The Rape of Nanking in 1937 is often described as one of the most appalling events in human history. The mass murder of Chinese civilians in Nanjing, orchestrated by the Imperial Japanese Army, saw an unprecedented level of brutality and inhumanity that shook the world. The atrocities, which included mass rape, looting, and arson, began on 13 December 1937, and lasted for six weeks, leaving a death toll ranging from 40,000 to over 300,000, with rape cases ranging from 20,000 to over 80,000 cases.

The historical context that led to the Rape of Nanking was the Second Sino-Japanese War, which began in 1937. Japan had been aggressively expanding its empire by invading and occupying neighboring countries, including China. The battle for Shanghai, which saw both sides suffering heavy losses, had ended with Japan's capture of Shanghai in November 1937, and by early December, Japan's army was on the outskirts of Nanjing. The fall of Nanjing was inevitable, as the Chinese army withdrew the bulk of its forces, leaving the city vulnerable to the Japanese army's invasion. The civilian government of Nanjing fled, and John Rabe, a German citizen who had founded the International Committee for the Nanking Safety Zone, took control of the city. Rabe's Safety Zone was intended to be a neutral area where refugees and non-combatants could find protection, but it was ultimately unable to prevent the atrocities that took place.

The Japanese army, led by Prince Yasuhiko Asaka, began its assault on the city on December 13. They faced little resistance and ran unchecked. The soldiers indiscriminately executed Chinese soldiers and civilians alike, violating the laws of war. Rapes were widespread, and women of all ages were subjected to horrific sexual violence. In some cases, entire families were raped or forced to engage in sexual acts with each other. The Japanese soldiers brutally mutilated and murdered both men and women, committing unspeakable acts that defied humanity.

The Rape of Nanking was a war crime, and many have debated its origins and context. While some supporters of Japan's aggression believe that the massacre was a result of legitimate military action, the majority of scholars, including those in Japan, agree that it was an intentional act of violence against civilians. Credible scholars in Japan, including a large number of authoritative academics, support the International Military Tribunal for the Far East's findings, which describe the massacre as a planned and systematic atrocity. The massacre remains a sensitive issue in Japan, where the government has been criticized for insufficiently recognizing Japan's wartime atrocities. Efforts to whitewash historical events in Japanese textbooks and political speeches remain a point of contention between Japan and China, with the latter demanding greater acknowledgement of the horrors that were inflicted upon the Chinese people.

Top right: Bodies of victims along Qinhuai River out of Nanjing's west gate during Nanjing Massacre. Source: Wikipedia. This photograph is in the public domain in Japan because its copyright has expired according to Article 23 of the 1899 Copyright Act of Japan and Article 2 of Supplemental Provisions of Copyright Act of 1970. It is also in the public domain in the United States because its copyright in Japan expired by 1970 and was not restored by the Uruguay Round Agreements Act. Click to enlarge.

Bottom right: Nanjing, China. 12 August 2017. A sculpture of a man and others running for their lives during the Nanjing massacre. This work is located at the Nanjing Massacre Memorial Hall. Source: War History Network license. Click to enlarge.

It is estimated that the Japanese murdered between 260,000 to 350,000 Chinese--mostly civilians--during the massacre. The late author Iris Chang estimates that between 20,000 and 80,000 Chinese women were raped. (Chang, 1997. p. 6) For the residents of Nanking China in 1937, the horrors and atrocities which they encountered made victims of those who were not only killed at the hands of the Japanese or had died during Japanese occupation, but also of those who had survived. While there are individual definitions for each term ‘victim’ and ‘survivor’, the rape, violence and murder blurs interpretation and definition of those who had survived. A duality exists between the terms victim and survivor, but there are succinct differences in the context of this historical event. Nanking survivors are to also be considered as victims for the physical and emotional scars which they carried throughout the remainder of their lives; moreover, all Chinese citizens of Nanking during this dark episode in history may be regarded as victims.

The most striking example of this victim-survivor duality is highlighted by Iris Chang in her book The Rape of Nanking: The Forgotten Holocaust of World War II.  From her interview with Nanking survivor and victim Li Xouying; Chang writes: "Li would suffer both pain and embarrassment from her wounds for the rest of her life. Mucus leaked from a gaping hole on the side of her nose, and tears ran down her eyes during bad weather or bouts of illness. (Miraculously, although the Japanese had stabbed the whites of her eyes with their bayonets, Li did not go blind). Every time she looked in a mirror, she saw the scars that reminded her of that terrible day. December 19, 1938. 'Now, after fifty-eight years, the wrinkles have covered the scars,' she told me during my visit to her apartment in Nanking. 'But when I was young, the scars on my face were obvious and terrible.'" (Chang 1997, 99)

Not to be forgotten is the city of Nanking itself. As Chang alludes to, Nanking has also become a victim. In recounting her summer of 1995 research visit to record oral testimonies for the book, she realized the loss of the old city and locations where atrocities occurred, to progress: "Sad to say, if I had visited Nanking only a decade earlier, I would have found many sites of the massacre intact, for the city was then a model of historical preservation and much of its 1930s architecture was still standing. But in the late 1980s and 1990s the city underwent a frenzy of land speculation and construction, demolishing most of its ancient landscape and replacing it with new luxury hotels, factories, skyscrapers, and apartment buildings." (Chang 1997, 182) Chang’s research and argument suggest that the City of Nanking itself went from survivor to victim, spurred by eventual modern-day progress along with the City of Nanking and People’s Republic of China intent on moving beyond that city’s regrettable past.

It is clear from Chang’s heartbreaking narrative that although Xouying had survived her harrowing attack by the Japanese soldiers that she was also a victim of the Nanking massacre who had to live with the reminders. On 9 November Iris Chang committed suicide which was attributed to effects the subject matter of her Nanking research as well as medications for depression suffered from that content. Learn more about Iris Chang here.

Bibliography

Chang, Iris. The Rape Of Nanking: The Forgotten Holocaust Of World War II. New York: Basic Books, 2011.