The
book under examination for this review is The
Rape of Nanking written by Iris Chang. Before Chang’s untimely death she
wrote three prolific novels over the span of her adult life including Thread of the Silkworm and The Chinese in America. The choice for
this non-fiction work was made based on the fact that unlike the rest of
Chang’s work, this one presents the most controversy and significance. The work
depicts the events of Japanese soldiers that invaded and destroyed the physical
and psychological being of the Chinese people in Nanking and the cover up
attempted by Imperial Japan afterwards. Their vicious attacks laid waste to
over three hundred thousand people, a death count exceeding that of both atomic
bombs in Nagasaki and Hiroshima combined. Chang’s book has met much criticism
from scholars and historians who say she embellishes and misinforms her
readers. This review will summarize the proceedings depicted within the text to
identify the truth and falsehood.
The
book follows the succession of Japanese soldiers and their path through Nanking
by way of eyewitness accounts and memoirs. The soldiers tore through the city
where they systematically killed soldiers and civilians they claimed were
soldiers masquerading as civilians and raped women and took them as sex slaves.
For weeks the men and women of Nanking were drenched in fear and anguish under
the raid of the Imperial Japanese army. During the Rape there were foreigners
who created neutral safety zones for the refuges being persecuted. They included
a businessman, surgeon and educator who work tirelessly working with no
assistance to keep Japanese soldiers at bay.
After
three hundred thousand deaths and the end of the Second World War, the Japanese
retreated back to their homeland where most faced criminal war crimes. Chang
discusses how the immunity of the Emperor of Japan led to the cover-up of the
Nanking incident. She warns the dangers of unchecked power and ignoring
genocide. Those who had fought so bravely against the Japanese to this day have
not been compensated, nor have the Japanese issued a formal apology. Chang
tries to paint a gruesomely detailed picture of the incident to inform a
caution to an occurrence like this happening again and to attempt to have the
Chinese recognized in a war that has only highlighted the plight of Jewish
people in Europe.
The
book is divided into three major perspectives: that of Japanese soldiers,
Chinese civilians and Westerners that occupied Nanking at the time. Most know
of the massacre that happened in Europe between the Germans and Jewish people
known as the holocaust but few know of Nanking. Though Chang never directly
compares the two it can be gathered that this was China’s holocaust, if not
worse. Chinese refugees reported others being hung by their tongues, dug into
the earth and left to be eaten by dogs, starved to death until they dropped
dead, husbands were forced to rape wives and children, civilians were used as
bayonet practice and much more. One unlikely hero of Nanking stemmed from that
of a Nazi soldier.
John
Rabe was a German businessman who proclaimed himself part of the Nazi party but
aligned more with its socialist beliefs than its anti-Semitism. Chang retrieved
Rabe’s memoirs, which showcased his protection of the Chinese in Nanking. Chang
likens Rabe as the “Oskar Schindler of China” and at a point he even called off
bombing raids by way of Adolf Hitler himself.
The
Japanese were not all monsters during the invasion of Nanking, however. Matsui
Iwana, the leader of the Japanese troops during the invasion was too ill to
continue the invasion and handed powers over to his unprepared successor, Asaka
Yauhiko. When Iwana found out about the carnage that took place in Nanking he
attempted to tell other military leaders that action needed to be taken against
the Japanese soldiers in Nanking including Yasuhiko. After the war, Iwana was
charged with war crimes, which he did not commit because he was sick and away
from the city. He did take responsibility for Yauhiko’s actions and was thus
executed.
Chang
faults the Japanese over years of their government’s leadership and education
of its young men. She states that their identity to the samurai, who believed
that to die for their emperor was the greatest honor continued through to the
Second World War where they had a similar mentality. Toyshops in Japan were
filled with weapon-toys as well as schools that convinced its young men that
expansion to the west was the right thing to do, much like Manifest Destiny in
that of America. Chang also faults the Japanese military for not having a check
and balance system within its ranks that could have ended the mayhem before it
got three hundred thousand people out of hand. She spends extensive time discussing
the way in which the soldiers raped the refugees including how the soldiers
forced fathers to rape dead wives, brothers rape sisters, sons rape mothers and
other combinations.
In
conclusion, The Rape of Nanking is a
graphic and difficult piece of non-fiction to swallow but it’s a slap in the
face the world needs to read. Genocide still happens in the present and the
lessons of this book relate to today’s world as well. It takes uncommon heroes
to make a difference and it takes good leaders to prevent such acts. This book
is the most criticized of Chang’s work for its exaggeration of the incident;
however, it was the story that needed to be told. She made sure the forgotten Holocaust
of World War II would never be forgotten.
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