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The Rape of Nanking (book)

The Rape of Nanking: The Forgotten Holocaust of World War II is a bestselling 1997 non-fiction book written by Iris Chang about the 1937–1938 Nanking Massacre — the mass murder and mass rape of Chinese civilians committed by the Imperial Japanese Army in Nanking, the capital of the Republic of China, immediately after the Battle of Nanking during the Second Sino-Japanese War. It describes the events leading up to the Nanking Massacre, provides a graphic detail of the war crimes and atrocities committed by Japanese troops, and lambastes the Japanese government for its refusal to appropriately rectify the atrocities. It also criticizes the Japanese people for their ignorance about the massacre. It is one of the first major English-language books to introduce the Nanking Massacre to Western and Eastern readers alike, and has been translated into several languages.[1] The book significantly renewed public interest in Japanese wartime conduct in China, Korea, the Philippines, Southeast Asia, and the Pacific.[2]

The Rape of Nanking
Cover of the first edition
AuthorIris Chang
Cover artistRick Pracher
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
SubjectNanjing Massacre
PublisherBasic Books
Publication date
1997
Media typePrint (Hardcover)
Pages290 (1st edition)
ISBN0-465-06835-9
OCLC37281852
951.04/2 21
LC ClassDS796.N2 C44 1997
Websitewww.irischang.net/books

The book received both acclaim and criticism by the public and by academics. It has been praised as a work that "shows more clearly than any previous account" the extent and brutality of the episode,[3] while elements of Chang's analysis of the motivations for the events, Japanese culture, and her calculation of the total numbers killed and raped were criticized as inaccurate because of her lack of training as a historian.[4] Chang's research on the book was credited with the finding of the diaries of John Rabe and Minnie Vautrin, both of whom played important roles in the Nanking Safety Zone, a designated area in Nanjing that protected Chinese civilians during the Nanking Massacre.[5]

“…Nanking should be remembered not only for the number of people slaughtered but for the cruel manner in which many met their deaths. Chinese men were used for bayonet practice and in decapitation contests. An estimated 20,000 – 80,000 Chinese women were raped. Many soldiers went beyond rape to disembowel women, slice off their breasts, and nail them alive to walls. Fathers were forced to rape their daughters, and sons their mothers, as other family members watched. Not only did live burials, castration, the carving of organs, and the roasting of people become routine, but more diabolical tortures were practiced, such as hanging people by their tongues on iron hooks or burying people to their waists and watching them get torn apart by German shepherds. So sickening was the spectacle that even Nazis in the city were horrified, one proclaiming the massacre to be the work of bestial machinery.”[6]

The book prompted AOL executive Ted Leonsis to fund and produce Nanking, a 2007 documentary film about the eponymous massacre.[7]

Background

Inspiration

As a child, Chang was told by her parents that during the Nanking Massacre, the Japanese "sliced babies not just in half but in thirds and fourths." Her parents had escaped with their families from China to Taiwan and then to the United States after World War II. In the introduction of The Rape of Nanking, she wrote that throughout her childhood, the Nanking Massacre "remained buried in the back of [her] mind as a metaphor for unspeakable evil." When she searched the local public libraries in her school and found nothing, she wondered why no one had written a book about it.[8]

The subject of the Nanking Massacre entered Chang's life again almost two decades later when she learned of producers who had completed documentary films about it. One of the producers was Shao Tzuping, who helped produce Magee's Testament, a film that contains footage of the Nanking Massacre itself, shot by the missionary John Magee.[9] The other producer was Nancy Tong, who, together with Christine Choy, produced and co-directed In The Name of the Emperor,[10] a film containing a series of interviews with Chinese, American, and Japanese citizens.[9] Chang began talking to Shao and Tong, and soon she was connected to a network of activists who felt the need to document and publicize the Nanking Massacre.[11]: 8–9 

In December 1994, she attended a conference on the Nanking Massacre, held in Cupertino, California, and what she saw and heard at the conference motivated her to write her 1997 book.[12] As she wrote in the book's introduction, while she was at the conference:

I was suddenly in a panic that this terrifying disrespect for death and dying, this reversion in human social evolution, would be reduced to a footnote of history, treated like a harmless glitch in a computer program that might or might not again cause a problem, unless someone forced the world to remember it.[11]: 10 

Research

Chang spent two years on research for the book.[5] She found source materials in the US, including diaries, films, and photographs of missionaries, journalists, and military officers who were in Nanjing at the time of the massacre.[11]: 11  Additionally, she traveled to Nanjing to interview survivors of the Nanking Massacre and to read Chinese accounts and confessions by Japanese army veterans.[13] Also, she incorporated the most recent work on the subject by Chinese and Chinese-American historians by including many disturbing photographs and a myriad of translated documents.[14]

Before publication, the book was reviewed by Rana Mitter and Christian Jessen-Klingenberg of the University of Oxford; Carol Gluck of Columbia University; and William C. Kirby of Harvard University.[15] At the time of writing, the Japanese government classified Japan’s World War 2 archives, making archival records unavailable to investigators.[16]

The diaries

Chang's research led her to make what one San Francisco Chronicle article called "Significant Discoveries" on the subject of the Nanking Massacre, in the forms of the diaries of two Westerners who were in Nanjing leading efforts to save lives during the Japanese invasion.[5] The diaries documented the events of the Nanking Massacre from the perspectives of their writers, and provided detailed accounts of atrocities that they saw, as well as information surrounding the circumstances of the Nanking Safety Zone.

One diary was that of John Rabe, a German Nazi Party member who was the leader of the Nanking Safety Zone, a demilitarized zone in Nanjing that Rabe and other Westerners set up to protect Chinese civilians.[17] Rabe's diary is over 800 pages, and contains one of the most detailed accounts of the Nanking Massacre.[18] Translated into English, it was published in 1998 by Random House as The Good Man of Nanking: The Diaries of John Rabe.[19]

The other diary belonged to Minnie Vautrin, the American missionary who saved the lives of about 10,000 women and children when she provided them with shelter in Ginling College.[20] Vautrin's diary recounts her personal experience and feelings on the Nanking Massacre; in it, an entry reads, "There probably is no crime that has not been committed in this city today."[21] It was used as source material by Hua-ling Hu for a biography of Vautrin and her role during the Nanking Massacre, entitled American Goddess at the Rape of Nanking: The Courage of Minnie Vautrin.[22]

Chang dubbed Rabe the "Oskar Schindler of Nanking" and Vautrin the "Anne Frank of Nanking."[23][5]

Contents

The Rape of Nanking is structured into three main parts. The first uses a technique—what Chang calls the "Rashomon perspective"—to narrate the events of the massacre from three different perspectives: that of the Japanese military, the Chinese victims, and of the Westerners who tried to help Chinese civilians. The second part concerns the postwar reaction to the massacre, especially that of the American and European governments. The third part of the book examines the circumstances that, Chang believed, have kept knowledge of the massacre out of public consciousness decades after the war.[11]: 14–15 

Atrocities

The book depicted in detail the killing, torture, and rape that occurred during the Nanking Massacre. Chang listed and described the kinds of torture that were visited upon the residents, including live burials, mutilation, "death by fire," "death by ice," and "death by dogs." Based on the testimony of a survivor of the massacre, Chang also describes a killing contest amongst a group of Japanese soldiers to determine who could kill the fastest.[11]: 83–88  On the rape that occurred during the massacre, Chang wrote that "certainly it was one of the greatest mass rapes in world history." She estimates that the number of women raped ranged from 20,000 to as many as 80,000,[24] and states that women from all classes were raped, including Buddhist nuns.[25] Furthermore, rape occurred in all locations and at all hours,[26] and both very young and very old women were raped.[27] Not even pregnant women were spared, Chang wrote, and that after gang rape, Japanese soldiers "sometimes slashed open the bellies of pregnant women and ripped out the fetuses for amusement."[28] Not all rape victims were women, according to the book, Chinese men were sodomized and forced to perform repulsive sexual acts.[29] Some were forced to commit incest—fathers to rape their own daughters, brothers their sisters, sons their mothers.[30]

Death toll

Chang wrote of the death toll estimates given by different sources:[11]: 100 

  • Chinese military specialist Liu Fang-chu proposed a figure of 430,000; officials at the Nanjing Massacre Memorial Hall and the procurator of the District Court of Nanjing in 1946 stated at least 300,000 were killed;
  • the International Military Tribunal for the Far East (IMTFE) judges concluded that more than 260,000 people were killed;
  • Japanese historian Akira Fujiwara mentioned at least 200,000;
  • John Rabe, who "never conducted a systematic count and left Nanking in February," estimated 50,000 to 60,000; and
  • Japanese historian Ikuhiko Hata argued the number killed was between 38,000 and 42,000.

