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Summary Of The Book 'Raped' By Iris Chang

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‘Raped’ is a forceful verb. The act itself has consumed the lives of many women, children and cities. Take the rape of Nanking. In 1937, Japanese troops ravaged more than 20,000 women in six weeks. In her book, The Rape of Nanking, the late Chinese-American author Iris Chang said the number of victims could have even touched 80,000. Much is written about the Japanese and their war-time atrocities, but little is done to prevent such a massacre from rearing its genocidal head again. Though people say the bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki were precisely in retaliation to ghastly racial campaigns like these, there is no real official apology forthcoming from the Japanese politicians. Even if there were a few apologetic gestures, there has never been …show more content…

Some were hung by their tongues and their body parts consumed (heart, liver and even genitals for greater virility).Chang grew up listening to such eye-witness accounts and wondered why the world was not privy to it in a big way. She took it upon herself to dig deep and unearth the unvarnished truth. The result was her international bestselling book where she proved that the massacre at Nanking (now Nanjing) was indeed the ‘forgotten holocaust of World War 2’. NANKING IS NOT AN ISOLATED INCIDENTIn his 1996 book, Hidden Horrors: Japanese War Crimes in World War II, Japanese historian Yuki Tanaka doesn’t believe Japan was a victim in WW2. He cites their insane cannibalism in New Guinea – they not only fed on the flesh of their enemies but also their own lowest ranking soldiers. In 1942, they slayed 21 Australian Army nurses at Bangka Island in Indonesia and killed 5,200 American soldiers in the infamous Bataan Death March the same year. They murdered 2,500 Australian and British men in the Borneo jungle three years later. These prisoners of war were forced to go on a 160-mile march; anybody who stepped out of line because of exhaustion was shot to

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Japanese Brutality In World War II Japanese Prisoner of War (POW) camps are an example of how the majority of people are uneducated about some of the unspeakable horrors that have happened in the world. Many have heard of the notorious World War II (WWII) Holocaust and the terrors that happened in the concentration camps there. Japanese POW camps during WWII were not widely publicized to be barbarous, but former prisoners have said that the camps had a reputation for dehumanizing, brutalizing, and systematically eliminating their captives.

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When learning about and analyzing acts of mass atrocity during World War II, hundreds if not thousands of questions can be asked trying to gain a deeper understanding for their actions. Probably one of the most intriguing thoughts to ponder is what leads individuals and societies as a whole to descend to such a level of cruelty. According to the author of Unbroken, Laura Hillenbrand, one reason may be, “Few societies treasured dignity, and feared humiliation, as did the Japanese, for whom a loss of honor could merit suicide. This is likely one of the reasons why Japanese soldiers in World War II debased their prisoners with such zeal, seeking to take from them that which was most painful and destructive to lose” (189). To elaborate, the Japanese

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Following the Pearl Harbor attacks, Japanese Americans faced racism and were suspected of treason. The entire community avoided them in spite of their homeland’s actions and developed a general distrust towards anyone of Japanese descent. Anti-Japanese sentiment was on the rise. For instance, hateful messages against them, such as “No Japs Wanted,” were often scrawled on property owned by Japanese Americans (Doc. 4). This conveyed the prejudice this minority group faced and how they were blamed for an attack that wasn’t their fault.

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Also, at the end of the article, this quote stuck out to me “they don’t even see other ethnic groups who have gone through it. It showed us, too, how vulnerable everybody is” (Kochiyama, p. 418). The Japanese weren’t the only ethnic group that has been affected by these horrific and abusive acts. In essence, this shows how little we actually learn about the history of our country and what the government thinks is worthy enough to

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It also had long lasting effects that still impact Japanese lives. In the newspaper by Jack Doherty headlined ¨Atomic Bomb Fury Hits Japan¨ after the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the president said, ¨It was to spare the Japanese people from utter destruction.¨ Yet, look where it has gone and how much damage it had cost Japan. I encourage you to not listen to these statements as if they were true, and right the wrongs the atomic bombs have done to Japan by unjustifying the act and telling others to do so as

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This is an event many Americans felt was necessary to end the war with a country that would fight till death to bring honor. However, many Japanese people felt this was a needless war crime that resulted in deaths of innocent civilians. It is much easier for Americans to relay this event as a factual occurrence, but to those still feeling and have felt the

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They would rape the women from the age of 8 to older than 70. If they found anyone with their family they would make members of the family do horrible things to other family members, just to tear the family apart before killing them. Organization was used, as groups of Japanese soldiers would gather and go on mass killing sprees. Polarization was not used, because all of the Japanese already hated the Chinese, and they were already separated.(The Nanking Massacre.com) During the stage of preparation, the Japanese transported Chinese soldiers to a remote location on the outskirts of Nanking to be assembled for killing, and after soldiers were gone the Japanese soldiers targeted the citizens. During the Nanking massacre there wasn’t a persecution because the Japanese soldiers would just kill the Chinese people after dehumanizing them, and once they were dead then the Japanese would take what they wanted.

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However, the Japanese government continues to deny that this event ever happened and fails to teach it in their school curriculum. Many Japanese civilians are clueless as to what happened during the war between China and Japan. After the Rape of Nanking ended, very few Japanese soldiers were put on trial, and only seven were executed. Many of the men who participated in the mass killing and raping of the Chinese continued to hold political office after their time in the army was completed. Iris Chang wrote this book in such exorbitant detail to demand an official apology from the Japanese government to those affected by the evil they endowed on the innocent citizens, as well as educate future generations about the onus that their government

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SECTION 1:- This investigation will explore the question: To what extent did the intensity of the battle of Shanghai affect the atrocities done in the Nanking Massacre? The years 1894 to 1945 will be the focus of this investigation, to allow for an analysis of Chinese - Japanese relations from the first Sino - Japanese war, foreign relations from early stages as well as the major changes made in the Japanese society. A key source used in this investigation was “The rape of Nanking” written by Iris Chang.

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