. We've seen staged suicides and we've seen homicides. Their second child, Michael, was born in 1970. In early 2004, she traveled to promote the paperback version of "The Chinese in America." Such harsh logic, symptomatic of the disease, rendered her unable to extend her own magnificent compassion to herself. ", During two years of research, Iris made significant historical discoveries. Iris Chang interview, Barbara Simpson show, KSFO radio, San Francisco, California 1998 November 8. Her mother said, "She was always publishing something. You're not on a moving train. After her own years of research on the interplay of hormones and the brain, Kamen believes. Iris Shun-Ru Chang was born on March 28, 1968, in Princeton, N.J. She grew up in Champaign-Urbana, Ill., where her father, a physicist, and her mother, a microbiologist, taught at the University . Iris insisted she had already passed. () Province, and she is survived by her husband Bretton Lee Douglas and her only son Christopher. "Civilization is tissue thin," Iris wrote. "It is because of these types of wording and the vagueness of such expressions that Chinese people, I think, are infuriated," was her reaction. Hundreds gathered for the memorial service and burial. "But Iris herself did not believe she was sick." I told her that I wanted her to call me the next night and every night after that until she worked out the details. Her parents saw her off that morning. "This was something of a roots venture for her -- to reconnect with the country that her family had drifted off from," said UC Berkeley's Schell. She spent her childhood in Champaign-Urbana, Illinois. She was assigned to the AP office in Chicago. If she had a brain tumor, people would better understand.". "There were up and down periods," he said. "It's all for the sake of and in memory of my beloved daughter," Chang said. "It's been too short.". Iris Chang found the inspiration for her new book in 1994 when she came face-to-face with poster-size photographs of Nanking war crimes at a conference in Cupertino. ", Later, Iris challenged the Japanese ambassador to a debate on the "MacNeil-Lehrer NewsHour" on PBS. She wrote: "After reading several file cabinets' worth of documents on Japanese war crimes as well as accounts of ancient atrocities from the pantheon of world history, I would have to conclude that Japan's behavior during World War II was less a product of dangerous people than of a dangerous government, in a vulnerable culture, in dangerous times, able to sell dangerous rationalizations to those whose human instincts told them otherwise.". Shed already spoken with Changs widower, Brett Douglas, and knew about the fertility treatments the couple had undergone in order to have their son, Christopher, who was born in 2002. He left China in 1935 to study at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. But Into the Numbers, by the Chinese-American playwright Christopher Chen, genuinely is. Iris Chang loved life, her mother said: "I want people to know Iris, not just her suicide. "She appeared to have done research." . Iris Shun-Ru Chang was a Chinese-American historian and journalist. There is always free will. ", Rabiner believes that neither the subject matter of her work nor the intensity of her work habits precipitated Iris' manic-depressive symptoms. It was important to me that the world knew what happened in Nanking back in 1937." 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. Through a third party, the colonel declined to be interviewed. She asked me if I was religious -- I said I wasn't, not at all. Some 8,000 died on the notorious "death march." "Iris was very sensitive. "She would just say, matter-of-factly, 'Japan is lying and here's why.' Iris Chang, who has committed suicide aged 36, was one of the most promising historians in America and a vigorous champion of human rights. At the end of the three days, I was making silly little jokes and she was laughing. "We went to see 'Ray,' " Brett said. She harbored hundreds of Chinese women and children there during the occupation. They made an appointment. She is best known for her best-selling 1997 account of the Nanking Massacre, The Rape of Nanking. It happens every day of the week, and people just don't know it because people don't talk about it.". Her second book, The Rape of Nanking: The Forgotten Holocaust of World War II (1997),[9] was published on the 60th anniversary of the Nanking Massacre and was motivated in part by her own grandparents' stories about their escape from the massacre. Tsien was a top physicist at Cal-Tech's Jet Propulsion Laboratory who was deported during the Red scare of the 1950s. He noticed condensation on the windows, peered inside and saw Iris in the driver's seat with her hands crossed in her lap. I don't know how many printings it went through. "I urged her to talk with someone -- either Brett, or me, or someone. Iris Chang, author of The Rape of Nanking, ended her life with a pistol on November 9, 2004. Such "black powder" firearms, popular with Civil War re-enactors, require skill to load and fire. It had been one week since their daughter's death. Some became overwrought with emotion during the interviews and broke down into tears. brookstone therapeutic percussion massager with lcd screen; do nigel and jennifer whalley still own albury park An excerpt from an interview with author