Their second child, Michael, was born in 1970. That afternoon, she checked herself in to Norton Psychiatric Hospital in Louisville, with help from the colonel. [19] Chang was also reportedly deeply disturbed by much of the subject matter of her research. "Twice I broke down and had to leave the room.". In 1997, Iris Changs The Rape of Nanking was published to great critical acclaim and quickly became a national bestseller. Smith said the colonel spent only a short time with her. (The family would not name specific drugs.). She harbored hundreds of Chinese women and children there during the occupation. The medicine was probably not right for her.". Copy photo of Iris Chang with her husband Brett Douglas and their son at his birthday party. So we finally started trying, and then we had our son in 2002. They made an appointment. She was assigned to the AP office in Chicago. He explained that the gunpowder she had was unsafe to use indoors. At the Gate of Heaven Catholic Cemetery in Los Altos Hills, the photograph stood on an easel before the chapel. Iris Chang rang the doorbell on Ed Martel's front porch in Kenosha, Wis., on Dec. 4, 2003. The book signing will be held at Cupertino Community Hall on Saturday, Aug. 27 from 1 p.m. to 2:30 p.m. Well known since its 1997 publication is the global best seller,The Rape of Nanking. She was a journalism graduate of the University of Illinois at Urbana and worked briefly as a reporter in Chicago before winning a graduate fellowship to the writing seminars program at The Johns Hopkins University. In her book, Kamen recalls how Chang approached an editor on one of her first days at the U. of I.s Daily Illini and asked simplywithout small talk or polite conversationHow do I get your job? Chang said she usually gives three reasons for her unconventional decision to write her daughter's biography: to commemorate Iris, to tell Iris' son, Christopher Douglas, all about the mother he lost at age 2, and to set the record straight about Iris' suicide amid media speculations. As long as I am alive, these forces will never stop hounding me. Chang grew up hearing stories about the Nanking massacre, from which her maternal grandparents managed to escape. The Chang laboratory studies the chemistry of biology and energy. The imprisonment of Tsien Hsue-shen during the height of the McCarthy era has been compared to U.S. mistreatment of Wen Ho Lee, a Los Alamos scientist accused of passing secret nuclear data to mainland China. "She's very systematic -- you see, every poem has a date on it. I sensed suddenly threats to my own life: an eerie feeling that I was being followed in the streets, the white van parked outside my house, damaged mail arriving at my P.O. IRIS CHANG, Author, "The Rape of Nanking:" Well, in 1937, in December, the Japanese swept into the city of Nanking and within six to eight weeks, they had massacred more . ", At the same time, torrents of hate mail came in, Brett said. . The Rape of Nanking remained on the New York Times Bestseller list for 10 weeks. She was mad. Isles Of Scilly, TR21. She is best known for her best-selling 1997 account of the Nanking Massacre, The Rape of Nanking, and in 2003, The Chinese in America: A Narrative History.Chang is the subject of the 2007 biography Finding Iris Chang, and the 2007 documentary film Iris . She was born in Princeton, New Jersey. Iris Chang, you had done a lot to fully expose the Nanjing Massacre happened 70 years ago. She found the diaries of a pair of Westerners who were among the heroes of Nanking. Born Iris Shun-Ru Chang, Mar 28, 1968, in Princeton, New Jersey; grew up in Champaign-Urbana, Illinois; committed suicide, Nov 9, 2004, near Los Gatos, California; dau. "When we first got married, we said we were going to start trying to have a child after four years," Brett said. At the time of her death, she had been taking the medications Depakote and Risperdal to stabilize her mood.