Woman Who Could Not Forget

by Richard Rhodes

  We also shared a platform together at a conference organized in April 2002 by the University of San Francico Center for the Pacific Rim.

  It would be irresponsible for me to suggest anything more than the authorities are suggesting about her death, but I would only add that I find it distressing and worrisome that two brilliant change-agents, Iris Chang and the late film-maker Juzo Itami, who made us see our worlds differently than we otherwise would—each supposedly committed suicide, after bouts of depression. I have never bought the story about Juzo Itami, whom I also knew and who was at war in his films with Japan’s national right wing crowd and yakuza.

  I have no choice but to accept what has been reported about Iris’s death—but all I can say, and I can barely express anything sensible about this tragedy, is that the world has lost much in her passing.

  Iris Chang wrestled with the tensions between conviction, faith, and communal lies. She was attacked from so many corners for her important work that she tried to untangle why truth was so frequently strangled by conviction, faith, and delusion.

  We once discussed at length this passage from Friedrich Nietzsche’s “The Anti-Christ.” I don’t believe that Iris was a Nietzsche acolyte, but what follows below captures much of what we were both struggling with at the time:

  One step further in the psychology of conviction, of “faith.” It is now a good while since I first proposed for consideration the question whether convictions are not even more dangerous enemies to truth than lies. (“Human, All-Too-Human,” I, aphorism 483.)

  This time I desire to put the question definitely: is there any actual difference between a lie and a conviction?—All the world believes that there is; but what is not believed by all the world!—Every conviction has its history, its primitive forms, its stage of tentativeness and error: it becomes a conviction only after having been, for a long time, not one, and then, for an even longer time, hardly one.

  What if falsehood be also one of these embryonic forms of conviction?—Sometimes all that is needed is a change in persons: what was a lie in the father becomes a conviction in the son.—I call it lying to refuse to see what one sees, or to refuse to see it as it is: whether the lie be uttered before witnesses or not before witnesses is of no consequence.

  The most common sort of lie is that by which a man deceives himself: the deception of others is a relatively rare offense.—Now, this will not to see what one sees, this will not to see it as it is, is almost the first requisite for all who belong to a party of whatever sort: the party man becomes inevitably a liar. For example, the German historians are convinced that Rome was synonymous with despotism and that the Germanic peoples brought the spirit of liberty into the world: what is the difference between this conviction and a lie?

  Is it to be wondered at that all partisans, including the German historians, instinctively roll the fine phrases of morality upon their tongues—that morality almost owes its very survival to the fact that the party man of every sort has need of it every moment?—“This is our conviction: we publish it to the whole world; we live and die for it—let us respect all who have convictions!”—I have actually heard such sentiments from the mouths of anti-Semites. On the contrary, gentlemen!

  An anti-Semite surely does not become more respectable because he lies on principle. . . . The priests, who have more finesse in such matters, and who well understand the objection that lies against the notion of a conviction, which is to say, of a falsehood that becomes a matter of principle because it serves a purpose, have borrowed from the Jews the shrewd device of sneaking in the concepts, “God,” “the will of God” and “the revelation of God” at this place.

  I am too sad to write more about her now.

  Arafat’s passing has been grabbed by many as an opportunity to move the sorry state of Israeli-Palestinian conflict in a new direction.

  Perhaps those in Japan who reviled Iris Chang’s important work can step down from their strident defense of a white-washed history and find a course that leads to a more introspective and self-aware nationalism than is the case today.

  Iris as a one-year-old in Princeton, N. J.

  Iris at 15 months with Ying-Ying and Shau-Jin during a trip to Vienna, Austria.

  As a three-year-old in Urbana, Illinois.

  Iris was celebrating her 5th birthday in Princeton, N. J. with her brother, Michael (far right) and her friends, over the much-beloved gingerbread house.

  A family portrait with Iris (aged 7) and her maternal grandparents.

  Mother’s Day, 1978.

  A family portrait with Iris (age 10) and paternal grandparents.