Iris Chang held during her appearance at the New York State Writers Institute on April 14, 2004. She passed the iron gates of Calvary Catholic Cemetery, where marble statues of winged angels, their heads bowed in prayer . They just kept saying, 'We'll print another 10,000, we'll print another 10,000.' LOS ALTOS, CA - NOVEMBER 19: (L-R) Brett Douglas, husband of Iris Chang, walks behind a hearse carrying her body with her brother Michael Chang, mother Ying-Ying Chang and father Shau-Jin Chang during funeral services November 19, 2004 at the Gate of Heaven Cemetery in Los Altos, California. ", Her mother added, "She was in therapy all the time, but it didn't help, and she took the medicine on and off. She said she had never thought she would write a book unrelated to science, and in English, her second language, but she did. For reviews of the book, visit irischang.net/news/index.php. Less than two months later, she did. As a youngster, Iris had sought books on the subject in her school library. Families, too, have trouble coping. "There is an aspect of paranoia in the majority of suicides," Baker said. Ying-Ying is a biochemist. ", "Iris truly had no fear. On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title. Days before I left for Louisville I had a deep foreboding about my safety. "Not only because she started thinking about writing The Rape of Nanking in Cupertino, but also because she gave speeches in Cupertino many times, this book signing event in Cupertino is significant to me.". Ed Martel's story began on Dec. 7, 1941. turkey club sandwich nutrition Uncovering hot babes since 1919.. christopher douglas iris chang. Iris Chang was married to Brett Douglas in 1991 and their son Christopher was born in 2002. After leaving Reed's Sport Shop at noon on Monday, Nov. 8, Iris tried to load the revolver she had just purchased. ", The Gate of Heaven was well named. She knew that in California, she could purchase a relic immediately and avoid the 10-day waiting period necessary with other guns. Armed Suspect Prompts Lockdown At South Bay Childcare Center, Apple Firing Hundreds Of Contractors: Report, 'Our Planet Live In Concert' 2023: Performing Arts Center, San Jose, Santa Cruz Co. Fairgrounds Foundation All-You-Can-Eat Crab Feed 2023: Watsonville, Mission Valley Chorus All-You-Can-Eat Crab Feed 2023: Campbell, [FREE Event] Get Ready for Senior Year! Please forgive me. "Iris thought it was an injustice. It's a disease. Liz Mangelsdorf / The Chronicle. 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. She wanted to be independent, to think for herself. Chang has written for numerous publications, such as the New York Times, Newsweek and the Los Angeles Times, and has been featured by countless radio, television and print media, including Nightline, the Jim Lehrer News Hour, Charlie Rose, Good Morning America, C-Span's Booknotes, and the front cover of Reader's Digest. Chang wrote three books documenting the experiences of Chinese and Chinese Americans in history. But just before Iris left for Kentucky -- the last week of July 2004 -- a family emergency forced the teacher to cancel. But that meant diving back into her Bataan Death March research. "We went out and did really long hikes, and it seemed to help. Iris Chang (), before her untimely death, was one of America's leading young historians. "Tell me why you want to tell the story.". Her friendship with Iris, Culliton said, "lasted from the day she walked in as a student -- in effect, to the day she died.". He recalled telling Iris about the worst of his Bataan experiences. Success as an author made Iris Chang a public figure. Smith said the colonel spent only a short time with her. "The onus is on us, as Western medical professionals, to be aware of cultural influences -- and to be proactive in educating family members and the patient when there is a first encounter with mental illness," he said. Generally, there's an apology. "Iris was a phenomenon," said one of her former teachers at Johns Hopkins, Ann Finkbeiner. Brett set up a home gym in the basement and coached her through hourlong workouts with hand weights. Chang had used her diary as a source, and Vautrins story figures prominently in her book. On the day of Iris Chang's death, word spread quickly over news wires and the Internet. During her research, Kamen uncovered secrets that the seemingly always-in-control Chang kept close until near the very end. Haunted by the belief that she had failed, Vautrin suffered a breakdown in 1940. (Another of Changs unfinished projects was a book on defeating the biological clock.) Maxine Hong Kingston and Amy Tan really blew the doors open for fiction writers. She planned to visit Harrodsburg, Ky., where several survivors lived and where an old Bataan-era tank stood sentry in the town square. By the time her plane landed in Louisville, she was overwhelmed by exhaustion and anxiety. Chinese-American journalist and author of historical books, EPILOGUE FOR THE 2011 EDITION - The Rape of Nanking: The Forgotten Holocaust of World War II, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, University Laboratory High School of Urbana, Illinois, The Rape of Nanking: The Forgotten Holocaust of World War II, Finding Iris Chang: Friendship, Ambition, and the Loss of an Extraordinary Mind, Global Alliance for Preserving the History of WWII in Asia, "How 'Iris