Nanking Chapter Summary

By 1938, the massacre had stopped with over millions of dollars in damage along with human flesh decorated everywhere (Chang, 159). Chang described in Chapter seven the damage Japan had done not only in Nanking but also along the villages outside of it. Slowly the city came back to life also the Japanese had not yet finished. Just like described in The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich, the Japanese opened medical experiments on the Nanking citizens. While the Japanese called the human guinea pigs “lumber” (Chang, 164), the Germans had their subjects, mainly women, called “rabbits” (Shirer, 979). The sale of drugs and crime swallowed the city and though the mass murders stopped, life wasn’t all that pleasant. Japan’s reign over Nanking stopped
only when the United States dropped an untested uranium bomb on Japan’s eighth-largest city (Chang, 167). In Chapter eight, the aftermath of Nanking massacre could be read about with war crime trials being conducted. Chapter nine describes how the survivors of Nanking, though freed from the restrainment of Japan, were suffering from mental or physical pain and poverty (Chang, 181). Next follows stories that Chang introduces in this chapter of many survivors and the continual support from Rabe, the Nazi hero. The last chapter consist of the common theme of denial. The Japanese government was successful in disinfected the massacre from the minds of many from erasing the topic from textbooks or telling others that it was China to blame (Chang, 201). Years after the event, the topic seemed to have vanished and because of that, that inspired the author to write this book. The epilogue of the book ends with the author’s final wish: for Japan to give an official apology to all who have been affected and to educate the future of Japanese citizens about the massacre (Chang, 225).
Review
The author had successfully made her case in accurately depicting the whole Nanking massacre into one book while no others have.
The book is ever so useful as it serves a purpose telling readers that in darkest moments of times, the human kind could rise up together and defend the needy as the foreigners did for the Chinese. It also warns of governments who do not check inside their systems and also gives platform for survivors to be heard. Because of its content, including graphic images, gives explicit details, the book is intended for mature young adult readers and up despite the fact that the text was not too difficult. For those interested in torture and warfare, this would be an appropriate book as it describes military tactics and torture methods in depth. The author right away gives readers to develop their own biased thoughts instead of strictly her own. She achieved that by providing three eyes or point of views throughout her work; Japanese soldiers, Chinese civilians, and foreigners. This book will definitely further discussion and historiography on this subject as the Nanking massacre for some reason is still debated as to whether it really happened or not which is ridiculous. Overall I highly recommend this book to any mature reader as I myself could not put down this work until I had reached the last
page.