'The Rape of Nanking'

Paper Summary:

The writer of this article explains that Iris Chang, in her book 'The Rape of Nanking', tells the terrible story of an assault on the Chinese city of Nanking by the Japanese Army in 1937. The writer notes that Chang trained and has worked as a journalist rather than a historian. The writer then points out that Chang's analysis shows how close the two professions can be when writing about events many people living today can remember, with the ability of the journalist to uncover information and elicit stories from witnesses, while the historian finds trends and helps understand the forces causing events at different times. The writer explains that the war between Japan and China at that time was especially bitter and violent, and what happened at Nanking is taken by the author as evidence of how the militaristic culture of Japan at that time created an army with little regard for human life.

From the Paper:

"Chang tells the story in chronological order, beginning with the period before the attack to show the tensions between Japan and China in the 1920s, the way the Japanese military developed in the years leading to the war, the political actions on both sides that contributed to the conflict, the impact of other nations with some stake in the conflict, and so on. Chang pays particular attention to the way the formerly isolationist Japan begins to connect with the outside world and then sought to interfere in the domestic situation in other Asian countries, notably in China. Part of this process was the new militarism within Japan, a militarism that was much more than defensive and that came to have an aura of imperialism at its core. The political situation and the military power of Japan worked together to drive the Japanese toward a confrontation with China, and the fall of Nanking and the events that accompanied that fall would become fodder for much of what happened in World War II as far as Chinese involvement was concerned, as well as the role of the Soviet Union against Japan. In addition, the outcome would contribute to the creation of a Communist China and the alliance of China with the Soviet Union for some time to come."

Sample of Sources Used:

• Chang, Iris. The Rape of Nanking. New York: Basic Books, 1997.

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