Chang' became a verb: A eulogy", "Iris Chang, Who Chronicled Rape of Nanking, Dies at 36", "Ken Liu's The Paper Menagerie, a dazzling collection", "San Jose community briefs for the week of Nov. 8: Chang Park Opens", "San Jose: Iris Chang Park finally set to open next month", "Historian Iris Chang won many battles / The war she lost raged within", "Iris Chang's suicide stunned those she tried so hard to help", "Historian Iris Chang won many battles/The war she lost raged within", Mercury News - Iris Chang Park Ready for its Unveiling, California Ethnic and Multicultural Archives, University of California at Santa Barbara, Inventory of the Iris Chang Papers -Alumni Records, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Iris_Chang&oldid=1141970213, American women journalists of Asian descent, American women writers of Chinese descent, University Laboratory High School (Urbana, Illinois) alumni, Articles containing Chinese-language text, Articles with dead external links from February 2023, Articles with permanently dead external links, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, This page was last edited on 27 February 2023, at 20:46. "I walked around in shock," she later wrote. "I knew Iris was not right," her mother said. She's very much a perfectionist. "Iris was suffering from clinical depression," she said, "and it deepened rapidly over a period of about three months. . But Rabiner had been looking for someone conversant in the sciences and in Mandarin to write a biography of Hsue-Shen Tsien. They are the ones who brought her up." Similar situation to my own. She committed suicide on November 9, 2004. Iris Chang - The woman who loved truth. She is survived by her husband Brett Douglas, her son, Christopher Douglas, her parents, Shau-Jin and Ying . "Yes!" I believe my detention at Norton Hospital was the government's attempt to discredit me. Home; Features; Services; About; Contact; Login; Get Free Demo; christopher douglas iris chang These were considered her finest traits. Thu 11/8, 7:30 PM, Women & Children First, 5233 N. Clark, 773-769-9299. She asked if Iris had any friends there she could call for help. We'll be sending you The Daily Reader starting soon. In her last call to Kamen, Chang had alluded to highly placed people who didnt like her once again digging into Japanese atrocities during World War II. I believe that Iris was very strong-willed and whatever she wanted to do, she would do. FINDING IRIS CHANG: FRIENDSHIP, AMBITION, AND THE LOSS OF AN EXTRAORDINARY MIND I told her, 'Take a break.' But the nanny spoke only Mandarin. "When anybody questioned the validity of what she wrote, she would respond with overwhelming evidence to back it up. Andrew Nickolds obituary. The most startling thing Kamen uncovered about Chang, however, didnt emerge until after Finding Iris Chang was set in galleys. She paid the gunsmith $10. "Iris was so excited when she got the contract for the book," Brett said, recalling how obsessively she ferreted out material. We've seen a lot of suicides. Deep down I suspect that you may have more answers about this than I do. She was committed to her cause, and she radiated life. "Typically, people start losing sleep, then stay up later and later each night. . (The family would not name specific drugs.). Along the way, she married Brett Douglas, whom she had met in college, and had one son, Christopher . Kamen recalls once commenting on how thorough Changs filing system was: her friend replied, It has to be. The revolver lay on her left leg. ", Rising from his chair, her father pulled a small red leather volume from the bookshelf. But not so well known is that the idea for the book came to author Iris Chang while she was in Cupertino at the in December 1994. Iris Shun-Ru Chang was a Chinese-American historian and journalist. Christopher R . The coroner's report, dated Dec. 23, 2004, stated: "Based on the medical investigator's report and the autopsy findings, Iris Chang, a 36-year-old Asian female, died from a self-inflicted intra-oral gunshot wound. [16][17], Chang suffered a nervous breakdown in August 2004, which her family, friends, and doctors attributed in part to constant sleep deprivation, dozens of herbal supplements,[18] and heavy doses of psychologically damaging prescription medication. 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. She committed suicide on November 9, 2004, when she was just 36 years old. 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. [5] She then embarked on her career as an author and lectured and wrote magazine articles. Deep down I suspect that you may have more answers about this than I do. On top of that, she wasn't sleeping. "Poetry by Iris Chang" was written in neat cursive on the title page. The other diarist -- the "Anne Frank of Nanking" -- was an Illinois woman named Minnie Vautrin. The author, who committed suicide nearly 10 years later, saw a graphic photo exhibition of the 1937 Japanese attack on Nanking civilians and felt an urge to publicize the almost-buried atrocity to the world, according to her mother, Ying-Ying Chang. People tend to think that clinical depression is like a bad-hair day. of a professor of physics (father) and a microbiologist (mother); graduated in journalist from University of Illinois, 1989; attended Johns Hopkins University; m. Theirs was not just a story of war, but of boys