Essay Questions

How have historians betrayed the victims of “The Rape of Nanking”?

Iris Chang explicates, “Yet the Rape of Nanking remains an obscure incident. Unlike the atomic explosions in Japan or the Jewish holocaust in Europe…The massacre remains neglected in most of the historical literature published in the United States…no photograph of the event, not even one word, appears in The American Heritage Picture History of World War II (1966).” Iris Chang determines that History vis-à-vis the “Rape of Nanking” has purposefully been disregarded by historians. The ignorance could be construed that the historian considers the occurrence inconsequential to be amalgamated in the historical annals. Therefore, Historical archives illustrate limitations disregarding influential particulars about the repercussion of “The Rape of Nanking.”

Psychoanalytically, elucidate the impact of the childhood stories regarding “Nanking” on Iris Chang.

Iris Chang explains, “Throughout my childhood Nanjing Datusha (Nanking) remained buried in the back of my mind as a metaphor for unspeakable evil…While still in grade school I searched the local public libraries to see what I could learn about the massacre, but nothing turned up. That struck me as odd. If the Rape of Nanking was truly gory, one of the worst episodes of human barbarism in world history…then why hadn’t someone written a book about it.” Evidently, The stories which Iris Chang’s parents recount to her elicit the unconscious longing to update the world, through writing, the reality of “The Rape of Nanking.” Although she does not author the book while at grade school, her unconscious want actualizes with the composition and publication of The Rape of Nanking after nearly “ two decades.” Her writing is contributing to the preservation of the antiquity of Nanking.