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Updated Monday, December 3, 2007 0:00 am TWN, dpa

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Documentary on the Rape of Nanking premieres in Taiwan

TAIPEI, Taiwan -- Nanking, a documentary on the 1937 Japanese massacre in the former Chinese capital city, premiered in Taiwan, reviving the memories of many older Chinese of the horror that became known as the Rape of Nanking.

U.S. co-directors Dan Sturman and Bill Guttentag attended the premier of the film at the Changchun Cinema in Taipei.

“We interviewed six Japanese solders who joined Japan’s war in China and we were surprised by their lack of remorse,” Sturman said.

“After this film was shown in Japan at the Sundance Film Festival in January, Japanese rightists announced they would spend 2 million US dollars to shoot a film, called the Truth about Nanjing, to show that the Rape of Nanking never happened,” he added.

The film Nanking was inspired by the book The Rape of Nanking by Chinese-American writer Iris Chang. The film, using footage shot by Western missionaries, recounts the horrors that began on December 13, 1937 when the city (now called Nanjing) fell to Japanese invaders.

In six weeks Japanese troops reportedly killed some 300,000 Chinese and raped 80,000 women, turning the ancient city into “hell on earth.”

The film’s narrators read the diaries of Western missionaries detailing the atrocities while the film showed footages and photos of the carnage as well as recounts by Chinese survivors.

One survivor of the massacre, Professor Kao Hsi-chun, spoke at the film’s premier, saying his parents’ flight with him to Taiwan was the only reason he wasn’t killed.

“I don’t want us to hate the Japanese, but I want us to remember history so that the cruelty of war won’t happen again,” he said.

Nanking has been screened in several countries including the United States, Mexico, China and Hong Kong, and has made it on the shortlist for nominations for the US Oscar in the documentary category.

The two directors hope that Nanking can be shown in Japan some day as the Japanese government still denies that the Nanking massacre happened.

The year 2007 marks the 70th anniversary of the Rape of Nanking. Seven films are scheduled to be made about Nanking, including a Chinese movie based on Iris Chang’s book.

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