The book discusses the research of historian Sun Zhaiwei of the Jiangsu Academy of Social Sciences. In his 1990 paper, "The Nanking Massacre and the Nanking Population", Sun estimated the total number of people killed at 377,400. Using Chinese burial records, he calculated that the number of dead exceeded the figure of 227,400. He then added estimates totaling 150,000 given by Japanese Imperial Army Major Ohta Hisao in a confessional report about the Japanese army's disposal efforts of dead bodies, arriving at the sum of 377,400 dead.[11]: 101 

Chang wrote that there is "compelling evidence" that the Japanese themselves, at the time, believed that the death toll may have been as high as 300,000. She cited a message that Japan's foreign minister Kōki Hirota relayed to his contacts in Washington, DC in the first month of the massacre on January 17, 1938. The message acknowledged that "not less than three hundred thousand Chinese civilians [were] slaughtered, many cases in cold blood."[11]: 103–4 

Reception

Acclaim

The Rape of Nanking sold more than half a million copies when it was first published in the US, and according to The New York Times, received general critical acclaim.[31] The book remained on the New York Times' Best Seller list for 10 weeks and sold more than 125,000 copies in four months.[13] Several leading historians said they believe that Chang’s revelation of Japanese wartime crimes and the country’s postwar attempts to cover up and distort history will help raise public awareness of the incident.[32]

Iris Chang became an instant celebrity in the US:[33] she was awarded honorary degrees;[34] invited to give lectures and to discuss the Nanking Massacre on shows such as Good Morning America, Nightline, and The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer; profiled by The New York Times; and was featured on the cover of Reader's Digest.[12] Moreover, Hillary Clinton invited her to the White House; U.S. historian Stephen Ambrose described her as "maybe the best young historian we've got;"[33] and the Organization of Chinese Americans named her National Woman of the Year.[34] The book's popularity prompted a lengthy book tour, with Chang visiting 65 cities in over a year and a half.[5]

The book also received praise from news media. The Wall Street Journal wrote that it was the "first comprehensive examination of the destruction of this Chinese imperial city," and that Chang "skillfully excavated from oblivion the terrible events that took place." The Atlantic Monthly described the book as "a crushing indictment of the Japanese army's behavior." The Chicago Tribune called it "a powerful new work of history and moral inquiry" and stated that "Chang takes great care to establish an accurate accounting of the dimensions of the violence." The Philadelphia Inquirer wrote that it was a "compelling account of a horrendous episode that, until recently, has been largely forgotten."[35]

According to William C. Kirby, Professor of History at Harvard University, Chang "shows more clearly than any previous account just what [the Japanese] did," and that she "draws connections between the slaughter in Europe and in Asia of millions of innocents during World War II."[3] Ross Terrill, an associate in research at the Fairbank Center for East Asian Research at Harvard,[36] wrote that the book is "scholarly, an exciting investigation and a work of passion."[37] Beatrice S. Bartlett, Emeritus Professor of History at Yale University,[38] wrote, "Iris Chang's research on the Nanking holocaust yields a new and expanded telling of this World War II atrocity and reflects thorough research."[37] Frederic Wakeman, director of the Institute of East Asian Studies at the University of California, Berkeley, wrote that the book was "Heartbreaking ... An utterly compelling book. The descriptions of the atrocities raise fundamental questions not only about imperial Japanese militarism but the psychology of the torturers, rapists, and murderers."[37]

Criticism

Chang's critics alleged that she made an inappropriate and facile association between Japanese culture, which include Japanese martial competitions and bushido, and mass murder; that her book contained incorrect historical dates and names because of her lack of training as a historian; that her personal feelings were evident in the book, making it lack intellectual rigor; and that she placed an undue amount of attention to the actions of right-wing Japanese politicians and groups who refuse to acknowledge Japan's wartime crimes, while ignoring the contributions made by Japanese historians and groups who are preserving the memory of the massacre.[39][40][41]

Robert Entenmann, professor of history at St. Olaf College, disagreed with her description of the massacre.[42] Entenmann opined that her explanations on why the massacre occurred were inadequate. Disagreements notwithstanding, he acknowledged that her book will help preserve the memory of the atrocity.[43]

Timothy M. Kelly, former professor of religious studies at Edogawa University,[44] alleged that her book contained plagiarized passages.[45]

Sonni Efron of the Los Angeles Times opined that the bitter row over Iris Chang's book may leave Westerners with the misimpression that little has been written in Japan about the Nanjing Massacre, when in fact the National Diet Library holds at least 42 books about the Nanjing massacre and Japan's wartime misdeeds, 21 of which were written by liberals investigating Japan's wartime atrocities. In addition, Efron noted that geriatric Japanese soldiers have published their memoirs and have been giving speeches and interviews in increasing numbers, recounting the atrocities they committed or witnessed. After years of government-enforced denial, Japanese middle school textbooks now carry accounts of the Nanjing massacre as accepted truth. According to Efron, Japanese liberals alleged that the mistakes found in her book could undermine their endeavors, which include bringing the knowledge of the massacre to the Japanese public and pressuring the Japanese government into apologizing and atoning for the massacre.[32]

 
The original version of a photograph used by Chang—the accuracy of the caption in the book is disputed[13]

San Francisco Chronicle staff writer Charles Burress wrote that Chang's quote of a secret telegram sent by Japan's foreign minister in 1938 was incorrectly cited as "compelling evidence" that Japanese troops killed at least 300,000 Chinese civilians in Nanjing.[13] According to Burress, the figure of 300,000 Chinese civilians killed actually came from a message sent by a British reporter, concerning deaths not only in Nanjing but in other places as well. Additionally, Burress questioned her motivation for writing the book—whether she wrote it as an activist or as a historian, stating that the book "draws its emotional impetus" from her conviction to not let the Nanking Massacre be forgotten by the world.[13] Burress also cited Ikuhiko Hata, a Japanese history professor at Nihon University, who alleged that 11 photos in the book were misrepresented or fake. One particular photo shows women and children walking across a bridge with Japanese soldiers, and captioned as "The Japanese rounded up thousands of women. Most were gang-raped or forced into military prostitution." Hata stated that the photo originally appeared in 1937 in a Japanese newspaper as part of a series of photos that showed peaceful scenes of Chinese villagers under Japanese occupation.[13] He alleged that since she did not conduct research in Japan, she incorrectly portrayed Japan's postwar attitudes towards the atrocity.[13]

Chang responded to Burress' criticism in a letter written to the San Francisco Chronicle, but the letter was not published by the newspaper.[46] In the letter, she offered criticism of her own concerning Burress's article. She said Hata is considered as an untrustworthy scholar because of his regular contributions to ultra right-wing Japanese publications such as the Bungei Shunju, a publication that published an article that supported Holocaust denial and another article that accused her, MacArthur Foundation and Rupert Murdoch of being part of a conspiracy of the Chinese Communist party.[47] In regards to his allegations of her misrepresentation of photos and captions, she wrote that Hata provided insufficient evidence to support his suggestion that the photos proved a peaceful Japanese occupation.[47]