  The family trip to Yellowstone National Park in the summer of 1984 when Iris was 16 years old that she referred to throughout her whole life.

  Iris’s high school graduation photo.

  Iris, Ying-Ying, and Shau-Jin in the football stadium at the 1988 University of Illinois Homecoming game. Iris was selected as one of the princesses for the Homecoming Court.

  Iris as a college student at the University of Illinois.

  Iris’s graduation from the Journalism Department of the University of Illinois in 1989. On the right is Professor Robert Reid, her mentor.

  A family portrait taken on Ying-Ying’s 50th birthday when Iris was 22 years old working at the Associate Press in Chicago.

  Iris and Brett on their honeymoon in 1991 in Las Vegas.

  One of the postcard letters Iris sent home, Nov. 3, 1991.

  Iris at the Great Wall of China in Beijing in 1993 conducting research for her biography on Dr. Tsien.

  Iris in Nanjing, China in the summer of 1995 interviewing the survivors of the Nanjing Massacre. Photo was taken in front of the Nanjing Memorial Hall for the Victims of the Nanking Massacre.

  With Nanjing survivor Xia Shu-qin (second from left), who witnessed the killing and raping of her family members when she was nine years old.

  Iris and Ying-Ying at a signing of her first book, Thread of the Silkworm, in Champaign, Illinois in 1995.

  Iris at a photo exhibition of the Nanking Massacre. The photos in this exhibit would change her life. (Photo courtesy of San Jose Mercury News.)

  Iris in 1997, the same year The Rape of Nanking was published. (Photo by Jimmy Estimada.)

  The cover of the November, 1997 issue of Johns Hopkins magazine. This article was the first intensive coverage of Iris’s The Rape of Nanking book.

  Copies of The Rape of Nanking displayed in a bookstore.

  Signing copies of The Rape of Nanking.

  Iris and her parents with Uni High School Principal Shelley Roberts (right) and her former English teachers, Adele Suslick (left) and Charlene Tibbitts (seated) at the 1998 Max Berberman Award ceremony.

  The cover of the September, 1998 issue of Reader’s Digest magazine.

  Iris and Washington Post columnist George Will.

  Iris and President Bill Clinton at the Renaissance Weekend New Year’s Eve Party, December 31, 1998.

  Iris and Diana Zuckerman (left) with First Lady Hillary Clinton at the White House, 1999.

  Delivering the keynote speech in San Francisco in September, 2001, at a conference counteracting the official commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the San Francisco Peace Treaty.

  Iris in 2003. (Photo by Jimmy Estimada.)

  In an interview with Orville Schell.

  Iris was one of the keynote speakers at the 50th anniversary of the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights on December 9th, 1998, in the San Francisco Masonic Center. With her, other speakers were Martin Luther King III, the son of civil rights leader Martin Luther King, Jr., and Arun Gandhi, grandson of the legendary Indian leader Mohandas K. Gandhi (second and fourth from left, respectively). At left is Ignatius Ding, VP of Global Alliance for Preserving the History of WWII in Asia.

  Her new book, Chinese in America in 2003.

  At a press conference at Toronto in 1998 with David Magee (right), son of John Magee, who showed the camera his father had used
to record many Nanking atrocities. John Magee was a minister who served as chairman of the International Red Cross Committee of Nanking during the massacre.

  In an interview with Charlie Rose.

  Delivering a speech at the Committee 100 conference in 2003.

  Iris with her one-year-old son, Christopher, at home in 2003.

  Iris met the descendants of Nanking Safety Zone Committee members in Michigan in 1998. Harriet Mills and Angie Mills (left and second from left, respectively) are daughters of Wilson Plumer Mills, who was the Presbyterian missionary in Nanking in 1937, and Neal Brady (right) is the son of Richard Brady (a surgeon who worked for the safety zone committee after the worst of the massacre was over). Brady gave the original Safety Zone Red Cross flag to Iris, who later donated it to the Hoover Institution.

