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Iris Shun-Ru Chang (March 28, 1968November 9, 2004) was a
Chinese American Chinese Americans are Americans of Han Chinese ancestry. Chinese Americans constitute a subgroup of East Asian Americans which also constitute a subgroup of Asian Americans. Many Chinese Americans along with their ancestors trace lineage from ...
journalist, author of historical books and political activist. She is best known for her best-selling 1997 account of the
Nanking Massacre The Nanjing Massacre (, ja, 南京大虐殺, Nankin Daigyakusatsu) or the Rape of Nanjing (formerly romanized as ''Nanking'') was the mass murder of Chinese civilians in Nanjing, the capital of the Republic of China, immediately after the ...
, ''
The Rape of Nanking The Nanjing Massacre (, ja, 南京大虐殺, Nankin Daigyakusatsu) or the Rape of Nanjing (formerly romanized as ''Nanking'') was the mass murder of Chinese civilians in Nanjing, the capital of the Republic of China, immediately after the Ba ...
'', and in 2003, ''The Chinese in America: A Narrative History''. Chang is the subject of the 2007 biography ''
Finding Iris Chang ''Finding Iris Chang: Friendship, Ambition, and the Loss of an Extraordinary Mind'' is a biography of Iris Chang, author of the best-selling history book, ''The Rape of Nanking''. Written by Chang's friend, journalist Paula Kamen, and published ...
'', and the 2007 documentary film ''Iris Chang: The Rape of Nanking'' starring Olivia Cheng as Iris Chang. The independent 2007 documentary film ''Nanking'' was based on her work and dedicated to her memory.


Life and education

Iris Chang was the daughter of two university professors, Ying-Ying Chang and Dr. Shau-Jin Chang, who moved from mainland China to Taiwan and eventually emigrated to the United States. Chang was born in
Princeton, New Jersey Princeton is a municipality with a borough form of government in Mercer County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. It was established on January 1, 2013, through the consolidation of the Borough of Princeton and Princeton Township, both of w ...
and raised in Champaign-Urbana, Illinois. Chang grew up hearing stories about the
Nanking massacre The Nanjing Massacre (, ja, 南京大虐殺, Nankin Daigyakusatsu) or the Rape of Nanjing (formerly romanized as ''Nanking'') was the mass murder of Chinese civilians in Nanjing, the capital of the Republic of China, immediately after the ...
, from which her maternal grandparents managed to escape. When she tried finding books about the subject in Champaign Public Library, she found there were none. She attended University Laboratory High School of Urbana, Illinois, and graduated in 1985. She was initially a
computer science Computer science is the study of computation, automation, and information. Computer science spans theoretical disciplines (such as algorithms, theory of computation, information theory, and automation) to Applied science, practical discipli ...
major, but switched to
journalism Journalism is the production and distribution of reports on the interaction of events, facts, ideas, and people that are the " news of the day" and that informs society to at least some degree. The word, a noun, applies to the occupation (p ...
, earning a
bachelor's degree A bachelor's degree (from Middle Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate academic degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to si ...
at the
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (U of I, Illinois, University of Illinois, or UIUC) is a public land-grant research university in Illinois in the twin cities of Champaign and Urbana. It is the flagship institution of the Un ...
in 1989. During her time in college she also worked as a ''
New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'' stringer from Urbana-Champaign, and wrote six front-page articles over the course of one year. After brief stints at the
Associated Press The Associated Press (AP) is an American non-profit news agency headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association. It produces news reports that are distributed to its members, U.S. new ...
and the ''
Chicago Tribune The ''Chicago Tribune'' is a daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, United States, owned by Tribune Publishing. Founded in 1847, and formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper" (a slogan for which WGN radio and television ar ...
'', she pursued a
master's degree A master's degree (from Latin ) is an academic degree awarded by universities or colleges upon completion of a course of study demonstrating mastery or a high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional practice.
in Writing Seminars at
Johns Hopkins University Johns Hopkins University (Johns Hopkins, Hopkins, or JHU) is a private research university in Baltimore, Maryland. Founded in 1876, Johns Hopkins is the oldest research university in the United States and in the western hemisphere. It consi ...
. She then embarked on her career as an author and lectured and wrote magazine articles. In 1991, Chang married Bretton Lee Douglas, a
design engineer A design engineer is an engineer focused on the engineering design process in any of the various engineering disciplines (including civil, mechanical, electrical, chemical, textiles, aerospace, nuclear, manufacturing, systems, and structural ...
for
Cisco Systems Cisco Systems, Inc., commonly known as Cisco, is an American-based multinational digital communications technology conglomerate corporation headquartered in San Jose, California. Cisco develops, manufactures, and sells networking hardware, ...
, whom she had met in college, and had one son, Christopher, who was two years old at the time of her suicide. She lived in
San Jose, California San Jose, officially San José (; ; ), is a major city in the U.S. state of California that is the cultural, financial, and political center of Silicon Valley and largest city in Northern California by both population and area. With a 2020 popu ...
in the final years of her life.


