The Rape of Nanking: The Forgotten Holocaust of World War II |  | Author: Iris Chang
Publisher: Penguin (Non-Classics)
Category: Book
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Seller: Blue Cloud Books
Rating:  652 reviews
Sales Rank: 9036
Media: Paperback
Edition: Reprint
Pages: 290
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.6
Dimensions (in): 8 x 5.2 x 0.9
ISBN: 0140277447
Dewey Decimal Number: 951.042
EAN: 9780140277449
ASIN: 0140277447
Publication Date: November 1, 1998
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Amazon.com Review
China has endured much hardship in its history, as Iris Chang shows in her ably researched The Rape of Nanking, a book that recounts the horrible events in that eastern Chinese city under Japanese occupation in the late 1930s. Nanking, she writes, served as a kind of laboratory in which Japanese soldiers were taught to slaughter unarmed, unresisting civilians, as they would later do throughout Asia. Likening their victims to insects and animals, the Japanese commanders orchestrated a campaign in which several hundred thousand--no one is sure just how many--Chinese soldiers and noncombatants alike were killed. Chang turns up an unlikely hero in German businessman John Rabe, a devoted member of the Nazi party who importuned Adolf Hitler to intervene and stop the slaughter, and who personally saved the lives of countless residents of Nanking. She also suggests that the Japanese government pay reparations and apologize for its army's horrific acts of 60 years ago.
Product Description
In December 1937, the Japanese army swept into the ancient city of Nanking. Within weeks, more than 300,000 Chinese civilians were systematically raped, tortured, and murdered--a death toll exceeding that of the atomic blasts of Hiroshima and Nagasaki combined. Using extensive interviews with survivors and newly discovered documents, Iris Chang has written what will surely be the definitive history of this horrifying episode. The Rape of Nanking tells the story from three perspectives: of the Japanese soldiers who performed it, of the Chinese civilians who endured it, and of a group of Europeans and Americans who refused to abandon the city and were able to create a safety zone that saved almost 300,000 Chinese. Among these was the Nazi John Rabe, an unlikely hero whom Chang calls the "Oskar Schindler of China" and who worked tirelessly to protect the innocent and publicize the horror. More than just narrating the details of an orgy of violence, The Rape of Nanking analyzes the militaristic culture that fostered in the Japanese soldiers a total disregard for human life. Finally, it tells the appalling story: about how the advent of the Cold War led to a concerted effort on the part of the West and even the Chinese to stifle open discussion of this atrocity. Indeed, Chang characterizes this conspiracy of silence, that persists to this day, as "a second rape."
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Showing reviews 1-5 of 652
 A great author gives back the truth to the history November 12, 2004
Y. ren (Los Angeles, CA USA)
197 out of 203 found this review helpful
I read the book and was greatly shocked and moved by the author's nice work. But very sadly to hear that she passed by a few days ago. May her stay in peace forever in the heaven.
First, I would like to emphasize that the slaughter in Nanjing is a unforgivable, unforgetable, actual history for everyone who have justice. I am from Nanjing which is a city bear a tragic history. When I was in the high school, I took part in an activity which was to search for the witness of slaughter in Nanjing. When those old people shows their scar to us, telling the true story of themselves, almost all of us felt a kind of heartquake. We took some pictures and recorded the words of those old people. When they recalled the memory of those sad periods, they can't bear their angrys and pains. Maybe some of them have already passed by, but every evidences have been saved. If anyone is interested in these first hand material, you can visit the Nanjing in China. There is a memorial museum in Nanjing. You will find out the truth of history there by yourself.
Secondly, I am also greaty scared by some reviewer's irresponsible words here. I am not to blame them. But I wish they can bravely face the truth of history, face the crime of their ancestors,and correct them bravely.
Thirdly, the world is becoming more dangers today. There are more and more weapons build out every year. The earth already can be destory for thouands of times. I love peace, you must love peace too. So we must to settle the conflicts among countries and people by civilized methods. It is a responsiblity for all of us, no matter where you are from and who you are.
