"She was like a battalion commander," Meldahl said. After a breakdown five months ago, Chang had been. "Every day she seemed to have something new. She wanted to be independent, to think for herself. 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 . 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. She had gained an international reputation in 1997 when she was only 29 for writing "The Rape of Nanking: The Forgotten Holocaust of World War II." These were considered her finest traits. Here are some photos of Iris's son Christopher enjoying his spring break in Florida +10 3434 4 comments Share "He got the job, we went," Mrs. Chang explained. Isles Of Scilly, TR21. We need people to be covering atrocities and mental illness and genocide. Bipolar disorder, also known as manic depression, is a mood disorder that affects one in every 70 people. Maxine Hong Kingston and Amy Tan really blew the doors open for fiction writers. At the first memorial -- that evening's "visitation" -- friends signed the guest book and offered condolences to the family. Stress does not cause mental illness, but it can worsen the symptoms, doctors say. She earned a degree in journalism from the University of Illinois and a Masters in Science Writing at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland. The cycle of mood shifts that distinguish the disease -- from manic highs to depressive lows -- differs with every sufferer. In the backseat, a teddy bear was tucked into the car seat of her 2-year-old son, Christopher. Pearl Harbor was still smoldering when Japanese planes bombed the Philippines' Bataan Peninsula, where Martel was stationed with a National Guard tank battalion. Though troubling to realize, those things that protect us most -- faith, family, health, financial stability -- are often powerless against mental illness. The revolver lay on her left leg. (Another of Changs unfinished projects was a book on defeating the biological clock.) ", "Chinese Americans grew up hearing about this forgotten holocaust," said Zia, whose grandmother was killed in Nanking. "Did you really look like Charlie Chaplin?" After two years at Princeton, the family moved to a Midwestern college town, Champaign-Urbana, in Illinois. 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. Instead it offers the same meticulous attention to detail and thorough immersion in primary sources that distinguishes Changs exhaustively researched books, Thread of the Silkworm (1995), about an accused Chinese spy; The Rape of Nanking, published in 1997 to mark the massacres 60th anniversary; and the 2003 narrative history The Chinese in America. Later, he would tell police that she "seemed distracted or aloof.". At Reed's Sport Shop one month after her death, the spot on the top shelf of the glass-topped case where Iris' gun had lain was still vacant. As she later told an interviewer, "I wrote 'Rape of Nanking' out of a sense of rage. "She had never seen anyone for depression or anything before," her mother said. 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By the time that was done, it was already eight years. "A lot of people -- depending on how disturbed they are -- feel that people are plotting against them." "We marvel at how America turned their backs on us. Brett set up a home gym in the basement and coached her through hourlong workouts with hand weights. They approached the open casket, where they stopped, gazed at her for a final time and bowed three times, in Chinese custom. They went to bed at midnight. "She couldn't eat or drink. ", Most of the attacks came from Japanese ultranationalists. Event on 11/19/04 in Los Altos Hills Eric Luse / The Chronicle Ran on: 11-20-2004 Whether it was the CIA or some other organization I will never know. Get our free daily newsletter delivered straight to your inbox Monday through Friday. She confirmed the danger of psychiatric drugs and antidepressants after reading publications by psychiatrist Peter Breggin, as well as bio-psychiatry researcher and psychiatrist, Martin Teicher. The Douglas iris was first collected near Monterey, California by the Scottish botanist and explorer David Douglas who also discovered and gave his name to the Douglas fir. It happens every day of the week, and people just don't know it because people don't talk about it.". @TheJohnRylands. The daughter of Ying-Ying () and Dr. Shau-Jin () Chang, she was born in Princeton, New Jersey and grew up in Champaign-Urbana, Illinois. Whether it was the CIA or some other organization I will never know. She easily passed the 20 exams necessary to qualify, only to be told that she must take five more. After the ambassador spoke of events in Nanking, Iris turned to the moderator and said: "I didn't hear an apology. The Chang laboratory studies the chemistry of biology and energy. I've been thinking about this kid for ten years, ever since I learned of his story. So she went back to bed and I watched her until she fell asleep.". Finally, the group stood to sing a halting but heartfelt rendition of "Amazing Grace.". "Iris scraped away the scar tissue of something that had been half forgotten and half healed over, and to this date, it's still a very raw wound, " said Orville Schell, dean of the Graduate School of Journalism at UC Berkeley. ", When Zia and Iris met for the first time, they planned a quick lunch. Iris Shun-Ru Chang was born March 28, 1968, in Princeton Hospital, on the university campus in New Jersey where her parents were doing postdoctoral work. ", Iris' parents retired in early 2001, and after Christopher was born, they moved from Illinois and into a home in the same complex. She hoped to gain access to a time capsule of audiotapes that was sealed within that tank after the war. Douglas Chang, MD, PhD is a board-certified physical medicine and rehabilitation physician who specializes in the non-surgical treatment of back/neck pain and other musculoskeletal injuries. She found the diaries of a pair of Westerners who were among the heroes of Nanking. She said she had never thought she would write a book unrelated to science, and in English, her second language, but she did. "She got what she wanted and got out," he said. What happened to Iris Chang's son? She was also promoting The Chinese in America. Later, Brett learned that the nanny had urged Iris to cancel the trip. Those who survived spent the rest of the war in a bleak prison camp; some were shipped to Japan as slave laborers. 