"They had a big fight," he said. She attended University Laboratory High School of Urbana, Illinois, and graduated in 1985. Meanwhile, they decided they had put their plans for a family on hold long enough. We need people to be covering atrocities and mental illness and genocide. She said she had never thought she would write a book unrelated to science, and in English, her second language, but she did. Similar situation to my own Mom was a self hating, mentally ill Asian woman married to a gangly white nerd. Then, after 15 years of extraordinary achievement and major contributions to American military defense, he was branded a Communist and deported to China where he revolutionized the Chinese missile program and developed the Silkworm missile that later threatened American armed forces. Though her work life was not without controversy, she seemed to be a very successful woman, driven by the need to share the dark corners of history with the world. "To see her on TV, defending 'Rape of Nanking' so fiercely and so fearlessly -- I just sat down, stopped, in awe," said Helen Zia, author of "Asian-American Dreams: Emergence of an American People" and co-author, with Wen-Ho Lee, of "My Country Versus Me: The First-Hand Account by the Los Alamos Scientist Who Was Falsely Accused. Photos for a profile of Iris chang, a prominent author and historian, who died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound. Also known as Chris Douglas, Christopher M Lefler, Douglas Christopher. Please forgive me.[21]. But some scholars felt that she was a little too involved with her subject matter. "But the side effect of psychiatric drugs changed her personality and prompted her to go that route.". 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. The news hit Nanjing fast and hard. Asians were the first immigrant community that 'made it,' and we should all be doctors and lawyers." Kamen, the author of three previous books (Feminist Fatale, on Third Wave feminism; Her Way, a study of womens sexuality in the 1990s; and All in My Head, about her years-long struggle with chronic pain), says with Chang as her subject she wanted to focus on the dark side, the complexities and tensions we had with each other.. I knew immediately I wanted to spend the rest of my life with her.". Copy photo of Iris Chang with her husband Brett Douglas and their son at his birthday party. ". For the Wisconsin trip, she had hooked up with people from the Bataan Commemorative Research Project, a historical archive and Web site created by faculty and students at Proviso East High School in Maywood, Ill. "World War II hit the town of Maywood really hard," said Ian Smith, chair of the school's history department. 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. But it turned out she wasn't sleeping during the day either. (Photo/Robert Spencer)on 5/5/03 in New York. Se cas con Bretton Lee Douglas, con quien tuvo a su hijo Christopher, y vivi en San Jos (California), donde sufri una profunda depresin que le llev al suicidio. You could see it in the steadiness of her voice and in her persistence," Zia recalled. Isles Of Scilly, TR21. Beautiful as always, she was dressed in an indigo blue suit, identical in color and hue to the dress in the photograph. One month later, on Saturday, Dec. 11, the same elegant photograph of Iris was displayed at a memorial honoring her on the 67th anniversary of the invasion of Nanking. Penzance, Cornwall, TR20. She told him she had an old revolver that was unsafe to shoot. But, her father said, "In spite of many sessions, Iris did not tell the therapist her deepest thoughts. "Sometimes, people can be both mentally ill and highly disciplined, highly structured, highly productive members of society, whether you're talking about science or business or the arts. ", Iris called Rabiner. Chang is the subject of the 2007 biography Finding Iris Chang,[1] and the 2007 documentary film Iris Chang: The Rape of Nanking starring Olivia Cheng as Iris Chang. ', In a way Finding Iris Chang is Kamens way of Iris Chang-ing it. The views expressed here are the author's own. 64 years old (June 07, 1958) Purple Rain. "Most lived in dark, squalid apartments cluttered with the debris of poverty and heavy with mildew and humidity," she wrote. As a duo played traditional Chinese music, a group of nearly 100 gathered at the Millbrae headquarters of the Chinese-language daily the World Journal. In the end, the war she could not win raged internally. "She would go into a town -- and with Tony Meldahl's help, it was even better. Chang had used her diary as a source, and Vautrins story figures prominently in her book. She'd already spoken with Chang's widower, Brett Douglas,. There is always free will. Chang said she's very grateful to her husband for being extremely supportive in her writing process. "There's a book I must do," she said. Among her many television appearances was a memorable evening on "Nightline," where she was the only Asian and the only woman among a panel of China experts. But Kamens book, unlike, say, Truth & Beauty, novelist Ann Patchetts controversial memoir of her thorny friendship with the late writer Lucy Grealy, relies very little upon navel-gazing rumination. One of the veterans -- a colonel she had planned to meet in Louisville -- came to the hotel. 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. It seemed like a lot of odd behavior started around that time, Kamen says. Haunted by the belief that she had failed, Vautrin suffered a breakdown in 1940. Back to Christopher Douglas Page. The result, Finding Iris Chang: Friendship, Ambition, and the Loss of an Extraordinary Mind, out this month from Da Capo Press, details Changs celebrated and controversial career as a journalist and historical author as well as Kamens relationship with her. Chang said she never took any antidepressants when devastated by Iris' death. Chang is survived by Bretton Douglas, her husband, and son, Christopher. Just do it!" ", His voice slipped to a whisper. "He immediately agreed to read my manuscript and write the introduction when I asked him.". The conference had been sponsored by the Global Alliance for Preserving the History of World War II in Asia. Iris Chang, you had done a lot to fully expose the Nanjing Massacre happened 70 years ago. 