Jump to content
The Education Forum

The Rape of Nanking ( Nanjing ) Iris Chang March 28, 1968 – November 9, 2004


Recommended Posts

In 1997, while working in a suburb of Taipei, I presented this book to a Chinese ( Taiwanese ) co-teacher who I was working with . The book was just out, and the horrors of this event have been in my mind ever since. I went to the Chinese mainland a year later and my family were on Lake Tai ( Tai Hu ) which was one the routes that the Japanese took on their way to the wartime capital of China. ( Nanjing ) I never imagined Ms. Chang would let this book get to her in such a way - but as a Chinese ( American ) she must have been burdened so much.

If you do not think that something could get to you in such a way - learn all about - one of the stories of absolute barbarism on the part of any peoples. It will be the Japanese last chance since they will never have a military again. This has got to be humiliating to the Japanese.

Read the story of The Rape of Nanjing and give honor to Shun-Ru Chang "Iris" Chang.

RIP Iris Chang

Edited by Peter McGuire
Link to comment
Share on other sites

"It is impossible for most people to imagine exactly what went through the minds of Japanese soldiers and officers as they committed the atrocities. But many historians, eyewitnesses , survivors, and the perpertrators themselves have theorized about what drove the naked brutality of the Japanese imperial army.

Some Japanese scholars believe that the horrors of the Rape of Nanking and other outrages of the Sino - Japanese War were caused by a phenomenon called "the transfer of oppression."

pg. 216 Epilogue The Rape of Nanking.

Simply put, the Japanese soldiers were treated poorly from about the age of 14 and let loose their rage on the Chinese.

"It has often been suggested that those with the least power are oten the most sadistic if given the power of life and death over poeple even lower on the pecking order."

http://www.irischang.net/

"I want the Rape of Nanking to penetrate into public consciousness. Unless we truly understand how these atrocities can happen, we can't be certain that it won't happen again.”

“If the Japanese government doesn’t reckon with the crimes of its wartime leaders, history is going to leave them as tainted as their ancestors. You can’t blame this generation for what happened years ago, but you can blame them for not acknowledging these crimes.”

Iris Shun-Ru Chang (March 28, 1968 – November 9, 2004) was an American historian and journalist. She is best known for her best-selling 1997 account of the Nanking Massacre, The Rape of Nanking. She committed suicide on November 9, 2004. Chang is the subject of the 2007 biographical book, Finding Iris Chang, as well as the 2007 documentary film Iris Chang: The Rape of Nanking. Reports said that news of her suicide hit the massacre survivor community in Nanjing hard. In tribute to Chang, the survivors held a service at the same time as her funeral, held at the Gate of Heaven Cemetery in Cupertino, California on Friday, November 12 2004, at the victims' memorial hall in Nanjing. In 2005, the victims memorial hall in Nanjing, which collects documents, photos, and human remains from the massacre, added a wing dedicated to Chang (Wikepedia).

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Please sign in to comment

You will be able to leave a comment after signing in



Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...