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Summary: An interesting book ...
Review: There is no question that far too many civilians were killed in the Sino-Japanese battle in Nanking and that this tragedy marked a dark chapter in Japan's military history.There is also strong evidence to suggest that Ms. Chang's documentation of the incident in Nanking is deeply flawed. Not to mention the unsubstantiated death toll of 300,000 (today's international consensus is ~20,000), the book relies heavily on anonymous "eyewitnesses", mislabeled photos from Chinese wartime propaganda and the now-discredited Japanese newspaper articles (on the "beheading contest", which was concocted entirely by circulation-seeking Japanese journalists at the time and never took place in reality). That the book is of questionable quality is one thing. That it carries possible political motivation is quite another - and deeply disturbing. Ms. Chang's sources are skewed heavily towards mainland Chinese "scholars", and her accusations (most notoriously the Nanking casualties of 300,000) are today closely echoed by Beijing's authoritarian regime and its nationalist supporters. It is well-known that Beijing never hesitates to exploit this Nanking card to its political advantage. All in all the book casts light on an important incident that took place during the Pacific War but should be treated with extreme caution.
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Summary: Now I understand ,,,
Review: Reading Miguel B. Llora's review, now I understand the reason why America accused this China's forged crime and took it into the court of Tokyo Trial. America intended to offset her crime of dropping atomic bombs by producing "Nanking Massacre". Americans, do you know 100,000 civilians were killed by US air raid on Tokyo Mar10 1945? 100,000 civilians were killed in 2 and half hours!
America has made the air raids on over 100 Japanese cities and continued killing civilians up to 500,000. The most famous ones happened in August. The US atomic bombs killed 140,000 civilians in Hiroshima and 70,000 civilians in Nagasaki. Do you know 200,000 Japanese women were raped by Americans in their occupation of Japan after WW2? Don't forget, never!
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Summary: It is justified that the Japanese get bombed!!
Review: At first I am always feel pity and sad for the Japanese for Hiroshima and Nagasaki bomb! But after reading this book, I am glad that they did. 5555
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Summary: Playing the ethnic blame-game -
Review: Perhaps it should have been predictable to find Chinese nationals in deep disagreement with others (particularly those from Japan) on how to interpret this controversial book. It is a positive step that people of all nationalities and perspectives are becoming aware of this tragedy. However the discourse must be kept focused on the merits of the argument. Pointing an accusatory finger at other reviewers based on their supposed ethnicity (Chinese claiming Japanese bias and vice versa) is thoroughly counter-productive. One surprise to note is some reviewers' claim that the number of civilian casualties (put at 300,000 by Chang, in the tens of thousands by most scholars) does not matter. Yes, a tragedy is a tragedy, and a civilian toll of, say, 10,000 would not excuse the Japanese military for what it did. However numbers like this do matter in the context of inflammatory (and false) claims such as "forgotten Holocaust" and attempts to trivialize atomic incineration of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in comparison.
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Summary: Outrageous Japanese reader reviews
Review: Some of the brainwashed Japanese readers are absolutely outrageous. For example, a review said only 10 people were raped??!! This is plain outrageous denial, to the millions of "comfort women" who were forced into sex slavery. Why don't you say that in these innocent women's face? Brainwashed Japanese readers can say whatever they want, but the billions of Asians knows the truth of what happened from our grandparents who were there first hand. The civil war in China at that time devastated the people too, but nothing compared to the atrocities and rape of the Japanese imperial army, which even lead two hated enemies, Chiang and Mao, to sign a cease fire and fight the Japanese. Don't deny history and say this event never happened, admit and accept.
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Summary: From this forum, exactly
Review: After reading through hundreds of comments on this books, I can see why this book was written. It is because Japanese and the govt CONTINUE TO DENY this halocaust and rape of innocent women and children. The end of WWII was marked by racism. General MacDouglas continued to let the Japanese emperor be free and immune of war crimes instead of discarding the throne which he should have done. Have we ever learned about the Japanese halocaust in China in school? NO. Jewish halocaust in Europe? YES. Are these hundreds of thousands of innocent women and children in China, Korea, and other Asian countries invaded by the Japanese and raped not human??!! All asian-americans and asians worldwide know this halocaust absolutely did exist. You almost cannot find a single elderly asian woman and man, without recanting stories of the horrors of Japanese atrocities in WWII. And now the Japanese govt tries to brainwash their younger generation that these events never happened. (And reading these book review comments from Japanese readers, apparently they have been successful.) Even the Germans admitted their wrongdoing and teach that in school and have been pretty much forgiven by the world. But sorry Japanese govt, younger generation Chinese-Asian-Americans will always remember what happened. This is not a blame game. You must admit what you did wrong so future generations will not repeat the same mistakes. They think they can get away with it, but as long as their is no formal apology, billions of Asians still have deep hatred for the Japanese. Almost no Asian countries take the Japanese throne seriously. In fact only old European monarchies recognize the Japanese throne and invite them to parties at tax payers expense. While this book may not be pulitzer prize book or a masterpiece like Moby Dick or Homer's Oddysey, this book is the closest account to the forgotten atrocities of WWII. Read this book, if you want a perspective of WWII history and atrocities, to understand the Asian battlefront, not just what we learned of the European battlefront in middle school.
