The Rape of Nanking, by Iris Chang, goes into vivid detail the atrocities committed by the Japanese army in China during World War II. This book focuses in on the city of Nanking, the capital of China during this period in time. Not only does it describe the actions of the Japanese, but also gives insight as to why the Japanese may have committed these acts. Also, the book honors the heroes of The Rape that stood up to the Japanese and saved hundreds of thousands of Chinese lives. Finally, it informs readers about the ease with which the Japanese avoided heavy charges for war crimes, and how the Japanese are still currently working to prevent the truth from leaking out.
The book takes place mostly during World War II. However, it does give some information over the time both before and after the war. The years in this book range from Japan's early interactions with America in the 1850's all the way toe the results of the Rape and the war in the 1980's. The main location in the book is Asia, in particular Japan and China. It also mentions a few islands on which the Japanese fought, including the infamous Pearl Harbor bombing.
The first major event that occurs in the book is the visit of Matthew Perry to Japan. This visit gave the Japanese the first glimpse of steam power along with a showing of the military might of America. The visit eventually leads to the industrialization of Japan, the adoption of bushido as the moral code for the people, and the building of its army in hopes to become more powerful than even the Western nations.
The training of the army began in frenzy. Starting from elementary school onward, everything taught in the schools helped prepare the people for war. Children would be seen marching by the thousands in straight lines. Also, the abuse used by the teachers, such as slapping the students, hitting them with fists, and smacking them with bamboo weapons, only served to harden them for the future. Only more abuse followed these brutal first years if you wished to continue towards a military career. Military schools were isolated, and while there, you were taught to kill without feeling. In fact, some soldiers lost all feeling to the point where they would compare the Chinese people to pigs. According to the diary of one Japanese soldier, “a pig is more valuable now than the life of a [Chinese] human being. That's because a pig is edible” (page 218).
Finally, in 1894, war broke out between Japan and China over Korea. Within six weeks, the war was over, and Japan had won. Then, in 1905, the Japanese went to war with Russia, again emerging victorious. These victories marked Japan's emergence as a military power in Asia. One activist even went as far as to prophesize that “…these two countries [America and Japan] are destined to fight. Only God knows when it will be” (page 27). As World War I came and went, the Japanese economy flourished. However, this prosperity soon ended with food shortages and thousands of homeless. Radicals in the army soon began to argue that the only solution to these problems is military expansion. Tensions began to grow in the 1930's as Japan took over Manchuria and bombed Shanghai. But these were only minor incidents compared to what was to happen in only a few short years.
Japan soon started a full-scale war with China in the summer of 1937. The invasion of China's mainland began with Japanese defeating the city of Shanghai. However, this task proved to be much more difficult than the Japanese anticipated. When Shanghai finally fell after months of fighting, the city was destroyed. Japanese troops then marched on Nanking with revenge in their minds. While on the warpath, the Japanese burned and pillaged almost everything, from small villages to large cities. One city that was hit particularly hard was Suchow, a city located on Tai Hu Lake. According to China Weekly Review, the invasion “caused the population of the city to drop from 350,000 to less than 500” (page 38). Finally, in December of 1937, the Japanese reached Nanking.
Fighting around Nanking began on December 9 when the Chinese refused to surrender the city. Even though the Chinese outnumbered the Japanese and had enough ammunition to last five months of siege, the city fell in only four short days. This was due to many reasons, including that orders could not be spread among the entire army. Therefore, when the army was ordered to make a retreat, only about half the troops received the order. What started as an orderly retreat quickly became a rout. By the time it was all over, around 90,000 Chinese troops had surrendered. Then the killing and the rape began.
