Ying-Ying Chang [張盈盈] – Author | Mother of Iris Chang [張純如]
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The Denial and Its Cost: Reflections on the Nanking Massacre
70 Years Ago
and Beyond (2007)
The year of 2007 marks the 70th anniversary of the Rape of
Nanking. The Nanking Massacre, as it is also known, was one of the most
atrocious war crimes that Imperial Japan committed against China during its
aggression in WWII. It was in 1997, on the 60th anniversary of the massacre,
that Iris Chang published her book "The Rape of Nanking, the Forgotten
Holocaust of WWII" which broke the silence and shocked the Western world with
details of this horrific historical tragedy. Ten years after the book's
publication, the Japanese government still did not make a formal apology to
the victims of the Nanking Massacre. Japan continues to evade responsibility
for its heinous war crimes committed in China and other Asian countries during
WWII to this day. Worse yet, Japanese nationalist groups deny the Rape of
Nanking ever occurred and claim it is a fabrication. In light of this and in
commemoration of the 70th anniversary of the Rape of Nanking, an essay contest
was held and the topic of the 2007 Iris Chang Memorial Essay Contest as "The
Denial and Its Cost, Reflections on the Nanking Massacre 70 years ago and
beyond" to raise the conscience of Japanese people as well as the world. The
best and winning essays were compiled in this volume and published in 2008.
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Iris Chang and the Forgotten Holocaust (2006)\
Iris Chang had an unfinished dream when her life was
tragically cut short in November, 2004. That dream was to build an awareness
of Asian history, particularly history of the World War II era, among the
younger generation who had not experienced the war years in China and Asia, so
that they may better understand the cruel lessons of history and hopefully
will never have to see them repeated. She said to Robert Birnbaum in an
interview in June 2003: ". . . it is important for me to write about issues
that have universal significance. One of them that has resonated with me all
my life has been the theme of injustice. Some people might dwell on love,
other people on money or acquisition of great riches, but for some reason, I
seem to be bothered whenever I see acts of injustice and assaults on other
people's civil liberties." Iris was passionately dedicated to addressing the
issues of social injustice and violation of human rights all over the globe.
In memory of her, an essay contest was held in 2006 and the topic of the 2006
Iris Chang Memorial Essay Contest: "How has Iris Chang's book, The Rape of
Nanking: The Forgotten Holocaust of WWII, affected my life and thinking?" The
top winning essays, a total of 39, were compiled in this volume and published
in 2007.
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