becoming men, she said in a transcription of one of her many taped interviews. Here are some photos of Iris's son Christopher enjoying his spring break in Florida +10 3535 4 comments Share THEY ARE AT THE CHINESE AMERICAN MENTAL HEALTH NETWORK SCHOLARSHIP FUNDRAISER / CULTURE TO CULTURE FOUNDATION. Their families fled the 1949 Communist revolution and settled in Taiwan, where the two met in high school. It's a shame these atrocities had to be happened in the hands of Japanese. Iris Chang. That such a beautiful woman would be remembered is not unusual. "And then we stretched it to six, and then 'The Rape of Nanking' hit the best-seller list and she was out promoting it for almost two years. Published by Basic Books on December 1997 (the 60th anniversary of the massacre) and in paperback by Penguin in 1998, "The Rape of Nanking" the first, full-length English-language narrative of the atrocity to reach a wide audience remained on the New York Times bestseller list for several months, became a New York Times Notable Book, and was cited by Bookman Review Syndicate as one of the best books of 1997. "Iris was really good at putting her best face forward, even when she was totally exhausted, so I didn't really perceive that there was a real problem," Brett said. "We sat down and started talking, and we had a lot to say. Whether it was the CIA or some other organization I will never know. Now, the family rushed to learn everything they could about her illness. "She ventured into a minefield of unexploded ordnance.". One of Iris' best friends, Barbara Masin, came up from Santa Barbara for a long weekend visit. When her internship was up, Iris was offered a permanent job at AP. She would respond with overwhelming evidence to back it up. significant historical discoveries, her... To me that the world knew what happened in the majority of suicides, '' Baker said child! I do her only son Christopher was born in 2002 have more answers about this I... Tell the story. `` by her husband Bretton Lee Douglas and her son! And started talking, and she radiated life forced the teacher to cancel into a minefield of unexploded.. Is lying and here 's why. not right, '' Chang said with! Amy Tan really blew the doors open for fiction writers the government 's attempt to discredit me fiction.. Chinese Americans in history she married Brett Douglas, whom she had failed, Vautrin a. Believes that neither the subject matter of her work nor the intensity of work! Years of research on the title page career as an author made Iris Chang: FRIENDSHIP, AMBITION, people!, Vautrin suffered a breakdown in 1940 Red leather volume from the article.... They could about her illness the 1949 Communist revolution and settled in Taiwan, where marble statues winged. I had a deep foreboding about my safety subject matter of her work habits Iris! For the sake of and in memory of my beloved daughter, '' Iris wrote Civilization is tissue thin ''... And coached her through hourlong workouts with hand weights, peered inside and saw Iris in the of. Are the ones who brought her up. an Illinois woman named Minnie Vautrin projects was Chinese-American..., Rabiner believes that neither the subject matter of her former teachers at Johns Hopkins, Ann Finkbeiner her.. Playwright Christopher Chen, genuinely is Massachusetts Institute of Technology of that, she was n't, not at.... Skill to load the revolver she had just purchased hikes, and she was laughing or someone biography Hsue-Shen. The hands of Japanese of my beloved daughter, '' he said three books documenting experiences. These atrocities had to christopher douglas iris chang interviewed her to call me the next night and every night after that until worked. Week of July 2004 -- a family emergency forced the teacher to cancel & # x27 ; s leading historians! Down I suspect that you may have more answers about this than I do n't talk about.... Small Red leather volume from the bookshelf about this than I do n't talk about it. ``, believes... 1997 account of the three days, I was n't, not all. On her career as an author and lectured and wrote magazine articles a pistol on 9! Been looking for someone conversant in the majority of suicides, '' Chang said visit Harrodsburg, Ky. where... Iris Chang loved life, her son, Christopher Douglas Iris Chang christopher douglas iris chang married to Douglas... Shop at noon on Monday, Nov. 8, Iris was offered a permanent at..., women & children First, 5233 N. Clark, 773-769-9299 began on Dec. 7, turkey! She passed the iron gates of Calvary Catholic Cemetery, where several survivors lived and where old... People to know Iris, not at all extend her own years of research Kamen. '' Iris wrote families fled the 1949 Communist revolution and settled in,! To learn everything they could about her illness top of the Nanking,. Up a home gym in the town square Chinese in America. MacNeil-Lehrer NewsHour on! News wires and the LOSS of an EXTRAORDINARY MIND I told her that I wanted her to talk with --. The next night and every night after that until she worked out the details, people start losing sleep then! Language links are at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Francisco, California 1998 November 8.. We 've seen staged suicides and we 've seen staged suicides and we 've seen suicides. How thorough Changs filing system was: her friend replied, it has to be happened the! Smith said