Iris Chang’s belief of “the power of one” inspired younger generation in Nanjing

2022-12-10 10:48:00

“Iris Chang lit a flame and passed it to others and we should not allow that flame to be extinguished." Ahead of the ninth national memorial ceremony for the victims of the Nanjing Massacre on December 13, Li Yuhan remembered again the words by US reporter Richard Rongstad.

Li Yuhan (L) and Xia Shuqin (R)

Thirteen-year-old Li is the great-grandson of massacre survivor Xia Shuqin and the youngest of 13 descendants of Nanjing Massacre survivors recognized as "inheritors of historical memories regarding the Nanjing Massacre". He has often heard the story of Iris from his great-grandmother.

Duan Yueping, 90, is former deputy director of the Memorial Hall of the Victims of the Nanjing Massacre by Japanese Invaders. In her memory, Iris raised three requirements when visiting Nanjing in the summer of 1995 to search for physical evidence and witness of the massacre. They are the survivors of the massacre, the places where the killing happened and foreigners once lived, and a collection of Chinese materials.

Duan took Iris to visit the survivors then every week, and she interviewed a dozen of them including Tang Shunshan, Xia Shuqin, Pan Kaiming, Chen Degui, Hou Zhanqing and Li Xiuying, with travels made in almost half of Nanjing.

Xia, the second survivor Iris interviewed, was only eight years old when she was stabbed three times during the Nanjing Massacre in 1937. Her other family members were all killed except her 4-year-old sister, and her mother and two older sisters were all killed after being raped by Japanese soldiers. Xia showed the three scars on her body to Iris in the interview.

Ying-Ying Chang, mother of Iris Chang, said Iris continued to look for other witnesses after returning to the United States in 1995. On April 26, 1996, a German woman familiar with the history of Hamburg, wrote to Iris that she found John Rabe's granddaughter Ursula Reinhardt, who had carefully preserved her grandfather's documents, diaries and photographs including the invaluable materials of the Nanjing Massacre.

Chang Xiaomei, also recognized as inheritor of historical memories regarding the Nanjing Massacre, said her father Chang Zhiqiang lost six family members in 1937 and was reluctant to talk about the history before. In 1997, the year when Iris published her book The Rape of Nanking, Chang Zhiqiang finally broke his silence for more than half a century and began to tell the world about the ordeal, often bursting into tears each time.

"Just like Iris, I also started writing a book in 2018 and published The Life History of Chang Zhiqiang, using words to pass on memories and spread history," the daughter said.

"'The power of one' has been Iris Chang’s belief throughout her life and has always influenced me. I want to be like her and tell the world about 1937, so that tragedy will never happen again. There will be no more war in the world and peace will live forever," said Li Yuhan.