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. Everything points to suicide.". "The Iris Chang I first met in October 1988 never came back," Douglas said. "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 was trying to be a top-notch mother and she was also trying to prepare for her trip.". Net Worth. . Her maternal grandparents had escaped just weeks before the Japanese arrived. Chang, 36 . "When anybody questioned the validity of what she wrote, she would respond with overwhelming evidence to back it up. "Statement of Iris Chang" stated: I promise to get up and get out of the house every morning. Iris Chang. asked Iris, knowing Martel had been saved from near starvation by the brushy mustache he wore. "She appeared to have done research." Hoping to practice shooting, she asked the gunsmith to go with her to a nearby indoor firing range. "She was in on more than one occasion," said Reed's manager, Pat Kalcic, a tall outdoorsman. he cried. The other diarist -- the "Anne Frank of Nanking" -- was an Illinois woman named Minnie Vautrin. Next to it, now, is a copy of Iris' obituary. ", Iris connected so well with these veterans because each of their stories mattered to her. They lived on a leafy country road. Neither did they know she had been bent on suicide. But all of them wanted the opportunity to talk about the massacre before their deaths. 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. ', "Much of the conversation was upbeat. She was mad. Ironically, the very condition that put her career on a slower track has also helped her avoid the emotional and physical burnout that the ambitious Chang experienced during her last year. "She contacted people who'd been lost for years, dug up records that nobody ever knew existed. Includes Address (11) Phone (8) Email (3) See Results. Less than two months later, she did. ", Iris had convinced her doctor to reduce her dosage. So she took a little bit and then she stopped -- and it shouldn't be stopped like that. She didn't just ask what had happened, she asked what they had felt. You could see it in the steadiness of her voice and in her persistence," Zia recalled. She wrote, "The America of today would not be the same America without the achievements of its ethnic Chinese," and that "scratch the surface of every American celebrity of Chinese heritage and you will find that, no matter how stellar their achievements, no matter how great their contribution to US society, virtually all of them have had their identities questioned at one point or another."[12]. The Police Department drafted a missing person's report. A lot of people misunderstood her in that way. It's never boring with her -- it's interesting." Once the Allies won the war, the story was forgotten. I didn't really care if I made a cent from it. . Tsien left for the People's Republic of China in September 1955. She said she had never thought she would write a book unrelated to. There, Iris had lengthy conversations with then-President Bill Clinton and gave him a signed copy of "The Rape of Nanking.". "She talked almost obsessively. Iris sent the Martels photographs from her trip, cards for Chinese New Year and updates on her Bataan project. . Tell us what happened. According to Brett Douglas, who married Iris . In 2007, the documentary Nanking was dedicated to Chang, as well as the Chinese victims of Nanking. "In the past, when Iris was working on something, she might work for 48 hours straight and then she would crash for 20 hours, and then she'd be back up, working again," Brett said. They just kept saying, 'We'll print another 10,000, we'll print another 10,000.' Paula Kamen. 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. ", As Iris' good friend Barbara Masin said, "Those who are close to her did everything that they possibly could have done. It also showed publishing houses that there is a market for books about the Chinese experience. Brett said, "It was, I think, 21 cities in 28 days. Facts. When they were both journalism students in the late 80s at the University of Illinois in Urbana, it was Chang who won the prized internships. "The boys came together to say, 'Crisis! But lunch lasted through dinner. "Depression is a silent epidemic among Asian Americans because we tend not to seek help soon enough," Hong said. "But the side effect of psychiatric drugs changed her personality and prompted her to go that route.". 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 He was a man she had met in college. A red tricycle and a jogging stroller flanked the front door. The whole process, how she planned everything, is very, very methodical., Kamen says Chang never understood how her drive pissed people off. I told her, 'Take a break.' "She didn't like other people taking control, so she resisted" his attending any of her therapy sessions. Box. The Memorial Hall, which collects documents, photos, and human remains from the massacre, added both a wing and a bronze statue dedicated to Chang in 2005. It may be true that Iris Chang committed suicide. Chang, with a Ph. She was born in Princeton, New Jersey. When Brett woke to find Iris gone early Monday morning, he called San Jose police, reporting that she was missing, on medication and a suicide risk. "We went to see 'Ray,' " Brett said. After publication of the book, Chang campaigned to persuade the Japanese government to apologize for its troops' wartime conduct and to pay compensation. She wrote her 100-page book proposal in a couple of weeks.". 