Film remembers writer who insisted Nanking not be forgotten

The Montreal Gazette - It was 70 years ago today that one of the most numbing atrocities in history took place. Japanese forces invaded the Chinese city of Nanking and raped, tortured and murdered almost 300,000 Chinese women, children and soldiers in what is now referred to as the Rape of Nanking.

As indicated in an op-ed piece by Gary Evans in Monday's Gazette, Japanese authorities have never publicly acknowledged these atrocities, let alone offered an apology. Worse, despite the mountains of evidence to the contrary, some Japanese still have the temerity to suggest that the events were staged by the Chinese and the horror tales uttered by survivors were fabricated.

With the passage of time, a collective amnesia about the Nanking massacres seems to have prevailed throughout much of the rest of the world, too. But Chinese-American writer Iris Chang was hell-bent on making the world aware, and wrote the book The Rape of Nanking: The Forgotten Holocaust of World War II. Today also marks the 10th anniversary of the publication of this tome, which has been largely credited for stirring new interest in the tragedy.

Unfortunately, Chang is not around to partake in the anniversary. She committed suicide three years ago. Friends reported that she was never able to break out of the depression that, among other factors, resulted from listening to the harrowing tales of Nanking survivors as well as those from other historical travesties she wrote about.

Fortunately, award-winning Canadian filmmakers Anne Pick and Bill Spahic have been able to carry the legacy of Chang to the screen.

Their staggering docudrama, Iris Chang: The Rape of Nanking, premiering tonight at 8 p.m. on History Television, chronicles Chang's dogged quest to bring this ignored chapter of history to the forefront.

To Chang's disgust, she discovered that her battle to expose the truth was largely met with indifference. She wanted to know why Nanking had virtually disappeared from history books. But what she did grasp immediately was that Japanese forces met little resistance invading a China beset by civil war between Nationalists and Communists.

Chang tracked down survivors, and though events had taken place six decades earlier, they remained fresh, forever etched in their minds: absolutely repugnant accounts of kids being brutally tortured and raped, then being forced to witness their mothers undergoing the same before being murdered. She also uncovered gruesome archival material from newspaper and film accounts. Even Japanese troops admitted to being shocked by the barbarism.

Chang's parents, interviewed in this film, recount that their daughter's research took a toll on her mentally and physically. It had forever shaken Chang's fundamental belief that humans were basically decent at the core.

According to historians, more people died during the siege of Nanking than from the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki combined. There have been few more sadistic episodes in history. And yet almost as galling to Chang was the fact that many Japanese, among others, were in total denial.

In one video transcript, Chang asked: "When will the madness end?" She knew full well no answer would be forthcoming.

The husband/wife tandem of Pick and Spahic are in Nanking today for the anniversary commemoration of the tragedy. Like many others, Pick admits they had also been much in the dark about the events of 70 years ago.

Friends in Toronto's Chinese community helped make them aware, but it was their son's research for a Grade 10 essay on the theme of holocaust that really brought them up to speed. "He chose Nanking, and we started to learn a lot more," Pick says in a telephone interview from China. "Later we attended a fundraiser for the Chinese community and were so moved by the testimony of survivors."

In the course of their research, they read Chang's book. "It was so powerful, and the detail so horrific. You can feel her passion and can almost see her plea for justice between the lines. She was so determined to become the voice of the voiceless," Pick recalls. "Then there was no turning back for us to make the film."

The only problem was not having Chang on hand for the documentary, so they had to conscript an actress, Olivia Cheng, to re-enact parts of Chang's life. But Pick and Spahic managed to crosscut the Chang and Cheng sequences so seamlessly that viewers will hardly be able to differentiate.

"That was what we had hoped for, and that was the trickiest part of the film," Pick says. "Having been faced with the dilemma of showing the emotional side of Iris and how committed she was, we had no other choice. Her story was too important to omit key parts."

Given the gravity of the subject matter, History Television has made the decision to air Iris Chang: The Rape of Nanking uncut and without commercials tonight.