In reference to the photo that shows women and children walking across a bridge with Japanese soldiers, she wrote:

"The Japanese, like the Nazis, relied on deception to make mass executions and mass rapes more manageable. The hapless Chinese men, women and children rounded up by the Japanese were usually kept ignorant about their fate until it was too late to escape. In Nanking, women were guided to "marketplaces" to buy ducks and chicken, only to find platoons of soldiers waiting to rape them. Men were assured of food, shelter and safety by Japanese soldiers, only to be lured to remote areas and used for bayonet practice or decapitation contests."[47]

She wrote that her book dealt with the "horror of the Japanese invasion of China," and that the caption reading "The Japanese rounded up thousands of women. Most were gang-raped or forced into military prostitution" contained two statements of indisputable fact.[47]

Chang also issued a rejoinder to Burress's argument that she incorrectly cited a telegram sent by Japan's foreign minister. She wrote that while the original figure of 300,000 Chinese civilian deaths in Nanjing was reported by a British reporter, this figure was cited in a message that Japan's foreign minister sent to his contacts in Washington, DC. Chang argued that figure's use by a high-ranking Japanese government official was evidence that the Japanese government recognized 300,000 as the number of Chinese civilian deaths. Finally, she criticized Burress for his "nitpick" of small details in order to draw attention away from the scope and magnitude of the Nanking Massacre, writing that such was a "common tactic" of Holocaust deniers.[47]

In an interview conducted by Kinue Tokudome, Chang challenged her critics by saying:

"If the Japanese Foreign Ministry and the rest of the Japanese government truly care about historical truth, then they should open all their wartime archives to the rest of the world … They shouldn’t mind inviting an international task force of historians – historians from the U.S., China, Japan, Korea, and other countries – to review all the high-level Japanese records from that era and publish them for general and scholarly consumptions. Trust me, if the newly released archival records disprove any of the facts in my book, I would be the first person to acknowledge this in the next edition of The Rape of Nanking. Moreover, I would help the Japanese government publicize the new facts to the world media and find prestigious publishers in the U.S. to translate the documents into English."[16]

Reaction in Japan

The Rape of Nanking has caused controversy in Japan.[48] In 1999 Fujiwara said that:

“A campaign to deny the Nanking massacre itself by presenting the weaknesses of Iris Chang’s book is being developed. The massacre denial groups have been using these kinds of tactics to maintain there was no massacre by presenting the contradictions in testimony quoted or by the use of inappropriate photos. Yet it is impossible to deny the occurrence of the incident itself because of these few mistakes. It is an illogical jump in reasoning to deny that the Nanking massacre ever happened by attacking her book.”[32]

Associate Professor David Askew of Ritsumeikan Asia Pacific University said that Chang's book ignited an interest in Japan about the massacre, increasing the amount of publications about the massacre in Japan. He opined that a unified Japanese view of the massacre doesn't exist because of the internal debates and contentions surrounding the massacre, and that the different views can be categorized into mutually exclusive thought groups. He alleged that some aspects of her book undermined the argument put forth by the "Great Massacre School of thought," which advocates for the validity of the findings at the Tokyo Trials and concludes that there were at least 200,000 casualties and at least 20,000 rape cases, and is considered to be the most sophisticated and credible thought group in Japan.[49]

In an attempt to prevent her Japanese publisher from releasing a Japanese translation of her book, right-wing Japanese groups threatened and pilloried Chang, her publisher and Japanese historians.[31][32][50][51] A Japanese literary agency informed her that several Japanese historians declined to review the translation; one professor backed out because of pressure placed on his family from "an unknown organization"; and her publisher said he was risking his life by publishing her book.[31][32] According to Japan scholar Ivan P. Hall, revisionist historians in Japan organized a committee of right-wing scholars to condemn the book with repeated appearances at the Foreign Correspondents' Club in Tokyo and throughout Japan.[51] Her Japanese publisher requested her to edit the book for the changes the right-wing Japanese scholars wanted made, which included deleting photographs, altering maps, and publishing a rebuttal to her book.[51] According to the email correspondence between Chang and Soni Efron of the Los Angeles Times, Chang defended the veracity of her research.[32] She said that she corrected 10 errors, including incorrect dates and misspelled names.[32] She rejected the publisher's attempt to annotate about 65 items in the book, stating that the suggested changes were additional details, interpretations or assertions by right-wing critics for which no evidence was provided.[32] She wrote,

“I can assure you that virtually none of these errors had anything to do with the historical description of the Nanking massacre itself.”[32]

Since the editorial requests were against the publishing contract between Chang and her publisher, she decided to withdraw the Japanese publication of her book and criticized her publisher for capitulating to right-wing threats.[51][32] A Japanese translation of her book was not published and circulated in Japan until December 2007.[52][53]

Chang's death

After publishing the book, Chang received hate mail, primarily from Japanese ultranationalists,[5] and threatening notes on her car and also believed her phone was tapped. Her mother said the book "made Iris sad". Suffering from depression, Chang was diagnosed with brief reactive psychosis in August 2004. She began taking medications to stabilize her mood.[5] She wrote:

I can never shake my belief that I was being recruited, and later persecuted, by forces more powerful than I could have imagined. Whether it was the CIA or some other organization I will never know. As long as I am alive, these forces will never stop hounding me.[5]

Chang committed suicide on November 9, 2004.[5] A memorial service was held in China by Nanking Massacre survivors coinciding with her funeral in Los Altos, California. The Memorial Hall of the Victims in the Nanjing Massacre, a memorial site in Nanjing built to commemorate the victims of the Nanking Massacre,[54] added a wing dedicated to her in 2005.[55]

In the US, a Chinese garden in Norfolk, Virginia, which contains a memorial to Minnie Vautrin, added a memorial dedicated to Chang, including her as the latest victim of the Nanking Massacre, and drawing parallels between Chang and Vautrin, who also took her own life.[55] Vautrin exhausted herself trying to protect women and children during the Nanking Massacre and subsequently during the Japanese occupation of Nanjing, finally suffering a nervous breakdown in 1940. She returned to the US for medical treatment, committing suicide a year later.[20]

Editions

English
French
  • 2010. Le viol de Nankin – 1937 : un des plus grands massacres du XXe siècle. Payot. ISBN 978-2-228-90520-6.
Chinese

(under Iris Chang's Chinese name: "Zhang Chunru", 张纯如)

  • 2005. 《南京大屠杀》, translated by Ma Zhixing (马志行), Tian Huaibin (田怀滨), and Cui Naiying (崔乃颖). Oriental Publishing House (东方出版社). 382 pp. ISBN 978-7-5060-1052-8.
  • 2015. 《南京大屠杀》. Beijing: CITIC Press. 308 pp. ISBN 9787508653389.
Japanese
  • 2007. 『ザ・レイプ・オブ・南京—第二次世界大戦の忘れられたホロコースト』, 巫召鴻訳. Dojinsha. ISBN 4-88683-617-8.
  • 2007 (Corrected version). 『「ザ・レイプ・オブ・南京」を読む』, 巫召鴻著. Dojinsha. ISBN 4-88683-618-6.

