Review of The Rape of Nanking

After reading this book the first word that comes to mind is crazy. How can such a huge event in history be covered up? How come so many people have never heard of the Rape of Nanking? Why did people sit back and watch this happen? These are all questions that ran through my mind as I read The Rape of Nanking. This book is an eye opening experience to what people can really do to others. Though the book gave details that I may not have wanted to hear, the details are what made the Rape of Nanking so horror able. The Rape of Nanking happened during the World War II from 1937 to 1938. Around three hundred thousand Chinese military and civilian people were murdered in ways that are unthinkable. This book covers very detailed descriptions of what happened to the victims. Also shows that the Japanese military had to think of "fun" new ways to kill the Chinese people. "There seemed to be no limit to the Japanese capacity for human degradation and sexual perversion in Nanking. Just as some soldiers invented killing contests to break the monotony of murder, so did some invent games of recreational rape and torture when wearied by the glut of sex."(Chang 94) This book also gives a voice to the people that gave their life to help the Chinese people. The organizers of the Nanking Safety Zone gave up their opportunity to leave Nanking in the hopes that they could help. Dr. Robert Wilson was the only surgeon to stay in Nanking and he worked twenty-four hours a day to help the wounded and dying Chinese people. Minnie Vautrin "The Living Goddess of Nanking", put her life on the line to help prevent the Chinese women from becoming rape victims to the Japanese soldiers. (Chang 167) There are many more heroes described in this book. The killing of so many Chinese people is horrifying but maybe almost worst or just as bad is the way the Japanese government had tried to cover up and hide what happened during the Rape of Nanking. When people show evidence of what happened the government would intimidate them and try to prove that their evidence was false. The Japanese government had not had to pay anything to the victims of the Rape of Nanking.