Talk:The Rape of Nanking (book)

GA on hold
Sourcing issues Lead Info Style
 * The first source is from a newspaper in China, a country which has a government controlled press. The PRC government is well known for its strident position in condemning JPN, and cannot be taken as a general view as you have done in the lead
 * That source was actually used for a very non-controversial fact - that the book has been translated into other languages. Nonetheless, I have replaced it with a US-based source.  Hong Qi Gong (Talk - Contribs) 05:13, 27 July 2007 (UTC)
 * Source by the "Women of China" is neither functional or independent
 * Got rid of that source and have copy-edited to better reflect replacement source. Hong Qi Gong (Talk - Contribs) 05:45, 27 July 2007 (UTC)
 * Irischang.net is only RS for describing Iris Chang's opinions. Need to find another source for all the other acclaim and so forth.
 * The two "acclaims" that were sourced from IrisChang.net are actually quotes printed on the jacket and the interior of the book itself. They just happened to be hosted on IrisChang.net.  But I have edited the source to point directly at the book.  I have the 1998 Penguin Books edition right next to me right now, and I can see those quotes - The one from Ross Terrill on the back cover, and the one from Beatrice S. Bartlett on the first page in the interior of the book.  Hong Qi Gong (Talk - Contribs) 06:11, 27 July 2007 (UTC)
 * Since the book is actually supposed to be about history, it should be mentioned in the lead what new findings have been proposed by the book and what the academic reaction and controversy is. The lead should reflect the article. At the moment, it only focuses on the positives and fanfare.
 * Done. Intro has been expanded.  Hong Qi Gong (Talk - Contribs) 06:21, 27 July 2007 (UTC)
 * ""sliced babies not just in half but in thirds and fourths" - needs to be pointed out that this is her parents' account, which may or may not be true
 * I've specified that she was told this by her parents. Hong Qi Gong (Talk - Contribs) 06:24, 27 July 2007 (UTC)
 * Not enough on the actual research process and the actual research findings. This is only 50% of the "Inspiration and research" section. It claims that she made significant new findings. She located two diaries, what do they tell us? The findings are not actually spelt out at all. Especially with new information that has never been presented before, the means and new primary sources and documents need to be told.
 * I have expanded upon information about Rabe and Vautrin's diaries. I haven't found any sources that actually discuss exactly what new information they offer that we were not aware of before, but sources do call the discovery of these diaries "significant" or otherwise state that the discovery was an important historical find.  Hong Qi Gong (Talk - Contribs) 07:14, 27 July 2007 (UTC)
 * "Acclaim and criticism" needs to be larger so that the implications of her research and the rebuttal and counter-rebuttal on the alleged flaws and errors are explained properly. If this is supposed to be a history book, then I would say the academic dissection should be more important, come before the public acclaim and be larger.
 * "2004-11-09" why suddenly this format for her death?
 * No particular reason. I knew the exact date and just put it in.  But I've changed it to say "November of 2004".  Hong Qi Gong (Talk - Contribs) 07:21, 27 July 2007 (UTC)
 * Second part of the "public reception" is actually about Chang's death and the reaction to her death, which was after the actual book by a few years. This should be more of an "Aftermath" section at the end since it is a more long term thing
 * I've made an "Aftermath" subsection. Hong Qi Gong (Talk - Contribs) 07:24, 27 July 2007 (UTC)
 * long sentences
 * "In the letter, in response to criticism of inaccurate use of photographs and an inaccurate number of civilian deaths cited by her book, she wrote that there was no evidence that photographs in the book had been fabricated, that the photographs were properly captioned, that the Japan's Foreign Minister at the time, Koki Hirota, had given a figure of 300,000 civilians killed, and that her critics in Japan were right-wingers who denied the existence of the massacre."
 * Sentence has been broken up. Hong Qi Gong (Talk - Contribs) 07:29, 27 July 2007 (UTC)
 * "According to Japan scholar, Ivan P. Hall,[32] revisionist historians in Japan organised a committee of right-wing scholars to condemned the book with repeated appearances at the Foreign Correspondents' Club in Tokyo and throughout Japan, prevailing on Kashiwa Shobo, the contracted Japanese publisher of the book, to insist that Chang edit the book for "corrections" they wanted made, to delete photographs and alter maps, and also to publish a rebuttal to Chang's book"
 * Sentence has been broken up. Hong Qi Gong (Talk - Contribs) 07:36, 27 July 2007 (UTC)

Regards,  Blnguyen  ( bananabucket ) 05:02, 27 July 2007 (UTC)

Thanks for reviewing the article. Let me work on these things. Hong Qi Gong (Talk - Contribs) 05:06, 27 July 2007 (UTC)


 * You're making good progress on what you've implemented so far. There is no hurry on this "Hold" - nobody will get in trouble if it is there longer than 7 days if steady progress is being made. The changes so far have been good. It will be better when you document the new information and the dispute surrounding this and expand on this in the body because at the moment the lead is only telling us that the book did some controversial things without specifying Chang's hypotheses.  Blnguyen  ( bananabucket ) 07:58, 27 July 2007 (UTC)
 * Well this was by far the quickest response from GAN that I've ever gotten. I've had articles waiting in the GAN queue for a whole month, but this one took all of 8 minutes!  Thanks!  I just happened to have been still editing when you put it on hold, so I just started working on your concerns.  Regarding what you said in your message above:
 * I'll try to expand upon the "Acclaim and criticism" section, but so far I've only found one detailed rebuttal directly from Chang (from Google searching, at least). It was a letter that specifically addressed an article in the San Francisco Chronicle that criticised her work.  Most sources seem to only state that she would fiercely defend her work when met with criticism, without actually offering much of any details on the specifics of the criticism vs. rebuttal.  Both this critical article and Chang's rebuttal are already used as references.  I do not feel it is very NPOV if I go into more details about criticism on her work without also offering counter-arguments, so I may end up expanding that section just based on that critical article from San Fran Chronicle and her rebuttal letter to it.  And from what I can see, the critical article does touch on similar points as other criticisms of her book.
 * Sources that I've found do not say what new information her work discovered, but mostly that the book was acclaimed because it brought to light a subject that has been ignored. It seems that her discovery of the diaries of John Rabe and Minnie Vautrin was important not so much because those diaries offer new information we were previously not aware of, but because they offers very detailed accounts on the kind of daily happenings and atrocities that occured during the Nanking Massacre.  At least this is what I've gathered from reading articles about the diaries of Rabe and Vautrin.  Nothing is saying, "from these diaries, we now know X and Y."  I think historians probably consider these diaries significant findings on the face value of their existence alone, since Rabe and Vautrin were both important figures in the Nanking Massacre and these were their diaries.  But I'll do a little more searching and maybe do some more copy-editing on the section about their diaries.  Hong Qi Gong (Talk - Contribs) 16:16, 27 July 2007 (UTC)

Ok, I have expanded upon the "Acclaim and criticism" section. Hong Qi Gong (Talk - Contribs) 08:45, 28 July 2007 (UTC)

Can't find any sources on what might be considered newly discovered information from Rabe and Vautrin's diaries, but I've tried to elaborate a little more on the significance of the diaries. Hong Qi Gong (Talk - Contribs) 17:50, 28 July 2007 (UTC)

Alright, I did a little bit of expansion and copy-edit of the intro to... uh... introduce the book. Hong Qi Gong (Talk - Contribs) 18:44, 28 July 2007 (UTC)


 * Thanks. It's looking pretty good though. However, it doesn't really tell you much about what the book seeks to show. What old information does it seek to debunk? It seems she dug up new diaries which are newly found primary sources. But what of the secondary conclusions that she made from her research. This is a big issue.  Blnguyen  ( bananabucket ) 07:57, 30 July 2007 (UTC)
 * Are you looking for specific examples of what the book says? Because the first few sentences of the intro basically sums up the book already - it's a book about the Nanking Massacre, it talks about the the events leading up the massacre and the atrocities that were committed, and it also talks about how (at least in Chang's opinion) the Japanese government has not done enough to redress WW2 atrocities.  That's what the book does, I've read the book, and that's what sources say about the book.  Is there something unclear about that?  I'm not sure that it "debunks" any old information - I didn't get the sense that that's what the book did, and neither do sources say it debunks anything.  The book is famous not for debunking anything, but for being one of the first English-language books on the subject, and because it became controversial when it prompted people to debate on the facts of the Nanking Massacre (this is covered by the article).  Unless you think examples or instances of specific subject matters from the book are needed, I'm not sure what else to add that the article hasn't already supplied about the book.  Hong Qi Gong (Talk - Contribs) 14:51, 30 July 2007 (UTC)
 * I thought from the phrase "significant discoveries" that she must have found some new evidence which supports a new theory of what happened. But if that is not the case I will pass the article.  Blnguyen  ( bananabucket ) 02:26, 31 July 2007 (UTC)
 * They were called "significant discoveries" by one of the sources, specifically the one that's referenced at the end of that sentence. If that may be a little misleading, I can certainly qualify it.  Right now, the sentence reads:
 * Chang's research led her to make significant discoveries on the subject of the Nanking Massacre...
 * I can edit it to say:
 * Chang's research led her to make what one San Francisco Chronicle article called "significant discoveries" on the subject of the Nanking Massacre...
 * Let me know. Hong Qi Gong (Talk - Contribs) 02:34, 31 July 2007 (UTC)
 * That's fine.  Blnguyen  ( bananabucket ) 02:38, 31 July 2007 (UTC)
 * Does that mean it would be better if I make that edit? Or should I just leave the article alone?  Sorry wasn't sure.  Hong Qi Gong (Talk - Contribs) 02:47, 31 July 2007 (UTC)
 * It seems better to make the edit.  Blnguyen  ( bananabucket ) 02:58, 31 July 2007 (UTC)
 * Done! Hong Qi Gong (Talk - Contribs) 03:02, 31 July 2007 (UTC)

Passed. Well done.  Blnguyen  ( bananabucket ) 03:12, 31 July 2007 (UTC)
 * Thanks! Your criticism was very helpful in improving the article.  Hong Qi Gong (Talk - Contribs) 03:16, 31 July 2007 (UTC)

HongQiGong's reverts, 16 December 2007
The edit at issue is my addition of two paragraphs. Reasons that HongQiGong gave for removal are as follows:


 * 05:42, 16 December 2007 HongQiGong (enough. there's plenty of criticism already.) (undo)
 * 05:55, 16 December 2007 HongQiGong (rv. Look, article is large enough as it is.) (undo)
 * 06:02, 16 December 2007 HongQiGong (Again - plenty of criticism is already offered; and the Efron criticism is actually already included in a section below. Please actually bother to read this article.) (undo)

Firstly, this is an article about a book. Criticism is only a natural content of it. The More criticism=the more content, the better. Secondly, this article is hardly too large as it is. The accusation that merely adding two more paragraphs makes it too large is ridiculous. Thirdly, the Efron criticism that I added is different from the existing one and from a different source. --Saintjust (talk) 06:18, 16 December 2007 (UTC)
 * Firstly, the idea size of an article is 32KB, this article is already 33KB at the version before your insertion. Secondly, there's NPOV issues to consider, the article already had plenty of balance to it.  Thirdly, we don't need to mention as much content about the book as it is possible.  I've tried to simplify the volumes of content that's been written about the book, and the existing criticism that was there already covers what your insertion covers.  Look, I'm trying to write a fair and balanced article here.  Hong Qi Gong (Talk - Contribs) 06:26, 16 December 2007 (UTC)


 * There are tons of article that are longer than this on Wikipedia. Adding a mere two paragraphs to it will hardly make it unacceptably large.


