The Rape of Nanking: The Forgotten Holocaust of World War II (Paperback)

by Iris Chang (Author) "THE CHRONICLE of humankind's cruelty to fellow humans is a long and sorry tale..." (more)
Key Phrases: imperial conspiracy, telephone interview with the author, zone leaders, Rape of Nanking, United States, Yangtze River (more...)

Editorial Reviews

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. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From School Library Journal
YA?The events in this book are horribly off-putting, which, paradoxically, is why they must be remembered. Chang tells of the Sino-Japanese War atrocities perpetrated by the invading Japanese army in Nanking in December 1937, in which roughly 350,000 soldiers and civilians were slaughtered in an eight-week period, many of them having been raped and/or tortured first. Not only are readers given many of the gory details?with pictures?but they are also told of the heroism of some members of a small foreign contingent, particularly of a Nazi businessman who resided in China for 30 years. The story of his bravery lends the ironic touch of someone with evil credentials doing good. Once the author finishes with the atrocities, she proceeds with the equally absorbing and much easier-to-take story of what happened to the Nazi businessman when he returned to Germany and the war ended. This by itself is material for a movie. The author tells why the Japanese government not only allowed the atrocities to occur but also refused, and continues to refuse, to acknowledge that they happened. She is quite evenhanded in reminding readers that every culture has some episode like this in its history; what makes this one important is the number of people killed and tortured, the sadism, and the ongoing Japanese denial of responsibility. Mature readers will look beyond the sensational acts of cruelty to ponder the horror of man's inhumanity to man and the examples of heroism in the midst of savagery.?Judy McAloon, Potomac Library, Prince William County, VA
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 328 pages
• Publisher: Penguin (Non-Classics); 4th printing edition (November 1, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0140277447
• ISBN-13: 978-0140277449
• Product Dimensions: 7.9 x 5.3 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars See all reviews (639 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #7,520 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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  #48 in	Books > History > Military > World War II

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

163 of 166 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A great author gives back the truth to the history, November 12, 2004

By	Y. ren "Y.R" (Los Angeles, CA USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

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.

174 of 178 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars you can't say it didn't happen!!, November 11, 2004

By	drenchedinwine (NYC) - See all my reviews

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.

115 of 116 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Good Book, and Chinese people should not forget , November 12, 2004

By	Danny Li (Pleasanton, CA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I am buying this book to make sure my next generations will never forget such atrocities done to the Chinese people. Forgive is one thing, but make sure the truth is being told is also important. I don't understand why many Japanese people just don't want to admit the war crimes done by their ancestors in the past. Compare to the Germans, some Japanese people just earn me nothing but disrespect. However, I also met Japanese people who are honest about the issue. I have great respect to them. I don't believe all Japanese people are bad, but some of them are just morons.