[19]. She described finding threatening notes on her car. At Johns Hopkins, Iris studied playwriting, fiction, poetry and science writing. Such harsh logic, symptomatic of the disease, rendered her unable to extend her own magnificent compassion to herself. In 2007, the documentary Nanking was dedicated to Chang, as well as the Chinese victims of Nanking. "We weren't really prepared for the success of the book," Brett said. "This high school alone lost 200 students -- 28 were with the Bataan company. ", Between August and November, Iris saw two different therapists before finding one who seemed a good fit. It was later discovered that she had left behind three suicide notes each dated November 8, 2004. After the ambassador spoke of events in Nanking, Iris turned to the moderator and said: "I didn't hear an apology. Fleetwood Mask is coming to the Montgomery Theater! Then, a larger-than-life video image of Iris appeared on a wide-screen monitor: She was speaking as an expert witness in a mock grand jury trial of Emperor Hirohito, filmed at the 2003 Youth Conference at San Francisco City College, which the Nanking Redress Coalition sponsored. Chasing the shadows. Liz Mangelsdorf / The Chronicle, iris chang at Bataan tank in wisconsin courtesy of the bataan commenorative research project, Iris Chang at 7 years old courtesy the chang family, iris changs senior picture from university high But all of them wanted the opportunity to talk about the massacre before their deaths. [4] During her time in college she also worked as a New York Times stringer from Urbana-Champaign, and wrote six front-page articles over the course of one year. But just in time, Iris changed the subject, prompting him to tell a lighter story. "Iris asked me to tell about atrocities," he said. Bipolar disorder, also known as manic depression, is a mood disorder that affects one in every 70 people. After the release from the hospital, she continued to suffer from depression and experienced the side effects of several medications she was taking. In a funny kind of way, she was resolute, she was calm. Later, Iris told interviewers that, as a child, "it was hard for me to even visualize how bad it was, because the stories seemed almost mythical -- people being chopped into pieces, the Yangtze River running red with blood. She was 26. Iris Chang's coffin was carried to a waiting hearse to be brought to the grave site at Gate of Heaven Cemetery in Los Altos. Iris Chang, author of The Rape of Nanking, ended her life with a pistol on November 9, 2004. After publication of the book, Chang campaigned to persuade the Japanese government to apologize for its troops' wartime conduct and to pay compensation. Through a third party, the colonel declined to be interviewed. Homicide detectives would eventually determine that Iris had loaded all six chambers of the gun, placed the barrel between her lips, and fired. ", Their son, who had turned 2 years old in August, became aware of a change. "She was in on more than one occasion," said Reed's manager, Pat Kalcic, a tall outdoorsman. Iris Chang was born in Princeton, New Jersey, daughter of immigrant parents, Professors Shau-Jin() and Ying-Ying() Chang and grew up in Champaign-Urbana, Illinois, where she earned a bachelor's degree in journalism from the University of Illinois in 1989. With few rations, little ammunition and no reinforcements, 70,000 American and Filipino troops held off the Japanese for months. On the far wall, a gallery of mounted deer heads marked her destination: the hunting department. Some 300,000 Chinese people were brutally killed; about 100,000 women were raped in matter of 4 to 5 weeks. Chang also lectures frequently before business, university and other groups interested in human rights, World War II history, Cold War history, the Asian American experience, Sino-American relations, and the future of American civil liberties. The foyer was filled with enormous bouquets sent by well-wishers. "We spoke for two hours, from 8:30 to 10:30 p.m.," Rabiner said. One of the veterans -- a colonel she had planned to meet in Louisville -- came to the hotel. Get our free daily newsletter delivered straight to your inbox Monday through Friday. But lunch lasted through dinner. Opting for a master's degree, she was accepted by the Graduate Writing Seminar at Johns Hopkins University and moved to Baltimore in 1990. The fundamental question about suicide, as Howard I. Kushner wrote in "Self-Destruction in the Promised Land," is this: "Why, when faced with a similar set of circumstances -- whether cultural, psychological or biological -- does one person commit suicide while another does not? There are so many kids his age here. There was still research to do. Then she got back up again. She said she had never thought she would write a book unrelated to science, and in English, her second language, but she