Career

Chang wrote three books documenting the experiences of Chinese and
Chinese Americans Chinese Americans are Americans of Han Chinese ancestry. Chinese Americans constitute a subgroup of East Asian Americans which also constitute a subgroup of Asian Americans. Many Chinese Americans along with their ancestors trace lineage from ...
in history. Her first, ''
Thread of the Silkworm ''Thread of the Silkworm'' is a 1996 historical nonfiction book by Iris Chang. It tells the story of Qian Xuesen, a leading cyberneticist/ aerodynamist who assisted on the Manhattan Project, was deported amidst the Red Scare, and subsequently be ...
'' (Basic Books, 1995) tells the life story of the Chinese professor, Hsue-Shen Tsien (or Qian Xuesen) during the
Red Scare A Red Scare is the promotion of a widespread fear of a potential rise of communism, anarchism or other leftist ideologies by a society or state. The term is most often used to refer to two periods in the history of the United States which ar ...
in the 1950s. Although Tsien was one of the founders of
NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agency of the US federal government responsible for the civil space program, aeronautics research, and space research. NASA was established in 1958, succeedin ...
's
Jet Propulsion Laboratory The Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) is a Federally funded research and development centers, federally funded research and development center and NASA field center in the City of La Cañada Flintridge, California, La Cañada Flintridge, California ...
(JPL), and for many years helped the
military of the United States The United States Armed Forces are the military forces of the United States. The armed forces consists of six service branches: the Army, Marine Corps, Navy, Air Force, Space Force, and Coast Guard. The president of the United States is th ...
debrief scientists from
Nazi Germany Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...
, he was suddenly accused of being a spy and a member of the
Communist Party USA The Communist Party USA, officially the Communist Party of the United States of America (CPUSA), is a communist party in the United States which was established in 1919 after a split in the Socialist Party of America following the Russian Rev ...
, and was placed under house arrest from 1950 to 1955. Tsien left for the
People's Republic of China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, most populous country, with a Population of China, population exceeding 1.4 billion, slig ...
in September 1955. Upon his return to China, Tsien developed the Dongfeng missile program, and later the
Silkworm missile The SY (), and HY () series were early anti-ship cruise missiles (ASCM) developed by the People's Republic of China from the Soviet P-15 Termit missile. They entered service in the late 1960s and remained the main ASCMs deployed by the People's ...
, which was used by the Iraqi military during its war on Iran and against the United States-led
coalitions A coalition is a group formed when two or more people or groups temporarily work together to achieve a common goal. The term is most frequently used to denote a formation of power in political or economical spaces. Formation According to ''A Gui ...
during the
Persian Gulf War The Gulf War was a 1990–1991 armed campaign waged by a Coalition of the Gulf War, 35-country military coalition in response to the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait. Spearheaded by the United States, the coalition's efforts against Ba'athist Iraq, ...
and the
2003 invasion of Iraq The 2003 invasion of Iraq was a United States-led invasion of the Republic of Iraq and the first stage of the Iraq War. The invasion phase began on 19 March 2003 (air) and 20 March 2003 (ground) and lasted just over one month, including ...
. Her second book, '' The Rape of Nanking: The Forgotten Holocaust of World War II'' (1997), was published on the 60th anniversary of the
Nanking Massacre The Nanjing Massacre (, ja, 南京大虐殺, Nankin Daigyakusatsu) or the Rape of Nanjing (formerly romanized as ''Nanking'') was the mass murder of Chinese civilians in Nanjing, the capital of the Republic of China, immediately after the ...
and was motivated in part by her own grandparents' stories about their escape from the massacre. It documents atrocities committed against Chinese by forces of the
Imperial Japanese Army The was the official ground-based armed force of the Empire of Japan from 1868 to 1945. It was controlled by the Imperial Japanese Army General Staff Office and the Ministry of the Army, both of which were nominally subordinate to the Emper ...
during the
Second Sino-Japanese War The Second Sino-Japanese War (1937–1945) or War of Resistance (Chinese term) was a military conflict that was primarily waged between the Republic of China and the Empire of Japan. The war made up the Chinese theater of the wider Pacific T ...
, and includes interviews with victims. ''The Rape of Nanking'' remained on the ''New York Times'' Bestseller list for 10 weeks. Based on the book, an American documentary film, ''
Nanking Nanjing (; , Mandarin pronunciation: ), alternately romanized as Nanking, is the capital of Jiangsu province of the People's Republic of China. It is a sub-provincial city, a megacity, and the second largest city in the East China region. T ...
'', was released in 2007. After publication of the book, Chang campaigned to persuade the
Japanese government The Government of Japan consists of legislative, executive and judiciary branches and is based on popular sovereignty. The Government runs under the framework established by the Constitution of Japan, adopted in 1947. It is a unitary state, ...
to apologize for its troops' wartime conduct and to pay compensation. Her third book, ''The Chinese in America: A Narrative History'' (2003), is a history of
Chinese Americans Chinese Americans are Americans of Han Chinese ancestry. Chinese Americans constitute a subgroup of East Asian Americans which also constitute a subgroup of Asian Americans. Many Chinese Americans along with their ancestors trace lineage from ...
, that argues their treatment as perpetual outsiders by American society. Consistent with the style of her earlier works, the book relies heavily on personal accounts, drawing its strong emotional content from their stories. She wrote, "The America of today would not be the same America without the achievements of its ethnic Chinese," and that "scratch the surface of every American celebrity of Chinese heritage and you will find that, no matter how stellar their achievements, no matter how great their contribution to US society, virtually all of them have had their identities questioned at one point or another."


