Japanese Imperialism The Rape of Nanking - … · •Japanese soldiers photographed the documented...
Transcript of Japanese Imperialism The Rape of Nanking - … · •Japanese soldiers photographed the documented...
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 military government decided to conquer other areas to obtain raw materials. These areas included
Korea, Indonesia, and China.
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.
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.