Lecture:Ying-Ying Chang, author of The Woman Who Could Not Forget: Iris Chang Before and Beyond The Rape of Nanking

Asian Culture Center's Over A Cup of Tea presents: Ying-Ying Chang, author of The Woman Who Could Not Forget: Iris Chang Before and Beyond The Rape of Nanking
Date: October 13, 2011 (Thursday)

Time and Venue: 7-8:30pm. Hoagy Carmichael Room, Morrison Hall 006
Description: Ying-Ying Chang, mother of well-known late American writer and journalist Iris Chang, currently published a memoir on her beloved daughter titled The Woman Who Could Not Forget: Iris Chang before and beyond The Rape of Nanking.
Iris Chang had published three books in her short yet brilliant writing career. Her international bestselling book, The Rape of Nanking: The Forgotten Holocaust of World War II, was published in 1997, examines one of the most tragic chapters of World War II: the slaughter, gang rape, and torture of hundreds of thousands of Chinese civilians by Japanese soldiers in the former capital of China in 1937. The book made a huge impact on the global redress movement regarding the Imperial Japanese war crimes in Asia during the World War II. The Woman Who Could Not Forget is the story of Iris Chang's life as told by her mother, written chronologically from her birth in 1968 to her death in 2004. Iris Chang's parents were immigrants from China and Iris was growing up in a bi-lingual and bi-cultural environment. Ying-Ying will give an overview of her book and discuss the major themes of the book which include parents-children relationship, mother-daughter relationship, Iris's passion and her American dream, the impacts of Iris' three books on Asian history and human rights, and finally the causes of her suicide at age of 36. The narrative of the book is based on a huge number of letters and emails between Iris and her parents, as well as the recollections of many lengthy conversations. Readers will learn about Iris Chang: her trials and tribulations, her successes and failures, but the most important is the revelation of Iris' determination and courage in pursuing the historical truth and social justice and her belief in the "Power of One."