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. Sunday morning, they drove to Santa Cruz for lunch on the pier, then went to her favorite spa, Chaminade -- a 300-acre mission-style resort, surrounded by redwoods and eucalyptus, in the Santa Cruz Mountains. ", At the same time, torrents of hate mail came in, Brett said. 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 . I was worried. Iris collapsed in bed. In 1997, Iris Changs The Rape of Nanking was published to great critical acclaim and quickly became a national bestseller. Books by Iris Chang The Rape of Nanking: The Forgotten Holocaust of World War II Iris Chang $ 3.99 - $ 16.98 The Chinese in America: A Narrative History Iris Chang $ 5.49 - $ 8.09 Thread of the Silkworm Iris Chang $ 6.89 - $ 24.05 You Might Also Enjoy Complete Novels Jane Austen from: $6.19 The Complete Father Brown Stories G.K. Chesterton Later she married Bretton Lee Douglas. The Rape of Nanking remained on the New York Times Bestseller list for 10 weeks. "She was in on more than one occasion," said Reed's manager, Pat Kalcic, a tall outdoorsman. Born in China, educated at M.I.T. Although Tsien was one of the founders of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), and for many years helped the military of the United States debrief scientists from Nazi Germany, he was suddenly accused of being a spy and a member of the Communist Party USA, and was placed under house arrest from 1950 to 1955. Di sana ia belajar di SMA Laboratorium Universitas Urbana, Illinois dan lulus pada 1985. ", Later, Iris challenged the Japanese ambassador to a debate on the "MacNeil-Lehrer NewsHour" on PBS. ", "Chinese Americans grew up hearing about this forgotten holocaust," said Zia, whose grandmother was killed in Nanking. She committed suicide on November 9, 2004, when she was just 36 years old. Nov. 11, 2004 12 AM PT. There was still research to do. She said she was confronted by a man who said, "You will NOT continue writing this. " Just what had happened to Chang was a mystery. ", Brett voiced a similar conclusion. Iris insisted she had already passed. It was later discovered that she had left behind three suicide notes each dated November 8, 2004. AKA Iris Shun-Ru Chang. ", Between August and November, Iris saw two different therapists before finding one who seemed a good fit. The group meets to address important issues concerning the Chinese-American community, as well as issues affecting U.S.-China relations on 5/5/03 in New York. "He could tell that she was a lot different after she came back from Louisville. She never did sleep very well or eat very well.". "You'll have to forgive me, but I find myself often deeply affected by these stories. She wrote her thesis on "The Poetry of Science." Neither did they know she had been bent on suicide. Event on 11/16/04 in San Jose. ", Rabiner, who later became an agent and represented Iris, said, "The book was beyond well reviewed -- it was a mega-best-seller that continues to sell. I promise not to hurt myself. When, at 36, Chang shot herself in 2004 on an empty stretch. Mom died, dad attempted to raise the son using classic meek white dad tactics, probably filled the kid's head with delusions about Jesus and stuff. Among other things, the compulsively well-organized Chang began losing credit cards every couple of weeks, according to Douglas, and in her last year she became paranoid about everything from viruses attacking her computer to attempts by the government to recruit her, a la The Manchurian Candidate. "There was a time earlier, in September, when we were worried, but she seemed to come out of that. Iris had been haunted since childhood by the graphic stories she was told about Nanking. "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. "Every day she seemed to have something new. When her internship was up, Iris was offered a permanent job at AP. She would talk about her achievements openly, and people saw her as putting them down or bragging, when it was really that she believed there was enough success to go around., A Canadian documentary about Chang is in the works and two statues honoring her have been erected since her deathone at Stanford, the other at a memorial to the Nanking massacre in whats now called Nanjing, where another woman from Illinois is honored. (One of the most engaging chapters in Kamens book concerns Changs unlikelybut successfulbid to become a homecoming princess.) The views expressed in this post are the author's own. "It is because of these types [] Chang said she did some research on the psychiatric drugs and the antidepressants Iris took in the months between a temporary nervous breakdown and her suicide. Somehow, she always bounced back, energized by her role as spokesperson for a movement. She wrote three books, which made her visible as a public figure. While on the ship home, she tried repeatedly to leap overboard. Please forgive me. Driving west toward Santa Cruz on Highway 17, she took a turnoff 25 miles from her home and parked on a steep gravel utility road within sight of the highway. "Over a year and a half, she visited 65 cities," Brett said. 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 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. It caused an international scandal because the Japanese to this day have not conceded the extent of the wartime atrocities perpetrated against the Chinese and others. "First they gave her an antipsychotic, to stabilize her," her mother said. 