See also

Notes

References

  1. ^ (PDF). Global Alliance for Preserving the History of WW II in Asia. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2007-08-05. Retrieved 2007-07-27.
  2. ^ Edward Drea (2006). Researching Japanese War Crimes Records (PDF). National Archives and Records Administration for the Nazi War Crimes and Japanese Imperial Government Records Interagency Working Groups. p. 3. ISBN 1-880875-28-4.
  3. ^ a b Foreword by William C. Kirby, in: Iris Chang (1998). The Rape of Nanking. Penguin Books. ISBN 0-465-06835-9.
  4. ^ Joshua A. Fogel (August 1998). "Reviewed Works: The Rape of Nanking: The Forgotten Holocaust of World War II by Iris Chang". The Journal of Asian Studies. Association for Asian Studies. 57 (3): 818–820. doi:10.2307/2658758. JSTOR 2658758.
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i Benson, Heidi (2005-04-17). "Historian Iris Chang won many battles/The war she lost raged within". SFGate. Retrieved 2007-07-22.
  6. ^ Chang, Iris; The Rape of Nanking; Penguin, London, 1998, p.6
  7. ^ Heath, Thomas (2006-07-31). "Ted Leonsis Takes a Sharp Turn". The Washington Post. Retrieved 2007-07-22.
  8. ^ Iris Chang (1998). The Rape of Nanking. Penguin Books. pp. 7–8. ISBN 0-465-06835-9.
  9. ^ a b (PDF). Princeton University. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2007-01-10. Retrieved 2007-07-23.
  10. ^ In the Name of the Emperor at IMDb
  11. ^ a b c d e f g h Chang, The Rape of Nanking
  12. ^ a b . Penguin Group USA. Archived from the original on 2007-09-27. Retrieved 2007-07-22.
  13. ^ a b c d e f g Burress, Charles (1998-07-26). "Wars of Memory". SFGate. Retrieved 2007-07-21.
  14. ^ Yang Daqing, "Convergence or Divergence? Recent Historical Writings on the Rape of Nanjing", The American Historical Review 104 (1999), p. 7.
  15. ^ Chang, Iris; The Rape of Nanking; Penguin, London, 1998
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  18. ^ Malcolm Trevor (2001). Japan: Restless Competitor. Routledge. p. 121. ISBN 1-903350-02-6.
  19. ^ John Rabe (1998). The Good Man of Nanking: The Diaries of John Rabe. Random House. ISBN 0-375-40211-X.
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  23. ^ Chang, Iris. 18 January 2012. "The Nazi Leader Who, in 1937, Became the Oskar Schindler of China." The Atlantic.
  24. ^ Chang, The Rape of Nanking, p. 89, citing:
    • Catherine Rosair, For One Veteran, Emperor Visit Should Be Atonement;
    • George Fitch, Nanking Outrages;
    • Li En-han, Questions of How Many Chinese Were Killed by the Japanese Army in the Great Nanking Massacre
  25. ^ Chang, The Rape of Nanking, p. 90, citing:
    • Hu Hua-ling, Chinese Women Under the Rape of Nanking;
  26. ^ Chang, The Rape of Nanking, pp. 90-91, citing:
    • George Fitch, Nanking Outrages;
    • Gao Xingzu, et al., Japanese Imperialism and the Massacre in Nanjing
  27. ^ Chang, The Rape of Nanking, p. 91, citing:
    • Hu Hua-ling, Chinese Women Under the Rape of Nanking;
    • David Nelson Sutton, All Military Aggression in China Including Atrocities Against Civilians and Others;
    • Shuhsi Hsu, Documents of the Nanking Safety Zone
  28. ^ Chang, The Rape of Nanking, p. 91, citing:
    • "A Debt of Blood," Dagong Daily, 7 February 1938;
    • Xinhua Daily, 24 February 1951;
    • Hu Hua-ling, Chinese Women Under the Rape of Nanking;
    • Tang Shunsan, interview with Chang;
    • Gao Xingzu, et al., Japanese Imperialism and the Massacre in Nanjing
  29. ^ Chang, The Rape of Nanking, p. 95, citing:
    • Shuhsi Hsu, Documents of the Nanking Safety Zone
  30. ^ Chang, The Rape of Nanking, p. 95, citing:
    • Guo Qi, August 1938, "Shendu xueluilu," Xijing Pingbao.
  31. ^ a b c Carvajal, Doreen (1999-05-20). "History's Shadow Foils Nanking Chronicle". The New York Times. Retrieved 2007-07-21.
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  33. ^ a b August, Oliver (2005-03-17). "One final victim of the Rape of Nanking?". Times Online. London. Retrieved 2007-07-21.
  34. ^ a b Burress, Charles (2004-11-11). "Chinese American writer found dead in South Bay". SFGate. Retrieved 2007-07-21.
  35. ^ "Media Praise For The Rape of Nanking". IrisChang.net. Retrieved 2007-07-21.
  36. ^ "Ross Terrill". Basic Books. Retrieved 2007-07-21.
  37. ^ a b c Quotes on the Jacket and Interior of - Iris Chang (1998). The Rape of Nanking. Penguin Books. ISBN 0-465-06835-9.
  38. ^ . Yale University. Archived from the original on September 20, 2006. Retrieved 2007-07-21.
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  41. ^ Jeans, Roger B. (January 2005). "Victims or Victimizers? Museums, Textbooks, and the War Debate in Contemporary Japan". The Journal of Military History. Society for Military History. 69 (1): 149–195. doi:10.1353/jmh.2005.0025. S2CID 159900111.
  42. ^ . St. Olaf College. Archived from the original on 2007-07-05. Retrieved 2007-07-23.
  43. ^ . University of the West of England. Archived from the original on 2008-12-11. Retrieved 2007-07-23.
  44. ^ "Timothy M. Kelly". Edogawa University. Retrieved 2017-03-18.
  45. ^ Kelly, Timothy M. (March 2000). . Edogawa Women's Junior College Journal (15). Archived from the original on 2001-05-03.
  46. ^ . VikingPhoenix.com. 1999-06-18. Archived from the original on 2001-03-05. Retrieved 2007-07-21.
  47. ^ a b c d e . IrisChang.net. Archived from the original on 2011-02-23. Retrieved 2007-07-21.
  48. ^ "LDP-DPJ group plan to scrutinize 'Rape of Nanking'". The Japan Times. 2007-02-23. Retrieved 2007-07-21.
  49. ^ "The Nanjing Incident". Electronic Journal of Contemporary Japanese Studies. 2002-04-04. Retrieved 2007-07-21.
  50. ^ . Japan Review Net. Archived from the original on 2007-08-11. Retrieved 2007-07-22.
  51. ^ a b c d . Japan Policy Research Institute. December 2002. Archived from the original on 2004-03-23. Retrieved 2007-07-22.
  52. ^ 「ザ・レイプ・オブ・南京」の日本語版が出版. People's Daily (in Japanese). 2007-12-17. Retrieved 2007-12-18.
  53. ^ ザ・レイプ・オブ・南京—第二次世界大戦の忘れられたホロコースト. Translated by 巫召鴻. ISBN 4-88683-617-8
  54. ^ . Archived from the original on 2014-12-18. Retrieved 2007-07-31.
  55. ^ a b McLaughlin, Kathleen E. (2004-11-20). "Iris Chang's suicide stunned those she tried so hard to help — the survivors of Japan's 'Rape of Nanking'". SFGate. Retrieved 2007-07-21.

External links

  • Iris Chang's official site
  • Excerpt of book: 18 January 2012. "The Nazi Leader Who, in 1937, Became the Oskar Schindler of China." The Atlantic.
  • Efron, Sonni. 6 June 1999. "." GeoCities.com.
  • Chang, Y. Y. 8 December 2006. "." AsianWeek.com.
  • "." Fact Finders' Forum — includes analysis of photos.