did. Filmography. After sending out more than 100 e-mails, Iris Chang received a reply from Ursula Reinhardt . The lead balls must be individually prepared, packed with gunpowder and topped with a percussive cap. "It is a scary, dangerous and terrifyingly confusing time. Rabiner sensed the book would be important and signed Iris to write it. Kamen recalls once commenting on how thorough Changs filing system was: her friend replied, It has to be. ", Rising from his chair, her father pulled a small red leather volume from the bookshelf. Questions hung in the air: -- How could someone with such success, surrounded by loving family and friends, take her own life? "We had our lives so structured. Iris had been haunted since childhood by the graphic stories she was told about Nanking. "She was very tired," her mother said. Iris Chang was the daughter of two university professors, Ying-Ying Chang and Dr. Shau-Jin Chang, who emigrated from Taiwan to the United States. "She got what she wanted and got out," he said. The water district employee called his supervisor, who called 911. South Bay Rep.'s Expenditures Stir Prez Bid Buzz: Report, Convicted Serial Killer Pleads Guilty In 1973 Stanford Cold Case, Peninsula Youth Theatre's 'The Snow Queen' 2023: Mountain View, Pianist Alessandro Deljavan - Steinway Society Bay Area Concert 2023: San Jose, Symphony San Jose 'Tchaikovsky Flute' With Soloist Denis Bouriakov 2023: SJ, TheatreWorks Silicon Valley's 'In Every Generation' 2023: Mountain View. Brett devised a "20-Point Plan to Make Iris Well," listing such remedies as going to the beach; calling friends; eating well (on her desk, she kept a book titled "How Food Affects Your Mood" next to her Franklin Planner); and getting exercise. She wrote her 100-page book proposal in a couple of weeks.". Lo explained. "Iris was impatient. She helped Iris write a proposal and the project was quickly put under contract. But Kalcic and his employees did not know how unusual Iris Chang was: a world- renowned author whose work had stirred international controversy. Iris pushed herself "to be the best possible mother and the best possible writer," Brett said. ", Seeing how the survivors lived was as harrowing as hearing their stories. Robert Spencer / The Chronicle MANDATORY CREDIT FOR PHOTOG AND SF CHRONICLE/ -MAGS OUT. She would have a team of three vets and their children and their wives. "Iris used to say she never understood why people would commit suicide, so she was definitely not a suicidal type," said Chang. Back in her car, she slipped the gun and owner's manual into a cardboard box labeled "Real Estate Documents" that lay on the passenger seat. She easily passed the 20 exams necessary to qualify, only to be told that she must take five more. We've seen staged suicides and we've seen homicides. Most of the calls were from women, said Betty Hong, executive director of the Oakland clinic. ', In a way Finding Iris Chang is Kamens way of Iris Chang-ing it. I promise not to visit Web sites that talk about suicide. . The correspondent was Sgt. Meanwhile, they decided they had put their plans for a family on hold long enough. Share this on . Whoops! But there was none. "She was so driven," Brett said, "she just wouldn't take time off." At the time of her death, Chang was researching a fourth book about the Bataan Death March and was promoting The Chinese in America. When her body was discovered, Iris Chang had been dead for two hours. ", Between trips to the Midwest, Iris conducted yet another book tour. Before dawn, Iris awoke and got into her car. Families, too, have trouble coping. In tribute to Chang, the survivors held a service at the Nanjing Massacre Memorial Hall, around the same time as her funeral, held at the Gate of Heaven Cemetery in Los Altos, California on November 12, 2004. "The doctors wanted her to continue in therapy, so sometimes they would go along with her. Doctors at Norton Hospital had diagnosed "brief reactive psychosis," her father said. File photo of Iris Chang and her husband Brett Douglas with Hillary Rodham Clinton. (The book has yet to be translated for publication in Japan.) He could see the travel was taking a toll on her. She was committed to her cause, and she radiated life. December 8-9, 2007, The Weekend Australian. Others wondered if Changs choice of subject matter was somehow to blame. 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