The true story of the forgotten Holocaust of WWII. The Rape of Nanking was committed by the Japanese Army when they invaded China's ancient capital.

The storyline of The Rape of Nanking is different from any other that I’ve ever come across. The story of the Nanking Massacre is a traumatic one that is retold through the lives of many different characters as the book progresses. Chang researched her topic exhaustively, as one can see by reading the four pages of acknowledgements in which she thanks those who assisted her with her research. The first three chapters consist almost entirely of background information on the events leading up to the Rape. This book is more a documentary than a story, so if it weren’t for the incredibly repulsive nature of the content that draws in the reader’s morbid curiosity, this would be a more difficult read than it already is.

In fact, the very thing that keeps the reader reading is the very thing that makes the book so hard to read at times. It is incredibly descriptive and the reader can take only so much of this at a time before he can no longer take any more. Chang goes into detail on the methods of killing, initially once the reader gets over the horror over the concept of innocent civilians and surrendered POW’s dying by firing squad, Chang begins to describe the ways that the Japanese tortured their victims. They held live burials in which people were either buried completely or halfway; those buried halfway were either hacked up by bayonets, attacked by dogs, or run over by tanks. Other deaths were done by mutilation; the details of which are so graphic that I won’t even describe them. Still more were lit on fire, and others were frozen to death right before being blown up with grenades and bullets (Ch. 4, Torture p. 87-9).

The bulk of Chang’s book, with the exception of the war crimes trials, takes place in Nanking, China. She describes what life was like before the war, when Nanking was a bustling capital city full of historic sites, relics, and a young Nationalist government. She describes what Nanking is like during the war, when people are afraid to go outside on their own and the streets are barren except for the many random daytime rapes committed by the Japanese soldiers. She describes the city under Japanese rule after the initial Rape is over and people are brave enough to go back outside. She mentions the bustling open air markets that spring up and give the city the appearance of being back to normal. Being this story is written from a historical perspective and with no plotline, there is no development into the psyche of any of the main characters and no relationships are developed.

Chang does, however, attempt to explain what went through the Japanese soldiers’ minds that made them into killing machines. The Motives Behind Nanking is the section of the book that attempts to explain how the Japanese were turned into hardened war criminals. It says how young soldiers had to be hardened against killing helpless victims. They did this by initiating killing contests that were covered better than some sporting events and reported upon in Japanese newspapers. Still other soldiers were told to pick out an infirm Chinaman to practice bayoneting on. Anyone who protested was slapped severely after being chastised for his weakness. There was no compliments or constructive criticism in the Japanese military; there was only harsh criticism and punishment. This is perhaps why the Japanese were so harsh to the Chinese: it was their only way of venting and demonstrating to superiors their dominance over prisoners.

There is no story in this book, just a sequence of events that are relatively important. There are also no main characters. The only character, besides the other members of the International Committee for the Nanking Safety Zone, to stand out is John Rabe, the Nazi diplomat to China who became the Chairperson of the Nanking Safety Zone. All the characters are described in chapter 5, the Nanking Safety Zone. The reason John Rabe stands out so much is his position in society at the time of the war’s beginning. He was a representative for Japan’s greatest ally, and in fact was the most important Nazi in all of East Asia. However, his store was still looted despite all the German flags flying from it. He was harassed many times in the streets of Nanking, even when he wore his Nazi armband. He made a genuine effort to alert Hitler of the war crimes being committed by the Japanese, and he almost single-handedly set up the Nanking Safety Zone. He has been called the Schindler of Nanking, and much like him, he died alone and poor, with little respect from those who he did not assist in the War.

The Rape of Nanking was an excellent book. It was a good book to read for educational purposes, not necessarily for entertainment, unless the reader has a morbid sense of enjoyment. I learned much more about the Pacific Theatre during WWII than I had previously known. In fact, I had no idea that this had even happened until I saw the book on the shelf at Barnes and Noble. The title caught my eye and since seeing it, I haven’t been able to put it down. Previous to reading this book, I knew that Japan and China were at war with each other during WWII, and I knew that Japan was the aggressor, but I had no clue that it was to this much of an extent that the Japanese were attacking and brutally massacring the Chinese. It made me wonder why this hadn’t been discussed in books and had movies made out of it like the Holocaust had, but this question was answered in the final chapter of the book entitled The Forgotten Holocaust: A Second Rape. One of the reasons I picked this book is that I didn’t know anything about the Rape of Nanking, and the only thing worse than a holocaust is a holocaust that no one knows about. By learning about it and sending my prayers and my heart out to the victims of this tragedy, I felt that at least to me, those 300-400,000 victims did not die in vain.

I learned about the harsh tactics of the Japanese soldiers not only in training but also in action. To anyone who has the slightest bit of curiosity as to why the Americans needed to bomb the Japanese to end the War or any interest in WWII in general, I recommend they read this book. It will clear up any and every misconception that one may have about the Imperial Army. This book did not discuss culture too much on the broader peacetime scale; it more or less focused on the war and what the soldiers did. The only pertinent difference between the society of the Japanese soldier and that of the American soldier is that the American soldiers had morals that they stood for and practiced, while the Japanese soldiers at this time did whatever they wanted whenever and wherever they wanted. The American soldiers during WWII followed the rules of war, while the Japanese did not. These are the differences between the Japanese and American military cultures of WWII.

This book provided enough background information that looking for any more would not be beneficial to the reader. This book covers more than enough background; it goes before the Sino-Japanese War (the war between China and Japan) and even further. One would be hard pressed to find relevant background knowledge on this topic that wasn’t already covered in the book. If one was doing a report on the relationship between China and Japan, they should use the first three chapters of this book to get a decent amount of background information on the topic.

I would recommend this book to anyone interested in Chinese history in WWII. It’s not very hard to remember what is going on because everything is gone over many times, and it’s so shocking that I would have much trouble trying to forget this book. It stays embedded in your mind, and that’s where it should be. Reading this book was an excellent learning experience that I encourage others to undergo and follow. It was worth it.