I had only heard about Japanese atrocities in China during WWII in general, yet had never read a detailed account (unlike the massive amounts of material you are exposed to in school about the Holocaust). The Rape of Nanking taught me much about the politics, motivations, and tragedies associated with Japan's occupation of parts of mainland China in the late 30's. While the book is fast paced, informative, and well written, do prepare yourself to be exposed to descriptions of the most horrific acts that your imagination can muster.
I felt the book could have been edited down a bit as certain sections get repetitive, but this is my only complaint about an otherwise amazing book on a little covered chapter in history. One that everyone should read. Not learning about The Rape is like being clueless about the Holocaust, and it's truly a tragedy that this event has been lost on most of the western world. It's fantastic that Iris Chang has brought it to light, yet tragic that she took her own life last year. Bottom line, if you can stomach some of the most gut wrenching horrors of The Rape being described in brutal detail (and some being pictured), then you owe it to yourself to read this book.
新四つ星リビュー #589 http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/customer-reviews/0140277447/ref=cm_cr_dp_2_1/103-8580269-3356601?%5Fencoding=UTF8&customer-reviews.sort%5Fby=-SubmissionDate&n=283155 What an amazing young scholar!, January 20, 2005 Reviewer: jen2005 "jen2005" (Texas, USA) The Nanjing Massacre has been witnessed by hundreds of thousands despite the clear attempt by Japanese soldiers to kill all those in view. It's sick that the Japanese are not taught the truth regarding the past. Clearly, young Japanese today are not at fault at what happened back in World War II, but we should all recognize our past mistakes. As Chang shrewdly highlights, Germany is a better country today because they recognized their dark past and the South are better today because they now recognize that slavery is unethical and simply disgusting. Shame on those who refuse to admit that the Nanjing Massacre occurred. I wonder if they even read Chang's book, not to mention the now many documentaries and texts regarding this subject matter.
I have never seen a good, solid-based counter-argument to those denial theories of so-called Rape of Nanking was made not only by ignorant amateur people but by the supposedly-decent scholars alike.
It is matter of course that they never be able to do so considering the fact that this story of the Rape of Nanking is mere propaganda. They should well know that they have no evidence that supports the massacre really happened in Nanking in December 1937. Because, on the contrary, many circumstantial evidences from the neutral foreigners in the city, which, most crucially, have been used as the very evidences for the massacre, point that soon after the capture of Nanking peace was in fact restored by the Japanese Army and genuine Chinese civilians (apart from those civilian-disguised Chinese soldiers, of course) gave them welcome rather eagerly. Anyone can read can see this from contemporary documents like "The Documents of the Nanking Safety Zone" and letters and diaries of those foreigners who remained in Nanking at the period in question which anyone can obtain anytime from Amazon.com book store most of the time.
So, naturally, instead of trying to make a counter-argument on what exactly the denial theories say, what they always do is to distort and deride those denials or to make a forced analogy between the Rape of Nanking denials and the Nazi Holocaust denials so that other uninformed people think that those deniers are all evil fascists and ultra-nationalists, therefore, they should never be listened to. They need to keep people out of those good resources because, once people read those contemporary documents by themselves, they will certainly know what really happened in Nanking and, more exactly, what really not happened in Nanking.
With those aggressive words, some people really are imbuing people's mind with false assumptions on those Rape of Nanking denials that can lead to prejudice to the Japanese culture itself. I cannot help thinking that, although we should be living in a democratic society in which people should have a right to speak freely, somehow we are under a covert speech control. It seems that once you are labelled as an ultra-nationalist or a neo-Nazi, you can never refute anything. I feel as if I am being told that: the left is right and the right is ALWAYS, PROFOUNDLY and INDEFINITELY wrong. Does this not sound like fascism/totalism? Incidentally, Amnesty International Report in 1978 says that in Communist China at that time history teachers were assigned to the post not by their achievement in history study but by fine understanding of the ideology of communism. I just wonder if it is still true to this day.
(By the way, the reviewer below called chaconnesque"chaconnesque", the Chinese who were killed in the South East Asian countries in the WW2 by the Japanese Army were mostly guerrillas in civilian clothes which is supposed to be illegal worldwide and, therefore, the commanders who ordered the executions of those guerrillas were acquitted in the war crimes courts by the Allied powers after the war.)
Cannibal is Chinese culture., February 3, 2005 Reviewer: pink daruma
I contribute for the first time. Various informations about Nanking Massacre are flowing, to tell the truth, I also can't understand which one is the true information. But, I want to say only one point. They say, Japanese soldiers ate Chinese's internal organs with pan. It's nonsense story. Japanese began eating pig or beef about 140 years ago. All samurais were vegetarians. I swear we don't have that kind of culture. Cannibal is Chinese culture. You can easily understand if you read Chinese history book. Obviously, it's a propaganda made by Chinese. Though there are Japanese slaughter events committed by Chinese, too. \ If those are not seen, it is not impartial.
