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“Apparently some quirk of human nature allows even the most unspeakable acts of evil to become banal within minutes, provided only that they occur far enough away to pose no personal threat.“

It was true in the Japanese massacre of Nanking, it was true in the Jewish Holocaust, in the genocides in Bosnia-Herzegovina and Rwanda, in #Palestine, and so many others unnamed. Why are we like this?

To honor my #Chinese roots during this years' #SpringFestival, I read this very important and very sobering, devastating book. Although extremely well-written, it is a horrifyingly captivating and very challenging read to get through because of the atrocities that the Japanese performed against the Chinese in the 1930s and #WWIi and the subsequent coverups by the Japanese government through the present day. (Continued in comments) ⬇️

On #Holocaust Remembrance Day as well as the week that Lunar New Year begins, I am starting this very important book by Iris Chang which details the massacre of Nanking by Japanese forces during #WWII. Much less well-known than the genocide in Europe, but no less horrifying.

It‘s baffling what people do to inflict pain on other people. I don‘t understand it, yet I know how capable I am of doing it. Even in small ways like how I might talk to someone who upsets me.

Of course, the Rape of Nanking was a massacre not a mild social interaction. Iris Chang describes a lot of atrocities. At first they turned my stomach (literally) but she never stops describing them. Is it intentional?

I‘m still left with WHY.

I knew nothing about this beyond having heard of it. The lead-up to the main part of the story didn‘t catch my interest. The things that happened were incredibly awful, but the author also followed up with chapters on Westerners who tried to help with a “safe zone” in the middle of the city, then chapters on how the Chinese people fared after and how the Japanese tried to hide what had happened.

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So my husband asked me if I wanted to read a book together and I could not believe my ears 🥹 I guess me talking about books 24/7 has sparked something in him! I tried to get him to annotate and have discussions and he said don't push it lmao. Baby steps baby steps haha! We are reading the only non fiction book I have on my shelf and he is very interested since he loves history. It's tagged and we will be starting it in a few weeks.

It‘s hard to read about war atrocities, and even more difficult to look at images like those in this book, but it‘s important to know. In 1937, over a period of 6 weeks, Imperial Japanese forces systematically tortured and murdered hundreds of thousands of Chinese soldiers and civilian men, women, and children. Anywhere from 20,000 to 80,000 people were brutally raped. Horrifying subject matter; well-researched and written book.

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Only 2 pieces of #BookMail today. First up is this non fiction book about one of the worst massacres of WWII. When the Japanese army rolled into the Chinese city of Nanking in 1937, more than 300,000 men, women & children were raped, tortured then killed in a month. By the time they finally left they had ruined so many lives & the Chinese government just wanted to forget it happened. I heard The Poppy War was based on this & wanted to learn more.

A book I definitely have to read. I‘m currently in Nanjing and took my students to visit the massacre memorial museum the week before last. It‘s harrowing, with it‘s partly excavates grave of 10,000 bodies, and I am moved every time I go there. It‘s also an excellent example of a museum experience.

Many are familiar with the dark chapter of history of Hitler‘s army, claiming lives of millions of people, including six million Jews. But few are aware of what happened to millions of people in China from 1937 to 1945. In this book, it finally reveals the #forgotten and perhaps the most gruesome horrors of WW2 - the atrocities and barbarity committed by the Japanese Imperial Army on innocent Chinese civilians. 💔💔💔
#newyearreads #forgotten

Here is my #fictionnonfictionpairing
I have read Nanjing, the burning city, but not yet The Rape of Nanking...
#seasonsreadings2016

This history of the occupation of Japanese forces in Nanking, China #mademecry a lot. It was a tough read, made all the worse because it was an historical account of a real event. This made a George RR Martin book look like a fairy tale. But it was an important read because it was certainly not a subject that was even mentioned in passing in US schools. #somethingforsept