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Summary: 200,000 population city was fired by the Chinese themselves
Review: Chang is hiding or doesn't know the fact: THE NEW YORK TIMES, Wednesday, Dec. 8, 1937. More Fires Are Set The burning of obstructions within the defense zone by the Chinese continued. Palatial homes of Chinese officials in the Mausoleum Park district were among the places burned late yesterday.
The city was ringed by a dense pall of smoke, for the Chinese also continued to burn buildings and obstructions yesterday in towns in a ten-mile radius.
This correspondent, motoring to the front, found the entire valley outside Chungshan Gate, southeast of Mausoleum Park, ablaze. The village of Hsiaolingwei, along the main highway bordering the park, was a mass of smoking ruins, and inhabitants who had not evacuated days before were streaming toward Nanking carrying their few miserable belongings and occasionally pausing to take last sorrowing looks at their former homes.
Throughout the area immediately east and south of the Nanking walls soldiers were hurriedly completing defense preparations - mining roads and bridges, erecting barricades, felling trees and transporting guns and munitions. The roads swarmed with marching men. Final Preparations Rushed Within the city also last-minute preparations were being rushed. All the city's gates are now backed up by sandbag and cement breastworks twenty feet thick, with openings only wide enough for motor vehicles.
At times yesterday the sound of guns at the front were clearly audible in the city, adding to already high fears. Chinese troops within the walls intensified their machine-gun practicing, which had been going on on many ranges for some days.
Adding to atmosphere of siege, the public utilities here are gradually deteriorating, with power failing in many sections, telephones inoperative more often than not, the water supply uncertain and public transport almost completely lacking. City mail services were suspended yesterday.
Rumors of plans to burn down Nanking, though they are daily officially denied, are causing terror among many sections of the populace. Explaining the burning outside Nanking, the garrison spokesman said it had been done as much to force the evacuations of civilians from the fighting zone as to destroy obstructions. Chinkiang Burned by Chinese A. L. Patterson, an American airplane salesman who passed through Chinkiang Monday, arrived here last night and reported that that city, the former Kiangsu capital, with a population of 200,000, was a mass of flames and ruins. He said the city had been fired by the Chinese themselves.
Mr. Patterson, whose trip from Shanghai took ten days, came by a tortuous route along the north bank of the Yantze from Tungchow, and took a junk from a new boom sixteen miles from Nanking to reach this city. He said the new boom was a flimsy string of small boats linked by cables, which, though doubtless mined, did not appear hard to break.
With tens of thousands of refugees flocking into Nanking, the safety zone committee was expected today to make a formal declaration that the zone had been established and to proclaim its complete demilitarization.
An anti-aircraft battery and a number of military offices moved out of the zone today, giving further indication of the Chinese military's intention to carry out demilitarization pledges.
Refugees were flocking particulary to the areas about the United States and Italian Embassies, where the streets were jammed. The safety zone committee has made great progress in moving in supplies and now has enough nice to feed 25,000 needy for more than a week.
A start was made yesterday in ringing the boundary of the zone with identifying flags and signs. Public buildings, such as the Ministry of Justice, the War College and other schools, are being thrown open to the poor and vacant residences will be taken over, if necessary.
The departure of Chiang Kai-shek with his aides was at the break yesterday in his private plane, operated by Royal Leonard and Co-Pilot Arnold Wier, both Americans. Madame Chiang, accompanied by W. H. Donald, Australian adviser of herself and the Generalissimo, departed at the same time, also for Hankow, in another plane.
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Summary: A truthful account of Nanking
Review: In response to the previous two negative reviews of this book, it is widely known that people (particularly japanese) have been trying to "down play" what truly happened in Nanking. May I ask why the two previous reviews remained anonymous? Could they have been Japanese? Most likely. Did they have first hand sources like Chang did when they made their statements? Absolutely not. Chang's book is an accurate account of what happened in Nanking. Many people are saying his casualties are inflated as a method to attack his credibility. Thus, hiding the truth of Nanking. But these are the same type of people that claim Nanking never even happened! Read the book, Chang's accounts of Nanking are from first hand sources - not reviewers on Amazon.com skewing the truth of Nanking's history.
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Summary: Iris Chang is a mouthpiece for the Chinese Cummunist Party
Review: Iris Chans's "The Rape of Nanking" is a re-writing of "The Nanking Capture by Japanese Army-Occupation and Massacre" published in 1995 under the supervision of Chi Peng-fei, former deputy premier and foreign minister of the Red China.
Iris Chang's claims are exactly same as the Chinese Cummunist Party's.
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Summary: No "Ethnic Blame Game" Here
Review: Why would anyone want to deny this atrocity? Keep in mind that the focus here is on the JAPANESE IMPERIAL ARMY circa 1938. Twenty first century Japanese people bear no responsibility for this terrible incident. So why should they deny it? I myself am a white Southerner, born and raised in Louisiana. In this part of the country, one hundred years ago, there was this terrible institution called slavery. Some of my ancestors fought bravely to defend it. And they were wrong- dead wrong. But there's no reason I should feel ashamed. It is important to remember, however, because the Civil War was the bloodiest in US history.
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