Ding, who heads the Cupertino-based Global Alliance for Preserving the History of World War II in Asia, said he did not know what kind of problem Chang might have encountered or whether it was a factor in her death.
In a day and age when Japan's Prime Minister still annually makes pilgrimages to "honor" Japan's "war heros", books like this provide some insight into the cultural underpinnings of racism and utter brutality.
Japan's forced enslavement, torture, and rape of Koreans, Chinese, Taiwanese, and others in WW2 has been well-documented; and yet, curiously, it takes explosive books like this to bring this documentation out of stale academia and into modern light.
Even today, those who were borne and live in Japan from those Koreans forcibly kidnapped and raped by Japanese are not Japanese citizens... despite the fact that they are now 3rd generation Japanese, speak no Korean, and have never been to Korea. As this book amply demonstrates, Japan breeds into its people a robotic disregard for human life and suffering, and a racism that, to this day, is remarkably disturbing. In the US, we tend to focus on occidental sins... it's time we also cast our eyes eastward.
Powerful look at Tragedy & Brutality, February 19, 2005 Reviewer: K.A.Goldberg (Chicago)
This gripping expose' of Japan's brutality in China is not for the faint of heart. Author Iris Chang used official documents and interviews with aged survivors to narrate one of the most overlooked chapters of 20th Century genocide. When Japan's imperial army captured the Chinese city of Nanking in 1937, their soldiers exacted a blood-thirsty revenge. As this book shows, no Chinese were exempt from the seven-week (...) of murder and rape that followed. Japanese soldiers used Chinese prisoners for bayonet practice, shot entire families, and raped women by the thousands (usually killing their victims afterwards). Recoiling in horror, a handful of western officials, missionaries, and others (led ironically by (...) diplomat John Rabe) worked to establish an international safe zone that saved thousands of Chinese. Still this powerful narrative shows that Japan's army murdered an estimated 300,000 Chinese citizens in the space of less than two months.
I recently a television interview where an aged ex-soldier from Japan admitted to having participated in these brutalities and to having felt no remorse until years later. Gee. Author Iris Chang (1968-2004) was a talented journalist who unfortunately took her own life - one wonders if this powerful narrative may have contributed to her burdens.
Forgotten, February 23, 2005 Reviewer: J.D. Nguyen "Jon" (Canada) I will admit that I am only a Grade 12 student reading this book as part of a English project, however while reading the reviews of this book on Amazon.com I came across somebody saying that this is not forgotten history. When I presented my report to a class of average Canadian high school students many of whom were in my History 12 class were totally oblivious to such acts of violence and sadistic rape, murder and degredgation of the Chinese.
I believe that however bias Chang's writing maybe at certain points it is only because any decent human being cannot or would have a hard time writing of such atrocities without providing a hint of anger and frustration as to the events of Nanking.
I DO NOT RECOMMEND THIS BOOK TO EVERYBODY, it is very much a book that is important and informative, but at the same time it is written with graphic detail as the reader is bombarded with constant stories and depictions of rape,murder and mutilation. -------------------------------------------------------------------
Canadian high school students many of whom were in my History 12 class were totally oblivious to such acts of violence and sadistic rape, murder and degredgation of the Chinese.
新一つ星リビュー #593 (どこかで一つリビューが削除されている) Everyone! Please Read "Eyewitnesses to Massacre"!!, March 6, 2005 Reviewer: Yamata-no-Orochi I have never seen a good, solid-based counter-argument to those denial theories of so-called Rape of Nanking was made not only by ignorant amateur people but by the supposedly-decent scholars alike.
It is matter of course that they never be able to do so considering the fact that this story of the Rape of Nanking is mere propaganda. They should well know that they have no evidence that supports the massacre really happened in Nanking in December 1937. Because, on the contrary, many circumstantial evidences from the neutral foreigners in the city, which, most crucially, have been used as the very evidences for the massacre, point that soon after the capture of Nanking peace was in fact restored by the Japanese Army and genuine Chinese civilians (apart from those civilian-disguised Chinese soldiers, of course) gave them welcome rather eagerly. Anyone can read can see this from contemporary documents like "The Documents of the Nanking Safety Zone" and letters and diaries of those foreigners who remained in Nanking at the period in question which anyone can obtain anytime from Amazon.com book store most of the time.