Public notability and legacy

Success as an author made Iris Chang a public figure. ''The Rape of Nanking'' placed her in great demand as a speaker and as an interview subject, and, more broadly, as a spokesperson for the viewpoint that the
Japanese government The Government of Japan consists of legislative, executive and judiciary branches and is based on popular sovereignty. The Government runs under the framework established by the Constitution of Japan, adopted in 1947. It is a unitary state, ...
had not done enough to compensate victims of their invasion of China. In one often-mentioned incident (as reported by ''
The Times ''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper '' The Sunday Times'' ( ...
'' of
London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...
):
...she confronted the Japanese Ambassador to the United States on television, demanded an apology and expressed her dissatisfaction with his mere acknowledgement "that really unfortunate things happened, acts of violence were committed by members of the Japanese military". "It is because of these types of wording and the vagueness of such expressions that Chinese people, I think, are infuriated," was her reaction.
Chang's visibility as a public figure increased with her final work, ''The Chinese in America''. After her death, she became the subject of tributes from fellow writers. Mo Hayder dedicated a novel to her. Reporter Richard Rongstad eulogized her as "Iris Chang lit a flame and passed it to others and we should not allow that flame to be extinguished." In 2007, the documentary ''Nanking'' was dedicated to Chang, as well as the Chinese victims of Nanking. "The Man Who Ended History", a story in ''The Paper Managerie'' by
Ken Liu Ken Liu (born 1976) is an American author of science fiction and fantasy. His epic fantasy series ''The Dandelion Dynasty'', which he describes as silkpunk, is published by Simon & Schuster. Liu has won Hugo and Nebula Awards for his short fi ...
about uncovering the history of
Unit 731 , short for Manshu Detachment 731 and also known as the Kamo Detachment and Ishii Unit, was a covert Biological warfare, biological and chemical warfare research and development unit of the Imperial Japanese Army that engaged in unethical h ...
, is dedicated to the memory of Chang. R.F. Kuang's debut novel, '' The Poppy War,'' is dedicated to Iris Chang. Iris Chang Park in San Jose, that opened in November 2019, is a municipal park dedicated to Chang.