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. We'll be sending you The Daily Reader starting soon. It's what drove the actress to campaign for the title role in a new documentary drama about Chinese American author Iris Chang's life and 2004 suicide on a lonely rural road near San Francisco Bay. Christopher P Douglas, 63. She was 36. So, in return for performing a short, Chaplinesque shuffle, he would be rewarded with a handful of scallions. "It is because of these types [] "Iris was very sensitive. Iris Chang's coffen was carried to a waiting hearst and a short drive to the burial site at the cemetary. "We weren't really prepared for the success of the book," Brett said. We arranged for her to come down and stay with me soon," she said. I didn't know if I'd hear from her again." Classical AF dissonance between pride in her culture and inability to integrate. Chang will continue her book-signing tour after Saturday's event in Cupertino. "He could tell that she was a lot different after she came back from Louisville. She feared these vaccinations may have caused him to become autistic. Iris collapsed in bed. [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. Chang grew up hearing stories about the Nanking massacre, from which her maternal grandparents managed to escape. She would just laugh.". "She would go into a town -- and with Tony Meldahl's help, it was even better. Iris Chang (), before her untimely death, was one of America's leading young historians. The views expressed here are the author's own. It was very painful for me to think about, even then. There was still research to do. 64 years old (June 07, 1958) Purple Rain. "The Man Who Ended History", a story in The Paper Managerie by Ken Liu about uncovering the history of Unit 731, is dedicated to the memory of Chang. Director. 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. "I wanted to give support to families that suffered the same kind of loss, and it really worked in that way. Christopher Douglas-Wood. Still, the depression failed to lift. Kamen recalls once commenting on how thorough Changs filing system was: her friend replied, It has to be. She preferred to meet someone in each town who could introduce her to the veterans and their families. "No, no! Iris was first and foremost an advocate. At 9:15 a.m. Tuesday, a county water district employee drove past the Oldsmobile. "Iris always came to us to discuss her problems," her mother said. We didn't see each other as much as we did in the past. Her last Bataan trip was scheduled for July 2004. 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. Irrefutably, Iris Chang won many battles in her fight for justice. 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. I said, 'You need to go to bed.' She touched her fingertips to her forehead, then waved her hand to the heavens: "It's because Iris is a dreamer." When I read The Rape of Nanking, I was struck by the parallels in the lives of these two women, Minnie and Iris, Kamen writes. She wore herself out." She just knows how to do things," he said, tenderly smoothing out a page. Her parents saw her off that morning. Iris called to say she had found Tsien's son and had interviewed him in Mandarin. Success as an author made Iris Chang a public figure. Her mother said, "She was always publishing something. She called this the most important lesson to be learned from the tragedy of Nanking. "When Iris' condition got really bad, we sent him to stay with my parents in Illinois. I can never shake my belief that I was being recruited, and later persecuted, by forces more powerful than I could have imagined. Just do it!" From the terrace, the view was peaceful -- broad green fields and golden poplars. The next morning, Friday, Nov. 19, dawned cold, clear and sunny. ", His voice slipped to a whisper. She was committed to her cause, and she radiated life. But it turned out she wasn't sleeping during the day either. 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. After the release from the hospital, she continued to suffer from depression and experienced the side effects of several medications she was taking. People tend to think that clinical depression is like a bad-hair day. "She didn't like the idea that she was taking medicine," her father said. After Iris Chang's Oldsmobile was found off Highway 17 on Tuesday morning, Nov. 9, the California Highway Patrol was called to the scene. He and Emily Harper both appeared on the soap opera Passions. "When I was obsessed about Iris, my husband and my son suggested taking me to see a therapist, but I said no," said Chang. Stories about Chang's grandparents' harrowing escape were part of her family legacy and prompted her to embark on this ambitious project, for which she interviewed elderly survivors of the massacre and discovered thousands of rare documents in four different languages. They lived on a leafy country road named Einstein Drive. Iris Chang lived in San Jose . "But Iris herself did not believe she was sick." She was initially a computer science major, but switched to journalism, earning a bachelor's degree at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 1989. Penzance, Cornwall, TR20. She knew that in California, she could purchase a relic immediately and avoid the 10-day waiting period necessary with other guns. "Tell me why you want to tell the story.". "She had so many bookings, she could easily be on the road for 