Jana just told me about the death of Iris Chang. I was already melancholy, but now I’m on the verge of tears as I write this.
I met her in 1998 when she was on a tour promoting her book, The Rape of Nanking: The Forgotten Holocaust of World War II. I knew about the massacre before buying the book and was ashamed that the Japanese government barely acknowledged the ‘incident.’ I introduced myself as the grandson of a Japanese soldier and expressed gratitude to her for publicizing the atrocities the Japanese army committed against the Chinese at Nanjing. I’ll spare you the details of the massacre, though the Wikipedia article is a good starting place. One part of my Japanese cultural heritage that I utterly reject is the tendency to suppress ‘embarrassing’ facts, to not make waves. The Japanese say that the nail that sticks out gets hammered down (deru kugi wa utareru). Well, I refuse to stay hammered down.
She signed my copy with her Chinese name: 張純如.
Iris Chang committed suicide in 2004, after battling with years of depression sparked by her research–which consisted in large part of listening to the testimonies of the survivors. I have a hard time reading the news because of my tendency to empathize. I can only imagine the crushing burden of the horrible, horrible stories she carried.
I write this post to mourn her passing and to pay tribute to her. There are those who would suppress the truth, who would encourage others to suffer in silence (referring to the Nanjing Massacre, Iris called this muzzling of the survivors “the second rape”). Iris Chang stood up to these forces and turned the broken whispers of the tormented into a chorus of cries and shouts.
So tonight, I took two sticks of the incense I usually save for my grandfather and burned them in homage to Iris Chang. My offering? To reveal the truth, to tell the stories that need to be told, to give opportunities for others to voice their triumphs and sorrows, to bear their burdens.
9 responses so far ↓
1 Elise // Jan 20, 2007 at 10:42 am
I read the information in your Wikipedia link; I had never heard of this massacre before. What a sad reminder of the atrocities of war and our own capacity for cruelty, injustice, and utter disregard for our brothers and sisters.
I love the image you painted of yourself burning insense - meant for your grandfather - in honor of a woman who wasn’t afraid to break the silence and instead spoke candidly about the past. I would love to hear more about this tradition sometime.
How did Jana happen to come across the news of her death two years later?
2 pilgrimgirl // Jan 20, 2007 at 2:08 pm
I heard of Iris’ death on NPR yesterday. There’s a new film at Sundance about the Nanking massacre, and in the process of interviewing the filmmaker, they discussed the challenges of addressing the horror of this moment in time and mourned Iris’ passing briefly. Because I knew of John’s earlier connection with Iris, and I’ve often intended to read her book, I shared the news with him.
FWIW, I want to add my $.02 to John’s thoughts…one thing about being a cancer survivor is that many acquaintances will seek me when they become diagnosed with cancer themselves. An example, a neighbor of ours came to see me when his wife was diagnosed with liver cancer. I’d barely had a conversation with this man and then he was crying on my shoulder in my living room. While I am thrilled to feel that I can help people through their struggles because of my own experiences, there is an incredible weight that comes from this. When his wife died it totally rocked my world. Each time another friend dies I am thrown into despair. It’s an awful burden to carry in so many ways, and it can rob me of my own desire to live, even if for a short while. So I feel like I can understand some part of what Iris may have felt.
3 Dave Sigmann // Jan 20, 2007 at 6:33 pm
That is sad news. My thoughts are with all those who mourn her death.
4 Elise // Jan 20, 2007 at 7:04 pm
Jana - it’s interesting how people who hardly know you reach out solely because of an experience you had over half a lifetime ago. I think it is really evidence of how alone most of us are, deep down inside. We all want someone who understand, who has shared our same experiences.
Is the weight you feel because you survived, and someone else didn’t? Or because you know too well the pain they are going through? I don’t think I’ve experienced that heavy of a burden before.
I wish we could know if someone - or some group - was really following Iris. It mentioned in the Wikipedia article that she felt like she was being chased or pursued and that she didn’t feel like she could escape. It’s easy to think that she was just troubled with psychosis, but I wonder if there really was something there.
5 pilgrimgirl // Jan 20, 2007 at 9:28 pm
Elise:
The weight is partly guilt because I survived, partly the pain I re-live as I see them suffer, and partly the anger that bubbles up inside me because I don’t think that I’ve ever completely reconciled myself to the loss of my leg and the death of my father to cancer.
Because of my disability, and perhaps because of my cancer, too, I have some pretty remarkably intimate experiences with random people that I don’t know well at all. For example, complete strangers will stop me in the street and tell me stories–sometimes nearing tears as they do so. And then there are those who come to tell me of their diagnoses or of their loved ones’ battles with cancer. Like I said earlier, I really appreciate that people are drawn to me in this way, and I would certainly never turn anyone away who sought my comfort or help. But sometimes I’m not sure _how_ to help and yet I feel the burden of feeling that I must. Does that make sense?
6 Miko // Jan 21, 2007 at 10:40 am
John: I read Ms. Chang’s book for a history class & wept. I knew nothing about the woman until I read this post, but my teacher for that class mentioned, when we discussed the book, the fact that (a) she knew Ms. Chang and (b) all the things Ms. Chang had to go through to get her book researched, published, and accepted.
7 Keithb // Jan 24, 2007 at 3:57 pm
I was sad to read today about a Japanese Filmaker making a film that denies the massacre.
http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/01/24/asia/AS-GEN-Japan-Nanjing-Film.php
I don’t really have a feel for how much support the far right nationalists have in Japan. I suspect and hope that their noise exceeds their real support.
8 Miko // Jan 24, 2007 at 5:59 pm
Keith: as much as I don’t want to, in any way, minimize either the massacre or the damage re-writing history can do, it is nice to know that the US is not the only country that has the capacity to house extremists who want to change what gets taught to our children.
9 cassett // Mar 10, 2007 at 11:26 pm
dear john,
thanks for this tribute for iris chang. ms. chang has done her share. unfortunately there are too few people who know and care about this history. life is never fair. i mourn for all those who lost their lives in wars, atrocities and violences.
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