Stephanie Siu
Mr. Meng
CHY4U
10 May 2013
The Rape of Nanking: The Forgotten Holocaust of World War II
What is the first thing that comes to mind when you think of Japan? Some would say anime, sushi, J-Pop (Japanese pop music), the names of its famous cities (Tokyo, Hiroshima, Osaka, etc.), the recent earthquakes and tsunamis in 2011, or even the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki at the end of World War II. In one case, someone even said Matthew Perry (the American commodore who forced Japan to open its borders in 1854, not the actor who played Chandler on Friends). What do all of these things have in common? All these connotations towards Japan are either positive or it makes one feel sympathetic towards the Japanese. However, in Iris Chang’s The Rape of Nanking, Chang discusses Japan’s wartime atrocities during the 1930s invasion of China, specifically in the former capital of Nanking (now called Nanjing), up until its surrender at the end of World War II. The Nanjing Massacre, what it is now commonly called, is considered to be Japan’s greatest shame, and the Japanese
government has still not yet apologised for their antagonistic role in the event. At the time, Japanese people believed that they were superior to all other East Asian races, which lead them into thinking they
had a right to rule East Asia. At its prime, Japan had sought to expand its power and influence across East Asia. However to do so, the Japanese had to instill fear into the minds of civilians living in their intended conquest for territory (in this particular case, Nanking), and to create that fear, they tortured, raped, and slaughtered hundreds of thousands of innocent men, women, and children. After the Japanese Army eventually took control of the fallen capital, and they made life for the Chinese people still living in Nanjing hell.
The Japanese were ambitious. They thought that their empire was too small for them, and sought to expand throughout Asia. At this point, Japan had already conquered Taiwan in 1895 and the former Empire of Korea in 1910, which were both small land masses as well. The Japanese began looking into invading other places in Asia in order to grow their empire. One country they specifically looked at was China. China is a country with a large land mass, which is rich in resources. China, in the mid-1920s to early 1930s was just beginning to stabilise after the Chinese republicans established the country as a democratic republic after overthrowing the long-reigning Qing Dynasty in 1911. “Japan knew that they needed to hurry up with their plan before China became too powerful to be conquered” (Chang 29). Japan had been planning for a war against China for decades prior to the 1930s. Boys growing up in Japan had been influenced by the military, with toy shops selling toy soldiers, tanks, guns, and swords; and many boys using bamboo sticks as play rifles or tying logs of wood on their backs and fantasised about suicide missions. “Teachers at the boys’ schools would indoctrinate hatred towards the Chinese, which would soon prepare them for the inevitable invasion of China” (Chang 30). But Japan also had
another thorn on its side, their American allies and their commitment to the League of Nations. So Japan had told the West that their reason for expansion was to create what they called a “prosperity sphere”. The purpose of the so-called ‘prosperity sphere’ was to create a ‘greater Asia’, in order to liberate East Asia from Western colonialism, and establish peace with Japan’s East Asian neighbours. The prosperity sphere did sound idealistic to many people, however Japanese nationalists saw this as a way to turn Japan into a superpower, and eventually take advantage of the other countries’ resources in order to create supplies for war, while they turned their own country into a ‘greater Japan’. However, this alliance did not last long after Japan bombed Shanghai and slaughtered tens of thousands of civilians in 1932. This was met with worldwide criticism, and Japan officially withdrew themselves from the League of Nations.
Japanese occupiers had instilled fear throughout Asia by resorting to slaughtering and raping Chinese civilians, and by pillaging the capital city of Nanking. After the Japanese army invaded Shanghai, China’s thriving metropolis, they proceeded to invade the then-capital of China, Nanjing. Once the Japanese army arrived at Nanking, they began to initially attack the Chinese soldiers protecting the capital before many of them surrendered and were soon subject to torture and execution by the enemy. Over 200 soldiers were executed, and their bodies were left to be piled up by the Yangtze River, where their blood had turned the river red. The orders the Japanese soldiers had received when they arrived from Nanking were to ‘do whatever [they] wanted’; this carelessness from the generals was one of many reasons why the Japanese had many innocent civilians killed like animals for slaughter. Chances
were that if one was a man, he would have the mercy of just getting shot in the head; a woman on the other hand, did not have that luxury, and if one were caught by a soldier, she would automatically be raped. The Japanese soldiers did not have a preference of the age of the woman; whether she would be six, sixteen, or sixty, she would often, if not always, be raped by a soldier. There were also women who were “legitimately” raped by soldiers of the Japanese army; these were called ‘comfort women’. Initially, comfort women were volunteer prostitutes from Japan, however as Japan conquered even more areas of China and Asia, they kidnapped various women from China, Korea, and the Philippines (which became occupied from 1942 to 1945), by luring them for open jobs at a factory, but instead were sent to
‘military brothels’ in the outskirts of Shanghai and Nanking. “The point of these brothels was to keep the sexually transmitted infections in one area and, ironically, also to prevent soldiers from raping women on the streets” (Chang 53). The Japanese had also slaughtered, raped, and tortured Chinese civilians in various in inhumane ways, such as genital mutilation (sticking a pike through a woman’s vagina, chopping off or burning a man’s testicles), burying your own people and yourself alive, being eaten by German Shepherds, or being forced to commit incest by raping your own parent or child.
During the spring of 1938, life in Nanking appeared to be functioning like it had prior to the war; however, Nanking (and other parts of China) under the Japanese occupation was hell for the Chinese people living there. Once the Japanese finally had control of Nanking, they had instilled a puppet government with former Chinese officials who did whatever the Japanese told them to. “Heavy taxes were imposed on the Chinese by the puppet government and they confiscated valuables from the
civilians, and the Chinese workers and prostitutes were paid heroin and opium for their work” (Chang 162-163). Japanese workers would always find reason to kill the Chinese, even if it was for the most ludicrous reason (such as stealing small shoulder pads because there was no toilet paper). Some Chinese were even used as medical experiments for the Japanese. They were treated like second-class citizens in their own country; which was similar to the treatment of Jews in Nazi-occupied Europe. This is what kept all the Chinese in occupied Nanking in constant fear.
Japan, like Nazi Germany in Europe, had sought to expand their influence across Asia because they had felt that they were more superior to the other East Asian races. And like the Germans, the Japanese treated civilians living in their places of conquest like they were no better than animals. After the Second World War had ended, Germany was forced to admit to their crimes and is genuinely apologetic for their wrongs, while Japan had, and still is, pressured to make an apology to the Chinese people who have suffered through their heinous crimes. In fact, Japan does not even acknowledge their role in conquering most of Eastern Asia and slaughtering tens of thousands of Chinese civilians in Nanking. If Japan does not accept their responsibility in their antagonistic role in Asia, especially China, they will never able to move forward with their history.