Interviews with author

  • Gergen, David, interviewer. 20 February 1998. "Iris Chang and the Forgotten Holocaust" (transcript). The NewsHour. US: PBS. on 19 March 2012.
  • Lamb, Brian, interviewer. 11 January 1998. "The Rape of Nanking" (video and transcript). Booknotes. US: C-Span. Also available on C-Span.
  • Mills, Ami Chen, interviewer. 12 December 1996. "Breaking the Silence." Metroactive. US: Metro Publishing, Inc.
  • Rose, Charlie, interviewer. 19 May 1998. "Iris Chang" (video and transcript). Charlie Rose. US: PBS. Also available on PBS

rape, nanking, book, rape, nanking, forgotten, holocaust, world, bestselling, 1997, fiction, book, written, iris, chang, about, 1937, 1938, nanking, massacre, mass, murder, mass, rape, chinese, civilians, committed, imperial, japanese, army, nanking, capital, . The Rape of Nanking The Forgotten Holocaust of World War II is a bestselling 1997 non fiction book written by Iris Chang about the 1937 1938 Nanking Massacre the mass murder and mass rape of Chinese civilians committed by the Imperial Japanese Army in Nanking the capital of the Republic of China immediately after the Battle of Nanking during the Second Sino Japanese War It describes the events leading up to the Nanking Massacre provides a graphic detail of the war crimes and atrocities committed by Japanese troops and lambastes the Japanese government for its refusal to appropriately rectify the atrocities It also criticizes the Japanese people for their ignorance about the massacre It is one of the first major English language books to introduce the Nanking Massacre to Western and Eastern readers alike and has been translated into several languages 1 The book significantly renewed public interest in Japanese wartime conduct in China Korea the Philippines Southeast Asia and the Pacific 2 The Rape of NankingCover of the first editionAuthorIris ChangCover artistRick PracherCountryUnited StatesLanguageEnglishSubjectNanjing MassacrePublisherBasic BooksPublication date1997Media typePrint Hardcover Pages290 1st edition ISBN0 465 06835 9OCLC37281852Dewey Decimal951 04 2 21LC ClassDS796 N2 C44 1997Websitewww irischang net booksThe book received both acclaim and criticism by the public and by academics It has been praised as a work that shows more clearly than any previous account the extent and brutality of the episode 3 while elements of Chang s analysis of the motivations for the events Japanese culture and her calculation of the total numbers killed and raped were criticized as inaccurate because of her lack of training as a historian 4 Chang s research on the book was credited with the finding of the diaries of John Rabe and Minnie Vautrin both of whom played important roles in the Nanking Safety Zone a designated area in Nanjing that protected Chinese civilians during the Nanking Massacre 5 Nanking should be remembered not only for the number of people slaughtered but for the cruel manner in which many met their deaths Chinese men were used for bayonet practice and in decapitation contests An estimated 20 000 80 000 Chinese women were raped Many soldiers went beyond rape to disembowel women slice off their breasts and nail them alive to walls Fathers were forced to rape their daughters and sons their mothers as other family members watched Not only did live burials castration the carving of organs and the roasting of people become routine but more diabolical tortures were practiced such as hanging people by their tongues on iron hooks or burying people to their waists and watching them get torn apart by German shepherds So sickening was the spectacle that even Nazis in the city were horrified one proclaiming the massacre to be the work of bestial machinery 6 The book prompted AOL executive Ted Leonsis to fund and produce Nanking a 2007 documentary film about the eponymous massacre 7 Contents 1 Background 1 1 Inspiration 1 2 Research 1 2 1 The diaries 2 Contents 2 1 Atrocities 2 2 Death toll 3 Reception 3 1 Acclaim 3 2 Criticism 3 3 Reaction in Japan 4 Chang s death 5 Editions 6 See also 7 Notes 8 References 9 External links 9 1 Interviews with authorBackground EditInspiration Edit As a child Chang was told by her parents that during the Nanking Massacre the Japanese sliced babies not just in half but in thirds and fourths Her parents had escaped with their families from China to Taiwan and then to the United States after World War II In the introduction of The Rape of Nanking she wrote that throughout her childhood the Nanking Massacre remained buried in the back of her mind as a metaphor for unspeakable evil When she searched the local public libraries in her school and found nothing she wondered why no one had written a book about it 8 The subject of the Nanking Massacre entered Chang s life again almost two decades later when she learned of producers who had completed documentary films about it One of the producers was Shao Tzuping who helped produce Magee s Testament a film that contains footage of the Nanking Massacre itself shot by the missionary John Magee 9 The other producer was Nancy Tong who together with Christine Choy produced and co directed In The Name of the Emperor 10 a film containing a series of interviews with Chinese American and Japanese citizens 9 Chang began talking to Shao and Tong and soon she was connected to a network of activists who felt the need to document and publicize the Nanking Massacre 11 8 9 In December 1994 she attended a conference on the Nanking Massacre held in Cupertino California and what she saw and heard at the conference motivated her to write her 1997 book 12 As she wrote in the book s introduction while she was at the conference I was suddenly in a panic that this terrifying disrespect for death and dying this reversion in human social evolution would be reduced to a footnote of history treated like a harmless glitch in a computer program that might or might not again cause a problem unless someone forced the world to remember it 11 10 Research Edit Chang spent two years on research for the book 5 She found source materials in the US including diaries films and photographs of missionaries journalists and military officers who were in Nanjing at the time of the massacre 11 11 Additionally she traveled to Nanjing to interview survivors of the Nanking Massacre and to read Chinese accounts and confessions by Japanese army veterans 13 Also she incorporated the most recent work on the subject by Chinese and Chinese American historians by including many disturbing photographs and a myriad of translated documents 14 Before publication the book was reviewed by Rana Mitter and Christian Jessen Klingenberg of the University of Oxford Carol Gluck of Columbia University and William C Kirby of Harvard University 15 At the time of writing the Japanese government classified Japan s World War 2 archives making archival records unavailable to investigators 16 The diaries Edit Chang s research led her to make what one San Francisco Chronicle article called Significant Discoveries on the subject of the Nanking Massacre in the forms of the diaries of two Westerners who were in Nanjing leading efforts to save lives during the Japanese invasion 5 The diaries documented the events of the Nanking Massacre from the perspectives of their writers and provided detailed accounts of atrocities that they saw as well as information surrounding the circumstances of the Nanking Safety Zone One diary was that of John Rabe a German Nazi Party member who was the leader of the Nanking Safety Zone a demilitarized zone in Nanjing that Rabe and other Westerners set up to protect Chinese civilians 17 Rabe s diary is over 800 pages and contains one of the most detailed accounts of the Nanking Massacre 18 Translated into English it was published in 1998 by Random House as The Good Man of Nanking The Diaries of John Rabe 19 The other diary belonged to Minnie Vautrin the American missionary who saved the lives of about 10 000 women and children when she provided them with shelter in Ginling College 20 Vautrin s diary recounts her personal experience and feelings on the Nanking Massacre in it an entry reads There probably is no crime that has not been committed in this city today 21 It was used as source material by Hua ling Hu for a biography of Vautrin and her role during the Nanking Massacre entitled American Goddess at the Rape of Nanking The Courage of Minnie Vautrin 22 Chang dubbed Rabe the Oskar Schindler of Nanking and Vautrin the Anne Frank of Nanking 23 5 Contents EditThe Rape of Nanking is structured into three main parts The first uses a technique what Chang calls the Rashomon perspective to narrate the events of the massacre from three different perspectives that of the Japanese military the Chinese victims and of the Westerners who tried to help Chinese civilians The