths of history
BEIJING, Sept. 1, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- In winter 1937, as Japanese forces invaded Nanjing, then the capital of China, Richard Brady, an American surgeon at the city's Drum Tower Hospital, made a choice that would define his legacy.
On December 13, 1937, Nanjing, located in the eastern province of Jiangsu, witnessed one of the darkest chapters in modern history—six weeks of mass killings, sexual violence and other atrocities that claimed more than 300,000 lives. The tragedy became known to the world as the Nanjing Massacre.
Amid the terror, Brady and a handful of other foreigners risked their lives to protect civilians, offering medical care and refuge while the city burned. He also documented the atrocities through diaries, photos and letters, leaving behind invaluable historical records.
His courage created a legacy of compassion and responsibility for future generations. One of those carrying the legacy today is his great-granddaughter, Megan Brady.
"History is the building block of our future. It is absolutely essential that everyone understands what happened in the past so that we will not repeat it in the future," she told Beijing Review.
Voices beyond times
Born in the United States, Megan Brady moved to Canada with her family at age 10. After graduating from a university in Switzerland with a degree in communications, she began working for a hospitality group in the United Kingdom.
Growing up, she knew little about Richard Brady's role in China. That changed in 2014, when she first traveled to Nanjing with her father to learn about the massacre.
Inside the Memorial Hall of the Victims in Nanjing Massacre by Japanese Invaders, a faded black-and-white photo shows Richard Brady with his wife and son. For the young woman standing in front of it, the image bridged generations.
"Seeing his pictures in the memorial hall and in Nanjing Drum Tower Hospital and hearing about the work that he did, I know a lot about the type of person he was—and the type of person he would want me to be," Megan Brady said.
She added that he would want her to "share the work of the International Committee for the Nanjing Safety Zone and what happened in 1937 in Nanjing as much as I can."
Almost 90 years have passed since the massacre, and its survivors are becoming fewer and fewer. Their memories are fading, she said, and time is running out to preserve their testimonies. "It's up to the younger generations to continue to speak their truths and give them a voice beyond their time," she emphasized.
On August 15 in Nanjing, Megan Brady was named among the fourth group of inheritors of the historical memory of the Nanjing Massacre. The initiative, launched in 2022, has recognized 38 descendants of survivors as well as Chinese and international individuals who aided the Chinese people or preserved irrefutable historical evidence.
"As a Nanjing Massacre Historical Memory Inheritor, I am profoundly aware of the weight of this responsibility," she said while receiving her certificate. "I will carry forward my ancestors' legacy of compassion and courage, and preserve humanity's warmth. I also hope people will transcend hatred through reconciliation and build a world that honors history and cherishes peace."
Singing forward
For Megan Brady's family, Nanjing has become a place of remembrance and connection. Each time they visit, they go to the Drum Tower Hospital. "This place holds strong family memories and deep emotional connections," she said.
"At first, I was a little bit too young to understand really the depth of the tragedy and the reality of the people that suffered during the Nanjing Massacre. While I have gained more knowledge and more information, the more I come here, I'm always learning something new."
Megan Brady now feels a growing urge to share this history with others. "I think that there are a lot of nontraditional ways to share information. My passion has always been for music and telling stories through songs, because it's such an interesting way to convey emotion and ideas," she explained.
Her song Mercy, written six years ago, was inspired by the courage of people like her grandfather and Minnie Vautrin, the American missionary who turned the Jinling Women's College in Nanjing into a refugee shelter during the massacre.
"Love douses the fires, peace comes with the rain, rise from the ashes, harness all the pain..." the lyrics go. Simple yet powerful, they reflect the inheritor's empathy for the victims' suffering and her call for peace and reconciliation.
She first performed Mercy during China's National Memorial Day for Nanjing Massacre Victims in 2019. Standing in Nanjing, singing words born from both sorrow and hope, Megan Brady felt she was adding her own voice to the chorus of remembrance.
"Even as we witness, still, so many horrible things are going on in the world today. If you can do an individual part and put some good into the world, such as a song or an act of good service to a neighbor or a friend, even some sort of small positivity is going to create a domino effect that can have some real long lasting change."
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