  Iris at a book signing in 2003 for The Rape of Nanking and The Chinese in America, one of her last before her suicide.

  Friends light candles outside the funeral home during the visitation on November 18, 2004.

  Iris’s grave at Gate of Heaven Cemetery in Los Altos, California.

  A statue of Iris stands near the front of the Memorial Hall for the Victims of Japanese Invaders in Nanjing, China.

  Iris and Ying-Ying attending the memorial service for the victims of the Nanking Massacre and photo exhibition on December 13, 2001 in San Francisco.

  Iris and Ying-Ying in Champaign-Urbana, 1998.

  Ying-Ying’s Chinese article published on May 15, 1998 in the Chinese newspaper World Journal Sunday magazine. The article described the mother’s journey with Iris behind the Rape of Nanking book.

  A hand-written letter, October 5, 1992.

  Iris’s postcard from June 10, 1993.

  New York Times articles on the discovery of John Rabe’s diary, December 12, 1996.

  ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

  There are many people I would like to thank, as without their support, it would not have been possible to complete this book.

  First, my deepest gratitude goes to my husband, Shau-Jin, for his patience and love. He encouraged me to write this book from the very beginning, and for five years he has endured the long hours of endless discussion. He was always supportive and gave me tremendous confidence in finishing this book and was my true champion. And to my son, Michael, whose love helped us get through the most difficult period of our lives after Iris died.

  I would like to thank Ken McLaughlin, who was very enthusiastic about the book the first time we met during his interview for a San Jose Mercury News article. He edited part of the first draft in the early phase of the book. He also helped me connect with his writer friends. His enthusiasm and his confidence in me will be always remembered.

  Thanks to Lara Heimert, the editor-in-chief of Basic Books, who took time to meet with me and encourage me, and suggested a number of ways to improve my manuscript.

  My gratitude also goes to Peter Li, who patiently edited my book proposal. He also spent hours in reviewing the draft of the book and gave me numerous valuable suggestions.

  To Ignatius Ding, who gave his critical opinions in improving my book and generously agreed to write a Forward even though his life is so busy. Without his insight and support, this book would have simply been not possible.

  My deepest thanks goes to Richard Rhodes, who agreed to write the Introduction as soon as he finished reading the preliminary manuscript. His advice about the publisher process and suggestions for improving my manuscript were invaluable. Shau-Jin and I cherished the meeting with him and his wife, Ginger, in May 2010 in the San Francisco Bay area, and we had such a good time talking about many common known physicists and the memory of Iris.

  Special thanks to Dr. Diana Zuckerman, who gave me her invaluable expertise and insight in psychology and psychiatry after she reviewed the last few chapters of my manuscript. And to Dr. Fidelia Butt and Shushih Butt for their many valuable suggestions, and also to Hann-Shuin Yew, whose comments in improving the final version of the manuscript are precious. Thanks also to my brother Bing Chang and to Brett Douglas for his careful reading of my manuscript before publication.

  During the writing of this book, many friends gave me encouragement and support. Special thanks to Hua-ling Hu, who patiently and kindly guided me through the publication business over numerous phone calls. Other friends such as Wena Poon and Teresa Yu-pei Singer gave me their legal advice in negotiating the contract, and particularly to Teresa Yu-pei Singer for answering many questions related to legal issues.

  I would also like to thank my brothers Cheng-Cheng Chang and Bing Chang and my sister Ging-Ging Chang and Iris’s many cousins who have given me tremendous support after Iris’s tragic death.