So, naturally, instead of trying to make a counter-argument on what exactly the denial theories say, what they always do is to distort and deride those denials or to make a forced analogy between the Rape of Nanking denials and the Nazi Holocaust denials so that other uninformed people think that those deniers are all evil fascists and ultra-nationalists, therefore, they should never be listened to. They need to keep people out of those good resources because, once people read those contemporary documents by themselves, they will certainly know what really happened in Nanking and, more exactly, what really not happened in Nanking.
With those aggressive words, some people really are imbuing people's mind with false assumptions on those Rape of Nanking denials that can lead to prejudice to the Japanese culture itself. I cannot help thinking that, although we should be living in a democratic society in which people should have a right to speak freely, somehow we are under a covert speech control. It seems that once you are labelled as an ultra-nationalist or a neo-Nazi, you can never refute anything. I feel as if I am being told that: the left is right and the right is ALWAYS, PROFOUNDLY and INDEFINITELY wrong. Does this not sound like fascism/totalism? Incidentally, Amnesty International Report in 1978 says that in Communist China at that time history teachers were assigned to the post not by their achievement in history study but by fine understanding of the ideology of communism. I just wonder if it is still true to this day.
(By the way, the Chinese who were killed in the South East Asian countries in the WW2 by the Japanese Army were mostly guerrillas in civilian clothes which is supposed to be illegal worldwide and, therefore, the commanders who ordered the executions of those guerrillas were acquitted in the war crimes courts by the Allied powers after the war.)
新四星リビュー #593 http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/customer-reviews/0140277447/ref=cm_cr_dp_2_1/002-3449031-9789664?%5Fencoding=UTF8&customer-reviews.sort%5Fby=-SubmissionDate&n=283155 STUNNING, March 13, 2005 It is a very stunning book and stomach churning in which Iris Chang tells the story of many, in a respective manner dividing the stories into three seperate sections, Japanese, Chinese witnesses, and Foreigners. In The Rape of Nanking, she briefly describes the tragedy of many Chinese people who endured rape, murder, and cruel treatment from Japanese soldiers. Although many Japanese people deny the fact that this ever happened, this book really shows the true colors of this tragedy that will never be forgotten.
Iris Chang's The Rape of Nanking: The Forgotten Holocaust of World War II examines one of history's atrocities under the microscope. By looking at the cover of the book, one may not be able to decipher what the cover depicts if one hasn't studied or read about the Chinese holocaust that occurred before World War II was officially declared in 1939. One can only think that the picture depicts dead fish along the ground. However, that is not the case, and it is the gruesome reality of what can happen in times of conflict. The Japanese proceeded in creating havoc in Manchuria in December 1937 in order to attain territorial and imperialistic power over the Chinese.
Chang's well-documented narrative of the Rape of Nanking is a powerful book that can either move you or make you think about history that has already passed. The Rape of Nanking is one of those events in history that has been debated and challenged by Japanese historians in telling the truth about Nanking by non-Japanese researchers or even those who actually lived through the experience. Through Chang's narrative, she pleads to her readers that this event indeed happened and revisionists working to debunk the facts are working on a thin red line when they taint history in order to paint a "pretty" picture of their own history. History is not complete unless the entire big picture is presented.
The Rape of Nanking is indeed another piece of the puzzle in telling the history of World War II. As more evidence is presented to what occurred before Pearl Harbor, there will be a better understanding to what eventually occurred on August 9, 1945 and after. Those who read the book should be forewarned of the graphic narrative as well as the photographs. Nonetheless, this is a highly recommended book.
She is connected with the China of Communist Party. People's Republic of China is the most violative country in the world. This country is always violates human rights and has been bitterly criticised by Internationai Society.
It's so amazing that many reviewers of this book accept everything they read in the book as truth. Then, when you realize the so many of the reviewers are also of Chinese origin or descendants, it's no surprise. The history in general sometimes will not reveal a full true story of any events for a long time; 10, 30, 50, 100 years or even centuries. Recently, there was a finding that, out of the Soviet Communist Archived documents, the Soviet had issued an order to Mao Zedong to instigate the Japanese army to invade and break out a war against China in order to rear-guard the soviet which was at war against German and was worried about another front in Asia against Japan. This is quite contrary to the general notion that Japan invaded China out of territorial aggression. Those reviewers of this book whose one of the favourite comments is 'Well documented' or 'Well researched' really makes me wonder what they mean by those comments or how they figured whether or not the author has, indeed, conducted good fact findings and researches. When it comes to the history books, one must counter balance by reading the both sides of its story in question if there are more than one party involved in the event. (以下省略)
I am DEEPLY embarassed by some of the Japanese and Chinese reviewers who basically blast at each other. The Japanese who flat out deny the existence of this atrocity are ridiculous beyond words. The Chinese who curse at the Japanese with horrible names and some even swore on having a "Rape of Tokyo" is also just embarassing!