second part concerns the postwar reaction to the massacre especially that of the American and European governments The third part of the book examines the circumstances that Chang believed have kept knowledge of the massacre out of public consciousness decades after the war 11 14 15 Atrocities Edit The book depicted in detail the killing torture and rape that occurred during the Nanking Massacre Chang listed and described the kinds of torture that were visited upon the residents including live burials mutilation death by fire death by ice and death by dogs Based on the testimony of a survivor of the massacre Chang also describes a killing contest amongst a group of Japanese soldiers to determine who could kill the fastest 11 83 88 On the rape that occurred during the massacre Chang wrote that certainly it was one of the greatest mass rapes in world history She estimates that the number of women raped ranged from 20 000 to as many as 80 000 24 and states that women from all classes were raped including Buddhist nuns 25 Furthermore rape occurred in all locations and at all hours 26 and both very young and very old women were raped 27 Not even pregnant women were spared Chang wrote and that after gang rape Japanese soldiers sometimes slashed open the bellies of pregnant women and ripped out the fetuses for amusement 28 Not all rape victims were women according to the book Chinese men were sodomized and forced to perform repulsive sexual acts 29 Some were forced to commit incest fathers to rape their own daughters brothers their sisters sons their mothers 30 Death toll Edit Chang wrote of the death toll estimates given by different sources 11 100 Chinese military specialist Liu Fang chu proposed a figure of 430 000 officials at the Nanjing Massacre Memorial Hall and the procurator of the District Court of Nanjing in 1946 stated at least 300 000 were killed the International Military Tribunal for the Far East IMTFE judges concluded that more than 260 000 people were killed Japanese historian Akira Fujiwara mentioned at least 200 000 John Rabe who never conducted a systematic count and left Nanking in February estimated 50 000 to 60 000 and Japanese historian Ikuhiko Hata argued the number killed was between 38 000 and 42 000 The book discusses the research of historian Sun Zhaiwei of the Jiangsu Academy of Social Sciences In his 1990 paper The Nanking Massacre and the Nanking Population Sun estimated the total number of people killed at 377 400 Using Chinese burial records he calculated that the number of dead exceeded the figure of 227 400 He then added estimates totaling 150 000 given by Japanese Imperial Army Major Ohta Hisao in a confessional report about the Japanese army s disposal efforts of dead bodies arriving at the sum of 377 400 dead 11 101 Chang wrote that there is compelling evidence that the Japanese themselves at the time believed that the death toll may have been as high as 300 000 She cited a message that Japan s foreign minister Kōki Hirota relayed to his contacts in Washington DC in the first month of the massacre on January 17 1938 The message acknowledged that not less than three hundred thousand Chinese civilians were slaughtered many cases in cold blood 11 103 4 Reception EditAcclaim Edit The Rape of Nanking sold more than half a million copies when it was first published in the US and according to The New York Times received general critical acclaim 31 The book remained on the New York Times Best Seller list for 10 weeks and sold more than 125 000 copies in four months 13 Several leading historians said they believe that Chang s revelation of Japanese wartime crimes and the country s postwar attempts to cover up and distort history will help raise public awareness of the incident 32 Iris Chang became an instant celebrity in the US 33 she was awarded honorary degrees 34 invited to give lectures and to discuss the Nanking Massacre on shows such as Good Morning America Nightline and The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer profiled by The New York Times and was featured on the cover of Reader s Digest 12 Moreover Hillary Clinton invited her to the White House U S historian Stephen Ambrose described her as maybe the best young historian we ve got 33 and the Organization of Chinese Americans named her National Woman of the Year 34 The book s popularity prompted a lengthy book tour with Chang visiting 65 cities in over a year and a half 5 The book also received praise from news media The Wall Street Journal wrote that it was the first comprehensive examination of the destruction of this Chinese imperial city and that Chang skillfully excavated from oblivion the terrible events that took place The Atlantic Monthly described the book as a crushing indictment of the Japanese army s behavior The Chicago Tribune called it a powerful new work of history and moral inquiry and stated that Chang takes great care to establish an accurate accounting of the dimensions of the violence The Philadelphia Inquirer wrote that it was a compelling account of a horrendous episode that until recently has been largely forgotten 35 According to William C Kirby Professor of History at Harvard University Chang shows more clearly than any previous account just what the Japanese did and that she draws connections between the slaughter in Europe and in Asia of millions of innocents during World War II 3 Ross Terrill an associate in research at the Fairbank Center for East Asian Research at Harvard 36 wrote that the book is scholarly an exciting investigation and a work of passion 37 Beatrice S Bartlett Emeritus Professor of History at Yale University 38 wrote Iris Chang s research on the Nanking holocaust yields a new and expanded telling of this World War II atrocity and reflects thorough research 37 Frederic Wakeman director of the Institute of East Asian Studies at the University of California Berkeley wrote that the book was Heartbreaking An utterly compelling book The descriptions of the atrocities raise fundamental questions not only about imperial Japanese militarism but the psychology of the torturers rapists and murderers 37 Criticism Edit Chang s critics alleged that she made an inappropriate and facile association between Japanese culture which include Japanese martial competitions and bushido and mass murder that her book contained incorrect historical dates and names because of her lack of training as a historian that her personal feelings were evident in the book making it lack intellectual rigor and that she placed an undue amount of attention to the actions of right wing Japanese politicians and groups who refuse to acknowledge Japan s wartime crimes while ignoring the contributions made by Japanese historians and groups who are preserving the memory of the massacre 39 40 41 Robert Entenmann professor of history at St Olaf College disagreed with her description of the massacre 42 Entenmann opined that her explanations on why the massacre occurred were inadequate Disagreements notwithstanding he acknowledged that her book will help preserve the memory of the atrocity 43 Timothy M Kelly former professor of religious studies at Edogawa University 44 alleged that her book contained plagiarized passages 45 Sonni Efron of the Los Angeles Times opined that the bitter row over Iris Chang s book may leave Westerners with the misimpression that little has been written in Japan about the Nanjing Massacre when in fact the National Diet Library holds at least 42 books about the Nanjing massacre and Japan s wartime misdeeds 21 of which were written by liberals investigating Japan s wartime atrocities In addition Efron noted that geriatric Japanese soldiers have published their memoirs and have been giving speeches and interviews in increasing numbers recounting the atrocities they committed or witnessed After years of government enforced denial Japanese middle school textbooks now carry accounts of the Nanjing massacre as accepted truth According to Efron Japanese liberals alleged that the mistakes found in her book could undermine their endeavors which include bringing the knowledge of the massacre to the Japanese public and pressuring the Japanese government into apologizing and atoning for the massacre 32 The original version of a photograph used by Chang the accuracy of the caption in the book is disputed 13 San Francisco Chronicle staff writer Charles Burress wrote that Chang s quote of a secret telegram sent by Japan s foreign minister in 1938 was incorrectly cited as compelling evidence that Japanese troops killed at least 300 000 Chinese civilians in Nanjing 13 According to Burress the figure of 300 000 Chinese civilians killed actually came from a message sent by a British reporter concerning deaths not only in Nanjing but in other places as well Additionally Burress