Finally, Only people can save people.
International Military Tribunal for the Far East November 12, 2004
Chris Gore (Richmond, VA)
114 out of 115 found this review helpful
We all need remember this:
War Crimes In China
The Nanking Massacre
Numerous eye-witness accounts of the Nanking Massacre were provided by Chinese
civilian survivors and western nationals living in Nanking at the time. The
accounts described thousands of innocent civilians buried alive, used as
targets for bayonet practice, or shot in large groups and thrown into the
Yangtze River. Rampant rapes (and gang rapes) of women ranging from age seven
to over seventy were reported. The international community estimated that
within the six weeks of the massacre, 20,000 women were raped, many of them
subsequently murdered or mutilated; and over 300,000 people were killed, often
with the most inhumane brutality.
Dr. Robert Wilson, a surgeon who was born and raised in Nanking and educated
at Princeton and Harvard Medical School, testified that beginning on December
13, "the hospital filled up and was kept full to overflowing" during the next
six weeks. The patients usually bore bayonet or bullet wounds; many of the
women patients had been sexually molested.
The international community had filed many protests to the Japanese Embassy.
Bates, an American professor of history at the University of Nanking during
the Japanese occupation, provided evidence that the protests were forwarded to
Tokyo and were discussed in great detail between Japanese officials and the
U.S. ambassador in Tokyo.
Arnold Brackman, a reporter at the trial and author of the book The Other
Nuremberg, commented: "The Rape of Nanking was not the kind of isolated
incident common to all wars. It was deliberate. It was policy. It was known in
Tokyo." Yet it was allowed to continue for over six weeks. The question at the
trial was whether each of the defendants were responsible for the massacre.
Death Sentence as related to the Rape of Nanking
Hirota, Baron Koki (1878-1948). Ambassador to the Soviet Union, 1928-31;
foreign minister, 1933-36; premier, 1936-37. Was foreign minister during the
Rape of Nanking and other atrocities perpetrated by the army. As premier, he
led his cabinet in planning the invasions of Southeast Asia and the Pacific
islands, in addition to continuing the undeclared war against China. Convicted
on Counts 1, 27, 55.
Matsui, General Iwane (1878-1948). Personal appointee of the emperor to the
Geneva Disarmament Conference, 1932-37; commander, China Expeditionary Force,
1937-38. Troops under his overall command were responsible for the Rape of
Nanking in 1937 and other atrocities. He retired in 1938 and then ceased to
play an active role in military affairs. Convicted on Count 55. He was one of
14 Class A war criminals who were secretly enshrined as "martyrs" at the
Yasukuni Shrine, which is dedicated to Japan's war dead and is Japan's most
revered Shinto temple.
Muto, General Akira (1892-1948). Vice chief of staff, China Expeditionary
Force, 1937; director, military Affairs Bureau, 1939-42; army commander in
Sumatra, 1942-43; army chief of staff in the Philippines, 1944-45. Troops
under his command participated in both the Rape of Nanking and the Rape of
Manila. Convicted on Counts 1, 27, 29, 31, 32, 54, 55
you can't say it didn't happen!! November 12, 2004
drenchedinwine (NYC)
188 out of 194 found this review helpful
Reading these reviews are making me more and more upset. First of all, I'm not trying to comment on Ms. Chang's journalism technique/sources/etc, because I don't have enough information to be a judge of that. I'm also not commenting about the "numbers war" in the reviews etc., because I didn't count the bodies; therefore, I don't know. But regardless of the discrepancies in numbers or the level of objectivity of Ms. Chang's work, the fact remains that the Japanese soldiers' atrocities against the Chinese DID happen.