Depression and death

Chang suffered a
nervous breakdown A mental disorder, also referred to as a mental illness or psychiatric disorder, is a behavioral or mental pattern that causes significant distress or impairment of personal functioning. Such features may be persistent, relapsing and remitt ...
in August 2004, which her family, friends, and doctors attributed in part to constant
sleep deprivation Sleep deprivation, also known as sleep insufficiency or sleeplessness, is the condition of not having adequate duration and/or quality of sleep to support decent alertness, performance, and health. It can be either chronic or acute and may vary ...
, dozens of herbal supplements, and heavy doses of psychologically damaging prescription medication. At the time, she was several months into research for her fourth book, about the
Bataan Death March The Bataan Death March ( Filipino: ''Martsa ng Kamatayan sa Bataan''; Spanish: ''Marcha de la muerte de Bataán'' ; Kapampangan: ''Martsa ning Kematayan quing Bataan''; Japanese: バターン死の行進, Hepburn: ''Batān Shi no Kōshin'') ...
. She was also promoting ''The Chinese in America''. While en route to
Harrodsburg, Kentucky Harrodsburg is a home rule-class city in Mercer County, Kentucky, United States. It is the seat of its county. The population was 9,064 at the 2020 census. Although Harrodsburg was formally established by the House of Burgesses after Boonesbo ...
, where she planned to gain access to a "
time capsule A time capsule is a historic cache of goods or information, usually intended as a deliberate method of communication with future people, and to help future archaeologists, anthropologists, or historians. The preservation of holy relics dates ...
" of audio recordings from servicemen, she suffered an extreme bout of depression that left her unable to leave her hotel room in
Louisville Louisville ( , , ) is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Kentucky and the 28th most-populous city in the United States. Louisville is the historical seat and, since 2003, the nominal seat of Jefferson County, on the Indiana border. ...
. A local veteran, Arthur Kelly, who was assisting her research helped her check into Norton Psychiatric Hospital in Louisville, where she was diagnosed with reactive psychosis, placed on heavy medication for three days and then released to her parents. After the release from the hospital, she continued to suffer from depression and experienced the side effects of several medications she was taking. Chang was also reportedly deeply disturbed by much of the subject matter of her research. On November 9, 2004, at about 9 a.m., Chang was found dead in her car by a
Santa Clara Valley Water District The Santa Clara Valley Water District (also known as Valley Water) provides stream stewardship, wholesale water supply and flood protection for Santa Clara County, California, in the southern San Francisco Bay Area. The district encompasses all of ...
employee on a rural road south of
Los Gatos, California Los Gatos (, ; ) is an incorporated town in Santa Clara County, California, United States. The population is 33,529 according to the 2020 census. It is located in the San Francisco Bay Area just southwest of San Jose in the foothills of th ...
and west of State Route 17, in
Santa Clara County Santa Clara County, officially the County of Santa Clara, is the sixth-most populous county in the U.S. state of California, with a population of 1,936,259, as of the 2020 census. Santa Clara County and neighboring San Benito County together ...
. Investigators concluded that Chang had shot herself through the mouth with a
revolver A revolver (also called a wheel gun) is a repeating firearm, repeating handgun that has at least one gun barrel, barrel and uses a revolving cylinder (firearms), cylinder containing multiple chamber (firearms), chambers (each holding a single ...
. At the time of her death, she had been taking the medications
Depakote Valproate (VPA) and its valproic acid, sodium valproate, and valproate semisodium forms are medications primarily used to treat epilepsy and bipolar disorder and prevent migraine headaches. They are useful for the prevention of seizures in those ...
and
