First-years Lei Zhao and Brian Pugh are bringing civil war to Oberlin. That is, in the form of a re-enactment of the Battle of Nanking, employing water balloons, Nerf toys and cap guns at noon this Saturday, May 14 in Wilder Bowl. High turnout is expected but the planning has not been done without some controversy.

The idea for the faux battle sprung from Pugh and Zhao’s search for a fourth-hour project in an East Asian history course taught by Professor David Kelly. The re-enactment is an addendum to research papers the two wrote and is designed as a means to afford interested students the opportunity to educate themselves on this historical event, as well as a kick-off to reading period with a free-for-all water fight that will hopefully blow off some much needed steam.

The Battle of Nanking is one of many that took place during China’s Taiping Rebellion, a devastating internal disturbance that occurred partly in conjunction with the Chinese and European cultural clash now known as the Opium War.

“It’s the largest civil war in history,” said Zhao, “and an event that’s usually ignored.”

The history department is sponsoring Saturday’s activities, which will commence with an introduction to the significance and history of the actual battle. Participants will then be divided into two groups, joining either the imperial army or the rebels, led by Zhao and Pugh respectively. Arm bands will distinguish who belongs to which, faction, and students are encouraged to bring their own armament.

“Anything that won’t hurt anyone, of course, including water guns and balloons, fake swords, things like that,” Zhao stated. “We hope it will be a stress-relieving event before finals get started.”

Pugh and Zhao also approached the Asian American Alliance regarding possible sponsorship of the re-enactment. The AAA, however, was hesitant due to controversial issues they felt the mock battle posed, and in response to the request formed a committee to look into the event.

“We were concerned about the trivialization of war,” stated senior committee member Melissa Francisco. “We were also worried it appropriates Chinese culture and history without having any kind of educational purpose.”

The re-enactment has not only been advertised by posters on campus but also gave way to a group currently boasting more than 100 members on the popular electronic friend network The Facebook. The AAA did not agree with initial promotion of the battle on this website due to emphasis on the event’s more pleasurable, as opposed to instructive, aspects.

“What we had a hard time with was why was this event being wrapped around a fun studybreak,” said another AAA committee member senior Nancy Nguyen. “We weren’t sure how educational it was going to be.”

Pugh and Zhao, however, met with the AAA committee to discuss the battle reproduction and to brainstorm possible ways to more strongly promote its educational merit.

“Our meeting with the AAA made us more aware of the need to do this and AAA officers gave us some useful suggestions about how to go about making that clear, but did not change things in a fundamental way,” said Pugh. “When we met we found that we were basically on the same page.”

Yet despite alterations made to the reenactment following this dialogue, the AAA still decided it could not sponsor the event.

“[Pugh and Zhao] were receptive during the meeting and they have made a lot of changes to their event,” said Nguyen. “We understand that there need to be things at this time to have fun, but we still disagree on linking the two together.”

Pugh, Zhao and the AAA are asking participating students to take the opportunity to learn about the actual events that have inspired this re-creation seriously, as well as to have respect for the culture being represented.

“People need to think about why they’re participating and what that means in terms of history,” Nguyen stated.

Zhao maintained however that learning would be an integral part of the event.

“Keep in mind that the event is supposed to foster new awareness of an event in Chinese history that is largely ignored and unknown. It is not an event to foster the continuation of useless stereotypes and people identifying with legacies that they don’t understand,” said a message Zhao posted in the Facebook. “Learn and understand before you decide you want to appropriate something.”

“It could be a really fun learning experience if people choose to take it that way,” he stated.