a b Foreword by William C. Kirby, in: Iris Chang (1998). The Rape of Nanking. Penguin Books. ISBN 0-465-06835-9. Chang, Iris (2011). The Rape of Nanking: The Forgotten Holocaust of World War II. New York, NY: Basic Books. p.224. ISBN 978-0-46506836-4. Iris Shun-Ru Chang was a Chinese-American historian and journalist. She was best known for her best-selling 1997 account of the Nanking Massacre, The Rape of Nanking. She committed suicide on November 9, 2004, when she was just 36 years old.

Anger over the events at Nanjing continues to color Sino-Japanese relations to this day. The true nature of the massacre has been disputed and exploited for propaganda purposes by historical revisionists, apologists and Japanese nationalists. Some claim the numbers of deaths have been inflated, while others have denied that any massacre occurred. 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. 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. To curb the rape frenzy and prevent venereal diseases, the military hierarchy created the “comfort women” system whereby females, most against their will, were recruited to serve as pleasure slaves for the soldiers of empire. So as a means of reward and to control the deadly lust of its men, the Japanese government provided them with girls and women to rape.She notes that although the world knew about what was happening, Japanese propaganda portrayed a different picture (150). Additionally, although the worst of the massacre took place in the first six to eight weeks (159), Japan occupied Nanking and subjected the citizens to numerous brutal acts until Japan surrendered World War II in August of 1945 (167). Finally, Chang notes that one of the worst implications of this event is the dispute between China and Japan over what actually occurred. Because of the secrecy of the massacre, and Japan’s ability to hide the events from the people of Japan, there is a major conflict over what actually took place in Nanking. Chang notes that even “sixty years later, the Japanese as a nation are still trying to bury the victims of Nanking…into historical oblivion” (220). In the concluding words of her book, Chang suggests that “the Japanese government needs to issue and official apology to the victims…and, most important, educate future generations of Japanese citizens about the true facts of the massacre” (225).

In more than a half-century since the end of World War II, relatively little has been published about the Japanese occupation of China, during which an estimated 30 million Chinese were killed. The Rape of Nanking, or Nanking Massacre, in which at least 369,366 people were slaughtered and 80,000 women were raped by Japanese invasion troops, has become little more than a historical footnote in the West. Mills, Ami Chen, interviewer. 12 December 1996. " Breaking the Silence." Metroactive. US: Metro Publishing, Inc. 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 [ edit ]Chang, Iris. 18 January 2012. " The Nazi Leader Who, in 1937, Became the Oskar Schindler of China." The Atlantic.

Lamb, Brian, interviewer. 11 January 1998. " The Rape of Nanking" (video and transcript). Booknotes. US: C-Span. Also available on C-Span. Thousands of women were raped by Japanese soldiers; death was frequently the penalty for the slightest resistance by a victim or members of her family. Even large numbers of young girls and old women were raped throughout the city, and many cases of abnormal and sadistic behavior in connection with these rapes were reported. Many women were killed after the act and their bodies mutilated. There are no official numbers for the death toll in the Nanjing Massacre, though estimates range from 200,000 to 300,000 people. Soon after the end of the war, Matsui and his lieutenant Tani Hisao were tried and convicted for war crimes by the International Military Tribunal for the Far East—both men were soon executed. 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. San Jose community briefs for the week of Nov. 8: Chang Park Opens". The Mercury News. November 3, 2019 . Retrieved November 3, 2019.It is clearly evident that this indoctrination instilled obedience and loyalty, and that group conformity was valued over individualism. According to Chang, the Japanese had an ingrained sense of racial superiority which was affronted when the Chinese refused to capitulate when the imperial army marched into China. The Japanese military leaders seriously believed that Japan could conquer all of mainland China within three months. Students were lectured on how it was their duty to help Japan fulfill its divine destiny of conquering Asia. I, too, have talked to survivors of the Japanese occupation in the Philippines, Indonesia, Hong Kong, China, and Malaysia and their stories, while not as dramatic as Chang's, were nevertheless riveting and horrifying. I stood in the hallway of what was once a Girl's high school in Manila where 400 young women were raped and eventually killed by drunken Japanese soldiers who expected to die as the Americans approached Manila. I met an old nun who still could not keep the tears from her eyes as she related the story. The memorial hall of the victims in Nanjing massacre by Japanese invaders". Archived from the original on 2014-12-18 . Retrieved 2007-07-31. Yang Daqing, "Convergence or Divergence? Recent Historical Writings on the Rape of Nanjing", The American Historical Review 104 (1999), p. 7. Drawing on extensive interviews with survivors and documents brought to light for the first time, Iris Chang's classic book is the definitive history of this horrifying episode. Request Desk/Exam Copy