The Rape of Nanking and Iris Chang.

Objectives This slide show will help you understand the Japanese attack on the Chinese city of Nanking. You will understand why this event led to trade sanctions by the United States against Japan’s expansionism. You will learn about Iris Chang’s brave efforts to raise awareness of this tragedy.

Japan was an isolated island for hundreds of years.

Commodore Perry landed there in 1854, and Japan was forced to enter the modern world.

The Japanese saw that if they didn’t learn about weapons—they would be defenseless. They would be conquered like the Chinese.

So Japan began to modernize—in 50 years it went from a medieval society to a modern, industrialized society! This was a remarkable change!

The Japanese government began to be controlled by the military.

The military government decided to conquer other areas to obtain raw materials.

These areas included Korea, Indonesia, and China.

In December 1937, the Japanese swept into the city of Nanking.

In six to eight weeks they killed over 300,000 people.

Women were targeted. They were abused and raped Women were targeted. They were abused and raped. In fact, this even is not known as the massacre of Nanking…

It is known as the Rape of Nanking—because the city and its women were literally “taken” and abused terribly.

Japanese soldiers sent home pictures of their atrocities Japanese soldiers sent home pictures of their atrocities. They did this to “show off” or “brag.” Therefore, we do have many pictures about what happened.

Japanese soldiers themselves photographed and documented the brutal raping of thousands of Chinese women, the bayoneting of infants for sport, and the rampant slaughter of the population. After 18 days, an estimated 300,000 people had been murdered. As a placard at the Nanjing Massacre Memorial Hall simply states, "The Chinese people suffered greatly."

Iris Chang was a young Chinese American who decided to go over to China in 1995 and write about what happened.

Her book became a best seller---but she became very depressed while doing the research for it.

Iris told about an American woman named Minnie Vautrin who tried to save many of the girls. Minnie came back home to the United States and committed suicide a year later…

"The dried leaves rattling, the moaning of the wind, the cry of women being led out ....... how ashamed the women of Japan would be if they knew these tales of horror."

Iris’ book, The Rape of Nanking, became a best-seller Iris’ book, The Rape of Nanking, became a best-seller. She decided to work on another book, about the treatment of American prisoners by the Japanese.

She became very depressed. In November 2004, Iris Chang shot herself She became very depressed. In November 2004, Iris Chang shot herself. She was only 35. The world was stunned to lose this brilliant young writer.

We will never know why she did this…but some say she was very depressed over what she learned about Man’s inhumanity to man.

We read this interview to learn about the Rape of Nanking and to honor Iris Chang’s memory.

Objectives This slide show helped you understand the Japanese attack on the Chinese city of Nanking. You understand why this event led to trade sanctions by the United States against Japan’s expansionism, which ultimately led to their attack of the United States at Pearl Harbor. You learned about Iris Chang’s brave efforts to raise awareness of this tragedy.