In The Rape of Nanking Iris Chang tells the story of one of the largest, and most secretive, instances of mass murder on earth. Following the Japanese capture of the capital of the Republic of China on December 13, 1937, the Japanese launched a campaign of violence unlike any other. Chinese civilians were slaughtered by the thousands in some of the most violent ways possible, eventually killing up to 350,000 people in just a little over six weeks. Chinese men were used for bayonet practice, decapitation contests, or were soaked with gasoline and burned alive. Tens of thousands of women were raped by Japanese soldiers, who then took their violence one step further by disemboweling the women, slicing off their breasts, and nailing them to the
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From the end of the massacre up until at least 1997, the Japanese have tried to eliminate the massacre from its nations history, and astonishingly enough have managed to be largely successful. With only a few instances of the Rape of Nanking being thoroughly addressed, the massacre has become primarily overlooked. Chang argues that Japan’s success in both their intended violence and their limiting of international attention, is a result not of a dangerous people, but of a dangerous government. She continues saying that the Rape of Nanking should be used as an example of how easily a strong government can take over a nation and create hazards such as teenagers who are taught only the art of warfare. The author then advances her illustration of dangerous governments by discussing the role of power in genocide. She claims, “The sheer concentration of power in government is lethal – that only a sense of absolute unchecked power can make atrocities like the Rape of Nanking possible.” So although the Japanese government did undergo some changes following the war, this culture of strong government and Japanese superiority remained engrained with the Japanese people. Allowing for Japan’s large success in eliminating the Rape of Nanking from its nations
From the end of the massacre up until at least 1997, the Japanese have tried to eliminate the massacre from its nations history, and astonishingly enough have managed to be largely successful. With only a few instances of the Rape of Nanking being thoroughly addressed, the massacre has become primarily overlooked. Chang argues that Japan’s success in both their intended violence and their limiting of international attention, is a result not of a dangerous people, but of a dangerous government. She continues saying that the Rape of Nanking should be used as an example of how easily a strong government can take over a nation and create hazards such as teenagers who are taught only the art of warfare. The author then advances her illustration of dangerous governments by discussing the role of power in genocide. She claims, “The sheer concentration of power in government is lethal – that only a sense of absolute unchecked power can make atrocities like the Rape of Nanking possible.” So although the Japanese government did undergo some changes following the war, this culture of strong government and Japanese superiority remained engrained with the Japanese people. Allowing for Japan’s large success in eliminating the Rape of Nanking from its nations