An act of infamy that echoes down the ages

Donation

In December 2007, a year after the museum opened, it received its first serious donation: five tapes recorded by Iris Chang, a Chinese-American writer and author of The Rape of Nanking, which sold 500,000 copies in the US in the first few months after publication in 1997.

During July and August 1995, the 27-year-old Chang was in Nanjing, interviewing survivors. The five tapes were recorded during those few weeks.

Chang committed suicide on Nov 9, 2004.

"In November 2007, on the third anniversary of Chang's death, we held a small memorial for her at our museum. The news later reached Chang's parents, who live in the United States. Deeply touched, they contacted us through a professor named Yang, who later, at their request, gave us the five tapes in his keeping," Wu said.

"The reason Chang didn't take the tapes with her in 1995 was that she feared they might be confiscated by the Chinese customs. The tapes contain the writer's interviews with nine survivors, along with what now appear to be the only shots of her at work in Nanjing."

The few seconds in which Chang is seen were the result of an accident.

"The camera fell off the tripod in the middle of an interview with Xia Shuqin, who witnessed the horrifying deaths of seven family members－her parents, two grandparents and three sisters－on the morning of Dec 13, 1937. Picking it up from the ground, Chang looked into the lens while trying to make an adjustment," Wu said. "Wearing a checkered, pale-blue, one-piece dress, she said 'Sorry' to the old lady who was sitting behind her."