The Japanese killed tens of thousands of soldiers, using the excuse that they didn't have the food to feed so many POW's. Even so, hundreds of thousands of Nanking civilians who possessed no weapons were tortured and killed. Numerous methods of torture and extermination were used. These included live burials, mutilation, death by burning, death by freezing, and death by dogs. At some points, the Japanese would entertain themselves during these mass exterminations by having killing contests. During one of these, the only survivor recounts that “…a pregnant woman began to fight for her life…in the end the soldier killed her ripping open her belly with his bayonet and jerking out not only her intestines but a squirming fetus…” (page 86). Also, tens of thousands of Chinese women became the victims of rape. Many of these women were killed right afterwards or died of diseases after months of continuous rape. However, even in these times of death and despair, heroes emerged from the pack.
Some of these people were attacked by the Japanese, yet survived through unbelievable odds. For example, a rape victim had her head nearly severed down to her vertebral column, yet managed to survive long enough for surgeons to sew her neck back on. Another woman was stabbed thirty-seven times when she fought her Japanese captors, yet is still alive today to tell the tale. Also, the small group of foreigners, consisting mainly of Germans and Americans, in Nanking at that time made valiant efforts to save the Chinese civilians from death and rape. They first established a Nanking Safety Zone which housed over 300,000 civilians by the time the Rape had ended. They managed to feed these people, and continuously patrolled the Safety Zone to prevent the Japanese from attacking the people within the zone. Many of these people ended up suffering for their heroic actions.
After about six main weeks of torture, rape, and mass murder, the majority of violence ended. Finally, World War II came to an end with the dropping of the Uranium bomb on Hiroshima, and the Plutonium bomb on Nagasaki. Finally, on August 14, the Japanese surrendered. Following this were the war crime trials. Thousands of Chinese citizens attended these to act as witnesses while tens of thousands of others came to see the execution of Japanese war criminals. For example, on the day when one criminal, Tani Hisao's verdict was announced, the “courtroom was not large enough to accommodate everyone who wanted to attend. More than two thousand spectators packed the courtroom while loudspeaker [broadcasted] the proceedings to tens of thousands of residents gathered outside” (page 171). However, only a small portion of the Japanese criminals were caught and executed. This was brought upon by the Cold War, and America's desire to make Japan a sort of “puppet” so that all of Asia would not be lost. Therefore, the amount of money Japan had to pay was minimal and many former criminals were allowed to stay in relative comfort.
I felt that all of the information that the author presented was relevant, though some aspects of it may have been repeated more than enough. At some points, the details were extremely gruesome and gory, but were necessary for the overall gist of the book. I felt it was important that all these facts be placed in here because people need to know everything that has happened, especially those in denial about the Rape of Nanking's occurrence. This is especially important in that “[t]hose who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it” (page 16). I learned lots of information from this book, and would definitely recommend it in the future to any looking to learn more on this topic.
