On November 9, 2004, the Chinese-American writer Iris Chang took her own life at home, after struggling with depression; she was thirty-six years old. Her standing in the world had been won by The Rape of Nanking: The Forgotten Holocaust of World War II, the bestselling book that appeared in 1997, which set out the cruel record of the Nanking Massacre and became a much-noted historical document. After many years of preparation and the unwearied work of many in the community, a park bearing her name was opened in northern San Jose on November 9, 2019, to mark her exceptional contribution and her spiritual inheritance.
On the eve of the opening, Iris Chang’s parents and California Assembly Member Kansen Chu — the principal mover of the project — were invited to the well-known Bay Area Chinese television programme Jiayu Jeng Has Something to Say, to remember together this brave woman who took up her pen as a weapon and stood for the truth of history. On the programme, the guests recalled, with deep feeling, the events of Iris Chang’s life, and emphasized the great service she rendered in carrying forward the memory of history and in deepening understanding among nations.
“Iris Chang Park” is more than a memorial park: it is a cultural landmark, a sign of the lasting search for truth, justice, and the spirit of human conscience. The opening of the park is a high act of homage to a spirit that gave history its voice and would not yield before any power, and it is the dignified safeguarding of the inheritance she has left.