 * This is a controvercial book, and like every article on a controvercial book such as Michael Moore's works and the Bell Curve, it's only natural that it has a long criticism section. The criticism section may be divided into subsections, classified by topics rather than the names of critics. --Saintjust (talk) 06:34, 16 December 2007 (UTC)
 * Yeah, and notice how none of those articles are FA quality. I'm trying to push the article to FA here.  In fact, speaking of Michael Moore, Fahrenheit 9/11 has an entire article just devoted to the controversy around it - Fahrenheit 9/11 controversy.  If you would like to create an article on the controversy about this book, I'd even help.  But the criticism section of the article was already quite big enough before your insertion.  Hong Qi Gong (Talk - Contribs) 06:49, 16 December 2007 (UTC)


 * Surely we could discuss the possibility of making the criticism section an independent article, although I don't think it's too large as it is myself. --Saintjust (talk) 07:06, 16 December 2007 (UTC)
 * Definitely disagree. It's too long right now, with most of the points you added only a repetition of criticism that was already offered from other sources.  Furthermore, Efron's criticism was already mentioned, and Fogel's criticism was also already mentioned before your edit.  Seriously, I'm trying to write a fair and balanced article here.  Hong Qi Gong (Talk - Contribs) 07:14, 16 December 2007 (UTC)

Look, I'm trying to write an FA-class article here. Maybe you are satisfied with leaving the article in a crappy state, but I'm not. These edits you are trying to keep is just not going to work in a FAC. There's undue weight problems, subsections being too small, and points that are being repeated. Again, if you want to write about all the criticism that has been leveled against this book, feel free to write an article on it, and I'd even help you. Hong Qi Gong (Talk - Contribs) 07:25, 16 December 2007 (UTC)


 * If a certain point is being suggested by two or more scholars, then all of them should be mentioned to show the significance of the point. This article still has much room for expansion, especially regarding criticism. It's way too early to consider trimming it pretty for GA nomination. --Saintjust (talk) 07:28, 16 December 2007 (UTC)
 * Article is already at GA status. And I think it offers enough information on the book.  Again, ideal article size is 32KB.  Seriously, your addition is really just not FA quality.  Hong Qi Gong (Talk - Contribs) 07:34, 16 December 2007 (UTC)


 * It lacks depth in the criticism section and in that regard it's not "fine" at all. Writing a FA article for controversial topics like this isn't easy. Try some other article if your only purpose of editing Wikipedia is getting FA status. --Saintjust (talk) 07:38, 16 December 2007 (UTC)

How exactly does your edit add "depth"? It just added more of the same that was already offered by the article. Note also - I'm really not interested in turning this article into some battleground that's inflated with tit-for-tat praise vs. criticism. The article is about all aspects of the book itself, not just the criticism (or praise). This is why I think there was already enough in the criticism section. Hong Qi Gong (Talk - Contribs) 07:41, 16 December 2007 (UTC)


 * More citation increases the reliability of the article. Notability states that "Multiple sources are generally preferred." Also the criticism that I added address many new issues that aren't covered by the existing ones.


 * I might request this article to be demoted from GA status for the obvious attempt to suppress the controversiality of the book in the name of FA. That's a poor excuse that is hardly acceptable. --Saintjust (talk) 07:49, 16 December 2007 (UTC)
 * Jeez. How exactly have I tried to suppress the controversiality of the book?  The introduction itself mentions that it is controversial and has been criticised.  There was already a good criticism section in it before you came in with your addition.  Hong Qi Gong (Talk - Contribs) 07:52, 16 December 2007 (UTC)


 * In either way, as far as you are opposing my addition of the two paragraphs for whatever reason, it constitutes a content dispute.


 * The paragraphs that I am adding are well-sourced and noteworthy. That you want to keep the article pretty for FA nomination is not a good reason for the flat rejection of them. --Saintjust (talk) 08:23, 16 December 2007 (UTC)


 * Everything I've wrote here in my argument with you is about article size, NPOV, etc. And FA class quality represents the ideal state of an article.  We should basically be writing all articles with FA in mind - what it basically means is article improvement.  Hong Qi Gong (Talk - Contribs) 08:35, 16 December 2007 (UTC)

Arbitrary break #1

 * 1) Hong Qi Gong's claim that adding a mere two paragraphs to the article will disqualify it from future FA status just because of its length is ridiculous when there are many featured articles that are longer than this (e.g. Japan, Arrested Development).
 * 2) This is an article about a book and not about a historical fact. Criticism is only a natural content of articles on books. Moreover, this is a controversial book. Like every other article on a controversial book such as the Bell Curve and Michael Moore's works, it's only natural that it has a long criticism section. The sections "Research" and "The book" already describe Chang's point of view in great length. The size of these two sections plus the section "Responding to criticism" is way bigger than that of the criticism section. In fact, the criticism section should be expanded and split into subsections by the topics of criticisms rather than the names of critics.
 * 3) The criticisms by David M. Kennedy and Sonni Efron that I added in my edit are well-sourced and noteworthy. They address new issues that are not mentioned by the ones existing in the old version of the article. Flat rejection of them in their entirety is uncalled-for.
 * 4) Even if Kennedy and Efron address some same issues that are already mentioned by other critics in the article, that they address those issues also is still a noteworthy fact because it shows the very significance of the issues. That many critics are making an issue out of the same point shows the greater significance of the point than only one critic questioning it. Notability states that "multiple sources are generally preferred."  At the least the criticisms by Kennedy and Efron should be incorporated into the article partially if not in their entirety; or just the citation of their criticisms may be footnoted in the relevant section of the article. In either way, flat rejection is not acceptable.
 * 5) While Kennedy and Efron are addressing the same issue of factual inaccuracy, for example, they are not pointing out the inaccuracy of exact same parts of the book as other critics. What's important is not just the general inaccuracy of the book, but the inaccuracy of the specific claims that Chang is making in the book. She discusses many issues, and each of them is important and noteworthy in its own right. --Saintjust (talk) 09:42, 16 December 2007 (UTC)

I will make one comment to say that SJ is correct on the length issue. Adding a few paragraphs will not stop the book getting FA status is they are properly sourced, balanced, etc. Maybe one paragraph would do instead of 2-3, but there shouldn't be a total veto on addition of new sources just because they're critical. John Smith&#39;s (talk) 12:47, 16 December 2007 (UTC)

If you cannot agree on what to do, I suggest a RfC to get more outside views on the matter. John Smith&#39;s (talk) 12:49, 16 December 2007 (UTC)

Good article reassessment
I am proposing this article to be delisted due to the currently undergoing content dispute above at.

A certain editor is adamantly opposed to the expansion of the criticism section in the name of keeping it pretty for FA nomination, resulting in content dispute. This is a very controversial book that still has much room for expansion. The article has a npov tag on it now (placed by myself). --Saintjust (talk) 08:15, 16 December 2007 (UTC)


 * The GAR was archived here: Good article reassessment/Archive 33. GAR is not the place to solve content disputes.  Please keep these discussions on the article talk page.  If you seek additional comment or wish to build consensus, please go to WP:RFC.--Jayron32| talk | contribs  06:55, 18 December 2007 (UTC)

Japanese translation of the book just came out in December 2007
Need more info on this. --Saintjust (talk) 14:57, 17 December 2007 (UTC)

Golf stick
What is the point of this - bar a desire to include any criticism one can find:

"Timothy M. Kelly writes that Chang was "less than a polished writer" and that "her editor and proofreaders were negligent in their duties." He provided examples of writing from the book as evidence: Chang wrote, "Another rape victim was found with a golf stick rammed into her" but that, he wrote, "Golfers do colloquially refer to their clubs as 'sticks,' but surely the generic term 'golf club' is called for here or possibly 'the shaft of a golf club'."[43]"

Firstly, this is a criticism of the editorial team, not of the author, but more importantly it is so utterly trivial it makes the "criticism" seem desperate and petty. Thirdly, it is not a "contradiction" (the title of the section in which it appears) Paul B (talk) 12:10, 18 December 2007 (UTC);


 * (Saw the GAR and came over here to offer an observation). I agree with Paul Barlow's observation. While the article should contain criticism, the current version is swamped with trivia critical of the book. Trim it back to make the article encyclopedic. Cheers, Majoreditor (talk) 13:25, 18 December 2007 (UTC)


 * The golf stick criticism is from the old version of the article that became GA, not from the expanded version of mine. --Saintjust (talk) 13:40, 18 December 2007 (UTC)


 * Your excessively expanded version holds too many trivial contents. --Appletrees (talk) 14:06, 18 December 2007 (UTC)


 * None of the criticisms that I added is "trivial." --Saintjust (talk) 14:16, 18 December 2007 (UTC)


 * No, Saintjust. You broke the balance as adding "trivial" contents to the article from your sources. Prof. Kennedy's critic is full of biases against China, and blatant pro-Japanese approach, and Eurocentrism. According to wiki, Mr. Kennedy is specializing in "American history" not in "East Asia" and has his own controversies. Even though his reputation is notable to study of American history, but not to history of East Asia. --Appletrees (talk) 14:46, 18 December 2007 (UTC)


 * Kennedy is a reputable professor of history at Standard whose credibility is far greater than that of Iris Chang or most of other scholars mentioned in the article. Your personal opinion of him doesn't count without reputable sources to back it up. --Saintjust (talk) 14:56, 18 December 2007 (UTC)


 * You picked especially the "trivial sentences" among his critic along with "petty" subcategories from your own standard, which makes the article "unbalanced". The reputable professor is also a human and if his critic were not worthy to include here, then we can delete his opinion with "consensus".--Appletrees (talk) 15:06, 18 December 2007 (UTC)


 * Like I said, a pseudonymous Wikipedia editor's unsourced, ad hominem attack on a reputable scholar like Kennedy doesn't count. --Saintjust (talk) 15:13, 18 December 2007 (UTC)


 * Like you said? when? where? here? You might've mistook your wording to someone somewhere else with your above comment. And yeah, you're making this article with your "ad hominem attack". And I simply point out on the general problems of his critic and your writings--Appletrees (talk) 15:21, 18 December 2007 (UTC)


 * The bottom line is that as far as the source of the info on professor Kennedy's criticism being "full of biases against China, and blatant pro-Japanese approach, and Eurocentrism" is a pseudonymous Wikipedia editor and nothing else, it doesn't merit consideration. --Saintjust (talk) 15:26, 18 December 2007 (UTC)