  I must also extend my gratitude to the many individuals and organizations in the Bay area of California and elsewhere who have supported me since Iris died and have encouraged me throughout the entire process of writing this book: Cathy and David Tsang, Charles and Becky Shao, Eugene Wei, Allen Ho, Betty Yuan, Daisy Chu, Kuo-Hou Chang, Christina Leung and members of Bay area Alliance for Preserving the Truth of Sino-Japanese War (ATPSJW); Rodger Scott, Julie Tang, Susan Hsieh, Lillian Sing, Peter Stanek, Jean Chan and members of The Rape of Nanking Redress Coalition (RNRC); members of Global Alliance for Preserving the History of WWII in Asia (GA); Flora Chong, Joseph Wong and members of Canada Toronto Association for Learning and Preserving the History of WWII in Asia (ALPHA); Thekla Lit and members of Canada British Columbia ALPHA; Nancy Lo, Jack Meng, Michael Lee and members of San Diego Association for Preserving Historical Accuracy of Foreign Invasions in China (APHAFIC); Jeannie Liu and members of Los Angeles ALPHA; Victor Yung, Don Tow and members of New Jersey ALPHA; Kaimay Terry and members of Minnesota ALPHA; Sarina Chiang, Albert C. C. Yang, Renne Lu, Agnes Ahn and members of Boston Historical Society; Larry Wu and members of Washington DC Truth Council; Walter Ko, Sherwin Liou and members of St. Louis ALPHA; C. C. Tien, Jack Peng, Kuei-sheng Chang, Jiu-fong Lo, George Koo, Alice Mong, Richard Chu, Cinian Zheng-Dubin, Cindy Chan, Jane Wu, Ping Tcheng, William Jiang, Peter Balakian, Ron Yates, Steve Clemons, Eamonn Fingleton, Victor Fic, James Bradley, John Price, Werner Gruhl, Ted Leonsis, Bill Guttentag, Violet Feng, Richard Sousa, Linda Bernard, Brad Bauer, Elena Danielson, Susan Rabiner, Barbara Masin, James Hong, Sen Luan, Lung-ching Chiao, Isabel Chiu, Duoliang Lin, Amy Hsieh, Xiu-xin Liu, Lucy Yuan, Meihuey Huang, Lisa Chung, Timothy Larson, Bill Spahic, Anne Pick, Bihua Zeng, Connie Wu, Kevin Chiang, Eric Huen, Belinda Zhang, William King, Lolita Chuang, Cynthia Lam, Cynthia Yao and my 1958 high school graduation classmates from Taiwan.

  Many thanks also go to Serena Jones who skillfully edited my first draft of the manuscript, and finally, my gratitude to Jessica Case and William Claiborne Hancock of Pegasus Books, who took the risk accepting my book proposal. My special thanks to Jessica Case for her brilliant final editing; her passion and devotion to this project will always be remembered.

  Thanks to Boron’s Educational Series publisher for the permission to quote Iris’s words in Barron’s Top 50, An Inside Look at America’s Best Colleges (Barron’s Educational Series, Inc. 1991 edition).

  Thanks to the San Jose Mercury News for permission to reprint the photo of Iris Chang which was published in the Mercury News.

  BOOKS DEDICATED TO IRIS CHANG

  The Devil of Nanking, a work of fiction by Mo Hayder (a British bestselling novelist), says, on the inside front page, “For Iris Chang, 1968-2004, whose bravery and scholarship first lifted the name of Nanking out of obscurity.”

  The New York Times best-selling author Simon Winchester, in 2005, dedicated his book A Crack in the Edge of The World to Iris Chang by saying, on the inside front page, “With this book I both welcome into the world my first grandchild, Coco, and offer an admiring farewell to Iris Chang whose nobility, passion, and courage should serve as a model for all, writers and newborn alike.”

  In honor of Iris Chang, donations can be sent to the following organizations:

  Iris Chang Memorial Fund

&nb
sp; Global Alliance for Preserving the History of World War II in Asia

  P.O. Box 641324

  San Jose, CA 95164

  www.irischangmemorialfund.net

  The Iris Chang Journalism Award Fund

  University of Illinois, Urbana, IL

  www.uif.uillinois.edu

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  copyright © 2011 by Ying-Yang Chang

  introduction copyright © 2011 by Richard Rhodes

  interior design by Maria Fernandez

  978-1-4532-1764-1

  Pegasus Books LLC

  80 Broad Street, 5th Floor

  New York, NY 10004