Asia-Pacific News

"Rape of Nanking" vanishes from revised Taiwan history textbook

Feb 11, 2007, 8:39 GMT

Taipei - The 'Rape of Nanking,' an important part of modern Chinese history, has disappeared from Taiwan's revised history textbook, a newspaper said on Sunday.

The United Evening News said the textbook from one publishing house has ommitted mention of the World War II atrocities committed by the Japanese in China, while the textbooks from four publishing houses only make a brief reference to it.

In Taiwan, the Education Ministry decides the content of school textbooks but the books are printed by private publishing houses.

The 'Rape of Nanking' refers to the massacre which began after Nanking, then the Chinese capital, fell to the Japanese troops on December 13, 1937. Japanese soldiers carried out rape, execution, arson and looting in and around Nanking which lasted for six weeks.

China estimates the total death toll at about 300,000. Japan has denied the Nanking massacre took place and some Japanese rightists plan to make a documentary to deny it happened.

Taiwan also revised its high school history textbook last month to show that Taiwan is an independent country, not part of China.