 * Wikipedia is made and operated by the very "pseudonymous Wikipedia editors". You're forgetting Wkipedia spirit? My opinion itself also has amerit to enrich Wikipedia unlike vandals or disruptive editors. I, of course, have my opinion and thought on the "notable professor". So far, you're the only one to insist expanding the criticism section. Interesting. --Appletrees (talk) 15:39, 18 December 2007 (UTC)


 * Not without reputable sources. Please read WP:V, WP:CITE, and WP:NOR. --Saintjust (talk) 15:44, 18 December 2007 (UTC)


 * The reputation of the professor does not always guarantee the quality of his every writings. Please don't use fallacies like "appeal to authority". I think you should re-read the mentioned the likes. --Appletrees (talk) 16:15, 18 December 2007 (UTC)


 * The pseudonymity of a regular Wikipedia editor will never guarantee the quality of such a loaded judgement of a reputable Stanford history professor's criticism as that it is "full of biases against China, and blatant pro-Japanese approach, and Eurocentrism." --Saintjust (talk) 16:36, 18 December 2007 (UTC)


 * A certain Wikipedian with pseudonymous ID also hasn't convinced others here at all because of the user's fallacies. His/her general expanded wording looks "petty" and are not favorable by far. The editor's personal attacking is also in the same vein.--Appletrees (talk) 16:43, 18 December 2007 (UTC)


 * You are the only one making an unsourced, ad hominem attack on the Stanford professor as being "full of biases against China, and blatant pro-Japanese approach, and Eurocentrism" here. --Saintjust (talk) 16:52, 18 December 2007 (UTC)

A final set of suggestions before I leave this talk page: Good luck with your editing. Cheers, Majoreditor (talk) 14:35, 18 December 2007 (UTC)
 * Combine the Criticism section and response sections. Eliminate all sub-sections.
 * Pare down the criticism. Keep the most noteable criticism, eliminating the rest. For example, the article doesn't benefit by including Efron's comments, nor does the "pure baloney" quotation help.
 * Yes. Thank you.  Hong Qi Gong (Talk - Contribs) 19:22, 18 December 2007 (UTC)

Problems of Saintjust's editing
I deeply concern about your lack of logical strategy" like your repeating one sentence several times and confusing personal attacking with my valid criticism on the professor's writing. I haven't attacked the professor unlike you doing this to me. I only "criticize" his credibility on the history of East Asia and the critic. Like I said, he has his own controversies on his critics per "Wikipedia" (of course, sourced). Besides, your selected citations of the professor is to defame the quality of this featured book and author. That is beyond good faith. And the judgement of his criticism is up to many readers like me. --Appletrees (talk) 17:15, 18 December 2007 (UTC)


 * Your criticism of professor Kennedy is that his criticism is "full of biases against China, and blatant pro-Japanese approach, and Eurocentrism." This is what you wrote yourself right above, in your very second reply in the section. You also mentioned Kennedy's "bias" in the edit summary of : "The source is biased, so the whole citation by Kennedy can be deleted." This is the very first comment that you made on Kennedy. This is an unsourced, ad hominem attack on Kennedy, that could very well be in violation of Biographies of living persons. --Saintjust (talk) 17:41, 18 December 2007 (UTC)


 * What a thoughtful editor you are. You don't need to bother yourself searching the link over the jungle. I need to paste his several comments here from the web text. I'm really curious as to why you missed to put the link in the cite template which is easily found and accessible by googling. By the way, your ad hominem attack on me is certainly inexcusable and please stop doing disruptive behaviors. We're here to build up Wikipedia in a constructive way. I get you are not "happy" about the article's GA status. My comment on the edit summary was to initiate a rebuttal against your unilateral expansion. You need to be more patient of other people following your "so-call improvement". My criticism on the professor is not violating anything but is like the all criticisms against our author here.--Appletrees (talk) 18:09, 18 December 2007 (UTC)


 * Your criticism of professor Kennedy is an unfounded, ad hominem attack. Either provide reliable sources to back up your criticism or it's not worth consideration. Any contentious material about living persons that is unsourced, relies upon sources that do not meet standards specified in WP:V, or is a conjectural interpretation of a source (cf. WP:NOR) are unacceptable on Wikipedia. This applies to user and talk pages also. Please be careful. --Saintjust (talk) 18:20, 18 December 2007 (UTC)


 * Your bare assertion fallacy doesn't prove your theory that I made a personal attack on the professor. But your certainly made ad hominem attack on me. Your comments resorting to the fallacy of appealing to authority are also "unsourced" and "unconfirmed" except you. And you're acting like a ruler of the article, which behaviors can be found throughout this talk page and the GA discussion. You should also re-read WP:OWN and WP:CIVILITY.  —Preceding unsigned comment added by Appletrees (talk • contribs) 18:35, 18 December 2007 (UTC)


 * Kennedy is a valid source, no matter what other imbroglios he's gotten himself into. His criticism of the book is right on the money. Chang should never have written that the book was "not intended as a commentary on the Japanese character". The storm of her writing within belies this calm statement. The Kennedy quote stays. Binksternet (talk) 17:48, 18 December 2007 (UTC)

Improving the criticism section
Kennedy is in, Kelly is out. I agree that Kennedy is a valid source, but Saintjust basically copied and pasted entire passages from the source. It also launched into a tirade about the modern treatnment of the Nanking Massacre itself that can be easily simplified. Kelly is out - his criticism essentially has nothing to do with the meat of the book itself - which is the Nanking Massacre. It was all about how Chang should have wrote "golf club" instead of "golf stick", and how she supposedly plagiarised passages that don't actually have anything to do with the Nanking Massacre itself. You can read it yourself here. His criticism was mentioned in the article before I started editing it, so I did not want to take it out because there was a stable balance of POVs at the time. I've also moved Higashinakano back to the "Reaction in Japan" section - there was a good reason why he was there instead of in the "Criticism" section. He doesn't even think the massacre happened, and that it was fabricated. Hong Qi Gong (Talk - Contribs) 20:35, 18 December 2007 (UTC)


 * At first glance, your revision looks better than Saintjust's untidy version in disorder. The direct citation about Japanese apologies with Japanese terms was really cliche and unnecessary to this article although Kennedy pointed out some critical faults of the book: lack of the researches, motives of the crime, etc.


 * I think that improving "acclaims and her activities related to the book is needed now. The criticism section still seems long in proportion of the entire article.--Appletrees (talk) 21:23, 18 December 2007 (UTC)


 * Yeah, the criticism section is still disproportionally long, but if the amount of criticism stays at its current amount, I'm actually neutral about the size of the "Acclaims" section. Having said that, I've been trying to get access to this book review, and this article in order to add to the Acclaims section.  The second link I provided in particular is important because George Will's praise has actually been mentioned in a few articles about the book.  If we can't gain access to that book review and that article, I'm still OK with the current size of the Acclaims section.  They just would make great additions.  Hong Qi Gong (Talk - Contribs) 22:03, 18 December 2007 (UTC)


 * The controversiality is one of the important, noteworthy facts about this book, and it's only natural for an article on such a controversial book to have a long criticism section. Criticism isn't just about the reception of the book as a whole and can't be simply paired with "acclaim" like for other uncontroversial books. It is more about the important historical issues that book has raised, as it invigorated the whole industry of the Nanking Massacre scholarship, especially in Japan where several books have been published in express response to Chang. In terms of proportion the criticism section is hardly too long when the other sections such as "Research," "The book," "Acclaim," and "Responding to criticism" all support Chang's POV.


 * Higashinakano is a historian and critic nonetheless. Segregating his criticism is biased and unacceptable. Chang herself isn't any better than him anyway. The Golf stick criticism is out. Other criticisms made by Kelly and Efron stay. --Saintjust (talk) 03:07, 19 December 2007 (UTC)
 * None of Kelly's criticism actually had to do with the facts of the massacre itself. He's out.  Higashinakano belongs in the "Reaction in Japan" section because we shouldn't give undue weight to someone who goes as far as deny that the massacre exists.  Efron talks about the reaction in Japan, so that's where he belongs too.  Hong Qi Gong (Talk - Contribs) 03:55, 19 December 2007 (UTC)


 * This is an article about the book The Rape of Nanking and not about the Nanking Massacre itself.
 * That Higashinakano doesn't qualify for a notable critic is an unsourced opinion of yours and doesn't merit consideration without reputable sources to back it up. --Saintjust (talk) 04:01, 19 December 2007 (UTC)
 * Strawman arguement - I could say the same about his inclusion in the criticism section, that he is a notable critic is an unsourced opinion of yours. But anyway, that's exactly why we have WP:UNDUE.  Please read it:  NPOV says that the article should fairly represent all significant viewpoints that have been published by a reliable source, and should do so in proportion to the prominence of each. Now an important qualification: Articles that compare views should not give minority views as much or as detailed a description as more popular views, and may not include tiny-minority views at all.  Hong Qi Gong (Talk - Contribs) 04:05, 19 December 2007 (UTC)
 * He is a professor of Intellectual History at Asia University. That's good enough a source on his notability, whereas you've got zero source to back up your own opinion of him. --Saintjust (talk) 04:12, 19 December 2007 (UTC)
 * Here you go - he denies that there was a massacre and that the whole thing is "pure baloney". This qualifies him as a tiny minority, even in Japan, I suspect.  Hong Qi Gong (Talk - Contribs) 04:15, 19 December 2007 (UTC)
 * No, it doesn't. Higashinakano is hardly a small minority when the whole conservative half of the history scholarship in Japan are harshly critical of Iris Chang's work. Even Japanese liberals are arguing that "Chang's flawed scholarship damages their cause." Besides, this article is about the book by Iris Chang and not the Nanking Massacre itself. --Saintjust (talk) 04:21, 19 December 2007 (UTC)
 * Are you trying to tell me that the entire "conservative half of the history scholarship in Japan" thinks the massacre never happened like Higashinakano does? So to use an argument employed by yourself, where is your source?  Hong Qi Gong (Talk - Contribs) 04:31, 19 December 2007 (UTC)
 * There is a variety of arguments against Chang from Japanese scholars. Higashinakano is just one of them. --Saintjust (talk) 04:45, 19 December 2007 (UTC)
 * That still doesn't take away from the fact that including Higashinakan in the criticism section is a violation of WP:UNDUE. Hong Qi Gong (Talk - Contribs) 05:00, 19 December 2007 (UTC)
 * Higashinakano is just one of many critics of Chang. Your accusation of him as being a small minority that lacks notability is unsourced. --Saintjust (talk) 05:05, 19 December 2007 (UTC)
 * I already gave you the source actually. He thinks the massacre was made up.  That's a minority view, even in Japan.  Hong Qi Gong (Talk - Contribs) 05:21, 19 December 2007 (UTC)
 * That's just an article that Higashinakano wrote. Your interpretation of it constituting an evidence for his lack of notability or what not is a product of WP:NOR. --Saintjust (talk) 05:26, 19 December 2007 (UTC)
 * Please actually take the time to WP:NOR. Nothing I want to insert in the article is unsourced or taken out of context.  And I have never said he lacks notability, I have only said that including him in the criticism section is undue weight.  Hong Qi Gong (Talk - Contribs) 05:29, 19 December 2007 (UTC)
 * Your accusation of him causing "undue weight" is unsourced. The article that you cited is just an article written by Higashinakano himself. Besides, like I said earlier, this is an article about the book by Iris Chang and not the Nanking Massacre itself. --Saintjust (talk) 05:33, 19 December 2007 (UTC)

Saintjust's arguing
Again, please read WP:NOR:
 * Wikipedia does not publish original research or original thought. This includes unpublished facts, arguments, and ideas; and any unpublished analysis or synthesis of published material that serves to advance a position. This means that Wikipedia is not the place to publish your opinions, experiences, or arguments. Citing sources and avoiding original research are inextricably linked: to demonstrate that you are not presenting original research, you must cite reliable sources that provide information directly related to the topic of the article, and represent those sources accurately.

