Japanese Imperialism The Rape of Nanking

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 only 50 years it went from a medieval society

to an industrialized military power!

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 1936, Japan made an alliance with Nazi Germany against the communist USSR (Italy joined later)

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 for assault and rape. There was so much

violence against women it became

known as the Rape of Nanking

•Japanese soldiers photographed the documented their brutal rape of tens of thousands of Chinese women, the bayoneting of infants for sport, and the rampant slaughter of civilians.

•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. 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 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.