Risperdal Risperidone, sold under the brand name Risperdal among others, is an atypical antipsychotic used to treat schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. It is taken either by mouth or by injection (subcutaneous or intramuscular). The injectable versions ...
to stabilize her mood. It was later discovered that she had left behind three
suicide note A suicide note or death note is a message left behind by a person who dies or intends to die by suicide. A study examining Japanese suicide notes estimated that 25–30% of suicides are accompanied by a note. However, incidence rates may depen ...
s each dated November 8, 2004. "Statement of Iris Chang" stated:
I promise to get up and get out of the house every morning. I will stop by to visit my parents then go for a long walk. I will follow the doctor's orders for medications. I promise not to hurt myself. I promise not to visit Web sites that talk about suicide.
The next note was a draft of the third:
When you believe you have a future, you think in terms of generations and years. When you do not, you live not just by the day — but by the minute. It is far better that you remember me as I was—in my heyday as a best-selling author—than the wild-eyed wreck who returned from Louisville. ... Each breath is becoming difficult for me to take—the anxiety can be compared to drowning in an open sea. I know that my actions will transfer some of this pain to others, indeed those who love me the most. Please forgive me.
The third note included:
There are aspects of my experience in Louisville that I will never understand. Deep down I suspect that you may have more answers about this than I do. I can never shake my belief that I was being recruited, and later persecuted, by forces more powerful than I could have imagined. Whether it was the
CIA The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA ), known informally as the Agency and historically as the Company, is a civilian foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States, officially tasked with gathering, processing, ...
or some other organization I will never know. As long as I am alive, these forces will never stop hounding me.
Days before I left for Louisville I had a deep foreboding about my safety. I sensed suddenly threats to my own life: an eerie feeling that I was being followed in the streets, the white van parked outside my house, damaged mail arriving at my P.O. Box. I believe my detention at Norton Hospital was the government's attempt to discredit me.
A report from the
San Francisco Chronicle The ''San Francisco Chronicle'' is a newspaper serving primarily the San Francisco Bay Area of Northern California. It was founded in 1865 as ''The Daily Dramatic Chronicle'' by teenage brothers Charles de Young and Michael H. de Young. The pa ...
stated that news of her suicide had a strong impact on survivors of the Nanking Massacre and the Chinese community in general.Kathleen E. McLaughlin
"Iris Chang's suicide stunned those she tried so hard to help"
''San Francisco Chronicle'', November 20, 2004.


Memorials

In tribute to Chang, the survivors held a service at the
Nanjing Massacre Memorial Hall The Memorial Hall of the Victims in Nanjing Massacre by Japanese Invaders is a museum to memorialize those that were killed in the Nanjing Massacre by the Imperial Japanese Army in and around the then-capital of China, Nanjing, after it fell on ...
, around the same time as her funeral, held at the Gate of Heaven Cemetery in
Los Altos, California Los Altos (; Spanish for "The Heights") is a city in Santa Clara County, California, in the San Francisco Bay Area. The population was 31,625 according to the 2020 census. Most of the city's growth occurred between 1950 and 1980. Originally ...
on November 12, 2004. The Memorial Hall, which collects documents, photos, and human remains from the massacre, added both a wing and a bronze statue dedicated to Chang in 2005. In 2017, the Iris Chang Memorial Hall was built in
Huai'an Huai'an (), formerly called Huaiyin () until 2001, is a prefecture-level city in the central part of Jiangsu province in Eastern China. Huai'an is situated almost directly south of Lianyungang, southeast of Suqian, northwest of Yancheng, a ...
, China. In 2019, Iris Chang Park was inaugurated in the Rincon district of San Jose.Mercury News - Iris Chang Park Ready for its Unveiling
/ref>