I am not trying to publish original research or original thought - I have never advocated we should write in the article that he is in the minority view. WP:NOR pertains to what we should and should not add to articles, not how we ascertain if WP:UNDUE applies. Hong Qi Gong (Talk - Contribs) 05:36, 19 December 2007 (UTC)
 * Your rational behind the treatment of Higashinakano in your version of the article makes it an original research.
 * Higashinakano is not the only critic who criticizes the factual accuracy of the book. Nor is Higashinakano the only critic who questions the photographic evidences used in the book. The criticism section is in fact full of critics who make such criticisms. Higashinakano is hardly a minority here. --Saintjust (talk) 05:43, 19 December 2007 (UTC)
 * Actually the photo critique was already mentioned before you decided to inflate the article with other criticism. The Buress criticism specifically mentions Ikuhiko Hata as the source of the photo critique.  Furthermore, Higashinakano's critique of "90 historical factual errors" doesn't even address the Nanking Massacre itself.  It's trivial and it does a huge disservice to the readers to include him in the criticism section.  And again, WP:NOR pertains to what we should and should not add to an article, not how we determine whether or not WP:UNDUE applies.  You keep repeating "original research", but it's quite irrelevant.  I'm not trying to add anything to the article that is not sourced.  Hong Qi Gong (Talk - Contribs) 05:52, 19 December 2007 (UTC)
 * This is an article about the book The Rape of Nanking, and not about the massacre itself. Higashinakano's opinion on the massacre itself is not a concern here. This article mentions his specific criticism of Chang's use of photographic evidences in her book. There is no concern of undue weight about it when there are many other critics who make similar criticisms of the book.
 * You want to have Higashinakano's criticism in the "Reaction in Japan" section, whereas I want it in the criticism section. Your version of the article is OR because your rational behind the treatment of Higashinakano is unsourced. --Saintjust (talk) 06:16, 19 December 2007 (UTC)
 * Not sure how many times I must repeat this, but again, WP:NOR pertains to what specific text we should add or not add to the article, not how we determine if something violates WP:UNDUE. I've never said that we should add anything to the article that is unsourced.  And currently, the Higashinakano criticism doesn't even mention any photograph-related issues.  I mean, no offense, but do you actually read the article?  Right now, the Higashinakano criticism doesn't say anything about photographs, and neither do the sources for Higashinakano's criticism mention any photographs either.  And the book is about the Nanking Massacre itself, if someone thinks the whole massacre was fabricated, then it most definitely is a minority view applicable to WP:UNDUE.  Hong Qi Gong (Talk - Contribs) 06:46, 19 December 2007 (UTC)
 * The bottom line is that your accusation of Higashinakano causing "undue weight" is unsourced. It's not much of a difference if the case most directly falls under WP:NOR or WP:V or what not since all the the policies work together hand in hand anyway. It's not worth consideration as far as it's unsourced. You can't reject an sourced edit without equally sourced reasoning. If you consider Higashinakano's criticism of Chang's book as being a small minority that doesn't merit reference, then cite some reputable sources that argue so. You can't remove a sourced edit just by alleging it's causing undue weight without providing equally reputable sources to back up your allegation.


 * The current paragraph on Higashinakano's criticism may be moved to the factual inaccuracies section.


 * The paragraphic evidences section then could have this sentence instead: In the best-selling book A Study of "The Rape of Nanking", Nobukatsu Fujioka and Shudo Higashinakano extensively examine and criticize the photograph evidences used in The Rape of Nanking.


 * This sentence of Higashinakano may be removed from the article: "As further criticism of Chang's book, Higashinakano argued, in an opinion column that appeared in Sankei Shimbun, that the book was "pure baloney", that there was "no witness of illegal executions or murders", and that "there existed no 'Rape of Nanking' as alleged by the Tokyo Trial." --Saintjust (talk) 08:21, 19 December 2007 (UTC)
 * The bottom line really is that WP:NOR applies to adding unsourced content to the article that is original research - not how we determine if something is undue weight. And I have provided a source already on why he is in the minority opinion.  You keep harping WP:NOR, but it's irrelevant.  It's a strawman argument and I could apply it to your own opinion that he does deserve to be in the criticism section:  that you think he should be in the criticism section because he is a "professor of Intellectual History at Asia University" is original research.  And what is the implication here if Higashinakano is not actually in the minority opinion?  Are you trying to tell me that the majority of historians in Japan think like he does, that the massacre was all made up?  And no I don't think the current text mentioning him ought to be deleted - it should be placed in the "Reaction in Japan" section, because that's what it is, it's part of the reaction in Japan to the book.  Hong Qi Gong (Talk - Contribs) 11:58, 19 December 2007 (UTC)
 * A reply posted in the section below. --Saintjust (talk) 12:56, 19 December 2007 (UTC)

Hong Qi Gong's removal of the NPOV tag
Please stop removing the NPOV tag at the least. That you consider your version neutral is not a good reason to remove it when there are other editors who are contesting its neutrality. Whatever version the article stays at a moment, it doesn't change the fact that the POV of this article is being disputed. --Saintjust (talk) 04:08, 19 December 2007 (UTC)
 * You wrote earlier that you put the tag in for MY sake. So that's why I've removed it.  But if you insist, I'll keep the tag in for the time being.  Hong Qi Gong (Talk - Contribs) 04:11, 19 December 2007 (UTC)


 * The NPOV tag is for the state of the article, not just for a particular version. Of course the disputing parties consider their own version "neutral". That's the very cause of the dispute. --Saintjust (talk) —Preceding comment was added at 04:25, 19 December 2007 (UTC)

Chang's death
This section should be moved down to the very last text position above "References". Why would her death be under "Acclaim"? Binksternet (talk) 05:35, 19 December 2007 (UTC)
 * Before the addition about her depression, that section was only about how her death caused others to memorialise her for her work on this book. That's why it was in the Acclaim section.  Hong Qi Gong (Talk - Contribs) 05:38, 19 December 2007 (UTC)


 * Ah, I get it. In fact, I'm the one who added the depression info. I just couldn't see the logical flow from "Yay, she's loved in China" directly to "Succumbing to her battle with depression..." in the next sentence. That's why I felt drawn to add a little connective tissue to tie the paragraph together. There was a danger of adding too much to the Death paragraph; too much makes it edges toward being appropriate only on the Iris Chang biography page. I think the compact amount of depression data I added helps establish that people near Chang thought it was the Nanking book that pushed her further into mental illness.


 * I'll move the paragraph to the bottom when I get the chance. Binksternet (talk) 06:33, 19 December 2007 (UTC)

Saintjust's edit (Criticism section)
I would like to gauge what other editors think of Saintjust's edit. Take the time to read the current version of the Criticism section, which is Saintjust's preferred version. Let me point out that I was actually the one that wrote most of the "Contradictions and factual inaccuracies" and "Photographic evidences" sections - Saintjust only rearranged the passages. I see at least three problems with the Criticism section right now: Anyway, I think I basically know that Saintjust disagrees with all these points. I would like to hear what other editors think about these issues. Hong Qi Gong (Talk - Contribs) 12:29, 19 December 2007 (UTC)
 * 1) Timothy M. Kelly's criticism should be thrown out. It actually has nothing to do with the Nanking Massacre itself.  It was all on editorial problems, things like how Chang wrote "a golf stick rammed into her" when he thinks she should have used "golf club".
 * 2) The current Shudo Higashinakano criticism passage about "90 historical factual errors" should be moved to the "Reaction in Japan" section. Those "factual errors" are trivial at best and Higashinakano plainly denies that a massacre even existed.  It is WP:Undue weight to present him to the readers as credible criticism.
 * 3) The current section called "The treatment of the Nanking Massacre in the West and Japan" needs to be trimmed down because it diverges into a discussion of the modern treatment of the massacre itself. It is sufficient to end Kennedy's criticism in this section at the sentence ...let alone express regret for them."  Sonni Efron's part of that section can be thrown out - with the exception of the first half of the first sentence, that entire passage has more to do with modern treatment of the Nanking Massacre than it does the book itself.


 * 1.A. The inclusion of Higashinakano's criticism is not causing any "WP:Undue weight" problem like HongQiGong alleges. Firstly, Higashinakano is not the only critic who criticizes the factual accuracies of the book. The criticism section is in fact full of critics who make such criticisms. Higashinakano is hardly a minority here when even Japanese liberals are arguing that "Chang's flawed scholarship damages their cause." Secondly, this is an article about Chang's book and not the massacre itself. His opinion on the massacre itself is not directly relevant to the acceptance of his criticism of the accuracy of the book. Thirdly, he is not a small minority even in the Nanking massacre debate also when the whole conservative half of the history scholarship in Japan downplay the size of the massacre and are harshly critical of Iris Chang's work.


 * 1.B. This is the alleged "source" that HongQiGong provided for his accusation of Higashinakano being a small minority that causes an "undue weight" problem: . It's an article titled "California State Assembly Should Indict the Atomic Bomb Droppings on Japan," written by Shudo Higashinakano himself. Where in the article does Higashinakano say that he is "a small minority" of anything? Where does he say that his criticism of the factual accuracies of Chang's book a small minority? The fact of the mater is nowhere in the article does he mention such a thing. The only known fact about Higashinakano's notability now is that he is a professor of Intellectual History at Asia University, and that he is a co-author of A Study of "The Rape of Nanking". And that's sourced.


 * 1.C. Higashinakano's criticism currently in the photographic evidences section only needs to be moved to the factual inaccuracies section. The photographic evidences section then could have this sentence instead:
 * "In A Study of "The Rape of Nanking", Nobukatsu Fujioka and Shudo Higashinakano extensively examine and criticize the photograph evidences used in The Rape of Nanking. " 


 * 1.D. This sentence of Higashinakano may be removed from the article:
 * "As further criticism of Chang's book, Higashinakano argued, in an opinion column that appeared in Sankei Shimbun, that the book was "pure baloney", that there was "no witness of illegal executions or murders", and that "there existed no 'Rape of Nanking' as alleged by the Tokyo Trial."


