I will teach Geography of China class this summer in which I cover (but don't dwell on) the Rape of Nanking. I already have two Japanese students enrolled. It's my understanding that many Japanese do not acknowledge this event. Does anyone have suggestions about how I should approach this in my class? I do not want to offend my Japanese students.

Hi Lallie,

You really need to do enough background research to present the issue fairly. I really recommend below as the primer. Below describes that there are three major schools of thoughts in Japan as to what really happened in Nanjing and what evidences are available to support each of the views.

The Nanjing Incident Recent Research and Trends by David Askew

Many westerners often discuss the incident based solely on the knowledge obtained from books with little scholastic or historical value. This is bad. The survey above presents a fairly balanced view on the issue—what each academic factions claim and what evidences each of them have to substantiate their claims. After reading, you should realize that a statement like “many Japanese do not acknowledge this event” is simply not true. If you approach this sensitive issue armed only with casual understanding, you are certain to offend some of your Japanese students, not because they don’t want to acknowledge the event but because you failed to present the issue in a neutral manner. On the other hand, if you study up on the incident and present, I’m sure that students will appreciate the time and effort you have spent to gain understanding on the issue.

Please let me know if I can help.