questioned her motivation for writing the book whether she wrote it as an activist or as a historian stating that the book draws its emotional impetus from her conviction to not let the Nanking Massacre be forgotten by the world 13 Burress also cited Ikuhiko Hata a Japanese history professor at Nihon University who alleged that 11 photos in the book were misrepresented or fake One particular photo shows women and children walking across a bridge with Japanese soldiers and captioned as The Japanese rounded up thousands of women Most were gang raped or forced into military prostitution Hata stated that the photo originally appeared in 1937 in a Japanese newspaper as part of a series of photos that showed peaceful scenes of Chinese villagers under Japanese occupation 13 He alleged that since she did not conduct research in Japan she incorrectly portrayed Japan s postwar attitudes towards the atrocity 13 Chang responded to Burress criticism in a letter written to the San Francisco Chronicle but the letter was not published by the newspaper 46 In the letter she offered criticism of her own concerning Burress s article She said Hata is considered as an untrustworthy scholar because of his regular contributions to ultra right wing Japanese publications such as the Bungei Shunju a publication that published an article that supported Holocaust denial and another article that accused her MacArthur Foundation and Rupert Murdoch of being part of a conspiracy of the Chinese Communist party 47 In regards to his allegations of her misrepresentation of photos and captions she wrote that Hata provided insufficient evidence to support his suggestion that the photos proved a peaceful Japanese occupation 47 In reference to the photo that shows women and children walking across a bridge with Japanese soldiers she wrote The Japanese like the Nazis relied on deception to make mass executions and mass rapes more manageable The hapless Chinese men women and children rounded up by the Japanese were usually kept ignorant about their fate until it was too late to escape In Nanking women were guided to marketplaces to buy ducks and chicken only to find platoons of soldiers waiting to rape them Men were assured of food shelter and safety by Japanese soldiers only to be lured to remote areas and used for bayonet practice or decapitation contests 47 She wrote that her book dealt with the horror of the Japanese invasion of China and that the caption reading The Japanese rounded up thousands of women Most were gang raped or forced into military prostitution contained two statements of indisputable fact 47 Chang also issued a rejoinder to Burress s argument that she incorrectly cited a telegram sent by Japan s foreign minister She wrote that while the original figure of 300 000 Chinese civilian deaths in Nanjing was reported by a British reporter this figure was cited in a message that Japan s foreign minister sent to his contacts in Washington DC Chang argued that figure s use by a high ranking Japanese government official was evidence that the Japanese government recognized 300 000 as the number of Chinese civilian deaths Finally she criticized Burress for his nitpick of small details in order to draw attention away from the scope and magnitude of the Nanking Massacre writing that such was a common tactic of Holocaust deniers 47 In an interview conducted by Kinue Tokudome Chang challenged her critics by saying If the Japanese Foreign Ministry and the rest of the Japanese government truly care about historical truth then they should open all their wartime archives to the rest of the world They shouldn t mind inviting an international task force of historians historians from the U S China Japan Korea and other countries to review all the high level Japanese records from that era and publish them for general and scholarly consumptions Trust me if the newly released archival records disprove any of the facts in my book I would be the first person to acknowledge this in the next edition of The Rape of Nanking Moreover I would help the Japanese government publicize the new facts to the world media and find prestigious publishers in the U S to translate the documents into English 16 Reaction in Japan Edit The Rape of Nanking has caused controversy in Japan 48 In 1999 Fujiwara said that A campaign to deny the Nanking massacre itself by presenting the weaknesses of Iris Chang s book is being developed The massacre denial groups have been using these kinds of tactics to maintain there was no massacre by presenting the contradictions in testimony quoted or by the use of inappropriate photos Yet it is impossible to deny the occurrence of the incident itself because of these few mistakes It is an illogical jump in reasoning to deny that the Nanking massacre ever happened by attacking her book 32 Associate Professor David Askew of Ritsumeikan Asia Pacific University said that Chang s book ignited an interest in Japan about the massacre increasing the amount of publications about the massacre in Japan He opined that a unified Japanese view of the massacre doesn t exist because of the internal debates and contentions surrounding the massacre and that the different views can be categorized into mutually exclusive thought groups He alleged that some aspects of her book undermined the argument put forth by the Great Massacre School of thought which advocates for the validity of the findings at the Tokyo Trials and concludes that there were at least 200 000 casualties and at least 20 000 rape cases and is considered to be the most sophisticated and credible thought group in Japan 49 In an attempt to prevent her Japanese publisher from releasing a Japanese translation of her book right wing Japanese groups threatened and pilloried Chang her publisher and Japanese historians 31 32 50 51 A Japanese literary agency informed her that several Japanese historians declined to review the translation one professor backed out because of pressure placed on his family from an unknown organization and her publisher said he was risking his life by publishing her book 31 32 According to Japan scholar Ivan P Hall revisionist historians in Japan organized a committee of right wing scholars to condemn the book with repeated appearances at the Foreign Correspondents Club in Tokyo and throughout Japan 51 Her Japanese publisher requested her to edit the book for the changes the right wing Japanese scholars wanted made which included deleting photographs altering maps and publishing a rebuttal to her book 51 According to the email correspondence between Chang and Soni Efron of the Los Angeles Times Chang defended the veracity of her research 32 She said that she corrected 10 errors including incorrect dates and misspelled names 32 She rejected the publisher s attempt to annotate about 65 items in the book stating that the suggested changes were additional details interpretations or assertions by right wing critics for which no evidence was provided 32 She wrote I can assure you that virtually none of these errors had anything to do with the historical description of the Nanking massacre itself 32 Since the editorial requests were against the publishing contract between Chang and her publisher she decided to withdraw the Japanese publication of her book and criticized her publisher for capitulating to right wing threats 51 32 A Japanese translation of her book was not published and circulated in Japan until December 2007 52 53 Chang s death EditAfter publishing the book Chang received hate mail primarily from Japanese ultranationalists 5 and threatening notes on her car and also believed her phone was tapped Her mother said the book made Iris sad Suffering from depression Chang was diagnosed with brief reactive psychosis in August 2004 She began taking medications to stabilize her mood 5 She wrote I can never shake my belief that I was being recruited and later persecuted by forces more powerful than I could have imagined Whether it was the CIA or some other organization I will never know As long as I am alive these forces will never stop hounding me 5 Chang committed suicide on November 9 2004 5 A memorial service was held in China by Nanking Massacre survivors coinciding with her funeral in Los Altos California The Memorial Hall of the Victims in the Nanjing Massacre a memorial site in Nanjing built to commemorate the victims of the Nanking Massacre 54 added a wing dedicated to her in 2005 55 In the US a Chinese garden in Norfolk Virginia which contains a memorial to Minnie Vautrin added a memorial dedicated to Chang including her as the latest victim of the Nanking Massacre and drawing parallels between Chang and Vautrin who also took her own life 55 Vautrin exhausted herself trying to protect women and children during the Nanking Massacre and subsequently during