 * 2. Kelly's criticism is fine and should stay. Kelly's golf stick criticism is no longer in the article and nobody is insisting on its inclusion now. This is the description of Kelly's criticism in the current version:
 * "Journalist Timothy M. Kelly described the book as "simple carelessness, sheer sloppiness, historical inaccuracies, and shameless plagiarism." He pointed out that "Chang's discussion of Japanese history exhibits several gross errors," citing her writing of subjects such as 15th and 16th century Japan and Matthew C. Perry. According to Kelly, Chang also had plagiarized passages and an illustration from Japan's Imperial Conspiracy by David Bergamini."


 * 3. The section "The treatment of the Nanking Massacre in the West and Japan" isn't any disproportionately longer than other sections in the article. It is fine as it is. --Saintjust (talk) 13:12, 19 December 2007 (UTC)

Whatever we do though, if we are to keep Higashinakano's criticism somewhere in the article, it is extremely important that we include how he thinks that the massacre is made up. It's a huge disservice to the readers to present him as criticism without giving them the context that he's a massacre denier. Hong Qi Gong (Talk - Contribs) 13:48, 19 December 2007 (UTC)


 * Create a new article on Higashinakano and write there if you are so concerned about his opinion on the massacre, like Nobukatsu Fujioka and Ikuhiko Hata. --Saintjust (talk) 14:00, 19 December 2007 (UTC)
 * My point still stands - it's a huge disservice to use him without mentioning that he's a massacre denier. And it's strange that you think we ought to leave that out when you want to leave in most of the passages from Efron and Kennedy - most of those passages are about their opinions on the massacre itself, which, as you yourself have said, is "not directly relevant".  Anyway, I know you want to have your say, but I would like to hear what others think of the issues that are raised here, too.  Hong Qi Gong (Talk - Contribs) 14:08, 19 December 2007 (UTC)


 * If you want the info so much, then it could be incorporated in this paragraph:
 * "In A Study of "The Rape of Nanking", Nobukatsu Fujioka and Shudo Higashinakano extensively examine and criticize the photograph evidences used in The Rape of Nanking, concluding that none of them constitutes evidence of the incident. " 
 * That's relevant.
 * Higashinakano and others are mentioned in the Reaction in Japan section also anyway. Mention their background and what not there. --Saintjust (talk) 14:25, 19 December 2007 (UTC)

Saintjust - I've requested an RfC on our current dispute. I would like to ask though, are you willing to compromise? Because if you are not, then much of our discussion is pointless. There are a few possible places I am willing to compromise. Amongst them, but not exclusive to: we can leave Higashinakano somewhere in the Criticism section if we also add that he does not think the massacre existed, and we can leave the Criticism section with subsections provided that the subsections are big enough. Hong Qi Gong (Talk - Contribs) 14:31, 19 December 2007 (UTC)


 * Like I said, I don't mind if you write it in the Reaction in Japan section. --Saintjust (talk) 14:35, 19 December 2007 (UTC)

To assist other editors who may be entering the discussion -
 * 1) Timothy M. Kelly's criticism is sourced here -
 * 2) That Higashinakano denies the massacre even existed is sourced here - - the article is written by Higashinakano himself:  Not only is the claim that 300,000 Chinese in Nanking were killed a falsity, there existed no "Rape of Nanking" as alleged by the Tokyo Trial.
 * 3) The source for Kennedy is here -, and the source for Efron is here - . My stance is that what is mentioned for these two critics can be shortened from what the article currently reads.  Hong Qi Gong (Talk - Contribs) 14:43, 19 December 2007 (UTC)


 * The article says that "no "Rape of Nanking" as alleged by the Tokyo Trial". It doesn't say that no massacre or killing of any magnitude ever happened there. --Saintjust (talk) 14:48, 19 December 2007 (UTC)


 * That's the impression I got from Higashinakano as well. He seems to define the killings as legal (chasing down Chinese soldiers in hiding, punishing criminals, etc.) Binksternet (talk) 15:14, 19 December 2007 (UTC)


 * Yes, but can we add that about him in the Criticism section if we leave him in the Criticism section? Something like this:
 * In A Study of "The Rape of Nanking" Nobukatsu Fujioka and Shudo Higashinakano, who alleged that "there existed no 'Rape of Nanking' as alleged by the Tokyo Trial" examined and criticized the photographic evidence... Hong Qi Gong (Talk - Contribs) 15:07, 19 December 2007 (UTC)
 * I am OK with putting the above in the Criticism section. Hong Qi Gong (Talk - Contribs) 15:07, 19 December 2007 (UTC)


 * "Concluding that none of them constitutes evidence of the incident" is more accurate and relevant in this context. Write "there existed no 'Rape of Nanking' as alleged by the Tokyo Trial" in the Reaction in Japan section. --Saintjust (talk) 15:12, 19 December 2007 (UTC)
 * Yes, what I quoted was just a shortened version. This is what I'm proposing:
 * In A Study of "The Rape of Nanking", Nobukatsu Fujioka and Shudo Higashinakano, who alleged that "there existed no 'Rape of Nanking' as alleged by the Tokyo Trial", examined and criticized the photographic evidence and concluded that none of them constitutes evidence of the incident.
 * That's what I would like to have in the Criticism section. Also, what source should we use to say that they "concluded that none of them constitutes evidence of the incident"?  This source you gave earlier -  - does not state that.  Hong Qi Gong (Talk - Contribs) 15:18, 19 December 2007 (UTC)
 * From the book. "Rape of Nanking as alleged by the Tokyo Trial" is not the same as "Rape of Nanking as alleged by Iris Chang" --Saintjust (talk) 15:31, 19 December 2007 (UTC)
 * What? "there existed no "Rape of Nanking" as alleged by the Tokyo Trial" is a direct quote from Higashinakano - .  Hong Qi Gong (Talk - Contribs) 15:42, 19 December 2007 (UTC)


 * This Wikipedia article is about Chang's book and not the massacre itself. --Saintjust (talk) 15:45, 19 December 2007 (UTC)
 * Like I said earlier, it's important to provide readers with the context of where he stands since he thinks there "existed no Rape of Nanking". Using him as a criticism without giving readers that context is like using Holocaust deniers as criticism without telling the readers that they are Holocaust deniers.  It's not an addition about the massacre itself, it's an addition about Higashinakano.  Hong Qi Gong (Talk - Contribs) 15:51, 19 December 2007 (UTC)


 * If you want to insinuate that Higashinakano and his fellow conservative scholars of Japan are the same as the Nazi Holocaust deniers, then that's pov. Whatever detailed "context" of him may be mentioned in his own article Shudo Higashinakano. --Saintjust (talk) 16:00, 19 December 2007 (UTC)

(outdent) I did not say we should add text in the article that says he's the same as Holocaust deniers. I am saying that the text should be this: Because it's important to let the readers know where Higashinakano stands if we are to present him as a valid criticism. What I am suggesting here is only an expansion to the text you suggested. Hong Qi Gong (Talk - Contribs) 16:09, 19 December 2007 (UTC)
 * In A Study of "The Rape of Nanking", Nobukatsu Fujioka and Shudo Higashinakano, who alleged that "there existed no 'Rape of Nanking' as alleged by the Tokyo Trial", examined and criticized the photographic evidence and concluded that none of them constitutes evidence of the incident.


 * Stating that they concluded that none of the photo constitutes evidence of the incident is enough. Or, if you seriously want to mention the whole Higashinakano criticism of Chang's book in this article rather than just the ones on factual accuracies and photo evidences, then you need to write a longer paragraph on how he denies "the Rape of Nanking as alleged by Iris Chang." --Saintjust (talk) 16:18, 19 December 2007 (UTC)
 * Actually he denies the validity of the Tokyo Trial itself, and that's a direct quote. How about this then?
 * In A Study of "The Rape of Nanking", Nobukatsu Fujioka and Shudo Higashinakano, who alleged that "there existed no 'Rape of Nanking' as alleged by the Tokyo Trial" and that Chang's book is "pure baloney", examined and criticized the photographic evidence and concluded that none of them constitutes evidence of the incident.
 * Again, these are direct quotes from Higashinakano. My suggestion keeps what you want included in the Criticism section, namely his criticism of the photographic evidence, while expanding on his position on the Nanking Massacre itself.  Hong Qi Gong (Talk - Contribs) 16:24, 19 December 2007 (UTC)


 * No need for "context" when no context is given to Kennedy and other critics as well as the defenders of Iris Chang and Communist China.


 * However, if you are going to create a new paragraph on Higashinakano's comprehensive criticism that denies "the Rape of Nanking as alleged by Iris Chang," I don't mind. That's an effective denial of the massacre itself also.


 * That Higashinakano article is primarily about the California State Assembly resolution and isn't a good source for this Wikipedia article btw. --Saintjust (talk) 16:43, 19 December 2007 (UTC)
 * In essence, the text I'm proposing above is the "new paragraph" on Higashinakano that I would like to see. And the source about California State Assembly resolution is in fact relevant - it talks about Chang's book directly.  It is even hosted on a site that devotes an entire section on criticising Chang's book.  I can agree to leaving your text about him in the Criticism section, I only want to add to that that he thinks "there existed no 'Rape of Nanking' as alleged by the Tokyo Trial".  Again, that's a direct quote from something that he himself wrote.  It is sourced and notable, and like you said, what is sourced and notable should be added.  My proposal does not take away from your proposal, it's only an expansion of your proposal.  Hong Qi Gong (Talk - Contribs) 16:55, 19 December 2007 (UTC)


 * Higashinakano's criticism of factual accuracies and photographic evidences stay in the current sections. If you are going to create another paragraph on his other criticisms, then that's fine, although I don't know where it will belong. --Saintjust (talk) 17:04, 19 December 2007 (UTC)

Again, this is what I propose as what goes in the Criticism section for Higashinakano: Is this OK? Hong Qi Gong (Talk - Contribs) 17:35, 19 December 2007 (UTC)
 * In A Study of "The Rape of Nanking", Nobukatsu Fujioka and Shudo Higashinakano, who alleged that "there existed no 'Rape of Nanking' as alleged by the Tokyo Trial" and that Chang's book is "pure baloney", examined and criticized the photographic evidence and concluded that none of them constitutes evidence of the incident.


 * How about one less 'alleged'?