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 event was organized by Global Alliance and the Rape of Nanking Redress Coalition. THEY ARE AT THE CHINESE AMERICAN MENTAL HEALTH NETWORK SCHOLARSHIP FUNDRAISER / CULTURE TO CULTURE FOUNDATION. "During the massacre some had received physical injuries so severe they had been prevented from making a decent living for decades. Born: 28-Mar-1968 Birthplace: Princeton, NJ . Paula Kamen. It was important to me that the world knew what happened in Nanking back in 1937." But now that legacy has also found a home in a museum in China dedicated to her work. This kind of "black powder" is unstable and unsafe indoors, so he insisted she first take the can outside. Rabiner sensed the book would be important and signed Iris to write it. If they had let her get into Submit, she may not have become a journalist," he added. It is far better that you remember me as I wasin my heyday as a best-selling authorthan the wild-eyed wreck who returned from Louisville. Messages of . She used a post office box, never her home address, for mail. At the time of her death, Chang was researching a fourth book about the Bataan Death March and was promoting The Chinese in America. That book would sell half a million copies. My sincere condolences to Mr. Douglas and to young Christopher. She didn't just ask what had happened, she asked what they had felt. After publication of the book, Chang campaigned to persuade the Japanese government to apologize for its troops' wartime conduct and to pay compensation. Iris Shun-Ru Chang (March 28, 1968 - November 9, 2004) was a Chinese American journalist, author of historical books and political activist. The correspondent was Sgt. She went back to bed. Times Staff Writer. Iris Shun-Ru Chang (March 28, 1968 November 9, 2004) was a Chinese American journalist, author of historical books and political activist. He had only recently retired from the family farm in central Illinois that had been in the family for five generations. This bio was written at the time of Iris Chang's posthumous inauguration into the 2006 Illini Media Hall of Fame. "Why did he have to toy with me like that?" But for us to be able to write nonfiction, the stories of our lives -- on a lot of levels, it was revolutionary. On Saturday night they went to dinner at Fresh Choice and out to the movies. Iris discovered this group of Chinese American activists after she and Brett moved to Northern California when he got a job with Cisco Systems. We go through her and her husband's (Brett Douglas) house in San jose. He stopped and honked but there was no response. ", When Zia and Iris met for the first time, they planned a quick lunch. Iris Chang - Class of 1985 Iris Shun-Ru Chang () was an award-winning Chinese-American journalist, political activist, and acclaimed author. he cried. It documents atrocities committed against Chinese by forces of the Imperial Japanese Army during the Second Sino-Japanese War, and includes interviews with victims. At Johns Hopkins, Iris studied playwriting, fiction, poetry and science writing. Iris would be interviewing them, somebody else would be filming them, somebody else would be photocopying records, and somebody would be sending documents down to UPS. It's a shame these atrocities had to be happened in the hands of Japanese. We've seen staged suicides and we've seen homicides. She wrote her 100-page book proposal in a couple of weeks.". "We are a very close family. She had suffered from years of depression and constant sleep deprivation since her bestseller - full title "The Rape of Nanking: The Forgotten Holocaust of World War Two" - was published in 1997. There, Iris had lengthy conversations with then-President Bill Clinton and gave him a signed copy of "The Rape of Nanking.". 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.". She was mad. She hadn't ever heard much of Ray Charles' music before, and when we got home, she went upstairs and was browsing all kinds of information on Ray Charles on the Internet.". "Iris always came to us to discuss her problems," her mother said. much beloved author of the books: "The Chinese in America" and "The Rape of Nanking" Chang, the author of the international best seller "The Rape of Nanking," the compelling history of "the Chinese holocaust" the 1937 brutal torture and murder of upward of 35 million Chinese citizens at the hands of the Japanese, was instantly labeled a human rights pioneer. Bretton Douglas. 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. It was sort of scary as a journalist to be thinking, if this could happen to her and she supposedly had no history [of mental illness], and she was so much more put together than I am, just for me the question was how to survive our toxic topics. It was as if he were back in Bataan. By Dennis McLellan. They attended lectures but Iris gave fewer talks; she was still recovering from the book tour. I got off the phone confused and concerned, but I was too unsophisticated about psychological problems to realize that she was saying goodbye to me. Event on 11/16/04 in San Jose. But today Christopher is healthy. I can never shake my belief that I was being recruited, and later persecuted, by forces more powerful than I could have imagined. He and Iris were married in August 1991 in Champaign-Urbana. Her first, Thread of the Silkworm (Basic Books, 1995)[8] tells the life story of the Chinese professor, Hsue-Shen Tsien (or Qian Xuesen) during the Red Scare in the 1950s. She told him she had not asked for instructions when she bought the gun. She was too strong-willed not to.". -- Did she suffer a fatal reaction to powerful drugs that she refused to take as prescribed? 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