Iris Chang’s belief of “The Power of One” inspires many people

2022-12-12 20:36:00

The "Unforgettable Memories" exhibition in honor of late Chinese-American writer Iris Chang opened in Nanjing on November 23.

It used photos, objects and film footage to showcase the life of the author renowned for "The Rape of Nanking: The Forgotten Holocaust of World War II" published in 1997.

Yu Chengzhang, a Chinese-Canadian committed to telling the historical facts of the Nanjing Massacre in the world, said she still remembers Chang’s visit to Toronto in 2002 to promote her book.

“She was such a young woman but she broke the 60-year-long silence about the Nanjing Massacre in Western society. I admired her talent and was moved by her determination," Yu said.

Yu grew up listening to stories of the horrifying atrocities, from his parents, who were survivors of the massacre. During her study at York University, she was the founder and editor of a magazine Lily that introduced traditional Chinese culture. Yu and her family members spent many years for research in the United States and Canada to compile the archives of Henry Nolan, a Canadian prosecutor in the trial of Iwane Matsui at the International Military Tribunal for the Far East, and then donated it to the Memorial Hall of the Victims in Nanjing Massacre by Japanese Invaders.

Tan Sizhou, former secretary-general of the Global Alliance for Preserving the History of WWII in Asia, is also a volunteer for the reading room to commemorate Chang at the WWII Pacific War Memorial Hall in San Francisco.

"I will still continue to be a volunteer here and this is my way of remembering Iris," Tan said.

As a member of the Overseas Chinese Volunteer Service Team in Huai’an City, Zhou Mengdi also applied to contribute to work at the Memorial Hall of Iris Chang in the city.

"In my eyes, Iris had a rich and vivid personality. She exposed to the world the crimes committed by the Japanese troops in Nanjing, and won the world's respect for the Chinese nation while this also changed her own otherwise peaceful and quiet life," Zhou said.

Chang’s belief of “The Power of One” has been a huge inspiration to young people. After visiting the reading room, many people from different countries have left their messages in different languages.

in Huai’an, delivery workers sent more than 500 bunches of flowers to the Memorial Hall of Iris Chang on March 28, orders placed by people online from across the country to mark the birth of Chang and express their respect for the author.