 * In A Study of "The Rape of Nanking", Nobukatsu Fujioka and Shudo Higashinakano, who have written that "there existed no 'Rape of Nanking' as alleged by the Tokyo Trial" and wrote in 1998 that Chang's book "is pure baloney", examined and criticized the photographic evidence and concluded that none of them constitutes evidence of the incident. Binksternet (talk) 17:45, 19 December 2007 (UTC)
 * Yes thank you. Actually I think it was only Higashinakano that wrote this, so it should be "...who has written..."  Binksternet - so what do you think of that proposal?  I'm only trying to find a compromise with Saintjust here, so hopefully we can agree on something.  Hong Qi Gong (Talk - Contribs) 17:48, 19 December 2007 (UTC)


 * I'd compromise with that if subsections and other critics stay. --Saintjust (talk) 00:13, 20 December 2007 (UTC)
 * The Kennedy criticism needs to be shortened and the Efron criticism needs to go though. Hong Qi Gong (Talk - Contribs) 00:29, 20 December 2007 (UTC)

I just obtained a copy of the book from a local library. The book is co-authored by Fujiwara and Higashinakano, and the chapter that discusses photographic evidences is written by Fujioka alone: "以上、チャン本に掲載された34枚の写真のうち、直接に虐殺があったことの証拠とみなされるもののすべてを検証した. 結論を言おう. チャン本の写真には、南京虐殺を証明するものは、ただの一枚も存在しない. " (p. 108). Translation: "Thus far, I have examined all the photos that are alleged to constitute a direct proof that the massacre occurred (out of 34 photos included in Chang's book). In conclusion, Chang's book contains no photo that proves the existence of the Nanking massacre." --Saintjust (talk) 08:29, 31 December 2007 (UTC)
 * There's never been any evidence that Higashinakano discussed the photograph issue. I have no idea why you kept insisting on reverting to put him in the "Photographic evidences" section.  Hong Qi Gong (Talk - Contribs) 10:42, 31 December 2007 (UTC)


 * You are the one who deleted the sentence from the old version of the article. --Saintjust (talk) 12:31, 31 December 2007 (UTC)

Uninvolved

 * Point 1Timothy M. Kelly critcism should not be thrown out. Itmay be about the book and not the incident itself. However this article is about the book -the incident itself has a distinct separate article. Aatomic1 (talk) 14:06, 5 January 2008 (UTC)


 * Shudo Higashinakano critcism equals roughly 20-25% of criticism section; The context of that criticism is further mentioned in the Reaction in Japan Examples of his critcisms are provided. As an uninformed reader, my impression is that he has made some minor pertinant points and is POV pushing. I do not think there is undue weight but I do think the context aspect could be further emphasized by a reference to Reaction in Japan below. Aatomic1 (talk) 14:33, 5 January 2008 (UTC)


 * The treatment of the Nanking Massacre in the West and Japan does not need trimming. Aatomic1 (talk) 15:00, 5 January 2008 (UTC)

Redirection
Would somebody please make a redirection, so that when you type "The rape of Nanking" you are directed to this page? (I do not quite understand how to do that myself) --Kåre Fog (talk) 14:00, 27 January 2008 (UTC)


 * I prefer the current redirection situation where it takes you to the article about the historic event. The event itself was referred to as The rape of Nanking long before Chang's book. Binksternet (talk) 16:27, 27 January 2008 (UTC)

A lot of inadequate discription. They should be removed.
I noticed that this artcle has lost its good proportion of volumes of contents as compared with a year before. Especially I think criticism section has grown larger than its appropriate size. And a lot of inaccurate, very subjective, or unnecessary discription are involved in this section now. So I believe those mere mentions which says like that Iris's book is "half baked history" without any proof should be removed from there, or at least summarized to avoid duplication of several same type assertion. For one specific example, I propose that a critical mention by Roger B. Jeans on "Contradiction and factual iaccuracies" section shold be removed. I read his article and noticed definitely he wrote her book "is half-baked histroy", and in following paragraph he attacked her. However body of his article doesn't have clear relation to Iris's book, nor problems of her book. He only introduce several museums about war and peace in Japan. Almost of them are only explanation of pamphlets sent by those museams. Those explanation don't conflict with Iris's view about status of society of Japan. They don't override Iris' discussion in any sense. His conclusion is ordinary thing, and I noticed it contains inaccurate points. For example his interpretaion of "Martyrs of Showa" in Yasukuni shrine brochures is wrong. That words mainly mean War criminals of Class A of IMTFE who have been worshipped in Yasukuni from 1978. Jeans wrote that it reffered to radical nationalists who called for a "Showa Restoration"... in the early and mid-1930s. And he introduced a word 731 Unit member reffered to their victims as "murata"(logs). But correctly it must be "maruta". He may insist that such errors are trivial and don't affect body of his ::article. But we should note the fact that kind of tirivial matters are used to attack Iris Chang's work very offtenly.

Though he wrote accusation against her book in the head part of his article, I should say that it is isolated paragraph in it. This paragraph appears to be unnecessary one in his own article. And this mention is without any proof. He only listed three documents one of which is Joshua A Fogel's Book Review. It is already quoted or introduced in this article of her book.

So I believe that part of critic section is not only unnecessary or redundant but also misleading. I would like to remove it if no objection.

Sfwu 5:20, 29 July 2008 (UTC)


 * I object. We're not talking about a large section here. As you rightly acknowledge, Roger Jeans did in fact publish criticisms of Iris Chang's book. Therefore, the addition of this cited material is consistent with Wikipedia's core policies of verifiability and no original research. Also, the citation comes from a very reliable source: an academic journal article. There is no rule on Wikipedia that states that only book reviews can be included in that section. Indeed, you seem to be objecting to it because you disagree with Prof. Jeans' comments and would like them removed. I don't feel comfortable with that proposal. Yes, Jeans introduces Iris Chang in the beginning of his journal article, but that's because he is letting the reader know (or is arguing that) the sweeping criticisms that Iris Chang levels against "the Japanese" (in scare quotes) regarding war memory do not hold up to close scrutiny, according to his research. Obviously, the Wikipedia reader is allowed to (dis)agree with his empirical findings, but it's a bad idea to start censoring material because we disagree with someone's conclusions published in a peer-reviewed academic journal article. Rightly or wrongly, "The threshold for inclusion in Wikipedia is verifiability, not truth—that is, whether readers are able to check that material added to Wikipedia has already been published by a reliable source, not whether we think it is true." J Readings (talk) 08:49, 29 June 2008 (UTC)


 * Thank you for swift response, J Readings. But it seems that you totally misunderstand my proposition. I would like to remove Roger's passage not because I disagree it, but it is redundant and duplicated.  Why don't you response specific facts I pointed out about his article.  You say the quotation is from academic journal, and my proposition is censorship, and Wikipedia rule you think.  Writing an article in Wikipedia isn't automatic work without human decision. Do you mean we can't remove any paragraph if it is from academic magazine, irrespective of quality of if.  Even if quality of material giving critical paragraph is lower than that of a material which is object of critical?  Are we unable to remove anything from Wikipedia article if that part is from academic documents?Sfwu 10:55, 29 July 2008 (UTC)
 * J Reading seems to misunderstand Sfwu's comment and Wikipedia policies, because he or she talks about WP:UNDUE and WP:NPOV, not about WP:IDONTLIKEIT. Wikipedia is not a repository of every information and editors carefully select contents from every possible info and revise them with their effort. Besides, s/he seeks a WP:CONSENSUS for editing it WP:BOLD, so why don't you assume good faith first from his intention? I agree with SFwu's impression on the unbalalanced expansion mostly inserted by who has been deeply associated with Japanese 2channel's campaigns against editors developing articles related to Japanese war crimes. This article is also under the umbrella, and redundant info is not good for readers to comprehend the article easily. --Caspian blue (talk) 12:18, 29 June 2008 (UTC)


 * To Sfwu    You said ”So I believe that part of critic section is not only unnecessary or redundant but also misleading." at first. But after the objection made by J Readings, you also said "I would like to remove Roger's passage not because I disagree it, but it is redundant and duplicated."   I'd like you to explain why you omitted the expression, 'misleading' after the objection.--Super1111 (talk) 12:39, 29 June 2008 (UTC)
 * I'm welcoming you and congratulating your first edit being made here. Any relation with who shares very similar name with yours? --Caspian blue (talk) 13:43, 29 June 2008 (UTC)
 * Are you talking about my account? Yours also looks similar to the one you mentioned.--Super1111 (talk) 14:03, 29 June 2008 (UTC)
 * ^v^b You have some sense of humor and are good at turning the subject. You're speculative on other people's comment at the "first appearance" with the account. That is unusual for newbies and you did not answer. Well, I guess you know a lot of things about me already.--Caspian blue (talk) 14:19, 29 June 2008 (UTC)
 * I know neither you nor Blue011011. --Super1111 (talk) 16:42, 29 June 2008 (UTC)


 * (edit conflict)Thanks for the reply Sfwu and Caspian Blue. I don't recall having written anything about WP:IDONTLIKEIT, Caspian blue. Can you show me where I wrote that, please? What I did respond to is this quote from Sfwu:


 * "I read his article and noticed definitely he wrote her book 'is half-baked histroy', and in following paragraph he attacked her. However body of his article doesn't have clear relation to Iris's book, nor problems of her book. He only introduce several museums about war and peace in Japan.  Almost of them are only explanation of pamphlets sent by those museams.  Those explanation don't conflict with Iris's view about status of society of Japan.  They don't override Iris' discussion in any sense.  His conclusion is ordinary thing, and I noticed it contains inaccurate points. (Emphasis added)"


 * As for assuming good faith, you don't need to raise this point because there's nothing in my comments that warrant it. I will stress again Sfwu is simply disagreeing with Prof. Jeans' comments and he or she would like them removed. If that's not the point, then perhaps someone should clarify what the objection is.


 * As for "redundant criticism" in Iris Chang's book, I disagree. There's nothing redundant about it. Please keep in mind that a major part of Chang's book deals with "war memory" in Japan and her arguments related to that. Prof. Jeans is specifically addressing that argument in his own peer-reviewed academic article. He makes that intention clear in both the abstract to the article and the introduction to the article, returns to Chang periodically within the article, etc. The other authors cited above the Jeans quote are dealing with Chang's alleged generalizations regarding "motivations" for the actual historical act. Jeans is criticizing Chang's generalizations regarding war memory in contemporary Japan. I don't see any reason yet to remove Prof. Jeans' cited comments from the article. J Readings (talk) 12:41, 29 June 2008 (UTC)


 * Indeed, you seem to be objecting to it because you disagree with Prof. Jeans' comments and would like them removed. I don't feel comfortable with that proposal.......... Obviously, the Wikipedia reader is allowed to (dis)agree with his empirical findings, but it's a bad idea to start censoring material because we disagree with someone's conclusions published in a peer-reviewed academic journal article.