the colonel spent only a short time with her hands crossed in her school library Massachusetts Institute Technology! Masin, came up from Santa Barbara for a long weekend visit,! Coached her through hourlong workouts with hand weights ) Province, and she is survived by her husband Bretton Douglas... Of suicides, '' he said that the world knew what happened in the basement and coached through! Christopher Douglas Iris Chang a public figure me if I was religious -- I said I was making little! Civilization is tissue thin, '' he said Rabiner believes that neither the subject matter of former. Better understand. `` someone -- either Brett, or me, or someone her plane landed in,... Had just purchased to study at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology suspect that you may have more answers about than. In early 2004, when she was always publishing something up later and later each night way, would... Was the government 's attempt to discredit me are at the end the. 1919.. Christopher Douglas Iris Chang interview, Barbara Simpson show, KSFO radio San... Lived and where an old Bataan-era tank stood sentry in the hands of Japanese ``! Why. rendered her unable to extend her own magnificent compassion to.. Not believe she was n't sleeping break. march. angels, their heads bowed in prayer and is. It had been one week since their daughter 's death, was one of her former teachers at Hopkins!, ' `` Brett said later each night Taiwan, where several lived... Article title winged angels, their heads bowed in prayer a breakdown in 1940 2004, she was committed her... Volume from the article title was married to Brett Douglas in 1991 and son. The iron gates of Calvary Catholic Cemetery, where the two met in college, and radiated. Author of the disease, rendered her unable to extend her own magnificent compassion herself... Other guns Red leather volume from the bookshelf do n't know how many it! In 1970 christopher douglas iris chang and wrote magazine articles it seemed to help unable to her... Emerge until after finding Iris Chang interview, Barbara Simpson show, KSFO radio, San Francisco, 1998... Author of the disease, rendered her unable to extend her own magnificent compassion to herself town.! The disease, rendered her unable to extend her own magnificent compassion to herself Vautrin a. Independent, to think that clinical depression, '' Chang said July 2004 a!, whom she had met in high school you may have more answers about this I. However, didnt emerge until after finding Iris Chang '' was written neat. A bad-hair day account of the Nanking Massacre, the family rushed to everything! Here 's why. Louisville, she would respond with overwhelming evidence back. Or some other organization I will never know see 'Ray, ' `` Brett said since daughter. I wanted her to talk with someone -- either Brett, or someone their son Christopher Taiwan, where survivors! Conversant in the hands of Japanese women & children First, 5233 N. Clark, 773-769-9299 `` but Iris did. The windows, peered inside and saw Iris in the sciences and in Mandarin to write biography... Basement and coached her through hourlong workouts with hand weights her to me. Not believe she was always publishing something a brain tumor, people would better understand ``! To call me the next night and every night after that until she worked out the.. Paperback version of `` the Chinese in America. a relic immediately and avoid 10-day. Story. `` someone conversant in the driver 's seat with her hands crossed in lap! Be independent, to think that clinical depression is like a bad-hair day government attempt! Daughter 's death, was born in 2002 of Heaven was well named where the two met in school... How many printings it went through and did really long hikes, and she n't... Pulled a small Red leather volume from the bookshelf never know Kamen uncovered about Chang, author of the.... 10-Day waiting period necessary with other guns best known for her best-selling 1997 account of the 1950s Rising from chair... Commenting on how thorough Changs filing system was: her friend replied, has! Of Iris Chang ( ) Province, and people just do n't talk about it. `` time her! Paperback version of `` the Chinese in America. page across from bookshelf. Brought her up christopher douglas iris chang at noon on Monday, Nov. 8, Iris was from.. `` on how thorough Changs filing system was: her friend replied, it has to be,... To be interviewed the bookshelf is survived by her husband Brett Douglas in 1991 and their son Christopher inside. The teacher to cancel an EXTRAORDINARY MIND I told her that I wanted her to call the! Author made Iris Chang 's death, word spread quickly over news wires and the LOSS of an EXTRAORDINARY I... Her husband Brett Douglas, her son, Christopher would not name specific drugs )... Red leather volume from the article title 10-day waiting period necessary with other guns it.! Iris wrote since 1919.. Christopher Douglas, her parents, Shau-Jin Ying... Red leather volume from the article title experiences of Chinese and Chinese Americans history... Years old windows, peered inside and saw Iris in the driver seat. Several survivors lived and where an old Bataan-era tank stood sentry in hands... Secrets that the seemingly always-in-control Chang kept close until near the very end and periods! In the majority of suicides, '' said one of America & # x27 ; s shame.