American Goddess at the Rape of Nanking: The Courage of Minnie Vautrin [Paperback]

Hua-ling Hu (Author), Paul Simon (Foreword)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 1, 2000

The Japanese army's brutal occupation of the city of Nanking during the 1937 Sino-Japanese War is known, for good reason, as "the rape of Nanking." As they slaughtered an estimated three hundred thousand people, the invading soldiers raped more than twenty thousand women-some estimates run as high as eighty thousand. Hua-ling Hu presents here the amazing untold story of the American missionary Minnie Vautrin, whose unswerving defiance of the Japanese protected ten thousand Chinese women and children and made her a legend among the Chinese people she served.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Minnie Vautrin was a Christian missionary, a teacher and an administrator at Ginling College in Nanking. Having arrived in China in 1912 at the age of 26, she worked tirelessly for nearly 30 years to expand and maintain the school, to educate Chinese women and to improve the lot of the city's poor. But she served her adopted country best during the Japanese occupation of Nanking in 1937, when the city and its citizens were ravaged by the Japanese. During the occupation, Japanese soldiers raped an estimated 20,000 women; that number would have been higher were it not for Vautrin. Turning the Ginling campus into a sanctuary for 10,000 women and children, she created a small international safety zone. She stood up to the soldiers who demanded women to brutalize, and she did her best to negotiate with their superiors to keep her haven safe. She also brought order and hope to the refugees' lives by organizing classes, as well as Christmas and other celebrations. In the early 1940s, however, Vautrin, feeling like a failure, committed suicide. Unfortunately, despite the drama of Vautrin's story and Hu's use of Vautrin's own letters and diaries, the prose here is dry and almost dispassionate, often bogging down in the details of school administration. Iris Chang's recent The Rape of Nanking is a far more poignant account of this period, to which this book mostly serves as a supplement. Photos, maps. (Mar.)
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

From Library Journal

Amidst the rape and carnage of the Nanking Massacre (1937-38), in which more than 300,000 Chinese were slaughtered by Japanese troops, a score of Western residents labored tirelessly to save the lives of Chinese trapped in the doomed capital. The name of Minnie Vautrin, an American missionary educator, is indelibly inscribed on this honor list of foreigners who saw China as their home and Chinese as their fellow humans. Vautrin, a Midwestern farm girl called to missionary service, devoted her life to the education of Chinese women at Ginling College, one of the better-known of scores of Christian colleges in China. In the cauldron of horror that Nanking became, Vautrin, a tower of moral strength, turned Ginling into a sanctuary for 10,000 women and girls, who honored her as their Goddess of Mercy. Hu tells Vautrin's inspirational story in spare but powerful prose. This book deserves a wide audience and belongs in every public and academic library.
-Steven I. Levine,Univ. of Montana, Missoula
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 232 pages
• Publisher: Southern Illinois University Press; 1st edition (October 1, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0809323869
• ISBN-13: 978-0809323869
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.4 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #962,076 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

44 of 47 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Moving biography with meticulous historical background, May 12, 2000

By 

Terry Mathias (USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: American Goddess at the Rape of Nanking: The Courage of Minnie Vautrin (Hardcover)

Author Hua-ling Hu presents the deeply moving biography of an American educator/missionary who remained in Nanking to help thousands of women and children facing death. I could not set down the book until I finished it, then I started again in order to gain a keen appreciation for the thorough historical scholarship using sources that have not been available until Hu brought them to our eyes. This book should be read by historians, by missionaries, by anyone interested in fascinating biographies -- it is a compelling story with exceptional historical scholarship as the backdrop.

24 of 27 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Living Goddess, March 27, 2002

By 

Daitokuji31 (Black Glass) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: American Goddess at the Rape of Nanking: The Courage of Minnie Vautrin (Paperback)

I first heard of the Rape of Nanking back in the year 1998 when I came across Iris Chang's _Rape of Nanking_ Since then I have read every book that I came across on the subject. Dr. Hu's book tells us of Minnie Vautrin an extraordinary woman who spent most of her life in China trying to help the Chinese people through education in religion. The book goes on to tell how Miss Vautrin risked her life day after day protecting thousands of Chinese women who seeked sanctuary at Miss Vautrin's college, Ginling.
Dr. Hu does a wonderful job giving the reader a backdrop of information, so the reader knows Japan and China's relationship with each other and the circumstances that led up to the Rape of Nanking. Dr. Hu also gives very detailed information in a short section about the history of American missionaries going to China. Wonderful book and an extraordinary woman.

24 of 28 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The American warrior of the Greatest Generation, October 16, 2002

By 

Walter W. Ko "Walter Ko" (St Louis, MO United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: American Goddess at the Rape of Nanking: The Courage of Minnie Vautrin (Hardcover)

Minnie Vautrin was a lady with compassion. She devoted her life in bringing education to Chinese women and girls in 1920s to 30s. She was well remembered not only by the people of Nanking but also by all Chinese people. During the Rape of Nanking committed by the invading of Japansese military in 1937, she risked her life in protecting over ten thousand women and girls in her campus. This book showed her courage. It was a remarkable story of the female over the male, the weak over the strong, the peace over violence. However, over the past sixty years, not many Americans know of this woman of humanity and internationalism. In 2001, I had the good fortune to attend her memorial at Shephard, Michigan with a small group of friends and her relatives. I delivered a brief paper on behalf of the citizens of Nanking for their respect and love to her. Dr Bates, another international team members son of 1937 delivered the grave site prayer.
As Americans, you should not miss this woman of the greatest generation. In December 13 2002, a statue will be set up in Naking to honor this American to China.
In 2004, Missouri House, City of St Louis and City of Overland made Proclamation on her birthday as Ginling Forever, Minnie Vautrin Day. In 2005, Illinois Governor honored her on her birthday and called for citizens of Illinois to follow her example. In September 27 2006, California Congressman Mike Honda introduced her on the floor for a Celebration Resolution - a significant gift for her 120 years birthday!
In 2003, with a group of friends, we set up Friends of Minnie Vautrin Scholarship Project to raise funds to honor her and her mission of Chinese women education in her Ginling College through United Board for Christian Higher Education in Asia. [...]