 * That would be an answer regarding WP:IDONTLIKEIT and WP:AGF.--Caspian blue (talk) 13:43, 29 June 2008 (UTC)


 * Caspian Blue...please. The first rule of WP:AGF: Don't talk about WP:AGF. See WP:AAGF. As for repeating the WP:IDONTLIKEIT essay, I already highlighted the quoted area to which I was responding. To accuse me of "misunderstanding Wikipedia policies" is something of an empty statement. What am I *specifically* misunderstanding about WP:UNDUE, especially when we're talking about a five short sentences of criticism on "war memory"? Also, and I have to say this, I'm disappointed that you're suggesting that I am somehow distorting Prof. Jeans' comments with this comment: "Wikipedia is not a repository of every information and editors carefully select contents from every possible info and revise them with their effort." What are you implying Caspian Blue? That I'm duplicitous? J Readings (talk) 14:11, 29 June 2008 (UTC)
 * -_-;;; This discussion with you would be a good example of "miscommunication". I did not say that you're distorting Prof. Jean's comment. I'm rather saying about your "inclusionist" point of view. You assumed SFwu's intention to remove some surplus contents stems from WP:IDONTLIKEIT attitude. As I said, every information here are from what editors selectively collected and edited with their time and effort, BUT many people above agreed with that the criticism section is WP:UNDUE weight, so my saying is another repetition.--Caspian blue (talk) 14:31, 29 June 2008 (UTC)
 * I disagree. It's not "another repetition" because, as I replied above, Prof. Jeans' peer-reviewed journal article is designed as a specific reply (based on his research) to Iris Chang's generalizations about "Japanese" war memory which, let's face it, is a major part of Chang's book. In fact, it's the whole third section of Chang's book. Prof. Jeans makes it clear in the abstract, again in the introduction, and again in the body text that he's writing his article in reaction to her book. And, as I replied above, the other professional historians are objecting to other aspects of Chang's arguments (specifically the motivations of the "Japanese" soldiers) so it's not fair at all to lump Prof. Jeans' article in with the comments of Drs. Fogel and Kennedy and then claim the brief mention of it in this encyclopedia article is WP:UNDUE, in my view. Granted, if I wrote three or four lengthy paragraphs on Prof. Jeans' article that really would be "undue weight." Right now, no, I can't say in all honesty that the addition is against that policy. J Readings (talk) 14:59, 29 June 2008 (UTC)


 * J Readings, I think you read the book of Iris Chang correctly in some sense. Her book isn't mere history, but her theme is a proposal in order to solve forgotten issues caused by Japanese agrresion in 15 years war, 1931-1945.  However I can't follow your reading of the article of Prof. Jeans.  How can you read and interpret as such a way. By the way, I can't find a phrase quoted in Criticism section as "giving the lie to Iris's generation about the 'Japanese'".  Please teach me where it appear in Prof. Jeans's article by number of pages and lines.  Or does it appear other article or book or any material by him? As far as I read his article of 2005, he seems to be indifferent to Iris's opinion that Japan should face the cruelities it inflicted on others during WWII.


 * "Many different groups (again giving the lie to Iris Chang's generalizations about the 'Japanese') protested the society's textbook." (Roger B. Jeans, "Victims or Victimizers? Museums, Textbooks, and the War Debate in Contemporary Japan," The Journal of Military History, Vol. 69, No. 1, (Jan. 2005), p. 189)


 * I want to point out that there are several sorts of criticisms to the book of Iris Chang, not the same each other, so we should be more careful about difference among them.


 * First is to accuse historical inacuracy, as Jeans refered in begining of his article.
 * Second is to insist that her view about Japanese current society relating to war is wrong. They say that she says too much.
 * And third is to oppose her opinion that Japan should face the fact, issue an official apology and pay reparation. As that opinion hurts national interest of Japan.


 * Though prof. Jeans refered critism of the first in head part of his article, it is mere mention without detail analasys nor proof. So I think his main theme is not in the first criticism, but in the second criticism if he kept his criticism to Iris in his article.  His argument continues as that Japanese society is more complicated than a view of Iris Chang.  And his conclusion is that there are struggles in Japan between one side which glorify Japanese war and other side which recognize Japanese responsibility and desire peace.  His final pointing out is that Japanese scholar confesed as didn't know which side would win.  Perhaps Jeans himself doesn't know the answer of the question.


 * I restate that a view of Iris Chang and that of Jeans aren't of great difference. The view of Iris is not so simple as Jeans thinks.  She introduced debate in Japan about the Nanking Massacre with Honda Katsuichi and Hora Tomio, the textbook controversy, and the effort of Ienaga Saburo.  She didn't think that all Japanese ignored the fact.  At most, the difference between two is difference in degree, not that in kind.  That is because I think that his accusation against Iris in the begining of his article is isolated and unnecesary part in his own work.  And it is why I would like to remove that part of Wiki page.  I don't think I can easily persuade persons who have objection.  I am ready to dure long discussion and debate.


 * And I would like to give another proposition. I think paragraph about Bob Tadashi Wakabayashi concerned to 100-men killing contest should be removed.  The article of Wakabayashi is mainly about a debate in Japan, without direct relation to Iris's book.  It is still a controversial issue in Japan, as Kasahara Tokushi published a book concerning it, in July 2008.  So if introducing Wakabayashi's article, we should also introduce other many materials about it.  But this is out of a scope of this theme, the book of Iris Chang.  So if some person hopes to put quote from Wakabayashi's that article, besides whether that person take quotation correctly or not, he or she should create new another article about 100-men killing contests.?Sfwu 15:40, 30 June 2008 (UTC)


 * "The threshold for inclusion in Wikipedia is verifiability, not truth — that is, whether readers are able to check that material added to Wikipedia has already been published by a reliable source, not whether we think it is true." So, you don't have to and shouldn't examine whether Jeans' remark is true or not. Even though you think "The view of Iris is not so simple as Jeans thinks.", he thought as he wrote on The Journal of Military History 69 (1)(p.149-150). Jeans did criticize this book and the comment is verifiable. --Super1111 (talk) 17:51, 30 June 2008 (UTC)(I think you know me as Super11)


 * Thank you for your information, J_Readings.


 * Hello J_Super11. Your writing is conplicated and difficult to understand. When I discuss with you, why do I need use English.


 * Two questions. 1. meaning of verifiability. Does it mean that we can verify if a paragraph exists in some publication or not?  Or does it mean that we can verify if it appears to be true, or false, or undefined, by reading some publication which includes the paragraph?


 * 2. I think, in this context, threshold means some limit line. I.e. it means a minimum qualification to be included in Wiki article.  If some paragraph doesn't satisfy it, it is to be removed without any discussion.  But converse is not always true.  It doesn't mean that if some paragraph satisfys that minimum condition, it must be included in a article.  To decide if including or removing one description depends on another decision, which is editor's judgement.  Is my interpretation is wrong? if so how?


 * To J_Readings. Reading the part you quote from Prof Jean's article, I can imagine he disliked or hated Iris Chang, and he appeared not to have read her book sincerely, but it informs me of nothing else.Sfwu 14:00, 1 July 2008 (UTC)


 * To Sfwu,thank you for your comment. What I said is simple. According to the Wikipedia policy, "verifiability" means" whether readers are able to check that material added to Wikipedia has already been published by a reliable source, not whether we think it is true."Please read Verifiability for further information.--Super1111 (talk) 16:00, 2 July 2008 (UTC)


 * To Super1111, Thank you for your answer. Please give me that to the second question. I see that I don't get agreement yet about removing quotation of Prof. Jeans.  While have no problem about removing that of prof. Bob Wakabayashi.  There is already an article for "100-man killing contest" in Wiki English.  But I am reading it now.  Previously, when about Prof. Jeans' article, I wa so hurry that I didn't keep concentration of reading sections around textbook's struggle.  I overlooked sentences about Iris Chang.  Though the article of Mr. Wakabayashi is not interesting nor sympathetic for me, I need to read whole of it, before remove the quotation part of him.  It will take some more days. My reading speed is slow.Sfwu 6:45, 5 July 2008 (UTC)

Hi members. I read whole of Bob Wakabayashi's article. And determined that his article is inadequate to be quoted here. So I removed that paragraph.

And I found another inaccurate description in "Criticism section":


 * In A Study of "The Rape of Nanking, Nobukatsu Fujioka, a professor of education at the University of Tokyo,critically examined all the 34 photographic evidences used in The Rape of Nanking, and concluded that none of them constitutes direct evidence of the incident.

Fujioka and his co-writer wrote:


 * We examined all photos which can be regarded as witness of atrocity from 34 photos coniained in Chang's book. And concluded none of photos in Chang's book proves Nanking Massacre.(A Study of "The Rape of Nanking", p108)

Their original book contains iaccuracy. Correctly photograph pages of "The Rape of Nanking" contains 43 photographs. And Hata ikuhiko claimed that 11 of them are fakes or misrepresentations. In Japan, authors of the book are not regarded so qualified historian as Hata Ikuhiko. Many of their arguments are defeated in Japan including law suit. It is enough to introduce Hata's claim about photograph issues. Fujioka and his co-witers argument depends on Hata's in its plausible portion. Sfwu (talk) 06:58, 13 July 2008 (UTC)


 * To Sfwu      I respect for your hard working on this article. But I have to say these. You said, "Many of their arguments are defeated in Japan including law suit." Which arguments about what photographs are defeated when?? And in the Japanese page of this article you are quoting comments made by "not qualified historian." So, when you say"In Japan, authors of the book are not regarded so qualified historian as Hata Ikuhiko," it means that you are using "double standard".

--Super1111 (talk) 02:38, 18 July 2008 (UTC)


 * To Super1111
 * I am grad for your word RESPECT. And I mean not only revisionist theory of Prof. Hujioka and his co-writer has been defeated within many discussions in Japan, but their claims to photographs about massacre e.t.c by Japanese troop in China are almost defeated. I can say safely that their base of discussion is already collapsed.
 * And to your second point that I am using "double standard", I don't think so. I never mean claims or arguements of scholars can and must be adopted in an article of Wiki, nor that only scholars must be adpopted, and arguments of non-scholars will be excluded.  To adopt or to remove depends on editors decision, though sometime it may not be adequate.  And I think we should take views from qualified scholars seriously.  If exists any about our theme, we need to introduce it.  However we need not list up all of such views.  If many scholars assert the same thing, and one is original, others are copies, or others add absurd claims to origional assertion, we need introduce original one, and need not, should not list up others. Sfwu (talk) 03:29, 20 July 2008 (UTC)

Claim = >argued
I notice that there is lot of use of the word "claim" in this article. We should try to avoid this word -- on both sides of the argument because it creates POV bias, intentionally or unintentionally. WP:AVOID advises us to use verbs like "state", "say", or "argue" instead. I'm going to change everything to the word "argue" because I think it reads better than "say". Thanks, J Readings (talk) 08:12, 13 July 2008 (UTC)


 * Exactly. Because we're talking about a book written by an author, there's no need to insert "she claimed" every other sentence. It's understood from context. Binksternet (talk) 14:32, 10 August 2008 (UTC)


 * I suggest that due to the amount of claims this obviously deranged woman made in her book, that it be considered to be a work of fiction, it is about as relevant as Harry Potter with regards to truth.Sennen goroshi (talk) 14:42, 10 August 2008 (UTC)


 * "Deranged". That's mighty generous of you. Thank you for playing along. The Japanese committed horrible crimes all over China, burning, looting, raping, enslaving, murdering, and yet they managed to outdo themselves when they reached Nanjing. Chang got a few facts wrong and got many, many others right. The second edition of the book addressed the simple mistakes. Binksternet (talk) 23:31, 10 August 2008 (UTC)