As a Chinese I've always been interested in the Japanese language, culture, and food for pure enjoyment. I believe the Japanese have a very interesting and unique societal view on their own race and their own lifestyle, they have very disciplined views, for good and for bad. I have many Japanese friends and feel that there are always good and bad people everywhere.
There are many genocides that occurred around the world throughout ages, the rape of Nanjing, Turkish slaughter of Armenians, slaughter of Muslims in the Balkans, and the current genocide that is OCCURING right now in Sudan and Rhwanda are, in a sense, all the same. They are all denounced, and even the ones occuring right now, we're all ignoring them. Out of the hundreds of genocides and mass/gruesome murders that happened in the world, only the holocause is recognized.
War is a dirty and dark magical power that sucks out people's souls and makes us inhumane and out of our minds. When a country is in war, its soldiers are fooled by the leader into committing acts they never imagine they could commit. When a city is invaded, it is almost always the case that inhumane slaughterings will occur. I am not here to excuse the Japanese but to say that many atrocious events happened and the Japanese invasion of China is one in thousands.
I feel horrible that the Japanese is denying the rape of Nanjing. My grandmother's brothers and sisters and their families were burned alive by the Japanese while herself narrowly escaped, I grew up listening to her tales, and to hear so many people on this page denying MY FAMILY's death is very painful, and it makes me very, very angry.
Frankly, after reading the Rape of Nanking I dropped studying Japanese at my college, because I simply cannot get myself to come to terms with not this atrocity, but the simple denial of this atrocity by the culture I am interested in.
I'd say that both Chinese and Japanese are deeply racist toward each other, while the Chinese claim that they have a reason to hate the Japanese for the crimes they've done, the Japanese looks down upon the Chinese as if we're inferior to them. In both cases, it is not justified.
I hope there are people (both Japanese and Chinese) out there who are a little more civilized than some of the people on this web, to not look past our past, but to recognize our past, accept our past, and move beyond are past knowing that war is unfortunate, it brings out the worst in people, and to move on.
It is stupid to think that two great Asian countries cannot work together and to let the US take advantage of hatred.
If you don't believe me, that's fine, but please read "Eyewitnesses to Massacre" edited by proper Chinese scholar Zhang Kaiyuan. You can see those "objective" foreigners of the Nanking Safety Zone International Committee and other American missionaries, who stayed in Nanking at the very moment of the Japanese capture and occupation of Nanking December 1937 to spring of 1938, said themselves clearly that they saw NO actual killings (outside of the legitimate executions) by themselves at all!
They said that they believe all of those atrocities of Japanese Army that they heard from their Chinese friends were true, but also said that they had not verified them at all. (以下省略)
Does it really matter if the number of Chinese civilians that are killed is 50,000 or 500,000? An atrocity is an atrocity, regardless of the number! Many innocent civilians are mass murdered and that is the fact! Smaller number doesn't automatically make the massacre a "small thing". Smaller number doesn't mean Japanese government is not guilty about the massacre. The smaller number doesn't mean Japanese government don't need to apologize!!!
The number of Jews that are killed in the concentration camps also varies, how come I don't see anyone arguing about the numbers? The Japanese government should stop trying to find excuses and face the true history! People's voice cannot be wrong! Where do you think those victims that accuses Japanese government come from? Victims cannot be fabricated. It doesn't really matter if China is under communism or not. Even if China is a democratic country, Chinese people will still remember the atrocities the Japanese had done to them!
I have Japanese friends and Chinese friends and they are all very nice people until you start talking about the Rape of Nanking.
Basically, the Chinese go ballistic, the Japanese get miserable. The Chinese utterly insist that EVERY Japanese is a "war atrocity denier" and God help the guy who says otherwise. The Japanese basically regret Nanking as a big mistake, but tend to think they are being ostracized for something they are not responsible for.
Neither side is entirely right. On one hand, there are plenty of Japanese who are indignant that other Japanese people are trying to forget the Rape of Nanking. In fact, I have met more such Japanese than otherwise. On the other hand, Japanese people were not informed about the Rape of Nanking until well after the war, but they have to be accountable for the government they supported, even if it is about an event that happened long before they were born. (In the same way that our grandchildren will be held accountable for the actions of George W. Bush later on in history when the truth finally comes to light.)
Iris Chiang's book is not the best on the subject. It is just too sensationalistic and indignant. For an even-handed tretise on wartime Japan, I suggest you read "The Japanese Wartime Empire, 1931-1945" by Peter Duus. --------------------------------------- この話になると中国人は怒り狂い、日本人は惨めに。 惨めになる日本人はよく知らないからだよね。教育が悪い。