I KNOW for sure that the Japanese soldiers did in fact commit many terrible atrocities against Chinese civilians, and often times in very sickeningly cruel systematic ways. Though I am American, both my parents are from Asia, and my father was a child in China during WWII. Ever since I was young, they've both told me about many of the horrible crimes that the Japanese committed against the Chinese during the war, as well as direct accounts that they've heard from people older than them. (So I guess my experience was similar to Iris's...hearing oral accounts from the older generation etc.). A lot of the atrocities that my parents told me about as a child coincided with the exact same happenings that Ms. Chang describes in the book. And mind you, my parents are NOT communist!! In fact, my Fathers family fought AGAINST the communist party in China, so he has no reason for spreading what many here are calling "communist propaganda." My experience is similar to many other second-generation Chinese people my age, in that many of my Chinese peers have parents who told them similar accounts as well. Do you mean to tell me that my parents, the people they knew, and all my peers' parents are all communist and liars who, for some deranged reason, all want to spread random lies and propaganda about the Japanese for no good reason? No. That's just ridiculous! NOT ALL CHINESE ARE COMMUNIST LIARS. It's so unfair to consider all Chinese accounts as being propaganda based on the assumption that it's all from the Communist government.
It. Happened.
Face it.
How is it fair that according to some of these reviews, the only credible sources about the killing of Chinese are European/Western accounts & figures?? That is ridiculous...keep in mind how obviously racist & close-minded the West was in the 1940's compared to today (and even today, we have a long way to go in terms of racism & how America treats the rest of the world). How can you ONLY trust Eurocentrically skewed outsider perspectives for Asian history? While I'm not saying that the Chinese communist government is a very credible source, relying only on non-Asian accounts is also VERY seriously flawed. How can you ignore all Chinese accounts when attempting to reconstruct Chinese history?
It makes me sick.
But if it makes you feel any better, TIME magazine (I think it was TIME...if it wasn't time it was U.S. news) ran an article on it a few years ago, and also acknowledges many atrocities & interviewed soldier's etc. So there's a "credible" Western source for you.
and here's another from the San Francisco Chronicle:
"The Rape of Nanking, the infamous World War II siege by the Japanese Imperial Army, left Ni Cuiping with numerous scars.
The 75-year-old's traumas ranged from witnessing seven family members and relatives brutally killed to being shot in her shoulder. Now 50 years after Japan officially made peace with the United States and much of the world, Ni lives to remind people that the wounds and atrocities inflicted by Japan remain unresolved.
"I'm a witness to the Nanking massacre," said Ni, who still lives in Nanking in China. "I'll never allow the Japanese government to deny history. As a witness I will testify to the last day of my life."
Ni's stirring testimony at a press conference yesterday began a four-day event protesting the 50th anniversary of the San Francisco Peace Treaty.
The treaty, which is being commemorated this weekend in San Francisco by Japanese and U.S. government officials, formally ended the war between Japan, the United States and many of its allies. It also has been cited by the Japanese government as proof that it has fulfilled its wartime obligation and is no longer liable against personal lawsuits.
But critics of Japan, including the Rape of Nanking Redress Coalition, see the anniversary as an opportunity to demand an official apology and individual compensation for war victims, sex slaves and forced laborers, something Japan has refused to do. The protest is highlighted by a conference at the San Francisco Radisson Miyako hotel called "Fifty Years of Denial: Japan and Its Wartime Responsibilities."
Ni was among several redress advocates speaking yesterday morning. With tears in her eyes, she recalled how her family fled to the countryside outside Nanking in 1937 when the Japanese army invaded and eventually killed hundreds of thousands of Chinese.
Shortly after, the army discovered her family. Her father, who was washing vegetables in a nearby pond, was the first to fall.
"They fired at my father and he was killed at the first shooting, I thought," said Ni. "But they shot three more times and he died by the water."
Her mother and grandfather were killed there, too, and Ni was shot in the shoulder. Later, she witnessed an uncle, two aunts and one of their unborn children killed by Japanese soldiers.
Soon Duk Kim, a speaker from South Korea, told of her experiences as one of approximately 200,000 sex slaves, called comfort women. The 82-year-old said she was 17 when she was forced to go work for the Japanese army.