2 1/2 weeks before coming back home. On Saturday night they went to dinner at Fresh Choice and out to the movies. But soon she found herself drawn to a subject just as dark. The first draft said: "When you believe you have a future, you think in terms of generations and years. Her mother hoped Iris would take on a lighter topic for her next book, especially with a baby in the house. Others wondered if Changs choice of subject matter was somehow to blame. When Martel read in a newspaper about her death, he asked his daughter, "Is that our Iris? Schell reviewed her book favorably in the New York Times. It was obvious she wasn't the same person that she was before," he said. It was a Thursday, nine days after her death. Speaking of the night they met, Brett said, "Iris was beautiful, vivacious -- and sober. That is, successful and invulnerable. Their second child, Michael, was born in 1970. I will follow the doctor's orders for medications. Days before I left for Louisville I had a deep foreboding about my safety. The Highway Patrol then called the Santa Clara Sheriff's homicide unit and detective Sgt. This bustling city of 6 million glimmers. Their famous daughter, whose 1997 bestseller, The Rape of Nanking, unearthed the forgotten holocaust of the Second World War when . "You didn't always feel she was talking to you --, it was as if she had to talk. D. in Biological Chemistry from Harvard University, had a scientist's career until her retirement in 2002. "Most lived in dark, squalid apartments cluttered with the debris of poverty and heavy with mildew and humidity," she wrote. "We bought this house when we knew he was on the way. There's a stigma within the culture about accessing care, because then people will think there is something wrong with you and your family. "A lack of sleep is one of the hallmark symptoms of mania," Dr. Kay Redfield Jamison, author of "Night Falls Fast: Understanding Suicide," told The Chronicle. In the fall of 1990, Iris took Finkbeiner's "Science Stories" course. (The family would not name specific drugs.). The mustache reminded his Japanese captors of "The Little Tramp." Our kitchen remodeling San Jose team is ready to help right now! Iris Shun-Ru Chang (March 28, 1968 - November 9, 2004) was an American journalist.She is best known for her best-selling 1997 account of the Nanking Massacre, The Rape of Nanking.Chang is the subject of the 2007 biography, Finding Iris Chang, [1] and the 2007 documentary film Iris Chang: The Rape of Nanking. Copyright 2011 irischang.net All Rights Reserved. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate. Prof. Shau-Jin Chang (Physics Professor, University of Illinois) Mother: Dr. Ying-Ying Chang (Microbiologist, University of Illinois) Husband: Dr. Brett Douglas (engineer, m. 17-Aug-1991) Son: Christopher (b. 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. Tsien was a top physicist at Cal-Tech's Jet Propulsion Laboratory who was deported during the Red scare of the 1950s. "Iris told me now was not the time to go on with the Bataan project. "Rape of Nanking" became an immediate best-seller and established her as an outspoken advocate for victims of Japanese war crimes. He could see the travel was taking a toll on her. Each time, Iris swept into town and conducted four or five intensive interviews in as many days. The event was organized by Global Alliance and the Rape of Nanking Redress Coalition. We always had to argue all the exceptions she could think of. ", 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. Johns Hopkins University, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign: Children: Christopher: Spouse: Bretton Douglas Related Document. Blood covered her clothes. Each breath is becoming difficult for me to take -- the anxiety can be compared to drowning in an open sea. Nov. 11, 2004 12 AM PT. [14], R.F. You have a young kid. Iris Chang's many accolades include the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation's Program on Peace and International Cooperation Award, the Woman of the Year award from the Organization of Chinese Americans, and two honorary doctorates (the College of Wooster in Ohio, and California State University at Hayward). It seemed like a lot of odd behavior started around that time, Kamen says. Iris Chang, author of The Rape of Nanking, ended her life with a pistol on November 9, 2004. Also known as Chris Douglas, Christopher M Lefler, Douglas Christopher. "We saw cartoons where she was portrayed as this woman with a great big mouth," Brett said. Through a third party, the colonel declined to be interviewed. 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. Contents 1 Background 2 Writing credits 3 Presenting 3.1 Acting credits 4 Publications 5 References 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. Deep down I suspect that you may have more answers about this than I do. They lived on a leafy country road named Einstein Drive. NANKING-02/B/19JULY98/SC/TK=IRIS Chang autographing "Rape of Nanking" Sunday at the Treasure Island exhibit. An excerpt from an interview with author Iris Chang held during her appearance at the New York State Writers Institute on April 14, 2004. At the time, she was several months into research for her fourth book, about the Bataan Death March. 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. "Iris is sensitive, but she got charged up," he recalled. "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.". (The book has yet to be translated for publication in Japan.) Best of Chicago 2021About the Chicago ReaderReader Staff Reader CareersFreelance InformationContact UsBecome a memberDonate, AdvertiseSubmit/promote your eventFind the PaperSubscribeShop the Reader StoreContests/Giveaways/Promotions.
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