Publications by Iris Chang

* * *


Publications about Iris Chang

* * * *


See also

*
Global Alliance for Preserving the History of WWII in Asia Global Alliance For Preserving the History of WWII in Asia is a non-profit, non-partisan federation of over 40 grassroots organizations dedicated to the remembrance, redress and reconciliation concerning World War II in Asia, also known as the Pa ...
* John Rabe * Nanking (1937-1945)


References


Further reading


''Nightmare in Nanking''
(1997)


External links


IrisChang.net
— the official home page of Iris Chang
Guide to the Iris Chang Papers
at the California Ethnic and Multicultural Archives of the
University of California at Santa Barbara The University of California, Santa Barbara (UC Santa Barbara or UCSB) is a public land-grant research university in Santa Barbara, California with 23,196 undergraduates and 2,983 graduate students enrolled in 2021–2022. It is part of the U ...

Inventory of the Iris Chang papers
at th
Hoover Institution Archives
of
Stanford University Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is conside ...
. The PDF link leads to the detailed listing called: "Inventory of the Iris Chang papers, 1877-2007" (Collection No. 2004C22: 403 manuscript boxes, 4 cubic foot boxes, 5 oversize boxes, 1 oversize folder, occupying 177.6 linear feet, acquired by the collection posthumously in 2004, with a substantial increment in 2005, and an additional increment in 2011)
Inventory of the Iris Chang Papers -Alumni Records
at the
University of Illinois The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (U of I, Illinois, University of Illinois, or UIUC) is a public land-grant research university in Illinois in the twin cities of Champaign and Urbana. It is the flagship institution of the Uni ...
. Clicking the PDF link will lead to the document: "Iris Chang Papers 1937-1938, 1981-1990, 1996-2003" (Collection No. 26/20/122: 17 boxes, 3.4 cubic feet, acquired May 24, 2002). As well there is an additional listing fo
a second Academic collection
for the periods 1937–1938, 1981–1990, 1998 & 2002 (Collection No. 26/20/122, 2.3 cubic feet, 3 boxes)
Global Alliance for Preserving the History of WWII in Asia
— a federation of NGOs whose mission was to educate the world about the unrecognized wartime horrors committed by Japan in the Pacific theater *

an essay by Sue De Pasquale about Chang's book ''The Rape of Nanking'', Humanities and the Arts,
Johns Hopkins Johns Hopkins (May 19, 1795 – December 24, 1873) was an American merchant, investor, and philanthropist. Born on a plantation, he left his home to start a career at the age of 17, and settled in Baltimore, Maryland where he remained for most ...
Magazine
Iris Chang Memorial Fund
- The fund is committed to carrying out Iris Chang's unfinished dreams and preserving her legacy * {{DEFAULTSORT:Chang, Iris 1968 births 2004 deaths 2004 suicides 20th-century American women writers 21st-century American women American journalists of Chinese descent American writers of Taiwanese descent American women journalists of Asian descent American women writers of Chinese descent Associated Press people Burials in California Female suicides Johns Hopkins University alumni Nanjing Massacre People from Champaign, Illinois People from Princeton, New Jersey Writers from San Jose, California Suicides by firearm in California University Laboratory High School (Urbana, Illinois) alumni Writers from Illinois Writers from New Jersey