Obituary
Iris Chang, author of "The Rape of Nanking" passed away on Nov 9 aged 36.
I only found out about this through the Economist's obituary section this week.
The Nanking Massacre has been something close to my heart ever since I heard about roughly what happened from my Dad in year 8. For those who don't know, in 1937, Japanese troops seized the city of Nanking, and within a few weeks, they massacred the civilians of the city, killing around 200 000 civilians, and raping 80 000 women and girls. To summarise, this happened:
This is considered the Holocaust of Asia. While it is historically accepted fact - although the exact numbers slaughtered are unclear - the Japanese government to this day refuses to admit the massacre ever occurred. It has also suppressed this truth in the Japanese education system. Today, the majority of Japanese citizenships believe this massacre never happened.
When I see this happen, I think back to the sovereignty and perfection of God, and the judgement day to come. We should continue to pray for the government of Japan to apologise for this atrocity, to ask for forgiveness from the victims and from God, but also to pray that we will be willing to forgive such men, and to continue to love them.
Iris Chang, began suffering depressing and losing weight while working on her book, as she uncovered more and more horrific stories. Once, face to face with the Japanese ambassador to America, she asked for an apology, but he simply said that there had been "perhaps some unfortunate incidents". She died last month after shooting herself in the head.
I only found out about this through the Economist's obituary section this week.
The Nanking Massacre has been something close to my heart ever since I heard about roughly what happened from my Dad in year 8. For those who don't know, in 1937, Japanese troops seized the city of Nanking, and within a few weeks, they massacred the civilians of the city, killing around 200 000 civilians, and raping 80 000 women and girls. To summarise, this happened:
This is considered the Holocaust of Asia. While it is historically accepted fact - although the exact numbers slaughtered are unclear - the Japanese government to this day refuses to admit the massacre ever occurred. It has also suppressed this truth in the Japanese education system. Today, the majority of Japanese citizenships believe this massacre never happened.
When I see this happen, I think back to the sovereignty and perfection of God, and the judgement day to come. We should continue to pray for the government of Japan to apologise for this atrocity, to ask for forgiveness from the victims and from God, but also to pray that we will be willing to forgive such men, and to continue to love them.
Iris Chang, began suffering depressing and losing weight while working on her book, as she uncovered more and more horrific stories. Once, face to face with the Japanese ambassador to America, she asked for an apology, but he simply said that there had been "perhaps some unfortunate incidents". She died last month after shooting herself in the head.
posted by Pingu at 12/02/2004 11:19:00 pm
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