the Japanese occupation of Nanjing finally suffering a nervous breakdown in 1940 She returned to the US for medical treatment committing suicide a year later 20 Editions EditEnglish1997 The Rape of Nanking The Forgotten Holocaust of World War II Basic Books 21 November 1997 ISBN 978 0 465 06835 7 1998 The Rape of Nanking The Forgotten Holocaust of World War II with a foreword by William C Kirby USA Penguin ISBN 978 0 14 027744 9 French2010 Le viol de Nankin 1937 un des plus grands massacres du XXe siecle Payot ISBN 978 2 228 90520 6 Chinese under Iris Chang s Chinese name Zhang Chunru 张纯如 2005 南京大屠杀 translated by Ma Zhixing 马志行 Tian Huaibin 田怀滨 and Cui Naiying 崔乃颖 Oriental Publishing House 东方出版社 382 pp ISBN 978 7 5060 1052 8 2015 南京大屠杀 Beijing CITIC Press 308 pp ISBN 9787508653389 Japanese2007 ザ レイプ オブ 南京 第二次世界大戦の忘れられたホロコースト 巫召鴻訳 Dojinsha ISBN 4 88683 617 8 2007 Corrected version ザ レイプ オブ 南京 を読む 巫召鴻著 Dojinsha ISBN 4 88683 618 6 See also EditBlack Sun The Nanking Massacre City of Life and Death Don t Cry Nanking Nanking The Forgotten Holocaust The Poles Under German Occupation 1939 1944 The Tokyo Trial film Notes EditReferences Edit A Brief Biography of Iris Chang PDF Global Alliance for Preserving the History of WW II in Asia Archived from the original PDF on 2007 08 05 Retrieved 2007 07 27 Edward Drea 2006 Researching Japanese War Crimes Records PDF National Archives and Records Administration for the Nazi War Crimes and Japanese Imperial Government Records Interagency Working Groups p 3 ISBN 1 880875 28 4 a b Foreword by William C Kirby in Iris Chang 1998 The Rape of Nanking Penguin Books ISBN 0 465 06835 9 Joshua A Fogel August 1998 Reviewed Works The Rape of Nanking The Forgotten Holocaust of World War II by Iris Chang The Journal of Asian Studies Association for Asian Studies 57 3 818 820 doi 10 2307 2658758 JSTOR 2658758 a b c d e f g h i Benson Heidi 2005 04 17 Historian Iris Chang won many battles The war she lost raged within SFGate Retrieved 2007 07 22 Chang Iris The Rape of Nanking Penguin London 1998 p 6 Heath Thomas 2006 07 31 Ted Leonsis Takes a Sharp Turn The Washington Post Retrieved 2007 07 22 Iris Chang 1998 The Rape of Nanking Penguin Books pp 7 8 ISBN 0 465 06835 9 a b Proposal for The Nanking Conference at Princeton University PDF Princeton University Archived from the original PDF on 2007 01 10 Retrieved 2007 07 23 In the Name of the Emperor at IMDb a b c d e f g h Chang The Rape of Nanking a b The Rape of Nanking Penguin Group USA Archived from the original on 2007 09 27 Retrieved 2007 07 22 a b c d e f g Burress Charles 1998 07 26 Wars of Memory SFGate Retrieved 2007 07 21 Yang Daqing Convergence or Divergence Recent Historical Writings on the Rape of Nanjing The American Historical Review 104 1999 p 7 Chang Iris The Rape of Nanking Penguin London 1998 a b Alan S Rosenbaum 2018 Is the Holocaust Unique Perspectives on Comparative Genocide Routledge ISBN 9780813344065 Rabe s Records of The Rape of Nanjing Discovered The Chinese University of Hong Kong 1996 09 26 Retrieved 2007 07 23 Malcolm Trevor 2001 Japan Restless Competitor Routledge p 121 ISBN 1 903350 02 6 John Rabe 1998 The Good Man of Nanking The Diaries of John Rabe Random House ISBN 0 375 40211 X a b American Goddess at the Rape of Nanking Southern Illinois University Archived from the original on 2007 05 25 Retrieved 2007 07 23 Scarred by history The Rape of Nanjing BBC News 2005 04 11 Retrieved 2007 07 27 An American hero in Nanking Asia Times 2002 08 24 Archived from the original on 2002 08 26 Retrieved 2007 07 27 a href Template Cite web html title Template Cite web cite web a CS1 maint unfit URL link Chang Iris 18 January 2012 The Nazi Leader Who in 1937 Became the Oskar Schindler of China The Atlantic Chang The Rape of Nanking p 89 citing Catherine Rosair For One Veteran Emperor Visit Should Be Atonement George Fitch Nanking Outrages Li En han Questions of How Many Chinese Were Killed by the Japanese Army in the Great Nanking Massacre Chang The Rape of Nanking p 90 citing Hu Hua ling Chinese Women Under the Rape of Nanking Chang The Rape of Nanking pp 90 91 citing George Fitch Nanking Outrages Gao Xingzu et al Japanese Imperialism and the Massacre in Nanjing Chang The Rape of Nanking p 91 citing Hu Hua ling Chinese Women Under the Rape of Nanking David Nelson Sutton All Military Aggression in China Including Atrocities Against Civilians and Others Shuhsi Hsu Documents of the Nanking Safety Zone Chang The Rape of Nanking p 91 citing A Debt of Blood Dagong Daily 7 February 1938 Xinhua Daily 24 February 1951 Hu Hua ling Chinese Women Under the Rape of Nanking Tang Shunsan interview with Chang Gao Xingzu et al Japanese Imperialism and the Massacre in Nanjing Chang The Rape of Nanking p 95 citing Shuhsi Hsu Documents of the Nanking Safety Zone Chang The Rape of Nanking p 95 citing Guo Qi August 1938 Shendu xueluilu Xijing Pingbao a b c Carvajal Doreen 1999 05 20 History s Shadow Foils Nanking Chronicle The New York Times Retrieved 2007 07 21 a b c d e f g h i j Sonni Efron June 6 1999 War Again Is Raging Over Japan s Role in Nanking Los Angeles Times a b August Oliver 2005 03 17 One final victim of the Rape of Nanking Times Online London Retrieved 2007 07 21 a b Burress Charles 2004 11 11 Chinese American writer found dead in South Bay SFGate Retrieved 2007 07 21 Media Praise For The Rape of Nanking IrisChang net Retrieved 2007 07 21 Ross Terrill Basic Books Retrieved 2007 07 21 a b c Quotes on the Jacket and Interior of Iris Chang 1998 The Rape of Nanking Penguin Books ISBN 0 465 06835 9 Beatrice S Bartlett Yale University Archived from the original on September 20 2006 Retrieved 2007 07 21 David M Kennedy April 1998 The Horror Should the Japanese atrocities in Nanking be equated with the Nazi Holocaust The Atlantic Monthly Vol 281 no 4 pp 110 116 Joshua A Fogel Sino Japanese Studies Retrieved 2007 07 22 Jeans Roger B January 2005 Victims or Victimizers Museums Textbooks and the War Debate in Contemporary Japan The Journal of Military History Society for Military History 69 1 149 195 doi 10 1353 jmh 2005 0025 S2CID 159900111 Robert Entenmann St Olaf College Archived from the original on 2007 07 05 Retrieved 2007 07 23 Book review of The Rape of Nanking University of the West of England Archived from the original on 2008 12 11 Retrieved 2007 07 23 Timothy M Kelly Edogawa University Retrieved 2017 03 18 Kelly Timothy M March 2000 Book Review The Rape of Nanking by Iris Chang Edogawa Women s Junior College Journal 15 Archived from the original on 2001 05 03 San Francisco Chronicle refused to publish Iris Chang s rebuttal VikingPhoenix com 1999 06 18 Archived from the original on 2001 03 05 Retrieved 2007 07 21 a b c d e Iris Chang s Letter to the San Francisco Chronicle IrisChang net Archived from the original on 2011 02 23 Retrieved 2007 07 21 LDP DPJ group plan to scrutinize Rape of Nanking The Japan Times 2007 02 23 Retrieved 2007 07 21 The Nanjing Incident Electronic Journal of Contemporary Japanese Studies 2002 04 04 Retrieved 2007 07 21 Ivan P Hall Japan Review Net Archived from the original on 2007 08 11 Retrieved 2007 07 22 a b c d Japan and the U S Sidelining the Heterodox Japan Policy Research Institute December 2002 Archived from the original on 2004 03 23 Retrieved 2007 07 22 ザ レイプ オブ 南京 の日本語版が出版 People s Daily in Japanese 2007 12 17 Retrieved 2007 12 18 ザ レイプ オブ 南京 第二次世界大戦の忘れられたホロコースト Translated by 巫召鴻 ISBN 4 88683 617 8 The memorial hall of the victims in Nanjing massacre by Japanese invaders Archived from the original on 2014 12 18 Retrieved 2007 07 31 a b McLaughlin Kathleen E 2004 11 20 Iris Chang s suicide stunned those she tried so hard to help the survivors of Japan s Rape of Nanking SFGate Retrieved 2007 07 21 External links EditIris Chang s official site Excerpt of book 18 January 2012 The Nazi Leader Who in 1937 Became the Oskar Schindler of China The Atlantic Efron Sonni 6 June 1999 Once Again Japan is at war over History GeoCities com Chang Y Y 8 December 2006 Iris s Spirit is Everywhere AsianWeek com The Nanking Incident Archives Fact Finders Forum includes analysis of photos Interviews with author Edit Gergen David interviewer 20 February 1998 Iris Chang and the Forgotten Holocaust transcript The NewsHour US PBS Archived on 19 March 2012 Lamb Brian interviewer 11 January 1998 The Rape of Nanking video and transcript Booknotes US C Span Also available on C Span Mills Ami Chen interviewer 12 December 1996 Breaking the Silence Metroactive US Metro Publishing Inc Rose Charlie interviewer 19 May 1998 Iris Chang video and transcript Charlie Rose US PBS Also available on PBS Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title The Rape of Nanking book amp oldid 1131633760, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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