 * She got 100s of facts wrong, not a few. She was mentally ill and under medication for her mental illness - oh nearly forgot, she decided that it would be a good idea to shoot herself in the face - not that I would use the term on her article, but I think the term deranged is pretty accurate, would you prefer crazy? insane? mad? Sennen goroshi (talk) 03:28, 11 August 2008 (UTC)


 * She was nervous, highly-strung and felt targeted by right wing hate groups. In the second edition, she corrected the facts that needed correcting; leaving many more facts that have been contested by revisionists but accepted by scholars of the event. Perhaps you're getting your "100s" from the latter group. Binksternet (talk) 04:10, 11 August 2008 (UTC)


 * http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Rape_of_Nanking_(book)#Criticism - some of her mistakes were corrected by the publisher, some mistakes were ignored, the book tries to see things in part from the Japanese point of view, but she never even bothered visiting Japan. She was a paranoid, delusional, suicidal person. Her book was reported to have 90 errors (some of which were so basic) in the first 64 pages. Commander Perry? LOL. That is laughable.  A biased writer with a huge chip on her shoulder and serious mental issues, writing a supposedly factual book, but injecting all of her biased personal feelings into the book. The book is a joke, as is the writer. Sennen goroshi (talk) 04:21, 11 August 2008 (UTC)


 * "Her book was reported to have 90 errors", this is not correct. One claimed that her book includes "a lot of mistakes", and showed a count of "misstakes" to emphasise his or their claim effectively, .  Description of the documents which pointed out ninety-two or so are poor, which are not very plausive. There have been a lot of claims against her book, not because that it was a book by "deranged" woman, but because that the book contains a lot of facts which many Japanese people don't want to believe nor face seriously.  .(Sfwu)07:26, 11 August 2008 (UTC))


 * SFWU, you are most certainly a single purpose account, and possibly a sock/meat-puppet. Your comments are quite obviously biased. I have no desire to enter into discussions with single purpose accounts and/or sock/meat-puppets. Sennen goroshi (talk) 10:49, 11 August 2008 (UTC)


 * Sennnengoroshi(thousand years killer?), funny fellow. sock/meat-puppet?  I don't understand this word correctly.  Please let me know what it means.


 * She was a paranoid, delusional, suicidal person. Her book was reported to have 90 errors (some of which were so basic) in the first 64 pages. Commander Perry? LOL. That is laughable.


 * At least your writing is dirty, and far from elegant.(Sfwu)04:26, 13 August 2008 (UTC)

Anon, 213.141.89.53's comment.
Well, comments by some anon, have been deleted twice by two editors including me because of the inappropriate personal attacks and bashing comments although one editor who tends to fond of including all things once restored.. Anon, if you want a discussion or criticize others' opinion, please keep Wiki policies. However per your candid comment "I mostly go on discussion pages to piss analretentive people off", I wonder the anon can refrain him/herself though.--22:46, 16 September 2008 (UTC)


 * I find it very interesting that you would delete the comments from an anonymous user then ask a question of the user in an additional entry. The anon IP editor has been putting valid talk points into the discussion. The anon editor believes that arguments by Higashinakano are being misused here. The anon editor believes Kelly's criticism of Chang's book has nothing to do with the book and everything to do with the massacre. These are valid opinions. Binksternet (talk) 23:02, 16 September 2008 (UTC)
 * Well, Binksternet, when you read other's comment, why don't you read carefully? I did not ask to the anon about anything. So I believe the amusement is solely for your sake. Whether some of the anon's comment is a valid or not in your opinon, at least two people consider the anon's comments hold inappropriate personal attacks.--Caspian blue (talk) 00:25, 17 September 2008 (UTC)


 * A personal attack that is worthy of deletion from Talk pages would have to be blatant, severe or a breach of personal information. I see nothing obvious here. You might want to re-read ATTACK and CIVIL where you'll see that 213.141.89.53's comments don't cross the line into immediate deletion. There's no name-calling or insults, no profanity or taunts. At any rate, once it has been decided that a personal attack has been mounted, the reaction should be on the same level as the seriousness of the misbehavior. Hateful personal attacks should be deleted right away, of course. Instances of possible gray-area incivility don't call for immediate unilateral deletion. Instead, the offended editor can try putting a message on the uncivil editor's Talk page, or the offended editor can add a notice at Wikiquette alerts or make a request for comment from an outside editor. Deletion is a later step that is first offered as a tool to the offending party as a chance to make communication flow better. More links that apply here: WP:3RR, WP:HARASS, WP:DISPUTE. Sincerely, Binksternet (talk) 01:35, 17 September 2008 (UTC)
 * From what I've known, offended people could delete the comment and the anon is on dynamic IP, so your possible suggestions are rather moot.--Caspian blue (talk) 02:13, 17 September 2008 (UTC)
 * Now I find that I'm adding my own talk entry back in after being accused by Caspian blue of using a notional "automatic add button". It's Caspian blue's unthinking reversion that was automatic—it destroyed my talk entry without comment. In my prior reversion of 213.141.89.53's comments, I examined each talk entry and then added my analysis at the end. Nothing automatic about that. To answer the edit summary question: I do not support personal attacks. My view of the talk page style of 213.141.89.53 is that this person can be unpleasant and even counterproductive but does not violate the rules of Wikipedia's Talk page guidelines such that the editor's entries should be deleted. I see no personal attacks here. Binksternet (talk) 00:06, 17 September 2008 (UTC)
 * Well, I read the anon's comment carefully, so what don't you say something solid before carelessly denoucing my comment? I just quote your "automatic delete button" from some article.(You also never returned your answer on such false accusation) If does it sound unpleasant, I would be just bemused to the irony. You're surely aware of your own unpleasant comment. I do not hit the button without thinking as you want to believe. I believe that the comment is in violation of Wiki policy. So Hong and I deleted.--Caspian blue (talk) 00:25, 17 September 2008 (UTC)
 * I'm sorry, but I don't quite understand everything you are saying, except that you believe I'm aware of the unpleasantness of my own comment, and that you deleted either my comment or all of 213.141.89.53's comments because it/they were in violation of policy. If you deleted my comment because you thought it was in violation, I am surprised. I have no wish to take part in uncivil exchanges—all I wanted to do today is to prevent an editor's opinions from being erased without a fair review. Binksternet (talk) 01:57, 17 September 2008 (UTC)
 * I'm sorry for my engrish (that's why I try not to edit sensitive articles like this one much) I did not delete your comment although that is not civil. BUT, the anon attacks various people from the self-admitted bad faith.--Caspian blue (talk) 02:13, 17 September 2008 (UTC)


 * I took the anon IP's phrase "I mostly go on discussion pages to piss analretentive [sic] people off, and the [sic] bust them on any mistakes they make" as a joke, not as a serious statement that every entry by the editor was intended to be uncivil. Perhaps it's time for everybody to step back and laugh at the situation for a moment. Binksternet (talk) 03:11, 17 September 2008 (UTC)

Image copyright problem with Image:JohnRabe.jpg
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Second edition photo caption
The reference for this lists four things that were changed between the first edition and the second edition, and a few other things that weren't changed but the author thinks should have been. I guess changes between the two editions were an aspect of the controversy over this book, so I can see why they would be noted in the sections devoted to that, but the fact that four inaccuracies were fixed for the second edition is not at all notable in itself and shouldn't be in this caption.Prezbo (talk) 05:39, 17 July 2009 (UTC)
 * I am neutral to the removal, but next time you remove a citation (in any article), please check if it is being used anywhere else. Scroll to the bottom of your edit and you'll see what I mean.  Thanks.  Hong Qi Gong (Talk - Contribs) 03:01, 18 July 2009 (UTC)

Timothy Kelly's criticism
There's been a bit of edit warring over Timothy Kelly's criticism. Per WP:BRD, I think it's time for Shii to stop making edits to the article text on this point and for all of us to discuss our opinions on this issue here. I'll start.

I have no problem with mentioning Timothy Kelly's criticism here. For me, this is not a debate about content but about style. That is, I am not objecting in any way to Timothy Kelly's criticism. I tend to accept it as "on the mark".

However, I think we are putting too much detail in this article in the current presentation of this criticism. IMO, the picayune spelling and factual errors identified by Timothy Kelly do not need to be mentioned explicitly in the article text. I think all that detail is distracting and doesn't actually give the reader useful information. This is the sort of thing that the reader can get if he wants to by reading the source itself. That is why I prefer Shii's version. I would make slight modifications so that it reads "Timothy Kelly described the book as "simple carelessness, sheer sloppiness, historical inaccuracies, and shameless plagiarism." He pointed out Chang's "lack of attention to detail", and claimed that she had plagiarized passages giving an illustration from Japan's Imperial Conspiracy by David Bergamini.

If there is a strong desire to put present the picayune spelling and factual errors in the article, I suggest we do it as a Note. I will do so now so that you can see what it would look like.

--Richard S (talk) 17:00, 22 January 2010 (UTC)
 * I agree with using a note as a compromise Shii (tock) 18:08, 22 January 2010 (UTC)


 * I agree with having less detail, nothing about spelling or punctuation mistakes. Binksternet (talk) 18:20, 22 January 2010 (UTC)

Earlier English-language book(s) on Nanjing Massacre?

 * "When [Iris Chang] searched the local public libraries in her school and found nothing, she wondered why no one had written a book about it."

Why doesn't this article mention Harold John Timperley's What War Means: The Japanese Terror in China (1938)? Chang's own book refers to it. Muzilon (talk) 05:33, 21 December 2014 (UTC)

External links modified
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 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20070805185413/http://www.irischangmemorialfund.org/A_Brief_Biography_of_Iris_Chang.pdf to http://www.irischangmemorialfund.org/A_Brief_Biography_of_Iris_Chang.pdf
 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20070110100610/http://www.princeton.edu/~nanking/html/proposal.pdf to http://www.princeton.edu/~nanking/html/proposal.pdf
 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20070927210146/http://us.penguingroup.com/static/rguides/us/rape_of_nanking.html to http://us.penguingroup.com/static/rguides/us/rape_of_nanking.html
 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20070705141913/http://www.stolaf.edu/depts/history/faculty/entenmann.html to http://www.stolaf.edu/depts/history/faculty/entenmann.html
 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20081211035132/http://www.ess.uwe.ac.uk/genocide/reviewswc3.htm to http://www.ess.uwe.ac.uk/genocide/reviewswc3.htm
 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20070811062736/http://japanreview.net/interview_ivan_hall.htm to http://www.japanreview.net/interview_ivan_hall.htm
 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20041019024336/http://homepage3.nifty.com/kadzuwo/fact/ to http://homepage3.nifty.com/kadzuwo/fact/

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Quote in lead
@LilAhok per WP:MOSLEAD and MOS:QUOTE the quote doesn't belong in the lead. It has nothing to do with the book itself either, this is an article about a book not an article on the rape of Nanking. Traumnovelle (talk) 02:26, 7 March 2024 (UTC)