Summary Of Iris Chang's The Rape Of Nanking

In The Rape of Nanking, Iris Chang clearing outlines the perceptions of both the Japanese and the victims of the Nanking Massacre, also known as a Holocaust of the Second World War. It is important to understand the different stories that every country can tell about the events that unfolded during World War II, one of the controversial ones being the Nanking Massacre. Chang’s main purpose of writing this book is to provide a reminder of the cruel acts that extended to the Chinese prisoners of war by the Nipponese army, where torture, rape, stabbing, drowning, shooting and sometimes torching were some of the acts they were forced to endure. The book is structured into three main parts. The first is a narration the events of the Nanking Massacre,
from three different points of view. The first being, the Japanese military, the Chinese victims, and the Westerners who tried to help Chinese civilians. The second part concerns the reaction after the war to the massacre, especially from the American and European people. The third part of the book describes the circumstances that, have kept knowledge of the massacre out of the publics hands for a long period after the war. As a professional journalist, Chang was able to document these events and provide an English version of one of the forgotten holocausts of World War II.

There are several reasons that can be found in Chang’s book that shows why the Japanese involved themselves in such a horrible massacre.
First, during world war II, the Japanese had a very strong will to become the biggest race of the pacific, but china was a major threat to their success during this time. During the 1930s, the capital of China was Nanking and which made it a good move on the Japanese side, to attack the capital so that they could weaken the Chinese government. According to Chang, in December 1937 there was an invasion that extended to almost eight weeks. The Nipponese army of japan brutally tortured and murdered the Nanking people who then could be considered prisoners of war since their city had been invaded by the Japanese people. Chang gives several accounts of how horrible these acts were when the Japanese army shot the Chinese by setting them on fire after pouring gasoline on them and then making them run. This was like a game to the Japanese army. Chang listed and described the kinds of torture that were visited upon the residents, including being buried alive, mutilation, "death by fire", "death by ice", and "death by dogs". Based on the testimony of a survivor of the massacre, Chang also described a killing contest amongst a group of Japanese soldiers to determine who could kill the fastest. On the rape that occurred during the massacre, Chang wrote that "certainly it was one of the greatest mass rapes in world history." She estimated that the number
of women raped ranged from 20,000 to as many as 80,000. Rape occurred in all locations and at all hours. Both young and old women were raped, even pregnant women. Not all rape victims were women. According to the book, Chinese men were forced to perform awful sexual acts. Some were forced to commit incest acts. Fathers were forced to rape their own daughters, brothers to rape their sisters, and sons to rape their mothers.

The Rape of Nanking related to the course well. We have already talked about some of the events in class. It did give me a better understanding of what was going on and just how bad other countries have treated their people.

It is obvious from Chang’s book that the Japanese brutally murdered the Chinese prisoners of war. The book clearly outlines the reasons why this event has often been forgotten since the Japanese government have always tried to deny the events that obviously happened. It would be great if this book was able to cover more in depth, the governments that supported the Japanese since it seems that the ultimate blame goes to the Japanese and it is likely that the Japanese were working with other countries military powers. Overall I thought it was a good book.