Rape of Nanking Name Subject Instructor Date

Rape of Nanking (1937-1938) is a phrase used to describe the hell that broke loose in china’s capital city of Nanking. In December 1937, Japanese imperial army marched into China and proceeded to murder 300,000 out of 600,000 civilians and soldiers in the city (The History Place, 2000). The war is viewed as the single worst atrocity during the World War II era and was the most dangerous act against humanity. The violence and wickedness portrayed were far beyond what the human mind could imagine. Ranging from rape, decapitation, death by shots from a machine gun, burying of humans while still alive and burning of fellow humans, the situation would not have been any worse. All these acts went against human rights. With the above analysis, it is imperative to highlight the significant effects brought about due to the violation of human rights in the rape of Nanking and the extent to which cruelty among humans was displayed.
Japan’s uncontrollable desire for aggression, expansion and imperialism drove them to China. During the war, the Japanese believed that fighting was a way of fulfilling the role of Samurai, the ancient warrior whose fate was conquest or death. While they were fighting against China, the Japanese found plenty of conquest and death. Due to their very harsh training they believed this with their hearts (History.com, 2016). The Japanese saw the Chinese as people who were morally deficient and therefore they saw them as lesser beings. Before hitting Nanking, the Japanese first attacked Shanghai and to their surprise they were met with very stiff resistance, and this angered them because they thought they would take down China within three months. This resistance tampered with their timetable. Japanese soldiers were so angry with their defeat, and their appetite for revenge grew against Nanking. After defeating Shanghai, 50,000 Japanese soldiers marched on to Nanking where they met Chinese soldiers who were poorly led and loosely organized (The History Place, 2000). They defeated them, and the survivors retreated. After four days of fighting, the Japanese troops smashed into the city with orders to kill all captives. That is when all hell broke loose in Nanking. It followed a period of murder, rape and many other crimes that went against the fundamental human rights.
Rape of Nanking saw a lot of crimes against humanity in degrees that could not be imagined. With the order to kill all captives, Japanese soldiers committed a lot of atrocities against the Chinese. Every act they did was a violation of human right. The Chinese troops that retreated were assembled and taken to the outskirts of Nanking. That is where the cruel acts begun. The Japanese soldiers conducted bayonet practice on live Chinese prisoners that led to their death (EyeWitness to History, 2009). They decapitated the soldiers and displayed their head as souvenirs while other captives were shot at with machine guns and killed. Other Japanese soldiers preferred torching the captives after binding them on posts and soaking them with gasoline. Some were forced to bury each other alive or to dig their graves where they would also be buried after burying other dead bodies. All the above acts violated the basic fundamental human right to live. The Japanese troops assumed the role of jury, judge and executioner and the young Japanese soldiers were encouraged to inflict maximum pain so as to strengthen them for future battles and to erase any form of mercy in them (EyeWitness to History, 2009). After the destruction of the Chinese soldiers, the Japanese turned their attention to the women of Nanking.
The women suffered some of the most unimaginable pain ever. The women were dragged off to be gang raped. The age range did not matter as older women of over seventy years to young girls of eight years suffered similar experiences. The total number of women raped is estimated to be more than twenty thousand (The History Place, 2000). After the gang raping, the women were stabbed to death or shot so that they may never bear witness against them. The soldiers did not show mercy even to the pregnant women. They raped them and after that, they slit their bellies and tore out the fetuses. No one could imagine such evil could exist in the world. In some other instances they soldiers would break into houses and force the fathers to rape their daughters, sons to rape their mother and brothers to take their sisters. While all this happened, they forced the rest of the family to watch every single bit of these inhumane acts. Xia Shuqin, a survivor, said, “The soldiers burst into their house suddenly and gunned down the father without flinching.” By then she was eight years old. The men then raped all the women of the household leaving only her and her younger sister alive. The Japanese troops established Comfort Women System that enslaved women to prostitution. These women existed only for the satisfaction of the soldiers sexual desires. John Rabe (1988) wrote, "The mother of an attractive young girl called out to me and threw herself on her knees crying and said I should help her. Upon entering the house, I found one soldier lying on top of an underage girl who was crying hysterically. After yelling to the swine soldier in any language it would be understood, he fled from there, naked and with his pants in his hand.” As if all these were not enough, the Japanese troops supplied drugs to the Chinese people irrespective of age and an estimated 50,000 persons became addicted to drugs.
Summarily, the Rape of Nanking remains a significant part of the Chinese history over seventy years later due to many reasons. As much as it is in the past, it does not mean that it is forgotten. It is always omnipresent because almost every spot in Nanking is politically symbolic. Rape of Nanking serves as a metaphor for war crimes to the world. It acts as a reminder of the effects of war. Nations should look at what war brought on to China and think twice about it because innocent lives are lost in the process and lost lives can never be recovered. References Chen, P., C. (2015). Battle of Nanjing and the Rape of Nanjing. Retrieved April 06, 2016, from http://ww2db.com/battle_spec.php?battle_id=38. History.com. (2016). Nanjing Massacre. Retrieved April 06, 2016, from http://www.history.com/topics/nanjing-massacre. Rabe, J. (1988). The Good Man of Nanking, Erwin Wickert (ed.) (1998). The History Place. (2000). The Rape of Nanking 1937-1938. Retrieved April 06, 2016, from http://www.historyplace.com/worldhistory/genocide/nanking.htm. "The Rape of Nanking, 1937" EyeWitness to History, www.eyewitnesstohistory.com (2009). Retrieved April 06, 2016, from http://www.eyewitnesstohistory.com/nanking.htm.