Though she was originally told she would be a temporary nurse in Japan, she was instead shipped to Shanghai, where she began three years as a slave servicing Japanese soldiers. In small tents, the women were raped countless times, some fainting, others struggling violently.
"Every single day, the war soldiers lined up," said Kim. "There were so many, we couldn't count them."
Many girls committed suicide. Kim tried three times.
"I wanted to die," said Kim. "The shock was so much, it was beyond words."
She was later sent home due to medical problems but she never married because she felt she would be unacceptable to a potential husband.
"What I endured and experienced, I cannot forget," said Kim. "Every bit of it is inscribed in my memory.""
R.I.P Iris Chang, and all those who died and have been forgotten.
****EDITED LATER TO ADD:
Unfortunately, I feel that this review site has somewhat degenerated into extremes & simplistic offensive comments all around, especially because the set up does not allow reviewers to respond directly to other reviewers' comments for clarification and intelligent discussion.
In any case, I, as a Chinese person, find it very offensive that many of the Japanese soldiers and the government responsible for the atrocities are denying them to this day and even go so far as to attempt to distort history and portray themselves as victims rather than aggressors. That makes me sick. The damage caused was bad enough, but to so blatantly deny it afterwards is just completely inexcusable and very nauseating to me.
But on the other hand, I am also extremely against racism. While these atrocities (which certainly extend beyond Nanking) against Chinese (and other Asian) civilians WERE indeed committed by Japanese soldiers in WWII, this DOES NOT mean that ALL Japanese are barbaric, evil, soulless, *insert extreme negative adjective here* people. It is important to hold the guilty individuals and government system accountable for their war crimes, but it is ALSO important to not make racist blanket statements about the Japanese people as a whole. There are cruel, cowardly people in EVERY race, and to single out the Japanese race as the epitome of this very HUMAN flaw is simply unfair, unreasonable, illogical, and hypocritical. The events were a horrific example of the epitome of human cruelty and sadism, and the events were caused by Japanese soldiers, but again, it is important to emphasize the difference between innocent Japanese people as a race, and those guilty of the atrocities & coverup. This is just a reminder for the need to be clear in distinguishing between the guilty and the innocent.
But aside from that whole debate, the most important thing for me is that...I truly hope that the dead and the victims will see justice done.
Rest In Peace, Iris November 13, 2004
Chimonsho (Turtle Island)
108 out of 109 found this review helpful
We deeply miss Iris Chang already in the days after her death. She was a favorite writer of mine, and definitely among the best of current popular historians. Her work is both scholarly and superbly readable, suffused with feeling for history's victims, and anger at cruelty and injustice. This led some critics to fault her for bias, and this book is off the mark in assuming that Japanaese are united in denying the Rape of Nanking. But her passionate partisanship compels attention to overlooked injustices of modern history. This is the common thread running through all her work ("Rape of Nanking," Chinese in America," Thread of the Silkworm"). The grim subjects she dealt with possibly played a part in the circumstances leading to her death, although we should refrain from passing judgement. Iris was researching a book on Americans fighting Japanese in the Philippines during the Pacific War. We can only hope that enough progress was made so that one final gem will appear under her name. She continues to inspire others to follow the trails she blazed.
Great Book October 27, 2004
Samantha (San Diego,CA,USA)
123 out of 125 found this review helpful
I read "The Rape of Nanking:The Forgotten Holocaust of WWII" and I thought it was a great book. I didnt even know that the Japanese went to war with the Chinese, and I learned a lot about it since I have read it. Iris Chang gave so many details of the gruesome war that I couldnt believed it happened. You could just imagine how the victims felt through the authors words. How Chang found the few remaining survivors is amazing. The victims are mostly elderly and they still remember the war and can tell you the stories they went through or witnessed. The author, in my sense, justs wants people to realize that this did happen, a forgotten holocaust. For people to know about this is how it is kept prevented from happening again. I realized that when I read this book that wars like that are still going on in this world. I really enjoyed this book from every perspective. I gained so much more knowledge of what had happened some odd years ago.
Showing reviews 1-5 of 652
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