The audience she has tried to communicate to is the intellectual western society who has possibly not heard or knows little about the Nanking massacre. The purpose of the essays is to educate and make aware of the atrocities here in this area of China. To tell, it seemed to me, is an important part of educating people to what the human species is capable of doing in extreme circumstances. Her tone seems to be one of sympathy to what the Japanese people had to go through before the war between China and Japan. This chapter has done a good job on giving the reader history and background of the country and the people in Japan.

This chapter details the Nanking war crimes tribunal and punishment for the Japanese leaders of that time. During the trials evidence that had been hidden came to the surface, and pictures that the Japanese have taken themselves later convicted them. Later on in the chapter we learn that many of the people who were really responsible were never charged with any crimes. Hirohito never faced a full moral accounting for his activities during the war.

The Fall of Nanking is a chronological narrative of the defeat of the Chinese army in Nanking. It details the four-day ordeal and makes us realize what it was like to live there in the time of the fall. The first thing we ask is why the Chinese army fell from power so easily, we realize that when the leaders left the people lost all hope for Nanking. Rape and torture seemed easy to the Japanese because they could be victimized so easily.

In every horrendous situation there are heroes. This chapter talks about the heroes in the Nanking safety zone. There were twenty-four in total and everyone had a difficult story to tell. Men and women alike had to suffer various forms of physical and mental exhaustion. Doctors took care of the sick; politicians took care of many refugees.

The only surgeon in Nanking died of exhaustion a few years after the atrocities in Nanking. And Minnie Vautrin died in an emotional breakdown, with attempted suicides that eventually succeeded.

Merchants and other Chinese were victims of extortion and drug abuse. Japanese soldiers even used Chinese people for human Guinea pigs for experiments with poison, Germs, and lethal gases. When the war was over the laboratory and the government offices were blown up to hide all the atrocities that happened. After the Americans bombed Nagasaki people would not come out of their houses to celebrate the defeat of Japan because they were fearful the news was not true.

Chang cites that there were many western reporters in Nanking at that time. They protected refugees and became a part of the situation instead of the neutral observers. When news film aired in American movie theaters it outraged the American public. The only problem was the sinking of the ship the Panay caused more anger than the other atrocities in Nanking at the time.

What the World Knew was very accurate because of reporters and news recorders. The outside world knew a lot about what was going on, daily reports of battles, fire, evacuation were reported to the western world. Surprisingly in Japan pictures of mass executions made the newspapers. Before the international opinion kicked in these pictures was a source of pride to the Japanese people. The fall of Nanking made the government very proud.

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Approximate Word count = 1859
Approximate Pages = 7 (250 words per page double spaced)